Maroon Red

Adryan led the way at the front walking with enthusiasm while humming. His tail swaying left and right made Nathanael feel excited. The Celestial finally plucked up the courage to walk by his side.

"Groilandia is very cool, isn't it.. is it because the forest here is nicely guarded?"

“Of course.. there are some millions of years old forest that we still maintain here.. we only clear the land if it is really needed.. We also do regular reforestation..

If we intend to leave a village and build a new village, we return the old village to nature.. we level the housing as necessary and replant trees.. so nature is maintained.. " They passed a former village in the middle of the journey. You can still see the remains of the floor and walls of the house. However, the roof and fence of the house have been destroyed. Trees of various kinds are now thriving in the ruins of the village. Gives its own mysterious impression of an abandoned civilization.

"It's true that each of us has a different side that we don't know about.. behind the wild beast and your lightning element, you really love the forest and nature.." said Peter who was suddenly on Adryan's left side. Chaldene has only two seasons, rainy and dry. The coolness of Groiland reminded him of Chaldene in the rainy season. Comfortable and serene.

“One by one.. slowly if you want.. we can start over from the beginning. Is that right, Siren?"

“….” Andrew didn't answer. While looking down he watched his compass arrow which had been pointing in an uncertain direction.

"Andrew?" Erick joined in reprimand until Andrew realized.

"..how come the arrow is like this.. look.." Andrew held out his Broken compass. They all approached and noticed the Broken compass arrow.

"uhm yeah.. the movement is not spontaneous, but slowly it turns right and left .."

"Is your Broken compass really going... broken?" Cyrus said.

"Of course it's impossible.. if it's not my compass, then... the key?"

"the Key moving around?"

"Yeah.. it could be like that right? This is the the Gate of South key’s challenge that hidden in Groilandia…”

"Then how do we find it quickly if we keep moving around?"

"Wait a minute, are you guys thinking what I'm thinking?" said Erick who realized something.

"What is it Eric?"

"The arrow.. slightly pointing up.. not fully pointing in front of us.." The shape of the Broken compass which is a glass ball makes the arrow able to point anywhere, even up or down.

"to the top..??" Adrian also realized something. Far above them was a small, clumping cloud. It wasn't the type of cirrus or stratus cloud that was currently dominating the sky. Just small cumulus cloud in the sky. It is the colour of the cloud that attracts attention, which is a slightly yellowish white. That's what drew the 9 Kings' attention to the little cloud.

"I don't mind if I have to fly and check it out..." Nathanael suggested.

"Yes, please .." Adryan pleased. Nathanael flew towards the cloud after taking out Chriso macairi.

“3th style.. Windbreaker…”

Syutt.. suddenly the cloud moved away as if alive, evading when it was about to be attacked by Chriso macairi.

"HAH?!"

Not only Nathanael, everyone who saw this was shocked.

"How is that weird?! Hup..!!” Nathanael didn't give up, he continued to attack the cloud with his spear but it was indeed the Gate of South key's protective magic, making things no easy.

"could you stay.. hey.." Nathanael was no less agile, but the cloud that was moving around was quite annoying. Because of his own excitement, Cyrus opened his wings and helped him.

"Ha ha.. where are you going now.." while stretching his both hands the Prince of Pixies trying to catch the yellow cloud. And in fact the cloud managed to dodge and move away.

"Oi Dragon, can you please change your form?" asked Adrian.

"why? My flight is not as fast as Nathanael or Cyrus you know.. you want me to chase those clouds too?”

"No, I want a ride"

"oh"

Erick then turned into a Dragon. Adryan also climbed on his back and flew into the sky. Damian who did not want to lose transformed into an eagle and followed the cloud.

(then what are we going to do?) *Peter

(just wait) *Joseph

(yes, let's just watch it from here) *Ryota

(boring..) *Andrew

The yellow cloud was now surrounded by Dragon Erick and Adryan, Nathanael, Cyrus, and eagle Damian.

“AAA…!!!!!”

“YHAAAA…!!!!!”

“WHOOAAAA…!!!!!” all attacking simultaneously.

Sett… the cloud shimmered again. Nathanael almost hit Cyrus if he didn't change the direction of his wings immediately, Erick's tail almost hit Damian. While Adryan, jumped high up.

“.. dry lightning..” Adryan's fingers shot yellow lightning. Like lightning arrows it aimed at the target and no longer ran back and forth.

After being struck the cloud slowly dispersed into smaller pieces and revealed a garnet-studded lock. No longer supported by the clouds, the key slowly fell down.

"hup, got it..." Cyrus caught the key just before it fell too far down.

“Yeah, the mission in Groilandia is succeed~” The five of them descended ashore to regroup with the others.

But when you get to the ground...

"GO AWAY.. GO AWAY SHOO SHOOO…!!!!”

"WHERE’S ADRYAN..??? THIS IS TOO HORRIBLE… HELP…!!!!”

Joseph, Peter, Andrew and Ryota are surrounded by a group of Lion and Lioness type beasts. As a defence Peter protected themselves with a protective rock dome. The four of them hugged each other in a panic because the beasts were raging at the claws of the rock dome that Peter had made.

"Oh my God .." Before even Erick landed Adryan plunged and descended on the stone dome. He also transformed into Feline and began to groan back.

“GGRRR… ROOAARR..!!!!!”

"RAOO..!!!! GRRR…” The group of Lions replied. Just like Dragon Gideon when in Draecorona, their eyes were all fiery red.

"They also got affected huh.." Erick muttered. He could faintly smell the same Magia that had affected Gideon before.

“HRR.. GRROOAARRHH… HRRR….!!!!!” Adryan roared as loudly as he could. Command of Beast's signature roar, which can be heard up to 8 km away. The Eye of Pride also shines. Eye of Pride is an item Leader of the Beast clan in the form of a brooch in the form of a green Beast eyeball that is mounted in a gold frame and decorated with a gold chain that hangs and is attached to Adryan's chest.

The people in the nearby village who were passing by with their respective activities were astonished to hear the roar and feel the radiance of magic from the Eye of Pride. Was it true that the Command of the Beast was near them? In this small village? Shouldn't he be in his castle in the distant Capital?

Adryan's roar was ignored by the group. Even the absolute orders of the Eye of Pride were ignored. They kept clawing at Peter's protective dome. There was no other way, Adryan also lunged, bite and claw fight inevitable between them.

“GGRR.. NGGHHH..”

“RAOO RAOO… RRRRRR”

Adryan fought with all parts of his body. Fangs, claws, feet, to the tail to jerk. One against four. Their body size was the same but since Adryan was the Command that was trained to fight it was clear they were comparable. The struggle lasted long enough until one of the 8 Kings took the initiative.

"Until now I didn't realize~ cause I’ll never let it go~

This feeling, I like it~ this feeling~

And I’ll never ever let it go.. yeah yeahh~"

The Prince of Pixies, singing for the first time since they got together. His voice is really soft and sweet. The tune He sings is steady and mesmerizes those who hear it. The rumours circulating so far are true, Pixy cast their spell with a song. And the spell Cyrus cast was spring magic in the form of vines that bound the Lions and Lioness to stop attacking and unable to fight back.

“NGGHH… GRRR…” a group of Lions revolted with their bodies wrapped in vines. Adryan whose fur has begun to shabby has returned to his original form.

"Thank you.. Pixy.." You can see the dust sticking to his gray hair. He also jerked his tail to make it neat again and also shook his clothes to keep them clean of dust.

"Cyrus Xaviersky.. we already introduced ourselves at the beginning right?"

"That's actually my special nickname to you guys.. why’d you complaining?"

"Hmmm..."

"Groilandia's signature stone, Garnet?" Asked Joseph who didn't know.

"Yes.. why do you think we wear maroon as colour on our clothes and flags?"

"That's right.. Celestial’s was Aquamarine.. Siren’s was Amethyst.. Shapeshifter’s was Onyx.."

"Demigods?"

"Diamond.."

"So after this we are looking for a Diamond decorated key huh?"

"after this? Oh yeah.. I just realized we're going back to Vouna.." Joseph took his magic chalk, he prepared to draw a magic circle for teleportation and searched for the next key with the 8 Kings.