Chapter Twenty-Five

"Bluebell?" Tulip called out inside his mind.

[I can now see through your eyes. So, please look at the map.] Bluebell replied. Tulip rose from alvin's lap and leaned his upper body toward the map, studying it closely.

A minute passed, then two… and Bluebell murmured in understanding. He had figured out what this map was. Once he finished speaking inside Tulip's head, the latter began typing messages based on what he had learned and sent them to their public chat.

"Bluebell says this is not a map, but a universal compass. It can guide you to the location of anything you seek."

"As long as you haven't specified what you're looking for, the compass will remain just a blank sheet."

"But we already know what we're looking for!" Elena said excitedly, thrilled that she would finally find the Drivalisk. "We're looking for creatures called Drivalisk."

Tulip stayed silent for a moment, then continued typing what Bluebell had told him:

"These creatures cannot be found… They went extinct a long time ago."

The three of them looked at each other in confusion. How could the Drivalisk be extinct when they were still mentioned in hunters' daily quests?

"Bluebell says these creatures were eradicated by the angels for committing an unforgivable crime." Tulip sent this message, and the older ones felt a twinge of awe.

The angels destroyed this creature?

The mention of angels brought back to Alvin's mind something Mr. Pie had once said—about that person… the one who killed an angel during the Obscured Era.

"Tulip," Alvin called the child. "What does your little friend know about the reason behind the Drivalisk's extermination?"

"Bluebell is scared!" Tulip typed, his expression tightening as Bluebell's emotions poured into him.

— [Alvin, don't dig into these events!]

Alvin stared at Mr. Pie's message for a moment, his curiosity swelling uncontrollably. Could there be a connection between that person and the Drivalisk creatures? And if not, then why did the angels annihilate them?

"Why don't you want me to know?" Alvin wrote back in frustration. All this secrecy was infuriating.

— [Meril, do not question the actions of angels.] Mr. Elyor also sent a message to meril.

Each one of them had someone warning them of the consequences, trying to protect them from danger—except Elena. She stood there completely alone, staring at them anxiously, waiting for anyone to tell her something.

Tulip moved first and typed a message:

"Bluebell says the Drivalisk creatures once helped someone during the Obscured Era. After the angels destroyed that person, they wiped out the Drivalisks too—as punishment."

Suddenly, the house shook violently, so much that they clung to the ground to keep from rolling into different corners.

"What's happening?!" Elena cried out in alarm.

"Miss cloud, please stop!" Meril shouted.

"Sir, we're not discussing this any further!"

As soon as she said that, the house gradually stopped shaking—until it finally came to a halt. Meril began to breathe deeply, while Alvin, who had been clutching the frightened Tulip, exclaimed, "What was that?"

"My master says we must not look into those events," Meril said fearfully, then proceeded to type a message to her master.

"What about the Drivalisk?" Elena asked anxiously. She wasn't interested in the past or in why the angels destroyed other creatures—she only wanted to finish the mission she had foolishly gotten herself into.

Meril sighed in relief after confirming that her master wasn't angry with her. She gave a small, happy smile, but it quickly vanished under Elena's irritated glare. Then, with hesitation, she said:

"My master says the Drivalisk are indeed extinct. However, the creatures we're searching for now are hybrid beings that carry the same name."

"And what does that even mean?" Alvin asked, ignoring Mr. Pie's curses in their private chat.

Meril hadn't quite understood what Master Elyor meant either, so she went back to rereading his messages. Meanwhile, Tulip, who was being told by Bluebell what "hybrid creatures" meant, typed a message with what he had understood:

"There are beings called the 'Severin' who tried to revive the Drivalisk by altering the genes of a related species."

Tulip didn't understand a thing he had written, but he was confident the adults would.

Contrary to his expectations, however, Meril and Elena were completely puzzled due to their lack of knowledge in this field.

As for Alvin—who had spent many years in the city of Cerenythia and interacted with many students of life sciences—he had understood what was said, though the method of how it was done remained a bit unclear to him.

"Bluebell says it's impossible for us to fight the Drivalisk, because they're far too powerful. Their rank is SSS."

"However, the hybrid creatures we're looking for are much weaker, thanks to the Severin's failure to revive their original abilities."

"The last thing Bluebell says is that the Drivalisk we'll encounter will look very different from the true Drivalisk."

Why was a creature with such a mysterious background placed among the hunters' daily tasks?

Mr. Pie had said these events must remain hidden—that digging into them would provoke the intervention of the angels!

Bluebell had said the Drivalisk once helped someone during the Obscured Era. Alvin was certain this was the same person Mr. Pie had spoken of.

Currently—and based on Mr. Pie's information—the angels eliminate anyone who tries to access the Obscured Era.

So… why didn't the angels stop the Severin from trying to revive the Drivalisk? Their rank is SSS, which means they're extremely dangerous! And that's not even considering the fact they once helped that mysterious person!

"Mr. Pie, why did you include these creatures in the hunters' missions?" Alvin wrote to his master.

— [It wasn't us. If I had known they would do this, I would've wiped them out myself!]

Alvin felt confused. What did he mean by "It wasn't us"?

— [The system was created by the Severin. They're the ones who assign the daily missions for hunters.]

— [Before the system was made, we—the planets—had imposed hundreds of laws and restrictions on the Severin. But I never expected them to go this far… otherwise, I would've added more laws to stop them.]

Alvin raised his fingers to write a message about something that had sparked his curiosity, but Elena's words made him stop and focus on her instead.

She said tiredly, "Would it be better to cancel the mission? I'm afraid we're… walking straight into the abyss!"

She was mostly right. Even if the Drivalisk they were going to face was a hybrid creature, they had to take into account that the creature whose genes were altered was closely related to the original. That meant there was a real possibility the monster that would appear to them could be extremely powerful.

And worse than all of that—Elena had to kill five of them. That meant there were many… Could it be that…? Alvin's eyes widened as the thought struck him!

Maybe the Severin assigned this mission to test whether their attempts to revive the Drivalisk had succeeded or failed!

And judging by the surprised expressions on Meryl and Elena's faces, it seemed they had the same realization!

This mission was a test for the genetically modified creature!