Richard followed up by muttering his thoughts out loud "The thing that caused this is clearly showing some signs of intelligence... It was able to open the chest and pick up the mirror and put it inside the shirt... It even switched out the mirror with a core... like a trade?

Orrlin listened to Richard's thoughts as he nodded with his usual solemn expression. He added "The 'beast' that caused this might have subconsciously protected the items from its powers... Maybe it thought that the mirror and shirt were valuable."

Richard nodded and followed up "But that does not explain the beast and the way it jumped into the epicenter. The beast should be a third party in all of this right?" he asked while looking at Orrlin.

Shaking his head he reminded him "Not necessarily. A beast usually just rips apart another beast and takes its core. But only the mirror and shirt remains." after a few moments of thought he continued "I'm almost certain that the beast you saw suppressed the other beast and brought it away. That's the only explanation. Even if the beast killed the other beast on the spot. The phenomenon should have halted the moment the other beast had its core removed. So its body should still be lying here if that's the case..."

Richard and Orrlin kept discussion their findings even after returning back to the airship. As they got onboard Orrlin walked towards Senna and got her attention.

"Senna girl. Take further into the forest. There's nothing more for us here. But be careful..." he said the last few words loudly so everyone could hear his warning. The people that remained on the ship had naturally not just heard Orrlin and Richard's talk so they were still very cheerful and full of energy.

Senna kept one eye glued to her controls as she had to make sure that the core fueling the ship acted normal. She did not want to run out of fuel in the middle of Anbriot's forest...

As they flew through the sky the mood gradually became more and more tense as the beasts below screeched at the sky when they passed their territories. Luckily most of them were land bound and had no chance to reach them this high in the air. But the constant loud roars gradually took a toll on the people onboard.

"Hey! Did you see that?" one of the younger Explorers was slapping his friends shoulder as he pointed into the horizon with his free hand

"Shit!? Don't scare me dude!. This place is creeping me out..." he said with a slight shudder as his friend's shoulder slap almost scared him off the side of the airship.

"What? Are you okay? Haha. Don't worry bro. I'll keep silent if you buy a round when we get back!" he retorted with a teasing smile on his face.

Their conversation served as a pleasant break in the stifling atmosphere as quite a few people chuckled alongside the two friends.

But the atmosphere turned silent when Orrlin suddenly made people break out in cold sweat

"Welcome to the inner forest. Now keep your eyes peeled. Don't slack off"

When people figured out the meaning behind Orrlin's words their knuckles turned white from grasping their weapons or just holding onto the airship in case something unexpected happened.

Orrlin suddenly laid his hand on Senna's should as he said "We'll soon have company. Prepare yourself"

"Yes Sir, don't worry I got this!" Senna radiated as she finally had a chance to impress her childhood hero.

Orrlin slowly walked towards the front of the airship as stood there with his hands behind his back as he gazed out into the distance. After a few minutes his eyebrows slowly furrowed together as he prepared himself for the oncoming slaughter.