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[Curse land]

[Kana point of view]

""It's alright... We can heal ourselves"" [Lara, Nara]

"Don't say that! You have been neglecting yourselves! At least let me treat your wound when there aren't any enemies around" [Seo Ah]

""Right... Thank you"" [Lara, Nara]

"It's fine. You're part of us all. Siblings of the orphanage. It's our duty to take care of each other" [Seo Ah]

While Seo Ah is currently giving first aid treatment to Lara and Nara, the three of us are helping the injured giants and vampires. Such an odd group... Two homunculi, a group of giants and a group of vampires. Their age varies, ranging from toddlers to aging. I don't want to ask what happen to them since I don't think this is the right time. At least, I should give them some time to take a moment to relax a bit, since they really looks like they need it. Even Jacks and Kanji understand it, so we silently treat and help anyone that needed some care

(While we are waiting for Birdie to come back, I suppose I should control some of the small monsters here and use it as a guard. At the very least, I hope they can detect any monsters or devils that try to harm us) [Kana]

There aren't many monster around here, even the small one are hard to find. Luckily, I found a group of land isopods. They're still young and they're currently sleeping underneath this rocks, so

(Witch art: take over) [Kana]

And that should do it. They started crawling around the perimeter that I ask them. I feel a little bit bad. They're monsters, but alas, they're still young, and as someone who take care of orphans in Malsia, I feel like I am committing a sin here

"Birdie still didn't find them?" [Kanji]

"Patient. The curse land rival the exchange land in term of size. The two land are simply enormous. You can pack several countries inside of it and it still have enough space" [Jacks]

"I know. Qudus said the same before. Plus, if the Rampaging Garuda wanted a place to make its nest, I can't think of a better place other than here. A surprisingly calm land far from any harm" [Kanji]

"Maybe that's the case. It can destroy the former country of the new headquarters should it really want to, but I guess the holy beast simply change it mind or couldn't be bother about it, and thus, opt to stay here far from any civilization" [Kana]

That does make sense, but that will also mean we have to search each and every corner of this gigantic land, which isn't a small task. The holy beast might be big, but the land it inhabited is simply bigger than one can meet the eyes after all

""They are here"" [Lara, Nara]

"Who?" [Seo Ah]

Looking at the sky where the twin pointed their fingers to, we can see Birdie carrying Saint Louis on its back, together with Seraph flying around by using his wings. Needless to say, the two of them share our reactions upon seeing Lara and Nara here out of all the places, together with a group of giants and vampires nonetheless

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[At the scholars room inside of the Royal Library of the Beastman Kingdom]

Before diving in into the Beast Challenge dungeon that recently show sign of new activities inside of the beast dungeon, all of us gather around to hear what the scholars have to said once more. It's better to prepare ourselves mentally before going into the dungeon right afterwards

Based on what the scholars mentioned, I can summarize few important points

1) The first sight of the minion ants was fairly recent. Quoting the scholars, they literally appears out of nowhere, with their leader Drant theorized to reside in the deepest part of the 60th floor dungeon. Popular theory as to their sudden appearance, well, they speculate an existence of a previously undiscovered ancient tunnel

2) Their recent "rampage", as they scour low and high for food, is worrisome. Some species of ants exhibits similar behaviour once their queen is injured or dying. More so when the ants becoming overly protective, as to not allow anyone near the challenge dungeon entrance. 

"I believe that's just ant being ant. They're just being territorial in my opinion. I can still feel the connection between the holy beast and myself just fine. If something major were to happen, I can detect it. Although, I might be wrong if Motra and his/her witch were to suddenly attack Drant once more" [Aries]

"So, another possibility that we should add is the interference from the ten commanders of the devils army. There's no evidence to suggest they're involve, but at the same time..." [King Leogris]

"Motra did appear when the three of us trying to enter the Mermaid kingdom. We aren't sure about his/her objective, but once we found out that the now deceased mermaid king was the previous Holy Beast of Water, then the possibility that your highness mentioned shouldn't be ignored" [Elise]

"True. I don't know about Motra's behaviour, but since he/she managed to control the holy beast in the past, then I'm sure he/she will try to do the same again" [Rean]

"Which might explain the overprotective behaviour of the minion ants" [Farhah]

3) The main reason as to why the scholars thought Drant is in trouble

"So that's the exoskeleton of Drant you mentioned the other day. I have to say, it looks similar to Drant, and I can faintly make out it's residual mana coming out from the exoskeleton" [Aries]

"Did ant shed their exoskeleton like some insect?" [Charlotte]

"There might be some undiscovered species that does that, but as far as we know, there's none" [Scholars]

After some more discussion regarding ants behaviour from the scholars, we were told that the ants started to occupy back the 3rd floor of the challenge dungeon

"Man... and we just finished conquering the fifth floor some days ago..." [Mara]

"That just mean we should take it back by force" [Singa]

"Right. All of us, with Behe and Mother Aries will conquer the Beast challenge dungeon. Our objective, is to meet with the Holy Beast of Earth, Drant and receive it blessing!" [Rean]

"And please ask the holy beast to control its minion. If things goes on, the ecosystem might be damage. I'm counting on you" [King Leogris]

"Right!" [All]