Seong ran off into the depth of the woods, not caring about the noise he made. He was expecting the beasts to be easier to find, however, there was none within distance. 

    But Seong was still in the outer parts of the forest, so he needed to venture farther to reach the center. He perked up his nose, sniffing the mundane air, there was an unusual stench in one direction. Seong changed his course and ran towards it.

    As the smell became stronger, he slowed down, making sure to cautiously watch his steps. He tilted his head slightly, listening to the sounds of the forest. A deep bellow rumbled across him, it pummeled his ears as it lured him closer.

    "Awoooooo!"

    Seong began crawling, he peeked through the leaves and saw a pack of wolves rampaging around. It looked as if they were waiting for something, they walked around in circles impatiently.

    Seong needed to get them over to the camp, but how would he do that? He sat and thought for a while, until he looked behind him...

—CRUNCH!!!

    Seong had thrown a fallen branch into its open jaws, the wolf used its claws to slash at him, Seong had no choice but to jump. Seong slid on the grass, his heart quickened as he rapidly looked around.

    'How did this happen!?'

    He was now in the enemy's sight, the wolves circled him, anticipating his movements. One lunged at him, baring its teeth and contracting its claws, Seong dodged.

    The others pounced in one at a time, Seong couldn't run away to the camp, they'd be faster than him if he were to take off running. He had no choice but to kill off a few if he wanted to survive, but as he wielded his dagger, a wolf head-butted him.

    "Ack!" Seong got launched into the air, he dropped his dagger and something flew out of his pocket.

    'The crystal!' As Seong twisted his body upright in the air, he tried to catch it but he missed. He slammed into a wall of rocks,

    "Kuk!" 

    Sliding down the wall, he tried to push himself to sit upright. The wolves approached from everywhere: from behind, the side, the front. Seong could only shrivel up as his body was in pain.

    -Click! Clack! Tink!

    Something from above made an ear piercing sound, like glass being hacked at.

    '...This sound?!' Seong looked up, the blueish-green crystal was falling with a fast pace.

    Seong raised his hand up to catch it, but it grazed the edge of his fingertips, he flung forward and opened his mouth.

    —Claack! 

    Seong snatched it with his teeth! But...

    —Crack... Shatter!!!

    Seong broke it unexpectedly, the crystals pierced into his gums, his mouth drenched in blood. 

    'Fuck!' Seong rushed to get the pieces out, but it only pinched ruthlessly every time he moved. 

    Then an energy started to swirl around his face, the bluish-green light started to shoot into Seong's body.

    "Kuek!" The beasts felt the unnerving aura, they backed away and glared cautiously.

    The energy surged through Seong's veins, his body started to radiate blue as his dark blood was being gushed out his mouth and nose. 

Seong bit his lip to stop making noise, but the blood rammed against his teeth and caused him to open his mouth.

    Then everything stopped…His breathing…His pain…His movement. Everything felt so still and calm. 

The beasts felt wary until they felt this familiar sense…The sense of family—the lead of the pack.

    One of them inched closer and patted Seong's small body,

    "Blegh..." Seong rose his head, spitting out the remainder of the blood left in his mouth. 

    The beast sniffed him, Seong could see his reflection in the beast's clear black eyes, there was something different about him. 

    Seong's veins were subtilely illuminated with blue light, his silver eyes brightened, his pupils were slanted. His wounds closed up, he flexed his hand; he felt much more powerful, he could feel the mana fluctuate in his veins. 

    Seong shifted to lightly pat the wolf's head, it closed its eyes as it whined. 

    Seong stopped,' That beast from before, was it the head?'

Judging by the beast's turned nature, it seems he was right,'Well, I found a way at least.' Seong mischievously smirked.

***

    As Seong ran through the woods, the wolves followed, matching his speed very well. 

    'Ah, I would've died if I ran.'

    Seong looked back forward, the camp shouldn't be far. He looked at his hand, particularly the back of his hand; the veins pulsated, his hand felt airy and flexible. He squeezed it,

    'What is it?' 

    Seong had his mana rush down to his legs, the blue light slowly faded from his hands, and with every dashing step he took, it left behind a slither of blue light behind.

    'I shouldn't use too much of it.' The mana then flew back into his hands and his speed slowed down slightly.

***

    "What're you doing?!" Seong had almost just reached the camp until he heard someone screaming. 

    'What's going on?' Seong sniffed, then covered up his nose,' This smell...'

    Seong quickly moved in, he found the camp ablaze. Seong crinkled his nose,'I just left, and now this? Are you telling me I could've waited until they did something stupid?'

    He could see figures running away, he waited until he saw someone running up on them and slashing them from behind.

    "Ahhh!"

    'Wait a second...' Seong squinted his eyes,' This scenery...'

    The fire seemed intentionally ignited, if it were an accident, it wouldn't have spread this far in a short amount of time.

The screaming and people within the camp, it made no sense to be infighting. So the only possible answer is...

    "...It's the Purgers." Seong clicked his tongue,' So, I didn't need to do something so troublesome.'

    Seong exhaled deeply,"I guess I could help them out a bit."

    Seong put his fingers into his mouth and whistled, the wolves tilted their heads. Seong twisted his mouth,

    'Do I need to howl?'

    Seong got into position, tilting his head up towards the moon,"Awooooooo!!!"

    Like a breeze, the wolves pushed passed him. The rampaging beasts shook the ground, the people within the camp took notice and tried to defend themselves.

The wolves gnashed and slashed at every living being, flaming the fires and creating more chaos.

    Seong inched himself closer to the captain's tent, concealing himself within the trees. As he was slowly crawling his way over, he heard something fall,

    "Ack!"

    Someone deeply chuckled, taunting the fallen person,"You asked for it, who told you to go snooping around, huh?" 

    "What're you talking about?! We're supposed to be teams, aren't we?!"

    'This voice!' Seong instantly widened his eyes,'It the captain from before!'

    "Teams?" The man smiled with his red crinkled eyes,"We have no need for a truce, why would we be teams in this state?" He stomped on the captain's leg, causing him to yelp in pain.

    Seong watched the unjustifiable beat down nonchalantly, he didn't care since he needed to get the coordinates, but they were blocking the way. 

He tried looking for one of the beasts that were wreaking havoc, using his aura to call for them.

    One wolf sensed the aura and ran to it, scaring the men. 

    "What the-!" The beast stood on its hind legs and slashed at the man, roaring as it shook its head.

    As the man was trying to fend off the beast, the captain ran into the woods,

    "H-Hey! You, do you think you can get away?!" He yelled furiously, but he couldn't just run after him.

    The captain limped while running, running to the farthest place from here, even if there were beasts roaming around. 

He grabbed his chest, he seemed to be obscuring something in his hands. Seong followed,

    'Do you really think you can get away?' 

    After a while, the captain dropped to the floor, gasping for air as he curled up. Seong watched from afar, his eyes glinted, catching the captain's attention.

    "W-Who are you?!" He tried to fumble for a weapon, but then he noticed Seong's slit eyes,"...That's a beast." He breathed deeply, he seemed to be calming down. 

    Seong narrowed his eyes, but to the captain, it looked as if the beast was laughing at him. The captain gritted his teeth, 

    "This is funny, isn't it? You damn beast!"

    He got up and stomped out his limp and raised his arms, gusts of wind came rushing in.

Seong gripped the ground to keep from blowing away. The captain then rapidly sliced the wind.

    The thick wind sliced down the leaves and branches beside Seong. As the blades busily took Seong’s attention, a sharp dagger aimed for his neck.

Seong strengthened his hand and snatched the weapon with his fingers.

    "…Did I get it?..."

    "There's no hard feelings between you and me."

    "..!" The captain widened his eyes, backing up slowly,"H-how? They can talk?"

    "Let's make a deal, shall we?" Seong's slit eyes continued to play with the captain's mind,

"I'll let you go, just leave your clothes here."

    "M-my clothes? Why-"

    Seong lightly stepped out, the moonlight roughly outlined a figure,” What else, the fact that we can converse should let you know."

    "You...Beasts can transform?!”

    The captain put his hand behind his back, nervously looking towards Seong. 

    "I suggest you don’t do that, I'm looking out for your survival."

    The captain stopped his mana flow,"…What’re you going to do to me?! You’re trying to kill me,  aren’t you?!"

    "I saved you, why would I kill you?"

    The captain hesitated, he couldn't deny being saved, but he couldn’t be sure. He decided to listen and slowly put his hands in front of him,

    "Here, now let me go..."

    "I said that we should make a deal, now set down your part."

    The captain crinkled his face, reluctantly taking his clothes off,

    "I'll just take the jacket." 

    "Ah, ok..." The captain seemed relieved, happily giving up his jacket. 

    "Put it down and leave."

    "Yes, yes."

    After putting down his jacket, he slowly backed up, trying to peek a glance at Seong. But then a blue light suddenly came from that direction, taking the form of a large berserk wolf.

    —Roooaarr!!!

    The captain screamed, trying to run but tripping due to his limp. The blue light absorbed into his body, electrifying him until he fell unconscious, his eyes rolled back and his back arched. 

As the blue light slowly waned, his body staggered until his knees buckled, falling backwards.

    —Thump!

    Seong blew out a wispy blue light, his veins pulsated as the light flickered. Seong put his clammy hand down, relaxing the tips of his fingers against his clothes.

    "Hahh..." Seong tilted his head up, heaving a sigh. The mana contained in his body burdened him due to the excess amount, though he may have gone overboard. 

     He rummaged through the jacket's pockets, finding a folded paper inside. Seong flipped it open, flattening the paper,

    "A total of three teams found..." Seong examined each destination, the coordinates were spread out randomly.

    After memorizing it, he folded the paper back up. As he was about to leave, he remembered the captain,

    "..." Seong puffed,"I should take him with me." 

•••

    The man threw the guts on him onto the ground,"Damn it!" He clenched his teeth, stomping on the dead beast's lifeless head.

    'Why did they have to come at such a critical time!?' He could've gotten all of the other team’s coordinates if he killed the captain, but he was too slow. 

    He thrusted his hand through the wolf's chest, the blood gushed out onto his face. His arm squirmed while looking for something, quickly wrenching the bloody object out.

    A pale yellow sheen glazed off of the crystal, the blood slowly dripped off of it. 

    "Tch, they weren't even worth it." Disappointed, he put it in his pocket, making his rounds around the camp. 

    The fire dampened when blood was spilt, the people he captured were gagged and on the ground. His subordinates were sitting on them, jeering at their pathetic state.

    "Everyone, we're done here today." 

    "What about the team captain?"

    "I've injured him, plus the woods only have beasts flourishing within it." He pointed towards the wolf corpses,"He wouldn't be able to live long."

    They acknowledged his words, dragging the people to their camp. The man momentarily watched them, then he turned around with a disgruntled face,

    'Where could he have gone? He shouldn't be far.'

    As he was beginning to search furiously, he noticed a pair of eyes looking at him. A pair of silver slit eyes, they gave off an eerie ambience. He stepped closer while activating his ability, but he stopped midway.

    When he tried stepping closer, he could feel his heart wrenching and his throat closing. The longer the eyes stared, the worse the man's paralyzed state became. 

He observed the eyes, they were imbued with cold energy. 

    '...It's a beast, but why am I so scared?' He looked behind him, the stench of dead corpses roamed the air,

'Did it come for revenge?' He continued to stare at the unwavering eyes.

    —Punch!

    The man punched his face to unfreeze himself, he gritted his teeth. 

‘How could a beast be this scary?!’ He twisted his head and dashed forward, relinquishing his ability, he tried to slam the ground.

    —Roaaarrr!!!

    "What?!" But a beast made of radiant blue energy emerged from the dark, howling its thunderous voice, it stopped the man completely.

    He covered his ears, trying to stagger away, but he couldn't. Even though he knew it was right behind him, he knew that he would die, he knew what might happen to him. 

All he could see was red, the deafening roar made him hear his own heartbeat, the walls in front of him seemed to swallow him.

    He screwed his eyes shut... A few seconds passed, he was still frightened, but he bravely peeked through his arms to look behind him.

But...

    Nothing. Everything he saw was an illusion, the red, the walls, the beast. He started sweating, the pair of silver eyes gazed right back at him, it didn't blink. 

    He gulped,'This is a warning...' He understood the beast's intentions, he needed to run away now or else! 

He turned around and scurried away, not even caring about his objective, he didn't dare turn back.

•••

     Seong’s body exuded mana, returning to his normal appearance.

He poked his head out as he observed the man running away,"He could’ve attacked me but didn’t."

    Seong clicked his tongue,'What a coward.'

    Seong looked around the camp, he found the dead beasts lying around, flesh and blood splattered everywhere. 

Even though he was technically the head, he didn’t feel regret or sadness for them. He only met them for a short while anyways.

    But it still irked him, Seong’s mind suddenly flashed and tormented him with the dying broken dog. All Seong could do was clear his mind, there was no need to think about something that's gone now. 

He dragged the captain's body over to a tent, placing him inside to sleep.

    Then he left to inspect the corpses, checking each one if they had left a crystal behind. But all of them have been pillaged already, Seong sighed in disappointment and left the area.

***

    Before Seong went to his camp, he went to a nearby river, washing his body of the filth left on him.

As Seong finished and put on his clothes, he put on his earring, changing his appearance back to Yun Chan-Woo. Then he continued on his way back.

    When Seong was by the entrance of his camp, something began to clot in his throat. He tried to clear his throat and spit it out, but it just wouldn't move. He gave up on it, opening his tent and...

—Drip.

    Blood dripped from his nose. Puzzled, Seong wiped it away, but then blood leaked from the corner of his mouth,

    'Why?..' 

    His head felt woozy, he grasped the support beams of the tent, trying to stabilize himself, he felt nauseous as his head pounded. He frantically covered his mouth, he trembled the longer he stood.

    'W-What's going on? But I didn’t use too much mana!' Seong's face turned pale, his lips felt dry.

    Then Seong's vision went hazy, he blacked out for a short moment. And when he opened his eyes. He could see the sky, he fell unknowingly. 

He could see a few centimeters around him, his loud thud caused some of his teammates to wake up. They were crawling and shouting around him, trying to figure out what happened.

    Man-Seok hastily grabbed a health potion out of Geum Ji's hand, shoving it into Seong's mouth. 

Seong's senses dulled, his body felt numb and wouldn't let Seong do anything. Then his eyes closed.

***

    —Chirp! Chirp!

    "..."

    —Chirp! Chirp!

    "Ugh..." Seong's cheeks were flushed, he felt hot. 

    It was like he had a hangover, nausea hitting him early in the morning, his body felt extremely heavy. 

Then someone placed a cold towel onto his head and the room slowly cooled. The leader, Rim Hye-Su, used her magic to ice the air. 

    "You're awake? How are you?" Her smile gave off a warm glow, but Seong couldn't see due to his heavy eyelids.

    He groaned," It hurts... It's really hot..." He tried twisting his head, but a headache hovered over him.

    Hye-Su hummed, massaging his head to relieve some pain. She cupped his face, soothing his redness. 

    "Go to sleep, it'll get better soon."

    Seong's eyes were already closed.

***

    She was right, Seong slept for 16 hours and he did indeed feel better. His splitting headache disappeared, and his body felt lighter.

    'What happened?' Seong pondered over his excruciating pain, it confused him because he used a monster's mana,

' Is it because monsters and humans don't mix well?'

    Seong thought it made sense, but the power source was from a monster's output, not his own…So why did he fall ill?

You get your energy source from eating other animals or living things, so why can't you use a new power source for mana?

    Seong caved into himself thinking of the possibilities. The camp had to move, they were settling somewhere else to find more resources and the dungeon’s wielder. 

While Seong rested, the others hurriedly packed up their site.