That evening news of YuJu's recovery spread among the fifth floor, with Verbrand and Gen paying the lonesome man a visit the next day under the pretense of congratulations, while in reality it was to show Gen the tunnels and hidden poison shelf built right under his nose, much to the calm general's displeasure

The day after the meeting was held, all leaders present during it including YuJu who wasn't that keen on managing the affairs of the tower, not when he had more important things to do

​​

"There have been sightings of massive hordes of beasts and sentient races alike fleeing from the unnamed desert, it brings us to believe that someone or something powerful is either settling in their place, or passing by and wreaking havoc"

Latvia reported, looking at the generals for any who would share an opinion, particularly the only leader who wasn't general himself

Being stared at by almost everyone in the room he couldn't help but chip in, if it would speed up time then there would be no harm

"It's a stray Gardelos, must have separated from the group and wandered back into the desolate land"

"I see, then it should be no cause for concern"

Unlike before she didn't take the information at face value, he proved himself to be the knowledgeable one among them, irritating as he might be

They discussed a few more minor incidents, most of which he didn't contribute to since he didn't bother memorizing every single detail that happened, at least not the big bits, until they arrived at today's main report

"Then we will move on to the matter concerning the Land Kraken, I am glad to say that we've successfully led it away successfully, a constant barrage of attacks from the side that dwindled the closer it got to us deceived the beast into thinking that it was heading in the wrong direction, now we have lured it far into the east, there it should find another civilization to wreck and continue on that path"

'Much better than last time, at least there would be no threat to Hortus that Genus Insania could use to backstab us, wouldn't put it beneath them to use such tactics, hell, I'd love to get the chance myself'

YuJu mused, sadly the guardians of Hortus were always Aminta's faction, the middle and upper never concerning themselves with the fights and only swooping down to gather spoils when the chance arose

On and on went the meeting, boring as hell for all the participants after the news of the threat was delivered, one had to keep up with the happenings however or the would never be real leaders

A fluctuating energy suddenly burst the boredom in their minds, just as the doors of the hall were blown, but not before some red thing slipped in between the cracks, flying at the seated generals

No words need be exchanged, the roots moving quickly to protect Aminta while Gremm and Basu moved toward the flying blood, weirdly enough they didn't stop it however, giving way to it in the pretense of being helpless about its dismaying speed, which was a true to an extent or it wouldn't have passed all the guards so easily

That left YuJu the only one in the middle, facing this speeding red object, only he looked unconcerned as he opened his hand, which it automatically went toward before sinking into him

"....?"

With blinking eyes he turned to Aminta and her guarding generals, eyes settled on Latvia who didn't feel too good for some reason

"You said you lured away the Land Kraken right?"

"Yes?"

"Are you sure you lured it away from and not around Hortus?"

She frowned for a moment, trying to comprehend what the situation was, shouldn't they be questioning him instead about what that thing was exactly? His eyes told her he wasn't in the answering mood however and she must say her piece first

"Yes, I am pretty certain, I still have scouts tracking down its movement to make sure it wouldn't steer off the path"

"And you did not attack anything other than the Land Kraken"

"No, why would we do that?"

"Hmm"

He remained silent, forcing everyone to wait as he mulled whatever was on his mind before revealing to them what this fuss was all about

"This wasn't an attack, merely an emergency message, something was creeping behind that behemoth, I can't seem to find it now however, but I am sure it will either come to us or go around, leaning more toward the latter by its actions"

This was both relieving and unsettling, relieving since it didn't mean all hell was let loose between the two factions and unsettling because a mere message could bypass the entirety of their guards, perhaps even the two generals if they weren't faking it

"Since its an emergency message I will allow the incident to pass unpunished, next time however there will be no such ruckus"

"It won't happen again"

He assured Aminta, then quickly asked for leave

"The meeting isn't over"

"I must prepare to catch whatever is sneaking around, I need to be on the case straight away"

"Not before you receive your punishment"

Right, he almost forgot what he was here to begin with

Aminta looked between him and Lativa, giving them a judgmental look as she declared what they would face for their unruly actions against each other

"Lativa, for your use of a hostile faction test out a member of ours, a leader much less, you are to retrieve a beating heart from the purple swamp"

"Yes commander"

The general in question felt shivers even though she knew of the punishment long before the meeting was held, one couldn't help but feel so if they knew the horror of that place, one wrong move and even someone of her caliber would face an unsightly end

"YuJu, for your uncivil counter attack against Latvia, as well as your intent on fighting the rest of the generals, I am assigning you to be her assistant in this mission"

"Yes"

YuJu didn't seem at all bothered by the scale of punishment, in fact they all felt like he was out of it ever since he knew of the message, making everyone curious as to what the secret lover was keeping from them

"Let's go"

YuJu motioned for Latvia as he left, making her pause a second before answering

"Where?"

"The purple swamp of course"

"What, now? That needs preparations, do you even know the dangers it holds? One cant just waltz in expecting to get out without a scratch, it wouldn't be a fit punishment if that was the case"

"Either follow me there or let me do it on my own"

He replied firmly, leaving no room for any delays as he exited and motioned for Ellis to come along as well

Latvia was bothered by his attitude, she didn't tell him to go by himself however as that would go against Aminta's orders, and while he was supposedly the one assistant her they both knew he would be doing most of the work anyway

Thus, while inside of what tricks he was up to this time, she followed, along with her came the rattan who'd turned rather silent ever since his confrontation with YuJu

"I'd like to take a look at this"

Basu commented as he also followed behind the trio, the others remaining in the hall but not without overlooking the scene that would play out through Latvia's drone feed

Three generals and the mysterious guard leader who was on par if not stronger than any general walking through the tower's lower floors caused no small amount of commotion, earring them quite the curious looks along the way

"What creature's heart are we supposed to get"

YuJu asked as they arrived at the edge of a large mass of purple poison, or rather, blood

"Any I would assume, it's already difficult getting one, furthermore scouting under this poison is next to impossible…"

That last sentence didn't feel confident, not when talking to this guy

'He couldn't have ways to suppress the deadly nature of this poison could he?'

Was what went through everyone's mind, if he could then it proved to be a great boon for their faction, and a major headache to the Genus Insania, but scary to both sides nonetheless

"Ellis"

"Yes Master"

"There is a creature with antennae like fins and no eyes or mouth in this swamp, dive in and get, alive"

"Wait, are you out of your mind?! How could you send her straight in-"

Splash!

Lativa wasn't able to finish reprimanding when Ellis had already jumped into the purple liquid

"Damn it! Basu bring her back!"

"On it"

The elephant general inhaled blue particles seemingly out of thin air, making gestures with his hands as the long trunk bloated with water, ready to shoot the poor follower out of the swamp

"Aminta didn't allow outside interference, lend a hand and I'll take it as sabotaging my mission"

Those words chocked the general from shooting his water jet, there was no way he wanted to get on this guys nerves when he seemed to be in a bad mood already, plus he didn't want to help anyway, thus with a 'reluctant' face he dispelled his energy, blue particles gushing out from the trunk back into the air

"What the hell are you doing! Stop being stubborn and let us save your follower, clearly you don't know what this swamp is all about!!"

Latvia raged, seething even more as YuJu remained still and silent, she wanted to ask for Basu's help regardless of his thoughts or the mission, that's when the swamp stirred

"??"

Not only her, but everybody watching cast questioning gazes at the spectacle, the ever silent swamp was actually being stirred so hard, splashes of its deadly liquid being spraying all around causing whatever it touches to die, even the two generals took a step back to avoid getting it on their bodies

"This, whats, how?"

Latvia stuttered, bewildered by the things emerging

"Just how is this possible?!"