"Do monsters have Spiritual Seas?" Red asked.

"They do, every living being has a Spiritual Sea." Viran replied indifferently, seemingly not as worried as the boy about their situation. "Besides, that thing is not a normal monster."

“...How did it disguise itself as Bertel? By using Spiritual Energy?”

“Most likely.” He confirmed. “It was waiting for the right opportunity to attack me after all this time killing other slaves and it wore the face of one of them to get close enough. Monsters in this world have all kinds of abilities you cannot even fathom...”

Red remained silent at that.

"Ha, I know what you're thinking!" The man laughed after noticing his lack of a response. "If that thing was fighting a normal individual, it would win for sure, but it chose to face me. It is in for a rude awakening if it thinks it knows the extent of my strength..."

The youth thought those were some brave words for someone who had already been stabbed by that monster, but he refrained from commenting. Soon the two of them arrived in front of Viran's hideout, and the man did his best to move the huge stone out of their way. It was a difficult task for the soldier in his state, but Red knew that the help of a stronger than average ten-year-old would make no difference.

After some effort, Viran was finally able to open the entrance to his chamber. His ragged clothes stuck to his body with his sweat and Red could see that his wound still hadn't stopped bleeding. It was a wonder the man could still move around so much.

"Get some bandages for me. I'll look for the rest." Viran told the boy and lit up a torch in the room. He then started to ruffle through the wooden boxes near the back wall.

Red asked himself how bandages were supposed to help heal a hole in his stomach. After looking around through some crates, the small slave found what he was looking for. Some white wound dressing, at least as white as you could find down here, that Viran had probably exchanged with the guards for.

Looking over, the man had already sat on the stone bench and removed his shirt. He was currently covering his wound in a brownish paste. Red recognized it as the same one Viran had given him when he broke his ribs.

"Hurry, help me put it on my back." Grimacing in pain, the warrior passed over the small container to the boy after grabbing a piece of the bandage and pressing it against his belly.

Red didn't complain and moved over to stare at the wound. Finally being able to see the injury up close, he swore he could see the insides of the man's organs. Raw flesh could be seen squirming at the rhythm of his breath. A small outpouring of blood came from the fist wide hole that had been punched into Viran's abdomen.

"You should be dead." This was what Red said before applying the paste around the puncture, his hands inevitably being smeared with blood as a result. If anything it wasn't the gory sight that bothered him, but more so the fact someone could still live in this condition.

"Good thing for you I'm not." Feeling the sting of the medicine, the soldier drew in a cold breath. "That's enough, now press the bandage against it. Hard."

Grabbing the white cloth, the boy did as he was told and pushed against the wound with all of his strength. Viran tore a strip of cloth from his ruined shirt and slowly coiled it around himself a few times. After making sure it was tight enough, the man tied it into a knot before slowly getting up.

"Should be enough to keep me alive for the next hour." Finally having both of his hands free to use, he started taking a few additional items out of his boxes.

Red saw them line up the table. A few tiny narrow stone containers and a glassy small white rock, its surface too foggy to see through. This piece of mineral, though, seemed to invoke a familiar shivering inside of Red's body

"...Is that?"

"Spiritual Stone. Energy condensed into physical form. Unfortunately, it's not for you." Viran explained, pocketing the piece of rock. After that, he picked up one of the stone vials, uncorking it and downing its contents in one go. "That's for my pain, and this one," The man picked up one of the other flasks, before tossing it to Red. "Is for you."

The boy caught and stared at it closely. The container could fit inside his closed fist, and he could hear some sort of liquid sloshing inside when he shook it.

"What is this?" Red asked.

"A drug made out of Spiritual Stone dust and various insect parts. It will fill your body with power and allow you to increase your strength for a few seconds."

"Seconds?"

"That's right." Viran nodded. "It's why you only use it if you need it to save yourself. There are some side effects, but if you manage to live through this fight then they will seem trivial in exchange."

The boy nodded, storing it in his pouch. Suddenly, a faint screeching noise reached the chamber, echoing from far away.

"...It's coming." Viran said solemnly. "Listen, boy, I haven't taught you much about fighting, but I'm gonna need you to pay attention. In combat, you must seize the initiative and finish the battle as soon as you can."

The man started going about his plan.

"That thing uses smell to track its prey, so you'll carry this to confuse it." He threw his bloody shirt at Red. "You'll run through the tunnels and act as bait, while I'll be hidden following behind you. It might be able to smell me too, but it'll have a hard time distinguishing it from the shirt's smell. When it tries to attack you is when I'll ambush it and give it a taste of its own medicine."

"What if it sees you?" Red asked. The man had bragged about his stealth abilities earlier, but there was no way for sure to know whether or not it would work.

"Then we adapt!" Viran replied angrily. "There's no such thing as a perfect plan in the world, kid, much more so one made on the fly like this." He continued. "After the battle starts, I want you to stay out of the way and only attack when I tell you to. Do you understand?"

Red frowned.

"Do you just want me to stand aside and watch?"

"Yes." The man nodded. "Look, this isn't something you can handle like those other monsters. One hit from that thing and you'll die for certain. You'll still play your part with that drug I gave you, but you must wait until I give you the order."

"And what if you die?" The youth asked.

"Then you run and pray for your life." Viran smiled.

Red wasn't too sure about this plan. He didn't know how the warrior was so sure that the insectoid used smell to track its prey and how it wouldn't be able to notice him. The first assumption was a solid guess based on the behavior of the monsters down here, but the second one seemed more like a shot in the dark. Still, Red doubted that Viran would go to such lengths just to trick him.

"How will you deal with those abilities of his?" He asked.

"I suspect the screech is not something it can use continually simply based on how much Spiritual Energy was behind it. As for the green light..." The man shook his head. "It's simple. Just don't get hit by it."

That didn't seem like a good plan either, but Red was past the point of arguing.

"Remember this, kid." Viran touched his temple. "There are many situations where you don't know everything about an enemy's strengths before going into combat. At that point, quick thinking and the ability to adapt will be your most important weapons." With that, the man pointed at the chamber's exit. "Go on, head back in the main tunnel's direction, and don't look back. You might not see me, but I'll be behind you."

Red didn't understand what that meant, but he walked out all the same. He held a moonstone with one hand and his cleaver with the other, while the bloodied shirt was tied around his neck. At first, he could hear Viran's steps following behind him. However, as the tunnel widened a bit and they passed through a few chambers, that sound suddenly disappeared.

The boy had to fight many of his instincts to not look back, and most of all, to continue moving forward towards an enemy that could kill him in a single blow. Still, after a short moment of hesitation, Red kept moving.

His silent walk continued, the only noise he could hear being that of his breathing and his soft steps against the rocky ground. A few minutes went by during which the slave almost jumped at every shadow, before he finally arrived in a bigger chamber, still lit by a few weak torches. Red was quick to recognize this as their meeting room, the one they had gathered in earlier that day.

The boy was just about to move forward before he heard faint steps coming from another tunnel in front of him. He froze. The sounds approached, resembling more metal striking softly against stone, and the source of the noise slowly revealed itself under the torchlight.

A humanoid creature, wearing what resembled more a suit of shining black armor as its exoskeleton, segmented in various parts that covered its entire body. The insectoid was around 1.70 meters tall, and it had a relatively thin frame similar to that of a human in shape. Purplish ligaments could be seen making up the rest of the monster's body in between the joints and rare areas that weren't covered in the dark carapace. Its hands resembled those of a human in composition, except for the fact that in place of fingers, five sharp-looking claws would greet whoever was foolish enough to receive a punch from the creature. The insectoid's feet were composed of three large talons each, one at the heel and two at the front. Its head was triangular and flat at the top, two serrated large mandibles jutting downwards from where the thing's chin should have been. The insectoid had six round eyes in total, three at each side of its face, glowing in green bright light.

Red felt an indescribable pressure mount on his mind when the monster gazed at him. It was like his own body and psyche naturally recognized the creature as his superior in every way possible. The boy made some effort to maintain his composure to no avail. Even moving or thinking straight was made difficult under its stare.

The insectoid also stopped when he noticed Red's figure waiting on the other side of the chamber. The green glow in his eyes seemed to intensify for a second. Much to the boy's surprise, some sort of sound came out its mouth. When he tried to pay attention to it, they almost seemed to be forming words in a foreign language with a strange and buzzing intonation befitting an insect.

At that moment, Red knew it was trying to communicate, but he didn't know how to respond. When the monster noticed that the small human in front of him didn't answer, it stopped talking. The insectoid lifted its right arm while pointing its forefinger up and a small green light slowly formed at the sharp tip of the claw.

Lowering its arm, the insect being started to walk forward in slow and steady steps, the glow remaining in its hand. Red took a step back, feeling the Spiritual Energy building up in the air. The boy felt that if he moved, then that beam of light would immediately shoot at him.

Right as the creature made it halfway through the room, it suddenly jerked its head in a different direction. However, the monster didn't have time to react.

Viran finally attacked.