The nameless young man couldn't utter a single word.
Tense veins appeared at the corners of his face, and his teeth chattered violently as he struggled desperately to withstand the bizarre pain that caused his heart to suddenly beat abnormally.
Accompanied by the torment that spread throughout his body, as if every vein and nerve were being forcibly pulled until they tore from his flesh.
The torturous melody of black magic continued to emanate from the flute of a long-haired brown girl hiding behind the dense forest trees.
She silently observed the suffering of the young men in the distance, accompanied by a cuckoo bird perched on her shoulder, symbolizing the totem of her Midnight Melody Tribe.
The sound of her flute gradually shook the sanity of the nameless young man, as each note was laced with strange whispers that suddenly stormed into his mind.
"You are a beast... Kill! Kill the one from the horned guardian clan! He deserves to die!!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
"Bro! Bro! Are you okay?! What's wrong with you?!"
Casildo shook the young man's shoulder, unaware that his friend was desperately trying to suppress the sudden attack of his wild instincts.
The nameless young man abruptly turned toward Casildo.
His sharp black eyes suddenly gleamed with a thirst for blood, staring at his friend like a predator stalking its prey.
As his beastly instincts fully activated, both his hands swiftly moved to choke his friend's neck tightly.
Casildo, shocked, instinctively struggled to break free from the grip. "Damn it, Bro... I know I'm annoying enough to make you sick sometimes... But that shouldn't make you want to kill me..."
He coughed, struggling to breathe, as the grip on his neck grew stronger.
He tried hard to make the nameless young man release his grip, but he only saw an unrecognizable gaze in his eyes.
It wasn't the familiar emotionless gaze he knew, but the look of an evil beast, making Casildo think it was futile to try talking to his friend.
Clearly, he had lost his sanity, forcing the muscular young man to resort to violence.
"Don't hold a grudge against me after this, Bro!"
He pulled and removed Kairav's body from the nameless young man's back before delivering a hard punch to his friend's face.
Smack!
Thud!
The nameless young man was instantly thrown some distance away, coinciding with the sudden cessation of the flute's melody.
His sanity slowly returned, the strange whispers no longer echoed in his head, and he slowly sat up, holding his aching forehead from Casildo's hard punch.
Meanwhile, Casildo cursed again, "Damn you! Is your grudge against me that big?!"
The nameless young man slowly turned toward the source of the curse. In front of his eyes stood Casildo, grumbling with a clear mark of strangulation on his neck.
"Why did the flute's sound suddenly disappear? Where is she?" asked the nameless young man as he slowly rose from his seat.
Casildo's forehead furrowed; he just realized the oddity. He only now noticed that the flute melody that had also tormented him had suddenly vanished without a trace.
"You're right. Why—" his words suddenly stopped when his eyes caught sight of a cuckoo bird flying toward them from a direction within the forest.
This instantly made him aware of the presence of a girl standing behind the dense trees, staring at him and his friend with empty eyes.
The nameless young man also noticed the girl's presence.
He immediately observed her tribal attire, consisting of a brown cloth covering her chest and a knee-length skirt, adorned with a headband and cuckoo feather bracelets on her upper arms.
This instantly made the young man easily recognize her. "Nada Rhea..."
"Whoa, I knew it, Galen's bitch!" Casildo immediately rolled up his sleeves, glaring at the girl in the distance with disgust and annoyance.
"Don't think that just because you're the girl my friend likes, I won't slap your brain!"
"Why would the peace and warmth of a smile at dawn love the gloomy, dark, and terrifying midnight like you?!" he sneered emotionally, starting to move toward the girl.
At that moment, the girl named Nada began to raise her flute again, ready to blow her black magic melodies with her empty brown eyes, instantly causing the two young men to groan in pain again.
However, the nameless young man quickly gave an order before the sanity-shaking whispers echoed in his head again.
"Quick, use your Subterranean Escape technique!" he shouted as blood began to flow heavily from both his ears.
He swiftly ran toward Kairav and carried the young man on his back again, while Casildo promptly punched the ground beneath his feet.
This immediately caused a rumbling sound as the beach sand split, creating an underground space that allowed the three young men to enter.
The muscular young man jumped down, followed by the nameless young man with the unconscious Kairav on his back.
At that moment, the dark-skinned girl emerged from her hiding place and quickly ran to chase the nameless young man, who immediately threw several Fireballs at her.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Nada repeatedly jumped and made agile movements to avoid the series of large explosions directed at her.
She kept moving quickly until her movement was forced to stop when the people she was chasing disappeared into the underground space created by Casildo.
She stopped right in front of the hole, which was quickly closed by the beach sand sticking together like a sturdy door, instantly blocking her entry.
From inside the underground space, the sharp eyes of the nameless young man could see the girl's empty gaze through the small gap remaining before the door completely closed.
At that moment, he read the lip movements made by Nada, seemingly saying, "See you later, our dog..."
This instantly made him pause for a moment as if trying hard to interpret those words.
But the wave of black magic melodies suddenly sounded again from above, making him groan in pain and resist the madness.
He quickly created a small Fireball in his palm as a light source.
"Go east! The portal is there!" he ordered Casildo, who was also enduring pain, though not as severe as his.
Casildo immediately turned his body toward the east, quickly slapping the underground wall with his palm.
This instantly caused the wall to split like an elevator door, opening an escape route to the portal through a long tunnel slowly forming behind it.
Grind... Grind... Grind...
"Hurry!" Casildo ran ahead, leading the way, the tunnel in front of them extending in rhythm with his strong hand swings.
Meanwhile, the sound of black magic melodies continued to follow their every movement from above, making the nameless young man constantly battle the beastly instincts raging within him.
"Hold on a bit longer, Bro!" the muscular young man said worriedly, glancing briefly at his friend groaning in pain behind him.
"Less than twenty steps ahead, we'll be out of here!" the nameless young man said.
Casildo nodded in understanding; after a few more steps, he began to swing his hand again.
This immediately caused the outermost layer of soil to collapse, allowing the bright white sunlight from outside to enter the tunnel.
The blinding light instantly made Casildo unable to see clearly what awaited him at the end of the tunnel.
Due to his impaired vision, he simply followed the nameless young man's order when he told him to jump.
"Jump now!"
Boing!
Swoosh...
"You nameless bastard brat! Why didn't you tell me we were jumping off a cliff?!"
Caught off guard, Casildo plunged straight down toward the steep ravine, which was overgrown with tall, wild reeds.
A blinding white light from the portal surged up to greet him the moment his burly body slammed into the thick underbrush below.
Bzzzt…