Leave The Monster Alone

This was the shortest preparation Mark had ever done for anything. He had never been the type of guy to do things that he had no prior knowledge of. Every time he tried something new, he made sure he had all the information prepared.

After a while, it had become a habit and it felt weird to not be prepared. That habit had even carried over when the world changed as well.

However, this time he had no plan because he genuinely had no idea what to expect from that place. Even if he had been there once before, he had almost zero information at this point.

Every other time he had at least some read to go on, but ever since Fidi had sent him the location of the warehouse, he was more than sure he was not ready. His brain said, again and again, to back down but that was not an option to consider.

Sooner or later he would have to venture inside that place so it was the optimal time and with the best possible people who had his well being in their self-interest.

Still, the feeling of uneasiness would not go away.

The uneasiness of Rika and Alan with those two divine beasts only added to this tension. Even in the harbour, their expressions were pinched in worry as they looked over at him and then took a look behind him.

The worry could not be hidden even if they tried.

"Are you sure you will be alright? I told you I do not have a good feeling about any of this'' this was something Alan had asked him often enough in the past few hours. Ever since he had met those two, this uneasiness had remained inside him.

As for the teen himself, he could not tell you why he found those two so intimidating. The female was beautiful in a sense a model would be. Tall, and powerful with a self-confidence he had seldom seen in someone like her.

The man was fair-skinned and well looked after all, his smile seemed almost genuine and those eyes had a light he was almost envious of.

They seemed like such an ordinary pair of people but his instincts recognised the danger the same way an animal did. He had no idea why or where this fear was coming from but he knew that those two were trouble and Kuro's agreement made it all the more real to him.

Rika for her part had a much calmer reaction but even she could feel the aura of death staring back at her. Every time someone from that pair looked over in their direction she felt frozen in an instinct fear.

However, unlike Alan, she lacked the experience to categorize what it actually was and this just fed to her overall fear. So, she took to distracting herself in the research while Alan talked it over with Mark.

Mark who seemed alright and not on edge at all. This could be an abnormality in them or perhaps Mark was the abnormality. Then there was the base captain who obviously trusted these people. Since there was not a sizable sample pool, she could not say if they were the abnormality or Mark was.

"Are you ready now? We really should not stall any longer" the smile once again faced them, the unnaturally calm face not wavering even a bit.

"Give me a minute to sort it out. You can go ahead to the lake till them" Mark called out to the pair, not even looking at them as he fiddled with his system to hide his nerves.

Once they were out, he let out a small sigh of relief. Even when he did not feel their aura or other instincts described by Alan or Rika, he did feel unnerved in their presence simply because he knew who they were.

This was turning out to be a bigger headache than it was worth and he once again wondered why he needed to do this at all.

"I should leave as well. Alan, I will be alright and I'll see you tomorrow. Also, keep this between us for now but I know those two have a reason to keep me alive for now. They definitely want something from me in the future so I doubt I will die with them now" the child froze, his eyes gaining that calculating look and Mark knew he had the other.

At the present times, there was nothing more powerful than the power to be useful to someone and this was something all three of them knew.

The liberty awarded to them was almost too much to be given to a common person and they all knew it was because they were important to the base. They might now know how much but it did show that this power was very useful overall.

"Fine, I trust you. Kuro, make sure you bring Mark back safely" the teen almost added the last part jokingly as he waved his bye. Even Rika gave a small wave, not looking up from her work.

Mark finally made it out with the kitten and his eyes shifted from the gentle look to a hard one.

He could feel the other two and they were not far away. They were likely waiting for him to catch up before they crossed the river which was very considerate of them.

"Ah, Mark, you finally made it. I was beginning to think we would have to do this without you but my partner said that you were not that unfaithful" the snake joked as he elbowed the female who gave him a glare.

Just being in the presence of this snake was exhausting, not to mention his weird habits on top of that.

"Stop fooling around. We need to cross the river first" the female finally spoke, her strong and deep voice very commanding. And she was right, it was the first step.

Even if the river looked calm and tranquil right now, Mark knew what dangers lay below the river. However, that should no longer be a problem.

"Would we have to get wet? You know I hate getting wet Vodi. Can we just not cross it and find some other way?" the snake complained, his voice whining.

"It would take far too long. We do not have time for your complaints. Also, we have a potential human with us" she gestured to him but Mark did not take any offence to her words. For all her wordings, her tone was polite and considerate.

Unlike her partner, she was not really trying to come off as offending which was enough for him to give her the benefit of doubt.

Also, he doubted he could actually harm her if they ever fought. He was scared of her more than anything because she could crush him before he could get his weapon out. He had seen her with Kuro before and he did not want a repeat anytime soon.

"You're right, I forgot. Sorry, you just feel like one of us so I keep on forgetting that you are not. But this does create more problems for us" the snake looked serious for once, his eyes devoid of any laughter for a few precious seconds.

For that few seconds, Mark felt as if his soul was being read and he froze before the other blinked away that blank look inside his eyes. Then those words registers and he realised he had a solution.

"I know how we can get across but the monsters inside the water would make it difficult for us" he informed as he took out the boat. There was an almost fascinated look on the snake's face as he did so.

Even the female looked astonished at his haul.

"How did you------humans have advanced this far already or is it only you? You really are something else, aren't you? I can see why he said that you were the best candidate all along" there was suspicion inside that voice but those last words.

He wanted to ask about those because he was sure the other had mentioned something like this before too.

The more time this topic came up about this unknown figure, the more curious he felt but still, this was no time to ask questions.

He got into the boat followed by Kuro. The other two were more hesitant to come abroad, their hands twitching in nervousness which was fair since it was likely their instincts telling them it was not safe.

However, they finally did come aboard and were instantly glued down to their seats.

"Hold tight because it will be a wild ride" the boat gave a jerk before it started and Mark really sped past. He now felt bad that he had given Rika a hard time about this because it was genuinely hard to control the boat. 

It jerked too much for it to be stable but somehow Mark got them across without any accident. He was sure that it had something to do with the speed as well as the unpredictability and he finally looked at his passengers.

They both looked a little green while Kuro gave him a nasty eye.