Are you even human?

Lyla had come from the family of military mages and had been through a lot of training since childhood.

It was because of a bad constitution that she could not cultivate the vast amount of mana that her elder brothers and sisters are known for. Still, she's been most trained in the group. She was calm even in a situation like this.

'Enric and his group have the most chance of survival.' As she looked in the direction, she was a little surprised. 'Why are they sitting as nothing has happened?'

'ESS, can you connect to them?'

[The communication feature is not available to the system before the UG78 team.]

Lyla was cursing in her heart. 'These fools, if they've been able to divert the situation for a little while, then...'

"Why are you so tense about that?" The hoarse voice sounded again. "We're not here to kill you."

'A beast who can speak human tongue?' Lyla wasn't sure that she had heard about such a beast before. She had learned from the database that some of the human beings had mutated. Even if they don't look human, they can only communicate with each other.

It was their first time for them to see a non-human beast who could talk like a human being. 'Perhaps because it is an S-graded beast.'

[ The previously reported S-grade beast did not talk like a human being.]

'Previously recorded?' Lyla was confused, 'shouldn't there be just one S-graded beast recorded in the system?'

[This beast was recorded by First office Aiden. (Team EP00/UG93)]

'Aiden.' Lyla was unable to hide her shock. 'To think, he was able to meet an S graded beast and live…' She took another look at the now unconscious Aiden.

"Why do you ignore me?" One might think that the green dragon frowned before it shook its head, "How stupid of me? According to human manners, I should introduce myself to the first meeting."

"I am Adi." The green dragon introduced himself with a nod, "You can take me as a friend of Aiden."

"Friend!" Lyla was dumb-founded. And it wasn't just her, All those who had listened to the one called Adi were equally shocked.

"Why?" Adi sounded confused, "Can't a human and me… What do you call me? Yes, monsters are friends?"

Lyla had no idea how she was supposed to react. 'A monster, who knows he's a monster, is a friend to humans? Is this possible?'

[Adi had saved the life of First Officer Aiden once.]

If it were someone other than Lyla, ESS wouldn't have let them know about it. However, because of the severity of the situation, the system lets the captain know.

'It saved Aiden, huh? After all, it may not be hostile.' Lyla looked at the green dragon, intending to believe it. But as soon as she looked at the devil, she dared not ignore its count of murder.

*Roar*

Another roar shook the earth. The green vine dragon spread out its moss wing, "It looks like you're not like Aiden. I have a different language for people like you."

*ROAR*

It shook the whole world again, and the earth shook with it. Elijah fell on her ass as the beast stared at her.

"Human, you should learn to control yourself." It was only when Adi spoke that Elijah realized that the ground under her was wet. Yet she was too scared to be embarrassed.

"Do you think I was talking to you if I was going to kill you?" The green dragon shook his head as he spoke, "You're worth nothing in my eyes."

Adi no longer spared a glance at them. But what happened next was more shocking than that.

Roots and vines came out of the earth, wrapping every unconscious human with them. They formed cages around the humans, without harming them.

"Ahhhhhh" Asher was the first to react. He turned around and... the vines moved along the ground with frightening speed and strangled him. A few vines strangled his mouth so that he could no longer cry out. He fell on the ground like a pig tied up for slaughter.

It just happened too fast. Before anyone could understand anything that Asher had already fallen to the ground.

Whether it was a reflex or out of fear, Lyla took a step back. But not only did she fail, but she also fell on her ass. And then she knew that a few vines came out of the ground and tied her hand to the ground.

'When did it happen?' Only then did she realize that her ankles were bound too. 'Is this the power of an S-graded beast?' The green dragon was hovering in the mid-air, not sparing a glance at them.

"AAAHHHHhhhhh"

All of them turned to Elijah, who was the source. The reason came to light as soon as Lyla looked at her.

Elijah was struggling to escape, but with her hands and legs tied, it was all in vain. She could only look in fear as the dark, formless hand came slowly to her.

"You're not supposed to do that." To Lyla's surprise, it was Adi who spoke. And if that wasn't surprising enough, Adi said, "If you do that, Aiden might hate you."

'Will Aiden be angry if she kills Elijah?' Even if Lyla knew the answer, she couldn't say it out loud.

Whether it was Elijah or Aiden, she had no attachment to any of them. All she wanted to do was complete the mission.

Why did she stop Elijah from killing Aiden, then? Because from her point of view, Aiden has the strength that no one can ignore. He saved them from the sloth beast, and the more she looked at Aiden, the more she thought her choice was right.

But Elijah was just another matter. She may not be as strong as Aiden, but her ability to look into the future for a few seconds is very important for survival. On top of that, she's never been able to control someone like Aiden.

Yet she could not cry out to stop the devil from killing Elijah. The good thing was that she didn't need to do that.

'Is it afraid of Aiden?' Lyla couldn't believe what she had seen. The hand of the devil stopped a few inches away from Elijah. The devil looked at the vine creature with his bright red eyes before it went back to Aiden.

Right now, the entire area was packed with thousands of vine cages, containing sleeping humans inside. And all the cages came back to life at the next moment. They were starting to bore themselves in the ground. When one entered the grounds, the next cage connected to it did the same thing. It wasn't long before the whole place was empty again.

Soon there were no more than two beasts, nine humans and freshly dug mud. It was time for the vine dragon to land again.

"Even if you're not talking, you've got to listen." Adi turned to Lyla. Lyla nodded her head, not knowing how Adi could understand that she was the leader.

"This is the last time ever. Next time we're not going to be so welcoming." More than words, it sounded like a treat to Lyla, but she was relieved.

'It said 'next time'. So it isn't going to kill us.' She felt a little relieved. She said, "There won't be any next time. We won't come here again." However, looking at Adi who was shaking his head, Lyla's heart skipped a beat.

"Those words are not for you." Adi looked at the dark grey sky before adding, "Tell those words to the people of your place."

"You, you…" Lyla couldn't complete her words. She had no idea how a beast could know about the other planet.

"My patience is running out. The next time your people come to this world, I may not be so tolerant."

Her back was wet with cold sweat, as the dragon's eyes stared straight at her. She didn't have the energy to nod, but Adi accepted it differently.

"No, no, that's not going to do." Adi looked at everyone. Lyla, Sara, Elijah, Asher. But his eyes stopped at four, sitting at a distance away.

"They don't look like Aiden's friend." Adi's words never ended, heart-wrenching cries filled the air.

With hand and leg tied, Lyla couldn't see what was happening to Enric and others. But from their agonizing cry, she understood that it wasn't something pleasant.

"Take them with you. That is a gift from me." Adi sighed, "If they want more, then tell them to send more."

Lyla didn't dare to be late this time and nodded her head vigorously. But Adi didn't wait for her response. Adi, the green dragon, spread its moss wing and flew away.

*Dong*dong*

And the devil, too, vanished at the next moment. Still, none of them has moved. They survived, but the reality is too overwhelming for them to believe. None of them knew what to do or how to react until Aiden woke up.

His body was too painful, but Aiden had become accustomed to pain. As soon as he woke up, a couple of messages popped up in front of him.

[Special Ranked Mission completed.][The host is awarded 400 credit points and +1 Authority]

'Again? What is this Authority about?' Aiden wanted to know, but he had something more important to take care of.

As he looked around, Aiden could see that Elijah was sitting not too far away from him. Aiden was about to move towards her but before that…

"How are you still alive?" The voice was still shaking. Sara was shaking out of fear. Aiden had no idea what had happened a few moments ago, so he was more confused.

But just to be sure, he checked his body again to find any life-threatening wound on his body. Unable to find the one he asked, "What?"

"The devil touched you…" that was all Sara could say."How could I know? May it doesn't want to kill me." Aiden gave a silly excuse.

'They might experiment with me to know the secret of my body if they learn that I can resist the devil.'

Sara didn't look convinced, and Aiden didn't care. Aiden was surprised that Elijah had not reacted as he had closed him.

'She's unconscious.' Aiden was confused. A foul smell hit his nose, making him more confused. 'What could have happened to scare her so much. If it were only the devil, she would have died.'

In his heart rose a bad premonition. Looking around, he couldn't find any of the crimson-eyed humans. 'There's no way they could all leave so soon.'

Lyla stood up around this time. She looked at Aiden for a moment before she ran towards Enric and others. And Aiden followed her.

What was waiting for him, was too much to digest? There were four people. But they looked anything but human. If he didn't remember Enric's face, he would have attacked him by now.

Enric's head was that of a human, but his limbs were not. There were skin and flesh till his shoulders, and then there were white bones entangled in moss and vines. It wasn't just the hands, his legs were the same.

But he was the luckiest of four. One of the others had a skinless skull entangled in the vines, with round eyeballs still stuck to his head. One of them had a ribcage covered in vines and mosses with a red heart still beating in his chest.

The last one lay on the ground, with a single skin on his body. Aiden didn't know whether he was alive or dead, but Aiden could understand it all right now.

"Adi?"Aiden was dumbfounded."So you know?" Lyla's voice was full of disdain. "To make a friend out of S-graded beast, are you even human?"