Chapter 117: Negotiation 2

"What pill is that?" he asked, completely avoiding the topic of where they had been hiding—which made Moon feel a little grateful.

He liked tactful people.

Moon gave a tired smile. "Thank you for saving us. But I don’t have any more of those pills right now."

Levi waved a hand. "Don’t thank me yet. Those five will be back with more people. You have maybe an hour or half a day, or a day at most, before this whole gorge is crawling with wolves."

He glanced deeper into the tunnel. "I can shoo them away once, not twice. And my pack alpha will not support me in this."

"We know that much." Nox shrugged.

"Ah! Isn’t this the extra man you have? Oh, what was your name again? Extra?" Levi said teasingly.

"Who are you calling extra? You’re the extra here. I said my name is Mastra," Nox glared at him.

"So childish," Levi shrugged. He turned to Moon.

"So, what’s my cut when you come out with the treasures?" He went straight to the point.

"What do you want?" Moon asked back.

"I don’t know what’s inside yet. But I definitely want something worthy—like an inheritance for alchemy, or something like Stardust Lily seeds. And if possible, I want to enter the realm."

His sharp gaze locked straight onto Moon.

Moon hesitated.

He crossed his arms over his chest and rubbed his chin in deep thought.

"You need to hurry. I can’t guarantee they won’t come back within an hour," Levi pressed.

"What if we refuse to take you with us? Why should we trust you? Give us a reason," Moon asked.

"For protection, of course. You’re fugitives right now. If you use my name, you can roam outside without being hunted down by everyone."

"We’re not even sure what’s inside. But we must go in. And we could die too."

"That’s only fair. Nothing is free of danger."

"Let’s take him inside," Ugo suddenly said.

Moon looked at him with a question in his eyes.

"We need to enter three caves, and we have the two pups. We don’t have enough time to go one by one. Let’s divide and go at once. That way we can seal three caves," Ugo explained.

Moon thought it over.

It was a good decision. Anyone could come inside now and try to break into the paths.

Even if they did not have the brothers’ bloodline, those ancient masters might still have ways to force their way in.

"Fine. Let’s do it that way."

He brought out Leo and Rio. The two pups sniffed the air and immediately shrank back in disgust.

Levi’s eyes narrowed sharply when he saw them.

Moon looked around, trying to decide how to team up.

Nox stepped forward. "I will go with Moon."

"No," Moon refused immediately.

"You are needed to open a cave, so you go with Levi or Axe."

"I’m going with him," Axe said immediately. He still didn’t fully trust Nox’s judgment when it came to outsmarting someone like Levi.

Ugo picked up Rio. "I’ll take Rio and go alone. You can take Leo and Levi with you."

"No. You can’t go alone with a pup," Moon refused. "Levi goes with Ugo."

Axe furrowed his brows. "That won’t do. You can’t go alone with only Leo."

They argued back and forth for a while.

In the end, Axe still refused to let Moon enter a cave by himself.

Even though Moon was currently stronger than any of them, he was not omnipotent—and they all knew it.

So the final decision was made:

Nox would go alone, since he had no pup with him and the trial inside was meant for him alone.

Ugo would go with Levi and Rio. He deliberately avoided Leo since his wood element would not be much help if there were fire veins inside.

Moon would go with Axe and Leo.

The entire time, Levi simply stood to the side and did not interrupt.

When everything was finally decided, he spoke up with an amused smile.

"Aren’t you going to sign a contract with me first?"

"We will," Moon answered simply.

He lifted a finger.

Thin spiritual energy drifted out and wrote a short but vicious line in the air:

’Whoever harms the other directly or indirectly will die a miserable death. Their soul will never be reborn.’

Moon dripped his blood onto it, then looked at Levi. Levi dripped his own blood without hesitation. The contract flashed once and sealed itself.

Only then did the five of them continue deeper into the tunnel.

Soon the path widened, and the five dark cave mouths appeared in front of them—exactly as Moon remembered.

They were dark and ominous. From outside, no one could tell that they were hiding something big.

Moon thought for a while.

He took the left 2nd that entered Ugo’s trial. Axe entered from the left fourth, which was his trial. So the order was by their birth or collective name "LUNAR"

He chose the left first for Leo and him.

Moon glanced at Axe, then at the small red wolf in his arms. Leo’s ears were already twitching toward the entrance, amber eyes bright with interest.

"This one," Moon said quietly.

Axe nodded.

Nox gave them a short look, then turned and walked alone into the middle cave without a word. He could figure out this much.

Not to mention the cave itself attracted him.

Ugo, Levi, and Rio headed toward the last cave mouth on the far right.

They went inside silently. There was not much to say. But the heart was heavy. Moon just hoped they would succeed before anyone entered here.

Moon took a deep breath and stepped into the leftmost cave with Axe and Leo.

.

.

.

Moon’s POV

Moon stepped inside the muddy cave path.

Axe followed.

The path was narrow and damp as usual. But there was a faint vapor underneath.

Moon could feel the humid air was slowly rising with each step they took inside.

The moment they took a turn and reached an opening, the temperature rose to a degree that his skin felt burnt.

Hot.

Dry.

Suffocating.

The air itself felt like it was burning.

Moon didn’t stop.