Until just moments ago, all his senses had been on edge, making even the smallest sounds pound violently against his eardrums. Everything he saw became information that seemed to overload his brain. Even the faint breeze touching his skin felt unpleasant, like being pricked by needles. All of it combined to create a surging desire to destroy everything around him, to release the power stored up inside his body.
But the moment he touched Kaniel, Taeyon could feel stillness. He could have that precious tranquility. So much so that he never wanted to let go.
“Ah. Wait a moment, Taeyon.”
Kaniel, who had been obediently nestled in his arms, tapped Taeyon’s shoulder while they were passing through the maze. It was because demonic energy was seeping out steadily from a path leading in a different direction.
“I think we need to go that way.”
“Why that way?”
Taeyon asked as he shifted his steps toward the direction Kaniel indicated.
“Because I can see contaminated demonic energy. Come to think of it, you said so before, didn’t you? That a rift to the Demon Realm must have opened here.”
“I did.”
“What do they do about rifts to the Demon Realm on the Surface?”
“They seal off the area and leave it alone. Until it closes naturally.”
“On the Floating Island, people die if you do that.”
Because humans are vulnerable to demonic energy.
Moreover, since they raise monsters as pets, rifts to the Demon Realm open frequently. If they left them alone every time, the Floating Island would become a mess.
Conversely, was it because the beastkin living on the Surface were strong against demonic energy that proper countermeasures hadn’t been developed?
“I know how to seal rifts to the Demon Realm.”
Taeyon stopped abruptly.
“There will be thick demonic energy around the rift to the Demon Realm.”
“Well, that would make sense.”
“You’ll end up coughing.”
Kaniel’s eyes widened at Taeyon’s serious words.
“Are you telling me to leave the rift to the Demon Realm alone just because I might cough a little?”
“No one comes to this place anyway.”
“No way. I’m telling you, sometimes they don’t close on their own. If that happens, the demonic energy might overflow and reach even the city.”
At his firm insistence, Taeyon seemed to contemplate for a moment.
“Hurry, Taeyon.”
Perhaps because he was a beastkin strong against demonic energy, he lacked awareness about rifts to the Demon Realm. On the Floating Island, when a rift to the Demon Realm was discovered, no matter how small it was, emergency bells would ring and the handling team would mobilize. They would even block off the path so no one could enter until the rift was completely sealed.
Come to think of it, it would be good if he could tell them the reason rifts to the Demon Realm form on the Floating Island… No. If he told them that, there would definitely be people abandoning the monsters they were raising. A massive abandonment crisis would surely occur.
As a Monster Tamer, he couldn’t take lightly information that might cause such consequences.
“Fine. But if it takes too long, I’m carrying you out again.”
“Yes, it’ll be done quickly.”
Only then did Taeyon begin moving again.
Not long after following the direction where the demonic energy was growing thicker, an exit soon appeared. This maze must have had more than one exit.
Beyond the exit was a massive bridge leading somewhere, and in the middle of that bridge, a rift to the Demon Realm about 30 centimeters wide had opened.
Kaniel got down from Taeyon’s arms and approached it.
“How long will it take?”
“I think less than thirty minutes.”
“That’s too long.”
“I said it’s fine. This isn’t like that narrow room from before. The demonic energy concentration isn’t thick, so there’s no problem.”
It was true, but Taeyon didn’t look particularly convinced. He stood firmly beside him with his arms crossed. The moment Kaniel coughed even once, he seemed ready to say “You promised, right?” and simply pick him up by the waist and leave.
Why is this beastkin acting like this? Wasn’t he originally a calm person who showed little reaction no matter what happened?
‘Is it because we’ve gotten close?’
Come to think of it, Taeyon could be somewhat emotional with Arkan too. He must be the type who worries more when he gets close to someone.
Kaniel felt his chest swell with pride.
It seemed like proof that he was doing well. He should keep working hard just like this from now on.
To do that, he first needed to focus on the task at hand. Fortunately, no great skill was needed to seal the opened rift to the Demon Realm.
The barrier separating world from world was normally meant to be closed. Therefore, the barrier between worlds had resilience, trying to return to its original state. It simply lacked the power to do so. So if he carefully supplied magical power…
“Ah, look. It’s closing.”
“Yeah.”
Taeyon affirmed with a grimace, looking at something that didn’t show even a rat’s tail worth of progress. Because it seemed like it would take a long time.
Fortunately, perhaps because the demonic energy concentration wasn’t thick as Kaniel had said earlier, there was no sign he would cough.
Taeyon, who had been carefully observing Kaniel, became aware that his own condition was somewhat strange. He wasn’t originally a beastkin who acted this impatiently. He also wasn’t a beastkin who tried to control other people’s actions arbitrarily like he had just done.
It seemed that his emotional control ability had collapsed a bit due to the influence of receiving tuning for the first time in his life.
‘…This might be dangerous.’
He had seen and heard a lot about this phenomenon at Oblyad Castle.
Ability users who had become infatuated with their Tuners and lost their minds would excessively protect their Tuners, and guys who were usually dependable beastkin would act cute and weak in front of their Tuners.
Even parents strict about etiquette and manners would give ability users with Tuners by their side some leeway.
At the time, he couldn’t understand such things.
No matter how much the existence called a Tuner stabilized frayed nerves, watching them act as if they had no pride only made him think they were pathetic.
When his hyung had caught 20 silver rabbits to give his Tuner a coat as a gift, he’d wondered if instead of calming ability wavelengths, they’d contracted a mental illness.
But now that he’d become one himself, he thought he understood why they’d acted that way.
“……”
Taeyon, who had been quietly watching Kaniel concentrating on the rift to the Demon Realm, unconsciously twitched his crossed arms. A primal desire to bury his face in that nape once more tickled his mind.
He wanted to feel that sensation from earlier once again.
He’d occasionally seen ability users who had rampaged using their abilities excessively in battle run gleefully to their Tuners. He’d thought them fools who deliberately made their body condition worse by using their abilities, then pretended to be pitiful to receive tuning.
Taeyon smiled bitterly at the fact that he’d ended up in exactly the same situation as those people.
However, Kaniel’s tuning was different from ordinary tuning.
Normally, a Tuner suppresses ability wavelengths to normalize heightened senses. Therefore, you had to meet a Tuner whose wavelength matched yours to receive proper tuning. That was why Taeyon, despite being the second son of the lord of Oblyad Castle, had never received proper tuning until now. Because there was no Tuner whose wavelength matched his.
But Kaniel was closer to absorbing the abnormally rampaging wavelengths. Since the abnormal wavelengths were cut away, the ability user naturally regained stable wavelengths.
If the reason Kaniel’s magical power had truly recovered was because he’d absorbed ability wavelengths from him, then abilities might be a type of magic. If he’d used magic in an abnormal way, causing the magical power in his body to rampage, then all the circumstances fit.
“Kaniel.”
“Yes?”
Taeyon felt an unprecedentedly intense possessiveness as he looked at Kaniel turning around with a bright face.
If his thoughts were correct, Kaniel could tune any ability user. But the only person who could tune Taeyon was Kaniel alone.
That disparity dropped Taeyon into an anxiety he’d never felt before.
“If I said I wouldn’t stay at Oblyad Castle…”
“Then I won’t stay there either.”
Kaniel answered firmly.
The more he thought about it, the more the Surface was a dangerous land. The words of the Winged Tribe people that it was full of monsters weren’t wrong either. He’d met quite a few beastkin since coming down here, but he still didn’t think he could manage well on his own.
Most of the beastkin he’d met so far were frivolous, simple, impulsive, and had strong wariness like wild animals. It didn’t seem like they would easily trust a human known to be extinct.
But Taeyon was different. Though he’d seemed like a cold-hearted beastkin at first, thinking back on it now, Taeyon was a kind beastkin who had taken good care of a naive, weak human who would cry at the drop of a hat from the shock of falling to the Surface.
He wouldn’t deny that there were many good people among the beastkin, but what Kaniel needed was someone who could protect him. For Kaniel, that was Taeyon.
“If you’re going somewhere, please take me with you too. I’m not just someone who gets in the way anymore. I’m helpful, you know.”
“……”
“Right? Taeyon.”
Taeyon, who had been quietly watching Kaniel, nodded at that pleading voice.
“Alright.”
“Wow…! You promised.”
“Yeah. You too.”
“Me? Of course I promised.”
Kaniel answered with a delighted laugh.
Without even knowing what promise he’d made.
Taeyon tilted his head slightly and smiled with satisfaction.
