As the resistance was so intense that his head was ringing, and he was screaming, it felt as if his eardrums would burst.
[You won't find, the friends I've hidden! I'll hide them!]
Her eyes turned sharp, and she glared at him as if to kill.
However, once all the darkness was recovered, the hidden space would be under Rune's control, so it wouldn't be too difficult to find them, even if it took some time.
"Looks like you're trying to get me to hand everything over to the owner of the package. Such threats won't work on me."
[It's not a threat! Let's. Make. A deal.]
"Why would I want to make a suspicious deal?"
'I've been exorcising for more than a day or two.'
Rune, who had already absorbed more than half of the darkness, had nothing to regret.
The spirit, noticing him, shuddered with a venomous gaze but quickly added.
[Good, good? Swallow me. Here. Make this your lair. Then, you might be able to save. Your friends.]
As the fairy weakened, it gradually shrank.
When it became so small that it was on the verge of disappearing, the fairy's words became more urgent.
[This place, long submerged in darkness. You'll be more than satisfied!]
"So... you're telling me to occupy the lair of the Water Clan?"
Currently, the Blue Dragon's lair was in a bad state.
The Blue Dragon's lair, which had barely been purified, would be quickly occupied if Rune released the darkness he had recovered.
Amelia's parents, who still needed to recover, had no strength to stop it.
The spirit approached Rune and extended her hand.
[Good, good? Swallow me. Here. Make this your lair. Then, you might be able to save. Your friends.]
Chuckling, the floating fairy looked at Rune, who replied indifferently.
[Lie. You want power. You want to save others.]
Rune, who readily admitted it, took out a black pearl from his pocket.
Rune's amulet, imbued with his power, was revealed.
"But I have a better way to find the kids and make this place mine."
Feeling a sense of foreboding, the spirit spat out the remaining darkness and retreated.
Rune smirked at the spirit and placed the black pearl, imbued with darkness, on his palm.
"If you want to live, you should come in on your own."
Rune began to absorb the darkness again.
The dark aura rushed to Rune like water being drained.
As the darkness was quickly depleted, the spirit's body gradually shrank.
When it became as small as a black pearl, it cried out.
Choking, the spirit jumped into the black pearl.
Rune, who had absorbed all the energy, took a deep breath.
'I guess it will survive.'
The space, which had felt suffocating, now felt comfortable.
[Here, I'm suffocating! Suffocating!]
The sound, like a mosquito buzzing, made his brows furrow.
The spirit inside the black pearl screeched in frustration.
[Revenge. I'll take revenge!]
"You don't seem to understand the situation."
Rune clenched the pearl and shook it up and down quickly.
Screams and curses erupted from inside.
There was no mercy. Rune casually shook the pearl in all directions.
"I don't know if I can believe that."
[Screech! I won't. I won't. Save me!]
Although he didn't want to show mercy, it would be troublesome if the spirit fainted.
Rune stopped shaking the pearl after hearing the fairy's surrender a few more times.
"Alright. You'll be very dizzy, but pull yourself together and lead me to where my companions are."
"Shall I shake you again?"
[...I'll do it! I'll do it!]
"Good. First, let's find the one with red hair... no, the one full of fire."
Grumbling, the black pearl floated in the air.
Rune crossed his arms and tilted his head.
'I should let it ascend when it's no longer useful. Experience tells me that keeping such a resentful creature around is troublesome.'
Rune, hiding his true thoughts, started walking in the direction the black pearl pointed.
The fairy, on the other hand, had its own agenda.
Grumbling inside the black pearl, it trembled with a venomous aura that didn't match its small size.
'Bad guy. Treating a fairy like this! Just wait!'
Rune's advice was mere nagging to the fairy, who ignored it.
Although the power of darkness originally belonged to Rune, the fairy acted as if it were its own.
It was no match for Rune, however.
"Are you sure about this direction?"
[Yes! This way... cough!]
As the darkness, like oxygen, was quickly drained, the fairy gasped for air.
When Rune replenished the darkness a few seconds later, the fairy panted and glared at him.
[Why! Why are you doing this?]
"You tried to mislead me. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"
The fairy inside the pearl scowled.
"Is there any reason to be kind enough to tell you?"
The frustrated fairy grumbled but couldn't say anything.
The fairy, trying to mislead Rune to prevent him from meeting his companions, would have delayed things if he hadn't been prepared.
To the fairy, it was a nasty prank, but to Rune, it was a dangerous act that could endanger his companions.
Rune, devoid of any sympathy, replied coldly to the spirit's venomous urging.
"You really don't know what kind of being I am. If anything happens to my companions because of your nasty attitude, you won't be safe either."
The fairy, with a scowling face, turned her head and kicked the pearl wall.
Rune, who had been glaring at him, started moving forward with the pearl.
'They seem to be holding their pearls well.'
In fact, he could roughly tell the direction of the black pearls his companions carried.
Thanks to this, although he couldn't fully grasp the path the fairy alone walked, he could immediately notice if the direction was wrong.
Moreover, the black pearl containing the fairy was created by Rune's power, so he could see through the fairy's intentions no matter what it did inside.
In short, from the moment the fairy was trapped in Rune's black pearl, it was like being in the palm of Buddha's hand.
Unaware of this, the fairy cautiously observed Rune and eventually began to guide the way properly.
'If necessary, I can summon Blackmee and Dura.'
For them, the darkness wouldn't be a big problem, and it would be a good experience to learn how to deal with sudden situations.
Ferdikion was a bit of a concern, though.
'This place, without a single ray of light, isn't familiar to him.'
A fire elemental, which has a high affinity with light, would likely suffer the most if it became hostile to darkness.
Especially in such a place, tightly packed with darkness, it was as if the fire was sealed by water and darkness.
'Besides, it's the worst element in a water dungeon.'
A fire elemental trapped in water and darkness. It was a place where an ordinary fire elemental couldn't survive.
Rune immediately recognized the orange-scaled hatchling, Ferdikion, with a color close to red.
Thrown into the black water, the creature was unconscious.
It was just floating, curled up as much as possible.
Rune, who had activated the dragon's fear aura to terrify the enemy, asked the fairy.
[Hmph! I just confined him.]
The answer was the same, but the fairy seemed very intimidated.
At that moment, Ferdikion, who had been in his true form with his eyes closed, scowled and slowly opened his eyes.
Ferdikion, seemingly not hearing Rune's call, was glaring fiercely at something in the darkness with his scales raised.
The dark shape was a giant dragon made of black smoke.
Rune looked at the pearl containing the fairy.
The fairy, chuckling, whispered maliciously.
[Watch. Illusion. The most painful.]
"Take him out immediately."
Rune's eyes hardened, and the fairy, fearing he would shake the pearl, started talking.
[He, wanted it. On his own.]
Shaking the pearl amulet, the answer was the same.
Like Amelia's parents, who had been driven mad by the darkness, Ferdikion would gradually lose himself to the illusions in the darkness.
'He hasn't been completely consumed by the darkness yet. The problem is... from the way he's acting, he won't last long.'
Rune commanded the dark shape.
"Return to the master of darkness."
The darkness, which had momentarily dispersed, quickly returned to the shape of a dragon.
When the darkness didn't listen to Rune, a mocking suggestion came.
[If you. Make a deal. With me. I might help