"OK. OK. It's Fulox!"
"Fulox stole something from the Purple Starian! when commander Zax found out about it he was almost punished."
"But commander Zax forgave him."
"How did you guys breed Soul Leeches!" Stella continued her interrogation.
"We used the Cosmic Fiend's body."
"Ha! Tell me how you guys use the Cosmic Fiend bodies!"
"I don't know, only Zax and Fulox commanders know-how."
"No further ado, Stella just keep going!" Sidius asked Stella to break through their consciousness again.
"ARGGGGGHHHH!!!!"
Their screams echoed throughout the cave.
…
"They don't know anything." Stella sighed when she found no other information from them.
"If they used the Cosmic Fiend's body, they would most likely still keep it on this planet," Sidius said.
"Did you get any information on why they are in the Outer Ring?"
"No, they are the same as Bolx and Solux. They just got orders from Zax."
"Alright, let's strategize next."
They walked out of the cave where they were held captive and found Astrum's group who were in the village square.
"Okay, here's the information we got." Sidius started a strategy meeting.
They tell about the whereabouts of one of Zax's aides on this continent but are not aware of his whereabouts.
"Why don't we use their line of communication?" Thea suggested an opinion.
"Hmm. Looks like it's worth a try." Sidius agreed with Thea's opinion.
They returned to the cave and took Horax. Ask Horax to call his partner and tell him his location.
In the spaceship deck, Horax has activated the line of communication with his partner. Then on the screen appeared the faces of Horax's companions. Gorux has a very large body compared to Horux, by the picture it seems; at least the size of Bi or Hiru.
"Gorux! We're done here. There is no clan leader here. We will go to your location, please provide the coordinates of your location."
"How much did you catch?" Gorux asked.
"eh… We got it all." Horax said it with a nervous tone.
"Alright, we'll be done here soon too." Gorux then sends the coordinates of its location.
"Report to commander Zax! We were ambushed!!"
"Zzzzztttt" Communication is lost.
"Bastard! You seek death!" Sidius strangled Horax from behind.
….
In a different location, the new Gorux gets a warning from Horax.
"You stupid! They can be ambushed by such lowly creatures!"
"Do we need to report it?" Another figure right next to him asked. This figure looks like a Beastros but has a beak.
"Not! Commander Zax will punish us if we lose to such lowly ones!"
…
In the main village, Horax had been badly beaten by Sidius and tied back.
"What next?" Stella asked.
"Alright, I'll go with some Beastros to Gorux's location and catch him."
"You guys will go to another location to look for the clan head."
Sidius prepares to go to the Gorux location with Bi, Hiru, and some Beastros. Astrum, Stella, Daal, and Nulua will set off to find the clan head in another location. John, Ave, and Thea will guard the main village.
On the way, Nulua directed the location of the village which was in the valley.
"Most likely the clan head will be in this village."
"How did you know?" Astrum asked.
"On this planet, there are some very strange locations, one of which is this valley." He spoke while pointing at a point on the map.
"This valley is surrounded by void fields."
"Void field?"
"Yes, no energy can enter the void field. Even us Insignia will lose our strength when we enter the field."
Then the spaceship flew towards the intended valley. The spaceship landed 10 kilometers from the valley location.
"Be careful, follow me so as not to enter the void field."
The void field limited the power of any energy, even the spaceships couldn't get close to the valley so they had to walk through the valley.
On the way, Astrum asked: "Nulua, why didn't you choose a valley like this for the main village?"
"The village in this valley is good for hiding, but there are many monsters around this valley. It won't be safe for the young Beastros."
"Monsters?"
"Yeah, when our ancestors landed on Nexor, they thought that there were no living things here."
"But it turns out that there are some extremely ferocious beasts occupying this planet. We managed to hunt some of them down and find a place to live."
Traverse into the valley and enter the dark forest. On the way Nulua discussed with Astrum, she asked about the opportunities that Bi, Hiru, and Daal got. Astrum recounts his encounter with them and how to obtain an abundance of materials.
Nulua grew a little envious of the opportunity her comrades were getting but she also felt grateful that her comrades were free from Zax's control.
In the dark forest, they found a large swamp.
"Be careful, there are usually monsters hiding in this swamp."
Nulua led them around the swamp. Their group was walking very slowly because the entrance route to the village location was in a valley.
Suddenly there was a scream from behind. Everyone was on full alert.
Astrum tried to use his perceptual powers to track sounds from behind but his perceptual powers disappeared as he reached the swamp. He became wary of what was about to happen.
"Careful! Looks like we accidentally lure the monsters out!" Nulua ordered the troops to follow her.
From within the swamp, a large black root came out and spread rapidly. The Beastros troops immediately took out their claws and cut the black roots. The Beastros race did not use weapons, they used their physical strength when fighting.
Daal activated his ability and instantly disappeared.
Lilo jumped off Astrum's shoulder and looked at the root with a ferocious gaze.
From the swamp slowly emerged a large black figure with his arms forked like vines. The cut roots grew quickly and caught several Beastros.
There was an attack towards the black monster but it suddenly stopped before hitting the monster. It was Daal, now his body was exposed and bound by the roots of the monster's body.
Astrum saw this and immediately ordered his 3 Star Beasts to attack. The three Star Beasts rushed towards the monster. But as they drew closer to the swamp, their movements slowed and seemed to be slowly falling.
Astrum immediately activated his glyph to attack this monster.
"Stop it! Don't use star power!"
"This swamp has void fields! All star power will disappear!"
Nulua stops Astrum. He immediately rushed at the monster and cut the roots that caught his troops with his claws.
Astrum can't move forward because he doesn't carry any weapons and he can't use his glyphs either.
Lilo changed her shape to the size of a tiger and stepped forward towards the monster. Two of his hands caught the monster and the other two clawed at the monster's chest. Digging into the monster's chest and pulling out something like a black Pearl. The monster immediately fell along with the creeping roots.
Troops and Star Beasts managed to survive the monster attack thanks to Lilo's help. Nulua watched Lilo and was curious.
"Astrum, what animal is this?"
"This is my friend Lilo."
"I sensed it has star power but why isn't it affected by the void field?"
Astrum was also surprised by Lilo's ability.
Lilo brought the black pearl and handed it to Astrum. The Star Beasts did not dare to approach the Pearl, they seemed to be afraid of the Pearl.
Astrum held the Pearl and observed it. He did not find any energy fluctuations in the Pearl. Then he tried to use his perception ability. The instant he used it he felt his star energy being sucked in by this Pearl.
He immediately canceled his powers of perception.
"This thing absorbs star power!"
"Seems like that, our ancestors obtained Pearls similar to this when they managed to kill monsters like this."
"We still don't understand about this black pearl."
Nulua explained.
Before they continue their journey, Nulua rebukes Daal for recklessly attacking the monster with his star power.
"Sorry, on our continent there is no such thing."
"In your continent, there is no void field?" Nulua was curious about Daal's statement.
"No, on our continent there are monsters that can go berserk. When they go berserk their power increases by 3 times."
"Huh??" Nulua had never visited the Lon clan continent so she didn't know anything about their continent.
"In our continent, slain monsters emit a red Pearl."
"We used to attack monsters before they turned berserk."
Daal explained why he attacked the monster.
Astrum became more and more curious about the Pearl he was holding, he decided to study it later. Put the Pearl into his bag and continue the journey into the forest.
In this forest, they found some monsters and managed to get some black Pearls.
This forest was so big, it took them three days to explore it. After they passed through the forest, they saw from a distance a small valley.
"We're close, come on." Nulua led them into the valley.
As they got closer they saw the village of Beastros surrounded by stone walls. As they got closer they stopped right in front of a very high stone wall, at least the height of the stone wall was 10 meters.
"Nulua is here!" Nulua shouted in front of the high wall.
It wasn't long before two Beastros appeared on top of the wall.
"Nulua! You as one of the guardians of the Horn clan! Why did you bring troops to this village!" They shouted in angry tones they were very wary of visitors.
"We are looking for the Clan Chief!" Nulua replied by shouting.
"Why are you looking for the clan Chief!!"
"The situation has changed! We are now gathering the entire Horn clan to fight Zax!"
"Fight against Zax! How would we know if you weren't controlled by Zax!"