Their ship was still waiting for them, and by following Stallus’s suggestion to jump out of the portal instead of walking, they all landed on the ship.

"Are we still hunting today?" Stallus asked. Because back on land, they hunt two to three times a day.

Azaroth looked at the weather and then the gently rolling sea. The weather is cloudy and smells of rain. Since there’s no island nearby then won’t it be better to spend it away in the crypt?

And why did the crypt Master not include inside rooms for this big ship? Was it intentional? "Let’s eat and get ourselves ready for the next hunt."

Catena was the team’s group, and he went around collecting raw materials from them, from meat to water and any instrument. Then he sat down to start cooking their standard food. Boiled monster meat.

Azaroth sat at the head of the ship, where he practiced moving the ship; he placed his hand on the place where a formation was already imprinted and sent his essence in; the ship rocked and leaped forward.

He quickly withdrew his essence, frowning at it.

"You have to be careful of the amount of essence you inject inside," Stallus said. "Small if you want it to move slowly, but if at full speed, then you can put a big bust. You have to will it right or left if you want to turn."

Azaroth nodded, and while Catena cooked, he practiced moving the ship around its surroundings. The reason was that he didn’t know what might happen in the future, so it’s better he learned now that he has the chance.

Once the food gets ready, they quickly swallow it; they learn th arday that it’s better to eat a monster’s meat while it’s still hot. After food, Azaroth cleaned his weapon, and then he did some stretching exercises to get his blood flowing once again.

The weather didn’t bother them like that because they covered their body in essence, which kept them from getting cold.

"Alright," Azaroth said. That’s the signal for everyone to stand up and get ready for the next hunt. Even though they knew it was there, they all checked their weapons, and Stallus counted her cut crystals.

It was exactly then that something happened. A presence suddenly appeared in the middle of the ship. It was small, but to the Awakener that had been hunting monsters for months, they reacted with speed. They turned, and with essence distributed to a necessary part of their body, they uncoiled toward it like a spring.

Their weapons pointed directly at the THING. They blinked because what they were looking at was a small translucent... was that a doll in the shape of a human bird? That’s the only way to describe it, with the head of a bird and a white and black body.

"Wow." It said. "You guys are good!"

"You can speak?!" Stallus blurted out in surprise. This was the first time she would be seeing a talking monster. "A monster bird that can talk?"

The bird huffed in irritation. "Monsters can talk when they reach a level in their advancement. But anyway! That’s not why I’m here, I’m here on behalf of my master. Of myself."

Now that Azaroth was calm and felt the aura coming from the bird thing he noticed something familiar. "Crypt Master?"

The little bird rolled his dark beady eyes. "I’m not...well, I am, but still! The thing is I’m part of the crypt Master. I’m him but like a second consciousness? Or is it an alter ego? A clone? Anyway! I’m here on behalf of the crypt Master!"

"He can’t come here himself," Alex said.

The little bird flew towards him and shook his finger in Alex’s face. "Come here now, do you think the crypt Master will only focus on you? He has a lot of responsibilities, you know! So many territories to overlook...!"

That grappled Azaroth’s attention. "So we are not the only ones here." That’s already been confirmed with that woman who fought them the other time, but what Azaroth didn’t understand was what exactly this place was. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Of course not! You little kids don’t even know the true nature of the training crypt. Even that name is disgusting! To call one of the original...." the bird blinked as he watched the attention focused on him. His expression dropped. "I shouldn’t have said that."

Azaroth’s eyes glinted. So, this training crypt is more than just a training crypt. His suspicions are coming together. Can this be a world on its own? "Tell me more." He demanded.

The little bird bristled. "How dare you make demands from me! I am part of the crypt Master and you must award me with the same respect as him!"

Azaroth waved him away and turned towards the sea. "He’s no longer useful," he said under his breath but aloud. "Let’s get ready to jump into a crypt."

The bird didn’t like that, but unfortunately, it did not have the full power of the crypt Master. Not even half, but he can do some tricks. "By the authority given to me, all crypt activities END!" Immediately it said that the air trembled.

Azaroth felt a chill in the air, and the essence that flowed around obeyed the word of the little bird. The surface of all the crypts ripped, and then the light died down in them; their surface turned glass-like.

The team turned from the crypt and then to the bird in awe even Azaroth was taken aback. Even the crypt Master didn’t do something like this.

"Wow! You are so powerful! I don’t know if you can do something like this! This kind of power! Just how powerful are you." Alex asked, moving towards the little bird.

The little bird ate up the praise. "Ah! Really. That’s just something small. I can do a lot more and..."

They all felt it at once and looked up. The sky was boiling and formed a giant face of the crypt Master with dark clouds for hair and lighting for eyes.