I Became the Villainess, But My Beast Husbands Can Hear My Mind?!-Chapter 170: The Dark Path (2)

Azul turned back, ready to return to Roxanna and Calen. But after only three steps, a sudden gust of icy wind tore through the maze, and it came from behind him.

It was so cold that he shivered. Even at that exact moment, Azul still couldn’t sense anything. But suddenly, he heard a low growl right behind him.

"Oh, damn—"

Azul couldn’t finish his words because the dark being behind him suddenly dragged him into the darkness.

Roxanna’s eyes widened. "AZUL!" she screamed, shouting so hard that her throat began to ache.

Without thinking, she dashed forward, but Calen immediately grabbed her arm. "Stop!" he shouted. "It’s dangerous if you run into the darkness like that!"

Her heart pounded wildly, as if it might burst from her chest. She couldn’t even blink, her eyes locked on the darkness ahead.

"We can’t just let that thing take him!" she cried. She spun toward Calen, her voice shaking. "I came here with Azul to save you."

Her lips trembled. "So we’re leaving this place together—the three of us—or not at all."

The moment Calen heard Roxanna’s trembling voice, something snapped inside his mind, as if he had just awakened from a long nightmare.

Calen’s grip loosened, not because he wanted to let Roxanna go, but because something inside him had shifted.

The panic that had been choking his thoughts only moments ago began to fade. The trembling in his chest steadied, replaced by an unfamiliar clarity.

Azul had been taken.

Roxanna was terrified.

But he was standing there, frozen like a helpless bystander.

No, he could not lose to this maze. For days, he had thought he would end up alone in this place forever, but Roxanna and Azul had come to bring him home.

Not only that, Cyrus and Luan had helped Roxanna bring back a talented doctor from the Golden Mountain, a place filled with danger. Meanwhile, Zeir had made sure that no one would harm his real body.

They had tried their best to save him, so the last thing he could do was stop acting like a coward and straighten his back.

"We’re not leaving him," he said. His voice gradually became calmer than before, and his eyes slowly filled with determination. "But still, we can’t just walk into the darkness without any preparation."

"I don’t know what kind of monster is in there, but if it were hungry, it would have eaten me yesterday," Calen said. He took a deep breath, then continued, "But I’m still here, so maybe... the monster won’t kill Azul either."

There was no guarantee of that. But since they hadn’t heard Azul’s screams, there was a possibility that the monster hadn’t killed him.

[Side Mission Activated: Tame the One in the Dark.]

[Goal: Make the hidden monster trust you.]

[Reward: 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Increase Calen’s Affection Points to 35%

+10 Days Lifespan.]

[Warning: Failure may result in increased hostility, mental shock, and loss of a party member.]

Roxanna froze upon hearing the system’s voice.

Tame the monster in the dark? She didn’t even know anything about that creature, so how could she possibly tame it?!

And what did "loss of a party member" mean?! Did that mean she could lose either Azul or Calen?

[Ridiculous! The system is being ridiculous!] Roxanna raged inwardly. [How dare you give that kind of penalty?!]

The system immediately replied. [That is not a penalty, Host. The system is only issuing a warning and a prediction should you fail to complete the side mission.]

[The system may not be perfect, but it won’t directly punish you by killing your husbands.]

Roxanna initially didn’t want to believe it, but after thinking about it for a while, she realized that the system had indeed never given her that kind of penalty.

Even the penalty the system gave when she failed to bring a doctor for Calen had only been a natural consequence.

But still, whether that penalty came from the system or was simply a natural cause, she didn’t want it to happen.

"What’s wrong?" Calen asked. Though he could hear the argument between Roxanna and the invisible being in her head, he still asked.

"No, it’s just..." Roxanna bit her lower lip before continuing. "I don’t want to lose any of you. I should... I should have come here alone instead of bringing Azul with me. What—"

"He came here because he wanted to," Calen cut in quickly. "You never forced Azul to come, so whatever happens, none of it is your fault."

Roxanna’s lips trembled. She didn’t know what to say because, for some reason, her mind couldn’t think clearly.

"Roxanna, focus," Calen warned. "I know you can summon many things from your magic portal, but do you have a weapon we can use to fight the monster in the dark?"

Roxanna closed her eyes for a moment and nodded. "I can try to find a weapon," she said. Then she added, "But... is it possible to tame the monster instead of killing it?"

She didn’t know whether there would be consequences if they killed the monster instead of taming it. But no matter how small the possibility, Roxanna didn’t want to take the risk.

"I don’t know," Calen said honestly. "I don’t know much about that monster for now, but... we can try to tame it if that’s what you want."

He knew from her thoughts that the invisible being seemed to be asking her to tame the monster. He didn’t understand why she had to tame it, but if that was what she needed to do, Calen would do his best to help her.

"But we still need a weapon," Calen said. "If something goes wrong, at least we’ll have something to defend ourselves."

Roxanna nodded quickly. But when she looked at the floating panel before her, she realized she only had one weapon, a magical bow.

It was very useful, but that type of weapon was better suited for long-range combat, not close-range fighting within the darkness.

[You can also search for weapons in the system’s market, Host!]

[But as a reminder, the weapons in the market are very expensive, though they are worth buying!]