Vur stopped in front of a seal, causing Gren to turn her head and frown. “What?” the cursed dragon asked. “Did you sense something?”

A grumbling sound came out of Vur’s stomach, and he pointed at the crystal pane. Beyond it, there was a massive, sleeping bear. It was dark blue, and yellow dots were sprinkled throughout its fur, similar to stars dotting the night sky. “Is that a bear?” Vur asked and gulped, swallowing his drool.

Gren furrowed her brow and took a few steps back. She peered at the crystal pane and frowned. “That’s the Star Ursula,” she said. “Although it’s shaped like a bear, it wouldn’t really be right to classify it as a bear. It was born from the earth; when it emerged, a mountain collapsed. It’s sealed here because every step it takes causes the world to wobble.”

“It’s so heavy?” Vur asked and pressed his face against the crystal pane. The Star Ursula seemed to have noticed, and it raised its massive blue head to look at him. Its legs were stuck in the ground, and the only part of its body that could move was its head and tail.

“It’s not heavy,” Gren said and shook her head. “It’s also not very strong. It was just born with the ability to shake the earth.” Her face scrunched up, and she looked at Vur. “Is Sera still together with that gold dragon? His abilities are related to the Star Ursula’s but not as overbearing. If Gloria makes a pact with the Star Ursula, she might be even stronger than your father when it comes to commanding gravity.”

The Star Ursula snorted and raised its head as if it were agreeing with Gren’s words. It looked down on Vur from the corner of its eyes.

“Does it understand what you’re saying?” Stella asked, poking her head out of Vur’s chest. “I thought these guys were properly sealed.”

Gren shrugged. “Don’t underestimate it just because it’s sealed,” she said. “It probably knows how to read body language.”

Stella blinked and raised an eyebrow before putting her thumbs inside her ears. She opened her hands and stuck her tongue out at the bear while wiggling her eight free fingers. The Star Ursula snorted and roared, but the sound it made didn’t come through the sealed crystal. Stella lowered her hands and giggled before retreating back inside of Vur.

Gren glanced at Vur’s chest before turning back to look at the bear. It lowered its head again and stared at the two creatures standing outside its seal. “Come on,” Gren said. “Let’s not waste anymore time here. I have a bad feeling in my stomach, and that doesn’t happen very often.” She glanced around. “It feels like something’s watching us.”

Vur acted as if he didn’t hear a single word Gren had said. He swallowed again. He looked at Gren and pointed at the bear. “Can I eat it?”

The Star Ursula’s eyes widened, and it reared back its head while tilting it to the side. Although sound couldn’t be transmitted through the seal, Gren understood what the bear was trying to say. In fact, she had the same exact question as it. Of course, she asked the question in a much more civilized manner than the bear would’ve. “You want to eat the Star Ursula?”

“Yes,” Vur said and licked his lips. “Can I?” He blinked when Gren didn’t respond. At this time, he remembered Tafel’s words. He couldn’t just demand someone else’s belongings; they would think that he was rude and be unwilling to comply with his request. Vur nodded. “I’ll pay you.” He tapped on the brown runes on his forearm. “Deedee, do you have any gold?”

“Wait,” Gren said and furrowed her brow. “Why do you want to eat the Star Ursula?”

“It looks delicious.”

Gren blinked. “It’s fine if you want to eat other sealed evils, but the Star Ursula is actually pretty compliant. It’s formed pacts with cursed dragons in the past; although it hasn’t formed a pact in these recent years, that doesn’t mean it won’t in the future.”

“So, I can’t eat it?” Vur asked and tilted his head.

“How about this?” Gren asked and pointed at the sealed room further ahead. “There’s another bear-shaped evil in that room. It refuses to make any pacts, and all it does is take up space and mana. If you can kill it, you can eat it.”

Vur glanced at the Star Ursula, a clear look of regret in his eyes. He walked ahead to the room Gren pointed at. Like she said, there was another bear there. It had red fur, and there were black stripes on its body. When it raised its head to look at Vur, its fur rippled, and the stripes moved like flames. Vur didn’t even wait for Gren’s introduction of the bear. He kicked the crystal pane, shattering it into hundreds of glittering pieces. With a roar, he pounced forward, his body transforming into that of a dragon’s midleap.

The Star Ursula stretched its neck, craning its head forward. It angled itself to look further down the corridor. From where it was positioned, it could clearly see black flames spurting from the no-longer-sealed room up ahead. Then, jets of blood flew out of the room. Then, a severed bear’s paw struck the wall. Thanks to the seal, the Star Ursula couldn’t feel any vibrations, but it noticed dust falling from the ceiling in the corridor. After a few seconds passed, the dust stopped falling. Even though it was boring to wait, it wasn’t like the Star Ursula had anything else to do. It stared down the corridor, and after several minutes, a blue dragon’s head popped out of the no-longer-sealed room. Its face was covered in blood. The dragon head shrank and morphed, turning into the human that had asked for permission to eat the Star Ursula. The human walked over and picked up the severed bear paw, brought the paw to his mouth, and took a bite. The human seemed to have noticed the Star Ursula’s gaze, and he turned his head to give the bear a look while chewing on the bear flesh in his mouth. The Star Ursula gulped and quickly brought its head away from the seal. It wanted to cover its eyes with its paws, but its legs were firmly rooted in the ground. The bear had understood what the cursed dragon had said, and the Star Ursula promised itself to form a pact with the next dragon that asked.

***

In a sealed space not too far away, Kozabokget lay on the ground with a stiff expression on her face. White light washed over her, coming from a constant stream from the tiny hole in the crystal seal. Despite that, her expression didn’t get any better. She seemed to have witnessed something terrifying.