Death... and me

Rean then looked behind him as he couldn't help but narrow his eyes. Even though the twins' actions forced the small white dragon to divert its attack, some of the light beans still hit the Armored Salamander. She wasn't able to defend that well, so she received quite the injuries over her body, breaking a few parts of her armor. Fortunately, it wasn't anything serious as nothing vital was hit.

Of course, the small white dragon didn't like what the twins did. "Why did you do that? If I hadn't changed the direction of the attack and protected your group, you would all be dead right now."

Rean and Roan understood one thing about this Lost Star Selection, the white dragon couldn't do anything to the cultivators trying to be selected for it. They were certain that the small white dragon would have to change the trajectory of its attacks if they intervened. Otherwise, they wouldn't have jumped in front of the salamander. As to why they did that, neither Rean nor Roan liked to own favors. Rean saved the Star Armored Salamander's son's life, and in exchange, she allowed them to obtain their second mark.

However, the marks were worth much more in their eyes than what Rean did for the mother Armored Salamander. After all, healing was something way too easy for Rean at the moment. Last but not least, they simply didn't like the idea that she had to die just because she helped them.

"What else would be a reason as to why would we do that? She helped us get here, so we can't let her die just like that, you know? Come on! If you had a child, you would also do anything to protect it, even break these weird rules of yours. Can't you just let her go? I doubt she'll break the rules again."

Hearing that, the small white dragon looked at the twins and then at the Armored Salamander's giant body. He had been in charge of delivering Dragon Marks for a very, very long time. However, this was the first time he had ever seen someone try to protect one of the Lost Star Realm's ancient beasts. "You know you won't gain anything from your actions, right?"

Roan snorted in response, saying, "Hmph! We don't need anything else to start with. Just let her go, and then we'll leave as well. If helping us is breaking the rules, then protecting us with the barrier is also breaking the rules."

The small dragon was taken aback to hear that, saying in response, "I protected you because attacking the participants is prohibited for the beings in this Lost Star Realm."

"It's also prohibited to protect them, and you did just that," Rean smiled as he said that. "So, how about we pretend that nothing happened? We won't tell anyone about what happened, and neither will you. We all know you definitely have some authority here, so you can do that at least once, right?"

Surprisingly, the small white dragon seemed to clearly be in an internal conflict after that. However, a few moments later, it decided to let it go. "Fine! It's true that you're playing with the rules to force my hands. However, it's not like I want to kill that Star Armored Salamander either. It's very hard for ancient beasts to attain intelligence, and she's one of the very few who did."

The small white dragon then looked at the Star Armored Salamander, telling her, "Since that's the case, you might as well protect them until they leave the Lost Star Realm. Consider that a way to pay for their intervention and their meddling with the rules."

The twins' group was shocked to hear that. Protect them? The Armored Salamander? Wouldn't that mean they were invincible in this Lost Star Realm?

Of course, the small white dragon knew what they were thinking. "However, you can only protect them. You can't kill anyone as it would be too much for the other beast mark givers to accept."

Naturally, the mother Armored Salamander was delighted to hear that she wouldn't have to die today.

*Roar! Rooorr, roarwwww...*

The twins didn't understand what she was trying to say at all, but they could guess that she simply accepted the task with glee. It was a lot better than being killed, after all.

After that, the lava pool under the volcano opened again as the small white dragon dove into it. It then returned to its previous state as if nothing had happened at all.

Roan couldn't help but sigh after that. "I had a lot more things to ask him..."

Kentucky nodded, saying, "Me too. I wanted to know what we should expect on the other plane. That little girl said that Divine Origin Energy isn't the only thing there."

Hurio and Lilia, who had been silent until now, didn't get what they wanted, though. "In the end, he didn't tell us anything that can be used to survive through the Light Element Wave."

Rean looked at those two like they were idiots, tilting his head as he told them, "What are you talking about? Lilia can totally make it through the last eight waves now."

"I can?" Lilia didn't understand where Rean got that idea from. "How?"

Rean then pointed at the gigantic Armored Salamander on their side. "The white dragon told her that she had to protect us until we left the Lost Star Realm. With the mother Armored Salamander's power, she can totally keep Lilia safe until all ten waves have gone through. It's just that she'll be leaving the Lost Star Realm much later than us since those that are sent into the second plane are teleported out one week later.

*Rooorr...*

The Mother Salamander seemed to have understood what Rean said and nodded while roaring a little. Her duty would only be finished once Rean's group, which included Lilia, was all outside the Lost Star Realm.

Lilia and Hurio's eyes lit up when they saw that. "Great!"

With that, Hurio's main concern was finally solved. In fact, Lilia would be one of the best-protected cultivators in the entire Lost Star Realm, so he couldn't hope for more.

Nevertheless, Rean was curious about one thing. "Why did the small white dragon order the salamander to protect us, though?"