NOVEL NEXT Chapter 308: Purpose
"What?"
Everyone there stared at Kana in shock.
"Could it be the Sequence 4s?"
Sequence 2 Ursula threw out her guess, earning "are you kidding me" looks from her buddies.
"The Sequence 4s are way below our league. How the hell could it be them?"
Kana glanced at her teammates and said with zero emotion:
"Let's roll. That last person is our ace in the hole against Timira—they'll show up when it's showtime."
After saying that, she turned and walked off...
"Is that right?"
"Ace in the hole..."
"Hunting a fallen Sequence 0—just thinking about it gets my blood pumping!"
"Let's move, let's move..."
Ursula, Julian, Dell, and Edrin were riding high with confidence about hunting the fallen Sequence 0.
This was because they were battle-tested veterans who felt that even if they were weaker than Sequence 0, they weren't that much weaker.
Only Melinda, who'd actually thrown down with Timira, stayed quiet with a heavy heart.
Nobody knew what Sequence 1 Kana could really do in a fight.
But she knew damn well how strong Sequence 2s Ursula and Julian were, plus Sequence 3s Dell and Edrin, from all their sparring sessions.
They couldn't possibly pose a threat to Timira in that state.
Ace in the hole...
Melinda's gut was telling her that Whale Fort's hidden trump card was the real deal for this hunt!
...
...
White Forest, edge of nowhere.
A carriage slowly rolled out. Tall Blood Silver, like it had scored a shiny new toy, excitedly drove the carriage hauling ass toward the horizon...
...
Inside the carriage, Timira sat quietly, staring out the window like she was chewing on something.
"Don't bother guessing. What I'm after is pretty straightforward."
Carlos's stare seemed to cut right through people, immediately getting Timira's full attention.
"Mind filling me in, my lord?"
Carlos was entertained. Calling him lord wasn't off base—that ice wall and the territory spreading out from it could definitely be called his turf in a way.
"These past few days, you should've figured out crystal clear that only Tidal pathway sublimation can change the screwed-up fate of Whale Scale Hunters not living long."
Timira nodded:
"You mean..."
Carlos gently swirled his teacup:
"This world's already a nightmare. You've been through enough hell. I figure transforming all the Whale Scale Hunters to be like you wouldn't be too tough."
Timira was floored. Thinking about those Whale Scale Hunters who generally kicked the bucket early, she felt genuinely grateful to Carlos from the bottom of her soul.
"If that's the case, I'll give it everything I've got!"
Carlos smiled slightly:
"Changing your fate is just something I'm doing on the side. My real goal is tracking down where Whale Fort actually is and getting my hands on something from there."
"Whale Fort..."
Timira went quiet.
Honestly, she had no clue where the real Whale Fort was either.
Even though she'd been there before, Whale Fort wasn't planted in one spot—it moved around constantly.
Once it switched locations, only when those blue-robed guys actively reached out could Whale Scale Hunters find their way there.
Carlos knew Timira was in the dark, but given Whale Fort's connection with Whale Scale Hunters, there had to be some among them who knew where Whale Fort was holed up.
"Should we head north instead? I know where to find some other Whale Scale Hunters."
Timira jumped right in with a suggestion. She was dying to change her companions' tragic fate.
But Carlos shook his head slightly:
"Nope. We're gonna take down a Fallen Commander."
...
...
By a riverbank:
"Hey, Virginia?"
A whale-tailed woman's nose twitched as she caught a familiar scent and made a surprised noise.
Another whale-tailed woman threw up her hands with amusement:
"Pretty shocking, right Andrea?"
Two Whale Scale Hunters had bumped into each other. They looked at each other and burst out laughing:
"Been way too long!" x2
After some quick catching up, both women's grins vanished.
Andrea's eyes were wrapped in thick bandages, obviously blind as a bat.
"It's that mission, isn't it?"
"Yep, that's the one."
Weird shit had been going down in the Daze River region. First villages got massacred by monsters, then those same monsters got slaughtered by something unknown.
Blood turned the river red, and then several more villages got hit with the same tragedy.
"According to Whale Fort's best guess, the next target's gonna be Red Shrimp Village downstream in the Daze River region."
Virginia laid out the mission details, but Andrea suddenly cut in:
"Virginia, why do you think Whale Fort sent just the two of us?"
Virginia looked puzzled, clearly confused why Andrea would bring that up.
Then she heard Andrea say:
"Distance-wise, neither you nor I are the hunters closest to this place. Skill-wise, neither of us are cut out for this kind of investigation gig. Power-wise, how does it make sense for a weakling like me from Sequence 10 and below to team up with a Sequence 4 like you?"
Hearing this, Virginia instinctively agreed:
"Yeah, what's up with that?"
Andrea said slowly:
"The only reason could be something we both have in common."
"In common?"
At that mention, both women clammed up.
After a long stretch, Virginia said bitterly:
"Could it be that Whale Fort knows about our secret digging around?"
Andrea nodded:
"Maybe they know, maybe they don't. Most likely our sketchy behavior got their attention."
"Just suspicion?"
Virginia could barely wrap her head around it.
But Andrea shook her head slightly:
"Isn't suspicion enough? The source of all this weirdness is probably some badass Fallen One. Whale Fort wants to use its claws to wipe out us two troublemakers. Isn't this exactly the kind of crap that made us decide to investigate Whale Fort in the first place? Just because it's about to happen to us, you can't deal with it?"
At those words, Virginia instantly got her head straight:
"How could I not deal with it? I gave up on Whale Fort being the good guys ages ago. What do we do now?"
Andrea looked at Virginia with confusion:
"You're Sequence 4—shouldn't you be calling the shots?"
Virginia couldn't help but roll her eyes:
"Fine, I'll admit my brain isn't as sharp as yours. I'm following your lead this time."
Andrea's mouth curved up just a bit. She knew she'd established who was really running things between them.
"Right now we're staring down a death trap."
"Death trap?"
Virginia didn't seem convinced. She said bluntly:
"If we don't show up, won't we dodge Whale Fort's trap?"
But Andrea let out a dry laugh:
"Moron. If you can figure that out, how could the Whale Fort bigwigs who want us dead not think of it too?"
Virginia felt like she needed to grow a brain and decided to zip it and wait for Andrea's wisdom.
Hearing Virginia's obedient response, Andrea felt a bit thrown off. She sighed:
"If we're no-shows, Whale Fort will definitely brand us as deserters, and hunting squads will come gunning for us personally. You got the balls to take them on or give them the slip?"