NOVEL NEXT Chapter 311: Capture
Edrin watched Timira, who showed zero panic under the siege of the remaining four and was even deliberately pulling her punches. Her heart sank.
WHAM!
Another figure went flying, landing right on top of Dell and Edrin.
"So damn heavy!"
"Melinda, get off me! I can't breathe!"
After a chaotic pile-up, the three badly beaten women looked at each other and groaned.
Edrin spoke up:
"Did you feel it?"
Dell asked, confused:
"Feel what?"
Melinda nodded:
"I felt it."
Dell lost it. Despite being beat to hell and unable to move, she still had the strength to bellow:
"You two! What the hell did you feel?"
Edrin rubbed her forehead:
"Moron, it's the lack of killing intent!"
Dell was lost:
"Killing intent? What killing intent? How come I didn't feel jack?"
Melinda said in a heavy voice:
"No killing intent—that's what's all wrong. Last time, Timira also had no killing intent. Otherwise..."
Dell slowly started getting it, muttering:
"True... This hunt feels just like everyday sparring between buddies... I can't even work up any real bloodlust..."
Edrin looked at Dell with surprise—she hadn't expected Dell to nail it so perfectly.
"Hey! What's with that look?"
Dell was pissed. She was Sequence 3 after all—how could she be like some clueless idiot?
Suddenly, Melinda said seriously:
"Do you think there's a chance Timira was telling the truth?"
Dell was lost again:
"Huh?"
While Edrin nodded like crazy:
"The odds keep getting better and better."
Dell had had it:
"You two!!!"
A rocket headbutt charged toward the two riddle-masters.
Because of their serious injuries, Edrin and Melinda couldn't dodge at all and could only watch Dell crash into them.
"Ow!" x2
...
"Dell, let go! You can't touch there!"
"Hmph, cheapskate. Look, Melinda isn't complaining!"
"Oh crap, Melinda passed out!"
After another chaotic pile-up, the three women got back to their 'peaceful' vibe...
...
Dell said hesitantly:
"So... you're saying Timira might not have gone dark?"
Edrin's face showed relief:
"Finally, you get it."
Anger marks popped up on Dell's head as she prepped another rocket headbutt. Edrin quickly begged for mercy.
Watching her teammates' antics, Melinda said quietly:
"That's the only way this makes sense. Otherwise we could be toast today."
"..."
Both women went quiet. They didn't want to die, at least not right now...
...
In the nearby battle, Kana, as the heavy hitter, kept launching brutal attacks. Her whale tail was wrapped in bone-chilling cold, each strike packing serious ice power.
But Timira's defense was rock solid. Wielding her whale hammer in the collisions, she weathered all of Kana's offense.
On top of that, during this whole time, Timira casually swatted away the two approaching Sequence 2s.
Timira's eyes held a hint of amusement:
"Kana, you're not cutting it."
Kana's pupils shrank, her expression ice-cold, and the air around them dropped several more degrees.
"Tsk tsk tsk, mad?"
Timira kept poking at Kana.
This was her old bad habit.
Kana and she had become Whale Scale Hunters in the same group, so Timira always gave her 'special treatment.'
Over time, the already quiet Kana single-mindedly focused only on getting stronger, her personality growing colder and colder.
...
Kana's heart was heavy.
This power... way beyond Timira's old strength.
As Sequence 1, Kana could be said to be the person who knew Timira best.
In the past, even when getting her ass kicked repeatedly, she could vaguely sense where Timira's strength topped out.
But this time was totally different. She couldn't see Timira's limits at all—her power seemed endless.
Had Timira really gone dark?
Otherwise, there was no explaining why her strength had shot up so much.
The longer the battle dragged on, the heavier Kana's heart got.
Of the six-person hunting squad, three were already down for the count, and the other two were in critical shape.
"Hahaha! Timira! Bring it on!"
Ursula and Julian, muscles bulging, swung their iron fists with excitement, clashing with Timira.
Even though their fists were already bloody messes, their fighting spirit stayed sky-high.
"Nice power."
Timira gave them props.
The next second, both women went flying, landing way off in the distance...
...
"Too heavy!"
"Quick, get them off me!"
Poor Dell got crushed again until she could barely breathe.
She took both mental and physical abuse again.
...
"Want to keep going, Kana?"
Timira planted her whale hammer in the ground, grinning 'wickedly.'
Kana's stare grew even colder. She finally spoke her first words since they'd met:
"Timira, you shouldn't have come here."
Timira was caught off guard:
"Kana, what are you talking about?"
Kana shook her head slightly, flashed several times, and pulled back to that pile of badly hurt teammates.
Hm?
Timira suddenly turned to look somewhere else, spotting a tiny figure stumbling over...
...
...
On the flip side, the two women captured by Blood Silver:
"So it rescued us?"
Andrea quickly sorted through everything and fell into deep thought.
"Rescued? It clearly nabbed us!"
Virginia listlessly counted the clouds drifting by the roadside.
With her power gone, unable to fight back, and way up in the air, Virginia was out of options.
"Cough cough cough, no, it really was a rescue."
Though still weak, it didn't stop Andrea from thinking.
"It killed the Split Glutton like it was playing a game. You can see its strength is off the charts—we two probably don't even register on its radar.
But it used mysterious abilities to save you from nearly going dark and helped patch up my injuries.
This doesn't match its earlier playful behavior, so I figure someone told it to save us."
"Andrea, you're incredible!"
Virginia's jaw dropped.
Though not the first time seeing it, Andrea's smarts still blew her away.
"Moo!"
Blood Silver also gave props—this little ant had a sharp brain, actually figuring out its master existed.
"..." x2
Blood Silver's sudden response left both women kind of speechless.
Andrea quickly caught on—this monster could understand what they were saying.
Virginia yelped in surprise:
"You can understand human talk!"
Moo?
Blood Silver somehow felt slightly insulted.
Then...
"Ahhh!!!"
Virginia started experiencing the thrilling ride of falling from way up high, getting quickly lifted and dropped over and over...
But Andrea didn't beg for her buddy.
She could tell this monster was just messing around a bit without any real killing intent.
Able to shut down whale magic and specifically save two hunters who had beef with Whale Fort...
An enemy force?