"Heh heh heh! Your boss is definitely going to lose! My boss is the strongest, meow!"
Unnoticed, Meow-Da was already standing not far from Tsukishiro Yanagi, hands on hips, speaking with immense satisfaction.
The Guardian Shield originally on his head had been put away at some point. He looked at the two people in front of him on the battlefield, who seemed to be charging up for their final strikes.
That fluffy tail behind him was unconsciously perking up, wagging gently in excitement.
Not far behind him was Soukaku, who had chased him until she was exhausted, hands on knees, gasping for breath, completely unable to run anymore.
Meow-Da naturally knew the iron rule that Dragon-hunting weapons must not be used against people. He also knew that if Andrew used a Dragon-hunting weapon against a person, he would basically be saying goodbye to his identity as a Hunter forever.
Regarding Andrew's appearance of preparing to really strike back, he showed no intention of going up to stop him.
After all, as the saying goes:
[If Boss is doing this, he must have his reasons, meow.
—by Meow-Da]
Even if Boss really lost his Hunter identity because of this... without the Hunter identity, Boss is still Boss. This fact will never change.
Whatever Boss decides to do then, I'll just change professions and follow him.
Following Boss is the most important thing, meow.
Besides, if Boss really doesn't want the Hunter identity, it must be because insisting on the Hunter identity now is what's wrong.
After following Boss for so many years, Boss's decisions have never been wrong!
However, hearing Meow-Da's trash talk, Soukaku, who was originally out of breath behind him, immediately became unhappy.
Ignoring her panting, she immediately raised her head and retorted loudly:
"Nonsense! My Chief is the most amazing! Chief took down a monster as big as a building just like swish swish swish before! Your boss is the one who's gonna lose!"
As if to enhance her persuasiveness, Soukaku opened her arms and gestured constantly, as if trying to describe exactly how big that Ethereal was.
But hearing Soukaku's description, Meow-Da wasn't scared at all; instead, he raised his chin even higher.
He immediately said proudly:
"Hmph hmph! My boss hunted several monsters known as incarnations of Disasters back in the New World, and later even hunted 'Forbidden' ones! And Boss was also the first place winner of the New World Investigation Team's Dung Pod Contest, meow!"
Why is the first place in a Dung Pod Contest something to be more proud of than hunting several Elder Dragons to Meow-Da?!
Why save that for last?!
Listening to the dispute between Soukaku and Meow-Da not far away, Andrew managed with great difficulty to hold back the face-palm motion that would ruin his current aura.
Meanwhile, Hoshimi Miyabi in front of him, seemingly waiting for him to get ready, continued to silently accumulate power as if she hadn't noticed anything.
Although Andrew and Hoshimi Miyabi were still charging up, Soukaku and Meow-Da couldn't hold back first.
"Wu wu wu!"
"Wu meow meow meow!"
The next moment, the two directly wrestled together with their bare hands like little children.
Watching Soukaku and Meow-Da wrestling in a ball, scratching faces and pulling fur, Tsukishiro Yanagi was speechless for a moment.
At this moment, she felt like a kindergarten principal watching two kids in the garden fighting.
Wait, they really seem to be two kids?
As the commotion from Soukaku and Meow-Da fighting traveled over, even Hoshimi Miyabi, whose attention had been firmly locked on Andrew, couldn't help but be distracted for a split second.
Although extremely short.
But Andrew had waited until now just for this instant.
His left hand holding the sword wiped across his waist, and a piece of treasure with un-known-mean-ing was stuffed into the Slinger on his right arm with lightning speed.
And because of the shield's cover, no one could see what was hidden in the Slinger.
After completing all this, Andrew, having successfully obtained the final piece of the puzzle, gave up the standoff without hesitation.
Clang.
With the sound of Andrew inserting the sword once again into the shield, which had entered the Attribute Release state, Tsukishiro Yanagi's attention was instantly pulled back to Andrew.
Different from the sounds of the blade and shield combining the previous few times.
Compared to the dull sound like rubbing stones before.
Even though the weapon was made of bone materials, when the sword was inserted into the shield to combine, it emitted a sound of metal clashing like spears and armored horses.
This time, Andrew's weapon did not transform into a generic shape like Hoshimi Miyabi had seen when hunting monsters before.
As his left hand slowly applied force, Andrew chose to pull the combined sword out of the shield again.
As the blade was slowly pulled out from the shield's slot, a scorching aura was like a warm current breaking through ice. The moment it swept out, it directly dispersed the cold air on the square caused by the Frost Flames.
Light.
Crimson light, identical to the shield's, enveloped the entire blade.
As the blade was completely pulled out, an unparalleled sense of danger instantly made the hairs of the two people watching Andrew stand on end.
It was as if all the energy of the attack that swept through everything before was condensed into this small blade.
As Andrew completely pulled out the blade, the blade that had entered the Attribute Release state finally released the power it was supposed to have at this moment.
The overflowing energy turned into visible fine lightning upon detachment, constantly twisting and jumping on the blade, making a crackling sound as it shattered the air.
The moment it landed on the ground, the terrifying energy struck out small scorched marks.
His arm fell gently; before even touching the ground, the sharp aura pointed at by the sword tip had already carved a deep mark in the ground.
Without stopping to wait for Hoshimi Miyabi's move.
Andrew raised both arms together, the sword and shield emitting crimson light pointing straight at Hoshimi Miyabi, who was also waiting in full battle array.
Terrifying energies shone upon each other, as if about to shatter everything in front of them.
His legs bulged slightly, powerful strength accumulating in them. The ground, as if unable to bear the strength accumulating in Andrew's legs, began to crack constantly.
As the power continued to accumulate, the cracks even began to get larger and larger.
With Andrew's actions, Hoshimi Miyabi's intuition, cultivated through countless battles, began to sound the alarm frantically.
Danger.
Danger beyond common sense.
In her perception, the place Andrew's blade could reach had turned into a restricted zone. The sense of danger, like thorns on her back, even exceeded all the opponents she had faced before.
But even though her sixth sense was sounding the alarm frantically, Hoshimi Miyabi had no intention of retreating.
Ether energy began to gather frantically in 'Wuwei', and the charge of 'Frost Moon' gradually accumulated from the original first stage to the peak of the third stage.
"Huu..."
As a breath of cold air was slowly exhaled from her mouth, the burning fighting spirit could no longer be suppressed.
The atmosphere between the two became explosive.
"Frost..."
Just before the word "Moon" could be spoken, a huge and deep roar rang out one step faster than her.
"Flash Bomb Ripple Sprint!"
There was no Ripple, only the Sprint.
With a slight sound of breaking air, the un-known-mean-ing thrown object was launched instantly.
"Bang!"
The next moment, intense bright light directly enveloped the entire square, followed by an instant boom like a Sonic Bomb.
As a Fox Thiren, having four sound channels made Hoshimi Miyabi's hearing keen, but also made her have even less resistance to huge sound wave attacks.
And staring at Andrew with full concentration caused her eyes to be directly dazzled by the strong light while caught off guard.
Tsukishiro Yanagi, who was also watching Andrew nervously, also didn't escape this move. Although she was further away than Hoshimi Miyabi, she had poor eyesight, but the impact of the Flash Bomb was even greater on her.
Vaguely, they only heard a distant cry of "Nigerundayo!"
When the two regained their vision a few seconds later.
The man who looked like he was about to unleash a super move and the Cat Thiren who was fighting with Soukaku had all vanished, as if everything before was just a hallucination of the few of them.
Fortunately, the bloodstains left by that man hunting the Paolumu on the empty square and the sword marks caused by the subsequent battle indicated that the Paolumu and that man had indeed existed.
Soukaku, with claw marks all over her face, was staring blankly at a tuft of freshly pulled cat fur in her hand.
Because she was focused on fighting with Meow-Da earlier, Soukaku, who happened to have her back to the battlefield, was the only one of the three who escaped the calamity.
As the only one of the three who wasn't dazzled by the Flash Bomb.
Recovering her senses, Soukaku immediately pointed in the direction Andrew had just run dragging Meow-Da and shouted loudly:
"Sister Yanagi! Chief! They ran in that direction!"
Hearing this.
Hoshimi Miyabi and Tsukishiro Yanagi looked at each other and said decisively in unison:
"Chase!"
No matter what, they must figure out who this unidentified threat is; they absolutely cannot let him run away like this!
Relying on the leg strength of the three, following the footprints that appeared from time to time, they soon discovered the unique footprints identical to that man's at an intersection.
Looking at the direction the footprints extended, Tsukishiro Yanagi pushed her glasses lightly and said solemnly:
"Preparing to escape into a Hollow...? Section Chief!"
Hoshimi Miyabi immediately understood Tsukishiro Yanagi's meaning and nodded seriously.
Instantly, Hoshimi Miyabi turned into a stream of light and rushed towards that Hollow, preparing to intercept the target before he entered.
Tsukishiro Yanagi took Soukaku and continued to track forward.
Intercepting in front, tracking from behind, constantly tracking the movement of the person ahead.
Coordinating front and back, a seasoned method.
In the past, this method had never failed against the targets they needed to arrest.
This time, it would be the same!
But in a corner the two didn't notice.
A large double-door refrigerator cardboard box and a small mandarin orange fruit cardboard box stood quietly in another direction of the intersection, piled together with other discarded trash.
As if they had been placed there from the beginning.
Until confirming that the three had completely gone far away.
Suddenly, that large double-door refrigerator cardboard box began to shake slightly, then began to rotate gently.
Until confirming through the handle holes that the three had truly walked far away, a pair of thick black long legs extended from under the cardboard box as if suddenly growing out.
It was like the cardboard box had suddenly mutated.
Gently touching the small mandarin orange fruit box next to it as a reminder, the legged cardboard box turned into two in the next moment.
Subsequently, the two legged cardboard boxes began to quietly move slowly in another direction.
During this period, no traces were ever left on the ground.
Let alone footprints.
One couldn't really blame Tsukishiro Yanagi for making such a judgment.
If not for the lack of intelligence on Andrew's original identity, with Tsukishiro Yanagi's intelligence analysis ability, it would be impossible to make such a mistake.
After all, missing intelligence is actually more likely to mislead people and cause mistakes than having no intelligence at all.
As a Hunter who tracks prey footprints every day, how could he forget his own footprints when running away?
Andrew moved in this manner for two or three blocks in another direction, only completely relaxing after confirming he had left the traceable range.
The cardboard box was lifted, revealing Andrew and Meow-Da underneath.
Looking at the Hollow in the distance where he had guided Hoshimi Miyabi and the others, he couldn't help but heave a sigh of relief.
To be honest.
Although the random spatial disorder of Hollows is very bullshit, it is indeed very useful for running away.
Even if they didn't find any traces later, there was a high probability they would only think he ran into the Hollow and then escaped through some hidden spatial rift.
Watching this scene made Andrew sigh with emotion.
No wonder there are so many monsters and freaks in New Eridu; Hollows are simply the best place to hide dirt and filth.
Meow-Da, who also crawled out of his cardboard box, couldn't help but rub the spot where a handful of fur had been pulled out by Soukaku, who had grabbed him and wouldn't let go because she was forcibly dragged along by Andrew earlier. He said with some confusion:
"Boss, weren't you going to fight them, meow?"
Recalling the things Meow-Da had shaken out when arguing with Soukaku earlier, Andrew suddenly felt a bit of anger he couldn't vent.
But considering that this action actually helped a lot, Andrew just poked his forehead a bit grumpily and said:
"I wasn't confident I could subdue them without hurting them. And as for that Hoshimi Miyabi, whether I could subdue her at all is another matter."
"Besides, they aren't bad people. I can't really kill them, right?"
Hoshimi Miyabi's speed was indeed fast, but relying on the huge area-of-effect attack after the Sword Release and the massive elemental energy release, Andrew was actually very confident that he could achieve a kill purely through stats.
If he used various items, that confidence would become one hundred percent.
But still, the same saying applied.
The opponent wasn't a villain, and adding the Hunter's code, the only choice left was to run away.
If I can't mess with them, I can at least run, right?
Hearing this, Meow-Da instantly breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest.
"That's great, I thought Boss was going to stop being a Hunter, meow."
Straddling the Vault-Tracker that he had hidden by the street when he arrived.
Andrew smiled helplessly, rubbed Meow-Da's head as comfort, and said:
"Meow-Da, what are you talking about? How could I give up the identity of a Hunter?"
Shaking off the dust that had stuck to his fur during the battle earlier, Meow-Da jumped directly from the motorcycle's rear seat onto Andrew's shoulder armor and said as a matter of course:
"That's right, meow. Boss, you made a promise with me back then to be Hunters together for a lifetime, meow."
Accompanied by the roar of the motorcycle, the two fled this place of trouble quickly under the cover of the ruins.
Relieved, Andrew only hoped that he would never again encounter that woman who would suddenly rush over to hit him.
____
New Story: Junji Ito: I Shall Smash Hellstar Remina
✅ Read 40 chapters ahead on all series.
✅ Get exclusive content and updates.
Help us hit our targets:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 free chapter for all
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 bonus chapters (all stories)!
👻 P - Walnutchan