Finding the enemy's location wasn't difficult. We just had to follow the bloodlust being emitted without any attempt at concealment. The problem was that we didn't know how much of a threat the enemy was.
Along the way, we had saved general passengers when we saw them being attacked. However, this enemy had enough strength for their aura to be sensed even from a distance. We wouldn't know the exact danger level until we actually encountered them, but we had to assume they were an opponent several levels higher.
If Velvet were here, she would surely say "abandon them" immediately. We had a brief discussion and reached the conclusion to help if possible. Blade would draw the line. He made us promise that if a retreat order was given, we would absolutely obey. I had no complaints about that policy.
"This... as I thought, it wasn't my imagination. This direction is bad."
However, the situation was progressing in a bad direction. As we approached the enemy while suppressing our presence as much as possible, we realized their number wasn't just one or two. The intense bloodlust was all directed at 'someone' being attacked, and that someone was desperately running for their life while calling for help. Their movement speed was considerable, enough to nearly lose us as we followed.
Furthermore, the group was accurately heading toward the warehouse area. We were aiming for the destination relying on the ship's map we got from the staff, but without any clues, anyone could easily get lost due to the complexity and scale of the structure. Especially in places like the warehouse area that aren't seen by customers, there are no signs, and it's difficult to reach a specific spot without knowing beforehand what is where.
The group was approaching Pomerni's location. It was too unnatural to be a coincidence. We couldn't afford to just keep watching. We increased our pace and circled around to the front of the enemy from a different path.
The first thing we saw was the figure of a person running at the head of the group. I didn't recognize the face, but I had seen the clothes. That long black robe was what the mentalist iTuber, the Grandfather of the Galaxy, had been wearing.
And behind him, people in similar robes were following in a swarm. Their hoods were pulled low, hiding their faces. The design of the robes worn by the group was slightly different from the Grandfather of the Galaxy's; there were many red patterns drawn across the black fabric, looking like bulging veins.
"Ha—huff—he-help...!"
The Grandfather of the Galaxy was sprinting with a speed unlikely for an old man, but his expression made it clear his stamina was at its limit.
We didn't know the circumstances of how he was being chased, nor was it certain how he ended up on this escape route. We had speculated he might be an assassin sent by the enemy, but seeing him with our own eyes made us realize he was also a victim.
As we met him in a pincer-like fashion, our eyes met. Immediately after, the Grandfather of the Galaxy's legs gave out. Perhaps his tension had relaxed upon finding us. He reached out toward us as he tumbled. From behind him, the group in black and red robes swarmed like predators during a hunt.
"Nnuoooooo!!"
But Blade, who had taken action even faster than that, approached the Grandfather of the Galaxy, hoisted him up, and punched away the approaching enemies. Then, dodging the pursuit of the others, he immediately turned and ran back toward us.
"Plan B! Retreat!"
We had established several plans in advance. Plan A was for cases where Blade could suppress the enemy alone, Plan B was for cases where it was difficult for Blade to handle alone and we would temporarily retreat to regroup, and Plan C was a total retreat in the face of an unmanageable powerhouse.
From the feedback of the blow he just landed, Blade judged that the enemy's threat level was difficult to defeat alone. Indeed, the enemy Blade had punched away was getting up as if nothing had happened. Judging by the strength of the aura infused in his fist, it didn't look like he had been holding back.
They were easily enduring a strike from Blade that was likely intended to kill. Furthermore, it was unlikely that only that specific enemy was particularly sturdy. We had to assume the other enemies possessed similar durability.
"Can we outrun them like this?!"
"It's... impossible... no matter where I run, for some reason they know where I am... they might have something like a homing instinct..."
According to the explanation from the breathless Grandfather of the Galaxy, the group of enemies seemed to be people who were under the influence of his manipulation-type ability, Self-Liars. People who received the benefit of this ability could use Ten and Ren even if they weren't Nen users.
The people he had been manipulating were all general passengers. It was speculated that the general passengers, whose aura was already in a rampaging state due to the effect of the red crystals, had gained immense power by overlapping that with the benefit of Self-Liars. It had already become something different from his ability, and he couldn't cancel it.
When I heard it was a manipulation-type ability, I felt a slight sense of revulsion. Between Pomerni's situation and this, I didn't think I could like manipulation-type users who forcibly twisted the will of others. Just what had he been planning by manipulating this many people?
"I-it's a misunderstanding! My ability has no power to steal the will of others! It only lends them strength! I only wanted to guide troubled people..."
Sensing the unpleasantness directed at him from my gaze, the Grandfather of the Galaxy hurriedly began to explain. He had no stamina left to escape from them. Since the enemies' malice was entirely directed at him, escaping on our own would be a simple matter. We could just leave him behind.
"Don't worry. I won't do something like abandon you here."
That said, if we didn't intend to help, we wouldn't have reached out in the first place. I had no intention of leaving him to die. It was unknown what actions this group would take after we fled, and we couldn't leave them be if we wanted to avoid future trouble.
If we were to give up, it would be after trying every possible plan. We weren't just running around aimlessly. We reached a pre-arranged tactical point.
"Noah, Six, I'm leaving it to you!"
"Roger! Love power at full throttle!"
Blade, carrying the Grandfather of the Galaxy, accelerated, while Noah and I remained on the spot. When the distance from Blade opened up to about ten meters, Noah activated his ability. A circular space that brought about disease formed around him and Six.
The location was a straight path with no bypasses to circle around. In other words, the enemy group could not reach Blade and the others on the other side unless they broke through this disease space.
Without any hesitation, the enemies stepped into Noah's space. The outer edge of the circle didn't have a very strong disease effect; even if they entered, they could still turn back. If they were thinking normally, they might have tried to get out immediately upon sensing the abnormality. But the enemies, who showed no sign of reason, advanced toward the center of the circle without fear.
That fierce momentum was suppressed as they approached us due to the rapid progression of the illness, and they collapsed before reaching the vicinity of the center. The following enemies also collapsed in the same way. First, the first stage of the plan was clear. I breathed a sigh of relief.
However, naturally, this wasn't the end. If Noah deactivated the ability, the game of tag would just start all over again. We had to definitively neutralize the weakened enemies here.
But Blade, whom we relied on, couldn't enter the disease space. Noah could move within this space, but as the user, he was using most of his energy to maintain the ability, so he had almost no aura to spare for anything else while this technique was active. He was in a state where he could only maintain a minimum Ten.
And though they were weakened by the disease, the robed group, who possessed the strength to push back a professional Hunter like Blade, did not stop their advance even after collapsing. The aura filling their bodies was still intact, and they crawled forward with terrifying tenacity. Noah flinched at the sight.
"Is it really okay, Mommy?!"
No problem. Six stood up on her own feet. I checked the sensations in my body. I could move all the way to my fingertips exactly as I intended. Because Noah's ability was active, Six's body was accompanied by angel wings and a ring formed from countless tubes, but they didn't hinder my movement.
Six was excluded from the effect of Noah's ability and could act freely. However, until now, Six had been unable to move because the main body was being eroded by the disease. So, the plan we came up with was to move only the main body outside of the disease space.
Blade was holding the backpack containing my main body. It took courage for me to entrust it to someone, and Blade surely must have been curious about its contents. But he accepted my proposal without questioning the details. It was a plan that succeeded because of trust. I had to live up to that expectation.
Unlike when the main body was nearby, in this state nearly ten meters away, I was consuming more aura than usual just by standing. This was likely due to the nature of aura becoming harder to handle the further it was from the body.
Furthermore, if I used techniques like Ren or had to repair myself after taking damage, I expected to consume a massive amount of aura all at once. I couldn't waste time. I took action immediately.
The enemies were crawling on the ground, making only sluggish movements. Moreover, even in this situation, their hostility was directed solely at the Grandfather of the Galaxy; I wasn't even in their sight. It would be harder to miss a strike.
I steadied my breathing and made the aura within me surge. In my head, I repeatedly heard the words Blade had said when we formulated this plan.
'Once you've decided to do it, don't hold back.'
That meant having the resolve to take a life. Why Blade had made such a statement at that timing—I understood it now.
I had no experience killing anyone. I had thought about it, but I had never put it into practice. Hesitation toward killing, conflict arising from ethics—the words sounded cliché when spoken. Only those who have faced the reality can truly understand. That was likely why Blade aimed to teach me through practice.
Even in this situation where everything was set up for me, I was seized by a moment of paralysis. If this were a real life-or-death struggle, it would be my life being taken. I steeled my slightly trembling body and slammed a fist reinforced by Ren into the enemy before me.
Velvet had said, upon seeing the people dominated by the red crystals, that they were beyond saving. That this kind of ability was predicated on using the subjects until they were exhausted. If so, their suffering could only be released through death. Such self-righteousness, a selfish claim only the living could hold, flickered through my mind.
But I didn't hold back. If I couldn't even have the resolve to kill someone, I would only be a burden no matter where I followed from now on. I hated that.
The blow delivered with a sense of guilt was undoubtedly the maximum power attack I could muster now. The impact caused the floor to cave in significantly, sending cracks running through the surroundings. The body of the enemy at the center was bent into a V-shape from the waist to the spine.
Did I kill him?