Stelle watched the silent Dunn for a while, then said, "Don't hesitate when you're in front of someone you like."
"That's way too direct, isn't it?!" March immediately started criticizing Stelle for this pants-pulling-down behavior.
Stelle turned her head and looked at March with an expression that seemed confused.
Only, the smile in those amber-like eyes was impossible to hide.
This kid was way too nasty.
"…" Dunn fell even more silent.
Serval, on the other hand, looked completely unfazed and asked, "What's wrong, Dunn?"
"Sorry, Serval… may I ask, what exactly did Captain Gepard say to you?" Dunn's voice grew low.
Serval made something up without missing a beat. "Huh? Ah… let me think… 'Sis, the energy pipelines in the restricted zone are malfunctioning, and those useless outsourced maintenance crews can't find the problem at all', something like that, I guess…"
Behind them, Dan Heng and Seele, noticing the sudden shift in atmosphere, both lowered their eyes slightly, hiding their gazes.
Forget whatever friendship Dunn and Serval might have had… if he could become an Silvermane Guard captain, then he clearly wasn't someone to be treated like an ordinary soldier.
In this situation, it really looked like a fight was about to break out…
Both of them were already prepared to summon their weapons and enter combat at any moment.
"Then let me ask one more thing… when did he contact you?" Dunn asked again.
Serval's eyes drifted to the side. "Uh… this morning? Yeah, this morning. He was on city patrol today, right? So he asked me on the way."
At this moment, Stelle and March also sensed the increasingly oppressive atmosphere…
Serval's acting skills really needed work. It seemed there was still a clear difference between a singer who performed on stage and an actual actor.
Right now, everyone was tense.
If Sampo were here, he would probably scoff at Serval's response.
Too low-level.
The little ancestor's style, telling the truth, was much more convincing. Impossible to guard against.
As someone with experience, Sampo felt fully qualified to make that judgment.
Dunn sighed and said, "Captain Gepard just returned to the front line. How about… I confirm it with him again?"
As soon as Dunn said that, Serval panicked a little. "H, Hey, wait, wait. He's already back? That can't be right. He was still in the city earlier…"
While Serval was talking, Dan Heng had already moved forward a few steps without drawing attention.
He spoke softly to his companions. "What do you think Nero would do right now?"
In Seele's, Stelle's, and March's minds, the image of a figure leaping high into the air instantly appeared.
If it were Nero, Dunn would probably already be lying on the ground.
After all, that kid…
His entire approach could be summed up in one sentence, an unexpected jumping cleave.
Because Nero had left such a deep impression on everyone, the moment Dan Heng said that, they all understood what the next plan was.
Dunn looked at Serval and let out another long sigh.
"Serval… you're still the same as before, bad at lying. The people you brought aren't actually assistants from the workshop, are they?"
Serval fell silent.
Dunn continued, "Serval, it's not that I don't want to help you… but you must always remember, I'm a Silvermane Guard of Belobog!"
"So… you go back first. I won't tell anyone about this… but these outsiders must stay..."
Bang!
Before Dunn could finish his sentence, his vision was swallowed by a shadow.
A gray-haired girl leapt up. Without saying a word, she swung a hard, pitch-black bat straight down at his face.
In an instant, Dunn felt dizzy, his vision swimming, a ringing filling his ears.
His whole body staggered, and he fell heavily onto the ground. Then, overwhelmed by the vertigo, he collapsed again. His eyelids felt heavy, and it seemed like he was about to lose consciousness.
Dunn didn't even get the chance to issue an order. He reached forward weakly, only to see his subordinates suffering the same attack as himself.
Those outsiders, after a few jumping cleaves, three strikes, five moves, had already taken down all his men.
Then, darkness overtook the Silvermane Guard captain's vision, and he completely lost consciousness.
After dealing with the Silvermane Guards, Stelle walked up to the still-dazed Serval and said, "Sorry for hurting your friend, but the situation was urgent. We had no choice."
Serval blinked blankly a couple of times, thinking to herself that these aliens were really decisive.
This was way too sudden.
The guy hadn't even finished speaking and you just went straight for a jumping cleave?
What Serval didn't know was that this was already something the members of the Astral Express were completely used to.
Voidrangers, marauders, the Doomsday Beast, Fragmentum monsters, Svarog… the number of beings that Nero had jumping-cleaved was already enough to form a victims' alliance.
Still, Serval was an understanding, justice-minded, and smart person. After a brief moment of shock, she shook her head and said, "It's fine, I understand. After all, this concerns the fate of all Belobog… the fate of the entire world. Time is tight, so you had no choice but to use some highly efficient methods."
The outsiders laughed it off. Dunn, lying on the ground, said nothing.
Only Dunn and his injured subordinates were left to quietly suffer.
That said, Dunn was still an Silvermane Guard captain. If it were Nero, who had undergone multiple strength enhancements, that would be one thing. But relying solely on Stelle's sudden jumping cleave clearly wasn't enough to knock him out completely.
Of course, that was assuming Nero didn't have a proper weapon. If he had gone all out with Black Cleaver, the Silvermane Guard's armor would've been no different from paper. Chances were, both body and person would've been torn in half in an instant.
All in all, Dunn slowly came to. But because of the head injury, he couldn't get up for the moment. He could only look at Serval and ask weakly, "Serval… why…?"
It seemed Dunn hadn't heard the earlier conversation between Stelle and Serval. Otherwise, he probably would've been heartbroken to death.
"Dunn, sorry… just take a little nap for now."
As she spoke, Serval gave Dunn another hit, knocking the big guy completely unconscious.
After that, Serval found the key. The group retraced their steps and activated the mechanical energy core.
Because the jumping cleaves were clean and decisive, no alarm was triggered when they attacked Dunn. Still, according to Serval's estimate, once the mechanical bridge was activated, they would inevitably be surrounded by the Silvermane Guard.
But this was already the best possible outcome.
However, while tinkering with the mechanical energy hub, Serval saw many things that made her frown deeply…
"Damn it, who designed this operating system?! Why is it so complicated?"
"Emergency fire evacuation system… definitely not this."
"Dance floor rock atmosphere mode? What the hell is this? Who added this… and they even used my song?!"
"Mechanical bridge control terminal… ha, this is it!"
After Serval activated the bridge, the group headed straight toward the front line.
And then, right here, they ran into Gepard.
But Gepard didn't look very good.
While still in the administrative district, he had encountered something very strange, he had arrested a group of very well-behaved rioters.
Those people were extremely cooperative. They didn't resist at all, yet they truly did obstruct the Silvermane Guard's actions.
They kept saying strange things like the God of Beauty must not be offended, Idrila, pure beauty, and so on.
After listening to the Silvermane Guard's report, Gepard went to take a look and discovered that the wanted poster he had drawn and posted on the Everwinter Monument was indeed gone.
Thinking about that wanted poster made Gepard's feelings even more complicated.
When he drew it, it had been so vivid, done in one smooth flow, as if the person being drawn had personally grabbed his arm and guided him stroke by stroke.
When the drawing was finished, Gepard had actually been quite happy. After all, he knew full well that his entire body was filled with "artistic bacteria."
He had thought that he simply lacked talent in music, but might be full of artistic cells in painting like his older sister, so he drew a second one.
The result was… unsatisfactory. It could even be called abstract…
He drew a few more afterward, and they were all just as abstract. That made Gepard realize once again that what was wriggling inside him were indeed artistic bacteria.
But why was he able to draw that white-haired outsider kid so well? After thinking it over, it was probably because the other party really was good-looking, to the point that the impression left in his subconscious was extremely deep…
Gepard didn't dare muster the courage to draw a second Nero. He felt that if he did, the gap between it and the first one would be worlds apart.
Better to ask Pela for help.
He really didn't want to see another abstract masterpiece born from his own hands.
Actually, he felt his drawings were pretty decent, at least, that was what he had always thought before drawing Nero…