"Big ones? And yeah—don't lie. Even if they were huge, you couldn't have been delayed that much because of them. With your training—and your new capabilities—you could handle even a nest of giant insects." I asked without changing my posture.
"Bigger than a large dog—closer to a pony. They wouldn't have delayed me much on their own, but here's the problem: they moved along the walls and the ceiling. Claire didn't notice the first three, and then those bastards reacted to the nearest targets—us. We had to eliminate them quietly, trying not to draw attention. That slowed us down; firearms are way too loud for something like that. Afterward, we had to move carefully and with a bit of lag—our charge was checking the walls and ceiling, and we had a real chance of being spotted. Toward the end, one nasty thing decided not to waste ammo and just ran! So we had to 'have fun' with the insects all over again—I almost earned myself a phobia. When we finally dealt with that problem, it turned out there were already two light sources ahead, both clearly female—or maybe men with very slender builds—and they were heading in different directions. We decided not to split up and—"
"Let me guess—you picked the wrong one?" I cut Yamata off with a smirk. After my words, her jaw muscles visibly tightened.
"Yes," came the short reply.
"Ha-ha-ha. And here I was thinking I was the unlucky one. You can skip the part about doubling back to the other figure—I can picture it well enough. Especially considering that the actual target had already run far ahead by then. And while you were searching for the route, the light source was probably already outside the range of the ability. That's how you ended up here and managed to spot me. Am I right?" I decided to speed things along; listening to their wanderings through the sewers didn't particularly appeal to me.
"In short, yes," Yamata confirmed. From Kate's side came only a brief but energetic nod.
"So who was the other figure?" I asked, already suspecting the answer.
"You won't believe it—Annette Birkin. Don't look at me like that. Killing her would've been pointless, and dragging her along… At the very least, it would've been inconvenient for me to move with her, especially while tailing Claire. And Katherine hasn't fully mastered her abilities yet. As for raw hauling power, our squad doesn't exactly have any." Yamata spread her hands helplessly.
"I am not hauling power!" I shot back. "All right, let's move already. I hope no one's suffering from hunger before we've even left this monstrosity behind."
The answer was a pair of negative nods from both women. Someone, apparently, had already snacked on spiders.
No sooner had I started moving than mocking snorts came from behind—from the former mercenary—followed by a quiet "ah" from the mayor's daughter. I glanced sideways at the girls. They were staring at me? Apparently so. I lowered my gaze, assessing for myself what exactly had changed and caught their attention. Hm. I'd finally stopped looking like a dystrophic mess, and my ribcage had grown denser, subtly reshaped—closer to that of the Hunters. I'd eaten too many reptiles! Still, that seemed to be the end of the changes.
"Done admiring?" I asked, a hint of mockery in my voice.
"Yeah. It suits you better like this. And if I'm understanding correctly, it'll be harder to get to your heart now. But that kind of densification… it's not just a result of excessive Hunter consumption and absorbing that monster's blood. It's also a defensive reaction of the body. That's what underlies most changes and evolutions in beings like us. No, it's not full-fledged evolution—but you could call it an add-on to your current form. Something must have triggered it, though. So tell us, Cain, what were you doing while we were gone?" Yamata quickly followed the logical trail in the right direction, and two demanding gazes fixed on me.
"Acquiring extra ventilation holes from Birkin's new evolutionary stage," I replied with a shrug.
"Could it have gone any other way?" Four Eyes asked rhetorically, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling.
"Is that the Birkin Yamata told me about?" Katherine asked with interest.
"Yes. There aren't any others here—at least not male ones," I replied, continuing forward.
A jump down into the already tiresome trash-filled hall, then across to the other side and slightly left, until we reached a stone staircase. I checked that the girls—quietly discussing something among themselves—were following, then climbed the stairs and entered the purifier's control room.
"So where to next?" Yamata asked, looking around with interest.
"There's only one option. See that ventilation shaft with the huge propeller and a pipe as tall as a person? That's definitely the way to go."
"Deduction?" the Four Eyes tried to needle me.
"You could call it that. That, and the wet footprints—children's and women's—leading that way. While someone was studying the instruments and figuring out what they were, I was looking for more down-to-earth clues. What can I say—we have different training, Miss Scholar," I snorted, telling the honest truth. Vectors were drilled in basic situational awareness like this, while Yamata was our 'engine of progress.'
"Then let's go," Kate shrugged, letting everything else go in one ear and out the other. Not a bad approach, really—listen, and pick out only what truly matters.
(End of Chapter)
P@treon: /SadRaven
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