"Are you feeling better?"
The two sat in the laboratory. Geno was comforting Lucia, whose small face was pale from fright; she still hadn't recovered from the experience just now.
"H-How could there be..."
Seeming to recall the disgusting scene she had just witnessed, Lucia's stomach churned violently again. She covered her mouth, forcefully suppressing the urge to vomit once more.
"Relax, relax. Don't think about those things anymore."
Geno patted her back, then guided her to start taking deep breaths.
Accompanying the rhythmic sound of breathing, Lucia's reaction became less intense.
"I... I'm a bit better."
Seeing Lucia's emotions gradually calm down, Geno then told Lucia some things regarding the Silver forces.
"In other words, the girl you want to save is also..."
A member of the Silver forces. That meant Geno had come here even knowing it was dangerous.
And she, Lucia, this self-proclaimed Envoy of the Night Demon, a little girl who had just become independent, had ignored the other party's advice and followed along with just a playful mindset.
It was simply nonsense!
For a moment, Lucia felt a bit downcast, silently cursing her own immaturity in her heart.
Seeming to notice she was blaming herself, Geno comfortingly rubbed Lucia's little head and spoke gently to persuade her.
"It's okay. Haven't you already helped me a lot? With this bottle of medicine, Twiggy's illness will get better very soon."
Lucia's hair was very smooth. Although the small horns on her head were hard, they weren't rough at all; just like her hair, they had been meticulously cared for.
"Alright, since we've got the item, we should get going now."
Geno stood up and patted Lucia's head. Since the item was in hand, it was time to prepare to go back.
Lucia nodded. Her condition had stabilized quite a bit by now.
Although she still had lingering fears about the terrifying scene she had seen before, this also, from a certain perspective, allowed her to see that this world wasn't always as beautiful as what she had seen before.
Rubbing the spot Geno had patted, Lucia subconsciously leaned closer to Geno's side.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I just feel safer being a bit closer."
Geno didn't mind much. After all, the recent events had indeed likely left some unpleasant shadows on her; being afraid was unavoidable.
The two walked out of the laboratory, thinking to go down the stairs following the path they came from.
But suddenly, Geno abruptly felt a strange fluctuation.
"Watch out!"
Swish!
"Ah!"
The sound of something breaking through the air entered their ears, and a massive crack appeared in the spot where the two had originally been standing.
And the hunter in the dark also revealed its true face.
"Thanatos? And Sordidus?! Why are there Ethereals here?!"
"Heaven knows! Just run!"
Dragging Lucia along, Geno desperately pumped his two long legs and sprinted wildly.
However, how could these Ethereals give them a chance to escape?
A group of Ethereals that had popped out from who knows where blocked their path forward, and then another sound of breaking air came from behind.
Whoosh~
Thanatos's figure vanished instantly. When it appeared again, it was right in front of Geno. It raised its broad arm-blade and swung it towards the two of them.
"Urgh!"
Clang!
An unexpected sound rang out. Thanatos's movement clearly stiffened for a moment. The originally weak human had vanished before its eyes, replaced by a kind of kin it had never seen before.
"Lucia, run!"
The one who blocked the attack was naturally Geno. He had reverted to his original Ethereal form, using his evolved claws to forcefully withstand this fatal blow.
"Geno!"
Lucia tried to summon Ethereals to help, but her ability was limited. Facing the Ethereals surrounding them layer by layer, it was merely a drop in the bucket, and she was submerged in moments.
"Don't worry about me! Go!"
Geno wrestled with that Thanatos. The gap between the two sides wasn't large, but the continuous interference from the small Ethereals around him made it hard for two fists to fight four hands, and he was soon knocked to the ground.
And the Ethereals on Lucia's side weren't many; most were surrounding Geno. This finally gave Lucia a chance to perform.
"Geno! You guys... get out of the way!!"
Lucia summoned again, this time two Dullahans. The ferocious Ethereal knights defeated all the small fry blocking the way, then scooped up the surrounded Geno from the ground and threw him out from the midst of the Ethereal encirclement.
"Uwaaah!"
Geno, suddenly flying into the air, was a bit flustered, but fortunately, he landed steadily beside Lucia in the end.
Seeing that the two phantom Dullahans had attracted the attention, he hurriedly took Lucia and continued to flee.
Geno, who had wanted to rush into the stairwell in one breath, saw a dense crowd of Ethereals blocking the way and had no choice but to turn around and detour.
As the distance increased, the two summoned Dullahan phantoms also gradually dissipated into Ether.
The Ethereals, having lost their target, gradually returned to calm. Only that Thanatos gazed in the direction Geno and the other left, its thoughts unknown.
-----------------
On the other side, Geno and Lucia, who had been running all the way, found a safe room and ducked inside, then blocked the door with all the heavy objects they could find.
"Huff... huff... I feel like... this scene is deja vu."
He had done the same thing when dealing with the Doppelganger the night before last.
"Isn't... isn't this a military base? Why would Ethereals appear? Even if they wandered in, there are too many of them."
"I don't know either. My intel didn't say there were Ethereals here."
Twiggy's memories contained absolutely no intel regarding these Ethereals, and they hadn't seen a single one when they came. It was simply as if they had appeared out of thin air.
"I'm so useless. I can't do anything; I only hold you back."
Lucia recalled how she could only watch from the side while Geno got beaten, unable to help with anything, and felt a wave of self-blame in her heart.
"It's okay. You did very well. At least you saved me, didn't you?"
Geno was telling the truth. If not for Lucia's two Dullahans tearing through the defense line, he might really have been worn down to death by that Thanatos.
At this moment, Geno remembered something.
"In the battle just now, those Ethereals seemed to be coming for me. Lucia, do you have a way to avoid their attacks?"
Geno remembered that in the attack just now, most of the firepower was directed at him, but why didn't any Ethereals attack Lucia?
"I... this is because of our clan's special constitution. Our clan once faced a powerful Ethereal named 'Night Demon'. After defeating the 'Night Demon', its dissipated energy granted us 'Night Watchers' the characteristic of being viewed as kin by Ethereals in the Hollow."
Hmm... why is the click-through rate so low? Could it be that ZZZ really has no popularity at all? (Cry)
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