Chapter 13: The Yeti squad and the Assault squad

After finally escaping the place where I fought Talulah, I regroup with Amiya and the others to continue our journey to the checkpoint. Although I believe there are no Reunion members left, it's wise to remain cautious. Suddenly, I spot a chunk of ice that fills me with dread.

(I wish I had time to rest; earlier, I faced three bosses at once, and now fighting another one is proving challenging, even for me.)

With no choice, I must keep absorbing the Originium to prepare for my fight against Frostnova. If I'm correct, this battle will be even more difficult than my encounter with Talulah, as she won’t stop until she is dead.

As the group nears their destination, they can't help but worry about Alisia. Her eagerness to cure every infected person they encounter is concerning, especially since she even attempted to cure a corpse. Whenever they try to restrain her, she always has an excuse ready.

Ace is struggling as well, knowing about Alisia's abilities from Kal'tsit’s briefing with other Elite Operators. However, he is currently the only one aware of her powers; the scout is unaware of the details since he was absent when Kal'tsit discussed Alisia's file.

"Ace, I know this might be rude, but if I'm not mistaken, did Alisia just cure Oripathy?"

Nearl's question reminds Ace that they are still on a mission and have not yet reached a safe point, but he simply nods in response.

"Yes, she is the newest addition to the Elite Operators. While Rosmontis holds the record as the youngest member, Alisia is the second youngest to join."

"At that age?"

"Well, it is relatively easy to join the Elite Operators. Many don’t apply because they find the group to be a collection of eccentrics, much like Alisia."

"Hoho, that's news to me. So, it's easy to become an Elite Operator? I can understand the eccentricity from the other operators, but why is Alisia considered eccentric as well?"

"You just saw it. Alisia has power over Originium, and whenever she sees it, she either absorbs it into her body or keeps it in her special pocket."

Upon hearing Ace's reply, Nearl slowly turns to observe Alisia, who is currently curing a child infected with Oripathy. She then notices something and turns back to Ace.

"Wait, what do you mean she absorbs it into her body?"

"Just as I said—whenever she sees someone infected with Oripathy, she cures them by absorbing the Originium within their bodies."

"But if she keeps doing that..."

"Exactly what you're thinking. She will end up with Originium in her body. However, her constitution is special; she shows no signs of Oripathy even when the Originium in her blood reaches 0.75 u/L."

Upon hearing this, Nearl becomes furious, grabbing Ace's clothing and glaring at him.

"THAT'S NEARING THE DEATH LINE! WHAT IS KAL'TSIT THINKING?"

Ace slowly turned his gaze from Nearl to Alisia, letting out a sigh.

"Do you really think we haven't tried anything, Nearl? If you're so sure you can stop her, go ahead and try. When Alisia is in saint mode, she won't stop, even if Amiya begs her."

As Ace mentioned earlier, Amiya and the other operators had done their best to stop Alisia, but they had failed each time. This led the Doctor to choose a route with fewer infected, but that proved futile; news had somehow spread, and now every infected person nearby was approaching Alisia.

Even Nearl struggled to get close to Alisia, who was busy curing the infected. When there were no infected in sight, Nearl attempted to talk to Alisia, urging her to stop curing more, fearing that she was reaching her limits.

But Alisia ignored her. Suddenly, she conjured Originium out of thin air, surprising Nearl.

"See? I can extract Originium from my body, so there's no need to worry," Alisia said confidently.

Nearl had no retort, but she noticed the pattern on Alisia's hand, which she had initially thought was a tattoo, shrinking in number. Confused, she asked Alisia about it.

"Oh, this? It works like a mark showing how much Originium is in my body. Cool, right? Since crystallized forms don’t look cool, I decided to let Oripathy show up on my skin instead."

Hearing this shocked Nearl to her core. She attempted to knock Alisia out to stop her from pushing her body too hard, but her efforts were futile; her strike barely affected Alisia. When she tried to grab Alisia's hand, Alisia dismissed her as if she were a child, despite being 20 cm shorter.

Giving up, Nearl walked over to Ace, who slowly shook his head while rubbing his stomach.

"She gets stronger the more Originium she stores in her body, you know? That's what she said, and I believe it because she knocked me out with one punch. I let my guard down, but that punch still hurt, even after she healed me."

Ace's words left Nearl in shock. She turned to Amiya, but Amiya's ears drooped as she shook her head. The Doctor was deep in thought, trying to figure out what to do, or at least that’s how Nearl perceived it.

Alisia's actions gathered a lot of attention, including from someone Alisia had completely forgotten—Skullshatered. He clenched his fists, while W bit her fingernails, seeing a shadow of Theresa in Alisia, which angered her.

(Don't joke with me; that girl is not Theresa, and she will never be.)

If Alisia had heard W's thoughts, she would have argued back, insisting she had no intention of becoming Theresa and didn’t even want to be her. This would only have infuriated W further.

Skullshatered slowly gazed at Misha, who was among the crowd that Alisia had cured of infection. What surprised him was that none of Rhodes Island knew who she was, aside from being another infected individual. He felt a sense of relief that at least his little sister had been freed from Oripathy.

(Originium saint, huh... if only you were here...)

Even now, Alex remembered when he became infected, which ultimately led to his mother's death. He understood that lamenting over the past would not change anything, which is why he resolved to carry on with his plans.

(No need to involve Misha in this; let this be the end of the road for me. Mother, I don't know if my actions are right, but please watch over Misha.)

As the crowd began to dissipate, Skullshatered started discussing his change of plans with W, prompting a smirk from her.

"Heh, so because your little sister is cured, you don’t want to involve her anymore? That’s fine, but how do you plan to get the key?"

"We’ll attack them on the same route and steal the key. Besides, Talulah won't care whether Misha decides to join or not."

"That’s true; Talulah has changed too much recently. Well, it’s almost time for me to exit the stage as well, so this is perfect for me. I will help you, little boy."

W had already placed explosives along the road ahead because she wasn't sure if they could hold the Sankta down. Even now, she felt the pressure akin to when she faced Hoederer during practice. Still, she remembered that Hoederer had failed his mission due to a sudden attack by an owl.

It was time for her to finalize her plan to attack Talulah, which was drawing near.

While I have indeed been cautious of the Yeti squad, they haven't shown up. However, I suddenly remember seeing the bomb in front of me.

(Now it's W? Damn, this alternate universe is working me to death with these bosses popping up one after another.)

Wait, now that I think about it, Skullshatered hasn't shown up either, nor has L.G.D come to rescue Misha...

(Right, Misha.)

I start to look around and notice an Ursus girl with white hair, which makes me think that instead of facing two bosses, I might have to confront three at once.

(Well, in the best-case scenario, they all attack at the same time. If that happens, I only need to worry about Frostnova since neither Skullshatered nor W's powers will work near her. But if they don't attack together...)

Letting out a sigh, I slowly test out a fire art and realize that my power has indeed increased by a hundredfold, even though I only absorbed a little originium from Talulah.

(With this much power, and now that the originium in my blood is at 7.0 u/L, I should have an output similar to or even stronger than Talulah's.)

As I contemplate my strategy, the bomb suddenly glows. I manage to cover it with ice, but it's a bit too late since it still explodes. Thankfully, I'm fine because I've been maintaining Verbesserung for a long time, and I just want to get some good sleep.

(Still, I really need to focus. If I find a bomb, I should concentrate on disarming it. At least now I don't have to worry about explosives since I can handle them, but I should still be careful of the building.)

While the others are worried about the sudden explosion, I reassure them that I'm fine when I notice a bullet coming at me. It's not a regular bullet but an explosive one. However, Ace moves faster, surprising me as he tanks the blast.

Then I realize we're surrounded by Reunion members again. From the bullets, it could either be W or Skullshatered, but what appears instead is a masked guy—it must be Skullshatered.

(Well, just my lucky day that they decided to attack one by one.)

Letting out a sigh, I slowly enhance my body by combining Verbesserung and Hervorrufung to move like lightning, hoping to end this quickly. As I do, I notice that Skullshatered has already fainted in my arm while the rest of the squad has fallen back, and Misha is shouting something.

"Did they steal the key? I thought the assault squad relied on Skullshatered so heavily that they could barely function after his death. So why did they leave him?"

Wondering if he might be fake, I tore off the mask and discovered an Ursus boy with similar features to Misha, but more manly. This confirmed he was Skullshatered, yet it only deepened my confusion. Since this was a rare opportunity, I decided to absorb the originium.

I chose to absorb all the originium from Skullshatered, or Alex, as I remembered his name when Misha approached and recognized him as her long-lost twin brother.

At least this meant there would be no tragedy to burden Amiya’s mind. However, witnessing all this left me puzzled, especially since they hadn’t encountered any L.G.D members yet.

Misha then inexplicably started calling me "older sister" and discussed her plan with Amiya to rescue the infected in Ursus, seeking my help.

(Well, I can’t deny that this is a great opportunity to collect art. While it might only enhance the art I already have, there’s a small chance I could find something rare, so I have no reason to refuse.)

As we walked toward a tall building to pick someone up, I noticed W. She seemed to be inviting me, appearing in a way that ensured I noticed her before anyone else. Seizing the chance, I decided to approach her.

"So, who are you, and what’s your relationship with Theresa? I didn’t see you in Babel."

"That’s a good question, but I’ll answer that I don’t know Theresa, aside from the fact that she was the former leader of Babel who fell around six years ago."

I wasn’t sure why W was asking me about Theresa and not someone like Hoederer. Then I remembered she probably didn’t know that the Orga was my summon. Should I lie a bit here?

"I kind of knew the reason you called for me, but let’s just say it was a one-sided communication where she pushed knowledge onto me."

W remained silent, urging me to continue, which made me feel this would take some time. So, I decided to take a seat.

"As you probably know by now, I have the power to absorb originium. If you didn’t know that, it’s good for you to know now. Let’s just say that when I absorbed some originium back then, Theresa informed me of her plans, one of which involves you."

Upon hearing my words, W fell silent but began to nod. Even though she was close to Theresa, she saw her more like a little sister, which is why Theresa hadn’t shared anything with her, including her plans to die and give Doctor a chance to start over.

But setting that aside, I figured as long as I could lie convincingly, it seemed like something Theresa would do. W would believe me because she adored Theresa after all.

"Besides, Theresa isn’t completely dead yet."

W suddenly grabbed my clothes, catching me off guard, which surprised me a bit. But given the significance of the news for her, it wasn't entirely unexpected.

"Well, she's not planning to show up, and she hasn't told me anything beyond that. All she said is that if you stay with Amiya, you'll meet her sooner or later, though I can't confirm if that's true."

I shook my head slowly as W released my clothes and sat down. I hesitated to absorb her originium earlier; doing so would only break her trust and make her more suspicious of me.

"I already know your plan to confront Talulah, and I need to inform you in advance that it will fail. But I must remind you, if you really want a chance to meet Theresa, you need to start earning the trust of the Doctor, Amiya, and Kal'tsit."

Deciding to leave it at that, I turned away from W. I knew that if I lingered too long, others would become suspicious and might encounter her, complicating matters.

"Hey, if what you said is a lie, I will hunt you down."

"Why would I lie? I don't even know if the information I have is accurate. It's not like I've spoken directly with Theresa; she just relayed some things to me. Still, I won't deny that I believe there might be some truth to what she said."

As I exited the building, I spotted Misha taking care of Alex, who was still unconscious. It made me feel guilty since I was the one who knocked him out.

We were supposed to board the aircraft and meet Kal'tsit at the temporary Rhodes Island office in Lungmen. Apparently, Kal'tsit had been in contact with L.G.D about Misha, and we just received the call.

Blaze was in charge of protecting the pickup, and everything was going smoothly until Doctor was about to board the plane. That’s when the Yeti squad showed up and attacked us, forcing them to flee and leaving me, Blaze, and Doctor behind.

At first, I noticed Ace planning to jump from the aircraft, but I stopped him with Wahrsagung. It was bad enough that I needed to protect Amiya and Doctor; I didn't want to deal with another burden. I thought my earlier punch had hurt him, which was one of the main reasons I insisted he stay.

The fight was intense, and perhaps because I had absorbed Talulah's Originium, my fire art was much stronger than I anticipated. I miscalculated, causing a building to collapse and separating us from Doctor and Frostnova, who was nearby when it fell.

"Tch, if Frostnova is hurt, I will kill you."

"Shut up! If Doctor is hurt, I won't forgive you either."

It was rare to see Amiya this angry, but first, we needed to heal everyone before searching for them. I wished Rosa were here instead of boarding the plane; her siege equipment would have been incredibly helpful.

As I healed them, I absorbed their Originium too, since the Yeti squad were ice experts from Reunion, making this a rare opportunity.

"Wait, did you just cure me?"

"Yeah, so what?"

I gave a curt reply when one of them asked a question, as I still needed to heal the others. Perhaps due to absorbing Mephisto's Originium, my healing art felt smoother and easier to control, allowing me to address even the slightest wounds with precision.

(If my healing power has increased this much, then I can use that technique you trained while applying healing arts for yourself—the Rose Healing Squad technique.)

That was the last of them. As they stared at me, I hoped they would continue their search after being healed, especially since I felt that Amiya's mental state was deteriorating with each passing second without finding the Doctor. I hoped Blaze could calm her down a bit.

Oh, she gave up. I should start looking at Doctor as well. Maybe a mole-type summon would work well in this situation?

I summoned a dozen mole-type summon, prioritizing their digging to search for the Doctor while being careful not to cause a collapse by reinforcing the structure as they worked.

It worked; soon I received a signal that one of my moles had found them. The reason it located them, however, was because it was frozen to death—likely the work of Frostnova. Still, finding the Doctor underground felt rather romantic.

With that thought, I called Amiya to inform her of the Doctor's location, and she sprinted off, followed by Blaze and the others. Now that I think about it, this moment of calm might be the perfect opportunity to absorb Frostnova's Originium, which would likely enhance my ice art.

I slowly followed the others to rescue the Doctor. It took time, as we needed to dig him out of the ruins, but I was relieved he was safe. If he had any wounds, I could only imagine Amiya going on a rampage, which I wanted to avoid.

As I approached Frostnova with the intent to heal her, she looked wary for a moment until one of the Yeti squad members whispered to her, allowing me to heal her. However, she was in a dire state, with her levels at 0.7 u/L, which was dangerously close to the brink of death.

(Well, that explains why her art is so powerful in the game. In the end, she died, but now I can at least prevent that.)

While healing her, I absorbed almost all of her Originium, leaving her at around 0.15 u/L as the traces of Oripathy began to disappear from her body. This led to the rest of the Yeti squad crying, which didn't surprise me; they saw her as the princess of the group.

I felt a bit of déjà vu as she left, just like in the game, with parting words about how we would be enemies when we met again. I chuckled a bit, though I sensed that the Doctor was determined about something, and we finally managed to board the airship.

I don't know what happened during that time, as I took a moment to rest, but one thing is certain: this is not over, because Talulah is still out there after all.