A full day afterwards; the third day of the seafair. Riding on the calm waters for about four to five hours since the morning, they had been staying vigilant, but all in vain because they had yet to encounter any form of beast or animal. The seniors aside, some of the youngsters were beginning to let their guard down.
"Still no signs?" Shin asked.
"None yet," Hannah shook her head.
"Now, don't lose hope, Shin," Yukio advised. "I've read books where trouble always shows up when you let your guard down and think it'll take some more time."
"That's right," Diavolo agreed. "It might seem like it's fine, but we just entered. Who knows what'll show up soon?"
"Eh?"
"What's the matter, Layla?" Arashi asked.
"There, I… think I saw something move…"
"Where?" And they all gathered around her, looking in the direction as pointed.
As they kept speeding across the waters with haste, they kept trying to look out for signs, but the only thing that came out was another fish jumping. An entire minute but no luck.
"Just a fish. How disappointing."
"Don't say that, Shin! Do you want to get attacked by a beast?!"
"I mean… I've been fighting beasts my whole life, so…"
"This and that are different!"
"Um, attention please, everyone…" Remcon sounded from the speakers. "You might want to look ahead for a bit…"
And there it was. The large fins that protruded out of the water surface made it clear. Speeding towards them at around the same rate, from slightly towards their left, was approaching a long sea creature right at their faces!
"Remcon, steer away! We're going to crash into it!" Hannah screamed.
"No, wait! It's diving in!" Shin shouted as the fins vanished underneath. For a few seconds, there was utter silence, apart from the yacht's engines, until…
"Behind us!!!"
SHAAAA
Hissing from its throat, rose a sea beast as long as three meters from the surface. It's surfacing caused huge waves, making the yacht that was still making its way to its destination jump up and down.
"I-i-i-t really came!" Layla shrieked, looking at the gray-green monstrosity.
Displaying its sharp teeth, it only took a moment to notice its prey before resuming its chase.
Arashi clicked her tongue. "This is a troublesome one! Hey, get ready to fight it!"
"Are there any background information you want to tell us?" Yukio asked.
"Yeah, these guys are fast, agile creatures that make sure their prey are alive before attacking. I would've suggested playing dead at first, but this is a smart one. That wave it created… it noticed how we moved because of it and realized we really were alive. It knows we are food now. Make sure you kill it!"
"Roger!"
Unlike before, the fins that protruded out of the water this time encompassed its entire body length. It's neck and head was about three meters, but from head to tail, it was about seven meters. Even so, it was one of the smaller kinds of sea beasts.
Everyone readied themselves as the beast kept accelerating towards them from behind. Just when it was about a meter away from them, it raised its head with its mouth wide open to gnaw into the yacht.
"Oh no, you don't!"
『☆ Anti-Group Charring Technique; Material Raze: Plasma; Flare Impulse』
Diavolo launched a condensed ball of fire straight into its mouth.
GRAUR!
Having its oral interior transition from moist to dry, to hot, to burnt, it squealed and dove back into the water for recovery.
"Nice one!" Shin praised.
"Don't let your guard down!" Arashi warned. "You can't deal with sea beasts with fire that easily! Not with that sort of power! They've got really active mucus glands, so it'll be back any second now!"
And just as she finished her sentence, the yacht rocked and bumped in its place.
"What's going on?!"
"That bastard! It's trying to make us fall off!"
"Isn't there anything we can do?!"
"Try to predict its position using those bubbles and throw a harpoon at it!"
"Got it!"
"Yukio! Can you mitigate its movements?"
"I'm sorry! We're moving too fast, so the water moves away before I gain control over it!"
"Tch! That would be risky… But we have no choice… Remcon! Slow down!"
"The boat's rocking too much, Arashi sis! I can't get a firm holding!" Shin yelled.
"I'll help you out!" Diavolo said and tried to hold him in place.
As they continued to try to take aim, Arashi noticed that they were still not slowing down. "Remcon, what's the matter?! At this rate, the yacht'll sink! Slow down! Hey, Remcon!"
But to her surprise, there was still no reply, but more importantly, the rocking had stopped.
"Eh? What happened?" They all stood confused for a few moments.
"Arashi sis, look! The water kinda looks red!"
And indeed, there seemed to be thin red trails behind them. What could've happened?
"Ah, apologies, Madam. I had to leave the wheel to reach out for the underblade levers. It should stop bumping into us right now, but, do you still wish for me to slow down?"
"Underblade?"
"Yes, this yacht is equipped with several defense systems as well. One of them are the rotating blades underneath it. The blades should be strong enough to pierce beast skins of this caliber, so I thought it would be better for us to do that. Should I have not?"
"Just when I thought, the Rose couldn't surprise me…" Arashi said under her breath, smiling. "No, it's perfect. You did good."
"Ah, but of course, it should still be persistent. It would be wise to not lose—!"
GASHAAAA!!!
Before he could finish his sentence, the beast jumped out of the water with its entire bloody body as if it was about to slam into the yacht itself.
"This guy-! Is it insane?!" Shin panicked.
"It's gotten desperate!" Hannah deduced.
"What is it even thinking?! Has it never been fed before~?!" Yukio cried.
As the seven meter long silhouette covered more and more of their vision, everyone took their stances with their weapons as a final measure while the figure was being engraved into the back of their heads.
Vwoosh! Ping ping ping!
As if someone lit gasoline on fire, a monstrous gust of wind was hurled at its abdomen, which instantly burst into flames and exploded as it made contact. Seemingly almost instantaneously, like shrapnels, numerous fiery javelin-like fragments shot out from the explosion and pierced through its fins and into its body before dying out, leaving behind holes and charred skin.
GURAUUU!!!
Eyes rolling all the way up till nothing but its yellow cornea could be seen, the beast groaned and twisted, momentarily staying suspended in the same place in the air because of the impact of the explosion.
"What the heck just happened?!" Shin stood dumbfounded holding his weapon.
As if guided by intuition, everyone's eyes were automatically turning to the only possible culprits.
"Amazing…" Hannah said under her breath, staring spellbound at her own weapon.
"This was… possibly…" Yukio uttered.
"Yeah… The same as my fight with Claude…" Diavolo completed.
Right then, the practically unconscious body fell vertically into the sea while they continued to speed through in their yacht. The wave generated due to the fall sent their yacht yet another several meters further, distancing them enough to take countermeasures for its next assault.
"What? What happened?" Layla asked.
"Few months ago, Diavolo had a fight with Claude from our class," Yukio explained. "As you might know, Claude also uses the gas attribute, so when they fought, Diavolo's flames were strengthened instead and actually damaged Claude instead. Back then, he didn't know Diavolo had awakened his material and had planned to slowly slice him with his wind, but it worked against him instead. The attack they just did… is basically the same as that. The wind and fire aggravated each other and together created a devastating fire tornado and exploded."
"Wow~! So that's what happened!"
"No, actually, I'm more surprised at Hannah's attack this time. Were you always able to do that? That was basically on par with my own!" Diavolo stared at her, dumbfounded.
"I… don't know. I'm just as surprised as you are… To think that this weapon could be so amazing..."
"You're saying all that was because of the weapon?"
"That can't be," Suzume intervened. "That was a double layered attack. A weapon shouldn't be able to emulate something that complex."
"What's a double layered attack?" Shin asked.
"An attack set up beneath another," Hannah herself started explaining. "Sort of like a chain attack. Normally, you attack and then move on to your next move, but a multi-layered attack is when a second attack is automatically initiated once the previous one ends… or under more complex techniques, certain circumstances are met."
"So—"
"But I don't understand it myself," Hannah continued before anyone else could say anything. "I merely imagined it. Just once. I don't even know how multi-layered attacks work. This is why I'm this surprised as well…"
"Hey, if you're done feeling amazed by yourselves, could someone hurry up and finish that thing?! It's getting away!" Arashi interrupted.
Looking at the direction she pointed, everybody could see the limping creature swimming away as hard as it could. Its fins all tattered, it couldn't swim as fast as it could before, and thus was still in the harpoon range.
"Leave it to me, sis!" Shin proclaimed as he held the harpoon launcher over his shoulder, "I'll add it a little something to spice things up too!" and injected his Material Natura into the contraption - a second gen weapon - before pressing the trigger.
"Idiot! No, Shin! Don't—!" Arashi screamed, but Shin had already pressed it, and she could only claw at her own head as she witnessed the electrically charged harpoon piercing into its flesh and electrocuting it. After letting out a little squeal, its body twisted and relaxed, never to move again.
"AAAAAHHHHH!!!" Arashi let out a panicked scream as she squatted down, still clawing her head.
"Onee-chan, what's the matter?!"
"You fool! We're in the fucking sea!! Do you realize what you've done?!!!"
"Uh… killed it?"
"What in the—! Does he not know that seawater conducts electricity?! I thought I told you we need to create the least disturbance as possible! What you've just done is announced to every single sea beast in the vicinity that we're here!"
"Oh… no......"
"Uh… guys? You might wanna see this…" Yukio said, looking forward.
What used to be a calm, flat horizon, now had multiple ripples and waves continuously appearing and disappearing every second.
"Oh no. Oh, nonononono…. We're done for…" Arashi pressed on her forehead.
"Don't worry, sis! We can take them on, too!" Shin tried cheering her up.
"Oh, you better… Or else we'll never make it to the place…"
As the waves got larger and larger, several heads started to pop up.
Five. Ten. Seventeen. Twenty five. Thirty five. Forty eight. Fifty nine.
"............."
"............."
"............."
"............."
"............."
"............."
"............."
"............."
"I'm pretty sure you guys can pull off the same thing as your fight against those numbers too, right~♥?" The mature young woman smiled brightly.
Right then so, the yacht quickly slowed down to a stop, standing right in the middle of a fence made of live seven to thirty meter long sea beasts.
"Ah, what a great time to stop, Remcon," Arashi monotonically said. "I don't suppose you have another surprise, right? Like an emergency booster that can shoot us forward in an instant?"
"......... No, Madam. We… do not have that…" the speakers resounded with dread.
"I see……"
…
..
.
GRAAAWWWWWW!!!!!!
"BRACE YOURSELVES!!!!"
As the warcry resounded, one of the sea beasts bit into the neck of another and flung it downwards.
"What? It's attacked its own kind?" Layla jerked up in surprise.
"Don't get distracted! Behind you!" Diavolo alerted.
One of the larger beasts dove its head straight towards the yacht, but just before it reached them, the entire yacht dodged it, as if the water itself pushed them away.
"Ow, ow, ow! My head hurts!" Yukio complained.
"Great job, Yu!"
"You've never manipulated so much water before, have you? It'll hurt, but hang in there!" Diavolo encouraged.
"Y-yeah, I'll try!"
"But… why are some of them attacking each other?"
"This is normal. Some of the predators simply thought it would be more satiating to feed on the others than us," the only adult man explained.
"Another's coming!" Yukio warned.
"Hannah!" Diavolo called out.
"Got it!"
『☆ Anti-Group Double-Layered Technique; Material Natura: Gas;』
"『Piercing Wind』!!!"
With a swing of her hand, wind gushed from in front of the yacht, across the deck and curved up towards the neck of one of the beasts. Before a second could pass after contact, Diavolo shot out.
"『Ignite』!!!"
Similarly, the wind lance ignited in flames and exploded, the heat and impact making the attack melt right through its body, and continued to rise upwards.
Once it reached several meters above the tallest beast's head, it suffered one last explosion before uncountable fiery fragments rained down from above.
"What in the—! Yukio!" Arashi ordered.
"Understood!"
As the fragments rained down, some of the beasts suffered minor charring, others basically didn't even flinch. But more importantly, poor Yukio had to deal with many of the fragments raining down on themselves. Splash by splash, he had to put out the ones that would've caused damage on them.
"What are you thinking?! Are you trying to hurt us too?!" Arashi scolded.
"Ah, I'm… I'm sorry… I just thought, maybe, if we could strike a lot of them at once, it would be better…"
"Attack normally!"
"Arashi sis, what should I do?"
"Shoot them with harpoons! And this time, don't go acting like a smartass!"
"Roger!"
"Randolf, you too! Help him out!"
"G-got it!"
"Hey, why are we the only ones doing all the work?! Weren't you protecting Suzume before we came?! You should be pretty strong, right? Then stop ordering us around and actually do something to help us out!" Diavolo shouted with spite.
"...... What did you just say?"
"Oh, boy. He's done it now…" Randolf felt cold sweat seeping out.
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Arashi sighed, "Suzu, hand me my hairband," and started to tie her long ponytail into a braid. "Looks like I need to show these useless brats how it's done."
During the few seconds that it took her to tie her hair up, Randolf and Shin were doing their best at shooting the creatures as the yacht rocked and swayed due to Yukio and the ones underneath. Diavolo and Hannah were on standby until…
"Alright. Hannah, I bet you can still dish out more of those gusts before running out of gas, right?"
"Y-yes… I think so."
"Good," she said and stared up at the bulkiest beast aiming for a different kill. "That one with the thickest skin. Once I jump, I want you to send me up to its face."
"Ehh??! That scary one?" Layla shrieked.
"Ready…" and she positioned herself, flexing her leg muscles as she squatted down, "Now!" and jumped upwards.
Hannah swallowed a ball of saliva and held her blade firmly with both hands. As she injected it with Natura, the bandages that Heratune was wrapped with, unwinded and spun around the blade, until a twister-like gust of wind burst out. Hannah had gathered all the wind around her for that burst; so much, that countless water droplets were also carried by it.
Carried by the wind, Arashi gave a piercing glare at the beast, that turned its eyes at her, noticing something was up.
"Yo, you overgrown armadillo. Wanna feast on this mature beauty?"
Before even turning its head around, the beast started to open its mouth as if publicly announcing that it was a piece of cake to eat her whole.
"That's right. Come at me. I won't be able to teach those amateurs some manners otherwise."
『☆ Counter Anti-Unit Enhancement Technique; Pure Natura; Takeover』
Mentally announcing so, she retracted her limbs into a somewhat fetal position and flexed her finger and wrist muscles.
『Second Stage: Absorption』
Unnoticeably, the Material Natura circling within the whirlwind started to gather around her.
『Third Stage: Adaptation』
The Natura that she emitted and the Natura around her started to mix.
"Takeover complete… Don't forget to chew, okay?"
"Hey! She's gonna get eaten like this!"
"Arashi!"
The cries seemed to be unheard and very swiftly, the beast swallowed her whole.
"ARASHIII!!!"
『☆ Hybrid Natura: Gas; Clean Slicing Talons』
WACHASH!!!
Not long after its mouth closed shut, from the back of its mouth to the base of its short neck, everything within 300 degrees around her… was slashed open with a cross-cut, with simultaneous eight slashes. As the long pieces of meat fell alongside the only head and body, the agile, voluptuous figure leaped atop each piece until finally getting firm landing on the floating body. Covered in blood, she leaped again, this time towards the yacht, but the speed was way too much for her to actually land on it.
"Yukio!"
"Ah-! Yes!" he exclaimed, panicking and as if he understood what she meant, manipulated a decent volume of water sprayed it at her as she reached their vehicle; naturally, the force being enough to let her land safely on the deck and clean her off of most of the blood.
"Good boy." And turning towards Diavolo, "You were saying?"
Of course, he was left speechless. Not just him. Apart from Randolf, everyone was. This woman just took out a giant sea beast all on her own. This woman who was making a big deal out of sea beasts the whole time suddenly just sliced one open in one strike. How could they not be surprised?
"Hmph!" she scoffed. "Like I said, ignorant."
"But… how?"
"Huh? I simply used my Pure Natura and manipulated Hannah's attack as part of my own," she explained. "You kids… your attacks are too simplistic. Your bodies aren't just there to generate energy, you know? They can move and attack on their own too. Before Natura, came your body. It is simply an extra; a very convenient extra. But it is still part of you. Learn to use it as an extension of your own body. Doesn't matter how you think of it: a tool, a body part, something holy; doesn't matter! Now go!"
"Yes Ma'am!!!"
"Not you." Arashi pointed at Diavolo. "You're useless. Your fire won't be as effective on these guys who're fighting amongst themselves. Constantly being with water, you can simply scald them lightly. Grab another harpoon launcher and help them out!"
As frustrating as it sounded, Diavolo had to accept it. If it was one large attack after another, then the damage could be done, but for how long would he be able to maintain it? And if he did as told, that is, treat his flames as an extension of his own body, the firepower would be too weak.
Clicking his tongue, he grabbed a launcher as told.
"One more thing," she continued and pulled out something like a cord from underneath Shin's and Randolf's harpoon launchers. "You're packing a lot of Raze, aren't you? Supply them with it too. Unlike this idiot's electricity, your fire can be used. Normally, even your fire would be weak, but harpoons have actual hardness and mass. Heat will help it enter the flesh more easily. I want you to continuously supply all three of them with a stable source of your energy."
"Okay, but... what about when I'm reloading?"
"What, are you saying that you'll focus just for a reload? How pathetic." She scoffed. "Ah, well. Good thing we have another person who can't really do much. Suzu dear~! Could you reload his harpoons for him?"
Suzume gulped. "Yes. I understand."
Just then, another beast attacked and Yukio helped rock the yacht away.
"Yukio! Have you still not realized that rocking the boat is too much for you?! Aren't you supposed to be the smartest among these guys?!"
"E-eehh??? But… what am I supposed to do???"
"You've got fine first gen weapons, don't you?! Use them!"
"But they're only for defense. How am I supposed to—!" And the same beast attacked them again, forcing Yukio to rock the boat once more. "Ow—! H-how am I supposed to fight off sea beasts with them???"
"Use your head! Don't they help you to—!" Yet again the beast attacked and they dodged… barely. "Alright give me a minute. This is getting annoying." And looking at Hannah, "Once more, Young Mistress!"
"Yes!" she replied and shot out a similar gust of wind as before at the rising head of the beast that kept attacking. Arashi of course, leapt into the wind current and was launched forward.
"Sample Recollection. Quick Takeover… Complete."
『☆ Hybrid Natura: Gas; Grinding Drills』
Spinning her body within the whirlwind, Arashi flexed her claws and oriented them in the direction of her spin. The poor beast, having just arisen, didn't see it coming; and it simply ended up with a gaping wide hole through its eel-like body.
Unlike before, Arashi did not have a dead body to use as a stepping stone while she continued to spin forward. As soon as she stopped spinning in mid-air, she was greeted with the face of yet another sea beast, just waiting to feast on her.
"Sorry, boyo! I've got a cute little sister to protect!" she proclaimed and did a cartwheel motion, kicking its snout, thus launching herself upwards.
"Come on, come on, come on! I need another stepping stone to return back! Someone please come at me!"
And just as she wished, not one, but three lunged at her at the same time.
"Oh, dear! Three at the same time? I don't think I can handle it~!" She licked her lips. "Here goes nothing, then…"
The closer they got, the more Arashi spread out in a hugging posture.
『Pure Natura; Flash Bang』
With great force, she clapped her hands together, emitting a tremendous light and a sound that could permanently render a child deaf. The sound and the light audibly and visually impared the three, but of course, couldn't find the time to turn away. Since they kept on going in their original path, Arashi, who had tightly closed her eyes at the moment of her technique, managed to leap over their heads and snouts. As she jumped over the first, the beast reflexively turned its head to swallow her, still visually blind, but ended up biting into its comrade. Lastly, she sprinted down the body of the one that led closest to the boat and gave a final leap back to her gang, landing safely.
"Amazing…"
"WHAT?!" She tilted her head so that her ear was closer to Hannah.
"I… I SAID YOU WERE AMAZING BACK THERE!!!" she cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled at her ear.
"OH! WELL THANKS! SORRY, I CAN'T REALLY HEAR THINGS PROPERLY AT THE MOMENT, SO IT'LL BE KINDA INCONVENIENT! BUT IT'LL GET FIXED SOON, DON'T WORRY!" And after pausing for a moment, "SO WHERE WAS I?"
Just then, another one of them emerged from the sea and aimed itself straight towards them.
"FOR THE LOVE OF GOD!"
But together, Shin, Diavolo and Randolf, shot it with the flaming harpoons, dealing great damage, and Hannah giving the finishing blow with a grinding gust of wind that ignited when it came into contact with the harpoons.
"HEY, NICE ONE! LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE NOT SO USELESS AFTER ALL! KEEP AT IT!" She grinned brightly.
"How long is she going to scream like this?" Diavolo said under his breath.
"No clue," Shin replied in the same fashion.
"Ahahaha…" Randolf laughed awkwardly.
"AS I WAS SAYING, AREN'T THOSE THINGS SUPPOSED To help yOU GEt better control ovER FLUIDS AROUnd your hands?!" She put her pinky in her ears and rubbed for a few seconds and popped them out. "Why don't you simply gather water around your arms subconsciously, and then use the portions that you already have greater control over as attacks? Hit them with pinpoint accuracy!" She winked.
"That… might actually be done…" his brain felt like it suddenly awoke.
"You could've thought of that on your own." She pat his shoulder. "Don't panic. You can do this. This fight highly depends on you and Hannah, being the only two whose Materials are abundantly available at the moment. Don't let the chance go to waste."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"I knew this might happen, so I brought these puppies along with me," she continued on and opened her handbag lying to the side. Opening it, a pair of bladed boots could be seen, along with a pair of claw-like gloves with a dangerous mantis-like blade hanging from the wrist portion.
"Did she just say she knew this might happen?" Diavolo said under his breath.
"Yeah," Shin replied in the same fashion.
"Now, now, you two…" Randolf smiled awkwardly.
『Pure Natura: Body Enhancement』
Arashi mentally chanted and started glowing — brimming with power.
"I'm going solo now. I'll leave support to you two!"
"Eeehhh???" But before they could say anything else, she jumped off again.
Thus started the rampage of Arashi. At first, she landed feet first on the body of a beast, plunging the blades on the sole deep into its flesh, causing it to scream and flail about. But she didn't stop there, of course. Running up its neck in a spiral pathway, she kept slashing and clawing about, leaving it no chance to react. Lastly, having no other choice, it decided to plunge back down into the waters, where Arashi would not be able to breathe.
However, appropriately responding to the scene, Hannah sent another gust of wind straight towards a particularly large cut in its long neck. And unlike the previous gusts, this one was thinner, more compact, sharper and faster; basically, had a greater impact on a properly targeted region like a large cut.
GRUAUUUU!
It yelled and twitched, the pain causing it to be temporarily paralyzed. But because of this, gravity was automatically causing its descent into the water. It didn't stop it, simply slowed it down.
But that was actually more than enough.
"Nice, Hannah! Your whirlwinds are getting sharper!" complemented Yukio, with water surrounding his arms like extra long aqueous limbs.
"Thanks, I know! You know, I thought it'd be much more difficult to control a legendary weapon like this. But to think it was so easy… it just makes me so happy!"
"D-doesn't that mean it has accepted you?" Layla meekly said so.
"Ehehe!" she giggled sweetly, "I wonder~!" and blushed.
"We can't let this chance go to waste! Shin! Diavolo! Mr. Randolf!" Yukio exclaimed.
"Roger!" And they sent a barrage of flaming harpoons at the same spot.
Adding on, Yukio also shot out large water bullets of about half a litre each, at great speeds, at the same wound.
Rapidly being in contact with such heat, such impact, and such cool waters so quickly, it wasn't long before there was a gaping hole in that spot that almost reached halfway into its neck, turning into a fatal wound that the beast could no longer handle. Its body now floating on the sea, enormous amounts of blood gushed out from the would-have-been charred wound, dying the area around them red.
Meanwhile, poor Diavolo started to release sweat and his eyes were beginning to slouch; a sign of incoming fatigue.
"Are you alright, Diavolo-kun? As I suspected, this is too much, isn't it?" Suzume asked, concerned.
"No, it's… alright…" he replied somewhat raspily.
Unsurprisingly, they were so engrossed in taking out this particular beast that they didn't notice that Arashi had already jumped off and onto another one, where she was actually having trouble.
"You! Thick! Skinned! Bastard! Let! Go!" She tugged on her gloves, having the mantis claw stuck on the beast's tough skin at the back of its head.
"Oh, no! She's stuck! What do we do?!" Layla shrieked in terror.
"Shin, can't you do something?" Hannah painfully asked.
"A little busy here!" he said as the three of them focused on defending against the others that tried to get near.
"Yukio?"
"I don't think my water bullets can go that far with proper force." He made a pained expression.
"Owhhh, what to do~???!" She tried thinking of ways as she watched the beast shake its head about trying to get rid of Arashi from itself. As time passed, its shaking got stronger and stronger, even if it was clear, the gloves weren't going to come off. But at that rate, her arms might.
"Hannah!" Shin called out, bringing her back into the world. "Just remember." He pointed upwards, "The sky is the limit for you!" and smiled.
"Eh? What do you—!"
"Take that, you inedible piece of fish!" he continued his steady harpoon barrages, leaving Hannah at her own accord.
"The sky is the limit… The sky is the limit… The sky is the…" she thought to herself. "The sky…." And finally, "The sky!!!" she realized.
As if she needed no support from others, she shot a gust of wind downwards, slightly sinking the ship, but allowing her to project herself up much higher than any of the heights the beasts could touch, giving her a clear view of the back of its head.
"This time… much faster!!" she thought to herself and chanted: 『☆ Anti-Unit One-Hit Technique; Material Natura: Gas; Piercing Wind』
And just like she said, this one was way faster, stronger, and destructive. Truly deserving the name of 'Piercing Wind'. If it had been the previous beast, or the ones before, she might've managed to pierce right through… but not this one. The skin was just too tough.
On the plus side, what it did manage to do was hit the beasts head so hard that it forcibly lowered its head to the point that it was incredibly near their yacht.
"Great job, Hannah!" Yukio cheered.
"Eat this, lizard-face!" Shin yelled and he and Randolf shot a harpoon each into its eyes.
GARURUUUUUU!!!
"Not yet!" Yukio declared and simultaneously, Diavolo shot a harpoon into its wide open mouth, whereas he used his water bullets to push the harpoons in its eyes deeper. Much deeper, until it reached into its brain and its neural functions ceased.
Finally, the muscles under its skin relaxing, Arashi was able to pull the blade out safely and heave a sigh of relief. "Sorry about that! Teehee~!" She winked and stuck out her tongue mischievously.
"DON'T DO THAT!" all of them screamed at once.
"NOOOOOO~~~!!!" they heard someone's scream from far away; more specifically, the sky.
Looking up, they found Hannah, helplessly falling down with no way to save herself. But more importantly, she was falling straight towards a sea beast that had its mouth ready to gulp her down whole.
"Hannah!!! God dammit!" Shin cursed and aimed his harpoon at it.
"Shin! Don't! It's too far away!" Arashi warned.
Hannah's attack was indeed splendid and powerful, but she was still starting out. If she had thought a little further, she would have realized that she did not have a firm footing mid-air. Thus, when she launched her attack, she was launched backwards as well; and quite a distance as a matter of fact.
Things were not looking good. Not only that, but the others couldn't do anything. Arashi would jump out, but the problem of distance still remained. The only options were to make Yukio throw her or to use other beasts as stepping stones. But Yukio was busy as support, and there was nothing in between them and her. As she kept trying to think of ways, Hannah continued to plunge down to her demise. She held Heratune tightly in a hug as tears started to form, making her look like a timid little rabbit.
"N-n-n-n…" she mumbled.
Just then, Arashi's senses seemed to heighten and she noticed a few beasts on their way to surfacing and took the chance. "Tch! It's now or never! Yukio! Throw me!"
"Eh?! But—!"
"DO IT!"
He shut up and took a gulp of saliva. Manipulating the water around his wrist and hands, he grabbed Arashi's legs and flung her out, praying.
Skillfully, she rotated her body accordingly to control the point at which she landed, and just as she could make out a dark silhouette under the water, she stretched out her body, allowing her to decrease her falling speed and giving time to the beast's body to properly surface. Once it did, she wasted no strength in her able legs to jump off of it, enough for the blades in her shoes to dig deep into its flesh.
The beast groaned and its head popped out from a different place. It looked around and found its dreadful feast in midair. Watching her almost land on another one of the beasts, it roared, as if calling out to it.
Time was ticking and Arashi started to rush. As soon as she heard the roar, the silhouette underneath her shuddered and wiggled away.
"Dammit!" she cursed, now having nowhere to land, she fell into the water. Meanwhile, Hannah's falling body continued to pick up speed and was less than a 100 meters away from its mouth.
"""Hannah!!!""" everyone screamed.
If only she stretched out her body, she would be able to subtly maneuver about and stab into its mouth enough to hang on using her own blade. But she was too petrified to do anything of the sort.
50 meters.
Arashi herself was at a loss as she floated in the water, being free lunch for the incoming two beasts. She wanted to shout something at her. Something that could help. Some form of advice or trigger. If she couldn't reach her, at least her voice would, right? But nothing was coming up.
20 meters.
"N-n-n-no! NO! I DON'T WANNA GET EATEEEEEEN!!!!" she shrieked and impulsively swung Heratune, but—
Gulp.
"..." "..." "..." "..." "..." "..."
Everyone was at a loss as time froze at the instant it closed its giant mouth. Was this it? Was their benefactor and good friend gone even before they faced their enemies? As their guardian, even Arashi was starting to feel heavy with guilt. But… something strange happened.
In just about a second after its jaws closed, its eyes shot wide open, and so did its nostrils. It seemed to make a sound similar to that of a burp, but something was amiss. And then it took a deep breath.
It inhaled and inhaled and kept on inhaling. Nobody said a thing. Nobody could say a thing. Its slender body seemed to be expanding to a point where even someone not acquainted with its anatomy would feel it's becoming dangerous.
Subconsciously, everyone thought of the only reason: Hannah must be doing something. As one second passed after another, the picture was turning clearer. The beast tried to open its mouth in an attempt to vomit her out, but it simply made it worse. With a larger opening, more wind entered its body and one point, if someone observed the water around it, would see bubbles violently popping up. Its cornea turned red as its eyes curled upwards, depicting its consciousness losing hold of its final thread. Some portions of its body expanded more than others and this differential was it.
Tchhhh! FTOOSH!!! PSHHH!
Yes… It's body exploded. Its blood and innards shot everywhere and poured down as rain. But that was not all. At the center of all this, still in mid-air, about 30 meters above the sea, was something bright that kept on shooting air from the upper regions down at the sea. Its force was so great, it created a tidal wave that went in all directions. The beasts that were only focused on feasting on Arashi were pushed away; and of course, the relatively small body of Arashi was flung away.
"Sister Arashi!" Yukio screamed as he desperately held onto the edge of the yacht and attempted to grab her by her legs using his hydrous limb.
TSHHH
Hannah continued to eject a great deal of wind, creating something of a water crater that slowly lost its depth as she descended down.
Sploosh.
Her petite body plopped into the water, unconscious, and floated. Her hand lost grip of Heratune, but its ribbon was tightly wrapped all throughout her arm, as if unwilling to let go.
Thud!
Yukio managed to drag Arashi back onto the deck as the wind died down, but without wasting any time, "Remcon! Hurry!"
"Affirmative!!"
The motors started at full gear and headed straight for the red haired maiden. Arashi noticed before Hannah had landed, that the burst was enough to confuse all the beasts temporarily. Every second counted and she didn't want to end up failing to reach one of the people she promised to look after throughout the journey.
"Yukio!" she called out to him and he nodded.
Of course the yacht didn't run over her. As they swerved beside her, Yukio managed to grab her by the arm and yanked her on board; not stopping at all for any confirmation, as if Remcon had full faith in them, they continued on full speed ahead.
Only now had the beasts recovered from the unexpected shock they received and looked here and there. The instant they realized their presence moving away, they all roared and sped towards them. Naturally, they weren't foolish enough to believe they could outrun them. It was now Diavolo, Shin and Randolf's task to make sure none of them reached them.
As soon as they were done covering Hannah with a blanket and leaving her in a room with Layla, the remaining three held the others in place, helping them maintain their balance on the unsteady platform that was the deck.
One after another, they shot at underwater silhouettes and reflective bodies, unable to know in any way whether they actually managed to kill them. All that they saw were a bunch of flailing and long trails of blood.
"Don't stop! Keep firing!" Arashi ordered.
"I'm sorry about this, Arashi. If I wasn't as injured, I would've managed to maintain balance on my own," Randolf said with guilt.
"If you've got time to apologize, then keep firing!"
"Take that! And that! And that! I'll kill every single one of you who is related to that thing!" Shin blasted like a maniac.
"Shin, you need to calm down! You're sacrificing your aim like this!" Yukio acted as the voice of reason.
"Shut up, Yu! Just keep reloading! I've got a firm grip on this!"
"B-but we'll run out of ammo at this rate! We need more for the days to come!"
"Diavolo-kun, are you okay? As I expected, we should really disconnect the cords…"
"No! It's alright! I can manage! Just… hold onto me…"
"But then… at least let's tell Shin to slow down. The harpoons don't have enough destructive powe—"
"Then I'll just have to keep up with— No… guys, wait!"
Because of his alarming tone, everyone stopped their barrage and looked carefully. It seemed that all of the sea beasts were dispersing away. One possibility would have been that they were going to attack from all directions, but from their movements, it was more like they were running away.
"Did they… finally give up?" Yukio asked, grasping straws.
"Something's definitely not right." Arashi felt a bad omen. "We didn't scare them enough to make them run want to away like that."
"But isn't it better this way?" Suzume heaved. "We get to take a breather. And Diavolo-kun has been supplying Raze non-stop this whole time. That too, without that power he mentioned!"
"Tch! I couldn't kill any of them!" Shin clicked his tongue out of frustration.
"Shin! How could you—!"
"My bad, Diav. I wasted a lot of your energy."
"It's… Haa... Fine… Haa..."
"Oh, dear god. Your skin is pale as death! Quickly, lie down!" Randolf advised. "Your skin is cold and your muscles are all weak. You should've told us if you were overexerting yourself!"
"He's always like this. I feel bad too, but worrying would just piss him off," Shin commented.
"But still! If this is how things have—!"
"Um, everyone...?" Remcon's uncertain voice resounded from the speakers.
Arashi immediately ran to the front deck and scanned the horizon. It hadn't even been half a minute since the dispersion and once she got to see what Remcon had spotted from the cockpit above, her blood ran cold.
"No… It can't be… Why? Why it? Why now?!"
Cold sweat poured down and her spine felt numb. All her muscles froze and it was a miracle she was managing to keep her footing on this unsteady ground. From behind, they couldn't see it, but Arashi's previously overbearing and dominant attitude was completely shattered once she was able to predict what that approaching silhouette was.
"Tch! Is it another wave?" Shin prepared himself.
Thud!
Diavolo flipped himself over and tried to peer over at the horizon. "Let… Haa... Me… Haa... fig—"
"You'll not be doing anything right now. Let us handle it," Randolf reassured.
"It'll be difficult without Hannah and Diavolo, but… I'll do my best!" Yukio cheered himself on.
"NO!" Arashi's voice silenced everyone. "No… it's not…" Her voice seemed to get dimmer and dimmer.
"Arashi, what's the matter?" Randolf asked and he too looked at the same direction and froze. "!!"
"?? Mister Randolf?" Yukio asked hesitantly.
"It seems like doing our best won't be enough, kids. You better start praying…"
The rest looked as well. It was not a horde, but just one creature. The shape was somewhat round but flattened, kind of like a turtle, but not more than 10 meters tall. It didn't look scary in the slightest, compared to the previous ones.
"I don't get it. Doesn't look too tough. Is there some sort of special characteristic? Like, is it super fast or tough or something?" Shin nonchalantly asked.
Randolf slowly shook his head and took a gulp of saliva. "That's… just its head…"
Shin and Yukio shuddered, and Diavolo's body plopped face first onto the deck.
"Diavolo-kun?! Stay with us!!!"
"I'm… Haa... Gonna take a nap… Huu..."
"And that's not the main thing," Randolf continued. "No wonder those guys fled. We might have to turn around…"
"But why?! What's so special about it?! Tell us!!" Shin panickingly demanded.
"That thing… those species… can use Natura…"