93 Hunt the hunter

First thing in the morning, the group gathered in one of the rented rooms to discuss their future plans. Almost entirely ignoring the discussion at hand, Orisa's attention was preoccupied with a different matter. She focused all her willpower to keep her face straight while subtly observing Tiana, whose expression was undergoing a constant metamorphosis. She turned bright red after glancing at Iten then immediately became pale and shifted her gaze to a window. A few moments later, apparently, her chaotic train of thoughts stumbled over something love-related again as her face turned pink once more. This process had gone for five minutes in a row, forcing Orisa to pull the remnants of her strength and stand up to their improvised chalkboard.

"Okay, everyone, let's focus on our plans, would you? We need to decide on our next target."

"Mhm, Orisa, are you done inspecting Tiana? Is she ill, by chance?" asked Toatre casually. Tiana's outraged gaze was directed at Orisa who tried turned away and pretended to whistle.

"Well, you can say that," she muttered a moment later and turned to the drawing board again. "Anyhow, our plan. In general, nothing has changed about the idea of visiting all vaults. Any objections? Great, so now what's left is to select our next target."

"Do we know where they are? It seemed to me that their location isn't well known," Iten said with doubt.

"Mhm, that is correct," began Toatre. "While all the clues we have only provide circumstantial evidence, it is quite possible to assume that the rest of the facilities should be somewhat similar to the one we know."

"I can't grasp how it helps us, though," continued Iten.

"I think our lovely Toatre is trying to tell us that while we only know their general location, we can use our knowledge to narrow down their position." Orisa began to draw on the board: "If there are hills or mountains in the targeted area, we will look for caves and inspect them, searching for Mana void areas. In case it's a plane or a forest we are talking about, we'll probably have to deal with a subterranean area where some digging is required. Something like that, sweety?"

"Mhm, that is correct, I believe," nodded Toatre in approval.

"I don't know," Kanai let out a depressed sigh. "Won't it be kind of impossible to find it, considering we stumbled over the first one accidentally?"

"We don't have any other choice, do we? Plus, maybe our little genie will come up with something while we are on our way?" Orisa patted Toater's head.

"This is rather unlikely, mhm. It would have been much wiser to stay in the shelter to study it and look for possible methods of detection for similar structures."

"Well, there is that, true, but I don't think we have time to go back there and study. It would cost us another week or so, and I feel we don't have this luxury," muttered Orisa grimly. They had discovered a diminishing timer of the Waves almost four months ago, meaning two-thirds of this time budget had been spent. She pulled out a map and pinned it to the board, and continued: "For now, we should go for the closest one. From our current location, a western shelter should be our target. The map shows that it's a forested area, so we'll really need a method to look for the entrance."

"Is this w-w-wise to venture there blindly w-w-while we are lacking any means to detect the shelter?" Tiana finally decided to join the conversation.

"Any other ideas, then?" Orisa gave every group member a long look, waiting for their arguments, but everyone was silent. "Then it's decided. Let's stock up and move out."

The meeting was over. Everyone stood up to leave the room, but Kanai stayed behind and approached Orisa after everyone else went to pack their bags. He came closer and squeezed her shoulder, asking in a quiet voice:

"Are you absolutely sure this is the best course?"

"How should I know? Dude, you know as much as I do, and that's what I found right. Going back to the Hounds is out of questions, as well as the return to the first shelter. We don't have time to sit here and wait for god knows what."

"Okay-okay, I get it. Just don't want you to decide on something we'd all come to regret." He sat back in the chair he had been occupying during the meeting. "What the hell was going on yesterday with Tiana? I couldn't hear the words, but it really sounded like you were having a fight."

"Oh, that? It's nothing like that, quite the opposite. First love came crashing down without warning, so now she is struggling to wrap her head around the fact."

"First love?" Kanai gave Orisa a confused look, but then his eyes narrowed into thin lines: "Don't tell me you..."

"Bro, the fuck!? A little trust, maybe?" Orisa swiftly smacked his forehead, honestly appalled by such an allegation. "Of course it's not me, you donkey! If I knew you were such a jealous twat, I wouldn't have let the truck isekai me. Gosh..."

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Three nights later, the group finally arrived in the target area and set up camp, putting off the exploration for the morning. They took shifts guarding the tents, and everyone went to bed wearing Mana sealing bracers, so the night passed peacefully. Despite that, a strange foreboding had been haunting Orisa the whole trip and even during the following night. Something at the back of her mind kept triggering her senses, but she couldn't figure out the reason behind it.

During their travel, they hadn't come up with any bright ideas on how to locate the shelter, so their initial plan was to search the surroundings for spots suitable for an underground entrance. The group was ready for a long, tiresome exploration. However, only two hours in the morning they were met by a confusing and surprising picture instead:

"I don't like being our Captain Obvious, but I think it's what we are after..." muttered Orisa, scratching her head.

With their mouth agape, the friends were staring at a field that had been a part of the forest before but now looked like it had been used as a proving ground by some explosion maniacs. The trees were no more, only charred trunks here and there reminded of this area's origin. The space in front of them was riddled with pits and holes, and a giant crater in the middle left an unforgettable impression. Grass began to grow, meaning that the last clash or whatever had been behind this area being devastated had happened more than a month ago.

"You don't say..." echoed Kanai.

There was, however, quite a number of Beasts roaming the area, although they didn't notice the squad that was still wearing Mana sealing bracers. Despite things going well so far, the situation bore a concerning question:

"How do we proceed from now on?" voiced Iten everyone's concern.

"W-w-w risk drawing too much attention w-w-were we to fight them head-on."

"Contrary to that, our freedom of exploration will be hampered greatly, mhm."

Everyone gave Orisa a questioning look, expecting a decision on this matter. She thought for a moment but quickly arrived at an obvious answer:

"There is no choice, in fact. Even if we'd manage to find the entrance, we'll have to use Mana to go inside, pulling Beasts' attention anyway. Plus, the area will be swarmed by them when we decide to leave. So let's start blasting."

Despite the squad's experience and growth, it took them almost three hours to get rid of the Beasts as they kept coming wave after wave. An unusual amount even for a place that was supposed to draw their attention. It took them another hour to find a small half-buried cave which led them deep underground to a long and narrow passage. Luckily, the pass withstood the test of time, so Orisa's drilling skills ended up unused. Finally, they arrived at the entrance to the second shelter - the same grey surface, the same Mana void that Orisa felt after touching the walls. Despite a seemingly successful endeavor, the group was at a loss.

"The door is closed," Kanai stated the obvious after Orisa had used Asura Strike to fill the shelter's entrance with Mana.

"Who would have expected that..." added Orisa sarcastically.

"Wasn't it an evident outcome?" asked Toatre in surprise. "The probability of another door being half opened was close to zero even by most optimistic assumptions, mhm."

"So, leader, what's our plan?" asked Iten with a hint of dissatisfaction.

Orisa thoughtfully scratched her head. She was half-expecting such an outcome but was still hoping to luck out somehow. Her head was completely empty until her gaze stumbled on Toatre, and something clicked in her head. When she was about to open her mouth, however, Toatre said in her usual tone:

"I think I'll start working on the passage while you are doing whatever it is you do, mhm."

"What do you mean?" asked her confused Kanai.

"I think our dearest friend means that since the material is the same, the door's mechanism must be identical, too," quickly spat out Orisa, trying to sound like it was all a part of her plan from the beginning.

"Mhm. I don't anticipate it to be entirely the same, but the principle should be similar. Which means that I need to find the right combination of Mana intents."

"Exactly. Thank you, dear," Orisa concluded with a smug.

Toatre cracked the door's Mana mechanism two hours later, and the group stepped in. Inside the shelter, they were met with an absolutely similar grey corridor leading to a room with elevators and a staircase. The first hall they descended into looked mostly the same, too, although there was some furniture still present and intact. It was made of glass or similar material that had withstood the test of time, so the curious group started looking around. They had been studying the shelves and closets for several minutes when a lively and cheerful male voice suddenly interrupted them:

"How curious, I must say! A group of children has come this far. You shouldn't be here, little urchins. Naughty kids should be scolded with all due severity, right?"

"W-w-who are you?!"

Tiana stood closest to the entrance and was first to react. Her staff was pointing at a knight fully covered in white armor. An unsheathed katana was attached to his hip, and aside from it, there was no other gear present. The knight's helmet turned towards Tiana as if the person inside focused all his attention on the girl.

"Oh? A somewhat familiar face I was not expecting to see. Truly, fate must have a lot up its sleeves for me," he said after tilting his head slightly. "Who would have thought that a kin call I've received would lead me to such an encounter?"

"Explain yourself, mister hero," Orisa said. She stopped in front of Tiana, shielding the girl with her body. "We don't want things to get unnecessarily violent, right?"

"We don't?" the knight sounded surprised. "Well, maybe you are right. Since the door is now open, I don't have time to play with you, so it should be over in a moment."

Without warning, the knight threw forward three magic cores and shouted:

"-Kin Call!-"

Out of thin air, three evolved wolves appeared and landed in front of Orisa and Tiana. No sooner had they touched the grey surface of the floor when their bodies got turned to dust of pure Mana and sucked into the complex' Mana reserves.

"Hmm, I wasn't expecting that..." muttered the knight in confusion.

"-Fury!-" -- "-Force Guard!-"

Orisa was first to move. She pulled out an unevolved core from her breast pocket and used it to dive into the focused state. Next was her forearm guard since she couldn't use the full body armor as it would end up sucked into the complex. Kanai also came to his senses from the initial shock and began to spread buffs over his teammates.

"-Reality Slash!-" swung the knight his katana, sending a wave of magic towards Kanai.

"-Five-Seal Barrier!-"

Orisa reacted in time, but all the barriers she placed in the way of the spell broke, sliced by the wave. Fortunately, Kanai was also quick to act and managed to duck at the last second.

"The v-v-voice... So familiar," slowly uttered Tiana, who was utterly shocked and out of shape from the moment she had heard the knight.

"-Shield Rush!-"

With his shield in front of him and glowing red, Iten dashed towards the knight. Instead of blocking or rolling away, the man in white armor simply kicked Iten's shield. The impact sent the group's tank flying, and he smashed into the wall a moment later.

Despite the knight's words, Orisa still had her doubts until a moment ago, believing they only needed to restrain the attacker and question him. She changed her mind after seeing the way he had attacked Kanai and Iten - this person was dangerous and very much serious about killing them.

"Orisa, are you sure we need to fight this person? Shouldn't we first offer a negotiation?" asked Toatre with a slightly concerned voice.

"Goddammit, yes!" shouted Orisa angrily and threw three Force Blocks that the knight easily slashed.

"Mhm, if you insist..." the girl agreed, still unsure.

Despite her tone, Toatre pulled two short wands out of her holster and began. Even Orisa was thoroughly impressed. First and foremost was the fact that Toatre was casting wordlessly, creating spells from scratch, which was quite hard even for a skilled fighter. On top of that, her attacks were diverse, they flew continually like a river of magic, barraging the knight. At first, he was parrying and slashing through her spells, but as Toatre's temp grew up, forcing her opponent to dodge.

"Tiana, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Orisa used this short breather to check on her friend, who was still silent and shocked.

"I... I don't know, I'm sorry. It's just that... I don't understand, this voice is so familiar, but I just can't remember!"

"Kanai! Take Tiana away, please," asked Orisa, covering their escape to the other room with several layers of shields. She had no time to deal with Tiana's strange behavior.

While Orisa was occupied with Tiana, the clash between Toatre and the knight went on. At first, it looked like the squad's genius was winning, having her foe on constant defense. But as the battle went on, the knight got used to the rhyme and style of her attacks. He jumped over two wind blades and dashed towards Toatre. In her focused state, Orisa could see her friend's attempt to dodge in all its futility since the foe was way faster. Orisa recalled how easily the knight's first attack had broken through her defense. She conjured a barrier around Toatre that was connected directly to her Mana pool since it was the only sure-fire way to block. Doing so was extremely cost-ineffective, but she had no time to come up with a better solution. When the strike connected, more than one-tenth of her Mana pool evaporated. Considering Orisa's growth, this simple swing of katana was on par with the evolved panther's mightiest attack.

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"Huh? Didn't expect you to block," the knight uttered in surprise.

As he became distracted, Orisa saw Toatre conjuring another spell, so she removed the barrier. Two blazing spears shot out of Toatre's wands and struck true.

"Oh, right, I was lost in thought, sorry," the knight said without any concern in his voice. Toatre's attack had done nothing, his armor was as white as before. "Okay, I've had enough fun."

Orisa saw his leg move but still couldn't react on time. He kicked Toatre, and her body flew exactly into Orisa. The crash was tremendously painful, but Orisa suspected that Toatre had it much worse than her. She was trying to gather her pain-scattered thoughts to conjure a barrier but was interrupted by another voice coming from the hall's entrance:

"Hoh? You can't cease to amaze me. Not only have you found the shelter and managed to open it, but you've also attracted a wonderful toy for my experiments! It was a wise investment to place a tracking spell on you, little one. How very amusing. Umu!"

Hunter Nowa appeared to be in high spirits.