Chapter 112 - Tension

On the way down the mountain, Sheila didn't say anything as she carried Angelica on her shoulders while the latter was staying silent because she couldn't muster any strength to resist and just let the unknown female(?) carrying her as she looked behind, worried that the Earth Dragon would chase after them. Thankfully, Sheila didn't meet anyone on her way down, if she had come across the escaping members of the church, a fight would break out and it would be hard for her to fight while protecting Angelica on the side. But based on what she had seen previously when they are resisting against the Earth Dragon, it appears that they are not that strong, it won't be a problem if that's all they had, there is still a possibility that some were hiding their actual strength.

Rather than continuing going downward, Sheila decides to stay in the mountain for a while as she sprints toward the West. Noticing that rather than leaving the mountain, she was carried into the mountain, Angelica couldn't help but say something about it.

"I thought you are taking me away to leave the mountain...but is this..."

But Sheila didn't give any response and just silently walk through the trees and once she found a good place to rest, she put Angelica on top of the soft blanket that she had laid on the ground. Angelica gives a confused look at her since she didn't seem to carry any bag or carrying a blanket in person, but before she could inquire about it, Sheila had removed her mask which caused the former to be stunned.

"Y-You are..."

"...what are you doing over there?"

Instead of answering her, Sheila asked Angelica the question she wanted to know the most right now which put a frown on Angelica's face which caused her to remember back to the time when she was trailing the member of the church three hours earlier. Like the other days, Angelica was creeping right behind them, though it becomes boring after doing this for a whole three days, she persists on as the mission she had done till now is a lot more tiring than this. There are times she had to stay for hours in the cold hard snow, to wait for the suspects she was investigating, this is nothing compared to that.

And just like Sheila, she had thought today would also prove fruitless but the moment she followed them into the mountain, that was when she suffered a humiliating defeat with no way to resist. At first, Angelica had thought she would finally know the reason why they are here as she slowly gets closer to them, but that was a bad move from her as the moment they stepped over the line, the Earth Dragon also attack her in retaliation for them trespassing its territory. Because Angelica was caught into their predicament, her presence was noticed by them and thought they inquired her a couple of times while defending against the huge alligator-like creature, she just easily shrugged it off as there wasn't any important member of The Church here.

That was also the first time she had ever seen an 'Outsider' be so powerful and as huge as that. Because she couldn't use her gun in front of them, the fight becomes so hard that Angelica even suffered a few injuries until every time she moves, she would only feel pain. If she had used her handgun back then, she would not have suffered so much but remembering what her mother told her, she refrained from using it no matter how much she desperately required of it.

When she had thought it was hopeless and was about to pull out the gun so that she could safely escape at the very least, Sheila suddenly came to her rescue. Angelica had also thought that Sheila was a bodyguard from the family that her mother sent to secretly protect her, which is not impossible knowing how very protective her mother could be. But when the masked female undone her mask, the identity of her savior caused her to be stunned as she didn't expect it to be a classmate of her. Even more, it was one of the suspects that she had her suspicious on at their first meeting.

"That's what happened to me, then can you answer my question now? From your previous words, it seems like you know about that monster's existence."

"Well, I was just enjoying myself climbing the mountain on this peaceful and wonderful day, but suddenly I feel a tremor from the ground and as I was searching for the cause, I found you and the others battling against some kind of overly huge animal. Because I saw that you're unable to move, I simply save you on a whim, that's it."

"Like I would believe such an obvious lie, if that's true, why the need for a mask then? There's no need to hide your identity if you're just a normal person, worth nothing to hide."

Angelica immediately retorted back the lie she had just made on the spot, but without any change on her face, Sheila just shrugged her shoulders before saying.

"I don't have anything to hide but merely want to mask to cover my face while climbing the mountain, you don't know when or where you might get stunned by a bee, after all."

"...Did you know that a face cream exists?"

"I did, but the mask was second protection for that. Are you satisfied with my answer now?"

But the response she received was a bullet piercing through her previous location if she had not sidestepped to the side. Looking up, Sheila could see what seemed to be a custom handgun on Angelica's hand that was aiming straight at her. With a confused and a bit of fear in her expression, Sheila opened her mouth to question her.

"W-What are you doing?! Are you going to kill me?!"

"that would be the case if you didn't avoid it easily, but you aren't normal, right? From your movement, I can tell that very easily. Stop your foolish acting and tell me your real identity, Who are you?"