Transcendent Gene
Chapter 129: Unresolved Grudge [1]

Chapter 129: Unresolved Grudge [1]

It really did happen that fast. From Gio’s perspective, it was a lot easier to see everything as it was since he didn’t have to think about anything else.

He’d been watching Natalia and Mother Baba aim for each other’s necks, so he was able to somewhat glimpse the events that led up to the worm’s appearance.

In fact, if he had to guess, Mother Baba had first called it some time ago. She may have even called it when she first used her vitality.

However, the worm took a long time to arrive. When she finally sensed its presence nearby, her switch flipped. She went crazy, laughing so loudly that even Gio, who was far away, had to cover his ears to avoid being hurt by the screeching.

Her words cut through the air as she mocked Natalia, and then, as it happened, the sandworm showed itself.

Gio saw Raymond out of the corner of his eye trying to find a way out of his own situation, but there wasn’t one. Gio couldn’t see a viable escape route Raymond could use to intervene in the situation.

So when the worm reeled its body back and attacked, he truly did feel worried. It threw its gaping maw at Natalia with the sole purpose of devouring her whole and turning her into its strength.

Its movements were relatively slow but carried immense power. Facing it alone, she would easily be able to dodge such a strike.

However, Mother Baba was at her back and wasn’t going to miss her chance. She charged at Natalia and forced her into combat, keeping her in position as the worm approached.

Natalia gritted her teeth. If she could just find a second or two to prepare, she could avoid everything.

’Shadow stepping is impossible.’

Her skills didn’t come without restriction. Something as complicated as the movement she called "shadow stepping" had to be set up beforehand.

She wasn’t disappearing randomly. Every time she wanted to "teleport," she had to set up the entrance "portal" before stepping into it. The two actions couldn’t be taken simultaneously.

So Natalia’s eyes were torn between the beast behind her and the djinn in front of her. She prepared for what was to come as wind pushed against her back and signaled the worm’s arrival.

And that’s when it happened.

"Yoohoo!"

It truly was silly, but the subtle and mysterious aura dripping from that voice made it hard to take the exclamation comedically.

A woman appeared in the air before the sandworm, standing directly before its rows of jagged teeth without fear.

It had been a long time since Gio saw her. She would sometimes appear around the zephyr, but for the most part, she wasn’t the one showing up.

She smiled at Natalia before turning and smiling at the beast again.

"Now then," Mirei said, raising her hand.

A grin formed on Raymond’s face.

’This is why I love to gamble.’

Her eyes shined with a stellar blue light. The world around her dropped below freezing temperature, and she spoke.

"Freeze!"

The world followed her command.

Everything froze.

Everything turned monochrome.

Gio’s eyes still worked. He knew he was still perceiving the world, but he could not move his body or his gaze. Nothing else was moving either. There was an absolute chill gripping his body, making it almost impossible to think.

The cultists were frozen in the midst of throwing their hands up in praise. Mother Baba was stuck with a rotten expression on her face, staring at Mirei. Raymond and Jason smiled despite their circumstances, prepared to enjoy what came next.

In the frozen world of black and grey, there was only one shining star; one piece of light that never stopped shining.

She glowed in an aquamarine light as she gently lowered her body to the ground.

"Hm~ hm~ hmhm~"

Mirei hummed happily, prancing over to the sandworm without a care in the world. She reached its body and looked up at its form, its mouth now only a few feet from Natalia.

It was truly unlucky. Perhaps if it had arrived a little earlier, its movements wouldn’t have been forced to a stop there.

"Little guy, you can’t do this! Hurting people is bad, you know?" Mirei said innocently, tapping her chin.

"Don’t you know what we do to bad people?"

A certain glint crossed over her eyes before her smile returned to normal.

"Anyway, time for you to go. Bye bye!"

All she did was touch it.

She poked the sandworm with a single finger like poking the chubby cheeks of a child.

That was all it took.

She tapped the sandworm’s body.

And then there was a great wave of heat. It spread through the frozen world and forced its presence to be recognized.

Every single person in or around the camp felt as if they’d been thawed out of a glacier. Their bodies were filled with prickly pin-like sensations as the rapid changes in temperature were registered in their skin.

Their eyes went blurry as their heads went woozy. Gio even felt like he would pass out for a second, but the effect ended in the next.

When his eyes and mind regained clarity, the frozen world had disappeared as if had never existed.

Along with the sandworm.

There was no longer a massive beast blotting out the horizon.

What remained of it was a shower of crystalline snowflakes that fell to the sand and melted.

That was the power of erasure; the power Raymond worked so hard to secure on his team long ago.

Gio could take the time to marvel at it, but he was the only one with such freedoms.

After all, when time resumed, as did the chaos in the campgrounds.

Raymond, Jason, Natalia, Ulver, and Amaya were all immediately forced to resume the battles that had paused.

Natalia’s was the only one that changed. Mother Baba did not react well to the sudden and anticlimactic death of her trump card.

Still, Natalia didn’t give her time to whine or complain.

If she didn’t have anything else, Mother Baba was fated to die here.

At the same time, Mirei, who had been calmly basking in the sandworm snowflakes, suddenly collapsed unconscious.

Gio’s eyes widened as a shadow immediately rushed over and collected her.

"Jax to the rescue!"

He really didn’t do himself any favors in the "charisma" department, but that was beside the point.

"There was a Bloodrend guy here too, I guess. I tied him up and left him a little bit away when I felt Mirei’s energy. It’s a good thing I came back."

With his aid, Mirei was safely taken away from the most dangerous battles so Alice could take control again.

’They’re...’

When Raymond said Mirei’s power could be described as "Erasure," he didn’t quite understand what he was talking about.

Now...

’Now it’s even more incomprehensible.’

What kind of Original Gene was that? It was an unbelievable ability, especially if the level of being she could erase scaled with her power.

’If we could have erased even a single Calamity...hell, if we could have erased even one of the Disasters that came before them, our extinction could’ve been pushed back by years.’

Gio’s eyes narrowed.

’I have to find out more.’

That was an ability of utmost importance if it truly could be used without limits.

Gio’s eyes trailed back to Natalia’s fight reluctantly as he subtly hoped for something else to happen so he could see that power again.

Luckily for everyone, those thoughts were cut off before fate could be offended by them. The battle Gio’s eyes returned to...

Rather, the wall behind it was gone, and the person who’d been standing against it was gone as well.

’Where is she?’

Gio immediately set his senses on alert and scanned the camp. He peered out into the distance, just barely managing to catch sight of her tail.

’I have to chase her.’

Everything that was important before was no longer important.

Gio ran in that direction, passing through a group of cultists. He easily stole a robe off the ground and a mask off one of their faces without halting his movements much at all. He couldn’t imagine how numbed their senses were at this point.

But he didn’t care about any of that. He equipped the robe and equipped the mask. He ran until he’d left the camp, Aether widening the reach of his steps.

He followed the shadow he saw in the distance, gaining distance slowly but surely.

From beginning to end, it never mattered how far she planned to run.

No matter how long it took, he would chase her until he could face her properly.

A minute passed, almost becoming two before Gio could properly make out the detailed patterns on her cloak.

It became obvious several seconds ago that she was slowing her pace on purpose, but it was inconsequential.

Whether she thought she was in control of this meeting or not didn’t concern him in the slightest.

Eventually, her steps came to a complete halt. Gio stopped less than ten feet away from her.

"You’ve been following me this whole way..."

The girl turned around, drawing a blade from her side.

"If you can’t give me a good reason, this will be your grave. It’s quite a boring grave, so I wouldn’t recommend it."

Unmistakable.

Unmistakable. Unmistakable. Unmistakable.

That tone of voice and that way of speaking...

Aether went into Gio’s vocal cords, changing the pitch of his voice.

"...tell me what you know about the Lune River."

It was so unmistakable that Gio almost couldn’t hide the killing intent brewing in his heart, but he barely kept it inside and asked a question of confirmation.

The girl’s gaze turned hostile immediately.

"You..."

Her guard went up much higher than it had ever been before.

"Who are you?"