After leaving the main office, Theron scratched his chin. Trying to kill a beast that’s dwelling beneath the waves wasn’t going to be easy. Especially since the Abyss Waters were in the way. There were... items he could use to shield himself early on. But using it during battle was off the table. They were mostly used to push out the waters, not defending him against attacks. ’If that girl can help me track it down, I’ll be able to land a solid blow against it.’ Theron thought to himself. Even if his attack loses a bit of power from the distance, it should still be enough to wound an Abyss Lord. ’Ah... but if I do so the tidal wave will swallow the city.’ Theron sighed. A troublesome situation. Just as he was about to step away, crimson threads dropped down from above. A message from the blind girl. Catching the thread, he felt it tremble and heard her voice. "You look rather troubled. Was the meeting with the City Lord that annoying?" Glancing up at the sky, Theron located where Alice was and shook his head. "He didn’t ask me to do anything. Just an annoying situation. If you’re contacting me, does that mean you found some information?" "Well I have some good news and bad news. Which one do you want to hear?" She asked. "Ohya? Well the bad news is that some of the rumours are indeed fake. I have my methods and let’s just say... one of them wasn’t tampered with at all. They probably faked the rumour to get some attention and money." Alice chuckled. "Visitors would pay them quite a bit of money for even a morsel of information. Naturally, the man split that amongst the friends that agreed to do this with him. They even constructed a rather believable story." Theron strolled towards the city, deep in thought. "Then the good news?" "Two of them were real. While the scars are gone, there are signs of tampering. One to the east and one further south. Though the method he used to reverse the corruption is strange, I’ll need more time to figure things out." Alice sighed. While she was able to get clues using Cayla, the exact method was a mystery to her. Theron blinked his eyes. He was only in the main office for a short period of time, yet the girl had already gathered this much information? "How far is the range of your detection?" Theron asked curiously. He wanted to track the limit of her threads but even after pushing his perception to the max, the threads kept going. It was no exaggeration to say that the entire city is under her watchful eye right now. "Fufu~ Depends on whether or not I have time to set up." Alice chuckled. Without the threads, she wouldn’t be able to pull off something similar to what Gwen had done. "Do you think you’ll be able to help me track down a beast?" Theron asked. With how far Alice’s range extends, finding a beast hidden in the waves shouldn’t be too difficult. In fact, he might even go as far as to expect precise coordinates for his attack to land. "Turns out the surrounding waters are in chaos right now because of a Lord level beast hiding in the Abyss Waters. If you can help me track it down, I’ll kill it and the situation should go back to normal." Theron explained as Alice fell silent. "I’m surprised. Wouldn’t killing the beast harm our chances of finding the healer?" "Perhaps. But finding a healer shouldn’t come at a cost of risking the civilians." Theron shook his head. His reply surprised Alice as she didn’t think he would prioritise the people of the city . Hell, this wasn’t even his city, it wasn’t his responsibility. Yet he was going out of his way to make things safe for them. Thinking about it for a moment, Alice smiled. "Very well. Tracking the beast down in the sea shouldn’t be hard. I just have to be a little careful. As for my protection, am I right to assume that you’ll be responsible for my safety?" Alice chuckled. "Naturally. How much would you like for the fee?" Theron asked. "Pft, if someone like you is offering to kill the beast for free, who am I to ask for a fee?" Alice shrugged her shoulders. Since he was doing the public a service, Alice figured she might as well do the same. Theron scratched his chin. "Even though I’m suppressing my power, it seems like you’ve long found out how strong I am." From above, bundles of threads began to form as Alice hopped down from the tower. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0velFire.ɴet "Was I being too obvious? I’m rather proud of my perception as ironic as that may sound." She laughed, pointing at her eyes. Of course, the truth of the matter was different. But her current disguise was a blind girl. "Somewhat. Though I couldn’t be sure since most people are rather respectful of me when they realise who I am." Theron let out a laugh. "You don’t seem like the kind to just kill random people. Plus... Not to sound arrogant but I have a few ways to escape." Alice skipped a few steps with her hand behind her back. "Hou? Seems like you don’t know everything then. Few have the gall to say they can escape me when I want to kill them." Theron narrowed his eyes. As the Slayer, he has yet to fail a hunt he decided to pursue. Whoever he wanted to kill, he will kill without exception. "Really? By all means, we can do a little gamble if you wish to test me now." Theron froze in his steps. Her tone... she wasn’t kidding. She was fully intent on taking on one of his attacks if he was to agree. Was she really that confident in her ability to escape? Or was it something else? Perhaps she was even trying to figure out his Lord title. A game of information. But there was the inherent risk that she indeed miscalculated things. If that was the case, the gamble might be too dangerous. "Rather than testing it on you, don’t we have a better target? I’m sure you’ll be able to judge whether or not you’ll be able to survive once we hunt down the beast in the sea." Theron chuckled as Alice shrugged her shoulder. "Fair. Do you perhaps have a boat we can use? Some crewmates or will it just be us two?" Alice asked as they were currently approaching the docks. "A small boat will be fine. No need for crewmates." Theron shook his head. Alice raised her eyebrow. Did he have something similar to the Ferryman? A method of keeping the beasts away? Since he was confident, Alice didn’t see a need to correct him. Instead, she followed and they soon borrowed a small boat roughly the size of a carriage. It was big enough to carry both of them easily. As for the defensive properties... Even a stray two star beast, hell even a one star beast will be able to shred this boat apart. But Theron didn’t say anything so Alice followed without another word. Alice controlled the boat using a mix of her energy and threads, sailing out to sea. Immediately, beasts began to swarm. Silhouettes slicing through the Abyss Waters, circling them and finding the perfect angle for an attack. Theron took a step forward. A burst of aura, condensed into the area around them. Beasts who were unprepared were knocked out from fear while those that managed to retain their mind scrambled away. The ’scent’ of death lingered in the area. Raw, unfiltered killing intent. Alice looked down at her arm. ’I suppose I should say it’s as expected. But this level of killing intent... Isn’t it more than mine?’ Alice thought inwardly. Alyss was also on guard. Just in that split second of exposure, they felt as though they were submerged into a bath of blades. A killing intent so vile and dangerous that it felt like it’ll chase them down to the ends of the earth to secure the kill. ’I can see why he said few have the gall to say they’ll escape. If this is just his killing intent...’ Alyss furrowed her brows. "We should be relatively safe now. I don’t have coordinates for where the beast is so the rest is up to you." Theron glanced back with a smile. He could see that his little performance has rattled Alice somewhat. "I suppose I should do a good job then." Alice smiled, wrapping her right hand in her threads. Without caring about the Abyss Waters, she plunged her hand into the sea, shocking Theron. Even if she wrapped her hand in thread, this was still a dangerous action that could mutate her! But strangely, she was unharmed. He could sense her threads spreading like roots through the sea, energy rippling out and tracing the silhouette of beasts. In a sense, it was similar to echolocation. Alice would send out pulses of energy that bounced back whenever they collided with something. As she traced the ocean, Alice picked up on a peculiar strand of energy. Far stronger than the others yet sneakily hidden and perfectly camouflaged. ’The Lord doesn’t want to be found.’ Alice smiled. Had it not been for Cayla’s power, she wouldn’t have been able to find a single trace. Following the energy towards the source, Alice found their target.