Chapter 191: Alto Mare's Nightmare
A thump resounded as Kai fell to the hard marble floor.
Next time when he opened his eyes, the hairs were vanishing all around him, turning into tiny blue globules. Near him, lay pieces of a broken red skull and a dull red hairpin broken in two, which once could have glowed demonically. Not anymore.
Kai's chest heaved up and down as he took a deep breath. This entire mission had cost him a vast supply of HP capsules given to him by Robin, the 9th-floor Contestant. He did not even know how much HP they restored, or if they had over one effect. The only thing he had found out was they healed all injuries instantly. At least those who wouldn't kill a Contestant instantly.
'There was no other choice,' Kai thought, pushing himself up. 'I could have saved them if I had the time to do these things in a roundabout way. That would have taken much time, though. Using these HP capsules was the shortest and most effective way to get to the things I have planned without losing time.'
When Kai shook off the drowsiness creeping over him, he looked at the notification.
[
Elementary Slither Steps: Proficiency 87% (+5%)
Advance Cold Suppression: Proficiency 2% (+2%)
Your Kill Count is updated
Floor: 3 (1st Set)
Kill Count: (60/100)
]
The rise in Cold Suppression's proficiency surprised him. Kai squinted his eyes, remembering how he had used the Ability.
'Cold Suppression let me control the surrounding coldness within 3 to 10 meters away from me,' Kai analyzed. 'Shorter the distance, the better and colder the results. But in this case, it wouldn't have mattered. I had to use this Ability to find the thin strands of hair by keeping bursting out with coldness in rhythms.'
Kai brooded over the concept hidden in this reasoning for a few seconds.
It didn't take long for him to conclude.
'Cold Suppression is not unlike Selene's Soul Chill when I think of their essence,' he noted. 'I made her vary her Soul Chill's output, without even thinking that she might not be able to do it. But she did as I told her. If I want my Advance Cold Suppression Proficiency to rise, I must learn to vary the output of coldness too.'
Kai neared the broken red hairpin then and lifted it. It looked ordinary to him after breaking in two, but in the scant moment when his Iron Tail had broken it, he had felt the demonic aura hidden within it. Now only a holographic treasure chest hovered over it.
Kai stared at the treasure chest with greedy fascination.
2, that was his Luck value when he had started his journey. Not much time had passed since then. Some 3 months, to put a number. In this time, his Luck had risen to 5 with the help of Title, Coin Master. To gamble on Luck or not, had always been a question Kai asked himself at these times. He could get some regeneration capsules, Explosive Kunais, or even the Named Sword.
'Cough!' Kai smiled wryly. 'Too far. I have gone too far in wishing that.'
Kai let out an audible sigh and exchanged the potential rewards for remuneration instead.
The value of Mission Credits, though, shocked him.
'5000!' Kai's eyes widened. 'Is this because she had a Blessing? Or because she was about to become a 5th-floor Contestant?'
Whatever the reason must have been, Kai felt good after getting that amount.
He looked at his left then. Now that the hairs weren't coiling around it, forming a tower, he could see the machine entirely. Its structure and components matched what he had seen in the movie. It was surrounded by protective metal pillars which resembled thick iron fingers, clawing at it from the ground.
A shuffle of feet reached his ears, and Kai adjusted his head to look towards the entrance. The wall just by the corridor had gone, becoming rubble on the ground. In one corner, the adult Latias whimpered, a distant fire threatening to lick its red feathers. Even from this distance, Kai could see a bluish frost over it, trying to compensate for the effects of the surrounding heat.
From the corridor, Item-M walked in, staggering, and blood seeping out from the corner of her mouth.
-/She had a Named Sword/- Kai told her. -/Crimson Mist, it was called. It broke my saber in one clash./-
Item-M raised her eyebrows, but even the shock failed to change her haggard expression. "If it hadn't," she said, approaching him, "then it would have made little sense. The sword's grade must have been higher than your saber's grade too, master. You had no chance to block its path."
Kai nodded. Item-M had already served her purpose in his plans. As he didn't need her to be in full health anymore, Kai didn't waste an HP capsule on her.
-/Let's finish our missions then,/- he commented, going for the legendary Pokemon. -/Time to turn the town's joy from the morning into a dreadful nightmare./-
Though tired and dizzy, Kai still lifted the legendary Pokemon, weighing over 40 kg, easily. He took it to the circular-marked area, following the scenes from the movie, and threw the Pokemon at its center.
-Selene- Kai hissed. -Come out-
A silver mass left the adult Latias and solidified into Selene's material form. Kai frowned as he looked at her. She looked like a beautiful rope, but a rope, nonetheless. After coming out of Latias' body, she couldn't even lift her head, let alone slither. Kai crouched and picked her up in an embrace.
-You will have your food soon.- he hissed, not unkindly. -Remember to not die before showing me what you can become, my precious Item-
Selene's tongue flicked out, kissing Kai's hand in reply.
The moment he left the circular-marked area, swirling rings appeared from the ground, taking the adult Latias high in the air. From the ground, the entire setup looked like a gyroscope as the rings swirled around her. From the circular-marked region, many electric circuits type of lines were running to the DMA. Suddenly, the swirling rings picked up the pace, rotating faster and faster, until they became a blur.
The electric circuits lit up with a red ominous glow, then.
'In the movie, these circuits absorbed Latias' power, using it to run the machine,' Kai recalled. And true to those scenes, the protective metal pillars lifted off the machine with a booming mechanical noise, and mystically disappeared into the ground. Kai approached the machine and placed the Soul Dew at the top of the designated holder.
The moment blue-twinkling Soul Dew got covered with a red shine, the entire machine thrummed.
The Defense Mechanism of Alto Mare had again come to life.
Only the devilish grin on Kai's face could tell what a nightmare it would bring this time.
******
AN: Following images are available on Discord
- Circular-mark area
- Circular rings lifting the legendary Pokemon
- DMA coming to life
- Red circuit-like pathways
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