I looked around, rubbing my eyes in doubt.
"... Did we go back to the start?"
The entire space before us was completely identical to the area from before, right after we entered. The position of the portal was even the same as how Goddess Zeta opened it.
To clear my doubt, Ember answered from the side.
"No, master. It seems like this place is a bit different."
Ember pointed forward, making me look toward where she was hinting. There, a large tornado was whirling, as if eating at everything around it, sucking them inside it.
As I stared at it, I also noticed how the energy in this place was a lot denser compared to the previous one. Here, the ambient energy seemed like a clear stream surrounding us, compared to the occasional strands I could see before.
All the energy present in the surrounding space was flowing away from the tornado as if it were running away from it.
"That tornado looks like bad news. We'd better not approach that."
I muttered in hindsight. In the first place, the direction it was located was on the other side compared to the direction we should be heading. As long as nothing bad happens, there should be no reason for us to come near it.
"My Lord, it seems like Agor passed by here as expected."
Igni, after searching for traces on the dry ground, announced with a grave tone. My eyes caught sight of the halo-like thing on her head that was spinning rapidly. It was the first time I saw it move like that, making it a rare sight. Rather, why does Igni even have that on her head? Is she ascending to be an angel in her next evolution?
I quickly shook my head, chasing away the idle thoughts I was catering to. The thing we need to do now is look for the gun before Noir finds it.
"... Ember, do you think you can locate the gun from here?"
If we were to search for it blindly in this extremely large space, it would be a miracle if we found it before Noir did. Ember, unfortunately, shook her head in denial.
"Sorry, master. My void skills aren't that advanced yet."
Well, I couldn't blame her. Fate manipulation, which includes precognition, was one of the highest-difficulty skills under the Void element. It was already a miracle that Ember managed to learn the restoration skill. It won't be fair to blame her for not mastering foresight either.
"Guess we'll need to improvise then..."
As of now, only one person seems to know exactly where the gun is, and that is Noir himself.
"We must tail him stealthily and snatch the gun from his grasp as soon as it's within visible range!"
Although my words seem more like the lines of a thief, we have no choice in this case. Without a way to locate the gun, we're helpless.
I gathered the two and slowly focused my mind. To safely tail Noir, we need to use concealment techniques. However, Fang isn't with us right now. Although I could use it too, just her Presence Concealment Veil alone wouldn't be able to hide us completely from someone as sharp as Noir.
"Come a little closer."
I muttered to the two, who were already within arm's reach. As I did, they both gently stuck their bodies with mine, looking at my face with a faint, shy smile.
After confirming that they were close enough, I cast the Presence Concealment Veil together with a new skill I just learned. It was one of the skills of the spider Judy, a light-based illusion skill called [Invisibility].
As it was the first time I'd used it, I wasn't confident in its effects. And, as expected, the range only spread to about a meter from me. Since it was too close for comfort, I cast it again and this time tried to expand the range a little more. After doing so, the skill's coverage finally reached half of the Presence Concealment Veil's, about 5 meters.
"Done! However, I didn't cast a noise reducer. From here on out, we'll talk using our links, alright?"
Since we've been together most of the time, we haven't had many chances to talk telepathically with each other. At most, we could passively feel the emotions of everyone connected with the link.
As soon as my orders were passed, the two of them nodded their heads simultaneously, answering, [Understood!] telepathically.
After our preparation, we slowly went forward with the previously discussed formation, with me in front, Ember in the middle, and Ingi behind. As soon as I detected any danger, I would notify the two, and we'd simultaneously evade. It was a little hard to synchronize at first, but after a few tries, we were finally able to dodge as if we were of one mind.
As we were running forward, we finally caught sight of Noir quite a distance ahead of us. Since we needed to stay under the radar, we moved relatively slowly compared to before, minimizing the noise of our footsteps as we approached.
However, after every stop that Noir made, looking all over the place as if looking for something, he'd suddenly leap forward at a quick pace, leaving us completely behind.
Based on his actions, he really did possess a means to find the exact location of the gun. I don't know if it's a skill or some artifact, but the fact that he had no hesitation at all every time he moved forward was proof enough.
["Let's go!"]
I told them through the link, earning a small nod from the two. We followed his steps closely, maintaining about a kilometer's distance and keeping pace with him. With how wide our point of view is, it's hard to lose sight of him even if we wanted to.
The chase lasted for a few minutes, and as far as we can tell, Noir was still unaware of our presence. The moment he reached a wide plateau, he stopped in the middle of it and looked around. His eyes shone with a mysterious glint as they looked over in our direction.
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