...
"I can't pick up any monster vibes..."
Melinda stared toward the nearby White Forest, suddenly getting that creepy crawly feeling like some nightmare creature was watching her from the shadows.
Nasty, twisted scales spread quickly up her neck and face.
"This feeling..."
Melinda cranked her whale magic up to full blast and crept forward, ready for anything...
...
Deep in the White Forest, Carlos had squeezed some intel out of the situation and suddenly perked up, telling Timira with obvious interest:
"Your buddy's showed up."
"Yeah."
After a moment's thought, Timira figured that with her going missing, Whale Fort must've sent hunters to check things out.
"I'll handle this."
She said her piece and walked out of the forest...
Carlos took a casual sip of his black tea, corner of his mouth quirking up:
"Timira, now that you've got your human body back, how're you gonna face your old crew?
I'm dying to see how this plays out..."
...
At the edge of White Forest:
"Who's out there?!"
Melinda was wound tight as a spring, her whale tail ready to lash out at the first sign of trouble.
"Someone Whale Fort sent to track me down. Never figured it'd be Sequence 3 Melinda."
A familiar voice drifted out, followed by a figure slowly emerging from the trees.
Delicate features, wearing a shell headpiece, dressed in a sky-blue gown with tiny points of blue light dancing across it—looked like some fairy tale princess, absolutely perfect.
"You... you're..."
Melinda's eyes went wide as she stared at the woman's face.
"Timira!!!"
The target of this whole investigation—Whale Fort's Sequence 0, their ace hunter, Timira!!!
"How the hell did you end up looking like this?"
Melinda couldn't tell if what she felt was jealousy or suspicion.
This transformation was beyond anything she'd ever dared dream of. If she could look like this too, damn, that'd be something...
But Melinda knew it was impossible.
Her eyes narrowed. Some monsters were masters of disguise.
Was this really Timira? Or some creature wearing Timira's face?
"Melinda, even though we haven't crossed paths much, do me a favor and tell Whale Fort's brass that the Whale Scale Hunter Timira is dead."
This was Timira's carefully thought-out decision.
That mysterious guy had transformed her into this dream-like appearance through some bizarre ritual.
She'd keep her word and pay him back.
Besides, after all these years, she was getting sick and tired of the endless monster slaughter.
The damn things seemed to breed like rabbits—no matter how many you put down, there were always more crawling out of the woodwork. Most of her original squad was long gone.
But what really mattered was this idea that had been brewing in her head.
Help other Whale Scale Hunters who felt the same way she did, let them get their normal looks back too...
Hearing this, Melinda's face turned stone cold:
"Even if you really are Timira, you know damn well this is betraying Whale Fort. I've got to drag you back for judgment!"
"Yeah, I figured you'd say that."
Timira let out a long sigh.
Most Whale Scale Hunters, like Melinda, had been brainwashed by Whale Fort since they were kids, treating the fort's rules like gospel.
"Melinda, you sure you want to throw down?"
Timira really didn't want to duke it out with her old teammate.
Having just gotten her makeover, she really didn't want to mess up her skin.
Melinda didn't waste any more words.
WHAM!
Her massive whale tail came crashing down with bone-crushing force.
Real or fake, she'd beat the truth out of her first, then ask questions.
Seeing this coming, Timira sighed.
Then the Tidal Crystal on her forehead lit up, blue scale armor wrapped around her entire body, and the shell headpiece instantly shifted into a protective mask.
The 'blue pearl' expanded in a flash, becoming a war hammer in the blink of an eye. The vicious mouth at the hammer's head quivered with hunger, ready to tear into a worthy opponent!
...
CRASH!
Whale tail met war hammer head-on.
The next second, Melinda went flying like a ragdoll, smashing through tree after tree before slamming into a cliff face, leaving a crater in the rock.
"Cough, cough... This... this is Sequence 0 power..."
Pale blue blood trickled from the corner of her mouth. Melinda struggled to haul herself upright.
Looking at Timira in what appeared to be whale scale form, her eyes were blown wide with shock.
No mistake—that was definitely whale magic in the air. This really was Timira!
But this appearance, this whale scale form?
No freaking way!
Melinda snuck a glance at her own twisted hand, then looked back at Timira's drop-dead gorgeous light blue armor.
For a hot minute, she actually forgot about her own pain.
"Ugh!"
She suddenly coughed up blood.
Snapping back to reality, her mind was spinning in circles.
A Fallen One with special powers?
Feeling the stabbing pain in her chest—her ribs were definitely busted.
Step, step.
Watching Timira slowly approach, Melinda couldn't give a damn about anything else. She desperately cranked up the whale magic coursing through her body. Her rough, pitted skin started pouring out waves of black smoke.
Her body was visibly about to twist into something even more hideous.
Timira's expression shifted instantly. She reached out and slammed her hand down on the freaking-out Melinda:
"Knock it off, Melinda! You trying to fall into madness?"
Fall... falling...
Hearing those words, Melinda's nearly shattered sanity snapped back. The whale magic slowly died down.
Her vision went black and she passed out cold...
...
"Crap, I didn't pull my punches enough."
Timira hadn't expected that in this form, her strength was basically like going all-out with zero limits on her whale magic.
In other words, her old self, before falling, could never have unleashed this kind of raw power.
"Melinda should come around in about half a day."
Even though Melinda looked pretty banged up, Timira had been careful to avoid anything vital, so she'd bounce back quick. ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ꜰʀᴏᴍ novelꞁire.net
Scooping up Melinda, Timira carried her to some shade under a tree and settled in to wait for her to wake up...
...
...
"What the... what happened..."
Melinda suddenly jerked awake, looking around. That terrifying figure had already vanished.
"She didn't finish me off?"
Checking out the wound on her chest, it was mostly healed up. She got to her feet—everything seemed to work fine.
"Timira..."
She replayed all her conversations with Timira and started to think maybe she'd been telling the truth.
The weirdly transformed Timira really did want out of Whale Fort and had no beef with the rest of them.
"But would the bigwigs at Whale Fort be cool with that?"
Melinda went quiet, dragging her beat-up body as she disappeared back into the forest...
...
Inside White Forest:
"You should've put her down."
Carlos watched Blood Silver stacking acorns into little towers.
"She's different. She's not gonna want to bail on Whale Fort like I did."
Timira's expression was pretty heavy.
This got Carlos curious.
"How come?"
Timira's face fell:
"Because monsters killed her family. She's already given up everything she had—slaughtering monsters is all she's got left to live for.
Whale Fort gave her the power to do it. She could never walk away."
Thinking about all those young faces, Timira said with a touch of sadness:
"Whale Scale Hunters like her are actually most of the people at Whale Fort."
After hearing this, Carlos's eyes went sharp:
"Ever wonder when monsters first started showing up in the first place?"
Timira went quiet:
"Nobody knows.
As far back as I can remember, monsters were already part of this world, attacking people whenever they felt like it."