"What are you afraid of?!"
"Ling, don't forget."
"We have the Martial Arts Maniac Fox as a heavyweight guest on our side."
"And we have so many people."
"No matter what kind of demon or monster it is, they all have to clear the way for us."
Nicole didn't care.
After all, Void Hunter was already recognized as the ceiling of strength.
With a ceiling-level powerhouse by her side,
You say you're afraid?!
How is that possible!!
"Let's first listen to what the situation is,"
"And what our situation is right now?"
Tsukishiro Yanagi inquired.
After all, they had just entered the Base from a small Void. Logically, they should have left The Hollow, but the feeling she had now was as if they had entered a Void again.
"We are currently inside a large Void."
"This means that all the previous small Voids have merged for some unknown reason."
"Forming the large Void we are in now."
"Moreover, the ether energy in this Void is still rising."
"It's almost reaching the limit of Level 2 control."
"This means this place is about to become a major Void."
Ling explained to the group.
"... Is there any way to stop it?"
"Although this is in the Outer Ring, its expansion won't affect the residents here."
"But since we encountered it, we must stop it from expanding further."
Hoshimi Miyabi asked.
"Wait, I'm trying to find the signal source."
"When The Hollows merged, a strange and powerful ether energy source appeared."
"Although it's not as strong as Aya's, it's already much stronger than the energy displayed by the extremely dangerous Etherals Dead End Butcher."
"And its energy is also climbing."
"Should we go find Aya first, or go find this strange ether energy source?"
Ling asked. The current situation was no longer hers to decide.
"Go solve that strange ether energy source first."
"As for Aya, you just said it yourself."
"She might have lost control."
"I also have some understanding of Aya's loss of control."
"She will naturally resolve the out-of-control state after a certain amount of time passes."
"If we go over now, we might even end up fighting Aya."
"So, let's go resolve that strange ether energy source first."
"Stop The Hollow's expansion first, and then go find Aya later."
Hoshimi Miyabi contemplated.
"I agree with the Section Chief's idea. The immediate priority is to stop The Hollow's expansion."
"We can put Miss Aya's situation on hold for now."
Tsukishiro Yanagi considered.
"You are not official personnel. If you wish to leave, you can ask the independent investigator to send you away first."
"We will go look for that strange ether energy source first."
"Alternatively, you can go find Aya first."
"After you handle Aya's matters, then come find us."
Tsukishiro Yanagi looked at the group.
"Miss Ryu, let's act together."
"After we resolve this strange ether energy source and stop The Hollow's expansion,"
"We can go find Aya afterward. My signal detection shows that Aya is moving slowly."
"This indicates she has broken free from control and should be safe for now."
"Besides Miss Ya, I doubt anyone here can directly confront Aya."
"And we have so many people here. Dealing with that climbing ether energy source shouldn't take too long."
Ling explained to Tsukishiro Yanagi while looking at the gazes directed at her. She was the one who called everyone over, so she had to make the decisive call at this moment.
"Fine then, Independent investigator."
"Please lead the way as quickly as possible."
Tsukishiro Yanagi said politely.
...
Meanwhile, on Sarah's side.
A group of rebels were firing at a giant mechanical entity, but the giant mechanical entity ignored the rebels and focused its gaze on the heavily armored mechs not far away.
These were all transferred from the K1 Base, and there were originally more of them.
But for some unknown reason, several heavy mechs had merged together and were currently devouring other mechs.
Gradually, they transformed into the current special mechanical entity nearly ten meters tall.
"What's going on?!"
"What's with this giant mechanical entity?"
Officer Sarah questioned, looking at the mechanical entity in the distance.
"Officer Sarah, we don't know either."
"We hid these heavy mechs as you instructed."
"After this commotion passes, we were going to sneak them away."
"But with the sudden mutation just now, we don't know what happened."
"These mechs actually started merging and turned into this appearance."
A rebel explained.
"... Wait, did you place the ether supplies transported with the mechs together with them?"
Sarah suddenly thought and inquired.
Their mechs all had ether energy resistance; it was impossible for them to suddenly turn into this state for no reason.
So there was only one explanation: the ether supplies they brought had been corroded by the mutation brought by The Hollow.
And these heavy mechs happened to be nearby, so they merged together, becoming what they looked like now.
Moreover, judging by its appearance, it seemed to still be merging, as if it wouldn't stop until it had merged all the mechs here.
"It seems so, but we didn't expect something like this to happen."
"Besides, we only had those few spots for storage, so you could only let the supplies and mechs squeeze together."
The rebel explained thoughtfully.
Sarah fell silent upon hearing this.
The appearance of this special mechanical entity disrupted her original plan, but fortunately, the impact on the plan was not very significant.
"Notify everyone, no need to intercept."
"We will retreat first and break out."
"The rest, we'll figure out once we're out."
Sarah gave the order after a brief consideration.
"But, Officer Sarah, what about that special mechanical entity?"
The rebel pointed at the special mechanical entity.
"What does that special mechanical entity have to do with us?"
"We just need to take care of ourselves. As for this big guy..."
"Someone else will handle it."
Sarah looked at the mechanical entity in the distance.
Currently, this special mechanical entity was busy devouring, so it wouldn't bother them for the time being. However, once it finished devouring, its target would definitely be them.
Therefore, while it hadn't finished devouring, now was the best time to withdraw.
As for what this special mechanical entity would become later?
That would be left to Void Hunter Lord to handle.
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