Part 46: Change X Of X Pace

No matter how many branches of trees covered the sun above us, its light still hit my eye as we walked on the path through the forest. But somehow, this place seems strange to me.

No birds chirping around and flying in the sky, no boars or any animals to hunt us down no matter how long we walked through it. It's like a dead forest, and it's bothering me all the time.

"We're almost there," Grenno said as he looked at his phone, which showed a map of the place we're in, with its name flashing at the top of the screen. Neo Green Life.

A month have past since I started my training with Grenno and traded with him to examine my arm in exchange for helping me find the Nen Exorcist that will save me and improve my unfinished Nen technique.

It was really fast to finish it all up in just a short time, which made me surprised, but it was a Spartan training. I have been forced to sleep, eat, and train every day, and take samples of my blood or specimen from my arm. It's never easy training. Grenno is stricter than Archi, to be honest.

But because of that day of hard work, I finally finished all of my Nen techniques, and all that's left to do is to improve them every day.

And finally, we're inside the NGL, and about to meet the Nen Exorcist, Pisacco in one of the underground laboratories, which really impressed me. I remember seeing those kinds of things on one of the television shows when I was a kid.

It was a hard entrance, for we have to remove anything that's made of metal in our clothes. I have to change my outfit into something new so they can let me enter. Grenno didn't have metals in his outfit already so he didn't have to change.

They were actually stricter than I was expecting them to be.

"We're here." My companion in front of me said, as he stopped and looked at the place in front of us.

My view being covered, I leaned and moved forward beside Grenno to see what's in front of us. After seeing it, I couldn't help but let my jaw dropped and my eyes widened out of amusement.

Multiple rock canyons can be seen filled with big and small holes from inside. Through the holes, I can see multiple curtains and packages scattered everywhere. Looks like this is our destination.

After a minute of being amazed, my smile faded and my face became serious immediately. I don't know but I can sense that something bad will happen to us. I can also sense some people inside one of the laboratories, but I'm sure it's not the people we're looking for.

"Watch out," Grenno spoke, as he also felt the same atmosphere as I felt. I readied my bandages and myself in case something will jump and attack us.

We started to walk towards one of the laboratories that were settling inside the big rock. There is no noise to be heard inside except the dripping of various liquids everywhere. Some of the equipment was damaged and the rock walls have scratches and claws like a large beast attacked the whole laboratory.

"What happened here?" I tried to ask Grenno, even though I knew he doesn't have any idea since I read his expression. It was full of irritation and confusion all mixed.

"I'm not sure yet... but there must be something that attacked the labs. And it's a dangerous one." Grenno answered, leaning his head around every corner of the room, ready for a surprise attack coming from the hiding spots.

I tried to be alert and grip my bandages tightly on my hands. This is actually my first time battling with my Nen techniques. I hoped I can perform great when enemies started striking.

"Let's go further." Grenno instructed and I nodded as an obedience. He started the first step towards the only tunnel in front of us, followed by me. In every step in the tunnels, my heart beats three times faster. I couldn't help but to nervous and anxious. Unlike my other battles, this is a real one. I can injure severely in this fight, or worse, die. And we didn't even know who are our opponents inside this ruined building.

Medical equipment is scattered around the long tunnel, as package boxes made out of glass and metal were smash like a chestnut. I started to smell something unpleasant, so I tried to cover my nose to prevent it from entering, but to no avail.

After a long walk, we finally made it to another room, with more equipment destroyed than the things we left in the first room. This time, blood stains were being thrown at the walls, but there's nobody to be found.

Grenno also looked around, trying to find something that could answer our questions about this place. But all of a sudden, his eyes widened in disbelief and his face became serious.

"Stay back, Secco." He told me as I continued to grasp for my bandages. If he made that serious face, then trouble's coming towards us.

I readied my bandages and Nen, in case someones gonna jump out of nowhere and attacked us with its bare teeth. My heart beats faster than before and I couldn't almost take a comfortable breath.

We just stood in the middle of the room, waiting for someone to come out. The air was filled with silence. None of us two didn't move, since we tried to detect the incoming enemy with En.

I started to concentrate my Nen and made it large as I can. Even though I'm so nervous about our situation, I didn't let it win over my focus, and tried to take a deep breath.

After a second trying to improve my En to track something, I felt a huge amount of Aura coming from the tunnel in front of us. Grenno knew about this, as he tried to activate his Ren to get ready.

Out of nowhere, we heard two pairs of footsteps coming from the tunnel in front of us, marching towards our direction. The atmosphere around us became heavier, and we started to breathe abnormally. Cold sweats started to drop through my cheeks to the floor.

Then, at last, the two figures showed up, and their appearances became clearer now that they're out from the dark tunnel. My eyes widen as I saw the two new people we met, and it looks like, they're not even people.

One is a giant grey wolf with sharp long teeth inside its mouth and dangerous claws in its paws. But what's more strange is that it's standing like how a human should be. He's like one of those scary mascots in the amusement parks, and I always hate those things.

The other one is a dragonfly that was larger than the normal ones, but not as big as its companion. All of its body was like that of a dragonfly, but it wears a brown vest between its body and arms.

"Oh. Look what we have here." The dragonfly said in a male voice like it's trying to mock us with what he said. That didn't activate my irritation, but I was serious and started to make a defense position.

"Some more humans to eat." The human-wolf said with his deep scary voice and a lick of his tongue. His red eyes glowed, staring at the both of us, especially at me. It looks like he was desperate to eat my very flesh, which that idea made me shiver a bit. But I know I wouldn't be scared.

"It's not like that, you idiot! We must take them to the Queen!" The dragonfly yelled at the wolf as they slowly starting an argument in front of us. The Queen? They have a Queen?

After hearing what they said, I realized that we're not just dealing with a couple of wild monsters right now, but two soldiers coming from an unknown civilization of these creatures. And it's really a bad situation for us.

"Where are the residents?!" Grenno said straightforwardly without any hesitation, which made me dropped a sweat from my forehead. His face is serious like before, but it feels like he was joking after all that we're encountering inside this laboratory.

"Oh, you mean those pesky humans that's living in here?" The dragonfly said, twirling around to see the whole room, trying to gesture what he meant. "We already killed them and our Queen will eat their bodies soon."

"What?!" I shouted in shock and surprise as I couldn't be able to absorb all the things that he said. Does that mean... they're hunting humans for food for their Queen? Who are these creatures? I've never seen them before, but if what he's saying is true, and they unknowingly starting a nation in this place of NGL, then this is bad news.

They're monsters. Completely monsters.

"Where is your Queen?" Grenno asked again, tried to negotiate with the two bizarre creatures in front of us. I can see his hands started to shake out of fear from behind. I guess he's also nervous about what's gonna happen right now too.

"You don't need to know. Since we'll be taking your body with us." The dragonfly and the wolf prepare their fighting stance, as we also prepared ours. I grabbed some of my bandages and ready to throw them to activate my Nen technique.

"You go for the wolf assh*le! I'll fight with this housefly!" My companion shouted for our strategy with savage words. I sighed as I heard those insults while his face is as serious as ever.

I didn't have a choice. I have to follow him in exchange for the good amount of training he gave me before, and the information he provided me with my arm. I have so much gratitude for him so it's better to obey his orders for now.

I walked away from him and started to approach the wolfman that keeps staring at me all the time. I started to feel uncomfortable about those glares. It made him look like the pedophiles who my father beat up for staring at me. That's where I found my father so cool, and always look up to him even more.

"You look delicious, girl." He said in his deep voice as he licked his lips with his long tongue, saliva coming out of it. I can feel my body hair started to stand out of the creepiness he gave me. "Especially that arm of yours."

As he mentioned my cursed arm, my eyes started to widen because of the surprise. He shouldn't be seeing my arm, since it was completely covered by bandages, but he knew about it. It's like he felt it.

Does that mean... these creatures knew how to use Nen? If they did, then they're big trouble not just for us, but to all the whole world if they desire for a worldwide invasion.

"Let's just start," I said in my cold tone as I rolled my eyes, uninterested in everything that he said. I tried to keep my cool down after realizing those things I concluded. For now, let's focus on what's in front of us.

He just smiled at my response and readied his feet at the back. Then, after a while, he jumped towards me with an incredible distance. This surprised me for a bit, but I managed to block it off with my enhanced bandages all over my head. After receiving that blow, I was thrown off to the wall, but no injuries discovered.

He was about to attack another blow once more, but I jumped faster than him, ended me up near the ceiling of the room. I grabbed my bandages and threw them out in his neck. At first, he was confused by my sudden action, so he was not sure how to react.

I twirled my bandages into a braid, causing the bandages on his neck to wrapped around it, ending up chocking him until he never breathes. He tried desperately to remove the bandages but it was too strong. I jumped at his back and pulled the bandages in my hand that connected to the bandages around his neck.

Because of my strong brute force and my bandages' enhanced durability, I was able to let the wolf fly into the air and dropped to the ground with pressure, causing the floor below us to have a large crack.

I thought it was over, but then, all of a sudden, someone pulled my leg, causing me to drop on the ground with a good amount of force to cause me immense pain and injury.

I looked below me and it was actually the wolfman I just pulled into the ground like a hammer earlier, except that his eyes right now were fiercer and scarier than before. My heart started to beat faster as I couldn't be able to think properly at my situation and panicked.

He bit my legs with his sharp deadly teeth, causing me to scream as loud as I can, feeling the sudden pain I felt in my legs. Tears falling from my eyes as the injury got deeper and deeper into my skin.

Before he will make my wound worse, I grabbed my bandages and threw it to his head. As I did before, I twirled my bandages like a braid, ending him up chocking.

But this time, I transferred more Nen into my bandages and twirled it tightly enough to get my job done.

Then, the wolf man's head was finally cut off from his body and fell to the ground. His neck rushed out blue-colored blood rapidly and started to make a blood puddle on the damaged ground below me.

I used my new Nen technique, "Killer Healer" to finish the fight in a single blow. It makes my bandages' every single edge to become sharp like blades, causing everything that I'll throw my bandage towards to cut in half. I don't want to use it so often since it's a bit deadly and brutal for me who just want defensive techniques. For now, I'm just using it in case of emergency situations, like what happened back there.

I tried to stand up with my legs, but then, I realized the deep bite the wolf gave me earlier, which made me feel the immense pain I could ever have in my life.

I took one of my bandages and wrapped it around my wound until it completely covered all of it. I concentrated my Nen and transferred it into my bandages.

After a minute of waiting and focus, I couldn't be able to feel the pain of my leg anymore. I finally removed my bandages and my leg is finally back to normal, clean, and complete.

I used my other new Nen technique, "First Aid Kit" to heal small and deep injuries such as the bite on my leg that the wolf gave me. It was inspired by what Bisky told me before about Enhancers having healing techniques. It was a hard training with Grenno, but I managed to pull it through and will eventually improve as I travel.

Somehow, because of my repeated training and concentration, I couldn't be able to notice how I improved from my days in the Hunter Exam, where I was just an ordinary girl scared of her arm, to a more prepared Novice Hunter that collected a lot of learnings and experiences throughout my journey.

I have changed since then, and I couldn't help but be proud of myself.