Suddenly, panicked voices came from outside.
"Hey, what is that thing?!"
"Stay alert!"
"Is that thing... trying to land?"
The moment Gozuki heard the commotion, he rushed out.
At a glance, he saw that everyone present was looking upward.
So he followed their gazes, and what he saw left him in disbelief.
"What... is that?"
Black.
That shape... was it a bird?
High in the air, Black Nightmare overlapped with the sun, making it impossible for the people below to see exactly what was hidden at the center of that light.
Noah opened the cockpit, then casually put on his mask and disguised himself as Lamur.
He stood up from the cockpit, stepped out, and landed on Black Nightmare's side wing.
Gozuki's coordinates were right here.
Whoosh!
There was nothing to hesitate about as Noah simply took one step forward.
Then his entire body began falling rapidly toward the ground.
Wind roared past his ears.
Noah's figure descended from the sky, soon entering the field of vision of the people below.
The assassins from the Enhancement Division quickly drew their weapons and raised their guard to the absolute limit.
Even Gozuki was deeply shocked.
He had never seen anyone this reckless before!
Free-falling from an altitude so high that the naked eye could barely reach it—no sane person would do something like that.
Even if someone trained their body until blades and bullets could not pierce them, even if they became immune to every poison, they still could not withstand the impact of falling from the sky.
As long as they were human, falling from that height could only end with them being smashed into a meat paste.
The wind was stronger than expected.
To keep the mask from being blown away, Noah raised a hand and lightly pressed it against his face.
Whoosh!
Like a cannonball falling from the sky.
From a height of over a hundred meters to the ground, Noah's descent took only the blink of an eye.
Even with their eyes wide open, all they could see was a black line dropping straight down.
It was as though an invisible bomb had detonated against the ground.
The powerful wind pressure blew so violently that the people nearby could not keep their eyes open.
They could only shield their faces with their arms and brace themselves in a half-crouch to avoid being pushed back, knocked down, or even blown away.
At the center of the storm, Noah swept his gaze around, ignored the members of the Enhancement Division, and immediately locked onto Gozuki, whose face was filled with shock and suspicion.
He lifted his foot, intending to walk forward.
In the next second, more than ten members of the Enhancement Division attacked all at once.
Front, back, left, right, even from above.
Their attacks were decisive, each one aimed at a vital point.
Only then did Gozuki clearly see the mask, and he tried to stop them, but it was already too late.
Noah raised one hand, extended his index finger, and tapped the air toward one of them.
That person's body froze for a brief instant.
Then he was suddenly dragged sideways at a speed far beyond normal movement.
Noah made a casual waving motion, and the man flew out as if tied to an invisible string, directly smashing into every person attacking him and sending them all flying.
Under the effect of a strange force, they actually piled on top of one another, one pressing down on the next.
Then an indescribable pressure appeared out of nowhere, pinning them down so hard they could not even raise their heads.
"H-how is this possible? He took down more than ten of us in an instant..."
"Damn it, what is this?"
"I can't even move a finger. Is this sorcery?"
Listening to them, Noah shook his head in disappointment.
He dropped a single line.
"It's not, idiots."
The moment his words fell, he flicked his finger.
An invisible impact struck the center of the human pile.
The dozen or so people stacked together were blown apart by the force, scattering in every direction and collapsing across the ground.
Looking at the groaning team members all around him, Noah said, "Don't casually classify an opponent's ability as something strange, divine, or demonic. When you encounter a phenomenon you can't understand, the first thing you should do is calmly observe and analyze it. You learned that before being assigned here, didn't you?"
"You... who exactly are you?"
Noah glanced at them, then turned and walked over to Gozuki.
"Am I late?"
Gozuki looked at him and shrugged.
"No, you're still on time. Though there's a big shot inside who said it wouldn't matter whether you came or not."
"Oh?"
"Dr. Stylish. Heard of him?"
"I see."
Hearing that name, Noah's gaze shifted faintly beneath the mask.
Dr. Stylish.
That man had once secretly taken drugs developed by the Science Division outside and administered them to civilians, using those people for experiments.
Back then, Noah had lacked the evidence to expose him.
Later, as Noah learned more about the owner of that name, he gave up on dealing with him for the time being.
The reason was simple.
That guy's background was not ordinary.
He had many supporters within the Empire.
With the things he had done, even if Noah exposed everything, Stylish would not receive any meaningful punishment.
Although Noah had never formally met him, he was still someone Noah disliked.
Noah only said, "It doesn't matter," then entered the tent with Gozuki.
The moment he entered, Noah noticed Dr. Stylish.
His first impression was that this man was wearing a white coat to put on airs, looking polished and respectable on the outside.
At this moment, a smug curve hung at the corner of Stylish's mouth as his fingers nimbly manipulated something.
Noah could observe the moving fibers, and he used Appraisal on them.
To his surprise, the other man was actually a Teigu user.
Divine Hands: Perfector.
For certain people, it was an extremely valuable Teigu.
Noah immediately saw through what Stylish was doing as well. He intended to use those fibers to obtain tissue from the insect eggs.
Honestly, the idea was not bad.
By analyzing the insect egg tissue, he could create an insecticide that would either deactivate and kill the eggs completely or force them to be expelled from the body.
It seemed this Dr. Stylish did have some skill after all.
At that moment, Dr. Stylish suddenly spread his five fingers.
The fibers connected to his fingertips began to withdraw quickly, and soon all of them emerged from Nahashu's mouth.
Everyone could see that the fibers had brought out some white tissue.
Dr. Stylish immediately took out a sample bag, placed the fibers carrying the white tissue into it, and sealed it.
"Good. Very smooth. Now all I need to do is identify the weakness of the eggs."
As he was speaking confidently, he passed in front of Noah and suddenly stopped.
"Oh?"
He looked straight into Noah's eyes beneath the mask, as though he could see his expression through it.
Seeing him stare, Noah asked impatiently, "Something wrong?"
"Hehe, no. I was just thinking that I stole your chance to make an entrance. My apologies."
After saying that, Dr. Stylish left the tent.
His steps were light, as if he were very pleased with the outcome of this little contest.
'Did this guy already figure out who I am?'
Noah guessed inwardly.
After all, he had only put on a mask and had not disguised himself too heavily.
If someone observed carefully, they would find quite a few flaws. If the other party was a first-rate genius scientist, then naturally, there were many ways for him to notice details ordinary people would miss.
Watching Stylish leave so gracefully, Noah finally moved over to Nahashu.
"Don't move. This will be over quickly."
After saying that, he placed his hand on the boy.
Nahashu was somewhat confused.
But this person gave him a sense of reassurance and when Guy had been injured before, this man had appeared as well.
Through Weaver, Noah found the insect eggs inside Nahashu's body almost immediately.
He frowned slightly.
Because these eggs were attached to Nahashu's intestines and some of his organs.
If this required surgery, it would probably be a nightmare for the surgeon.
But to Noah, it was not worth mentioning.
Noah focused, and faint firelight seemed to flicker in his eyes.
Nahashu felt the temperature inside his body suddenly rise.
What was strange was that this scorching heat did not make him uncomfortable. Instead, it drove away the coldness inside him and gave him an unprecedented sense of relief.
'Was this... detoxification?'
The poison he had absorbed during battle was gone?
Nahashu stared in surprise at the masked man in front of him.
At that moment, Noah had already withdrawn his hand.
He had burned away the insect eggs inside Nahashu's body.
At the same time, he had separated the toxins mixed into Nahashu's blood and purified them with flame.
"All right. The insect eggs inside you have been removed. Your body should feel much lighter now. Go outside and move around a little."
"Eh?"
"What, what? He's cured?" Poney questioned in an exaggerated tone. "But you only touched the boss once!"
Even Gozuki looked strangely uneasy.
He could not help confirming, "He's really cured?"
Noah turned toward him and nodded. "Of course. If you don't believe me, ask the patient. His own feeling should be the most direct."
Nahashu stood up and clenched his fist.
His eyes were filled with intense shock.
"My strength has recovered... and the foreign sensation inside my body really is gone. Unbelievable..."
"Seriously?"
"I really don't understand what happened."
While everyone still had doubts, Guy suddenly stepped forward.
"I believe Mr. Lamur. When he saved me before, it was just as miraculous! Calling this treatment almost feels wrong. It's more like a miracle."
Nahashu also said with certainty, "I can feel it. I really have recovered."
Seeing that, Gozuki simply found the Water Dragon Sword and handed it to Nahashu.
"Come out and have a spar."
With that, he turned and walked out of the tent.
Nahashu did not waste any words.
After accepting the Water Dragon Sword, he immediately followed him outside, and the two began a real sword fight.
After exchanging thirty or forty moves, Gozuki became more and more alarmed.
Because Nahashu's strength had increased again.
And it had increased greatly.
If Nahashu's strength had been sixty during the last evaluation, then now it was at least seventy-five.
Moreover, even during intense combat, Nahashu showed no bad reaction. It seemed he really had recovered.
But that was strange.
Wasn't Noah's Teigu supposed to be an elemental Teigu that manipulated wind?
Why could he even do something like this?
This was not an effect that could be developed from a wind ability.
If it were not for the fact that a person could only ever wield one Teigu at most, with no exceptions in a thousand years, Gozuki might have suspected that Noah had multiple Teigu.
Controlling a Teigu consumed a large amount of mental energy, and human mental energy was limited.
It should be impossible to control two Teigu at the same time.
However, the idea that Noah's Teigu controlled wind was only Gozuki's guess.
After all, he had never seen a Teigu that controlled wind, and he could not find any record of where Noah had obtained this Teigu.
The records for this Teigu were impossible to trace.
It was not even in the Empire's collection.
From what he had seen so far, Noah's displayed abilities could not be explained by something as simple as manipulating wind and air currents.
"Thank you very much, Mr. Lamur." Nahashu bowed politely and expressed his gratitude.
Noah looked at him. He did not move, only replied softly, "Don't worry about it."
He used Appraisal to examine Nahashu, Guy, and the others.
He would take every opportunity to check how much effect the bootleg Falna could produce.
At the moment, each of them had gained at most around six hundred, even close to one thousand, points of pseudo-proficiency.
If converted into an adventurer's evaluation method, their attributes had risen by far more than three or four stages compared to before.
Some of their main attributes had even reached A-rank.
Growth in attributes showed itself very easily in direct combat.
From Nahashu and Gozuki's exchange just now, it was clear that Nahashu's strength had changed drastically compared to three months ago.
Without special skills, combat was the best way to draw out latent potential.
Especially real battles where life and death were decided in an instant.
Soon after sparring with Nahashu, Noah was called aside by Gozuki again to an empty place.
Gozuki tried to light a cigarette on his own, only to find that he could not get it to catch no matter what.
After cursing under his breath, he had no choice but to give up.
Seeing his uncomfortable expression, Noah thought the smell of smoke was unpleasant, so he suppressed ignition within his domain.
Since the cigarette would not light, Gozuki simply shoved both the lighter and the cigarette back into his pocket and started discussing the serious matter.
He explained the current situation in full, then asked Noah, "Akame and Kurome have been implanted with those insect eggs. When the time comes, I'll leave them to you."
"I understand." Noah nodded.
"There's one more thing..." Gozuki's face quickly darkened.
"Mm?"
"After the battle begins, I may not be able to act. If Akame shows any intention of betraying us, I want you to kill her for me."
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