The Riftbreakers had thought this would be a simple ambush—fish in a barrel.
What they got instead wasn't a helpless group of Guild workers, but a ferocious Drak and a dragon.
And of the two, the most terrifying was the Drak.
Talulah slowly exhaled a plume of pale breath.
The temperature around her spiked.
The skin of the infiltrator-type Riftbreakers who'd closed in was already flushing red from the heat, and the blades in their hands began to warp as if the metal itself were softening.
Her gray eyes widened—and the pupils narrowed into golden vertical slits.
She didn't even swing her sword.
She merely raised it.
An invisible pressure—carrying searing heat—washed outward, and the frailer Riftbreakers immediately dehydrated, crumpling limply to the ground.
Those who tried to press in closer, who even dared to attack…
Talulah didn't turn her head.
She simply lifted her toe and stamped down, lightly.
Firelight flickered.
A shockwave burst from her and rolled outward, casually flattening everything in its path.
Not everyone could endure a dragon's might.
As the top-tier hybrid descendant of true dragon and Drak blood, Talulah's power wasn't the only thing at the summit—her sheer oppressive presence was, too.
"…Talulah-jie… you're terrifying…" Chen Qianyu muttered.
Even after she'd dragged Bai Ling a good distance away, she could still feel the crushing force radiating from Talulah.
It was suppression born of bloodline—an instinctive fear. Her body was afraid of Talulah in this state.
Realizing that only made Chen Qianyu feel even stranger.
I'm a dragon too!!!
What on earth could a dragon be afraid of?!
…but after taking one serious look at Talulah openly displaying her authority, Chen Qianyu decided it was best to listen to her survival instincts.
As time passed, the heat grew fiercer and the pressure more horrifying. Even the Riftbreaker executioners could no longer maintain combat readiness, slumping to the ground one after another.
From a higher vantage point, it was almost absurd:
Within a hundred meters of Talulah, only she remained standing.
Everywhere else—human or beast—bodies lay scattered. Some frothed at the mouth with eyes rolled back. Some were twisted into bizarre shapes, limbs bent wrong.
Without launching a single proper attack—using nothing but pressure—Talulah had solved the entire swarm.
Given how hard it was for her to regulate the strength of her strikes, this was likely the best approach. Even a casual blow from her could reshape the terrain—like what she'd done to seal the warehouse entrance.
Right then, Perlica and Little Penguin finally arrived, a group of Guild personnel in tow.
"Perlica!" Chen Qianyu bolted forward at once, while Bai Ling immediately headed toward Talulah.
Talulah had already stopped projecting her pressure, but she hadn't moved—only scanned the area, as if verifying something.
"…They aren't infected," she said quietly. "…And what they're using isn't Originium Arts either. That kind of power interferes with the mind. It's a different path."
"Their power comes from the Transverse—similar to the 'angel' you defeated earlier," Bai Ling replied. "But this world also has Originium. And it has Oripathy."
Talulah turned and descended from her position, standing quietly beside Bai Ling as they looked toward Perlica—still visibly shocked—and Chen Qianyu, who looked like she'd fully 'submitted to reason.'
"Originium isn't rare here," Talulah said. "There should be large-scale infection. Especially among bandits like these with almost no protective measures."
"You've already seen one," Bai Ling said, spreading his hands as they walked together toward the others. "When we went to that drafty shelter, the little girl I picked up—she's infected. And she's a severe case."
"…This era," he continued, "Oripathy is still incurable—but it's no longer a death sentence. Cheap inhibitors can suppress it completely. As long as you take them on schedule, an infected person's lifespan is basically the same as a normal person's. And after death the body won't crystallize—won't explode, either."
"Is that so?" Talulah murmured.
She looked thoughtful—then the corner of her mouth lifted into a faint smile.
At that moment, Chen Qianyu's voice called out, and she came jogging up to Talulah's side.
"Talulah-jie! Was that your Originium Arts just now?"
"…You could say that."
A dragon's pressure was innate. She'd simply layered it with Drak fire Arts passed down through bloodline.
Together, it became this.
Searing heat spreading outward, stacked with terrifying oppression—so overwhelming that she didn't need to move at all. The weak suffocated and blacked out from sheer presence.
In the end, it wasn't complicated.
These things were just too weak.
"…Looks like they've only lost consciousness," Perlica said as she approached. "No serious injuries."
The Guild personnel didn't follow her in—they were busy dealing with bodies spread across the ground.
Those still alive could be taken back, processed, repurposed.
Those already in irreversible shock…
All they could do was bury them somewhere.
Seeing Riftbreakers wiped out in a single sweep—Perlica would never have dared imagine it in the past.
After all, Riftbreakers made up roughly one-tenth of humanity on Talos-II. Their factions were messy and fragmented, but as a whole they were absolutely not a force to underestimate.
And now…
Riftbreakers lay unconscious everywhere. Their equipment was still intact.
If the Guild could properly study that equipment, it would be a devastating breakthrough against Riftbreakers of the same faction—potentially allowing the development of specialized counter-gear.
Which meant it wouldn't just be the Riftbreakers of Valley No. 4—
"This is extremely valuable," Perlica said earnestly. "Thank you, Miss Talulah."
"…No need. It was nothing," Talulah replied, indifferent.
She hadn't exerted herself at all. None of this mattered to her.
There was only one thing she cared about.
"Perlica," she asked, "do you carry inhibitors?"
The moment Bai Ling heard those words, he felt Talulah's gaze slide onto his face.
"Yes," Perlica answered. "I have some on me."
"I need two doses."
"No problem."
Perlica naturally opened her coat. Inside was a thicker inner pocket—soft-looking. She reached in and smoothly produced two slim ampoules glowing with a faint blue light.
Each was about as thick as a pinky finger, and roughly the same length.
"…Miss Talulah," Perlica asked carefully, "are you infected?"
Thinking back to Miss Eyjafjalla—she'd been a severe case, with visible crystallization on the body, yet the inhibitors hadn't worked on her at all.
Perlica had even wondered if the inhibitor was defective… but in the end she'd dismissed it.
Endfield Industry's medical capability—built on deep research exchange with Rhodes Island—was one of their greatest strengths. If Endfield couldn't solve something…
…it usually meant there was no cure.
"Yes," Talulah said. "I contracted Oripathy."
Bai Ling had asked for the inhibitors, but it was Talulah who took them.
Holding the two small vials—like tiny bottles of blue blood—Talulah went momentarily still.
She'd seen too many tragedies among the infected.
And to think—
The tragedy of her world had been resolved here with something as simple as this.
People didn't hate Oripathy.
They treated it like any other illness.
They researched proper medicine for the infected—and did so with genuine commitment.
Staring at the vials, Talulah suddenly understood something.
In the end…
Oripathy was just a disease.
....
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