Even as she sensed Jeanne stepping up beside her, Skadi remained rooted in place, lost in her thoughts. The creature's final words had struck her like a violent blow.
She couldn't comprehend why the monster had addressed her as Ishar-Mla. Was it merely confused in its dying state, or was there something far worse at play? She couldn't be certain, nor did she know how to process what she had heard.
Yet it mattered to her immensely. She needed to understand the meaning behind that name, as well as her own current condition. Was she still a normal Abyssal Hunter? Or had something inside her fundamentally warped?
"Snap out of it. Don't let the enemy's dying breath mess with your head," Jeanne said, clapping a hand onto Skadi's back.
The sudden touch startled Skadi, causing her to flinch slightly. Turning around, she offered Jeanne a faint, forced smile, doing her best to hide the heavy burden weighing on her mind.
"Sorry," Skadi said softly, slinging her colossal greatsword back onto her mount. "I got a bit distracted."
"Whatever it is, the job isn't done yet," Jeanne said, her voice turning grave. "We can't afford to relax until we catch every last one of them."
Those who had orchestrated this madness were still lurking somewhere deeper within the estate.
"Right... it isn't over yet," Skadi replied, pulling herself together.
She fell into step alongside Jeanne and Irene, her gaze sweeping through the underground complex as they resumed their search for the master of the estate. Whoever owned this manor was deeply entangled in this nightmare.
As they walked through the quiet corridors, Skadi leaned toward Jeanne and asked in a low voice, "Aren't you curious at all... about why I reacted that way?"
Quiet as her voice was, the utter silence of the underground passage meant everyone heard her clearly. Irene, walking slightly ahead, shifted her attention toward Skadi. Who wouldn't be curious about what the creature had meant?
Jeanne turned her head to look at Skadi. Was now really the best time to discuss this, with an Iberian judge walking right next to them?
Irene maintained a composed silence, pretending to be unbothered, but when she noticed Jeanne glancing at her, she politely stepped ahead to grant them privacy.
"Go ahead and talk," Irene said simply. "I'll keep watch up front."
Not entirely comfortable leaving Irene to scout alone in such a dangerous place, Jeanne motioned for Fafnir to stay by the young judge's side.
Once Irene was out of immediate earshot, Skadi began speaking in a low tone, opening up about her past—specifically, the confrontation with the entity known as Ishar-Mla. That encounter was the source of her deepest fear.
Hearing the creature address her by that god's name made her dread that she was losing herself, slowly transforming into the very thing she hated, just like so many of her fallen comrades.
Jeanne listened in quiet contemplation. Hearing that Skadi had once slain a god, combined with the way the Seaborn had addressed her, Jeanne could piece together the general picture.
It wasn't an unfamiliar scenario. After all, her own inner companion, Kashchey, was a similar parasitic entity. The only difference was that the ancient serpent's scheme had failed miserably, leaving him powerless inside her mind.
Skadi, on the other hand, had become tied to that fallen god's essence. The deity had not fully taken over Skadi's body, but its shadow lingered.
Jeanne recalled what Kashchey had once said regarding his ability to seize control of a vessel: A mind only falls when its conviction wavers. Strike when the inner defenses are at their weakest, and the host will break.
Looking up, Jeanne stared intently into Skadi's crimson eyes and spoke with absolute clarity:
"All you need to do is remember who you are. You are Skadi—the Abyssal Hunter, Skadi. As long as you hold fast to that truth, you will never become the monster you fear."
Jeanne's intuition told her that this was the answer. Skadi's vulnerability to that divine entity lay in her own mental struggle, much like the conflict between Talulah and Kashchey.
However, Jeanne couldn't help but worry about how long Skadi's will could hold out. If left unresolved indefinitely, the relentless influence of that entity might still erode her sense of self.
"Is that really all it takes...?" Skadi murmured. Though a faint doubt remained in her mind, she nodded solemnly, choosing to trust Jeanne's words.
"If you're still uneasy, talk to Kal'tsit when we get back," Jeanne suggested. "Her manner leaves a lot to be desired, but when it comes to things like this, she usually has real answers."
"Perhaps..." Skadi hesitated slightly. She knew Kal'tsit could likely offer insight, but the woman's cryptic, roundabout way of explaining things made her notoriously difficult to deal with.
Crack.
Before their conversation could continue, the soft sound of a boot stepping on loose gravel snapped both Jeanne and Skadi back to alertness. They darted forward in unison toward the source of the noise.
Around the corner, a man dressed in a servant's attire was attempting to scramble away. He was draped in a strange, oversized cultist robe that hung awkwardly on his frame, making his panicked flight look almost comical.
Catching sight of Jeanne and Skadi, the servant went pale with terror. Desperate, he slammed his fist onto a hidden mechanism, triggering a heavy secret door designed to seal the passage forever.
Thud!
The stone slab slammed down, trapping the intruders inside. Just as a look of triumph washed over the servant's face, a deafening shatter echoed through the corridor.
Using her overwhelming physical strength, Skadi didn't just break the secret door—she obliterated the entire stone wall surrounding it.
Dust and debris rained down as Skadi stepped through the shattered masonry, her expression cold and unreadable. She could sense the distinct, sickening aura radiating from the servant. He was another human who had begun undergoing transformation into a sea beast.
Because his corruption was still in its early stages, he retained his human appearance, but his internal biology had already been twisted beyond recognition.
Hearing the stone collapse, Irene sprinted back with Fafnir in her arms. She looked down at the terrified cultist groveling on the floor and demanded coldly, "Where is your leader?"
The servant trembled violently under their gazes. He knew with absolute certainty that his weak abilities were a joke compared to the raw force of the three women standing before him.
As his mind raced, trying to invent a plausible lie to lead them into a lethal trap, Jeanne's cold voice cut through his thoughts.
"Don't even bother trying to lie to us," Jeanne said, eyeing him with sharp contempt. "I can tell truth from falsehood in an instant. If you want to test me, go right ahead."
"I... uh..." The servant froze, his throat going dry. If he betrayed his master, his fate would be far worse than death. But if he lied, the woman standing in front of him would see right through it.
"Forget it," Jeanne said, shaking her head as she read the sheer panic in his posture. She had no intention of wasting time dragging answers out of a low-level pawn.
"Follow me. I can track the master of this place myself," Jeanne instructed, turning to lead the group further into the complex.
The servant let out a quiet sigh of relief, believing he had somehow spared his own life. But as he turned to crawl toward an escape hatch, a slender rapier pierced straight through his spine, severing his vitals with surgical precision.
Wiping her blade clean, Irene retracted her weapon, her face cold and detached. She was not about to leave a corrupted cultist alive behind them.
Without another word, she turned and quickened her pace to catch up with Jeanne.