As he spoke, Geno opened his Ether Sight.
Though the tracking device had failed, so long as Hartman had passed through, he was bound to leave traces behind.
Opening his eyes once more, a great mess of jumbled Ether traces appeared within Geno's field of vision.
Aside from Hartman's own, most of these traces belonged to the half-Sacrifice monsters he kept at his side.
The traces were disorderly and chaotic, yet their general direction remained clear.
"This way."
Geno pointed down the path ahead. Lycaon, well aware of Geno's talents, promptly put away the locator and continued onward, following Geno's guidance.
Before long, the two of them arrived amid a stretch of ruins.
What caught Geno off guard was that the traces before him had abruptly vanished.
It was as glaring as a bolt of cloth snipped short by scissors.
"What's going on?"
Ether traces faded slowly over time, but never in such a crude and rapid manner. Lycaon surveyed the surroundings, trying to uncover the reason behind this anomaly.
But before he could, Geno had already noticed it first.
"Here — the Ether signature feels a little strange."
Geno pointed to the space before them, to the peculiar Ether signature that had emerged where the traces broke off.
"It seems to be an Ether Fissure — and judging by its scale, it should be about to close."
From this, it could be inferred that this Fissure was the direction Hartman had departed toward.
Lycaon, however, furrowed his brow. No one could know what lay beyond this Fissure. Should there be an ambush laid by Hartman on the other side, the two of them would find themselves in unimaginable danger.
To go or not to go — it had become a life-or-death question.
Yet no one knew how much longer this Fissure would hold, so the time left for the two of them to decide was hardly plentiful. They had to make up their minds as quickly as possible.
"Let's go, Lycaon. Whatever lies behind this, we absolutely cannot let this chance slip."
Geno reached his decision without much deliberation.
Once this opportunity was missed — once the Ravenlock family was later sealed off and the Sacrifice Core fell into the hands of the Rebel Soldiers — recapturing that demon Hartman would only grow far more difficult.
Lycaon still had his reservations, but in the end he nodded, agreeing to Geno's decision.
"Very well, we'll go across. But Mr. Geno, please allow me to walk in front."
This was, in truth, hardly reasonable — after all, Geno was stronger than Lycaon, and having the stronger one take the lead offered the highest degree of security for the operation. But Lycaon had more to consider.
Compared to himself, Geno's value and power were the greater. If an ambush truly awaited them on the other side, then by drawing their fire himself, he would provide Geno — entering after — with an ample environment to unleash his output.
At the same time, should something go wrong, Geno could still be the first to escape back through this Fissure.
And as for himself?
The elegant Wolf Thirren had left no path of survival for his own person.
Having said this, Lycaon strode toward the Fissure, and seeing this, Geno followed close behind.
As the familiar twisting of space unfolded, the feet of Geno and Lycaon made contact with solid ground.
At the same moment, the scene before them had changed.
The two swiftly moved into wary stances, but faced with the desolate, uninhabited landscape all around, they soon realized how superfluous their actions were.
"It seems the other side still hasn't detected our pursuit."
Once safety was confirmed, Lycaon once again drew out that locator.
Sure enough, the red dot representing the signal source appeared on the screen once more.
"The signal's back, Mr. Geno. We— Mr. Geno?"
He called for Geno to keep moving, only to find that Geno was, at this moment, staring wide-eyed as he examined their surroundings, as though he had discovered something.
"Lycaon, have you noticed anything different about this place?"
"Different? Mr. Geno, I'm afraid I don't quite understand your meaning."
Lycaon shook his head. He couldn't tell what was so special about the area, but he knew Geno must have realized something.
"This place — it's no longer the Hollow from before."
Geno swept his gaze around once more, again opening his Ether Sight to inspect the Ether in the air, and only then did he confirm his conjecture.
"This is the Crete Hollow — not the small Companion Hollow we were in before."
"What?"
Lycaon was shocked. They had actually crossed between Hollows.
But he quickly calmed down. Though such a situation was rare, it was not entirely impossible.
Sometimes, along the outer edges of certain large Hollows, smaller Hollows would form, and because these small Hollows were too close to the large one, they would be drawn toward it — much like two soap bubbles of differing sizes joined together.
"Indeed — that small Hollow from before was truly in the vicinity of the Crete Hollow. Such a thing could well happen."
Geno acknowledged Lycaon's speculation, but before long the Fissure behind them gave off a strange reaction, and in a single flash, it vanished.
"It disappeared?"
"That's not all. The Ether concentration within the Crete Hollow has risen — ever so slightly, but risen it truly has."
As an Ethereal, Geno perceived a good deal more than Lycaon did. But beyond all this, there was one matter that troubled him even more.
Meanwhile, in the small Hollow the two of them had left behind—
Vivian, carrying Hugo on her back, had found the members of Victoria Housekeeping — who had already reunited with Eous — within the Ravenlock factory. The very instant she laid eyes on Eous, she flung the Hugo off her back.
"A round, plump body! A Bangboo that speaks the common tongue, and the ability to make contact beyond the Hollow... Could it be — you're Lord Phaethon?!"
Watching Vivian suddenly close in on him, Eous first gave a startled jump and backed away two steps, only then responding to her.
"Uh — yes, that's right, that's me."
What he never expected was that this affirmative reply would drive Vivian utterly wild.
"Aaaaahhhhhhh!!!! Oh my goodness!!!! It really is Lord Phaethon!!! I must be dreaming, aren't I?!!!"
Vivian's eyes shone with golden light, her hands cupping her cheeks, her face flushed crimson, her breathing quickening all the while, her heart thumping and pounding, restless and roaring like the engine of a motor.
"Um, miss, please — please calm down a little first!"
Corin, standing off to the side, tried to soothe Vivian's mood, only to be met with this fervent fan's intense reaction.
"Calm down?! How do you expect me to calm down?! This is Lord Phaethon! The greatest Lord Phaethon in all the world! Aaaah!! Lord Phaethon! You're my fan — no, I'm your fan! Could you give me an autograph?! And a photo together! And also..."
Vivian's frenzied-fangirl display was truly more than Eous could bear, so much so that she hurriedly began to cut off the other's chanting.
"Whatever you want is fine, but let's leave the Hollow first before we talk about it!"
____
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🔥 New history: Re:Zero: Wait, am I Pandora? — read it on The_Mikudayo
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