Chapter 369: The Continent of Valoran
Meanwhile, back in Gensokyo — having only just returned home a short while ago — Yukari stretched leisurely, the motion showing off a figure that could stop countless women in their tracks with sheer envy.
Her consciousness slipped free of the Dimensional Chat Group, and a faintly odd expression crossed her delicate features. She muttered to herself, "Nine-Tailed Fox Spirit Ahri, hm. Ran's a nine-tailed fox spirit too — wonder if the two of them will have anything in common to talk about."
The words had barely left her mouth before she vanished on the spot.
She understood well enough that the situation sounded urgent — Admin-sama wasn't the type to move this fast without good reason.
Kaguya, having likewise signed on for the invitation quest, had already left her own world behind and arrived in the mission world in turn.
This was the world of the online game League of Legends — its continent known as Valoran.
The moment Kaguya's figure materialized on Valoran, her fine brows knit together — she'd caught the faint scent of blood in the air.
It wasn't especially thick, but that alone was hardly a good sign.
She had no wish to see the newcomer die. Judging from Admin-sama's screenshot, though, things weren't looking especially promising.
The notice had said as much outright — life-threatening danger, and someone actively hunting this "Ahri" down. Otherwise the invitation quest wouldn't have specifically tasked the two of them with eliminating whoever had put her in this position.
Observation Haki spread out in an instant, and within a heartbeat Kaguya's senses covered several kilometers in every direction.
She didn't bother extending it any further — invitation quests generally deposited members close to the newcomer in question, so a few kilometers' radius should more than cover it.
Kaguya's cool gaze swept the scene before her — a dim, unsettling stretch of forest, an uneasy energy hanging thick in the air.
Strange, unfamiliar flowers grew scattered across the ground. As the wind stirred, pollen lifted into the air and drifted straight into her lungs with every breath.
She froze slightly, brow furrowing. "These flowers are a bit off. Some kind of hallucinogenic property, maybe?"
Not that it mattered for her, given her constitution — the pollen posed no real threat. Observation Haki had simply flagged it as a minor point of caution, nothing more.
"Eh? Oh my — little Kaguya, you got here that fast?"
Yukari's voice rang out, faintly surprised.
Kaguya turned toward the sound and found Yukari had appeared right beside her.
She gave a small nod. "Given how urgent this is, speed seemed like the priority. Yukari-nee, did you catch that trace of blood in the air? I'm guessing it might be the newcomer's."
"Could just as easily be the enemy's blood, of course. Either way, we need to track her down as fast as possible — she's in genuine danger right now, and there's no telling how much time she has left."
"..."
Yukari understood the stakes just as clearly. The two of them combined their senses and began tracking the scent together.
It didn't take long to pin down the exact source of the bloody smell — under ten seconds, all told.
Once she'd locked onto the source, Yukari's thoughts shifted and a gap opened up on instinct — a passage two meters tall and a meter and a half wide, more than roomy enough to simply walk through.
From arriving on Valoran to opening that gap took Yukari all of thirty seconds, give or take. In that same span, she'd already mapped out most of the League of Legends world's spatial structure.
Her grasp of spatial theory had clearly climbed to a whole new level lately — likely thanks to sinking well over a hundred thousand Points into mirror-space magic, given how closely that discipline overlaps with spatial manipulation.
The two of them stepped into the gap together, and when they emerged again, they'd covered over a kilometer of ground.
Stepping out of the passage, Kaguya's fine eyes swept the surroundings before finally settling on a small pool of blood on the ground nearby.
The blood looked genuinely fresh, nothing out of place about it — and it clearly wasn't human blood, either. It shared the same red color, sure, but there was none of the particular scent she'd have expected from human blood.
Just then, Yukari, eyes fixed on the same pool of blood, spoke up with a faint smile. "Looks like our little newcomer wants to play hide-and-seek with us. Maybe she's mistaken the two of us for enemies too."
Kaguya blinked, a flicker of confusion crossing her features. "Yukari-nee, are you saying she left this blood on purpose?"
Yukari shook her head. "Not quite. This blood dripped here naturally, from a real wound — no deliberate effort behind it."
"What I mean is, the newcomer's somewhere close by. She's got an ability that might be interfering with your senses, though. Based on what I know of nine-tailed fox spirits as a species, she's got to be nearby."
Kaguya nodded thoughtfully, catching the point — the newcomer was here, somewhere. Just possibly mistaking the two of them for enemies too, and hiding accordingly.
Taking a slow breath, Kaguya focused her Observation Haki more carefully — and this time, she noticed something else.
The newcomer was injured, after all, and injury inevitably brought a certain amount of panic. Panic, in turn, tended to leave gaps.
Her gaze settled on a cluster of bushes roughly twenty meters to the right. Kaguya softened her tone as much as she could manage. "I know you probably don't have much reason to believe this, but we really are here to help you."
"You're hurt right now, aren't you? We can treat that for you — maybe not heal it completely in an instant, but enough to take the edge off. We're not with whoever did this to you."
"..."
Several seconds passed without any response.
Even so, Kaguya was confident the newcomer — this "Ahri" — was exactly where she thought.
As for why she wouldn't speak up, wouldn't come out, that was probably just a matter of trust — or the lack of it.
It was the same as if you were injured, being hunted down, and had fled to some marginally-safer hiding spot, only for a total stranger to suddenly show up offering help while you were still trying to catch your breath.
Under those circumstances, any sane person would be deeply suspicious.
So the newcomer's silence came as no surprise to either of them.
Just as Kaguya was about to try again, her Observation Haki suddenly picked up on something.
Her brows drew together sharply. "Looks like we've got some uninvited guests headed this way."
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