Chapter 1551 (2/2)
All three paused for a second; it seemed the spar was not yet finished. The wind outside the canteen began to howl as the Ghosthound activated his Stillborn Phoenix image. Charlotte reflexively reinforced her own image with life energy; one needed to be careful when the Ghosthound released the image of the egg of depression. It had a habit of stealing away energy from the surroundings in a way that was easy to miss until it was too late.
Several recruits had been humiliated to realize all their carefully accumulated energy from two hours of rest had vanished, devoured by the maw of darkness. Of course, the Overseers were very unsympathetic; training went ahead as normal, no matter how poor your performance was going to be.
If you had a problem, you needed to raise it with the Ghosthound. Which no one did.
Raymund cleared his throat and continued speaking. “Well, no, actually. This accumulation occurred solely in the past eleven days, since the initiation of the special train. My other Skills have unsurprisingly stalled during the one-note methodology… but physically, I feel rather confident in myself.”
“Almost a hundred Skill Levels in ten days…?” Benjamin muttered in disbelief. Both were staring at Raymund like he was insane. Charlotte couldn’t get over the fact that Raymund had basically achieved over half of the Skill growth that she herself had, all in a single Skill in ten days.
“Still, is such an accomplishment really that worthy of note?” Raymund shook his head in answer to his own question. Then his sharp eyes went to Charlotte. “Out of the three chosen to directly receive the Ghosthound’s image, you’ve definitely made the most progress, Miss Charlotte. The benefits you’ve harvested are impossible to miss. Right now, if there was another tournament…”
Charlotte resisted the urge to preen in front of these two, but she subconsciously released a pulse of life energy from her Primal Force image. A few surrounding recruits looked up gratefully before continuing with their meal. After studying Yggdrasil for ten days, Charlotte was able to capture the smallest bit of its healing aura. Yet a split second later, a near imperceptible twitch ran through her body.
As it always was, things related to the Ghosthound’s image were… tainted, in her mind. Those nagging fears steadily returned to nibble at the edges of her attention.
“...well, I cannot say it’s that not impressive,” Charlotte demurred. But beneath her thick layer of fur, her body began to sweat. Her body responded instinctively, even as she carefully controlled the timber of her voice. “Truthfully… the Head Drill Sergeant… well, is it fair to say that he has a knack for inspiration? This training we all endure is hellish, and oh, I believe your current situation is similarly demanding, Raymund, but still, he prodded me to discover new reserves of motivation within myself. I… cannot seem to bring myself to rest, in regards to his image. Perhaps that’s why my results are so unusual.”
Perhaps she was a suspicious bit more verbose than normal, because there was an imperceptible widening in Benjamin Rex’s eyes. He considered her expression carefully. “Indeed?”
Meanwhile, Raymund didn’t notice anything was amiss. He nodded tiredly and said, “We were blessed to have the opportunity to study under Randidly Ghosthound. His methods are beyond reproach.”
...the truth is I dare not show anything less than stellar results. The Ghosthound could destroy me at any moment. Despite her best efforts, Charlotte’s lip trembled. She bit into the plush worm of flesh to keep it from displaying any more weakness. Overseer Helen is perfection in motion… but even I can tell she is a temperamental and private person. Some of those drawings that I made… That I can’t help but keep making… would give such a cultured and refined angel more than enough motivation to end my life…
Or even worse, ignore me completely...
Charlotte’s Primal Beast was more powerful than ever before, yet she couldn’t help but feel insidiously stifled on the Rally Station. The tight grasp of the Ghosthound spun around her limbs like chains. For now, all that he required was the incorporation of his image, but the prospect of continuing this existence weighed heavily on Charlotte’s mind.
Her association with Commandant Wick would mean that the Ghosthound would not dare directly have her cultivate his image to later cannibalize her for strength, but she could not envision a way of escaping from under the Head Drill Sergeant’s thumb for the rest of her days. Yet her turbulent emotions betrayed her again at that thought; her foolish heart at least accepted that this way, she would remain near Overseer Helen.
Charlotte released a deep sigh. Somewhere, she had no doubt the Ghosthound was snickering at her expense.
Benjamin was still frowning at her. “...for someone who has achieved such rapid gains in such a short amount of time, you don’t seem very excited. Were there any… side effects of adapting to the Ghosthound’s image…? No offense, but I don’t understand why your growth is so quick compared to Jieu and Vizzeret. None of us lack effort.”
For several seconds, Charlotte attempted to condense her irritation toward Benjamin’s accurate bluntness into a searing glare. The pale-skinned Benjamin didn’t even bat an eyelash, forcing Charlotte to release a hissing breath of defeat. She was just opening her mouth to sharply retort when she was completely blanketed by an immense noise.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!
The ground beneath their table shook from the impact, which meant their table shook. The remaining dregs of Charlotte’s stew sloshed side to side in her bowl. Gradually, the rumbling calmed down. And from the diminishing presence of the Ghosthound’s and his lover’s image, the fight had ended.
Before Charlotte could respond to Benjamin, Raymund stood. ”Please excuse me for departing early. This day is not entirely a break. Apparently, Sir DiOrtho and I will require a history lesson before we take on this special mission. Overseer Muareth is going to lecture us for a few hours today so we are prepared for most eventualities.”
”What's your mission?” Benjamin asked curiously. ”I'm quite a bit jealous that you will be outside of the suppression array, but I'll bet it's another hostile environment, correct?”
But to both of their surprise, Raymund shook his head. Then the Vulpine shrugged. ”I... also cannot interpret the Ghosthound's actions this time. As far as we can tell, the task is simply... to accomplish a certain mission in twenty-four hours, without consciously using Skills or images.”