Chapter 78: New Allies

“Wha-!”

Elder Hua’s eyes widened as she sensed danger nearby thanks to her Bloodborn-granted sixth sense, a passive power that didn’t require activation. She immediately spun around to see Finn, who had been planning on knocking her clean out with an attack to the neck.

Unfortunately for him, Elder Hua’s sixth sense allowed her to react just in time. Since he was blind, he didn’t stand a chance against a counterattack.

“Ngh-!”

Finn was blown backwards by a swift punch in the stomach, crashing into a tree.

“Finn!” Iris cried, having not expected her plan to go wrong like this.

Elder Hua narrowed her eyes slightly at Finn, who now struggled back to his feet and adopted a combat stance, ready to go at her again.

“… Stop,” she said, ceasing Finn’s movements. “The game is over. You won’t be able to beat me now that I know you’re there. What you need to do now is go to the infirmary.”

“It’s just a light hit,” Finn replied truthfully. “There’s no need.”

“J-Just in case!” Elder Hua yelled angrily for whatever reason. “I’ll take you, no buts!”

Then, she looked up at Iris, who had flown down with her wings and had been ready to assist Finn in battle, now levitating in mid-air.

“… Oh? Wings? But there’s no sign of the Celestial Angelica coming from your body…”

“It’s thanks to this special armor set I have on right now, crafted by someone I know,” Iris explained briskly. “But that aside… are you okay, Finn?”

Finn nodded. “Like I said, a light hit.”

“Shut it, boy!” Elder Hua screamed. “We’re going back! Hurry up and get your wheelchair!”

“…?” Finn was confused about why she was being so aggressive with her statements, but asking about it now probably wasn’t the best idea.

Iris flew off to retrieve the wheelchair she had used as bait and quickly returned in it. Using the wings was tiring, after all.

After that, the three headed back to meet up with the ones who already got caught. But in Elder Hua’s mind, a question lingered.

‘I didn’t hold back at all just now with my punch since he took me by such surprise… yet he claims it’s only a ‘light hit’?

I’d like to say he’s only bluffing, trying to act tough, but… by the looks of it, his body really wasn’t injured at all. And to be able to sneak up on me soundlessly like that… had I not not been for my sixth sense thanks to my Bloodborn powers, I most likely would’ve gotten defeated right then and there.

No one — especially not someone as young and inexperienced as him — has ever done that to me before.

This boy… just who — or what — is he?’

*****

After arriving at the infirmary with all five of Squadron 154’s members in tow, Elder Hua asked the nurse there to check on Finn.

“There’s… nothing there,” the nurse said, shooting Elder Hua a complicated look. “No injuries. He’s completely fine… why bring him to me?”

“N-No way,” Elder Hua said in a panic. “How could that be? I accidentally punched him with my full strength, there’s no way he-“

She froze, realizing Finn and everyone else there heard everything.

‘So… that’s why she was frustrated,’ Finn thought in his head.

The nurse, realizing what was happening, sighed deeply.

“Look, Elder Hua. If this is your way of boosting your students’ self-confidence, don’t rope me into it. I also don’t recommend doing this, since it will only cause them to be arrogant on the battlefield.”

“A-Ah… yes, of course. You’re right, haha!” Elder Hua chuckled, folding her tiny arms. “N-Now then, since Nurse Yang here brutally exposed my true intentions, there’s no point staying any longer. Let’s go.”

None of the five bought it… well, except for Octane.

“Go? Go where?” He asked innocently. “More stealth training? I’ll get it right this time, I promise!”

“No, that comes later,” Elder Hua replied, regaining her composure. “Right now is noon. In other words, time for lunch. C’mon, follow me.”

Saying this, she waltzed out of the infirmary, pushing past her students with that short figure of hers. Finn and the others promptly followed after thanking the nurse politely.

And as Nurse Yang watched the group walk away, she couldn’t help but look up something in the database of everyone currently part of the squadron.

“He isn’t here… so one of the temporary transfers from Squadron 154?” She murmured to herself, narrowing her eyes slightly.

After switching to a different database and applying some filters, she soon found Finn’s profile.

“Hm… Finn Thresher, huh? To be able to recover so quickly from Elder Hua’s full-force blow… how interesting.”

*****

After leaving the infirmary building, Elder Hua took her five students to a large structure near the center of the squadron grounds, somewhat close to the teleporter room they had first came here through.

“This is the cafeteria,” she explained as they entered. “You’ll be having all your meals in here, unless I forbid you from doing so for any reason.”

Immediately, the delicious smell of eastern spices and meat filled the newcomers’ noses, wafting out of the kitchen in the room where foods were made live, seen through glass walls. It was quite loud as many other Hunters had already gathered, chatting away with their friends and enjoying their meal.

Iris’s wheelchair combined with Reaper’s appearance with that massive scythe of his attracted quite a few stares, but he refused to leave it outside, claiming it was his very life (even though he didn’t have one).

“Wow… so many people…” Octane’s eyes sparked in excitement. “With an army like this, taking down that Baron’s going to be a breeze!”

“Hmph,” Elder Hua snorted. “Hate to break it to you, but you’ll only be working with five people to form a team of ten in total.”

“W-What?!”

“Worry not. These five are the best of the best here at this squadron, known as the Big Five and hand-taught by Patriarch Lei himself. As much as we’d like to send all these Hunters in there and swarm that bastard, it just wouldn’t work. Similar to how we can detect Ghosts, they can detect us too. If they see such a large army coming for them, they’ll just turn tail and flee without even trying to kill us. Ten is already the maximum.”

“What I’m curious about is why HQ decided to send in five people from each squadron rather than just ten from this one,” Fanatic said.

“From what I know, Patriarch Lei and your leader are good friends,” Elder Hua replied. “It might be that.”

‘No… even if they’re friends, they wouldn’t risk such an important mission over it,’ Finn thought in his head. ‘It would be far smarter and safer to send ten people from an S-Class Squadron rather than five from here and five from a D-Class one. So then… why?’

“Oh… what a coincidence,” Elder Hua suddenly said, folding her arms with a toothy grin on her face as she looked off into the distance. “Speaking of the Big Five… there they are.”