After proceeding roughly two hundred meters down the main river passage, several smaller tributary tunnels branched off from both sides.
"Split up."
Considering that sticking together might make their hidden quarry wary, and also hoping to potentially lure the enemy out, Wilder decided after a moment's thought.
Claire and Yves took one passage together, Bacon took another alone, and Wilder entered a third by himself.
The side passage Wilder chose wasn't particularly narrow, nor was it especially wide. As soon as he entered, darkness enveloped him.
He scanned ahead with his Observation Haki but detected nothing out of the ordinary.
What would happen if those monsters appeared in a place like this? he mused. They would blend perfectly with the darkness…
The thought naturally extended to Claire, Yves, and Bacon in their respective tunnels.
He shook his head slightly and continued forward. He recruited partners and subordinates, not infants requiring constant protection and coddling.
As he walked deeper, the air in the passage grew progressively colder. At the same time, thin wisps of black mist began to appear, seemingly materializing out of nowhere… or perhaps coalescing from nothingness.
Wilder frowned. The agitation deep within his soul returned, far stronger this time.
He paused for only a heartbeat before striding forward once more.
Meanwhile, in another passage, Claire and Yves were experiencing something similar.
The further they advanced, the deeper the chilling cold seeped into their bones. They both raised their guard several notches. The wisps of black mist grew thicker, more concentrated. They quickened their pace.
Bacon encountered the same conditions in his tunnel. However, unlike the others, he constantly felt an unnerving sensation, as if eyes were boring into his back. Swallowing nervously, he glanced behind him into the profound darkness, the entrance long swallowed by shadow.
He stared for a long moment, but saw nothing.
Breathing a sigh of relief, Bacon turned to continue forward. But the next instant, faint, hoarse roars echoed eerily from the pitch-black depths behind him.
Bacon froze rigid. Slowly, cautiously, he turned his head just enough to peek sideways. Vague, blurry dark shapes flickered in the gloom.
Barely three seconds passed! This time, Bacon saw it clearly! There was definitely something there! And it was huge!
Without a shred of hesitation, he turned and bolted, running for his life!
"Help!" he shrieked as he sprinted down the tunnel.
As Bacon ran frantically, heavy, rhythmic thudding footsteps echoed behind him – thump, thump, thump. The passage itself began to vibrate faintly. The thing, or things, behind him were giving chase.
"…"
That only made Bacon run even faster!
In Claire and Yves's passage, they too had broken into a run. The heavy thudding behind them grew closer, more numerous.
Claire risked a glance back while running. At least eighteen ten-meter-tall monsters packed the tunnel behind them, a dense, horrifying mass.
"Tch!" Yves saw them too, clicking his tongue in annoyance. He unconsciously picked up his pace.
Claire was naturally faster, but she held back slightly, allowing Yves to pull just ahead of her. Then, she stopped abruptly, spinning around on the spot. Her long, slender leg swept out in a powerful arc.
A flash of light momentarily illuminated the dark passage. A thin, straight slash of purple energy shot forward, slicing through the air and hurtling towards the pursuing monsters.
Chiii! A soft slicing sound! Five or six of the monsters instantly halted, their bodies slowly separating at the waist.
"Go!" Claire shouted to Yves, who had started to slow. Without looking back again, she sprinted forward after him.
Behind them, wisps of black smoke emerged from the severed edges of the bisected monsters. The smoke from the upper and lower halves intertwined, and in less than ten seconds, the creatures had reformed completely, without a single visible wound.
"These things… they're just like the monsters Barrett described earlier," Claire remarked, the memory clicking into place as she witnessed their regeneration.
"Mm," Yves nodded, his cold expression unchanging. However, tiny beads of sweat had begun to form on his forehead.
Claire glanced at him and stated flatly, "You should work out more."
After a long pause, Yves responded coolly while still running, "Let's worry about surviving this first."
"Whatever," Claire retorted dismissively.
They continued their desperate run, Claire occasionally spinning to unleash a Tempest Kick behind them, momentarily slowing some of the pursuing monsters.
"This isn't working," Yves stated, surprisingly verbose for him, though his expression remained impassive. "We don't know how long this passage is. If we keep burning stamina like this, we'll definitely be the ones who die in the end."
Claire knew he was right. The main problem was the bizarre nature of the monsters – seemingly unkillable, capable of instantly regenerating. Just like those people Wilder had killed back in the tavern…
Wait!
Claire and Yves exchanged a sudden look, the same thought striking them simultaneously!
The people Wilder killed…
Yes! They had supposedly been unkillable too, yet Wilder had finished them off. How? What was the key?
Armament Haki? No, Claire remembered Wilder explicitly saying he hadn't needed to use Haki on them.
So…
Cutting! No, not just cutting… shredding them! A more accurate way to put it would be turning them into mincemeat!
Screeeech…! The sound of boots skidding on stone echoed sharply. Claire and Yves braked simultaneously, halting their flight. They spun around to face the horde of monsters bearing down on them!
"This might be up to you," Yves said coolly.
Claire nodded silently, her gaze fixed on the approaching horrors.
Five… she counted down mentally, gauging the optimal distance. Too far, and her attack's power would diminish. Too close… and if she couldn't stop them all, they'd be overrun.
Neither of them wanted these things anywhere near them. The thought of touching them was repulsive. Their cold, black, slimy appearance brought Magellan of Impel Down forcibly to mind – touching things like that rarely ended well. It was one reason they had chosen to flee initially.
Four…
Three…
Two…
One…
Now!
Claire's eyelids lowered slightly. She twisted sharply at the waist, planting her left hand firmly on the ground, her slender fingers whitening from the strain. Using her hand as a balancing point, her right leg swept through the air in a blindingly fast series of kicks!
A crescent-shaped blade of purple energy materialized in the air before her thigh!
Forward! The purple slash shot out!
Swoosh…!
Swoosh…!
Swoosh…!
The first slash was only the beginning! An unending barrage of purple energy blades erupted from the space her leg traversed, flying towards the monsters!
The attack was swift and chaotic! The slashes had no fixed shape or predictable pattern – crescents, straight lines, sharp, piercing points!
"Tempest Kick: Chaotic Rose Storm!" Claire roared, naming her technique.
BOOM! A tremendous roar reverberated through the narrow passage! A hurricane-force wind erupted from the impact zone, sending fragments of stone flying wildly!
Within the swirling tempest, the dense storm of purple slashes carved through the monsters' bodies, slicing them apart one after another, relentlessly!
Dozens of the creatures crashed to the ground! Black smoke billowed thickly, and chunks of black matter littered the passage floor.
However…