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Facing the twin pincer strike of two Devil Serpents, Shun's expression did not waver.
At the instant one serpent overreached and its head dipped, exposing the back of its neck, a sharp light flashed in Shun's eyes.
He pressed two fingers together, compressing his Gourmet Cell energy to a needle-fine point at his fingertips, and shot forward at extreme speed straight for the target.
"Food Technique · Piercing Thrust!"
It was a skill Shun had derived from the basic Food Honor forms, refined by his own understanding.
Fast. Precise. Ruthless.
That was its essence.
The condensed energy wasn't meant to cause surface damage; it was shaped to deliver ultimate penetration and shock.
Pfft!
His fingertip touched exactly at the third cervical vertebra behind the serpent's head; a focused shockwave tunneled through skin and scale and struck its internal regeneration core.
"Graaah!"
The Devil Serpent screamed—unlike before—raw with pain and fear.
Its massive body spasmed; though the struck point showed little external injury, the lively omni-cells inside had clearly been disrupted and damaged, and the regeneration that relied on them suddenly went haywire.
Shun knew the Devil Serpent's weakness perfectly well…
What makes a Devil Serpent so troublesome—besides its extremely corrosive venom—is its ability to instantaneously regenerate its flesh using omni-cells.
So when capturing one, you must wield force that can ruin those omni-cells and deliver a highly technical, targeted shock.
The technique Shun had just used met those conditions exactly.
On the other side, Miyoko seized the opening Shun had created for her. She drew a deep breath, gathered her full strength and Food Honor insight into her right fist, and a faint radiance filmed over her knuckles.
She fixed on the other Devil Serpent—its attention drawn by Shun—then let out a sharp shout and drove in.
"Food Honor · Shatter Fist!"
Power had always been Miyoko's forte; after learning Food Honor, she could marshal her body's strength into a single point and unleash crushing damage.
Her punch carried a spiral, penetrating force and smashed into the same spot—behind the neck—of her target serpent.
Thunk!
A heavy impact boomed.
Miyoko's strength couldn't match Shun's, but her timing and focus were impeccable.
The struck serpent shrieked, its movement stuttering; the regeneration core wasn't fully destroyed, but its function was severely disrupted and damaged.
With the regeneration cores found and struck precisely, the rest became simple.
Deprived of their instant healing, the overlords of this cavern quickly lost their threat under Shun and Miyoko's seamless teamwork.
Shun's razor thrusts finished the last serpent's core, and with an unwilling wail it crashed to the ground and moved no more.
A headache of a foe—dispatched with ease by the two of them.
As the battle ended, the cavern fell temporarily quiet.
Miyoko's strength was far below Shun's; after the fierce exchange, she was breathing hard.
"You okay?" Shun stepped up, concerned.
Wiping sweat from her brow, Miyoko shook her head and smiled with confidence. "This level is nothing."
"Good. Then let's keep moving. We lost some time—hopefully we haven't missed the prime window." Shun glanced at the three fallen Devil Serpents and didn't linger.
The two of them continued deeper along the cave.
The passage grew wetter; the salt tang of the air and the sound of surf became clearer and clearer.
After about another hour, they rounded a massive bend—and the view opened wide.
A vast underground space stretched out, its high dome studded with natural crystals that shed a gentle white glow, bathing the cavern in near daylight.
Underfoot lay a beach of fine, white sand, sloping into clear, crystalline water.
The sea gleamed blue-green and iridescent, and countless luminous "sea jellies" drifted lazily within—stars floating under water—answering the light of the crystals above. It was breathtaking.
"What… a beautiful place. This is the Cave Beach?" Miyoko was spellbound.
No surprise—girls loved places like this. Even Shun found himself praising it; nature could be truly miraculous.
Only an environment this pure and beautiful could nurture the dreamlike delicacy that is the Puffer Whale.
The Puffer Whale was right there in the pristine water, and Shun didn't waste words—he prepared to go in and capture one.
"Miyoko, wait on shore and keep watch. I'm going in," Shun said.
Catching a Puffer Whale demanded absolute quiet and focus. One more person in the water meant one more chance of spooking the school.
Right now speed mattered; teaching Miyoko to try could wait until after success.
"Okay. Be careful—the water may not be entirely safe either." Miyoko scanned the cavern warily, on guard against unexpected intruders.
Shun drew a long breath and slipped into the water with a movement so gentle it barely raised a ripple.
"Food Honor · Presence Erasure."
With Food Honor flowing, he smothered his aura completely—to avoid alarming the Puffer Whales.
Only then did he glide toward the dense school ahead.
Coming up on one Puffer Whale, Shun drew from his system pack the tranquilizer gun he'd prepared.
He hadn't planned to use it, but brought it just in case—it was only his second time handling this ingredient.
The gun was designed to minimize agitation—its dart clung with a suction cup and then released a slow trickle of sedative.
Shun picked out a slightly distant, seemingly sluggish Puffer Whale whose poison sac lay mid-belly—relatively uncomplicated.
Being able to identify the sac at a glance was, of course, thanks to his Food Honor.
He raised the tranq gun slowly.
A brief pause.
Aim—squeeze.
Tch.
With the faintest sound, the dart kissed the whale's side and stuck.
The Puffer Whale stiffened slightly at the mild stimulus; its pace slowed, its gaze went a bit glassy—but it didn't toxify.
Success.
Shun lifted his right hand and stored the Puffer Whale into his system pack.
The first Puffer Whale: secured.
But Shun wasn't satisfied. Tools were steady but inefficient—and they meant reliance on externals.
He thought of the essence of Food Honor… absolute control of one's own power, in harmonious resonance with all things.
So he decided to try the more direct—and more skill-testing—method: hand-applied nerve-point anesthesia.
…
(End of Chapter)
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