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Chapter 122: In The Shadows
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He didn't give what the group's plans could mean for him any thought, instead, he focused on searching for Morel.
And so Cheetu could be seen running through the wilderness with a speed surpassing 10 Mach, the friction with the air doesn't seem to have any effect on him as he traveled like a bird flying in the sky unhinged until... "Eh??!"
Cheetu noticed something strange happening not far from him, not far in front of him. What looked like a dark circle appeared not far from him and the moment he noticed it is the moment he started slowing down trying to stop in his tracks.
Because in contrast to Yasuo who has his control domain allowing him to stop instantly no matter what his speed was, Cheetu doesn't have such convenient ability.
So he usually takes a certain amount of time and distance to fully stop depending on what his speed was and with his current speed, it will only make sense for that to take quite a while to stop.
But the portal appeared too close for his speed to slow down completely until he comes to halt, but he can still change his running direction before he goes through the portal or jump above it.
And even with how stupid he is, he still knows whatever beyond that portal can be dangerous and possibly a place not suitable for a speedster like him.
But he also knows however that the enemy doesn't know of his new ability since he never used it before so a smirk appeared on his face as he went through the portal ready for what he could face.
The brave soul that he is, he chose to ignore the possible danger and what he faced Is... "Eh???!!!"
He noticed something change, he noticed his point of view changing, like he is flying in the air as his eyes looked at the white metallic roof above him yet he can't control his head as it freely rolled in the air.
He saw the strange sight of several other Chimera Ants in large tubes.
Those Chimera Ants seem to be floating in some kind of liquid inside the tube, he could also see what looked like several meatballs of what looked like Chimera Ants due to the difference in blood colors in most of the Ants.
He can also see... His own body floating behind him except its headless yet no blood seems to flow out of the body, the force acting on the body making it flow started to also act on the head as it also started floating in the air. Cheetu can also see... Darkness.
Darkness as his soul left his body. His head was on his body no more and can intelligent life such as Chimera ants live without a brain? No, they can't... And he can't as another Chimera Ant lost its life at the hand of Yasuo.
"Yeah... So predictable..." Remarked Yasuo with a smile of amusement on his face as he retracted the Aeronen thread he used to take Cheetu's head off... well, It's more like Cheetu willingly went through it with an astonishing speed decapitating his head cleanly.
Yasuo then controlled the body into one of the empty large test tubes, one of the many bodies he collected today and that's across few minutes after he left the royal palace yet something strange could be noticed if one observed his current location carefully.
One will notice that the lab he's currently in is the same one he had in the Kakin empire, the same lab he built beneath the house of Morena and him.
Usually, to teleport between continents, it takes him a few portals yet from the earlier event, it's apparent he created a portal in the current Island with the other portal being in his lab.
So there can only be two explanations, either he is capable of creating portals with a distance of continents away from each other which he is capable of doing but tend not to do it as its a waste of time.
The longer the Aerothreads he creates are the weaker they become which also means his control over them weakens making their movement speed slower so he tends to take several portals to shorten the travel time.
If he manipulated an Aerothread from one point called the source until the forefront of the thread gains a distance of several miles from the source then by that point, the thread's movement speed will become way too slow and the thread will become way too weak.
Instead, if he changed the source point continuously, the thread's movement speed will never slow down and if he continuously creates a new thread, the latter will never become weaker, that's why he usually takes several portals between continents.
And a thread directly to his lab is just not possible considering how he created the lab, a perfectly specialized lab created to keep even the smallest of things from entering the lab as it's constructed with the densest materials he could find and he worked hard to make them even denser.
The other explanation and the simplest yet strange one is that the lab he's currently in is actually on the Island but that becomes stranger once one notices that its the exact same lab with everything exactly the same, even the same exact house above the lab with Alluka playing inside of it.
And That is the right explanation, their house and lab just somehow disappeared from the Kakin empire and appeared on this particular Island.
Those aren't the only things that appeared on this Island as the silver snake exited her long state of hibernation and set herself another target as per the wisdom of Yasuo.
"That should be enough time huh." After about four minutes since he left, Yasuo uttered the previous words with his eyes completely blank as if blind but there is a glint of light hidden deep within like he can see more than darkness... Much more.
Then he instantly disappeared and not long after, he appeared within the military ground witnessing the amusing scene.
The scene of Netero fighting Meruem, a strange fight as Netero is struggling, Struggling to cause any significant harm to the King. Meruem on the other hand is also struggling, Struggling to reach Netero to cause any damage at all.
The King observed and observed... Thought and thought more yet... He never found it, that pattern that everything is supposed to have. The pattern that'll allow him to break the unmoveable rock before him yet he found none.
The man before him not only has an astounding attacking speed, the experience he gained from his long life allowed him not to make even a single mistake nor did he found any pattern he can make use of.
In the end, Meruem found out that just as that young human said previously, its a battle of time.
The human before him can't cause any damage to him but the same could be said for him so he'll have to wait until Netero becomes exhausted or make a mistake and though he'd prefer the latter one, from how the fight has been so far, that most likely won't happen any time soon.
The king narrowed his eyes no feeling good about the situation one bit. The battle was seen through before it even happened which means he was seen through by the young human.
The human went as far as taking his words like nothing and not even taking him as a threat and now, as he faces the old man, that uncomfortableness started to build up inside him.
How can he be called the King if he can't solve the problems before him? How can he be called so if humans looked down on him?
It was at that moment that something changed within the King's heart or more like a desire to be much stronger, the strength he needed to stop what happened to Komugi from happening in the first place.
He started thinking... What does he need to win? What does the old human before him have that he doesn't have?
"Are you done yet? I believe you came to the same conclusion as me..." A voice sounded, not from Netero, not from the king but from the one who doesn't need an invitation.
The intruder to all, the human who teleported away previously, Yasuo who appeared not far behind Netero.
The confrontation between Meruem and Netero continued with any of them being startled by the voice.
They're in their complete focus state as if nothing can make them make any mistake and Netero answered with his hands still perfectly in motion performing the prayer motion needed for the golden statue behind him to strike the king.
"You know... Since I had my first spare with you, I started training again giving a significant portion of my time to that and... I didn't become stronger, it's something I've learned to live with across the years but the several losses I've faced took a toll even on someone like me..."
"I can't become any stronger, in fact, I'm becoming weaker and weaker and no amount of training was enough to counter this... I'm just too old... Knowing the dark continent will never become anything but survival to me and that the surviving will only become harder the more time passes isn't a good feeling you know..."