As night turned into day, Germain noticed that everything was covered in a thin layer of blue-grey mist, giving the scene a hazy, poetic beauty.
Even though this dark continent was full of dangers, its beauty remained undiminished.
"Let's go," Germain said to Shizuku, taking out the radar again. "We need to find Bisky and Wing and meet up with them."
Shizuku nodded, her expression calm, her eyes so wide open that she barely blinked.
Germain looked at the two bright spots flashing on the radar, then started walking northwest with Shizuku.
"Bisky and Wing are probably heading towards us. We should meet them in about fifteen minutes," said Germain.
They walked down the hill, through the dewy grass, towards a vague shape in the distance that was still shrouded in darkness.
Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, Germain saw Bisky and Wing approaching.
Bisky glanced at the radar as she walked. When she saw Germain and Shizuku in person, she finally breathed a sigh of relief and waved at them from a distance.
The four of them met beside a huge rock that was two stories high.
"Are you both okay?" Bisky asked with concern.
Hearing Germain and Shizuku say they were fine, she sighed and put her hands on her hips.
"I was the last one to be captured by the 'Invisible Hand'. Before that, I really thought you were all killed. Fortunately, after waking up, I found that we were just forcibly teleported."
"But I'm not completely sure of this then. I would't feel relieved until I find Wing and you guys through the radar."
Wing tucked his shirt back into his pants, looking embarrassed. "I'm sorry for causing you so much worry, Teacher. As your disciple, I feel ashamed."
"You need to stay strong." Bisky slapped Wing's back hard, making a snapping sound, as if trying to break him apart.
"Try to remove the word 'Assistant' from 'Shingen-ryu's Assistant master' as soon as possible. The future of our Shingen-ryu depends on you."
"Yes." Wing stood up straight, his eyes firm. "I will definitely live up to your expectations."
Bisky nodded with satisfaction and noticed that the flow of "Aura" in Germain seemed more stable and smooth. She couldn't help but be a little surprised. "You..."
"It's improved a little," Germain said, focusing his Nen. The "Nen" spread out, forming an "En" that swept outward.
As "Nen users," they didn't like staying in other people's "En." The feeling of being monitored was offensive, so Germain's "En" quickly shrank back.
"This..." Wing adjusted his glasses in surprise. "The radius is 25 meters. A few hours ago, the radius of your 'En' was only 15 meters..."
"It seems that the 'invisible hand' indirectly improved your 'Nen capacity'," Bisky thought for a moment. "But even so, your growth rate is quite amazing."
It was normal for her and Wing to be surprised. Germain looked only about 26 or 27 years old. When they were the same age, although their strength was increasing, it wasn't so fast.
"Ah," Bisky suddenly remembered something. "Germain, when you were captured, your expression seemed off. Did it trigger the 'torture'?"
"Yes," Germain answered truthfully. "'Masochism.' But its duration has ended, and it can no longer affect me."
"Masochist?" Bisky looked Germain up and down, covered her mouth and smiled, then curled her lips unhappily.
"I've been paying close attention to your 'stress' all along the way, planning to summon 'Magical Beautician Miss Cookie' for you as soon as it exceeds 30 points. But who could have thought that an 'invisible hand' would suddenly appear and raise your 'pressure' to the highest level in less than ten seconds?"
"That should be the hand of the 'Guardian of the Wall'," Germain confirmed. "I'm going to call it the 'Wallfacer,' and I actually saw its figure."
Bisky looked at Germain in astonishment. "Did you see it?"
Wing was equally astonished. Neither the master nor the disciple saw anything; they only felt a massive hand gripping them with an inescapable force.
"It seems to be related to 'pressure'," Germain pointed to his eyes, "The higher the 'pressure', the more likely you are to see it."
"When the 'wall-facer' came for me, my 'pressure' increased, and under its influence, I could see its form."
"Though its outline was blurry, I could tell it was a giant, taller than the wall but shorter than the World Tree. What I don't understand is why it made us teleport here?"
As they made their way to meet Bisky and Wing, Germain and Shizuku had observed the area but found nothing particularly special.
"I think I have a clue," Bisky pondered for a moment, then said, "First, it wanted to keep us away from the wall. Second, it wanted us to find something here."
"'It wanted us to find something'?" Germain repeated Bisky's words.
"Actually, I've seen that thing," Bisky pointed to the vague outline of mountains on the horizon, "I was teleported near there and saw ancient ruins."
Ancient ruins?
This was an unexpected yet plausible answer.
Humans had migrated from the Dark Continent, which housed many intelligent life forms. It wasn't surprising that remnants of their civilizations were left behind.
After hearing this, Germain slowly began to form an idea.
Bisky continued, "I didn't approach it at that time, instead, I chose to look for you. Maybe we can go over and take a look later."
"But before that, there's something important we need to address."
Bisky suddenly walked over to Shizuku, who had remained silent, and stretched her cheeks to both sides.
"W-What's wrong?" Shizuku looked up at Bisky, but her voice was muffled due to her stretched cheeks and lips.
"We are a team of four," Bisky reminded. "When we were exchanging information just now, you seemed out of it. What if you missed some important details?"
Shizuku's face was still being stretched by Bisky, so she could only respond in a muffled voice, "Yes, I'm sorry."
Bisky then released her hands. "Maybe it's the journey and the pressure from the 'wall-facer' that's built up a lot of stress for us. Our reactions have slowed down."
"Everyone, sit down. It's time for my 'Magical Beautician Miss Cookie' to make an appearance."
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