Dimensional Descent

Leonel's expression flickered. He recognized the little puppy almost instantly, it was the very same little beast that had been following behind Simona. Clearly, the little one had gotten separated from its owner during the forced teleportation.

'Why is it quivering, though? A beast that could follow her around shouldn't be so cowardly.'

Leonel frowned, making the decision to turn away. Even if this beast was cowardly, there was no way that it was weak. And, at this level, beasts should definitely have intelligence no weaker than an average human, some even surpassing this level. He couldn't just randomly pick up a puppy for no reason.

Shockingly, though, Leonel didn't get a chance to walk away before Aina appeared before the little one, bending over to pick it up.

The little puppy dodged backward, its speed confirming Leonel's thoughts. Just the fact this little beast could survive so well within this thick Anarchic Force spoke for itself. There was no way that it was weak.

'Don't tell me that…' Leonel felt a headache coming along.

His father often said things about women that would end up with him sleeping on the couch if his mother was around. Among those things was his disdain with their fascination with cute things. Now that Leonel thought about it, everything his dad said about female nature was probably another trick he used to lure another into his bed.

Leonel usually rolled his eyes when his dad said such things. But, if Aina was really doing this for the sake of cuteness, it seemed he would have to give his old man a point in his favor. This definitely wasn't the time to be soft hearted.

Leonel still remembered that the first time he met Little Blackstar he tried to kill him. Luckily, the little one was practically invulnerable to attack. Though, Leonel recalled feeling exasperated at the time. Now, this situation felt eerily similar.

"It's okay, little guy. Just come with me." Aina smiled a beautiful smile, her golden irises twinkling.

The little purple puppy hesitated. But, under Aina's coaxing, and likely a bit of her mental coercion, the little one was forced into her arms.

Leonel's Internal Sight continuously swept through the surroundings as far as it could go. His range was even less here than it was in the forest previously. If not for his breakthrough in the Heavenly Body Realm, he might have trouble stretching it past just his skin.

Aina rose from the ground with the puppy in her arms. Right then, she suddenly tossed it through the air at Leonel.

"Put it in a snowglobe."

Though Leonel was caught off guard, his reaction speed was very fast. Before the little puppy could react, it was trapped in a frozen time loop, unable to do much of anything except enter a deep sleep.

Leonel raised an eyebrow.

"What?" Aina asked. "Did you think I stopped because it was adorable? With this, she'll owe you a favor."

Leonel speechlessly watched as Aina turned and broke out into a sprint once again. As he followed, he couldn't help but wonder if he was having a bad influence on her, or if she was always this savage. Something was telling him that it was the latter.

A third party observer would definitely look at Leonel like he was an idiot. It wasn't the countless people she had decapitated with her ax that made her savage, but rather tricking a puppy into a benign cage that was? It was either he was blind or a love struck fool.

Leonel's lip couldn't help but curl upward. It was hard to tell if he even realized it was happening.

Right then, the pair came to a grinding halt.

A fork lay ahead, making it difficult to tell which direction to go. It wasn't the first time they had come across a fork. However, before, the direction of the wind had made it easy to decide which way to go. This time, though, both paths seemed identical wind wise and they didn't have enough information about where they were in the hive to make a decision based on the direction either.

Leonel stopped by Aina's side, his brow furrowed. He took deep, steady breaths, ignoring the foul smell in the air.

"Is it possible based on smell?" Leonel asked.

Aina had said that she was very sensitive to these things so maybe she had a general idea of where the nutritious nutrients she had sent before were. Even if it wouldn't be a 100% guarantee, they would just have to pick the direction opposite of it and hope that the pathway didn't curl or turn oddly.

Unfortunately, Aina shook her head.

"The strong winds override the natural movement of the scent a lot, there's no difference between following the wind and following the smell…"

Leonel nodded. He had expected as much. So, it was a 50/50 chance, huh? Leonel very much doubted that both paths would lead to an exit. Or, even if they did both do so, he was certain that one would be safer than the other.

"Let's do it based on this, then… These nests probably need a large supply of water. Since we're guessing anyway, let's do it based on which direction has the weakest Water Force concentration."

Aina's brows suddenly shot up. "That's not a bad idea. But, instead of doing it with Water Force, let me do it with Life Force."

Leonel nodded. This was indeed the better idea. He had almost forgotten that one of Aina's main affinities was Life Force. It was already high before she removed her curse, he could only imagine what level it had risen to now.

"This way."

Leonel didn't refute Aina. Logically, the location with the highest Life Force would be the direction of the core of the nest. Not only would it have the strongest warriors guarding it, but it would also had the Rapax eggs.

Every time the pair came across a fork, they would take the same approach. However, the uneasiness in Leonel's heart grew every time they did. Their frequency only seemed to increase.