I Hate Systems

Two hours ago, Princess Raecha controlled Chikon to increase their distance from the crowd of Haggons below. This way, she and Wakuta escaped from the range of the Haggons' attacks.

"Aunt! Regriel!" Princess Raecha was flustered, watching the trio on the ground get swarmed by the Haggons. But, even if she wanted, she was unable to head towards their rescue. The moment she approached close enough, a lot of Haggons that were free would send projectiles flying her way.

And, it wasn't possible to avoid the projectiles that were the size of large trees that easily, since a lot of them flew their way. In the couple of times she tried that, they suffered grievous wounds as a result, despite Chikon enduring most of the damage.

Just the resulting shockwave damaged them to such an extent. Left with no other choice, all she could do was try and help them from afar, shouting, "Wakuta, can you replenish their Darlac reserves?"

"I can't," Wakuta shook her head, still expressionless, "They are too far. And, I don't have a clear line of sight on them. The Haggons would interfere easily and benefit instead."

"Dammit!" Just as she cursed, she noticed Regriel suffering a hit to his body, getting a good part of it crushed by the impact, "Regriel! No!"

But, right as she tried to head towards his rescue, a boulder crashed into Chikon, damaging it a bit while the impact sent the two flying once again. By the time Chikon managed to catch both of them, Princess Raecha noticed Regriel waking up once again, fully healed now.

Moreover, he condensed a sphere around the three, using the advantage to jump away. And during the short window when that happened, General Artica gazed in her direction, nodding as she waved her hand once.

She motioned for them to meet up at the place marked on the map.

"Alright," Princess Raecha nodded, hurriedly turning Chikon around as they flew away. She wasn't afraid of the other three suffering injuries. With Regriel around, all injuries could be healed.

'How can Regriel erupt with the same power as a Transcendent?' She thought, intending to make a large arc in the air with Chikon and evade all the Haggons.

After it made a large arc, they entered calmer territories, ones where the Haggons never bothered to look up, despite the sounds made by Chikon when it flew. At most, they lazily lifted their heads, looking at the underneath of the tree canopy whose stems they used to lean upon.

Failing to see the sky, and once the sounds died down, the Haggons simply returned to sleep. Thanks to that, they were able to fly unhindered.

Soon, they flew for more than an hour when Princess Raecha noticed her Darlac reserves running dry, saying, "Wakuta, let's hunt a Haggon and replenish our reserves. I cannot fly for much longer."

"Alright, I'll send half of my Darlac to you," Wakuta said, sending a beam of Darlac into Princess Raecha as she controlled Chikon to fly, noticing a lone Haggon running on the ground, injured.

Its body was riddled with injuries that didn't seem to be healing, apparent that the Haggon had expended all its Darlac. Moreover, it was in a tremendously weak state, seemingly having been in a battle where it had lost and was now running away, exhausted.

Large blocks of flesh on its body had been chewed out. Upon seeing that, Princess Raecha said, "Quick! That's our target! Even we can kill it without any trouble."

Saying so, Princess Raecha controlled her Chikon to arrive in range of the Haggon, unleashing the pike-shaped energy blade, piercing through the Haggon's injured neck. She dispersed and recondensed it repeatedly, soon riddling the defenceless Haggon's neck to the limit, causing it to snap and fall off.

The Haggon didn't even have enough strength left in it to resist, getting killed immediately. Arriving before it, Princess Raecha landed on the ground as Wakuta used an Armament to slice off chunks of the Haggon's flesh.

Once they had obtained all the meat they could, they placed them all in a bag, climbing upon Chikon once again. Using its sturdy legs, Chikon carried the bag as they flew away from the place, arriving at a discrete location upon spotting a small cave that a Haggon couldn't enter.

They soon processed the meat, beginning to eat it after smoking it a bit. They couldn't do anything beyond that as the smell would attract any Haggons in the vicinity. Since they were feeling hungry, they planned to eat as much as possible while intending to convert the rest into rations.

In the previous chaos, they had lost all their rations once the Chikon was sent flying by the Haggons' attacks.

"Thankfully, Haggon meat is delicious." Princess Raecha sighed in relief, confident that Regriel's group would be safe. "We'll proceed slowly. As we can fly, we'll be able to reach the spot early. Let's first reach the end of Level 1 and wait there for Regriel's group to arrive."

"That's fine with me," Wakuta said, calmly eating through the meat, personally liking the taste as she ate more than usual. Finally, once the both of them ate to their fill, they felt sleepy, attributing it to the tiredness accumulated from the intense battle before.

"Let's rest for some time and move after that." Princess Raecha said as she quickly fell asleep.

"Something…feels strange. I didn't do much to feel this tired…" Wakuta said as her eyes drooped before falling deep into slumber.

Ten minutes later, followed by the sound of footsteps, a man entered the cave, smirking when he looked at the two girls, "The trap worked perfectly."

He was the one that had injured the Haggon before, causing it to run in the direction of Princess Raecha's flight path after infusing its muscles with a slow-acting sleeping reagent. Thanks to that, once Princess Raecha and Wakuta finished eating the piece of meat, they gradually fell asleep.

"They won't be waking up for a day." Grinning, the man took out the rope he had prepared for this situation, beginning to tie up the two expertly, ensuring they wouldn't be able to escape the bindings.

He then dragged them out of the cave, assumed his Haggon form, and returned to meet up with his group.