"Eww, did you really have to word it like that?" Rhizen's body shivered as he pictured the scene of tens of thousands of leeches squirming on his body. He then slapped his forehead in a flurry, "Damn you! Now, I can't take that image out of my head."
"Haha, you should thank me for preventing it from becoming a reality." Compass Carburettor laughed in response, then putting on a solemn tone, "Both Neena and Krager have now vanished."
"Shall we inform the authorities?" Rhizen took out his mobile, sighing as he noticed that there was no signal reception.
"I think so too," Compass Carburettor nodded, thinking of a way to make Rhizen reach the top of the mountain when he heard a flurry of footsteps.
Turning around, he noticed the figure of Neena running towards them, tears in her eyes.
"What happened?" Even though he was aware of her scheme, he couldn't show that in his expression, hence donning on a concerned look as he asked her.
"A c-cobra." Neena trembled in fright, saying, "When I saw it, I froze up in fright. I had climbed a tree and was waiting for it to go away until now."
"You should have shouted. We would have come to your rescue." Rhizen said immediately, asking, "You're not injured, are you?"
"I'm fine," Neena patted her chest, calming her thumping heart as she said, "I didn't wish to alert the cobra and irritate it. There was a chance it would strike me in such a case, so I was remaining silent all along."
"It's good that you are fine." Compass Carburettor patted her shoulder, asking, "Do you still want to trek the mountain or return?"
"No, it's fine. I'll continue trekking." Neena said, "Stuff like these would happen from time to time. That's also a part of the trekking experience."
"Then, let's get moving." Rhizen said, then wondering as he asked Compass Carburettor, "Do you have any idea where Krager went off to?"
"The last I saw him, he went in the direction of the main path and seemed to be heading up. Maybe he thought it would be easier for him to find her location from high up." Compass Carburettor pointed at Neena.
He was just mediating between the group, knowing very well the objective of the two System Hosts. Now that he understood Neena's threat, he wished to see just how strong Krager was and find out about his Skills.
Only after he understood his enemies clearly would he be able to devise plans against them, 'But first, I should injure them somehow when Rhizen isn't looking. I should also make it a coincidence.'
It was because killing a System Host was impossible in a general sense. Anything that would cause instant death wouldn't be effective against them.
Otherwise, he could casually summon his Anthozoa and shoot Neena in the head. But, if he actually tried that, she might coincidentally trip at that time to evade the bullet. A bird could slam into his gun to throw his aim off.
Or even a bolt of lightning could strike him out of nowhere. Something coincidental would happen that would prevent the System Host from facing an instant death. After all, that's the inherent trait every System possessed.
So, the only way he would be able to kill Neena is in the case where her Mental Energy reached zero and the Directional Misalignment System had no other way to procure Mental Energy in that window of time.
He had attempted to verify it just now using the cobra. Using his Anthozoa would reveal his identity as a System Slayer. After all, the bullets in it were full of the Laws of the Earth. To anyone else, they were just regular bullets.
But when the bullets hit a System Host, they would struggle for a moment as the Laws of the Earth would interfere with the System's abilities. It was a clear giveaway.
So, he would only be able to use the gun when he was assured of the kill.
When trying to attack Neena, the cobra had actually coiled itself around a shrub and intended to target her neck. But, right as it reached the necessary height, the stem of the shrub broke coincidentally.
Due to that, it had no other choice but to target her hip before falling on the ground.
It confirmed his thesis that as long as a System had some Mental Energy remaining in it, killing its Host was impossible. But, injuring them was possible.
And, as long as the injuries aren't severe enough to permanently obtain a part of its power, it was possible to injure a System Host.
In the case with Regriel when he first severed his hands, had he tried to target Regriel's hip to sever him in half, it would have resulted in a failure. Because, with that large a body part, once refined, he would at least be able to obtain one of Regriel's Skills—for example, Minor Healing.
That meant stealing the Skill permanently from the Slave Harem System. So, its trait would kick in, preventing such a possibility. Something would happen coincidentally that would disrupt the attack, allowing Regriel to obtain the treasure hidden there without trouble.
As for Neena, it didn't seem like she had any other Skills apart from her Core Skill. So, as long as he only targeted her fingers or the like, it would be possible to injure her and obtain a System Fragment as a result.
'Though, since she has a lot of Mental Energy now, there is a possibility of her System buying a couple of Skills to help her. I shouldn't ignore that possibility.' Finished with his thoughts, Compass Carburettor laughed, saying after looking at Neena's expression, "It should be the case."
"I hope so," Neena snorted. Even though she herself was putting on an act, she understood based on their actions that Compass Carburettor and Rhizen had genuinely searched for her.
But as for Krager, after putting on a kind act, he had simply gone away. It showed his character.
As a specialist of acting himself, Compass Carburettor was able to see through Neena's acting. And upon seeing that Neena was genuinely disgusted by Krager's behaviour, a train of thought hit him, 'Could it be?'
'If it's like this, then things would become interesting.' He laughed mentally, socialising with the other two while they continued to trek up the mountain.
Author's Notes: January Month's Mass Release Quota
Target: Top 75 GT Ranking
Reward 1: 10 regular chapters
Reward 2: 18 Privilege chapters
Magic Castle: 2
Spacecraft: 5
Golden Gachapon: 10
[Tier 3 Privilege has 15 chaps with a 50% Discount]
