ALL NOVEL Chapter 123: "The Underwater Fairy"
"E-ly-si-a——!!!"
A furious face appeared on the communicator screen, green markings confirming her identity. It was Dr. Mobius from the Fire Moth base.
"Hmm~ Such an urgent call? Did you miss me?" The pink-haired girl responded with a playful grin. "My, my, such a grumpy face. Who dared to upset our dear Dr. Mobius?"
"Cut the crap. You know exactly what you did!" Mobius's voice was tight with barely suppressed anger.
"The Fire Moth branch in Oceania has been going crazy with alarms! Even headquarters picked up a high Honkai energy reading moving at insane speeds around the Oceania waters. It's you, isn't it?!"
Knowing Elysia's itinerary and true identity, Mobius had immediately suspected her upon receiving the Oceania alert.
[Elysia], now feeling a bit guilty, averted her gaze. "Ahaha… what are you talking about?"
"It was you!" The fire in Mobius's eyes seemed to intensify.
The swimsuit-clad girl decided to stick to her act. "Elysia doesn't know~"
This was exactly why he had hesitated to use the Herrscher of Origin's familiar in the first place.
While it was an excellent mode of transportation—much faster than a regular plane, especially when flights weren't available—its true nature was that of a Honkai Beast.
As the Herrscher of Origin's companion beast, it was incredibly powerful, at least Emperor-class. In its home turf, the Imaginary Space, its strength could even rival a Judgment-class beast. A Honkai Beast of this level would cause a disaster just by appearing.
To the various Fire Moth branches, Jiang Qiao riding the familiar looked like an unidentified Emperor-class Honkai Beast roaming at high speed. The terror this induced wasn't much different from a Herrscher appearing.
He hadn't been detected before because he mostly traveled through areas with major Honkai eruptions. The chaos in those zones provided cover, though he was still quite conspicuous.
But doing this in a non-eruption zone…
"What are you even trying to do?" Mobius was annoyed. She'd been in the middle of an experiment when the alarm went off. And this troublesome woman had caused such a commotion in such a short time.
The girl sighed. "Fine, fine… it was my fault. But it couldn't be helped."
He was also quite helpless. Who told the Will of Honkai to be so difficult, playing these games? He couldn't exactly take a leisurely cruise anymore. Without access to Void powers, the fastest way to travel was with the Herrscher of Origin's familiar.
"I suffered a great loss too, you know." [Elysia] muttered under her breath, remembering her missed cruise.
While Herrschers could fly, the Herrscher of Origin, due to their unique nature, couldn't. Not that it was impossible, but it shouldn't be done. Flying on her own would disrupt the illusion of normalcy she maintained. Then, Fire Moth wouldn't be detecting a high-speed Honkai Beast, but a high-speed Herrscher.
"Forget about that…" [Elysia] sat on a reef and brushed aside the trivial matters. Her expression turned serious. "Mobius, the Will of Honkai might have made a new move."
The anger on Mobius's face subsided, replaced by a grave expression.
Despite her dislike for this woman, she knew [Elysia] was serious when it came to important matters, even if she liked to cause trouble with minor things. Using the familiar as transport, knowing the consequences, meant Elysia deemed the risk necessary.
"Next time you do something like this, please inform us in advance."
MEI joined the communication channel. It was an encrypted channel set up by Vill-V, incredibly difficult to tap into. Her voice was laced with fatigue and exasperation.
"It's a good thing Vill-V acted quickly, or we would have had some serious trouble."
"Don't worry, I didn't leave any traces." The swimsuit-clad girl flashed a confident smile.
She had anticipated this. Even with the reckless decision to use the familiar, she had avoided flying and stayed underwater. The ocean provided cover; even satellite surveillance couldn't detect the "Underwater Fairy" racing beneath the waves.
Even the good-natured MEI couldn't help but retort, "If that weren't the case, we wouldn't be having this conversation."
If [Elysia]—riding an Emperor-class Honkai Beast had been caught on satellite, the outcome wouldn't have been much better than a Herrscher reveal. Everyone close to Jiang Qiao would have been interrogated.
"Ehehe… By the way, MEI, have you investigated the abnormal weather in New Zealand?"
The pink-haired girl tapped her head lightly with a fist, sticking out her tongue playfully before resuming her smile. She wasn't good at this sort of thing, and the discovery had been too sudden. She knew nothing about the situation in New Zealand. But having confirmed the Will of Honkai's involvement, she naturally sought MEI's expertise.
"I haven't looked into it. You know I'm busy."
MEI's voice held a hint of resentment. Research wasn't a leisurely profession, especially for a genius like her. She was constantly busy, and now, thanks to [Elysia]'s needs, she had to handle even more.
And it would only get worse.
The only upside was that, as a Herrscher, she didn't have to worry about overworking herself, and her energy levels were higher. But that wasn't a good thing at all, dammit!
"I'll look into it later, but if you're in a hurry, check the 7th Research Department at the Oceania Fire Moth branch. You might find something useful there."
"—By the way, because of the commotion you caused, headquarters has dispatched the 9th squad to New Zealand to investigate."