Chapter 45 Flipping the Table

Moul's post-mortem Nen flew toward the room.

What consequences this would trigger hereafter, Morrow neither knew nor cared to investigate.

He had rushed over here and casually helped Cheadle solve a difficult problem precisely to leverage Cheadle's strength, ensuring that the airship could land safely afterward.

Both sides shared the same goal.

The prerequisite was that Cheadle could free up her hands.

Morrow looked toward the open door of the room.

From his angle, he could not see the situation inside.

However, he could sense the fluctuating auras colliding within.

"Should I follow them over..."

A thought stirred in Morrow's heart.

The Nen user he had killed just moments ago had caused his level to skyrocket.

If he could pick up another one, Morrow felt it wouldn't even matter whether he went to the Republic of Gorteau afterward.

Just as Morrow was contemplating, a fierce undercurrent was surging inside the room.

Risking his life, Moul had trapped Cheadle within his Nen space, while his companion, Aida, had breached the room by smashing through the ceiling.

Yet, beside the Third Princess, there was still an Enhancement-type bodyguard...

It would be difficult for Aida to finish off an Enhancement-type user within a minute, but give her just one more minute, and it would be a straightforward task.

And that was precisely the reality.

Just as Cheadle rushed back into the room, Talia, who was responsible for protecting Sarasa, had already sustained heavy injuries and was in dire peril.

And this exact moment was precisely two minutes prior.

"Moul..."

Out of the corner of her eye, Aida glanced at Cheadle charging into the room, realizing that Moul had already sacrificed his life.

If she could be bought even five more seconds...

Yet, there were no ifs.

However, the mission had to be completed!

From the very beginning, she and Moul had kept a trump card to ensure the mission's success.

It was just that for her and Moul, the best outcome would have been surviving after completing the mission, allowing them to continue serving the prince.

But given the current situation...

There was no sorrow or regret in Aida's heart, only an unyielding and resolute determination.

In a split second, she discarded the luxury of hoping for survival, pouring all her obsession instead into "completing the mission."

Then, ignoring the oncoming charge from Cheadle, she lunged directly toward Sarasa, who was being shielded behind Talia.

Meanwhile, although Talia was heavily wounded and on the verge of collapsing, she possessed a resolve and willpower comparable to Moul and Aida.

Driven by a desperate obsession to protect Sarasa at all costs, Talia met Aida without hesitation, hoping to use the very last embers of her life to buy crucial time for Cheadle to provide backup.

"Hold on for three more seconds—no, two will do..."

Talia felt no fear of death whatsoever; her only thought was to endure until Cheadle arrived to take over the guard duty.

Must hold on, absolutely must hold on—only by doing so could she protect Sarasa's life!

Channeling her heavily battered body, Talia erupted with an even more powerful surge of Nen, catching a glimpse of the situation turning around.

Yet the scene that followed filled her with utter astonishment and profound despair.

It was the blindingly intense glare produced by an explosion.

On the enemy's body...

There were high explosives!

Indeed, with a calm mind, Aida had detonated the explosives strapped to her body at the very end.

This was the ultimate trump card that she and Moul had smuggled onto the airship by assuming the identities of crew members.

Since survival was no longer an option, she would flip the table without fear.

The blinding flash vanished in an instant, followed immediately by a shockwave carrying searing flames that swallowed Aida, Talia, and Sarasa whole in the blink of an eye.

Cheadle, who was charging straight ahead, experienced a drastic shift in expression. Barely managing to raise his left arm to shield his face, he was blasted backward by the sweeping shockwave of the explosion.

Simultaneously.

Morrow, situated in the lounge, heard the deafening roar of the explosion, followed by the shockwave's aftermath surging out of the room like a dragon, hurtling straight down the corridor toward the lounge.

This relatively short distance gave Morrow ample reaction time.

Almost the exact moment the explosion occurred, Morrow's gaze shifted. He vaulted behind the sofa, crouching half-lowered to protect his entire body with Nen while lifting the sofa as a shield in front of him.

Boom—!

The explosive shockwave turned the entire lounge upside down.

When the commotion finally subsided, flammable items in the vicinity, such as the carpets, had caught fire.

Morrow stood up from behind the sofa, looking at the utter devastation around him with trembling pupils, a flicker of lingering fear rising in his heart.

Moreover, the sense of imbalance transmitted from his feet signaled the severity of the situation.

The airship might crash because of this explosion...

Morrow first felt a deep sense of dread, then looked toward the corridor ahead.

He saw Cheadle lying on the ground, his body charred in multiple places, his condition unknown.

Inside the room.

Following the violent explosion, the entire room was left in ruins, filled everywhere with flames and thick smoke.

In a corner.

Talia's flesh was mangled beyond recognition, and she had lost all signs of life.

Yet beneath her, the faint moan of Sarasa could be faintly heard.

At the final, desperate moment when the explosion swept through, Talia had fiercely defended her post to the death, successfully protecting Sarasa's life just as she wished.

However, before collapsing, Talia had only noticed Cheadle's return, failing to see the mass of post-mortem Nen flying through the air.

Within the enemy camp, there were also individuals with overwhelmingly powerful obsessions and willpower.

The post-mortem Nen originating from Moul, resembling a will-o'-the-wisp, passed through the flames and thick smoke, flying purposefully toward the underside of Talia's corpse.

The next second.

Sarasa's faint voice abruptly cut off.

In the hallway outside the room.

Cheadle shook his head as he stood up, ignoring his own injuries, and charged into the room against the billowing smoke.

He quickly located Talia in the corner of the room, along with Sarasa pinned beneath her.

Both of them were dead...

Cheadle wore a grim expression.

"My apologies."

Murmuring to the corpses, Cheadle glanced at the tilting floor, clenched his fists, and quickly turned to leave the room, which was about to be completely engulfed in thick smoke.

Returning to the corridor, Cheadle immediately spotted Morrow standing in the lounge.

He ran over and asked, "What's your name?"

"Morrow."

Watching Cheadle rush out of the room, Morrow roughly guessed the reason.

He had no idea what kind of background the person Cheadle was protecting had, to actually draw such powerful Nen users who ultimately chose to flip the table entirely.

They simply hadn't left any room for survival.

Cheadle approached Morrow, glanced briefly at the headless corpse blasted further away, and then looked back at Morrow.

"Morrow, is it? You should recognize me, right?"

"..."

Morrow inwardly marvelled at Cheadle's sharpness, nodded, and offered a flattering remark, "One of the Zodiacs of the Hunter Association—it would be pretty hard not to recognize you, wouldn't it?"

"Then I don't need to introduce myself. Come with me to find the captain now."

Paying no mind to Morrow's flattery, Cheadle's foremost thought upon seeing the consequences of the explosion was to find the captain and have the airship make an emergency landing as soon as possible.

Morrow stood his ground, sighing, "This is why I specifically came looking for you."

"What do you mean?"

Cheadle was baffled.

Morrow briefly explained the situation inside the cockpit.

Upon hearing it, Cheadle's expression grew even grimmer.

Screech—!

A harsh sound echoed from ahead, and the airship tilted and swayed back and forth.

Morrow steadied his stance and said, "This explosion... might just force that Manipulation-type user to land the airship."

Just as his words fell, the ground tilted steeply once more, and it was distinctly perceptible that the airship had tilted to a severely dangerous angle.

It seemed on the verge of crashing...

Morrow and Cheadle exchanged glances, both seeing the deep solemnity in each other's eyes.