Hunter of the Evernight
Chapter 225: The whispering phenomenon

Chapter 225: The whispering phenomenon

Letting out relieved sighs, Ambrose and Natasha glanced in the direction the declaration had come from to find familiar faces approaching.

"You guys look terrible." Ana teased in her usual tone as she approached them with Lionel and Marcus trailing closely behind.

Taking a deep breath, Ambrose inquired. "Can you..."

"Heal her?" Ana finished, cutting him off in the process.

"Yes."

"Tis but a simple matter." As she spoke, she came to crouch before Natasha.

"Hi," Natasha muttered.

Flashing a warm smile, Ana muttered. "You might want to stifle your Antimagic so it doesn’t interfere with the healing."

"Alright."

Natasha quickly did as instructed before Ana reached out and waved a palm over the stump that remained of her severed left arm.

She let out a stifled groan but persevered as the arm slowly reconstructed.

Meanwhile, Marcus and Lionel were already standing close by, regarding the duo with keen eyes.

"How come it worked on the girl?... Isn’t she a WeaponMaster like you?" Marcus inquired.

He did not attempt to muffle his voice with his words reaching everyone present.

Lionel shook his head. "This... world, isn’t exactly an exertion of will. It’s more like a natural phenomenon so it would be difficult to fight back even with anti-magic. The only exertion would be whatever was trying to mess with our memories which won’t cause problems unless we actively try to think back."

Ambrose slowly rose to his feet before asking. "What about the others?"

"As I said, this phenomenon isn’t fake. It’s difficult to extricate oneself from it unless they actively try to think back."

Having healed Natasha, Ana rose to her feet and asked. "So what now?... We can’t continue staying down here."

"Yeah, that’s true. Why were you guys down here anyway?"

"Once you recover your memories, the phenomenon actively tries to kill you with these... Whisperers. One or two is okay but the city is crawling with those creatures, some much bigger than others. We had to stay down here to build up the original force we came in with." Ana explained.

Lionel sighed. "These Whisperers truly are cunning. Who’d have thought in the space of a day, they would have prepared this?"

"I believe it might have to do with the unsealed Relics still left in the Catacomb remains." Marcus couldn’t help but comment.

"Most likely." Lionel intoned while massaging his temples.

"What about Anderson?... He was the one that sent us down here. Shouldn’t we go for him?" Ambrose inquired.

Marcus quickly replied. "That won’t be necessary. He is up there to help us keep an eye on things."

"...I see."

Lionel took a deep breath before he spoke up. "We can’t keep on being so passive. So far we have been trying to figure out the mechanics of this world and we concluded that there has to be a nexus point. A place where all this originates. If we can get there and destroy it, it should be enough to destroy this phenomenon and even the Whisperers if we are lucky."

"And if we aren’t?" Ana jocularly asked.

"Then we take things in stride."

"Do we know where the nexus is?" Natasha asked, her voice hoarse from the pain wracking her nerves.

Lionel regarded her briefly before replying. "No idea but we have reason to believe it might be one of the nobles that destroyed the Catacomb."

"So we have to get to them?"

"Indeed. Unfortunately, these tunnels are so complicated, that it’s difficult to navigate our way through them. If not for the whispers of those dastardly abominations, we wouldn’t have been able to find you."

"What if one person goes to the surface and helps navigate?"

"... What are you driving at?" Lionel asked with a frown.

"Yeah, what?" Ambrose stepped forward as well, regarding Natasha with a mean look.

Flustered by their expressions, Natasha remained silent for a moment, unsure of what to say.

However, she soon recovered her composure, taking a deep breath as she intoned. "I’ll head to the surface and while constantly emitting Antimagic, allow you to navigate your way through the tunnels directly under the central district."

"There’s no need for that." Ambrose immediately replied. "We’d all go together."

"It would be difficult to make any progress. The Whisperers would hound us immediately." Marcus quickly countered, leaving Ambrose slightly peeved.

Lionel nodded. "He is right. Going together would draw too much attention. But... Natasha, are you sure you can do this?"

"That..."

"You’d die!... Are you even thinking about this?" Ambrose berated in annoyance.

"If I tame my thoughts and keep myself calm, I should be able to at least prevent the Whisperers from attacking me immediately. Isn’t that what Anderson is doing?"

"It’s a form of meditation taught in Angelica that allows one to enter a trance-like state. It prevents him from having thoughts that could draw the attention of the Whisperers." Marcus explained

"I can do it," Natasha remarked confidently but quickly averted her gaze when she saw the fierce look Ambrose was giving her.

Lionel pursed his lips as he pondered the options.

Not going could lead to unforeseen circumstances and it was already bad enough as it was... who knows what more would happen?

Despite the dangers, it was a feasible plan.

"Are you sure you can handle this?" Lionel calmly asked, regarding Natasha’s confident stance.

Natasha remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding. "I can."

"Nat..."

"Then go." Lionel cut Ambrose off, throwing him a trained glance before shifting back to Natasha.

"Thank you."

With that, she quickly tried to leave only for Lionel to call out to her.

"You might need this." He said while taking out one of his switchblades to give to her.

"No." She replied while shaking her head. "Possessing weapons would mark me out as an enemy."

Leaving those words, she quickly left the tunnel network they were in, following the markings she’d made previously to return to the cathedral entrance.

Meanwhile, Ambrose gritted his teeth, unsure about how to feel allowing her to leave like that.

Letting out a deep sigh, Lionel intoned. "Get some rest. We move the moment she gets into position."