ghostgirl

B3

Reniku shivered, partly because of the sudden blast of wind into her face and the sheer temperature of the freezing water covering her in small droplets, but mostly because of the unexpected burst of bloodlustful energy.

"Aster and Reniku, be careful! Hide your aura by using Zetsu," Dr Yanago said, gripping tightly onto the siderails like the rest were doing.

Aster squinted her eyes. "Wasn't the Chamber of Fear supposed to be much farther to the South, according to the map?"

"It was," Rouya said, observing the source of the energy, "but somehow...it's not."

The water was choppy, and the boat was becoming more turbulent by the minute. Most people passing by would have probably thought of it as a normal storm, immune to the effects of the insidious aura enveloping the area.

Aster and Reniku recalled the times in the hospital they were practising and tried to repeat the steps correctly. Imagining the shape of their aura disappearing, Reniku's aura faded. She looked over to Aster, who needed some guidance.

"Jen, calm down," Dr Yanago said, glancing at her. She was still quite shocked like she'd seen the worst horror movie of all time, but listened to him and closed her eyes, and timed her breathing correctly. "Now, close off your senses, and focus on the shape of your aura. Make it become so small within you that it disappears."

She did, and Dr Yanago sensed it, feeling relieved as he encouraged her, "Now, open your eyes, while keeping that shape. Remember what you learnt."

"Phew," She said, smiling to Reniku, who smiled back. She wondered if Aster was going to learn Nen faster than her. It's not like it all felt familiar to Aster already to use Nen, but she was picking the pace up pretty quickly.

"Shall we head towards it?" Azukae questioned, turning around to face Dr Yanago, and noticing the captain heading towards them as if the boat was not as unstable as a frightened horse.

"I must inform you that we've come to a dilemma," the Captain spoke politely with a hint of urgency, clearing his throat, "we must either evade this storm or head straight into it, in which I'm not even sure the boat can survive. I've tried to see if this storm was safe, but it appears that there's a large amount of distortion done to my navigators and equipment thanks to it. We may not survive if we head straight in as well."

Dr Yanago thought for a while. If there's distortion, that means that something was emitting radiation. The mysterious Chamber of Fear, which was known only to some hunters the unusual creature that lurked inside...

"Go straight in. If you are injured or the boat gets damaged, I'll compensate for everything on top of the payment you received earlier. I swear upon it as a Hunter that I'll protect you."

Azukae gave Dr Yanago a reassuring nod as he looked over to her for confirmation. The captain gave him a bow and went back to his cabin to steer the ship. Reniku and Aster watched with heightened alertness as the ship faced right at the danger zone, and started to propel itself into the area.

Their seniors watched anticipatingly as the sky overhead turned dark, and the waves silently evolved to something more deadly by the second. Aster and Reniku focused on keeping their nodes closed, though Reniku could feel the sensation of oncoming danger. It felt like the threat was coming from all directions, like wrapping her all around, but when she turned to face it, nothing appeared. This was the work of the aura.

"Azukae and Rouya, please take care of Reniku and Jen, I'll put reponsibility on you," Dr Yanago said, "but in the end, I'm the one who'll pay the price for your safety. If anyone is injured, I must be alerted immediately."