Traveling Together

"Lord Wien, the forest up ahead has a radius of about seven kilometers. What do you think?" After approximately two months, Wien and Nel had reached a hill near the forest and were looking down at it.

For the past two months, Wien had led Nel steadily westward. They had come across quite a few strongholds along the way, but none had been the right size to satisfy him. The settlements were either too small or contained too many high-level Hollow beasts, making them too troublesome to deal with.

It was not that Wien feared them. Rather, Nel had only just advanced to a High-Level Hollow, and he was afraid he would be too occupied to look after her if they charged into a forest full of them. That was why he had given up on some areas with plentiful prey.

The forest before them was not particularly large, but it was just enough for Wien and Nel to survive in. Not long ago, an unconscious Menos Grande that had advanced to Gillian had emerged from it. Presumably, an earth-shaking battle had taken place in the forest as well.

Its interior ought to be depleted right now, giving Wien and Nel the perfect opportunity to move in.

Of course, the Menos Grande that had emerged from the forest had also become food for Wien and Nel. Its enormous corpse had allowed Nel to advance smoothly into the ranks of High-Level Hollows.

"This will do." Wien sensed the Spiritual Pressure within the forest and found no powerful presences worth his attention. He therefore made up his mind to settle here.

Wien had been heading west for a long time, and it was time to find a forest where he could complete his advancement.

"Come on, let's take over this forest." Wien gently patted Nel's back, signaling her to follow him.

Wien was not riding Nel at the moment. Whenever they were about to fight, he always walked alongside her. On the one hand, he told Nel what she needed to do in battle. On the other, Wien also needed to impart knowledge to her, whether about combat, tactics and strategy, or even survival.

After two months of getting accustomed to each other, Nel, who had not been born in Hueco Mundo long ago, had gradually become familiar with fighting.

However, her dislike of killing had not changed much. Whenever they hunted, she would follow Wien's instructions and go into battle, but apart from instant kills and necessary killings, Nel always wore the enemy down to a certain point and then left the fatal blow to Wien.

Wien could do nothing about Nel's approach.

Nel's absorption ability allowed her to draw far more Reishi from the sands of Hueco Mundo than normal Hollows could. Although the amount she extracted from the environment was small, she never stopped for a moment.

Perhaps that was also why, when Wien encountered Nel after meeting Pantera Grimmjow, she had been even weaker than Grimmjow. Perhaps Nel had relied on this distinctive ability to steadily accumulate Spiritual Pressure later on and become a Vasto Lorde-class Menos Grande.

Of course, hunting and eating were necessary too. The Reishi she obtained from the atmosphere alone was far from enough for Nel to grow.

At the forest's edge, Wien and Nel could not help smiling as they looked at the trees before them, which stood several dozen meters tall. This really was a good place to hide.

In dense woods like these, Wien could also make full use of his advantage with traps. But with only the two of them, Wien and Nel would still need to spend quite a bit of time making them.

On second thought, however, Wien felt there was no longer any need to make too many traps. Against anything below a Gillian, Wien was practically invincible. Even if several dozen High-Level Hollows surrounded him, if he couldn't beat them, couldn't he still run?

Besides, Wien could sense the Spiritual Pressure released by several dozen High-Level Hollows from a long way off. How could he possibly let them surround him like that?

"Lord Wien, are we going straight in like this?" Nel asked Wien as they walked into the forest.

"Yeah, we can just walk in," Wien said calmly. "If we run into any other Hollows, just kill them."

"Yes," Nel replied. Then she followed Wien deeper into the forest without another word.

"Hissraaah!!"

They had not gone far before a humanoid High-Level Hollow appeared in front of Wien. The Hollow was roaring a challenge at them, but Wien merely glanced at him and looked away. The moment the Hollow appeared, Nel had already begun raising her Spiritual Pressure and charging straight at him.

"Super Acceleration!"

This was one of the Spiritual Power techniques Nel had gained upon advancing to a High-Level Hollow. Her body turned into a streak of green light, and she reached the Hollow in the blink of an eye. She used her hard antelope horns to send him flying, and the muffled crack of breaking bones shattered the stillness in an instant.

With a single blow, Nel had claimed victory.

Nel walked up to the Humanoid Hollow, whose pelvis had been smashed, and tore his mask apart with her teeth without the slightest hesitation. Then she went over to Wien and presented him with the mask.

"Nice hit," Wien said as he took the mask. "After sensing the enemy's Spiritual Pressure, you determined what kind of damage your attack could do, then launched a surprise attack. You used your initial speed to mislead your opponent, then used Super Acceleration to break through after he had adapted to your speed, catching him off guard with a fatal blow. Nel, that was a beautiful attack." As he spoke, Wien reached out and patted Nel's head.

"..." Nel had never been willing to respond in words to Wien's praise or gestures, but judging by how much her fluffy tail was wagging behind her, she probably did not object to either.

Without lingering, Nel turned and walked back to the Humanoid Hollow, because this was something she invariably did after every battle: use her absorption ability to completely absorb the Reishi released by the enemy.

Meanwhile, Wien broke apart the mask he had just received and tossed the pieces into his mouth one by one like snacks. At the same time, he continued turning things over in his mind.

According to what Inora said before, the Spiritual Power in my body should be nearly saturated after accumulating for so long. Even if I do my utmost to compress it, I can absorb at most another fifth or so of my total Spiritual Power. Once I've absorbed that, I'll advance as expected. What will happen to Nel after I advance?

Indeed, once Wien advanced to Gillian, even if he retained his consciousness, he would still have to answer the Forest of Menos's call and leave.

That would leave Nel on her own. Even if she had the potential to become a Vasto Lorde, Hueco Mundo was far too vast. Under the endless night of the Inner Circle, finding Nel again would be next to impossible for Wien.

Unless Aizen came to Hueco Mundo and gathered these top-tier Menos Grande. But by then, everything would be too late.

Maybe I should try letting Nel advance first. She has Vasto Lorde potential anyway, so she should be able to retain her consciousness when she advances to Gillian, right? Wien thought, looking at Nel, who had just finished eating and was stretching nearby.

"Lord Wien, shall we continue?" Sensing Wien staring at her, Nel came over and asked.

"Mm, let's go." Wien stroked Nel's antelope horns. "Nel, I need you to improve quickly over the next while, so the next time we encounter an enemy, I order you not to hold back anymore."

"Huh?" Nel was puzzled by Wien's sudden order, but she still asked, because she did not like unnecessary killing. "Lord Wien, are we in a hurry?"

"Mm, you could say that." Wien nodded. "Being a Gillian is a very dangerous stage. I'm very close to advancing. If we advance close enough together, then perhaps we can still look after each other once we become Gillians."

"Look after each other?" Nel thought about Wien's words. Those were not words that should have come from a Hollow's mouth. Perhaps devouring each other was more suited to the Hollow race, but for some reason, hearing those words from Wien gave Nel a different feeling. "I understand, Lord Wien."

The forest's remaining strength was much as Wien had expected. With the birth of the Gillian, the forest's most powerful Hollow was gone. All that remained were a few upper-tier High-Level Hollows, a fighting force that posed no threat to Wien at all. They were destined to become snacks to go with Wien's drinks.

Some of the High-Level Hollows also wanted to cooperate with Wien, but he turned them down.

Wien had never heard the names of any of these Hollows. They were merely insignificant characters, incapable of drawing his attention. After refusing them, Wien did not immediately kill them, instead giving them a chance to leave. As for the other Hollows, most were used as tools for Nel to train in combat. Wien only intervened personally against the somewhat stronger ones.

And so the days passed, and the pair's standing in the forest grew higher and higher.

"Nel, how was your haul today?" After a day's hunting, Wien lay in a spot sheltered from the wind, on a stone he had carved into the shape of a lounge chair, and lazily asked Nel, who had just returned from her hunt.

"Three High-Level Hollows, sixteen Elite Hollows, and some lower-level Hollow beasts." Nel shook herself, then came over and lay down beside Wien.

"But I already ate them all. There's none for you, Lord Wien." After spending so long together, Nel seemed to enjoy teaming up with Wien more than she had with the Lizard Hollow Kades.

When she teamed up with Kades, she had needed to stay on edge for long stretches, dealing with enemies while also watching her back.

With Wien, she had no such worries. She knew the gap between their Spiritual Pressure was simply too great—so great that if Wien wanted to attack her, she would not even have a chance to escape.

At first, Nel had still been terrified and had even tried to escape. But along the way, she had seen Wien kill a Gillian in just seven or eight exchanges, and she had changed her mind. Wien, with such fighting power, would not even deign to kill her. Nel guessed that the reason he wanted to keep her by his side was her abilities to heal and absorb.

As for whether there were any other reasons, Nel had no way of knowing. At least the ease she felt with Wien now was unlike anything she had experienced before.

"Heeey... that's cold." Wien spread his hands. He did not blame Nel; this sort of thing had become an everyday part of their banter. "Aren't you afraid I'll eat you up?"

Wien, who had been human in his previous life, had let the double entendre slip out without thinking. But as soon as he said it, he gave an embarrassed, wry smile.

He was a Hollow now. Given the state of his body, Wien really could only eat Nel, not "eat" her. But the innocent Nel did not seem to catch his meaning and took his words at face value. Without the slightest fear, she brought her head close to Wien and rubbed against his hand, as if to say, Go on, eat me. Do it.

"You little brat!" Wien raised a hand and gently knocked her on the head, then reached out to stroke her antelope horns. Such relaxed, carefree moments made Wien feel as though he had found his humanity again. "Get some rest. I'm going to find something to eat. Tomorrow, you need to catch more food and make the most of your time digesting it."

"Yes, Lord Wien." Nel nodded to show that she understood the order, but immediately afterward, she voiced her question. "But Lord Wien, why do we have to be in such a hurry to advance?"