Dawn watched the ripples in the ground and gave Mista a meaningful glance, calculating the perfect moment.
Mista understood. He stopped, hid his gun behind his back, and held his breath as he waited.
The enemy could lock onto targets at will, and might well have a line of sight. Better to keep something in reserve.
Suddenly, the ripples in the ground grew more violent. Dawn's heart tightened. He threw himself into a leap on the spot, powering upward with both legs.
Hands in ocher bodysuits burst from the ground and clawed viciously at Dawn in midair.
"Mista!"
Dawn shouted. Mista reacted quickly, firing several shots behind his back. The bullets curved around and struck Secco's arm.
Blood splattered onto Dawn's clothes, but he paid it no mind. Using the pull of the bullets, he swung one huge foot into Secco's face, making Secco howl in pain.
Secco quickly burrowed underground. His unnaturally long tongue darted out to lick his wound like a beast's, and his eyes brimmed with spite.
Aboveground, Dawn furrowed his brows, searching for a place where Ghiaccio might be hiding.
"The mold is spreading farther and farther. That means Ghiaccio must be somewhere high up. But where...?"
Dawn looked toward the tallest structure in the area, a church, and immediately ordered Cloud Dragon to attack.
Cloud Dragon's enormous body barely needed to swim through the air. With a flick of his tail, he reached the church, opened his mouth, and spat out Notorious Big, slamming it into the wall.
Ice crystals surged, devouring the church in an instant and leaving behind only a tiny pile of rubble.
"Nothing there...? Where could he be?"
Just as Dawn was pondering, the mold's spread slowed around them.
"Mr. Dawn, has the mold's source been killed?"
Bucciarati pulled up in a car and leaned out the window to ask.
He had noticed that the mold was behaving strangely, too.
"No, not yet."
Dawn shook his head and got into the car with Mista. Hearing his answer, Bucciarati immediately started the engine and floored it, speeding toward the mountain road.
Just then, Cloud Dragon sent him a message.
[There is a foot in the church that has not been infected by mold.]
A foot?
Dawn's eyes widened.
It hadn't been infected by mold. That mattered!
Ghiaccio could use his ability to dismember himself, and every part of his body could serve as a source of infection.
If so, the plane really might have been the reason the infection spread. There had to be some part of Ghiaccio's body aboard it.
"We've already gotten far enough away, but the mold still hasn't stopped spreading," Bucciarati said through gritted teeth. "Damn it! At this rate, it won't just be us—the entire city of Rome will be wiped out!"
The car slammed to a halt. A vast patch of ripples had appeared in the road ahead.
"That pest just won't quit."
Mista switched the gun to his other hand. His dominant hand was already covered in mold and could fall off at any moment.
The car suddenly sank. Secco had struck.
"Sticky Fingers!"
Bucciarati punched open a zipper in the roof and pulled the two of them out.
Underground, Secco narrowed his eyes, his gaze full of malice. He was going to make Bucciarati's team pay dearly.
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!
A series of sharp whistles tore through the air. They looked back and saw flames streaking into the dark sky.
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
The flames burst open, illuminating the three men's faces, each wearing a different expression.
Parachutes made from fire-resistant material unfurled. Objects like fingers and toes dangled beneath them, floating hundreds of meters above the ground.
Dawn's face darkened at once. There was no way to tell which of them were parts of Ghiaccio's body.
Of course. There was no way Diavolo's Passione Organization would fight alone. Making the most of every resource was the way to go.
While everyone's attention was drawn away, Secco launched a surprise attack.
His hands were useless, but he shot out his unnaturally long tongue and wrapped it around the turtle in Bucciarati's hand, intending to drag everyone inside the hideout underground!
"Enough already, you bastard!"
Just as Secco was about to succeed, Abbacchio's furious shout rang out.
Having once been a police officer, Abbacchio couldn't stand scum like Secco, who liked to record victims' struggles as they died.
Abbacchio's fist burst through the turtle's shell and smashed into the bridge of Secco's nose, leaving him covered in blood.
Secco's eyes turned vicious. How dare this guy give him orders?
No one but Ghiaccio was allowed to order him—not even the Boss!
He gritted his teeth through the pain, opened his mouth to reveal a row of rotten teeth, and sank them into Abbacchio's fist, dragging him out of the hideout.
Mold covered half of Abbacchio's body, leaving him unable to fight back. He only had time to glance back at Bucciarati.
Then he fell underground with Secco, leaving only faint ripples behind.
"Abbacchio!" Narancia shouted anxiously from inside the hideout. Bucciarati turned to look, his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Sticky Fingers!"
Bucciarati leaped from the car roof, punched the ground apart, and chased after Secco.
"You're too slow, Bucciarati! Hahahaha! The guy you're trying to save has already been eaten away by the mold!"
Secco taunted him maniacally, but what happened next soon left him bewildered.
Bucciarati wasn't affected by the mold at all.
An absurd idea came to Secco.
"Bucciarati, you bastard... are you already dead?!"
Secco shouted the question. Bucciarati ignored him, doing nothing but creating zipper after zipper as he relentlessly pursued him.
The wounded Secco was quickly caught. He looked back at Bucciarati's grim face and finally understood what fear was.
"Don't kill me! I'll never do it again! I swear, I'll never do it again!
"Here—this is your companion. Take him back."
Trembling, Secco held out a scrap of Abbacchio's clothes, not daring to look up at Bucciarati.
Bucciarati clenched his teeth so tightly that the faint sound of them cracking could be heard.
When he looked up again, the fury had vanished from his eyes. All that remained was the gaze of a man looking at a corpse.
"You're not afraid to do it again. You just know you're about to die."
Bucciarati's hands closed around Secco's throat. He tightened his grip until he was choking him with all his strength.
"Abbacchio!"
Crack!
A bolt of lightning suddenly streaked across the sky, followed by a deep rumble of thunder.
Dawn paid no heed to the grieving others. He simply climbed out of the car and stared at the spot where Abbacchio had disappeared.
"I'd already changed the story."
A howling warm wind swept through the air, and dark clouds filled the sky in an instant.
A warm raindrop landed on Dawn's face. He wiped it away and looked up at the sky.
"Fate really is impossible to predict."
Dawn murmured to himself. The change in the weather delighted Cloud Dragon even more. He stretched out his body and swam freely through the storm clouds.
Cloud Dragon itself didn't have much in the way of offensive power. It relied mainly on the Notorious Big inside it.
But when the conditions were right, its destructive power was unimaginably devastating.
Condition one: sufficient moisture
Condition two: strong thermal convection
Condition three: an unstable atmospheric layer
For reasons unknown, this sudden thunderstorm met every requirement.
Dawn looked back at the many parachutes in the sky and spoke in a chilling voice. "Ghiaccio, I'm going to kill you."
[Dragon Tamer: Thunderstorm Season]
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