"How did you find us?"
Specter watched her, her nose twitching slightly, and had already guessed the answer.
Sure enough, when Grani answered that she remembered Skadi's scent, Specter gave her an inscrutable smile, while the shrine maiden looked utterly baffled. Hoshino rubbed her long hair with one hand, unable to understand why Grani could smell it while she could not.
"Can you describe it?"
Hoshino pressed on.
"A little like the sea. It's frightening, but also reassuring. I can't really put it into words."
Grani's answer was still impossible to make heads or tails of.
Hoshino wanted to keep asking, but this was truly not the time. She could not distinguish Abyssal Hunters from the Abyssal cultists, yet as they walked, she noticed people deliberately circling around them, forming an airtight encirclement that moved slowly along with them.
The circle was steadily tightening.
And she was the target at its center.
Hoshino's gaze swept imperceptibly over the faces of those surrounding them. Their expressions and reactions were no different from ordinary people; there was simply no way to spot the difference with the naked eye. The more she thought about it, the more she envied the Abyssal Hunters.
"Getting this kid out of the encirclement is probably impossible now, isn't it?"
"Impossible."
Specter confirmed Hoshino's guess. The two displayed the seasoned coordination of old hands, leaving only Grani somewhat bewildered.
"I'm not a child anymore."
"That's what children always say. I'll let you choose—when the time comes, do you want to close your eyes?"
Hoshino tightened her grip on her sword hilt.
A long horn call drifted through the air. It was the whisper of the unknowable. Shadows rose from the deep sea mist, outlined in pure black, inspiring the terror of standing alone before a mountain range. It