Leaving the angry roars and fierce growls behind YuJu who had easily snatched the tired Anput from the chase was walking leisurely toward the entrance of the factory

'It's only been five minutes since he went to catch her and I just got here myself, he's really good... but why didn't he become the bait himself if that's the case?'

She was never one to keep her thoughts to herself, at least not around him, so she asked him directly

"Master, why didn't you b..."

Her words though were struck in her mouth as she noticed him bringing Anput in with a princess carry, her belly sticking up and her tongue out of her mouth panting, plus her oversized body of a hound made them look so comical a weird smile couldn't help but form on her face

Naturally, he saw her smile but didn't take any action against it, he continued to move at a leisurely pace until they were at the gates of the factory, that's where he laid Anput gently down

"She is exhausted, we will be leaving her here lest she gets in the way, until she recovers you shall be the only fighter"

The weird smile was wiped off her face, she felt like he was punishing her on purpose but it couldn't be denied that Anput looked really stressed, since this happened because they were tight on time to begin with they also couldn't wait for her to recover

Still, she felt this was more of a punishment for the smile

'I hope the beasts inside aren't too much of a hassle to deal with'

She thought as she followed him in jumping over the gate leaving the panting Anput to get some rest while she also kept an eye on the surroundings

The two didn't take much time to pass the garage and reception area, by then the sound of water running could be clearly heard from their surroundings making Ellis question what kind of factory this is

"Its a sewage treatment factory, this factory is directly connected to the coast where the drain pipes are located"

"I see, so the beasts have come to this place using the drain pipes?"

He glanced back with a slight smile for a split second before turning ahead again

"Yes, the sea beasts have come through the pipes thinking they were coming to a new environment, but now they are stuck here for some reason, as such we will be making use of their predicament to level up"

"Didn't you say that sea beasts are dangerous though"

"In the sea, they are, especially since you don't know when a strong beast might emerge, this time though there shouldn't be much of a problem as the stronger ones have remained at sea to fight for territory, and with how fragile and small the pipes are I doubt any one of them will come through to here"

With that said the two arrived at a wall map of the building a map, after a quick search YuJu decide to take the stairs to the observation room that overlooked the waterways from the top

"I thought we were going to fight them?"

"I said I doubt any strong beast came along, since there is a chance we will surely check the situation out first"

Ellis blinked her eyes in confusion for a second, she had thought he was quite confident, no she was sure he was confident, but the amount of caution he portrayed made her second doubt herself

Still, she was helpless to ask as she thought it was a bit rude, so she followed along as they headed up the set of stairs leading to a well-built observation room under the roof of the building

Click..

YuJu turned the door handle only to find it locked so he took a few steps to the side as Ellis approached it, she raised her foot that was now covered with the purple hue and slammed it on the iron door

Wham!

The door could take the hit but the things couldn't say the same as the entire thing was detached from the wall falling on the ground with a loud noise

Standing in front of the fallen door Ellis stared for a bit, she thought it would take a few more slams but the door unexpectedly broke without much hassle

'How am I getting stronger and stronger?'

She thought to herself while following her master into the room, she knew all her stats were going into intelligence so what was it that helped her speed, strength and even vitality become so strong? It couldn't be her aura right?

Seeing her mind so occupied YuJu didn't disturb her and went toward the glass wall on the other side of the room, looking over the pipes and waterways that were part of the treatment process

Unlike when the engines were on the sound of gushing water didn't exist, instead it felt like the water was running down a slope slowly, some splashes came fro different directions from time to time, and in the darkness of the unlit bottom he could see scally shadows slithering through the water

'Slithering?'

He narrowed his eyes slightly as he peered into the water once more while getting closer to the window

"They seem to be really long"

Commented Ellis by the side, apparently she felt the serious atmosphere around him and started to focus

"They aren't supposed to be"

"?"

"They were r...."

His words stopped midway as his pupils dilated, his breath ceased as he took the normal procedure used to enter stealth but he found it of no use, he was still locked on by those watchful eyes

'They can still sense me?'

It should be known the beings that could sense his presence before the walls came down at his current proficiency were still only in single digits, so how could one of those fearful or annoying existences actually be here

"Master?"

Ellis muttered with a wary tone, a chill had gone down her spine a second earlier, whatever it was that even made her master act like this would be no easy foe

'I can't hide'

Since it was already locked on to him like this he might as well not bother to restrain his exitance

'But you cant either'

What a joke, the number of beings that could sense him were not even ten, but the number of those who could hide from him if he looked was zero

His dilated pupils instantly turned to the right window where a shadow was peeking at them from the darkness a little beyond the vision of the room

'A flying beast?'

He thought first, else how could he see those eyes floating in the air

Ellis who saw him look right followed suit, that where her eyes met with the round pupils among shiny blue, the eyes were so still and calm when they looked at them that it appeared serene

Seeing its existence was discovered the creature seemed to contemplate for a few moments before its body started to approach the window

Getting closer the light coming from the few windows on roof illuminated its approaching figure, making Ellis's eyes dilate in turn, as for YuJu, his tense body gradually relaxed

'So that's why, you had me worried for a moment'

They both looked at the scaly body with varying emotions, Ellis's was fear and anxiety as the behemoth of a snake got closer and closer until its head was adjacent to the window, or to be precise, its single eye filled the entire view of the body long window making one wonder how big it was

'It wasn't in the air, it must have been clinging to the top of this room, no wonder we didn't see it when we came in'

He didn't have his sensory skills as of now and while he could still mimic their use they weren't a passive like before, combined with his leisurely mood he missed such a huge stealthy snake

His thoughts were fluid though and his mood calm, unlike Ellis by the side who felt the huge eye tear into her soul as fear welled up in her for the first time ever since she entered the new era, it was nothing similar to whatever she felt before, not the fear of death, not the pain, this was an instinctual fear generated by her human instincts, one she couldn't get rid of with her meagre increase of strength, the primordial aspect of this beast made humans think they were facing dread in the eye

'Her mind fell to fear, I need to wake her up'

Any sudden movement though could set this beast off, that moment would be very dangerous if she didn't snap out of it fast enough

He wasn't without any means to make use as he finally applied one of his skills for the first time

'RUN!'

He applied force into his thoughts as he used his soul to suppress hers for the first time since they signed the contract, contrary to his expectations it was very easy to control her at the moment, perhaps because of the fear or maybe some other factor, either way, both of them darted out the broken down opining of a door, triggering the beast into action

Clank! Crack crack, CRASH!

The entire observation room was crushed from all sides as it was strangled like a toy by the coiling snake, turning into debris that fell in the now restless water

The two figures the jumped out had plenty of time to escape though, as they moved away from the turbulent waters

"Get a hold of yourself, it's much higher levelled than us, one mistake and your dead"

While the beast was getting out the mess it created he spoke to Ellis

".....Okay"

She still seemed a bit dazed but the fear had receded, instead, she felt some confidence spurted when he had taken control of her body, it came from deep within, the confidence that no matter how she messed up he had her back, this type of feeling overwhelmed her instincts that came from blood for it was etched into her very soul

'Sigh, it's too late, she's been affected'

His mood soured as he saw her confidant eyes that were staring at the approaching beast

''Troublesome fellow'

With a target to take the blame and be the subject of his bad mood he instructed Ellis to start their revenge

"Keep to the ground, aim for the tip of its tail"

That was the part he had the hardest time sensing so he believes it was a vital point it was trying to hide

Ellis's body moved according to his orders, it wasn't under his control anymore but she would follow them anyway under normal circumstances, much less during times of crisis like these