42: Wise And Bold Leader

Almost instinctively, Mir sprang back a few meters, lost his balance, and fell on all fours. In his momentarily blurred vision, he caught a glimpse of Harren, who hadn't moved a muscle. Realizing that nothing had followed him out of the water, Mir jumped back to his feet and looked at the spot in the puddle where Harren was still keeping his naked foot submerged. He could see some movements in the water there.

Harren waved a hand at him, beckoning him closer. "It's dead, or at least fully paralyzed. Come and take a look if you want to."

Not just Mir, but all five members of the group ended up gathering behind Harren to see what creature he had hunted. Near his submerged ankle, a black, palm-shaped, flat insect was shuddering intensely, sending off shallow waves in the water. 

It seemed that Harren had a very useful mutant ability, one of the offensive sort. From his extensive experience of watching rookie mutants duke it out in the college arena, Mir guessed that it was the Electrification ability of a Flash Catfish.

"What is that?" The only girl in the group nudged her companion lightly. In a barely audible volume, he replied, "Lightworm, grade-1."

Everyone except Harren sighed, a little disappointed. Lightworms were a well known parasite found even outside sacred grounds and taboo zones. They were one of the rare few mutant creatures that could directly sustain themselves on the energy generated by the sun's curse virus. They'd target anything that had the qualifications to be infected by the virus, parasitizing on it to syphon away the energy 25/10. 

The reason they were so disappointed was the fact that these worms weren't the sort that could be eaten, just like the Skin-leeches outside. In fact, their bodies secreted biofluids that had poisonous attributes. As for the soulbeasts among them, those were even more useless, benefiting the commander in no way.

"Well, the appearance of this thing at least confirms what the older transcenders guessed," Harren said. "Although there isn't enough evidence to support the theory, it's sort of accepted in the transcender community that lightworms appear in large numbers whenever a sacred ground or a taboo zone undergoes big shifts in terms of design. The flood outside must really be the outcome of something major. It would be safer for us to hurry up."

No one wanted anything to do with the lightworm, which was still shivering in the ankle-deep water. Harren kicked it through the puddle, creating a powerful wave that made it easy for them to guess how deep it was. And luckily, most of the submerged area ahead turned out to be just about twelve to fifteen centimeters at its deepest. 

"I'll go first," said the girl suddenly, surprising the rest of them. They watched attentively as she went back several steps and then sprinted forward to make the leap. She turned out to be surprisingly good at long jumps, crossing the entire twenty-foot-wide expanse of water in two jumps. 

What happened afterwards was even more surprising. The spot in the water where she had landed for that half-second froze, quite literally. The smooth texture of an ice-block the size of a large book was prominent amidst the waves her leap had created. 

One of the members of the third duo spoke for the first time, watching the frozen block. "That's not a common mutation, at least not in our district."

All of them except her companion turned to look at him, curious. Harren said, "Are you familiar with her mutant ability?"

He nodded, but before he could speak, Harren put up a hand to stop him. "It's not a polite thing to do, especially when you don't know them well and they prefer to be left alone."

Mir guessed that Harren had been convinced of the girl's capability. He really wanted to avoid a situation where the couple could turn against them, hence the display of goodwill and politeness. 

Meanwhile, her friend followed her as well. He was obviously not as athletic. His leaps were much shorter, and he had to step into the water twice despite having the luxury to jump on top of the frozen platform. 

Harren was next to go. He didn't fear lurking lightworms, and he probably wanted to see if anything else was hiding in the water. His footing while crossing the puddle was loud, deliberate, and slow. He even stopped on top of the ice-block, as if hoping that something would come at him. 

From the top of the block, he turned to look at the three remaining members of the team. 

"I'll stand here, guys. This is the best way I can protect you if any hiding creatures attack you while you're crossing."

Once again, Mir was impressed. One could not pick a fault with Harren's positive actions and kind character. But one could also say that he was using the weaker members of the group as baits to draw out mutant beasts, hogging the position of the hunter himself under the guise of protecting them. Ultimately, his actions were beneficial for all of them, and judging him was up to their own interpretations.

Hoping not to end up as the actual bait, Mir chose to be the next runner. With two big jumps, he ended up at the edge of the other side of the puddle, raising quite a bit of noise in the empty tunnel. While he was busy wiping the dirty water off his feet, the remaining two members of their group decided to run together. 

"Watch out!" Harren suddenly roared. Mir turned his neck so hard and fast that he heard the crank of a joint. But there was neither the time nor the opportunity to focus on that. Because Harren's warning didn't come unwarranted. One of the boys on the last team, the experienced one, had two pencil-thick icicles sticking out of a thigh. He was right at the midpoint of the puddle, just an arm's reach away from Harren. The other boy was a little faster and had already crossed the puddle, having ignored everything behind him decisively. 

Harren's focus was on the source of the icicles, which had to be an archer frog hiding underwater. How something that large was hiding there so well was a mystery. Perhaps there was a small hole around that area. The injured boy had no intention of retaliating against the frog. Clutching his blood-soaked thighs, he hobbled over to the other side of the puddle uninterrupted. 

Now, only Harren was left there, standing on the block of ice, stock still, muscles as tense as a drawn bow. His eyes moved slowly over the surface of the water around him, gaze unsure. 

"It has been hunting us from the beginning," the girl said, face grim. "Archer frogs have an excellent instinct for prey. They're very good at identifying the weaker ones in a group."

"Shit, shit, shit!" The injured explorer kept cussing as he pulled out the icicles. For the first time in his life, Mir got a first-hand look at the weapons of a mutant creature. The icicles were semi-transparent, nearly white, except for the thread-thin streak of blue color inside, which he knew to be the venom. 

"Anyone got suggestions?" the boy asked as he pressed on the wounds with his palm, hoping to reduce the amount of blood flooding out of his thigh. 

"Yeah, leave," Mir said. "From what I know, you need antidotes for the venom. I'm not sure whether you'll die without an antidote, but I'm sure you don't want to test the theory."

The boy groaned, partly in pain and partly from frustration. But the conversation had to be stopped as the sound of Harren's victorious shout reverberated throughout the tunnel. 

"Found you, prick!" 

Harren had jumped into the water rather boldly, Mir discovered. But very little sound had been produced by that jump, not even a splash; and the reason for that became clear as he noticed what his landing spot was.

Under his feet, a massive frog had been pinned down. Even in the pictures Mir had seen in the database, the frogs hadn't been this large. It could probably fit a couple of street cats in its stomach. Harren's weight didn't even kill it directly. It was shuddering in the same manner as his previous prey, the lightworm. 

Harren hadn't let his guard down, though. He was twisting and turning the upper half of his body to look at his surroundings, and upon noticing no further anomalies, he picked the frog up by one of its feet and rushed out of the puddle. However...

The direction he chose to run in was the opposite of everyone else. He ended up on the other side of the puddle, alone with the prize. 

Mir didn't know whether to laugh or call him back, but his teammates apparently didn't feel the same, especially the guy who had been injured by the frog and the girl whose ice-block had made the hunt so convenient. 

Both of them looked like they were about to rush at Harren. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for Harren, this was when the second phase of the Philosophy Corridor took effect. 

Mir found himself back inside the chaotic vortex of images, colors, sounds, and emotions, experiencing another sensory overload. This time, it was even stronger!

The question came a moment later, and it was a question that left him surprised again.

"Do you think Harren deserves what he has in hand?"