Freya looked over Asher.
Assault jacket outerwear, black, wear-resistant cargo pants, tactical combat boots, covered tightly from head to to. A kind of handsomeness that both same and opposite sex could appreciate.
Completely the opposite of Prince's style.
"Maybe it's because I feel familiar," Asher said seriously, speaking the absolute truth.
Freya: "..."
A bit outrageous, but somehow also kind of made sense?
The unicorn walking in front never once turned around, but Felter, who had been carefully watching the unicorn, noticed: this big fellow seemed to be pricking up its ears, listening to their conversation.
Seeing this, Felter's mouth twitched.
'What is this?'
'Everyone loves gossip?'
'Even beasts aren't immune?'
Unicorn: "..."
'Hold it in, a dignified unicorn absolutely cannot sneeze!'
With the unicorn leading the way, the group arrived at the entrance of a massive rocky cave.
["This is where we reside."]
The unicorn turned to face Asher and the others.
["Welcome to the four pioneers."]
Asher: "?"
'Hm? What's going on? Got tricked?'
Freya also popped a question mark.
"Pioneers?"
"What is that?"
Felter: "No idea."
Prince: "Doesn't matter! That thing sounds super badass!"
Felter: "It's not about sounding badass. This obviously sounds like a trap we're about to step into."
Felter roared. He felt like, compared to his older brother, he was the one who should be the big brother.
Unreliable, the unreliability of his blood brother, he was experiencing it deeply once again.
They weren't three-year-olds anymore.
In games, being called "Hero", "Savior-sama", "Master" and such was acceptable. But this was real life, where did these strange titles come from?
Fishing, this was definitely baiting on purpose.
Or maybe there was some unknown danger hidden in those titles.
Only Asher remained silent.
Asher had noticed that when the unicorn turned and said those words, its gaze mostly rested on him.
Asher instantly connected several things. The golden-pink mist that only he could see. The unicorn that deliberately ran into his hook.
"Pioneer."
An island that even a Tier 9 Lightyear Dragon approached with caution.
No wonder Asher was overthinking, not thinking more would've made him seem foolish.
"Can you explain what a 'pioneer' is?", Asher asked.
There were quite a few people around, and Asher didn't want to stand out to prove he was different. So he chose a more moderate approach, and it happened to be the question the unicorn had deliberately placed before them.
["Pioneers are those, like you, who are the first to arrive at this spatial region."], The unicorn's voice was calm and dignified. It spoke slowly. Because its voice didn't have the youthful tone of the two little ponies' heart voices, it carried a mysterious persuasive power.
While Freya still held some skepticism, Prince had already believed the words without hesitation.
"No wonder it's us."
"Pioneers!"
"That title sounds glorious. So cool!"
Prince stood with hands on his waist, face full of pride, then turned to the unicorn and sincerely asked, "So, in this space of yours, are there treasures or very rare resources?"
"As pioneers, there should be some kind of reward for the first arrivals, right?"
Felter felt his brother was outrageous. Yet at the same time, 'Heh heh heh! As expected of us! We really are awesome! The title "pioneer" can barely be considered worthy!'
Freya: "..."
Freya facepalmed with one hand, expression full of despair. She quickly looked over at Asher.
Her only sober teammate left was Asher.
Fortunately, Asher still looked pretty calm.
He hadn't been fooled by the unicorn's pleasant-sounding words.
"This 'pioneer' title... let's leave it at that for now," Asher nodded, without evaluating the unicorn's explanation much.
It was just a title. Whether acknowledged or not, it didn't make much difference to him.
"Now, tell me why you're targeting me?", Asher pulled out the silver-white hair like fiber, his piece of evidence.
"The one that bit onto my bait… was you, right?"
"What did you want?"
This question Asher asked sincerely.
Unicorn: "..."
The unicorn's normally composed expression cracked a little.
The unicorn looked at the sky, looked at the ground, started pondering.
Freya: "...You're way too obviously guilty. You're definitely still hiding something from us. Or you're trying to deceive us again?"
Freya shouted.
["Ah… It was just at that moment, I sensed a very special aura from your body..."], The unicorn's hoof scratched the ground, trying to explain.
["Familiar, very familiar. I thought it was…"], Partway through, the unicorn stopped.
"Thought it was what?", Asher seemed to have no sense of stopping, continuing to press.
Freya also eagerly assisted on the side.
Felter: "?"
A little off-track, but decisively joined in.
Prince, still confused: "?"
Prince nodded and also looked toward the unicorn.
Stared at by several pairs of eyes, the unicorn: "…"
The two little ponies' movements became a bit agitated. The unicorn shook its head at them.
["An enemy… and also a very important being."], The unicorn sighed. In the end, it still said it.
Now it was Asher's turn to feel a bit guilty and speechless.
His instinct, really, truly told him: stop asking now.
If he kept asking, he might expose too much of himself.
But even if Asher stopped, it didn't mean Freya and the others would let it go.
"You guys have enemies?", Freya asked in confusion, "But I heard unicorns are supposed to be really powerful, right?"
"Rare light-attribute beasts, with dispersing powers, blessed by the sun and light, right…?", As she spoke, Freya noticed the unicorn's big watery, wet-looking, awkward eyes.
Somehow, Freya instinctively shut her mouth.
'Hmm, must be my illusion.'
'Otherwise, why did I feel like this unicorn was about to go "awoo" and cry?'
'I must be overthinking!'
In reality, the unicorn: *crying hard*
["Just as you said, it's said, it's in legends. But those aren't facts, are they?"], The unicorn looked around, even its telepathic tone slowed, sounding rather awkward.
["The truth is… it's quite different from what you imagined."]
["Also, we're not really unicorns either…"]
Freya: "?"
"Sea dragon?", Freya recalled the earlier term the little ponies used for their species, but she still didn't get it, "But you don't look aquatic at all."
["What you pioneers see is only our illusory form."], The unicorn's front hoof scraped the ground twice.
Freya, realizing what the unicorn was saying, fell into silence.
'Illusory form?'
'What does that mean?'
"So, this isn't your real body? Just imagined?", Asher reacted quickly, "Then whose imagination is it based on?"
"Ours, or yours?"
Asher, like discovering an interesting research topic, didn't rush to use his innate skill, but instead felt it was worth studying.
Being stared at like Asher was going to peel its skin, the unicorn: "..."
The unicorn started to regret. Just a little.
If it could redo things, it shouldn't have felt that aura on Asher was so special and pleasant, it shouldn't have gone to mess with him.
Now not only had Asher flipped the situation,
He was also about to strip away even its rare disguise.
The unicorn tried to escape further questioning by staying silent.
Asher: *STARE—*
As if seeing its guilt, Asher said, "And that 'enemy' you mentioned… is it the box jellyfish?"
Unicorn: "?"
Unicorn: "!"
The unicorn turned to look at Asher in shock.
["How do you know it's the box jellyfish?"], Even in telepathy, everyone could hear the thick shock and disbelief.
"Wait!", Before Asher could answer, Freya suddenly seemed to realize something. She sharply turned to Asher, eyeing him up and down.
"Right."
"I almost forgot something very important."
Felter popped a question mark, his face practically covered in them.
'Forgot what? Didn't feel like I forgot anything.'
"That time when we were being chased, it really was quite sudden. But there's still one thing... Asher, how did you instantly recognize that it was a box jellyfish?", Freya stared at Asher.
At the time, it hadn't seemed strange.
Now, thinking back calmly. The fact that Asher could immediately identify it as a box jellyfish… wasn't that a little off?
They weren't in the Clove city sea region, where jellyfish-type dangerous creatures appeared often enough to be recognizable.
99% of people had only heard of box jellyfish.
Never actually seen one.
Let alone identifying it from far away without seeing its distinct markings.
Something definitely wasn't right.
Stared at by everyone, Asher: "..."
Felter, realizing the issue, also looked at Asher.
The unicorn and the two ponies also looked at Asher.
'Oh oh oh!'
'Is this the legendary human pastime, watching drama?'
All three ponies' eyes sparkled.
"Uh… if I say it was intuition, would you believe me?", Asher raised both hands. Even he didn't quite believe that line.
"Half guesswork, half instinct," Asher continued, "Didn't I say at the time, I felt like this had something to do with me?"
As he spoke, he blinked.
Freya and Felter remembered what Asher had said before.
The little jellyfish.
The two exchanged a glance.
Prince, excluded and having received no special signal the whole time: "?"
No big deal.
"Let's not focus on this for now," the two nodded.
Asher hadn't lied to them.
What they needed to worry about now wasn't Asher's issue, but the creature in front of them, which looked like a unicorn but claimed it wasn't.
"You're hiding from the box jellyfish outside, aren't you?"
The unicorn and the ponies never expected that while watching the drama, the drama circle suddenly turned back to themselves.
The unicorn fell silent.
The unicorn sighed.
["Yes. Our enemy, the one we've been avoiding is the box jellyfish."]
["They are truly powerful beings in this sea region."]
["But due to special reproduction patterns, there aren't that many of them."]
["The strongest one is the tier-eight box jellyfish that guards the king."]
'The king's guardian?'
"What king?", Asher blinked.
The other three nodded as well.
It was tiring to stand and talk, they had each found a place to sit. Clean or not didn't matter anymore.
The two little ponies followed suit, getting down in a strange posture, not quite like horses, more like soft-bodied creatures.
And the unicorn, who had looked the most dignified, also lay down in a very elegant pose.
"If your appearance is an illusory form, then your disguise is really top-notch," Freya couldn't help but give the unicorn a thumbs-up.
If nothing else, the act was convincing. And paired with such a majestic exterior. Even if they didn't yet know the unicorn's true nature or real form, it wasn't so strange people mistook it for a light-attribute beast.
The unicorn blinked and gave Freya a smiling expression.
Freya: "...Ahem!"
She felt like she just got flirted with by a magical creature. And honestly, it kinda worked.
["You guys don't know?"], The unicorn tilted its head, looking at Asher and the others.
["Unlike other beast groups, most of the kings of beast groups are the ones who have lived the longest and are the strongest."]
This, Asher and the others nodded.
They did know. Just like the Dragon King. Or the Golden Silkworm Queen they had encountered before.
Almost all of them had to first reach the peak of strength, then rush toward the strongest position.
If the strongest position had already been occupied… it would be very hard for latecomers to break through.
["The Box Jellyfish also has the existence of a king."]
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