Back in the woods, the situation with Jay had not improved at all.
"Come on, let's go!"
In the midst of all the darkness, Jay's urgent and desperate voice could be heard echoing in the surroundings.
His urgency was not only palpable in his voice, but also in his physical language, with his posture being tense and his eyes moving from place to place on Faith's body.
Of course, this was a completely natural reaction, after all, the situation he was dealing with was incredibly worrisome.
With his eyes releasing an extemely faint green glow and veins appearing on Jay's face, it could already be seen the degree that he was using the system's ability, [Mental Network].
Similarly as with Vilda, what he had to do was clear, get all the black liquid out of Faith's body by making use of his little ones.
This would be easy if it weren't for two reasons, starting with the fact that the number of his little ones was now quite limited.
In order to treat Vilda, he had put quite a lot of parasites into Vilda's body, as he was in serious danger, leaving him with only enough to activate his abilities.
Now that he was using his [Mental Network], he could only afford to move just a handful of them, so he didn't even know if he would be able to perform a proper cleansing.
What reinforced this thought, or rather, the reason for this thought, was that the infection Faith suffered from the black liquid was... much deeper than Vilda's.
This was to the point where the black liquid almost seemed to completely replace the blood in her body.
At this point, Jay didn't even have time to make a sarcastic comment about the situation, devoting every ounce of his attention to guiding his little ones through the cleanup.
*Shss*
Suddenly, the sound of a bush moving could be heard behind him.
Thanks to his radar and given the location he was in, Jay didn't need to turn around to know who this footstep belonged to.
The humanoid monster was suddenly appeared behind him, its imposing figure blocking the little moonlight that had so far been helping Jay illuminate his view.
Jay didn't even bother to turn around, however, and continued to attend to Faith.
This, of course, was a completely careless and dangerous attitude that he really wouldn't dare even if the opponent was a weaker monster.
But the reason for this was as simple as it was tragic.
In Faith's status window, in the section that normally listed all the injuries of the person in question, a single sentence was written.
'Currently at risk of death.'
Never had Jay taken a system message more seriously than he did right now, with that being the main reason he was so dedicated to helping Faith.
It was true that for Jay, he could hardly call Faith a friend, barely being able to be considered acquaintances.
Other than her name and her ability, he knew nothing about her. If one went a little further, it would not even be wrong to call them strangers.
From someone else's point of view, going after Vilda and leaving her here was a better option, not only because Jay did consider Vilda a friend, but because he could also pick up more of his little ones.
With that in mind, there was no denying that it was a viable alternative.
However, even with that, Jay didn't think for a moment about abandoning Faith.
The reasoning behind this was due to something Jay had discovered when he first started treating the esper.
The degree of infection Faith had was unusually high, and he had assumed it was from the attack of the humanoid monster just now, as all the clues pointed to that.
However, although that attack had been responsible for much of the damage, it was not the reason why the black liquid had advanced so far.
Because he was connected to his little ones as they were doing extensive cleaning and checking every part of Faith's body, Jay was able to notice how on the hands of the aforementioned, there were dozens of needle sized wounds that continued down to her arms.
The outside of each of these wounds was burned, as if it had been purposely singed to stop the bleeding that would otherwise escape from there.
So far so good, but the problem began when one looked inside...t hat everything was filled with a large amount of particularly thick black liquid.
Apparently, Faith, when she had contact with the monster to be able to hit it, it had taken advantage of it to infect her.
And she clearly had to feel it, but for one reason or another... she had kept quiet, struggling without once complaining.
*Tap*
The monster's footsteps sounded again, now positioning itself right at Jay's back, something his radar confirmed.
The distance was too short, with both of them being only an arm's length away from each other, with the only reason why he didn't feel the monster's breath on his neck being the latter's height.
Thanks to this, the tension Jay was feeling increased considerably, being between a rock and a hard place.
Unfortunately, he couldn't move, as if he stopped tending to Faith, he knew that her body wouldn't hold up for long on its own.
*Tap tap*.
"!"
However, just as Jay was about to attempt to run away with his Overload, the monster entered his field of vision, surrounding both him and Faith.
The next moment, the monster slowly sat down, staring at Faith's body, especially the part Jay was working on.
This action immediately caught Jay's attention, who wasn't expecting this kind of behavior at all.
Bringing his gaze upward, the esper was able to appreciate better than ever the appearance of this humanoid monster.
Although its figure was humanoid, it was as clear as the day that it was not a human being, but a monster, with its empty eyes and almost skeleton-like body being the most striking part.
Jay didn't know what it had planned, but because of how delicate Faith's situation was, he simply accepted things as they were and went about his business.
Right now, anyway, both he and Faith were in the monster's hands.
Slowly, the parasites, apparently having recognized that the body they were in belonged to Faith, were cleaning up the black liquid much more aggressively and enthusiastically than before.
It was as if they too were concerned about Faith, wanting to get her healthy as quickly as possible, not just on Jay's orders.
This did not go unnoticed by Jay, who felt their support and appreciated it before continuing to give it his all.
With them working together, the amount of black liquid inside Faith's body, despite being quite a lot, began to diminish at great speed.
Faced with this, Jay couldn't help but rejoice slightly, as the closer he got to finishing cleaning Faith, the further she moved away from the heavy "Risk of Death" state.
Being connected in the [Mental Network], his joy and relief was also shared to his little ones, who, motivated, began to work more fervently.
***
After about five minutes, Jay had all his attention completely focused on Faith, several beads of sweat falling from his forehead.
He had already cleaned out most of the black liquid inside Faith, now only the most complicated part of all remained, the heart, which had become the place where most of the liquid had lodged.
The parasites were moving slowly as they continued their cleansing, not only because they were being careful not to consume something they shouldn't, but for another reason.
So far, they had been taking orders from Jay with no problems, but lately, the parasites felt the orders he was sending were getting slower.
If they went any further, it was clear, Jay was weakening.
Even though the esper also had several of his little ones giving him energy, he was expending it at a higher rate than he was receiving it thanks to the [Mind Network], not to mention also the mental toll this was taking on him.
While he wasn't going to admit it, nor was he going to stop treating Faith, his head had been hurting for a while now, with a mild but constant ache present at all times.
Add to this the fact that his body was starting to run out of energy, making it heavier, and things were not looking good at all.
Fortunately, it was almost over, and if he continued at this pace, it would only take less than a minute until all the black liquid was eliminated.
So, even though he was reaching his limit, for Jay, this was not the time to stop.
*Tap*
Suddenly, the humanoid monster, which had been watching everything from the side, moved, bringing its face closer to Faith's body, and by consequence, Jay's.
Curiosity and interest filled its vacant eyes, which even seemed able to see what was happening inside Faith.
Sensing the movement with his radar, this got on Jay's nerves, who had his eyes closed to concentrate better, but because he was at a crucial point in the treatment, he did nothing else.
'Just a little more...!' Jay exclaimed into his [Mental Network], the order being slow and ambiguous but reaching the other parasites as well.
Quickly, the [Mental Network] was filled with mixed emotions, such as nervousness and relief, for even though they all had to be careful, they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.
*SPLASH!*
"!"
However, abruptly interrupting both Jay and the parasites, an event outside caused them both to shift the focus of their attention.
Opening his eyes, what Jay saw was a large amount of black liquid on top of Faith's body, covering her almost completely.
The monster's figure, or rather, its 'mouth' being right on top of the esper, with residue of the black liquid it had just spit out.
"..."
*Tap*
With its goal accomplished, the monster then returned to its original place as it stretched out its arms, pointing at Faith.
Slowly, Jay's gaze locked onto the monster, followed by many more pairs. Jay said absolutely nothing in the face of this, his mind racing a mile a minute.
But it wasn't necessary, after all, all communication was happening not with words, but with thoughts, through the [Mind Network].
Again, and again, and again, an emotion began to run through the [Mental Network], with Jay and each of the parasites accepting it completely.
As Jay watched Faith's condition deteriorate in her status window, he finally managed to say words that expressed not only his intention, but also that of his little ones.
"We're going to kill you."
*BOOM!*
Immediately afterwards, a great current of energy began to emanate from Jay.
Streams of wind began to move violently in the surroundings at the same time as the presence of qi increased tremendously.
Without warning, Jay's figure then disappeared from the monster's sight, who was alerted by Jay's sudden increase in power and became on guard.
At inhuman speed, the monster's pupils began to move, desperately searching left and right for Jay.
What the monster didn't know was that the esper was no longer on the ground, but was now high in the air, his gaze, which now gave off an emerald glow, locked on the monster.
Then, his whole body moved to perform a move he had been practicing for quite some time.
*BAM!*
"!"
The monster's body, having received a strong kick to the head, was forced to lower its head, where the wind, originating from the point where the kick made contact, began to cut its skin as it formed a spiral.
*SWOOSH!*
With the monster resisting the force of the standing kick, the wind became even more rambunctious, wanting to take him to the ground at all costs.
Normally, Jay, with only his physique enhancement to rank (C-), wouldn't be able to do something like this, but in this kick had been mixed in everything he had.
From his wind control, the qi in his body, the attack he copied from another pugilist, and the near perfect coordination he had with his little ones and their energy.
As for why the synergy was so unusually high, it was because this time, the opponent was not only Jay's enemy, but also the parasites.
Finally, the power of the initial kick along with the wind began to lose power, and the monster was about to break free of it.
*Swoosh!*
Again appearing out of nowhere, Jay's figure appeared in front of the monster, who upon noticing him, instantly broke free from the wind and moved to attack him.
Simultaneously, both launched an attack, the monster using its sharp claws and Jay using his trusty kicks coated with wind.
*BOOM!!!*
It was a loud crash that even seemed to shake the surroundings, but sooner rather than later, the winner of this contest of strength made himself known.
"!!!"
*BAM!*
With another loud sound, the monster... had been thrown towards a nearby tree!
"WE SAID WE'D KILL YOU AND THAT'S WHAT WE'LL DO!!!"
With that shout, the esper, wasting no more time, in his strongest state yet, launched himself at the monster.
