Chapter 24: The Horrifying Beast The sun shines brightly, and waves of scorching air rise and fall...
The sun was shining brightly, and the scorching air waves hit the horse, making it neigh with fatigue. Mary dismounted and licked her dry lips as she fed water to her beloved horse, Lulu.
Diego endured the dryness in his throat and took a sip of the water from the canteen. No, to be more precise, it was warm water heated by the sun, which made him feel even more uncomfortable than if he hadn't drunk it at all.
"Let's do it at night. It's too hot now. The horses won't be able to bear it if we keep walking like this." Mary saw a rock not far away that could barely provide shade, and couldn't help but say to Diego.
The other party naturally agreed to her request. He tapped the silver bullet with his whip, signaling it to accelerate. During this short journey, he cursed the weather at least three times: "Is Lilith sick? Why did she come to this godforsaken place?"
Mary opened her mouth but remained silent. She took the lead and walked into the shade to cool down, feeling her tired body finally relax. Diego, accustomed to his reluctance to respond, continued to talk, "If it weren't for the money, I would never come to a place like this in my life."
"Talk less, we're running out of water." Mary handed her water bottle to Diego, who took it, took a few sips, and finally calmed down.
The sun, hanging high in the sky, seemingly forever, made him irritable. The massive rock behind him was also drenched in the sun's warmth, emitting a dull heat. Diego felt like he was in a frying pan, the water he'd drunk instantly turning to sweat.
But the women around her accepted it well and looked so refreshed that it made people jealous.
As if by magic, Diego rested his head on Mary's shoulder. As he expected, Mary's hair and the skin on her shoulders were both pleasantly cool.
Mary wanted to shake the heat source off her shoulders with some disgust, but when she found that not only did it not make the other person leave, but it made him stick even tighter, she gave up on the idea.
She looked at the sky silently, calculating in her mind how long it would take for the sun to set.
Time defies human will, but even the most difficult times will eventually pass. The sun finally gave way to the night, reluctantly setting. As night slowly fell, the desert experienced its most comfortable temperatures.
Diego stretched and stood up from the ground, moving his numb muscles and bones, squinting his eyes to enjoy the hard-earned cool breeze.
Now is a good time to hurry on their way. If they are lucky, they might even be able to find water.
Just as he was about to tell Mary that they were leaving, he heard the sound of a sharp weapon cutting through the air.
No matter how quickly Diego reacted, he only had time to catch a glimpse of a cold dagger stabbing towards his face.
Warm blood splattered, and a cry of pain reached his ears. Diego subconsciously touched his cheek with his hand, and the sticky red stained his high-quality leather gloves.
The squeaking monster was stabbed cleanly through the abdomen by Mary, and soon fell silent. Mary held the dagger close to her face, observing it for a moment, and then swung it downward. The monster slipped from the blade and fell heavily to the ground, raising a small amount of sand and clearing the blood from the dagger.
In the moonlight, Mary's silver pupils emitted a gloomy light, like a wild beast going mad.
Diego's heart was beating faster due to the adrenaline, and he realized belatedly that if Mary had not saved him but wanted to kill him, then what would be lying on the ground would be his broken body.
This woman is very strong.
Thinking of this, he felt a strange sense of security in his heart.
Because Mary chose to stand on his side, she was willing to stand in front of him.
"Is this... a dinosaur?" Diego cleared his mind and squatted on the ground to observe the dead creature. He had thought it was an animal like a bat, but he didn't expect it to be a long-extinct dinosaur.
"Stand-in attack." Mary held the dagger in her hand: "The pursuers are following us, hurry up and leave here with me!"
Even on the soft, loose sand, her jumping ability was astonishing. As if defying gravity, she covered several meters in just a few strides and landed on the horse's back. After spending so many days together, Lulu and her master had become a tacit rapport. Without Mary's urging, she neighed and galloped forward.
Diego knew something was amiss. He wasn't the type to lose his mind when faced with a situation. He immediately followed Mary's instructions. He was about to follow her when he felt a wave of dizziness. A strange heat spread from his feet to his heart, and his entire body began to burn. This sudden onset slowed him down, and instead of mounting his horse, he stood beside Silver Bullet, panting.
Mary was wondering why she didn't hear the sound of horse hooves behind her. When she turned around, she saw Diego lying on the ground. His beloved horse also looked in poor condition and was snorting in frustration.
"Hmph, I suggest you don't go over there yet." A somewhat feminine male voice reached her ears. The man standing on the sand dune spread his hands towards her and said, "After all, my mission is to capture you alive. Don't rush to your death, little Mary."
She had never seen this man before, and his abilities were unheard of. Apparently... he was a new Stand user.
Mary clenched the dagger, her eyes filled with creepy calmness.
It's true that the Stand User's abilities are usually very difficult to deal with. But... killing the Stand User's true self is quite simple.
Mary habitually turned the dagger in her hand and rushed forward without hesitation.
Ferdinand had never seen anyone move so fast. Although they were hundreds of meters apart, Mary arrived in front of him at lightning speed in the blink of an eye!
"Dinosaurs!" Ferdinand dodged backward in panic, only to miss a step and tumble down the dune. He tried to steady himself, but the soft sand offered no leverage. He was forced to roll from top to bottom, one circle after another, before finally stabilizing himself.
His head was spinning, his clothes stained with sand, and he had never been so dusty before. He clenched his palms. Ferdinand had never experienced such humiliation!
Capturing alive doesn't necessarily mean being unharmed; it can also mean being on the verge of death. A cold flash of light flashed in Ferdinand's eyes. Suppressing the murderous intent within, he roared, "Go and tear that damned woman to pieces!"
The dinosaurized animals obeyed their masters' orders unconditionally, baring their fangs and charging at Mary without hesitation. However, this crude "human wave" tactic alone was of no use to her.
Diego was awakened by the strange cries of countless dinosaurs. He could feel his teeth inexplicably growing longer, nearly piercing his lip, but the pain wasn't unbearable. He stood up, supporting his beloved horse, and saw a figure dancing in the moonlight, as if in a dance.
No… Diego shook his head to wake himself up.
This wasn't a dance party, but a massacre. The woman, always gentle and good-tempered, seemed to truly come alive on the battlefield. Her movements were subtle, but each one was deadly.
The cold and hard dagger seemed to turn into a living snake under the control of its owner, greedily devouring the life that approached her.
The bright moonlight shone upon Mary. This place had become her home turf. She leaped up like a dancing bird, then slashed through the dinosaur's body as it charged towards her. With brutal precision, she slit the massive creature's belly open, blood and organs gushing out joyfully from the opening. Using the force of her unsheathed dagger, Mary retreated, landing a precise stomp on the tiny, finger-length dinosaur running toward her from behind. With the force, a teeth-grinding crack of bone echoed from her foot.
No one can do anything to her. No matter from which angle the attack comes or how big or small it is, the only outcome is death.
The desert drank deeply from this hard-earned feast, and her surroundings were all scarlet.
Amidst the stench of blood, Diego smelled a reassuring fragrance. He subconsciously sniffed, his saliva flowing uncontrollably from the corners of his mouth.
So fragrant... so delicious
His consciousness was slipping away, and he watched in fascination as the woman before him harvested lives with the flick of her hand. She barely moved, yet she slaughtered every living thing.
So beautiful...
Diego felt like his head was a mess. He didn't know what he was doing. The only clear thought in his mind was to eat Mary.
Yes, that's it, eat her, hide her in your stomach, don't let anyone see her.
Ferdinand, at the bottom of the dune, was now filled with fear rather than anger, but he still roared fiercely, "You damned woman!" He roared, "How could someone like you who doesn't even respect the earth deserve the president's favor?!"
But the other party was not angered by him at all. She was simply a meat grinder on the battlefield. Even if he had turned all the surrounding animals into dinosaurs, he could not delay time.
He had thought that this woman would quickly transform into a monster that would bow down to him under his Stand ability. But Ferdinand was horrified to find that although the woman's cheeks had changed slightly, it was only a little bit. If he wanted to tame her into a dinosaur, it would take at least ten minutes. Ferdinand secretly cursed himself for miscalculating, but he still gave himself a chance to turn defeat into victory: "The President represents the country. If you are not loyal to the country, then you..."
Before he could finish his words, Mary, who had dealt with the last dinosaur, pounced on him. Although there was not even a stain of blood on her body, she was even more terrifying than Shura.
But... he was the winner!
Ferdinand could barely suppress a smile as he saw the figure finally reach Mary's back. The dinosaur looked eager to bite off Mary's head.
Just as Mary was about to kill the howling dinosaur behind her, she heard Ferdinand's gloating voice: "Are you sure you want to kill Diego?"
Is this Diego?! Mary couldn't imagine it was the handsome blond man, staring at the monster with its bloody maw gaping at her. That moment of hesitation created a fatal flaw, and Diego's claws reached for Mary's neck. In an instant, blood splattered everywhere.
If Mary hadn't dodged quickly, her entire head would have been chopped off by Diego's sharp claws, but the situation was not optimistic now. A huge blood mark had appeared on her neck.
But this was nothing. Mary lowered her eyes and dived down with the help of Diego's power.
Ferdinand suddenly saw the moon, which grew rounder and brighter, clearly illuminating the woman's eyes. There was no joy or anger in her pupils, but in that extreme emptiness was the dagger she had thrown without hesitation.
A cold light like lightning flashed through the air and penetrated Ferdinand's eyebrows with incredible accuracy, piercing through his entire head.
The body's reaction was faster than the mind's, and the fragile body collapsed to the ground with a thud, sending up a shower of sand and dirt. But the man's pupils hadn't closed yet, and his state of deathly astonishment would persist until the final moment of decay.
Mary covered her neck and walked to the man, pulled out her dagger, and shook off the blood on it.
Although the wound was serious, it didn't hurt at all thanks to her strong recovery. However... touching her empty neck, Mary felt a rare sadness.
The necklace Johnny had given her was gone... The quicksand was constantly shifting, and the delicate necklace was incredibly hard to find. Elsewhere, Diego broke free from Ferdinand's grip. He silently crushed the necklace under his feet into the sand before quickly walking over.
After making sure Mary's wound wasn't life-threatening, he took out some medical cloth and expertly bandaged it. "Can you still speak now?"
Mary shook her head
"If you want treatment, we'll go our separate ways." Diego hesitated for a long time before finally saying what he thought was a very conscientious statement: "But since you didn't complete the escort mission, I'll cut the fee in half and only give you $50,000."
Her palm felt a little itchy, so Mary resisted the urge to slap him and walked back to comfort the two frightened horses.
Diego followed closely behind. Mary was a good helper and he didn't want her to get away.
Just as he was hesitating whether to raise the salary, Mary suddenly looked up into the distance with a surprised smile.
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