The Leonel of the past might have really been surprised by this turn of events. In the world he was used to, even if people held such greed in their hearts, they wouldn't display it so openly. But, after his run-in with Thunderous Clap, he had already come to accept it. This was his new world now.
"I will be taking this Beast Crystal as it's useful to me. I'll also be taking a few of its scales and meat as well, but with a beast of this size, there's more than enough to go around for us all."
Leonel said words he was planning on saying anyway before King of Seas spoke. If he really wanted to slight these people, he could easily take the entire beast into his Segmented Cube. With his strength and means, would any of them even be capable of stopping him from doing so?
The fact he hadn't was already an act of kindness.
In Leonel's mind, the most important thing to him now as getting back to Aina. In order to do so, he needed to have adequate strength. It was impossible to tell what might be going on on Terrain.
When it came to matters related to Aina… He had no patience for nonsense, even if half that nonsense came from a beauty.
A suffocating aura bloomed from Leonel's body.
He had never been able to control this aura, but whenever his emotions became especially focused, it involuntarily leaked.
Toward this change, it wasn't just King of Seas and Pisces that suddenly found it difficult to breathe. Even the youths from the Southern Lookout could only look toward Leonel with ghastly pale expressions.
They had never sensed such a thing from Leonel, and how could they? That day, Leonel had been so tired. How could he possibly focus his emotions? Had he been able to focus on the task at hand like he usually did, they would have long since been drowned out by his aura.
In that moment, the red in King of Seas' eyes completely retreated as though it had met something it feared.
Leonel hadn't done a thing. He simply stood there and spoke. But, even if he told others that he wasn't purposely trying to suppress them, who would believe him?
All the youths from the Southern Lookout only looked toward Leonel with more fear. Could it be that he had really held back that day? Or had he really been tired? That hadn't been a joke?
After realizing what was happening a flash of embarrassment and anger appeared on King of Seas' face. However, but he could do anything about it, what happened next left him stunned.
The very guns he thought were already broken were taken out by Leonel once again. They could only watch as he calmly twisted the broken nozzles off and replaced the with new ones as though nothing had ever happened.
King of Seas and Pisces couldn't help but gulp.
This was already Leonel's final warning to them. If they really insisted on continuing, then he wouldn't mind teaching them a lesson. The last group that tried ended up in a tree for a few days, Leonel had no problem doing that again.
Though there was now hesitation in the eyes of the two water ability users, Leonel could see that their resolve was slowly growing firmer.
This sort of opportunity, it came once in a lifetime. Most of the water ability beasts could only be found in the ocean, but who dared to venture into it? The waters were simply too dangerous and who knew what beasts evolved down there out of their control?
In addition, just being an aquatic beast didn't guarantee a water ability either, and even if it did, it was unlikely to be as good as the one in Leonel's hands right now.
Even with all this being said, there was another, maybe even more important, reason they had to do this. This place was one where they would be the strongest. And, they could tell that Leonel wasn't comfortable with battling inside of water. If they tried to take this battle elsewhere, their strength would be greatly diminished.
There was no better place for them to battle than by all of this water.
KKKKKKKRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!
Just when everyone was preparing for battle, the sound of a raging beast came from the distance.
Leonel's pupils shrunk. 'It's not just one beast.'
BANG!
An explosion caused many of the youths present to feel their ears rupture and begin to bleed. At first, it was impossible to tell exactly where this explosion had come from and what had caused it. It was simply too loud. But, a moment later, a raging pillar of billowing white steam shot into the air in the distance.
The pillar was so thick and vibrant that it could be seen from over ten kilometers away with a clearness that made it feel as though it was right before them all.
'Force?'
Leonel's eyes widened. That pillar, he could feel it. It was a flood of Force with a level of density he couldn't fathom.
'Is that the Force Crystal mine Old Hutch was talking about? Is it supposed to explode like that?'
Worry began to bubble up in Leonel's heart. Before, he was freely using his Force because he was certain that there weren't any Invalids on this island. With his density of Force, the Invalids that could threaten him were too far away. Plus, they would all be creatures of another species, so they wouldn't bother with him either.
But, this density of Force was on another level. In addition, if it really came from the Force Crystal mine, that meant it didn't come from any one species and might very well attract creatures of all kind.
If this island was suddenly surrounded by an infestation of aquatic Invalids, what could they do? How the hell would they get out of this place?
Leonel's blood ran cold.