In contrast to the Beholders who were ignored by the populace, Frost was recognized no matter where she went. The mere pair of golden eyes and a black feathered coat was usually what convinced people of the fact.

However, the people of Greenbirth were shown another telltale sign of the Black Dove. Her presence was unlike any other. Even the Beholders could not draw as many eyes as she did. Stealth was but impossible for Frost. If she was an RPG character, then she would have zero in stealth and have her charisma stat maxed out.

Contrary to her overbearing presence, Frost wore a pleasant smile as she strode through the streets of the aftermath. The Dungeons had stopped appearing ever since the arrival of the Behemoth, and the remaining ones were already destroyed.

Right now, all she had to do was provide assurance to the lost, and her healing to the injured. Frost was accompanied by Jury and a brigade of Greater Healers. Further ahead and behind were the Black Wings. More than seventy scattered around H5, with seven acting as guards for the Greater Healers.

“Mister, it’s almost done. Please don’t move around so much.” A Greater Healer kindly asked a man with a lacerated arm, healing his wounds as people gathered around in awe.

Watching a healer at work was always fascinating.

“Hey, don’t ogle at them or you’re going to need a mortician instead of a healer to fix you up.” One of the Black Wings warned, as another pointed her gun at an injured Protectorate.

While Frost and the regular healers treated the civilians with kindness, the same could not be said about how the Black Wings treated the Atelier Personnel.

Loud burst of explosions broke out like an array of fireworks. Injured personnel were shot indiscriminately by a pale bullet, both healing them immediately but at the cost of causing a brief second of immense agony.

“Sorry friend, but you’re getting a healing bullet – and oh, she passed out.” A Black Wing scratched their head, watching a Public Defender collapse after a single shot.

“Maybe don’t aim for the head?” The one beside her advised.

“Something, something center mass. A healing bullet can kill someone if placed incorrectly.” Despite this, the Black Wing gave her partner the thumbs up. “But nice shot!”

“Aww~! Do you mean it?”

“Sorry Peace Flocks, but we ain’t got other methods.”

They casually shrugged off knocking out an Atelier Personnel. A healer no less. Suddenly, an old man fell to the ground clutching his chest before passing out.

“Hey! This one’s in the Healer’s Dilemma thing! A heart attack! You got the Shock Crystal!?”

“Right – HERE!” One piece of additional equipment found on the Black Wings was a Shock Crystal. Like the Fire and Water Crystals, it could discharge electricity only when brushed against fabric.

They were tiny, blue, uneven gemstones that worked on people with considerably low RESIST. The higher it was, the stronger the electric charge needed to be. Unfortunately, such a thing was unavailable to be produced at a large scale.

“STEP BACK! This is how it’s done, right! First time doing this on the field! Alright, break his ribs – I mean, do the compressions while I get this charged!”

“Right!”

“Here! Three, two, one – Let go! How did they say it? Clear? Clear!”

The old man’s heart was brought back to a stable rhythm as his breathing returned. He was still rendered unconscious, but the miracle of CPR and basic life support brought him back from what was once believed to be unhealable.

This further cemented their legitimacy in the eyes of the public.

Witnesses were left speechless by their crude but helpful attitude as people had to wonder if they really were healers or not. The Nex Megalopolis was attacked by fake healers during the last Atelier War, so there was another reason for the Black Wings to be feared.

But unlike last time, these healers were dressed in an easily indefinable uniform and from what gathered, were associated strongly with an entity called –

“Don’t approach them. You don’t recognize them, do you?” A Liquidator placed their hand on the shoulder of a Protectorate who was about to approach Frost.

He rolled his shoulder, briskly distancing himself from the mechanical monstrosity.

“That’s the Black Dove. What could else could you possibly know about them?”

“Black Dove only in name.” A Justicer interjected as he was greeted by Greater Healers and the Black Wings with elated smiles. “Internally, she is the Head of the Nexus. That Archetype is the one we all answer to. That person beside her is the new Beholder of Time Reverberation.”

“That’s a Beholder!? Here!? And that’s person is supposed to be the Head of the entire Nexus? Enough of your jokes! That… isn’t true, is it?” The same Protectorate exclaimed, his face turning pale in terror. His reaction was shared by many others. Beholders were seldomly, if ever seen on the field.

People immediately questioned if this was true. But at the same time, Justicers were bound by a blood-oath with Galia. They were incapable of uttering lies, less their tongues were to be ripped out.

“Times have changed. Dwarves don’t have particularly good eyesight. Did you see the Behemoth?” The Liquidator asked.

“It’s here?” The Protectorate was genuinely surprised to hear this.

“It is. And onboard are nearly all the Beholders of the Nexus.” The Justicer responded with great reverence. “Sharpen your conduct. They are likely watching.”

To begin with, many Atelier Personnel didn’t even know the faces of their own Beholders. Even to them they were worshiped as deities, so to see one in the flesh was surreal. The expected reality to warp, for the ground to break with every step or for the world to catch fire wherever Jury roamed.

But nothing of the sort happened.

If they didn’t know any better, then they would have believed her to be a mere bodyguard of the Head. There was just one question they had in mind. When one thought of the Head, they imagined a nightmarish entity, one that could not possibly walk among other. And yet the person who knelt to lower herself to the same level of the common folk was the Head.

“[Area Heal]. Are you ok? Please speak up and walk towards me or any of my healers if you’re injured!”

This is a good opportunity to farm some levels for it.

 

< Area Heal III >

< Replenish 350 HP to self and chosen targets within 15 meters. Minor wounds are healed instantly. Major wounds are only healed instantly if Area Heal replenishes more than 50% of a target’s HP. Lethal Wounds will begin the process of rapid granulation >

< Cost: 200 MP >

 

Area Heal was only useful on normal people unfortunately.

200 MP was a drop in the ocean for Frost who sported a whopping 180,000 MP, not to mention that her regeneration rate was 500 MP per minute. Healers heavily relied on mana potions. Greater Healers required them far less frequently as while their Mana capacity was not as large as most, their regeneration more than made up for it.

The lowest of the Greater Healers could restore 300 MP a minute. It didn’t seem much at all, but one had to remember just what kind of a monster Frost was. 300 MP easily meant that they could provide healing at least once a minute.

Frost used [Cleanse] as much as possible at the same time, removing blood and sterilizing wounds for a hopeful level up. All she needed was one more level to reach a Skill Mastery with [Cleanse], and she hoped it would allow her to remove unremovable Conditions like what Poena did back when they fought the Heart of Ours.

A crowd built up the closer they approached a site where plumes of smoke rose over the city.

“Pardon us.” Frost uttered and the sea of heads parted ways. They reacted on an instinctual level, her voice possessing a Pavlovian element. It caused one’s fight or flight response to flare up as she passed through with Jury by her side.

Her healers by now had dispersed, leaving only the two of them alone. They eventually reached the other side where a distant Ber was found with a winged arm impaled into the ground.

And in the next instant, the ground lifted as a shockwave ran throughout the city. A sudden burst of electrical power obliterated whatever was underneath as the air smelt of ozone. Ber’s eyes were glued to the ground as gore gushed from the ground like a geyser. When the crimson rain subsided, and as the red mist fizzled away, all that was left was a colossal sinkhole filled with churned innards.

“Good work, Ber.” Frost greeted pleasantly as Jury immediately created a miniature Isolation Sphere to hide their conversation. “We got here as fast as we could.”

“You say that, but didn’t you just stroll all the way here?” Ber wiped the blood away from her mouth, rushing towards Frost with widened eyes. “Never mind that – you’re finally here! It’s a big mess! No one can see the White Rabbit at all!”

“I know! Ber – before that, are you ok!?” Frost was more concerned about Ber for the moment now that her sisters had disappeared. She knew how close the triplets were, and how susceptible they were to breaking down whenever they were separated.

Ber however, shouted at the top of her lungs:

“We’ll get to them! No – you will! I’m not like the crybaby I was before! Trusting them right now is the least I can do! But that idiot Res still hasn’t… She still hasn’t changed!”

“What happened to Res!?” Jury questioned, holding onto Ber’s clawed hand as Frost took her winged arm to calm her down.

“You know both of them have already disappeared to wherever that White Rabbit’s taking the children to. I know they are not dead, because my blood would have reacted.” Ber briefly explained that her blood would have shocked her till unconscious if her Charged Blood Tether was severed.

As it turned out, that Ability transcended the physical realm. It was not just an ability that created an electric link between them but was a blood-link that reminded them that they were inseparable.

Ber’s fangs were bared for the world to see as an insurmountable pain washed over her body.

“That idiot doesn’t know that by pretending she’s fine, she’s still hurting people around her! So many already died because of her! She doesn’t know it, but she’s still just a child pretending to be an adult! That’s why those two morons were caught!”

Anguish filled her eyes, but even so, she did not break because she trusted her sisters more than anyone else in this world.

Yet not more than a certain Black Dove.

She was about to say something but was suddenly stopped by Frost who stared up at her with nothing but assurance. No. Beyond that was a rage that matched Ber’s.

“Don’t blame yourself for something you couldn’t do.” Frost spoke in a solemn tone. “The White Rabbit is an Aberration of Elysia. We’re certain of it. If they couldn’t deal with it, then it’s likely something none of us have ever faced before.”

“Cer and Res won’t go down so easily.” Jury added.

“I know Cer won’t. I wouldn’t be surprised if she was immune to the Corruption. Nah, she’d probably somehow break out of Corruption by herself. I don’t think she’s in trouble. But Res… Her CognitO Filters were failing, and the repairs weren’t until tomorrow. The fucking timing pisses me off!”

Ber was surrounded by flying sparks of electricity, a tear suddenly tumbling down her cheek.

“Res… is so stubborn. To the point where she can’t think about herself. I was wrong when I thought that she’d start to change but if anything, it’s only gotten worse! That Res… is suffering. Cer can be there for her but as long as I’m not there… then… then –!”

Frost wrapped her arms around Ber’s neck, drawing her into an embrace. Her motherly warmth caused Ber to whimper as she buried her face in her neck, calling out the names of her sisters.

“Leave their rescue to me. I won’t stop until they’re both back with us.” Frost tenderly spoke, her touch putting Ber’s heart to ease. It was always difficult to see someone like Ber cry. Even after overcoming their personal anguish, they still had the heart to weep for others.

“Hey… you three always referred to me as you mom. At the time, I didn’t know to feel about it. But after everything we’ve been through, I think I get it now. To me, you three might as well be my children.”

Frost then continued:

“So just like you, I want to get them back at any cost. Ber. Tell me. What happened to Res in the past?”

“… everything… I’ll tell you everything. You have to know. Because you’re the only one who can reach her…”

“Jury. We need to find where Alice was taken. Marionette said the gateway to meeting the White Rabbit is there.”

“I’m on it.” Jury said. But before she left, she said something in a soft voice. “Ber… Be ready to scold Res when she comes back. And be ready to give her lots of love. Res wouldn’t want to see you cry.”

“… You’re right. But at least… let me stay like this for a bit. Let an old wolf who never knew the warmth of a parent to borrow Frost.”

“Of course.” Jury patted Ber’s head.