Vine was stalling that swarm of Mutant Species, waiting for the King Seed to appear.
Leo led Gu Ning into a building that looked reasonably sturdy and had the other team members stand guard outside.
Most of the noise was blocked from Gu Ning’s ears, and the flashing blue light was gone from her vision.
But outside, gunshots rang out nonstop. Members of the Dog Team were battling Mutant Species on the roof, and dust rained down from overhead as the ceiling threatened to collapse at any moment.
"Awhoo..."
Gu Ning was staring nervously at the ceiling when she heard a whimper from the small dog beneath her and looked down at him.
"Are you okay?" she asked, patting the small dog’s head.
Leo whined again, licked his paw, and nudged his head upward repeatedly.
Gu Ning paused, then hesitantly reached out and gave his head a rub.
The small dog’s ears twitched. He wagged his tail and panted, his mouth open.
Gu Ning was quite familiar with how dogs showed their feelings. She rubbed his ears again, then threw her arms around his neck and gave him a vigorous ruffling.
"ARF." Leo kicked his paws against the ground and spun in an excited circle. He felt a new surge of fighting spirit.
’Damn, how does she know exactly what I want! She’s too good to this Mixed Breed dog. Totally worth being her emergency rations.’
Sensing his buoyant excitement, Gu Ning’s own anxiety eased a little.
The girl and the dog had only a few seconds of relaxed happiness before a Mutant Species pecked through the roof, causing a corner of the right wall to collapse along with it.
Leo carried Gu Ning as he retreated to a safer spot.
"BANG!"
A gunshot rang out next to Gu Ning’s ear. The head of a Mutant Species poking through the hole was struck squarely by a Crystal Stone Bullet.
Gu Ning activated her terminal. Using its light, she looked in the direction of the gunshot and saw Barto clambering in through the collapsed corner of the wall.
"Barto!"
"Are you hurt?" Barto asked, striding quickly toward her as he caught the heavy scent of blood.
Gu Ning shook her head and looked him over. "What about you?"
"I’m fine." After confirming she wasn’t injured, Barto glanced at the dog beneath her. He pressed a dagger glowing with blue light into Gu Ning’s hand for self-defense, then raised his gun and stood guard before them.
He fired whenever a Mutant Species showed its head. Gradually, the large hole in the corner became choked with them, and a pile of their corpses grew at his feet.
The intervals between Barto’s shots grew longer and longer, until their surroundings fell completely silent.
But the quieter it got, the more intense Gu Ning’s unease became.
’Something is getting closer...’
"It’s here!" Barto sensed the King Seed’s presence and fired several consecutive shots at the empty space above them.
The gunshots echoed in the night sky. Gu Ning looked up but saw nothing besides the silhouettes of Mutant Species corpses draped over the edge of the hole.
"This thing is one hell of a coward!" Barto wished he could go out and hunt it down, but it was too clever. First, it had lured away the Bird Team’s defenses, then sent the Mutant Species to attack while they slept.
Luckily, they’d prepared a Mimic Mixed Species to distract it, or the consequences would have been unthinkable.
Leo bared his teeth at the hole in the roof, about to bark and exchange information with Vine’s group, but Barto clamped a hand over his muzzle.
"Quiet."
The words had barely left his mouth when a powerful gust of wind and snow swirled down from above. Then, Gu Ning and the others heard a cry—ethereal, high-pitched, and unlike any of the other Mutant Species.
As the cry rang out, a ghostly blue shadow streaked across the pitch-black opening above them.
"CRACK..."
A noise from nearby drew their attention back.
The three of them simultaneously looked at the pile of Mutant Species corpses. Before their eyes, the extinguished blue lights within the dead creatures began to glow again, like fireflies.
The Mutant Species that had been struck in their vitals by Crystal Stone Bullets were coming back to life.
The three of them were speechless.
’What the hell is going on?!’
Gu Ning’s heart leaped into her throat, and she tightened her grip on the dagger.
Barto said, stunned, "What the hell?!"
This was the first time he’d ever seen anything like this.
Seeing the Mutant Species resurrecting before him, Leo knew the situation was far more grim than he’d imagined and immediately prepared to break out with Gu Ning.
However, before he could act, the adjacent wall collapsed with a thunderous crash, pinning Barto underneath before he could dodge.
Leo, being a little farther from the wall, managed to dodge. But just as he did, a Mutant Species, much smaller than the others, shot in like a bullet. Its long, sharp beak pierced through his body, viciously pinning him to the wall.
The force of the impact threw Gu Ning from Leo’s back.
The Mutant Species didn’t press its attack on Leo. It withdrew its sword-like beak, twisted around, and grabbed the small female, flying toward the hole in the ceiling.
Enduring the pain, Leo roared and lunged, sinking his teeth into the Mutant Species’s wing and dragging it down. He pinned it beneath his paws and locked his jaws around its neck.
Gu Ning scrambled up from the floor and saw a patch of white fur on the small dog’s abdomen stained bright red with blood. She froze.
Seeing the Mutant Species in his jaws still struggling, Gu Ning couldn’t worry about anything else. She lunged forward and plunged the dagger in her hand into its head.
After the blue light in the Mutant Species’s eyes went out, Gu Ning rushed to press her hands to Leo’s wound.
Leo licked her trembling hands, then struggled to his feet. He tilted his head back, let out a loud bark, and then gently took Gu Ning in his mouth. Seizing the moment before the other Mutant Species had fully revived, he bolted outside with her.
They had just run outside when the ghostly blue shadow descended, snatching them both up like a gale.
Leo felt the talons gripping him dig into his flesh, and he released the small female from his mouth.
’From this height... the fall shouldn’t hurt her too badly, right?’
’Useless bird, useless wolf, get over here now...’
Gu Ning realized Leo’s intent and frantically reached for him. "Leo!"
As she plummeted downward, Gu Ning saw a flash of blue light, and then a warm hand caught her wrist.
Gu Ning looked up to see a Beastman, his face obscured by a hood, gripping the massive talon above with one hand and her with the other.
And clutched in the massive bird’s other talon was Leo, now back in his human form and completely naked.