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Last Embryo Volume 4 Chapter 4 Part 7

Translator: DarkHeartedAlchemist

「For now, at least. Basically, even though Homura promised to make it to us as fast as possible, it will still be a considerable amount of time before he and his posse manage to reach us, and by then, it will probably be too late to help this albino girl.」

「Fumu fumu. So, what are we going to do about this then?」

「For the time being, our actions will have to essentially be divided into two actions connected with one another: shortening the amount of time required to meet up with Homura’s group and find as many life-prolonging methods for this girl as possible. And if my estimations about the course of the Giant Spirit Train are correct, then it should be having its last stop somewhere in the east.」

「Somewhere in the east? How can you be so sure?」

Pritt asked while glancing back at Izayoi not understanding where he got that estimation from.

「Tell me Pritt, are you familiar with the words Nec Plus Ultima?」

「Nec Plus Ultima? Hmm. . .  no, I cannot say that I am familiar with those words. Are they from Latin?」

「Later they got incorporated into Latin, but the words themselves are Greek in origin.」

And, without elaborating on the subject any further, Izayoi turned away from Pritt and continued to walk forward.

For the next few minutes or so, the only sound that could be heard were the sounds of the forest around them, and the rhythmic stomping of Izayoi’s feet followed by Pritt’s footsteps as she did her best to walk side-by-side with him and not fall too far behind.

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . And? Was that it? You are not going to explain what that Nec Plus Ultima is?!」

「Something to do with the gods from other mythologies. But since you do not know that, you probably would not understand a word of my explanations, so do not worry yourself with that.」

He said that in such a tone that Pritt went wide-eyed with surprise. Well, what was he expecting? Of course she would not know much about the gods from other mythologies. . .

(Oh. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . OHHHHH!!!)

Realizing that this was probably his petty way of getting back at her for all that prying into his past that she did earlier she trotted to Izayoi’s side and laughed unpleasantly.

「My oh my, how unexpected. Who would have thought that the new generation of heroes would be so petty about such small, insignificant things?  Perhaps I did hit the bullseye with my earlier remarks?」

「I told you to drop that subject already, you damn hag. It has nothing to do with you, and it definitely does not have anything to do with the 2^nd War for the Sun’s Authority at all.」

「Maybe so, but it does not change the fact that it made me curious.」

「Such a noisy Earth’s Mother Goddess. Maybe you should take this opportunity to give those aged brain cells of yours some much-needed exercise?」

Izayoi waved his hand in a dismissive manner, but no matter how hard he tried, it looked like Pritt was not going to let him off the hook this time as well. Her inability, or perhaps unwillingness to understand how to deal with young people like Izayoi was beginning to get really annoying.

They probably would have kept the light, joking atmosphere of their march while making their way through the lush forest. . . but they stopped talking at all when they sensed that there was definitely something wrong with their surroundings. While keeping a teasing smile on her face as a front, Pritt leaned towards Izayoi and whispered to him:

「. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . We are being followed.」

「Yeah, but definitely not by one of the Players. Whoever is on our tails, they are too accustomed to moving through the forest to be someone from outside of Atlantis.」

「I guess that rules out Parashurama then. You think it might be some of the indigenous people?」

「Most likely, or at least the probability of that being the case is extremely high. But if that ends up being the case, then we have definitely happened upon ducks carrying Welsh onions on their backs, do not you think so?」

Izayoi grinned at Pritt, and she grinned back at him as the two of them continued to walk through the thick bushes of the forest. The prank they were about to pull was a very dangerous one because things could go south in a span of but a single breath, but in this particular case it could not be helped because they had someone following them who needed to be taught a lesson.

Slowly, Pritt began to distance herself from Izayoi.

Since he was carrying the albino girl on his back, he will not be able to go all out if the battle suddenly breaks out. In order to be truly of use in combat here, he would have to drop the girl to the ground or hide her someplace safe, and right now he simply did not have the time to be doing that, so he had no choice but o leave the brunt of the job to Pritt this time.

Slowing her pace down and acting like she was falling behind Izayoi, Pritt began to quietly drop the seeds of the linden tree which she summoned into her clenched palms onto the ground. After dropping six of them, she abruptly stopped and called out to whoever it was who was trailing them amidst the shadows of the rustling tree leaves.

「. . . . Well then, here goes. To all those who are tailing us since a while ago! Do you not think it is rude to be following after one of the members of 『The Twelve Devas』 while skulking around in the shadows like cowards?!」

The leaves that were hanging from the branches of the trees continued to buzz quietly in the wind, but even after a minute has passed and then another, there was no sign of any movements being made around Pritt and Izayoi, or in their immediate surroundings, even after Pritt made it easier for their followers by outright stating that they were dealing with one of the members of the 「Heavenly Army」, but apparently even that did not do much to help them.

Well, in that case it cannot be helped. She offered them a way out, and what is about to happen will absolutely not be her fault because not heeding her warning was a decision that their pursuers have made of their own free will, so none of them could blame her for making things a little rough. With that in mind, Pritt reached out with her hand towards the seeds she dropped to the ground and snapped her fingers.

In a matter of seconds, huge ivies shot out from beneath the ground, shattering the soil around them. Now that these seeds have been blessed with a small portion of Pritt’s divinity, they had but one task that they had to fulfill: to grow up and rampage around this forest, slashing with their sharp vines and destroy their surroundings at random. Initially Izayoi was worried about the approach that Pritt might take, because even though they might have been attacked and their lives might have been in danger, at the same time he wanted to avoid fighting against their pursuers in such a rough way that would end up altering the landscape around them beyond all recognition, but if that is how Pritt has chosen to approach their current predicament, then there was no need for him to be concerned about that anymore, because her method allows destroying the surrounding trees while planting new ones at the same time.

While that tactic was ideal for Izayoi and Pritt, the exact opposite could be said about those who were following after them. They were able to trail them from the safe distance precisely because the trees and bushes were providing them with plenty of cover they could use to hide themselves, but now that Pritt has unleashed her berserk vines that one advantage they had has been taken from them. Now the only option they had left was to leave their current hiding places as they were screaming towards one another:

「This mysterious magic. . . is this the work of giants after all?!」

「Spread out and surround them!」

「No matter what you do, do not touch those wicked monster trees! Aim for the witch the created them instead!」