Chapter 47: The Golden Eagle Goes Wild

Julie ended up helping Summer take care of the people with minor injuries, while Saddie handled those who were more seriously hurt.

It turned out that Saddie had also been part of a military medical team before, so treating injured people was nothing new to her. She moved quickly from one person to another, checking their wounds and doing whatever she could to help.

While they worked, Summer kept checking the pollution level in the zone. It was still quite high, but thankfully, it was slowly going down. The number of polluted creatures nearby was also starting to drop little by little.

[Is Ilya seriously doing all of this alone?]

[Sounds like an S-Rank problem. If I tried that, I’d probably get killed by the mutated creatures in five minutes.]

[Five minutes? Look at this confident person.]

[I’d last thirty seconds.]

[Same. The moment I see one mutated cockroach, I’m retiring from life.]

Summer chuckled softly before looking back down at the injured woman in front of her. She finished wrapping the bandage around her wrist and gently tightened it. "There. Try not to move it too much for now."

The woman nodded. "Thank you."

Summer gave her a small smile before standing up and checking her terminal again.

The pollution level had dropped by another two percent. More importantly, several red dots on the map had disappeared.

Three more dots even disappeared almost at the same time.

[Did those dots just disappear together?]

[They did.]

[Damn, I really want to see him in action! Summer, can you just go to him so we can see him?]

[Are you crazy?! Captain already told her to wait! If she goes outside, she’ll probably just get herself into trouble.]

That was true.

Besides, it wasn’t like she could keep up with Ilya. Even so, she was still curious.

"Saddie, I’ve finished treating them," Summer said. "I’m going upstairs for a bit."

Saddie turned toward her and quickly nodded. "Okay! You should get some rest too. Thanks for helping!"

[Summer, where are you going?!]

[Are you planning to jump from the roof because this zone is stressing you out that much?]

[Hell, does she even look stressed?]

Summer ignored the comments and headed upstairs.

The hotel had already taken quite a lot of damage from the surge, so some parts of the upper floor were blocked by broken walls and fallen furniture.

She had to step over a few pieces of debris before finally reaching the door that led to the rooftop.

The moment she pushed it open, a cold gust of wind hit her face. Summer narrowed her eyes and walked forward.

From up there, she could see most of the nearby streets.

The roads were filled with broken cars, cracked pavement, and pieces of buildings that had collapsed during the surge. A few polluted creatures were still moving in the distance, but compared to before, there were far fewer of them now.

Summer quickly checked her terminal again.

Several red dots were still disappearing one after another. "He really is doing it alone..."

[Can you see him?!]

[ZOOM IN! ZOOM IN!]

[Use the livestream camera!]

[Summer, do something!]

Summer glanced at the comments. "That’s what I’m doing."

She switched from the map to the camera function on her terminal, then pointed it toward the far side of the zone.

At first, all she could see were ruined buildings and empty streets. But a few moments later, she found Ilya fighting a group of flying bees.

There weren’t just one or two of them. There were dozens.

[ZOOM IN! ZOOM IN! LET US SEE HIM!]

[How is he not running?!]

[Because unlike us, he actually has an S-Rank license.]

[If that were me, I’d already be dead.]

[Dead? I’d be dead before they even reached me.]

[SUMMER, MORE ZOOM! WE NEED THE ILYA POV!]

[This stream just became ten times better.]

"Be patient," Summer said as she zoomed the camera in further toward Ilya.

At first, she only wanted to get better footage for the livestream. But the moment Ilya came into clearer view, the excitement she felt quickly faded.

A bad feeling slowly settled in her chest.

He had been flying through the polluted sky for a long time. Even though Ilya had tried to stay at a safer height, it was impossible to avoid going higher from time to time, especially while fighting so many creatures in the air.

And now, Summer could tell that something was wrong.

Ilya was still fast, but his movements no longer looked as controlled as before.

He tore through the swarm of bees with a kind of wild force that made Summer’s fingers slowly tighten. His attacks were sharper, heavier, and far more brutal than they had been earlier.

One of the polluted bees rushed at him from the side, and Ilya caught it with his metal hand. Instead of simply throwing it away, he crushed its head in his grip.

The body dropped from the sky, and right at that moment, Summer looked at Ilya with a serious expression.

[Did he just crush that thing with one hand?]

[Okay, that was terrifying.]

[Why does he look different?]

[Am I the only one getting a bad feeling?]

Summer’s terminal buzzed several times, and Ilya’s information appeared on the screen again.

[Sentinel Detected.]

[Identity: Ilya Noctis]

[Beast Form: Golden Eagle]

[Sentinel Rank: S]

[Pollution Level: 84%]

[Status: Highly Polluted.]

[Warning: Guiding Required.]

Summer pressed her lips into a thin line as the feeling of dread in her heart began to grow.

In just a few hours, his pollution level had risen so quickly.

[The rising speed is even worse than Archer’s!]

[Is it even possible for someone’s pollution level to rise that much in one day?]

[Of course it is! Especially in an environment like this!]

[Who’s his Guide?]

[Doesn’t he currently have no one?]

[Wait, what about his last Guide? I remember he had one before!]

[His last Guide was his classmate! Unfortunately, he died last year because of several health problems.]

[Could it have been because he guided Ilya?]

[Hey, don’t spread rumors like that!]

[I mean... their compatibility was high, but not that high. I heard it was only around seventy-something percent. He was chosen because there wasn’t anyone else with a higher compatibility rate.]

[Well, I guess we have a new one now!]