The Broken System Chose the Antagonist
Chapter 23: Hunting State

Chapter 23: Hunting State

Hilda and Nadia decided to make their way back to camp, figuring it would be too much effort to try to locate one Predicament even if it was heavily injured and was likely to possess less than a quarter of its original strength.

And while this was something to be unhappy about...

It wasn’t the current focus.

"Hey, what do you think you’re doing?"

"Hm?"

Trailing behind Hilda, who marched through the darkness without care, Nadia looked down. She stared at the German’s hand, which was firmly holding onto hers, pulling her along.

Although Nadia had an unreadably cold expression, one could still make out the displeasure in her eyes.

"Could you explain to me why you’re holding onto my hand?" Nadia asked, having tried to yank her hand out of Hilda’s grip for the past 3 minutes. "It’s getting on my nerves..."

"Aww~ don’t wanna hold hands with me? And here I was thinking you were finally opening up for me~... since you took my coat und all. " Hilda snickered as she looked back, "So, what? Sick of me already~?"

A vein bulged on Nadia’s forehead.

"It’s more like I don’t want to hold hands with a murderer, but sure, yeah, that works too."

Hilda smirked and turned her head forward.

"You haven’t been out at night before outside of Britian, have you?"

Nadia quirked an eyebrow.

"Isn’t it obvious? It’s illegal to step off human land without permission."

"Hmm~ I suppose that checks out." Hilda’s smirk then turned mocking, "Considering how bad you are in dealing with Predicaments~"

Sensing the mockery in Hilda’s words, Nadia felt the urge to hit the woman. But ultimately held back when she discovered that Hilda wasn’t being half genuine.

"Alright, fine... maybe, I don’t know how to fight Predicaments very well, but so what?" Nadia huffed, "And what’s the deal with the night, anyway? Why are the Scoundrels so much stronger?"

"Hmm... you don’t know why?" Hilda asked, a little surprised.

"Wha... how could I?" Nadia furrowed her brows, "Besides telling us how scary they are, the LRM withholds a lot of things about the Predicaments from the public."

Nadia then blinked.

"Aren’t you... aware of this?"

Hilda went silent for a few seconds. When she eventually decided to respond, it was to answer Nadia’s earlier question about the night.

"Researchers presume it’s a behavioural thing." Hilda said curtly before explaining, "Apparently, one of the few humans who managed to get a glimpse of the otherworld through the Rifts found that the Predicaments’ planet was in complete darkness.

"We presume that Predicaments go into a sort of ’hunting’ state when in a familiar environment to their home world. Und when they’re in this state, they tend to show a high amount of tenacity—coming back from injuries that should usually do them in. Heightened adaptability during combat und also strength."

Hilda then turned back to Nadia.

"Please be mindful of this information for next time. I should also let you know that this ’hunting’ state only applies to lower-ranked Predicaments. The stronger ones don’t really display this kind of behaviour at night."

"I see... that’s good to know..." Nadia nodded curtly, processing the information she had been given.

Simply put, if what Hilda had said was true, which undoubtedly was, then that meant she had just gone up against an amped Predicament by herself and managed to hold her own!

Nadia’s eyes flashed with pride, but then quickly dimmed.

’Albeit, if Hilda hadn’t intervened, I doubt I would’ve been able to win that fight.’

Nor did she believe she could have gotten away with her life, as well.

...

While on the way back to the camp, the two began to notice faint dark streaks along the ground that gave off the impression that a bag of charcoal had been dragged along this path not too long ago.

At the sight of them, Nadia couldn’t help but bring her attention back to the Predicament that had got away from them; worry settled in her Heart.

"Where do you think that Predicament actually escaped to?"

"Predicament? Oh... yeah, it’s probably just hungry."

"Hun... gry?"

Hilda turned to face the woman and smiled, then she began to speak in a manner that sounded very condescending in Nadia’s ears, unintentionally.

"Meine Dame, Predicaments are living creatures too~ like anything living, they require energy to operate, which most creatures get by eating. Und that includes healing after a failed hunt."

Resting a finger on her chin, Hilda tilted her head to look up at the moon.

"If I was in that Predicament’s shoes, I would definitely look for something to eat after licking my wounds."