Ash choked on his own spit, stammering, "T-Two hundred items?"
Liliana giggled softly, "Yes."
"Now we will split up to search," Gabriel explained. "Albert will search in the south, Liliana in the west, Ash in the east, and I will take the north. Any questions?"
"Do we have a time limit for finding everything?" Ash asked, raising his right hand.
Gabriel stood up and replied, "No, but it's best if we search as quickly as we can so we can return to Sassi sooner. Let's start now."
"Oh, okay," Ash said, standing up as well.
They walked toward the entrance of the object-search site, and the view below them made Ash want to curse out loud.
The location spanned approximately twenty-one hectares and was divided into four sections.
The northern section consisted of a museum and a park with a small lake. The western section had buildings and sports fields. The southern section housed a zoo, while the eastern section featured an amusement park complete with a roller coaster and other attractions.
Mannequin statues shaped like adults and children were scattered throughout the area. Cars, motorcycles, and bicycles were strewn across the roads.
There were even hot air balloons and airplanes floating in the air, under a ceiling that looked strikingly like the real sky.
They descended the stairs into the site and immediately split up. Ash, assigned to the eastern section, headed straight to the amusement park with Jagu.
Upon arriving, he cursed silently to himself, frustrated to see countless items scattered all over the place.
"Damn it! Why does my mom love games like this so much?" Ash muttered angrily.
Jagu began sniffing around the various objects scattered throughout the area, and Ash suddenly had an idea.
He decided to search for one of the items on the list and managed to find a silver dagger tucked inside a chair near the ferris wheel.
Calling Jagu over, who approached with a wagging tail, Ash held out the silver dagger for him to sniff.
Jagu sniffed it thoroughly, and Ash gave him a mental command to locate all the silver daggers in the amusement park.
He sniffed the air intently before heading in a particular direction, with Ash followed closely behind, filled with hope.
They arrived at a spot behind a shooting booth, and sure enough, a silver dagger lay on the ground, next to the side of the tent.
Ash laughed happily as he praised and patted Jagu on the head. The big cat appeared both delighted and proud to receive his master's approval.
Jagu then dashed off again with excitement to continue searching for the silver daggers, prompting Ash to run after him.
In no time, they managed to collect all the items scattered throughout the area.
Ash rested on a park bench, enjoying some food and drink. While waiting for Jagu, who was still roaming around the amusement park, he decided to take a brief nap.
Just as he was about to close his eyes, he heard a loud scream from a man, followed by the sound of a heavy thud.
Startled, he sat up and looked toward the southern area. There, a hot air balloon that had previously been floating above the zoo had crashed violently to the ground.
"That was Albert's voice."
With his heart pounding, Ash immediately sprinted toward the site where the balloon had crashed. Jagu dashed ahead, following Ash's command.
They reached the crash site, only to see Albert lifeless, with half of his body pinned beneath the large passenger basket of the fallen hot air balloon.
Blood splattered everywhere, making Ash feel slightly nauseous.
"How could this happen?" he thought, but then a sudden memory of what he had read in The Captain's Diary flashed through his mind.
"Liliana," he hissed, before sprinting north with Jagu by his side.
Ash sprinted with all his might, sending a mental command to Jagu to find Gabriel and shift into his alternate form.
In the blink of an eye, Jagu, now significantly larger, reached Gabriel's location. But when he arrived, a fierce battle was already underway between Gabriel and Liliana.
When Ash finally caught up, he saw Gabriel gravely wounded, with a deep gash on his left side, blood flowing steadily from the injury.
Despite his condition, Gabriel remained resolute, defending himself with determination against Liliana's deadly attacks, wielded with the precision and agility of an assassin.
As Gabriel caught sight of Ash, he shouted, "RUN, ASH!"
Hearing Gabriel's cry, Liliana turned her gaze toward Ash, laughing mockingly.
"Do you really think you can save him with your pitiful abilities, Ash? You'd be better off submitting to me, and I'll grant you the pleasures of this world," Liliana sneered, chuckling darkly.
Gritting his teeth, Ash chose not to respond to Liliana's taunts and instead commanded Jagu to eliminate her.
Jagu, who had been waiting behind a building, suddenly leaped out and pounced on Liliana.
Caught off guard by Jagu's presence, Liliana screamed in fear and tried to fight back with her dual kodachis.
But Jagu was no ordinary creature, he was a monster seemingly designed to kill. In mere moments, Liliana lay lifeless, her body covered in severe wounds from Jagu's bites.
Seeing that Liliana had been dealt with, Gabriel collapsed to the ground.
Ash rushed to his side, crouched next to him, and quickly retrieved a healing potion from his Inventory. He opened it and carefully helped Gabriel drink it.
However, Gabriel began coughing up blood.
Panicking, Ash reached for another healing potion, but Gabriel's large hand stopped him.
"It's no use, Ash. I won't last much longer..." he murmured weakly.
Tears welled up in Ash's eyes as he said, "No. No... I will heal you... You will be okay..."
Gabriel smiled faintly.
"Carry on the mission, and return to Sassi," Gabriel said weakly. "Please tell my mother that I love her very much."
"No... you'll tell her yourself..." Ash replied, his voice breaking as tears began to stream down his face.
Gabriel smiled once more. "You're stronger than you think, Ash. Keep training."
He removed the wristband from his arm and handed it to Ash.
"This is a rare item—it will be very useful for you..."
Before he could finish his sentence, his hand fell limply onto his chest, and his breathing came to an end.