One-Eyed Monster

All those present, except for Hustace, who was immersed in his own world, held a certain skeptical attitude towards Kadi’s words.

Kadi was indeed unique, but not necessarily knowledgeable. All his actions so far had been related to causing trouble. Granted, his methods of mischief were varied, his schemes grand, and their effects remarkably good.

However, it was hard to imagine him possessing any other special skills.

”Why the look of disbelief? It might be difficult to distinguish day from night in this smoky environment, but with Battle Pets around, don’t assume I can’t see your expressions!” Kadi said anxiously, seeing the resigned looks on Igor’s and Stan Sol’s faces. To think he’d finally racked his brain for once, and now his reliable friends actually doubted him!

”I possess exceptional judgment and remarkable deductive skills! I’m constantly able to summarize and find connections between many seemingly unrelated things.” Kadi continued to boast of his strengths, trying to salvage his image in Igor’s and Stan Sol’s eyes.

”So tell us, what did you judge, what did you deduce, and what did you summarize?” Igor asked, playing along. Although he suspected Kadi’s analysis would be absurd, it didn’t matter since they weren’t making any progress. Listening to Kadi might even provide some amusement.

”Damn it! You sound like you don’t believe me,” Kadi retorted. ”You should know, I’ve been on Guru Mountain for a very long time. If I hadn’t noticed the anomaly at Moonflow Stream, you wouldn’t have been so well-prepared to deal with those Yetis.” He spoke as if thwarting the Yetis was entirely his achievement. To be fair, it wasn’t entirely untrue; Kadi had indeed alerted everyone, and for that, they truly had him to thank.

”Just tell us. We can’t afford to waste time, can we?” Igor shrugged, neither confirming nor denying. He thought Kadi might actually have a surprise in store for them.

”Ugh, alright. I won’t bicker with you about these things. I’ll settle the score with you later.” Kadi, who tended to hold grudges, felt a small surge of anger at their dismissive attitudes. ”Now, I’ll present my analysis—that is, my judgment, deduction, and summary. Listen carefully.”

”Hmm.”

”Have you noticed something strange?” Kadi said, feigning an air of mystery that he hoped made him sound profound. ”These bastards hidden in the dark—they’re always pulling us from behind, aren’t they?”

”Er…” Stan Sol and Igor exchanged a glance. Kadi had indeed pointed out a common factor, one so simple it was easily overlooked.

”It might seem trivial, but this could point to a huge problem!” Kadi declared, adopting the tone of an orator. ”This means these bastards might not be able to appear in front of us!”

Answering his own question, Kadi grew quite excited, as if he’d discovered a momentous secret, gesturing animatedly as he spoke. ”We can’t see the enemy, so the ’I watch your back, you watch mine’ strategy won’t work here at all.”

Kadi’s reasoning did have some merit. They truly couldn’t see their assailants, nor could they sense any Spirit Power. Apart from the pulling force, they felt nothing else...

”So you’re saying this might be some kind of spell cast by that invader lurking in the depths of darkness, and there isn’t actually anyone physically dragging us around here?” Igor asked. He suspected Kadi was about to repeat his earlier assertion, which Igor had already dismissed.

”Of course not! I don’t have the kind of ability to sense someone using a spell without even realizing it!” Kadi admitted quite frankly. That wasn’t what he was getting at; he wanted to explain how to find this hidden dragger.

In other words, his judgment, deduction, and summary were all leading up to his method for finding the dragger.

But Igor’s interruption threw Kadi off, and he couldn’t remember what he’d been saying.

Stan Sol was amused by the two of them.

The draggers harassed them intermittently but didn’t attack. They only pulled them slowly from behind, making them constantly aware of an external force...

Kadi was right: the force always pulled them backward. There was no sensation of being pushed from the front, nor could they feel any force there at all...

Igor glanced at Kadi, feeling a little embarrassed by his earlier misjudgment. I might have underestimated him, he thought.

However, Kadi, having lost his train of thought, didn’t know how to continue. He just stood there scratching his head, trying to remember what he was going to say next.

”So, uh, you were saying you made a new discovery?” Igor, still a bit sheepish, had to give Kadi a prompt. Sometimes Kadi is really quite comical, forgetting his own point like that… he thought.

”Oh, right! I realized that these bastards only drag us from behind, and that gave me a huge insight!”

Oh? For once, Stan Sol and Igor felt a flicker of anticipation for what Kadi was about to say.

”Heh,” Kadi chuckled. ”I figured, since they like dragging us from behind so much, we just won’t *let* them drag us from behind!”

Kadi said this very casually, as if he’d found the perfect solution to deal with the enemy.

Igor and Stan Sol exchanged another bewildered look. What on earth is Kadi talking about? Igor wondered. How can you stop someone from dragging you from behind? Are we supposed to grow eyes in the back of our heads and jump around to fight them head-on the moment they get close?

That’s clearly unrealistic!

”What’s the method then?” Igor couldn’t hold back any longer; he was desperate to know what was going on in Kadi’s mind.

”Heh, it’s actually quite simple!” Kadi said, choosing this moment to be deliberately mysterious.

”You’re not going to suggest lying on the ground, are you?” The only rascally method Igor could think of was this. To stop an enemy from dragging you from behind, you just had to avoid exposing your back. Lying on the ground was precisely such a shameless way to hide one’s back. More importantly, this kind of tactic was right up Kadi’s alley!

”Wow! You even thought of such a shameless method!” Kadi exclaimed, genuinely surprised that Igor could come up with such a rascally tactic.

Igor was speechless. Aren’t these rascally methods your specialty, Kadi? And now you have the gall to call *my* idea shameless!

”My method isn’t as shameless as yours,” Kadi said with a chuckle. ”I just think if we stand back-to-back, they won’t be able to do a thing! Heh heh.”

After listening, Igor glanced at Stan Sol again. Stan Sol nodded, as if to say the idea sounded plausible.