Chapter 64 : Call of Evil Spirit Starting From Twenty
What awaited us beyond the gate was a huge empty space. This empty space was so huge that I forgot that it’s actually located inside of a mountain.
But that’s all. Yup, that’s all of it. It’s just rocks for as far as I could see. The hijacked body of Lilith aside, I couldn’t even see any lifeform here.
「Mop-san, Blue, to Kanon’s sides.」
I told Aoi-san and Mop-san. That way, they would not have any difficulties in protecting the weakest amongst us, Kanon, during combat. If it’s Mop-san, I’m sure he’d jump instantly to protect those girls with a bright smile on his face. Besides his bird-type monster was fast too. So there should be no problem from that front.
「What about you, Sou-kun? 」
Yukihime-san asked with tense expression on her face but, I just gave a nod without letting down my vigilance. Though I couldn’t see the figure of my opponent, my intuition told me otherwise. Meaning that our enemies were already in this place.
Though the tense in the atmosphere lessened a lot after we came so far, the moment I entered this place, it felt like entering a tiger cage, butt naked.
Yes, this was the sign of the hunter. This place was overwhelmed with killing intent toward us――
「ABOVE! 」
Hearing my voice, Yukihime-san who was walking ahead jumped to the side.
A moment later, pillar of fires erupted in radius of 2 metres around her.
It’s as if a gust of wind came and blew her back.
「Kuh, Yuki――」
I forgot about Yukihime-san’s safety. The ogre with a huge face descended from above and then a huge metal rod closely followed, approaching right in front of me.
「TSUAA!」
The huge metal rod grazed my bangs and then landed on the ground, causing an explosion big enough that sent me flying.
「Sou-kun! 」
I’m okay. Was what I wanted to say, but we were in deep shit now. Our target-like enemy was in the air. As expected, the enemies were aiming for my head.
「――！ 」
If I got hit by that, then it’s going to be a homerun. But then, I kicked the empty air and succeeded in avoiding that deadly attack.
「F%^&CK, I’m definitely a dead meat if I don’t have my Gale shoes.」
But then, having avoided that attack which was aimed right on my face didn’t make me feel relieved at all. Coz I ended up using both Gale and Thunderclap to dodge that attack. That was a close call.
These pair drop item from Jiisha, the boss of the Okinawa area was extremely useful equipment. Its only weak point was the fact that it couldn’t be used consecutively. It was for this reason that I usually waited for the suitable timing to come if I were ever to use this. However, it’s all for naught now.
Originally, depending on the situation, the time might come for me to use this to jump in mid-air or moved at ultra fast speed to dodge the enemies attack. That’s why I usually used my own physical and precognition ability to dodge the incoming attack.
But now, I fell into a situation where I couldn’t dodge that surprise attack―― Or should I say that I’m cornered to the point of being forced to use Gale and Thunderclaps.
There was such a situation in the past. It was when I fought against that Beast King, Jiisha. But I had Shinji by my side at that time. I could leave my back to him. But, that guy was now――
「……..Oh well.」
I let out a wry smile as I brushed my bangs.
It seemed that I relied on Shinji much more than I expected.
But he wasn’t by my side right now. That guy should be doing his best in Kagoshima right now. He said that he’s going to catch up to me.
I mean…… If you said so, you should’ve stayed by my side.
「That’s too much you know! 」
I thrust my dual gun, aiming at those guy’s huge face.
『GUOOOO! ? Gu, Kono! 』
It talked! ? Though these guys didn’t seem to be capable of speech when I beat one of them last time…….. Could it be that they simply got no chance to say their line before?
『――《Flametongue》! 』
A fireblade suddenly came stretching from below my feet trying to bissect my body into two as I pondered about such foolish things.
「UWAAAA！ ? 」
Though I managed to dodge it by stepping back, my back was drenched in cold sweat. That was magic, right? That really surprised me. I never expected it to be capable of using magic.
「Metal rod for close range combat and magic for mid to long range combat……….. What a troublesome opponent.」
It’s an ideal combat style which left almost no gap to be exploited. Nevertheless, it’s useless against me. I would definitely beat those creepy masks and save the possessed guy. I prayed that it was Kanon sister this time.
With dual gun in my hands, I faced against the Onitako in front of me again――
『WAiT! 』
「――E-EH! ? 」
The Onitako before me held its hand as if to stop me. Though I didn’t notice it before, now I did. There’s a voice of a young girl intermixed with the somber mechanical voice of a male when it spoke.
『WhAt WAS YouR GOAl For CoMINg To ThIS PLaCe? 』
It might be trying to distract me for a surprise attack. And I might ignore the fact that it could speak if not for Kanon’s matter. But, we’re desperate to get the information regarding Lilith right now. Though I couldn’t be so sure at this point that the body that was hijacked by this Onitako was Lilith’s body.
「……. We were looking for an adventurer called Lilith.」
『NeVeR HEArD ThAT NAMe』
Well as expected of the reply from a Onitako. There’s no way it knew the name of the human whose body it hijacked when the person herself had never introduced her name. What should I ask next――
「Onee-…………-Chan? 」
I could hear the voice of the little girl that seemed like it was about to vanish.
「Kanon? 」
「That clothes……. Is oneechan clothes.」
「――!」
Its face was indeed the face of that big faced Onitako but, its body and clothes were that of human. The reason for this unbalance between the head size and body―― Was because that Onitako hijacked the body of normal human. In short, there’s a high possibility that the clothes of this Onitako was the very same clothes worn by the adventurers when their body got hijacked by the Onitako. [TL : Onitako = Traditional Japanese kite with motif of huge oni face]
In short, there’s only one conclusion.
「ONEECHAN! IT’S ME, IT’S KANON! Please answer me, ONEECHAN! 」
Kanon desperate plea resounded within the cave.
――Please, please respond to Kanon’s plea. I, no, we hoped so strongly and so deeply in our heart.
But,
『WHAtAREYoU, YoU’REHuRTinGMYEArS.』
「O-nee……….Chan………」
Kanon called her sister with trembling voice. Even if she knew the distance between her and the Onitako. She couldn’t accept it.
「You don’t…….. Recognize me? 」
『I’VeNoThINgTodOWiThYou.』
The Onitako who looked at Kanon as if she was a bug finally turned away like she wasn’t even worth a bit of its intention.
『WeLlThEn, ThOuGhaLittLEBuGjuStdIStURBeDUs, LeT’SConTInuEThEcONvERSATioN. yoU.』
After saying that, the Onitako pointed its metal rod at me.
『DoYoUWiSHFoRThISBODY? 』
「……Yeah」
It was a lewd kind of conversation depending on how one saw it but, I had no need to worry about that in this kind of situation.
『AsIFI’MgONNaGiVEThISBOdy.』
My eyebrows wrinkled in hearing that line.
「…… Tell me your condition? 」
『FuUhn, IT’sGoOdThATYoUUndErSTaNdMyIntENTion. WhAtIWaNTeDIs, LIfeFoRCE. MoREVERWHATiWanTeDIsNoTTHeLiFEfoRCeofTheLikeSofYouPeoPleWhoInCreaseInFiniTeLyLikEThOSeOfMonStEr, ButAReAlLifeWhIChICaNSuCkTIlLDrY.』
By increased infinitely, might be referring to player ability to resurrect. Certainly, from a monster’s point of view, we players were like monster who could charge forward like zombies. This Onitako was right if one were to see it from its point of view as the monster.
And by the finite life, it might be referring to NPC life. In short, this guy asked us to give another NPC’s life in exchange for Lilith’s own.
「Why must we do as you say? We knew that we can release Lilith as long as we shaved away the HP bar of your real body, your head. Your suggestion brings no merit to us.」
This was just half of my intention, the rest was just a bluff. I only defeated the previous Onitako by chance, there’s no guarantee that the same things would work out for this guy. Moreover, despite the body being taken over, there might be some sort of possession level. However, I had no choice but to say that line since our side was lacking too much information.
That’s why I had to understand the situation for now and then launched an attack at appropriate situation――was what I wanted to do, but.
『IWoNDeRAbOuTThaT!』
「What？ 」
『ThISBoDyHAsBeEnCoNnECtEDToODeepLYWiTHMe. IfIDieDSoDoThISBoDy』
Though I had braced myself for this, this guy still told us about this cruel fact. I originally wanted to find out about its weakness, but I guess I’m too naive.
Nevertheless, I was not naive enough to not take the chance for landing the first strike.
「Where’s the proof? You’re just bluffing aren’t you.」
『TheNFEelFrEEToKIlLMe. BuTYoU’REGoINGToREgREtTHiSYOUKNOW? 』
………. This was an extremely difficult choice huh.
「Why do you want to hijack another body? Do you want to have an even more powerful body? 」
『No, WeJuStNeEDToFeEdOnTHeIRLiFEFoRCe. TheRe’SOnLYSoLiTTleOfLiFeForCeReMAiNEdInTHiSbODY. thUS, InEEdAnOThERBoDY.』
「….. What will happen to the body whose life force is sucked dry by you?」
『ThEy’LlBeCOmeTHIsGrEAtOneSerVAnT, WaNDErINGForEVERAsDEADmANWALKING.』
Kanon’s expression froze when she heard those words. But in contrast to that, fiery anger burnt silently in me, wanting to explode.
『IFYOuChOOseToFiGHt, I’LlSuCkTHIsBOdYLiFeForCETIlLItDriEd. AnDItOnLYTaKesFeWMiNUtESIfIDiDSo. BuT, iLLSpAReThISOnEAsLoNGAsYoUPrEPaReANewSacRiFiceForMe.』
A hostage exchange huh. But if that happened then, it means that I needed to to sacrifice those pirates if I wanted to save Lilith.
………Eh, wasn’t that absolutely the right thing to do?
『WeLL, YOuRChOiCe? 』
No, I couldn’t do that. No matter how evil those pirates were, I had no right to do that to them. Though I think it’s okay to sacrifice the life of the players, it’s a different story when it came to the life of the NPCs of this world.
They’re the inhabitant of this virtual world. They wouldn’t be resurrected if they died. Though I wouldn’t go as far as saying that every single one of them had their human rights, I at least didn’t want to regard them as a mere lumps of data.
But, what should I do then?
『AH, IaLmOStFoRgOTToSaY. PrEPaRe10OfThOSeShOrTYOVeRTHeReTOO.』
A suspicious glint in that bastard eyes pointed at Kanon.
That moment――
『…….YOuBaStARd, WHaTAreYoUDoINg?』
I shot my guns, aimed at the area between the eyebrows of this bastard.
「Negotiation failed I guess. I am definitely going to save Lilith from you. 」
If what this bastard told us a while ago was true, then we had several minutes left before it sucked Lilith’s life force till she died. The problem was whether it’s going to take 1 minute or if it’s going to take 10 minutes. Our chance to save Lilith depended on those timing.
No, I might be wrong――
「NowYoU’VeDoNEIt. I’MGoNnAKiLlYoUiN40SeConDS.」
Let’s assume that we only got 1 minute then.
Chapter 64 : Call of Evil Spirit Starting From Twenty
What awaited us beyond the gate was a huge empty space. This empty space was so huge that I forgot that it’s actually located inside of a mountain.
But that’s all. Yup, that’s all of it. It’s just rocks for as far as I could see. The hijacked body of Lilith aside, I couldn’t even see any lifeform here.
「Mop-san, Blue, to Kanon’s sides.」
I told Aoi-san and Mop-san. That way, they would not have any difficulties in protecting the weakest amongst us, Kanon, during combat. If it’s Mop-san, I’m sure he’d jump instantly to protect those girls with a bright smile on his face. Besides his bird-type monster was fast too. So there should be no problem from that front.
「What about you, Sou-kun? 」
Yukihime-san asked with tense expression on her face but, I just gave a nod without letting down my vigilance. Though I couldn’t see the figure of my opponent, my intuition told me otherwise. Meaning that our enemies were already in this place.
Though the tense in the atmosphere lessened a lot after we came so far, the moment I entered this place, it felt like entering a tiger cage, butt naked.
Yes, this was the sign of the hunter. This place was overwhelmed with killing intent toward us――
「ABOVE! 」
Hearing my voice, Yukihime-san who was walking ahead jumped to the side.
A moment later, pillar of fires erupted in radius of 2 metres around her.
It’s as if a gust of wind came and blew her back.
「Kuh, Yuki――」
I forgot about Yukihime-san’s safety. The ogre with a huge face descended from above and then a huge metal rod closely followed, approaching right in front of me.
「TSUAA!」
The huge metal rod grazed my bangs and then landed on the ground, causing an explosion big enough that sent me flying.
「Sou-kun! 」
I’m okay. Was what I wanted to say, but we were in deep shit now. Our target-like enemy was in the air. As expected, the enemies were aiming for my head.
「――！ 」
If I got hit by that, then it’s going to be a homerun. But then, I kicked the empty air and succeeded in avoiding that deadly attack.
「F%^&CK, I’m definitely a dead meat if I don’t have my Gale shoes.」
But then, having avoided that attack which was aimed right on my face didn’t make me feel relieved at all. Coz I ended up using both Gale and Thunderclap to dodge that attack. That was a close call.
These pair drop item from Jiisha, the boss of the Okinawa area was extremely useful equipment. Its only weak point was the fact that it couldn’t be used consecutively. It was for this reason that I usually waited for the suitable timing to come if I were ever to use this. However, it’s all for naught now.
Originally, depending on the situation, the time might come for me to use this to jump in mid-air or moved at ultra fast speed to dodge the enemies attack. That’s why I usually used my own physical and precognition ability to dodge the incoming attack.
But now, I fell into a situation where I couldn’t dodge that surprise attack―― Or should I say that I’m cornered to the point of being forced to use Gale and Thunderclaps.
There was such a situation in the past. It was when I fought against that Beast King, Jiisha. But I had Shinji by my side at that time. I could leave my back to him. But, that guy was now――
「……..Oh well.」
I let out a wry smile as I brushed my bangs.
It seemed that I relied on Shinji much more than I expected.
But he wasn’t by my side right now. That guy should be doing his best in Kagoshima right now. He said that he’s going to catch up to me.
I mean…… If you said so, you should’ve stayed by my side.
「That’s too much you know! 」
I thrust my dual gun, aiming at those guy’s huge face.
『GUOOOO! ? Gu, Kono! 』
It talked! ? Though these guys didn’t seem to be capable of speech when I beat one of them last time…….. Could it be that they simply got no chance to say their line before?
『――《Flametongue》! 』
A fireblade suddenly came stretching from below my feet trying to bissect my body into two as I pondered about such foolish things.
「UWAAAA！ ? 」
Though I managed to dodge it by stepping back, my back was drenched in cold sweat. That was magic, right? That really surprised me. I never expected it to be capable of using magic.
「Metal rod for close range combat and magic for mid to long range combat……….. What a troublesome opponent.」
It’s an ideal combat style which left almost no gap to be exploited. Nevertheless, it’s useless against me. I would definitely beat those creepy masks and save the possessed guy. I prayed that it was Kanon sister this time.
With dual gun in my hands, I faced against the Onitako in front of me again――
『WAiT! 』
「――E-EH! ? 」
The Onitako before me held its hand as if to stop me. Though I didn’t notice it before, now I did. There’s a voice of a young girl intermixed with the somber mechanical voice of a male when it spoke.
『WhAt WAS YouR GOAl For CoMINg To ThIS PLaCe? 』
It might be trying to distract me for a surprise attack. And I might ignore the fact that it could speak if not for Kanon’s matter. But, we’re desperate to get the information regarding Lilith right now. Though I couldn’t be so sure at this point that the body that was hijacked by this Onitako was Lilith’s body.
「……. We were looking for an adventurer called Lilith.」
『NeVeR HEArD ThAT NAMe』
Well as expected of the reply from a Onitako. There’s no way it knew the name of the human whose body it hijacked when the person herself had never introduced her name. What should I ask next――
「Onee-…………-Chan? 」
I could hear the voice of the little girl that seemed like it was about to vanish.
「Kanon? 」
「That clothes……. Is oneechan clothes.」
「――!」
Its face was indeed the face of that big faced Onitako but, its body and clothes were that of human. The reason for this unbalance between the head size and body―― Was because that Onitako hijacked the body of normal human. In short, there’s a high possibility that the clothes of this Onitako was the very same clothes worn by the adventurers when their body got hijacked by the Onitako. [TL : Onitako = Traditional Japanese kite with motif of huge oni face]
In short, there’s only one conclusion.
「ONEECHAN! IT’S ME, IT’S KANON! Please answer me, ONEECHAN! 」
Kanon desperate plea resounded within the cave.
――Please, please respond to Kanon’s plea. I, no, we hoped so strongly and so deeply in our heart.
But,
『WHAtAREYoU, YoU’REHuRTinGMYEArS.』
「O-nee……….Chan………」
Kanon called her sister with trembling voice. Even if she knew the distance between her and the Onitako. She couldn’t accept it.
「You don’t…….. Recognize me? 」
『I’VeNoThINgTodOWiThYou.』
The Onitako who looked at Kanon as if she was a bug finally turned away like she wasn’t even worth a bit of its intention.
『WeLlThEn, ThOuGhaLittLEBuGjuStdIStURBeDUs, LeT’SConTInuEThEcONvERSATioN. yoU.』
After saying that, the Onitako pointed its metal rod at me.
『DoYoUWiSHFoRThISBODY? 』
「……Yeah」
It was a lewd kind of conversation depending on how one saw it but, I had no need to worry about that in this kind of situation.
『AsIFI’MgONNaGiVEThISBOdy.』
My eyebrows wrinkled in hearing that line.
「…… Tell me your condition? 」
『FuUhn, IT’sGoOdThATYoUUndErSTaNdMyIntENTion. WhAtIWaNTeDIs, LIfeFoRCE. MoREVERWHATiWanTeDIsNoTTHeLiFEfoRCeofTheLikeSofYouPeoPleWhoInCreaseInFiniTeLyLikEThOSeOfMonStEr, ButAReAlLifeWhIChICaNSuCkTIlLDrY.』
By increased infinitely, might be referring to player ability to resurrect. Certainly, from a monster’s point of view, we players were like monster who could charge forward like zombies. This Onitako was right if one were to see it from its point of view as the monster.
And by the finite life, it might be referring to NPC life. In short, this guy asked us to give another NPC’s life in exchange for Lilith’s own.
「Why must we do as you say? We knew that we can release Lilith as long as we shaved away the HP bar of your real body, your head. Your suggestion brings no merit to us.」
This was just half of my intention, the rest was just a bluff. I only defeated the previous Onitako by chance, there’s no guarantee that the same things would work out for this guy. Moreover, despite the body being taken over, there might be some sort of possession level. However, I had no choice but to say that line since our side was lacking too much information.
That’s why I had to understand the situation for now and then launched an attack at appropriate situation――was what I wanted to do, but.
『IWoNDeRAbOuTThaT!』
「What？ 」
『ThISBoDyHAsBeEnCoNnECtEDToODeepLYWiTHMe. IfIDieDSoDoThISBoDy』
Though I had braced myself for this, this guy still told us about this cruel fact. I originally wanted to find out about its weakness, but I guess I’m too naive.
Nevertheless, I was not naive enough to not take the chance for landing the first strike.
「Where’s the proof? You’re just bluffing aren’t you.」
『TheNFEelFrEEToKIlLMe. BuTYoU’REGoINGToREgREtTHiSYOUKNOW? 』
………. This was an extremely difficult choice huh.
「Why do you want to hijack another body? Do you want to have an even more powerful body? 」
『No, WeJuStNeEDToFeEdOnTHeIRLiFEFoRCe. TheRe’SOnLYSoLiTTleOfLiFeForCeReMAiNEdInTHiSbODY. thUS, InEEdAnOThERBoDY.』
「….. What will happen to the body whose life force is sucked dry by you?」
『ThEy’LlBeCOmeTHIsGrEAtOneSerVAnT, WaNDErINGForEVERAsDEADmANWALKING.』
Kanon’s expression froze when she heard those words. But in contrast to that, fiery anger burnt silently in me, wanting to explode.
『IFYOuChOOseToFiGHt, I’LlSuCkTHIsBOdYLiFeForCETIlLItDriEd. AnDItOnLYTaKesFeWMiNUtESIfIDiDSo. BuT, iLLSpAReThISOnEAsLoNGAsYoUPrEPaReANewSacRiFiceForMe.』
A hostage exchange huh. But if that happened then, it means that I needed to to sacrifice those pirates if I wanted to save Lilith.
………Eh, wasn’t that absolutely the right thing to do?
『WeLL, YOuRChOiCe? 』
No, I couldn’t do that. No matter how evil those pirates were, I had no right to do that to them. Though I think it’s okay to sacrifice the life of the players, it’s a different story when it came to the life of the NPCs of this world.
They’re the inhabitant of this virtual world. They wouldn’t be resurrected if they died. Though I wouldn’t go as far as saying that every single one of them had their human rights, I at least didn’t want to regard them as a mere lumps of data.
But, what should I do then?
『AH, IaLmOStFoRgOTToSaY. PrEPaRe10OfThOSeShOrTYOVeRTHeReTOO.』
A suspicious glint in that bastard eyes pointed at Kanon.
That moment――
『…….YOuBaStARd, WHaTAreYoUDoINg?』
I shot my guns, aimed at the area between the eyebrows of this bastard.
「Negotiation failed I guess. I am definitely going to save Lilith from you. 」
If what this bastard told us a while ago was true, then we had several minutes left before it sucked Lilith’s life force till she died. The problem was whether it’s going to take 1 minute or if it’s going to take 10 minutes. Our chance to save Lilith depended on those timing.
No, I might be wrong――
「NowYoU’VeDoNEIt. I’MGoNnAKiLlYoUiN40SeConDS.」
Let’s assume that we only got 1 minute then.
