Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
The book reading (hellish battleground) finally ended.
Natsuya said goodbye and left Seiji's apartment, while Shika went to go take a shower.
Seiji felt rather complex feelings inside as he was no longer tortured, but was also no longer able to feel the soft sensation of a girl on each side of him.
Although it was a lot of pressure, it also felt wonderful to have a girl clinging onto each arm… No, no, what was he thinking!
It wasn't that there was a girl clinging onto each arm, they were just sitting really close to him! They didn't do anything impure at all, they simply had fun reading light novels together!
Seiji forcefully stopped this line of thinking and decided to cease considering this subject any longer.
At this moment, his cell phone rang.
The caller ID indicated that the call was from Nozomi Uehara, the landlord.
"Harutkun, is Mika with you?"
"She's not with me."
"Then, do you know where she went? I can't reach her cell phone." Nozomi's voice was filled with worry.
Unable to reach her cell phone? Seiji felt an ominous premonition.
"…Perhaps she's over at Chiaki's apartment," Seiji told her.
"Let me go ask her." Nozomi hung up the call.
Something flashed in Seiji's eyes.
Moments later, he exited his apartment and went over to knock on the Uehara Family's front door.
The door soon opened.
"Harutkun…"
"Miss Landlord… how are things?"
"She's not over at Chiaki's." Nozomi's expression was filled with concern. "Chiaki doesn't know where Mika is, either. She's currently calling her friends…"
Seiji's ominous premonition became even stronger. However, in order to prevent the landlord from being even more worried, he didn't allow it to show on his face.
"I'll go look for her as well."
"Sorry to trouble you, Harutkun."
"No need to say that."
It was quite late into the evening already. Mika still hadn't returned, and her cell phone was unreachable. Seiji felt that it was highly likely that something might have happened to Mika.
He returned to his apartment, and immediately cast a spell in his study...
[Interdimensional Locator]!
Target: Mika Uehara.
His vision instantly became pitch-black and his consciousness went hazy. He faintly saw red lights streaking before him, along with numerous fragmented scenes and faint sounds.
In this ambiguous realm, Seiji's consciousness was sent in a specific direction by an invisible force.
"Where… is this…"
"So… many monsters…"
He heard Mika's voice!
"I'm so scared…"
"How do I return home…"
He saw very hazy scenes that were gray and blue, together with some weird sounds.
"Seiji…"
"Save me…"
He could feel the emotions of fear, despair, and wanting to be saved emanating from Mika.
"Mika!"
Seiji suddenly opened his eyes.
A white miniature spell formation appeared on his right hand's back. However, it was incredibly faint, and seemed like it might disappear at any time.
He had to hurry!!!
There was no time for him to put on his full set of combat equipment. Seiji hurriedly grabbed his spiritual sword and shield and rushed out of his apartment.
He cast the [Body-strengthening technique] on himself and ran at top speed in the direction that his spell indicated!
Although Seiji intentionally picked roads that were more deserted, there were still some people passing by that happened to see him running as fast as a speeding car. Some were astonished to see this, while others thought that they had seen wrongly.
Seiji soon reached the riverside.
He could detect that something mystical was going on here. However, his level of [Astral Vision] was too low to find out what it was.
"Yomi, please wake up!" He requested assistance from his bonded female spirit.
"A portal was opened here not long ago. I can help to reopen it for you," Yomi's voice spoke up in his mind.
"I knew I could count on you!"
Seiji instantly began casting a spell that Yomi taught him.
He created a seal with both his hands and uttered an incantation. Soon, a gigantic golden spell formation appeared on the ground.
The sensation of something mystical in the air became incredibly obvious. It felt like something invisible and sticky was forming in this area. Then, a spell formation that was a black oval with a red circle inside slowly appeared. It was as if a mysterious eye had opened up.
This was… a "Dimensional Eye"!?
Seiji was quite astonished to see this.
This was a mysterious phenomenon that would draw in Spiritual Ability users… wasn't this something that was only supposed to appear within Spirit Worlds!?
The moment that he wondered about this, he suddenly saw the world around him start to spin. Everything around him turned kaleidoscopic, and he heard raspy sounds as his consciousness went hazy…
The kaleidoscope suddenly stopped and the scenery around him became clear again. His consciousness also returned to normal.
Seiji found himself in an abnormal location.
He was currently standing on gray-colored ground. The sky and the space around him was entirely filled with blue water. Strange-shaped creatures were in the water, making this place seem like some type of aquarium.
Yet, this place was far scarier than an aquarium.
That was because these creatures… some were like plants, some were like fish, and most of them were incredibly strange! Or even horrifying.
Not only that, low or raspy scary sounds kept sounding. They sounded like the sound effects for a horror film.
Any normal person that came here would surely become frightened.
Seiji saw some octopus-like creatures speedily approach him. They swam through the water and extended black tentacles which possessed fangs towards him!
*Shing shing shing…*
Seiji instantly unsheathed his sword and sliced in quick succession!
The octopus monsters were all sliced to pieces. They then dropped to the ground and transformed into a blue-red mist that then dissipated.
As he expected, these monsters were Spiritual Creatures.
This was probably a Spirit World… or more accurately speaking, an Inner World!
That spell formation had definitely been a Dimensional Eye.
A Dimensional Eye appeared outside a Spirit World… was this a new phenomenon?
No matter what, the most important thing right now was to find Mika!
Holding his sword, Seiji ran in the direction that the seal on his right hand indicated.
Numerous monsters in the water kept noticing his presence and attacking him in hordes.
Seiji did his best to avoid the monsters in order to save time. The ones that he couldn't outrun he speedily defeated without even stopping. He continued running as fast as he could.
This was similar to how he tried running as fast as he could through the "Forest Palace" Spirit World to beat other Spiritual Ability users to the magical silver fruit. But this time it wasn't for resources, it was to save his companion!
Seiji ran into a relatively empty area and heard a low booming sound that rattled his eardrums.
He lifted his head to see a gigantic monster whose upper half was like a crocodile and bottom half like a squid! This monster sped toward him at a high speed through the water above him!
The next second, a giant mouth filled with sharp fangs snapped towards him from the site, biting at a rapid speed!!
[Bullet Time], activate!
Seiji dodged this attack.
"I don't have the time to be fighting with you right now!"
Seiji had no intentions of fighting with such a powerful monster right now. He only wanted to run away and find Mika.
However, the large monster leaped in front of him and blocked his path. It also waved its giant front leg and stomped towards him!
*Boom!!*
Seiji dodged the attack again.
"Damn it…"
With his path blocked, he was forced to fight.
He didn't want to waste time here, so he decided to use a new ultimate ability that he recently learned.
Previously, when he gave release to that mega demon formed from Shinobu's birth, the system awarded him with a new ultimate spell, which possessed the three effects of damage, cleansing, and sealing! It was the best type of spell to deal with large and powerful demons.
After Seiji got out of the hospital, he started practicing this spell immediately and took a bit over a week to learn it.
He tried it out one time and found that it was even stronger than he anticipated! Although it cost him more Mana than even [Dragon Counterattack] and was more difficult to cast, it was still a worthwhile spell.
*Boom! Boom! Boom!*
The crocodile monster continued using one of its front feet's claws to attack him with astonishingly powerful swipes.
Seiji transformed into his golden form and dodged as well as blocked these attacks. Simultaneously, he created a seal and placed numerous golden spell formations on the ground.
*Whoosh!!*
The crocodile monster suddenly twisted its body and placed its front feet on the ground as it twisted its lower squid half's numerous blood-red tentacles to surround and attack him!
Seiji was unable to dodge or block this attack.
However, it was no longer necessary for him to dodge or block anymore.
His spell was now complete, so he activated it...
[Sealing spell, Demon Suppression Bell]!
*Dang!!!*
A clamorous bell chime boomed as all the spell formations on the ground instantly vanished and a giant golden bell materialized in midair, covering the huge crocodile monster!