Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
After making their preparations, the two of them set out and began their game quest… whoops, clearing out the Inner World.
Soon after setting out, they were attacked by several octopus monsters.
Mika used her dark-red mist to block the monsters' attacks and then to instantly slice the monsters to little pieces! She then absorbed the monsters.
"How do you feel?"
"I can feel as if my power became slightly stronger… the difference is barely noticeable, though."
"Probably because these monsters were just weak mob monsters. At any rate, it's fine as long as you can control your power. If you feel like anything's off at all, tell me immediately," Seiji warned her.
"Okay." Mika nodded.
Next, they met additional small groups of monsters. None of them were very strong, and Mika easily took care of and absorbed them by herself.
Seiji watched over her as something flashed in his eyes.
The ghost named Sakura that gave Mika the Mashiro egg had called the unhatched egg at the time a "Spirit Egg" which contained a guardian spirit.
But Natsuya inspected the egg and said that it wasn't a guardian spirit at all, but she was uncertain whether Sakura was lying or not.
Guardian spirits were a special type of spirit that Yin Yang Masters could use for themselves, and had to be personally raised. They were a special type of Spiritual Creature that were capable of increasing the Yin Yang Master's own powers. From what Natsuya could tell, Mashiro was an abnormal existence rather than a guardian spirit. The student council president was unable to comprehend why Sakura had stated that Mashiro was a guardian spirit.
But judging from things now, Sakura calling Mashiro a guardian spirit might have been referring to the fact that the "best way to use her" was similar to a guardian spirit! Basically, Mashiro could also combine with her host and strengthen Mika.
In other words, Natsuya might have been overthinking things at the time. Perhaps Sakura was expressing a very direct meaning—that Mika should simply treat Mashiro like a guardian spirit, raising and using her the same way!
As for what exactly Mashiro truly was, and if something unexpected would happen with her, Seiji didn't know.
He tried asking his own bonded female spirit, Yomi, about Mashiro. However, she appeared to have gone to sleep again as she didn't reply.
The two of them kept continuing onward in the Inner World and arrived at a relatively open area.
"Be careful. This type of place tends to spawn powerful monsters," Seiji warned her.
He and Mika carefully glanced all around them. Then, they say that a huge dark gray shell was descending towards them from the water above them. It jumped out of the water and landed before them with a boom!
This was a clam… no, some type of gigantic shellfish monster!
The shellfish monster's outer shell slightly opened, and numerous black and sticky tentacles suddenly reached over towards them!
Mika used her mist to create a barrier which blocked these disgusting tentacles.
However, she immediately felt pressured! These tentacles were far stronger than any monster she had encountered so far.
"Argh…"
Mika grit her teeth and counterattacked with her mist, yet… her attack was ineffective!?
Seiji also wielded his longsword and sliced through the tentacles. But even though he sliced through them, the tentacles instantly reformed. It was as if he was only slicing through liquid.
"Slice-type attacks won't work!"
Seiji sheathed his sword and started attacking with the scabbard instead. Only by using blunt attacks did he managed to smash a few tentacles!
"It seems that blunt attacks are effective."
The moment he finished speaking, those tentacles speedily reformed themselves!
"…Or maybe not."
Seiji cast [Evolved Body-strengthening technique] on himself and transformed into his golden state before he started wielding his shield.
*Smack!!* He instantly managed to smash numerous tentacles.
"Mika, stand back. Leave this to me."
"Seiji…"
This was the first time she had seen his golden form. It looked really cool to her. Even her eyes were about to begin sparkling.
She listened to him and retreated back down the path they came from and left the effective range of the tentacles' attacks.
After making sure that Mika retreated safely, Seiji cast [Evolved Mana Shield] on himself and began attacking!
He used his shield to rush through and crush all tentacles blocking his way, and viciously slammed it against the gray shell!!
The shell remained completely undamaged.
This monster's shell had incredibly high defense power! Forcefully breaking through its hard outer shell would require too much effort. Seiji felt that it would be much better to directly attack what was inside.
[Spiritual Blade, "White Lotus"]!
Seiji once again pulled out his sword and enchanted it with a spell. The sword transformed into a white light that extended over a dozen meters. Seiji forcefully pierced the sword through the small opening that the shell had as it spat out its tentacles!!
It didn't feel like he sliced through anything with his sword… he needed to go in deeper.
He retracted his sword in order to deal with a furious onslaught on tentacles. Seiji then increased the amount of Mana he injected on his sword, forming an even thicker and longer blade, before stabbing it into the crack again!
A strange hissing sound came from within. Still, Seiji didn't feel like he actually managed to slice anything. He could only feel that the inside of the shell was incredibly sticky and that his blade was tightly stuck inside, making it difficult to move.
Seiji forcefully withstood the tentacles' furious attacks as he kept withdrawing and stabbing his sword into the shell!!
The large shell monster's hissing became much sharper, and then… *Pu!!!*
A sticky substance shot out of the shell's crack right towards Seiji. The substance had such a powerful force that it knocked him backwards several meters and even broke his protective barrier!!
"Seiji!" Mika shouted in fear for him.
"I'm fine…" Seiji backflipped and steadied himself while speedily retreating to adjust his position. "This shell seems rather difficult to deal with. It might take some time."
Sticking his blade inside it didn't feel like much was happening, but it seemed slightly effective? Should he continue? Or should he simply try to use all his strength to break its outer shell?
…Wait a moment, why did this all seem so perverted?
Seiji thought about how he was using his long and thick blade to stick it into the shell's crevice while continuously inserting and withdrawing… even though this was just a fight, it subtly had an odd sensation.
'Cough, don't get distracted! This is a real fight.'
Just as he got his thoughts back on track and seriously considered what he should do, Mika called out to him again.
"I think I should be able to break its shell, but I need to get closer!" Mika shouted loudly.
"…Alright, I'll protect you while you do so." Seiji instantly decided to trust his companion.
He moved over to her and acted as her shield, blocking the massive amount of tentacles so that she could approach safely.
Mika gathered part of her mist into a dark-red ball. Once she got closer, she aimed at the shell and fired the ball!
*Boom!!*
Seiji witnessed the ball leave a blood-red trail in midair as it hit the monster's outer shell, and instantly caused a large portion to vanish!
That's right, vanish.
With the ball's impact as the radius, a large circular portion of the shell instantly vanished! It was as if the shell's portion had been instantaneously teleported to somewhere else.
This was a move that Mashiro used previously when testing her powers… Seiji recognized this technique.
Causing whatever it hit to instantly disappear was indeed a frightening technique.
The shell monster hissed ear-piercingly. It sounded like it was in pain.
The black and soft part of its body that was now exposed sent out even more tentacles to furiously attack them!
Mika revealed an expression of discomfort.
Seiji protected her so that she could retreat before turning back to face the monster by himself. He prepared his large spell formation while fighting.
The monster in its enraged state seemed far more powerful than earlier, which gave Seiji quite a lot of pressure. His defensive shields were broken multiple times!
Finally, he finished his spell formation and activated his spell -
[Sealing spell, "Demon Suppression Bell"]!!
*Clang!!!*
A gigantic golden bell appeared together with a ring while covering the entire giant shell monster. It cut off all tentacles that tried to reach out!
"Amazing…" Mika exclaimed in astonishment at this major spell that seemed quite extravagant.
'Seiji's so strong…' Mika's eyes sparkled as she watched his glowing golden form.
The shell monster received a great amount of damage from the powerful spell since it was no longer completely protected by its shell. It screamed at an incredibly high pitch before the sounds finally weakened.
When the bell spell ended, the monster transformed into a dark-blue mist that immediately started to disappear.
"Mika!" Seiji indicated over to her.
The silver-haired girl understood what he meant and ran over to absorb the remaining blue mist with her own dark-red mist.
"How is it?"
"There's a far more noticeable effect compared to absorbing those earlier monsters…" Mika paused for a moment. "However, the attack I used just now took up quite a lot of energy. This basically just replenished it."
That attack had a great cost associated with it… Seiji figured as much and nodded in understanding.
It would be strange if such a powerful attack had a low cost associated with it.
"That attack counts as one of your ultimate techniques, so how about giving it a name? What do you think of 'Vanishing Bullet'?" Seiji recommended.