Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
Shooting humanoid spiritual creatures was quite a different feeling from shooting animal-type spiritual monsters.
Although Hoshi knew that these weren't real people, he still faintly felt as if he was killing actual humans.
Hoshi forced down such thoughts and firmed his resolution as he continuously fired arrows.
They were only humanoid spiritual monsters… and even if these were real people, he could only seriously attack back if other people wanted to kill him! Otherwise, he or his friends would be the ones to die.
Hoshi didn't even have the time earlier to be afraid of the hoodie-wearing youth's assassination attempt on him. Only afterwards did Hoshi have time to think about it and become terrified.
He knew that he would have died already if it wasn't for Hisashi saving him in the nick of time!
Hoshi didn't dare think any deeper into this as he was afraid of thinking about death. He could only feel fortunate that he was still alive.
It was wonderful that it was the enemy who died instead of him or his friends.
Hoshi vomited and felt quite uncomfortable at seeing the enemy's dead bodies. Yet, underneath these surface emotions, a dark feeling was hidden...
Delight.
Right, Hoshi was delighted.
Although it was only a faint sensation that was ever so slight, Hoshi was indeed delighted that his enemies had died.
It was their fault for suddenly attacking without warning and almost killing him! They deserved to die!
Hoshi didn't say such words out loud. He knew that it was improper to say them out loud. Still, this type of darkness indeed existed deep within his heart.
Hoshi didn't feel that Seiji had gone overboard at all… Hoshi hadn't been simply consoling Seiji. This was what he truly thought.
Seiji had killed others in order to protect them all. This wasn't being cold and cruel at all. In Hoshi's mind, this was what real strength was.
'As the Fourth Knight, I need to become stronger as well!'
As Hoshi thought this, his right hand suddenly started heating up again, bringing another illusionary scene before him...
He was now dodging enemy swords and blocking enemy attacks with his bow while counterattacking with an arrow being used like a dagger! He was able to put distance between him and his enemies as swiftly as the wind while notching several arrows at once and firing!
Dodging, blocking, stabbing, moving, shooting… all these actions felt just as real and familiar as the last illusion Hoshi experienced, as if he had performed all these actions before himself.
This time, Hoshi was no longer confused. He immersed himself in the illusion and learned.
After the illusion vanished, Hoshi learned a new technique as he felt his right hand heating up.
Hoshi placed his hand on the bow and focused upon it. This instantly created three arrows out of thin air!
He drew the bow and shot all three arrows simultaneously!
At the cost of somewhat lowering accuracy, shooting out more arrows at once caused more overall damage.
Thanks to this new ability, Hoshi was now able to clear the monsters at an even more effective rate than before.
Not long after that, Hisashi also leveled up. He was now able to create thunderbolts from both his hands simultaneously. This allowed him to throw two Thunderbooms at once, providing an even larger AOE crowd control effect.
Even Mika was now able to control more black bands than before.
This was all because the humanoid spiritual monsters were so numerous and powerful. The mist experience they provided was quite abundant and high quality.
The Awakened constantly got stronger as they fought these spiritual creatures. Plus, the spiritual knights that Seiji summoned were also assisting everyone. Gradually, the enemy monsters were destroyed.
Just as the monsters were almost completely wiped out, more dense black mist suddenly appeared. This black mist speedily formed into even taller humanoid spiritual monsters!
This group of large monsters charged forth and instantly wiped out approximately half of Seiji's remaining spiritual knights! They got close to Seiji and his friends!!
[Heroic Protection]!
Seiji activated the second ability of his [Mika character card], greatly improving his defenses. He forcibly blocked the monsters' first wave of attacks with his barrier.
He then opened up his system menu and used another card...
[Spirit Form Summoning, Magic Mecha Squadron]!
Three gigantic spiritual mechas that were equipped with various magical weapons suddenly materialized in midair. They whipped out magical swords that resembled lightsabers and swung these swords at the large monsters!
Despite the earlier experience they just had, Seiji's friends were still rather shocked by this. This was mostly because of the unexpected fantastical style of the magic mechas.
"I'm unable to repeat these summoning techniques. They can only be used once," Seiji told his friends. "Although I still have a few more that I can use, I hope that I won't have to use all of them up."
"They're like valuable consumable items that disappear after use?" Hisashi instantly understood.
"That's right."
Mika and Hoshi understood now as well. Nobody wasted any time talking as they concentrated on killing enemy monsters while the magic mechas helped to split apart the monsters' formation.
The magic mechas possessed powerful combat capabilities. They used rocket-like weapons that had high explosive power. However, the magic mechas still didn't last for long.
After all of Seiji's spiritual knights were defeated, the three magic mechas also ended up being crushed by the large spiritual monsters.
Fortunately, no new enemy monsters appeared. Just as the last magic mecha collapsed, Seiji and his friends suddenly attacked and killed off all the remaining large monsters.
The mist forming into runes on the stone door had now completely filled in the circle, creating a complete spell formation. After that, the stone door slowly opened inwards to reveal a corridor.
Seiji and his friends saw that a black… sticky fluid was everywhere in the corridor?
This black sticky substance was all over the ground, walls, and even ceiling of the corridor. It was as if someone had smashed countless black slimes inside here. There was even a faint odor of some sort that smelled somewhat like fish.
Although Seiji didn't know what this was, it didn't seem like anything good to him.
He told the others to wait outside the door for him as he cautiously entered by himself.
Nothing happened.
Seiji tentatively stepped on a puddle of the black sticky fluid. Nothing happened once again.
"This feels like I'm stepping on mud." Seiji wiped his shoe clean. "It doesn't seem like there's any effects so far. Still, I recommend everyone to not touch it."
After confirming that things appeared to be safe, he had Mika and the others enter the corridor with him as they proceeded onwards.
*Rumble, rumble, rumble… Bang!*
Not long after the four of them started walking down this corridor, the stone door behind them closed at a much faster pace than when it opened!
"…I have yet another ominous premonition," Seiji mentioned.
"Same for me." Mika agreed.
"This humble one agrees," Hisashi chimed in.
Hoshi didn't say anything.
He was now seeing another illusion. Hoshi witnessed a tall man wearing armor being tangled up in the black sticky fluid. This man had an expression of incredible pain. His eyes were bulging and his mouth was wide open. He made strange noises as he viciously scratched at his face, leaving deep bloody trails!
Black sticky fluid then started oozing out of this man's mouth, nose, eyes, and ears! Soon, his entire face and head started corroding. Then, his hands and body started melting…
The illusion vanished. Hoshi felt his sense of terror careening around inside him as he glanced at the black sticky fluid in the corridor.
"We need to hurry and leave!" Hoshi shouted in a raspy voice. "We need to get out of here as fast as we can!! As far away from this stuff as possible…"
Before he even got to finish speaking, there was a gurgling sound.
Everyone looked at the sound to see that a pile of black sticky fluid behind them was now bubbling. The fluid swiftly expanded and absorbed more fluid near it, forming into a humanoid shape…
"Listen to Hoshi. We're going to start running!" Seiji didn't know what was going on with Hoshi, but he trusted Hoshi and decisively agreed.
And so, everyone started running as fast as they could through this corridor.
"That substance is dangerous, incredibly dangerous! You absolutely can't let it catch you!!" Hoshi shouted.
Behind them, the sticky fluid humanoid shape was now gliding on the ground. It kept absorbing more fluid, becoming ever more solid and larger. Countless human faces started appearing on its surface as it grew numerous arms. The sticky fluid humanoid figure took a terrifying shape!
*Whoosh!*
Its arms suddenly extended and reached out towards Seiji and his friends!!
"Careful!!"
Hoshi pulled Hisashi away, narrowly avoiding a sticky arm. Mika sped herself up and dodged the sticky arms, while Seiji dodged and reflexively counterattacked with a powerful sword strike!
*Gloop…* Seiji's sword met with great obstructive force as it swung down against the sticky arm. He wasn't able to slice down at all!
Right after that, a powerful suction force tugged away Seiji's longsword. The longsword was then absorbed right into the sticky fluid creature's body!