Chapter 64 : Call of Evil Spirit Starting From Twenty

What awaited us beyond the gate was a huge empty s.p.a.ce . This empty s.p.a.ce 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, b.u.t.t 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 s.h.i.+t 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 s.h.i.+nji 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 s.h.i.+nji much more than I expected .

But he wasn’t by my side right now . That guy should be doing his best in Kagos.h.i.+ma 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 j.a.panese 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 b.a.s.t.a.r.d eyes pointed at Kanon .

That moment――

『…… . YOub.a.s.t.a.r.d, WHaTAreYoUDoINg?』

I shot my guns, aimed at the area between the eyebrows of this b.a.s.t.a.r.d .

「Negotiation failed I guess . I am definitely going to save Lilith from you . 」

If what this b.a.s.t.a.r.d 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 a.s.sume that we only got 1 minute then .