Chapter 294 Villain
“What… is this thing…”
Asakusa Ryuuya gripped the weapon in his hand tightly, gritting his teeth to maintain his previous expression, but his face twitched involuntarily. Even his willpower couldn’t suppress the physical fear.
Although in his many years as a Hero, Asakusa Ryuuya had experienced a lot of blood and killing, the dense disgust and indescribable terror brought by the bizarre fleshy creature in front of him plunged the iron tower-like man into a moment of panic.
“Ryuuya, deep breaths!”
A familiar voice exploded in his ear, and a warm energy surged from his arm to his heart, slowly dispelling the unspeakable fear within.
Sighing with relief as if he had narrowly escaped death, Asakusa Ryuuya now had the surplus energy to observe the condition of his teammates. Saemon Kiyo’s condition wasn’t much better. Several consecutive high-output spiritual energy attacks had left his temples drenched in sweat, and his body’s energy was not as active as usual. Still, he firmly supported himself to prevent falling due to exhaustion.
Oyama Gōzan was even worse. Without Saemon Kiyo’s help, he had already knelt on the ground and was retching. It seemed he was also suffering from physical discomfort caused by the terrifying entity he had encountered for the first time.
“Kiyoshi, how’s your condition?”
Wiping the sweat from his face, Asakusa Ryuuya pulled Saemon Kiyo towards Oyama Gōzan’s location. Oyama Gōzan was now almost defenseless, and if attacked, he probably wouldn’t even be able to assume a defensive posture.
“Not good. My spiritual energy reserves are only about half, and I can’t use the ‘Dragon’ move again anytime soon.”
Saemon Kiyo knew what the other was asking and shook his head, sensing his internal condition, answering while looking at the figure in the distance.
At that moment, at the end of their sight. The bizarre gray-white flesh was constantly writhing, and uneven teeth stretched and retracted with the squirming flesh, revealing thousands upon thousands of dense black voids.
Finally, it was as if a creature sewn from flesh attached to a person, retracting its extended body back into its originally skinny form. Only the black-robed figure, appearing unharmed, remained, along with the terrifying head that appeared on her shoulder.
“It’s the ‘Black Robe’!!”
Seeing the scene that made their scalps tingle, Saemon Kiyo finally matched the opponent with the information in his memory, shouting the codename of this dangerous evil energy user with some shock.
“Is that the evil energy user from the dark organization that scattered the ‘Go’ team a while ago?”
Saemon Kiyo’s address made Asakusa Ryuuya exclaim involuntarily. Because there were spiritual energy users in their team, Asakusa Ryuuya could somewhat understand news from the spirit world.
Although he had made sufficient preparations for the opponent he would face before coming up, an enemy of this caliber, who could single-handedly scatter a renowned spiritual energy user team in Kiyoshi’s system, was definitely not something his team could handle.
The solemn expression on his face deepened. Asakusa Ryuuya subtly glanced at the time on his wristband, then looked up, meeting the black-robed figure’s brazen and terrifying gaze without fear, and resolutely raised his weapon again.
[I just hope Lord Yanzawa can make it in time…]
…
Meanwhile, Kazumi on the other side seemed completely unharmed. The flesh that had expanded from Little Black’s body slowly retracted into her body, leaving only a cute head on her shoulder, curiously observing the attacker who had just caused her a little pain.
It had to be said that after eating the elite badge, Little Black’s growth speed had increased by more than one level.
Coupled with hiding inside Kazumi’s body for so long, being able to unscrupulously enjoy the girl’s extremely pure death aura had further accelerated its already rapid evolution.
It was known that the purity of the death aura within Kazumi, as a Lord, was far inferior to even that in the Graveyard Hill, where the territorial energy was most concentrated.
Whether it was physical strength or aura, it was already incomparable to the ghoul that Kazumi had captured from the Ghoul Plain.
Judging from its performance just now, even the spiritual energy user with attribute advantages couldn’t cause much damage to Little Black. In that case, even if Little Black was released, it could probably take them on alone.
Of course, Kazumi would definitely not do such a thing. After all, her own safety must be put first. And Little Black, at this moment, could almost be considered the girl’s primary means of self-preservation.
Without finding other conventional means of protection or having a guaranteed kill opportunity, Kazumi would not release Little Black from her body, as her true form was still too weak.
Moreover, from another perspective, who she really needed to face was not these ordinary neighborhood heroes. The extra energy should be saved for the district heroes who might arrive at any moment.
Unlike these neighborhood heroes with mediocre abilities, the heroes responsible for a large area were generally top-tier heroes ranked on the Association’s leaderboard. Their abilities, experience, and strength were on another dimension.
Not to mention the few monstrous figures at the forefront of the Association that Kazumi was aware of, based on the intelligence she had gathered about the professional heroes rotating and stationed in the northern district, any one of them would be more than she could handle.
Listening to the panicked shouts of the opponent, the smile on the girl’s lips became even more cruel.
Perhaps Kazumi herself hadn’t realized it, but compared to her usual peaceful life, playing with others with absolute power did indeed bring her an almost irresistible joy.
“Black Robe?”
Twisting a few strands of her hair around her finger, the girl’s tone seemed to carry a hint of displeasure.
A jet-black coffin descended from the sky, directly smashing a large pit into the ground, attracting the attention of several people who had been on alert in the distance.
“It’s okay, Kiyoshi has already dealt with the opponent’s summoned creature. There’s one big one left, and the three of us are enough to hold on until Lord Yanzawa arrives!!”
Asakusa Ryuuya loudly encouraged his teammates. Although he himself didn’t have much confidence, this was what he could and must do.
Even though they knew they couldn’t defeat the opponent, or rather, there was a high chance of death, they still chose to resolutely stop the black-robed person’s actions. This was because if the seal were completely broken and the Demon Snake’s abilities activated, the potential leakage of evil energy could cause serious harm to residents who couldn’t evacuate in time.
Although such a possibility was very small, even if there was only a tiny chance, the duty of a Hero would not allow him to flinch in this matter.
Even if it was just to buy a few more minutes for the people being evacuated, just to buy a few more minutes for the arriving Lord Yanzawa, this was the reason for him to be a Hero.
If he chose to retreat, who else would protect ordinary people?!
With this thought, Asakusa Ryuuya roared, his entire spirit and essence condensed to the peak. Even the fear and dread in his heart were completely dispelled. Infinite power surged from the bottom of his heart, and his gaze was bright as he looked at Kazumi, who still stood in place.
This time, he could also protect everyone!!
“Thump—”
But the next moment, a crisp sound directly interrupted Asakusa Ryuuya’s soaring spirit. The rising confidence was like crushed debris, thrown to the ground. No matter how hard he tried, his spear could not be lifted another centimeter. His previously serious expression was replaced by pale fear, leaving only boundless despair.
Because what he saw in his eyes at that moment was the clawed monsters emerging from the coffin, numbering many times more than before…
(ps: Ah… Too much feedback… Can’t fit it… It’s overflowing…)
