Chapter 443: This is my escape route.
[What… What’s wrong?]
Kazumi’s body instinctively rose from the ground, and she snapped out of her daze. It felt as if a train had ploughed through her, and a burning pain spread from below her head to her brain.
As if remembering something, the young girl reached out and shook her bulging hood. Crushed teeth fell to the ground, and Little Black, who had somehow appeared on Kazumi’s shoulder, opened its giant, fanged mouth under the cloak and let out a roar, as if to say that blocking the attack this time was not easy for it.
“Swish—”
Without overthinking, a green portal opened again. At this moment, the previously leisurely Takeru Kamikami immediately charged out. With an fanning iron palm, he swiped at the air in front of the other opened “Ghost Gate.”
[Damn it!]
The worst thing Kazumi feared had happened. Now that she was forced into this open plain, the opponent had gathered intel from these few rounds of combat and had started to figure out the activation location and pattern of her abilities.
This was fatal for Kazumi. With almost all her means exhausted, the girl hadn’t even managed to injure the opponent.
With Takeru Kamikami’s excellent mobility, as long as he could touch her true form, she would likely be subdued in an instant. If that happened, she wouldn’t even have a chance to hide in the “Black Coffin.”
[What should I do? Should I hide inside first, or…]
At that moment, Kazumi’s mind raced, trying to find a way to break through the current situation.
The Ghost Gate’s ability had been deciphered. The little trick of just opening the gate and not going through wouldn’t work more than a few times in front of him. Although she still had Little Black and the Crocodile Lord unused, their combat power was clearly not on the same level as Takeru Kamikami’s. Even Little Black’s armor and teeth were shattered just by blocking an attack for herself. The Crocodile Lord’s clumsy attack method, like that of the Frost Giant, couldn’t cause effective damage.
Kazumi had never used the ultimate move of the “Ghost Gate,” and she believed that such an ability might be enough to turn the tide of a battle, but it was clearly not suitable for the current situation.
After all, using an ability that summoned a large number of summons against a high-mobility warrior unit would most likely result in her being eliminated before she could finish casting.
Now, there were probably only two options: either quickly hide in her territory while there was still space, gambling that the opponent had no further ability to track her location, or else she would be trapped and die in the “Black Coffin” territory.
Or, she could lure Takeru Kamikami into the “Black Coffin” and fight him head-on using the home-field advantage. However, the risk of doing so was very high, especially since the opponent’s abilities had not yet been fully revealed. If she couldn’t win even on her home turf, the problem would be even greater.
After all, from Shun Muto’s words, she also knew that her abilities had great hidden dangers in their eyes. The previous incident happened because Shun Muto already thought she was “dead,” hence there was no follow-up.
Even if it was just exposing her spatial abilities, it would be fine. But if her territory’s abilities were leaked, even Shun Muto’s degree of unreliability would undoubtedly be able to connect the two. At that point, Kazumi felt that she wouldn’t be far from being hunted by the Heroes Association.
“No, it’s not the final moment yet…”
The figure in her mind flashed again, and the young girl decisively rejected the decision she had subconsciously wanted to make. Looking at Takeru Kamikami, who was staring at her with fierce anticipation, she tilted her head to look at the dim light points visible in the distance. The energy gathered in her hand dimmed again, and with a flash of green light, the “Ghost Gate” activated once more.
“Your abilities have been seen through. Are you still trying to struggle?”
Seeing that his attack missed, Sato Shinichi felt no frustration at all. In his eyes, such small tricks were merely the Black Robe’s futile struggle. In the current terrain, it was enough to see whether the opponent had entered the green teleportation gate. And the brief moment of weakness when the ability was activated was enough for him to slowly approach the opponent.
Even if the Black Robe in front of him was unwilling to surrender, the benefit of capturing a spatial ability user was greater than the time spent, let alone the important intel that the opponent claimed to have, which had some credibility.
Kazumi completely ignored Takeru Kamikami’s new round of shouting. The Black Coffin appeared, and ghoul after ghoul emerged again. Along with the half-true and half-false “Ghost Gate” released by the girl, she tried to delay Takeru Kamikami’s approach.
But all this was destined to be in vain. Dozens or hundreds of ghoul couldn’t even stop Takeru Kamikami. And the “Ghost Gate” released by the girl, after her pattern was deciphered, couldn’t even deceive him. Instead, it only slowed her down.
Under such circumstances, the not-too-distant distance between the two was gradually narrowing.
“Are your little tricks finished?”
With a step forward, Sato Shinichi blocked the Black Robe, preventing her from entering the “Ghost Gate” again. At the same time, he reached out a hand, intending to grab her and prevent her from using her abilities again.
“Little Black!”
With a low hum from Kazumi, a grayish-white bizarre creature emerged from her shoulder. Its cold, gleaming claws directly met Takeru Kamikami’s outstretched right hand.
Unexpectedly, the Black Robe still had such a move. Sato Shinichi turned his palm into a fist and fearlessly met the two claws with the edge of his fist.
“Crack—”
It was a collision between flesh and bone spurs, but it ended with the sharp bone spurs breaking, announcing the victor. Just as Sato Shinichi was about to turn and whip-kick the bizarre monster’s head, a strange sensation made him unconsciously tense the muscles in his right hand.
Then, the young man realized. At his right wrist, the bizarre monster that had been on the Black Robe had, at the moment of their clash, unknowingly touched his arm and used some kind of special ability.
The ugly creature, despite being half as tall as a person, had transformed its body at the junction with his skin into the size of a loach. Like a disgusting eel, it clung to his arm, twisting its body and trying to burrow into him. If he hadn’t had strong control over his body and noticed something was wrong immediately, he might have been burrowed into by this grotesque fellow.
Although the young man had never neglected the training inside his body, and he was confident in the results of his long-term training, the cautious young man was still unwilling to take such a risk. Sato Shinichi directly abandoned his original idea, and his tensed right arm exerted force again.
As the muscles in his bulging arm once again became engorged, his thick arm skin bizarrely began to writhe, as if some worm was moving inside his arm. Little Black’s body was gradually forced out of Sato Shinichi’s body, finally falling to the ground, revealing its fanged gray skin. It snarled ferociously at Sato Shinichi, then scurried back into the Black Robe’s cloak.
“Die!”
And it was precisely during this brief delay that the Black Robe, who had been gathering energy nearby, had prepared herself. Dark green energy surged around the Black Robe’s arm, emitting wisps of black qi that vaguely showed horrific skull heads. Dazzling light continuously flowed over the Black Robe, and the heavy cloak fluttered in the wind due to the violent energy.
The Black Robe raised her right hand, and the dark green light seemed to condense to its extreme at this moment. The dark clouds above her head churned wildly, as if all the calamities in the world were gathered, emitting disgusting and terrifying power. Then, a huge green beam of light shot out from her palm, targeting Takeru Kamikami, who was standing still after fighting Little Black.
Seeing that there was no escape, Sato Shinichi couldn’t hold back anymore. He twisted his body and swung his right fist, which hung down to his waist, with great kinetic energy and a strong gust of wind, meeting this imposing attack.
“Hmm?”
A bewildered voice came from the young man’s mouth. The expected explosion did not occur. The shattering sensation under the strong energy made Sato Shinichi stare at his fist in disbelief.
Even though this was a punch he had thrown in a hurry, why was the opponent’s extremely strong energy attack shattered without him feeling any contact?
Looking at the Black Robe being sent flying into the air by his punch, Sato Shinichi couldn’t help but ponder with some confusion. But soon, the Black Robe’s next action dispelled the young man’s doubts.
As the Black Robe in the air was carried tens of meters away by the strong gust of wind, like discarded garbage, she flew unsteadily into the distance.
And just as the kinetic energy of her small body disappeared and she began to fall, small black birds began to emerge from under the thick cloak, slowly gathering on both sides, finally forming two large wings on either side of the Black Robe.
With a flap of her wings, utilizing the remaining fist wind, she dove towards the distance like a hang glider.
“No!”
Seeing this, Sato Shinichi finally understood that he had fallen into the opponent’s trap. He didn’t bother to think anymore and charged out like an arrow from a bow.
As for the landing spot visible in their field of vision, it was the twinkling lights seen at the end of the horizon.
