Chapter 292: First Encounter
On the rooftop of Kyoto Television, a place that could normally be called a scenic spot was now filled with a strange atmosphere.
Countless crows, symbols of ill omen, flitted through the sky, as if on guard against something. Even in the darkness of night, the surrounding air was visibly tinged with eerie green, like a cursed place.
And in the very center of the rooftop, amidst all these ill-omened things, stood a thin and small black figure. The person beneath the black robe had their eyes closed, as if preparing for something.
“They’ve arrived.”
A statement devoid of any emotion came from the young girl’s mouth. Her tightly closed eyes slowly opened, looking towards the empty space ahead.
“Whoosh— Whoosh—”
A fierce sound of tearing through the air rang out in the night sky. In the girl’s vision, connected to the corpse crows, she could only see a glint of metal before the connection was directly severed.
The encirclement formed by the flock of corpse crows did not effectively hinder the enemy. In Kazumi’s sight, a giant, ink-black monstrous bird slowly landed some distance away.
“As expected, has one psychic not come.”
With her arms crossed, the girl’s mind registered the attire and appearance of the three people opposite her, constantly comparing them with the information provided by the contact person who called himself “Coiling Serpent” that she had memorized. In an instant, she reached this conclusion.
According to the intelligence provided by “Coiling Serpent,” the girl inferred that Toyama Iwase, who possessed wide-area damage capabilities, was very likely not to appear on this battlefield. After all, neither the television building, a concrete structure, nor the sealing magic array could withstand the repercussions of area attacks, especially without knowing the opponent’s abilities.
If that was the case, she was facing Oyama Gōzan, who had long-range capabilities, the captain Asakusa Ryuuya, who was well-balanced in both ability and battle intelligence, and an unknown psychic about whom she had no information.
It wasn’t that the opponent’s intelligence-gathering work was inadequate; it was mainly that information about psychics, who were originally reclusive beings, was indeed not easy for non-peers to collect.
But regardless of how things stood, with the current intelligence she possessed, her chances had increased by a few points.
“Who are you, and what is your purpose for coming here?”
Asakusa Ryuuya naturally didn’t know what Kazumi was thinking. However, both the strange changes in the surroundings and the importance of the sealing magic array made the 1.85-meter-tall man unable to let down his guard even a little. His spear was pointed directly at the figure in the distance.
“Do I need to state my purpose?”
A flicker of understanding flashed in Kazumi’s heart, but on the surface, she feigned disdain. A strange, androgynous voice came from beneath her heavy black robe.
The opponent wanted to buy time through conversation until reinforcements arrived, which was exactly what Kazumi desired, as her mission was only to stall or, rather, to attract the attention of most of the heroes in this area. Although the heroes stationed there would certainly not leave, it could play a significant role in tying them down for the successful deployment of the magic array.
As for unsealing the so-called Demon Snake Seal?
Kazumi genuinely had no intention of doing so. Reality was not as simple as novels or anime. It was more important to have the life to pursue these opportunities.
Putting aside whether the “World-Ending Demon Snake” claim of “world-ending” was true, the fact that it required Hamano Tsukasa to fight to the death when he was young to seal it, along with the oppressive aura displayed by the demonic snake’s power controlled by Masashi Sakuraba, was enough to make Kazumi abandon this somewhat tempting, suicidal thought.
“As expected, you’ve come for the seal.”
Kazumi’s confident words made Asakusa Ryuuya frown even more. The effect of the intense energy fluctuation had not yet been fully investigated, and Saemon Kiyo could also sense the evil energy filling the surroundings.
Although the seal seemed quite stable for the moment, in the absence of contact with the outside world, no one knew what these madmen of the Dark Organization might do.
Therefore, the most important thing to do now was, before the hero reinforcements from the surrounding areas arrived…
…to prevent anything they intended to do!!!
“Gozan! Cover me!”
With a roar, Asakusa Ryuuya lowered his spear behind him and charged directly towards where Kazumi was.
If they were the madmen of the Dark Organization, there was no need for negotiation; a direct confrontation with real weapons was the most appropriate course of action.
“The most correct choice?”
Looking at the tall man running towards her with his spear in the distance, Kazumi’s eyes showed no extra panic. Based on the information she had gathered, she was confident that she could handle these people with her current strength, otherwise, she would not have chosen to engage them here.
The Death Aura in her hand surged outwards, stirring the surrounding released death qi into a series of eerie green cones, directly knocking down the thrown knives that were rapidly flying towards her.
Then, with a wave of her large hand, several black shadows that had been hidden in the darkness leaped out, blocking the path of the approaching enemy.
“What is this?!”
The sudden appearance of these figures surprised Asakusa Ryuuya. He, who was always confident in his perception, had not detected so many enemies!
And the hunched-over monsters with rotting skin and sharp claws made Asakusa Ryuuya’s heart beat faster. However, his duty as a hero suppressed the slight natural fear within him, and his spear pointed directly at the heads of the rushing, scratching monsters.
“Swish—”
Raising his spear, he directly decapitated the foremost monster. With his strong perception and dynamic vision, combined with spear techniques extremely suited for large-scale battles, such a number of enemies was not a problem for Asakusa Ryuuya.
His body instinctively shifted its stance, and he charged towards another attacking monster, but an accident occurred at this moment.
[Damn it!!]
What Asakusa Ryuuya’s powerful dynamic vision saw was that from the opening he had left, the half-body of the decapitated scratching monster was still moving towards his left shoulder unabated.
He quickly tried to evade the unexpected attack with his movement technique, but his body’s exertion was already complete, and it was futile to retract it now.
“Ink Technique: Guard!”
Just as Asakusa Ryuuya took a breath to accept the consequences of his mistake, a voice filled with energy came from behind him. An ink flower suddenly bloomed on his left shoulder, and dots of ink transformed into a fragile shield, tenaciously blocking this attack.
Seizing this opportunity, he swept his weapon to repel all the monsters and retreated to Saemon Kiyo’s side, holding his spear forward. His chest heaved incessantly, and his eyes fixed on the approaching strange monsters, he spoke.
“Kiyo, what are these things?”
