Chapter 888 - 16: Bug Testing
Under the cover of night.
Amidst the mountains and forests.
Strange, inexplicable howls echoed, yet it was not a sound that ordinary people could hear. It’s like human ears can hear sounds in the range of 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz; beyond this range, the human ear can’t perceive.
However——
There was also the breath of Spiritual Power sweeping through, the glow of spells bursting forth. These forms of Energy operate equally in the material world, naturally tearing apart the tranquility of the nighttime forest... Countless bizarre Spirit Bodies were fiercely struck, then turned into dust.
"They’re all type Ds, with a few type C individuals occasionally appearing..."
"But it’s still manageable..."
"Always pay attention to changes in Spiritual Pressure, don’t get distracted or careless..."
The helicopter carrying everyone from the Strategy Room arrived at the west side of the mountain and dropped them off. They needed to start pushing forward from this side, searching and advancing into the mountain.
Eventually, they would meet up with reinforcements advancing from other directions. Throughout this process, eliminating as many Spirit Bodies as possible along the way to clear the area for the upcoming battle is the most basic of basics. As for searching for clues to the "nonexistent shrine," that’s something to do along the way.
If found, it would be best to send a signal for others to converge.
If not found, there’s no need to worry too much, as this was expected. This mission is set to succeed without fail. The Ministry of Environment had prepared mentally, not expecting to easily complete the subjugation of a suspected A-class Evil Spirit target in one night.
Even if the target was sealed long ago, and in a state that shouldn’t be able to exert full Power, it’s still an A-type.
If careless, lives could be lost.
So even if they lock down the location of the "nonexistent shrine" tonight without issue, they wouldn’t act recklessly. They would continue with a steady approach, as that A-type is in a sealed state. Not leveraging such an advantage and unnecessarily risking a gamble...
That would be utterly foolish.
"These are just small minions, but there’s just so many of them..."
Gently shaking the Treasure Blade in hand, the black-haired girl sighed under the clear moonlight.
The surrounding Evil Spirits howled, surging like a tide. In a flash of blade light, they swiftly shattered. Kenshan Yellow Springs sheathed her blade, turned, and in a reverse motion, drew an arc like a crescent moon. The brilliant strike line sliced through the advancing wave of Spirit Bodies at the waist!
The released slashing empowered by Spiritual Power visualizes as a form of Energy——
Like the sharpness of Sword Qi, it continued to slice through many Spirit Bodies behind in one stroke!
Even a few trees as thick as the embrace of adults, cut along a slanted smooth surface, slowly shifted, slid, and finally crashed down with a thunderous sound!
The dull roar echoed, raising a cloud of dust in the forest.
Nonetheless, the Evil Spirits surged like a tide, rare to see a living person who could see them, establish a connection with their dimension, and rushed forward like mad sharks smelling blood.
Seeing the girl alone and overwhelmed, about to be swallowed by the tide of the Evil Spirit army, suddenly, a majestic roar sounded!
"Roar——!!"
Like being intimidated by a top-level predator in the food chain, even the frantic Evil Spirits momentarily froze. In the next moment, a massive beast figure charged through, trampling the remains of Spirit Bodies, carving a blood path to protect the girl.
This massive beast that appeared out of nowhere resembled an enormous red lion, its tail made of numerous snakes, with twelve eyes.
Though slightly strange, it’s indeed majestic and exuded a strong Spiritual Pressure and aura.
"Chaotic Red Lotus! Roar Wave!"
Decisively unlocking the Spiritual Beast residing in the Treasure Sword Lion King, Kenshan Yellow Springs, with her commanding presence, swung the Treasure Blade, commanding through a subtle, mysterious connection, maneuvering the giant Spiritual Beast to rampage among the Evil Spirit tide!
The twelve red eyes of the enormous Spiritual Beast suddenly brightened, opening its ferocious mouth, gathering golden Energy within.
Releasing the Roar Wave, it swept across a large area of forest in an instant, covering a wide radius, turning numerous trees and countless Evil Spirits to dust. The massive impact created a crater on the ground, and even the night sky above the mountain was briefly illuminated by golden light.
The Energy blast cleared the field!
Despite consuming a significant amount of Spiritual Power, the area surrounding Kenshan Yellow Springs was instantly cleared. The previously swarming Evil Spirits were now nothing but lingering black smoke dispersing into the air, the imminent danger resolved in an instant.
Satisfied, she sheathed her blade and continued forward briskly:
"Let’s go, Chaos!"
The Spirit Beast, resembling a giant red lion, growled lowly and swiftly followed its master.
......
"Impressive, Miss Yellow Springs..."
A strategy room member at a distance saw this scene from afar and couldn’t help but sigh.
No wonder such a high school girl is an agent and main force of the strategy room. When I first joined the strategy room, I was a bit puzzled, but now I deeply understand the meaning behind it... Indeed, in the Mind Industry, it’s all about strength; age and seniority don’t count.
Just like how we are executing our mission now, we still need to form teams, but Miss Yellow Springs can simply go it alone.
As long as there aren’t multiple B-level Evil Spirits, she won’t have any problem. It may look as though she’s in great danger, but in reality, it might be more dangerous for us.
Because, rather than saying the strategy room has the ability to easily handle type-B emergencies, it’s more accurate to say that the strategy room, with Kenshan Yellow Springs as a core member, possesses such an ability. If we were to lose this Sword Dao genius and new Demon Exorcist of the Mind Industry, the strategy room’s strength would be more than halved.
"Little Yellow Springs has improved again; compared to the previous test results, there’s a noticeable growth this time..."
On the helicopter patrolling in low airspace, the beautiful older sister sitting in a wheelchair, Jinguji Ayame, was also observing this scene. Watching the radar displayed on the tablet in her hand, showing countless red dots densely overlapping and disappearing in an instant, she couldn’t help but express her joy.
"She’s truly remarkable. No wonder the patriarch of the Kenshan family intended to make her the next family head early on."
"Is this really okay?" The assistant standing behind the chief slightly frowned; she had heard some things. "I remember that Miss Yellow Springs is just... the Kenshan family’s head’s adopted daughter, right? Won’t Miss Mei have any objections?"
"There shouldn’t be any issues. I heard that the reason this matter was settled is that Miss Mei proposed it herself; the two sisters have always had a great relationship..."
Jinguji Ayame lightly nodded, her eyes still fixed on the forest below. Although she couldn’t see the figure of the black-haired girl, the large form and bright red of the Spirit Beast Chaotic Red Lotus were very conspicuous through the forest gaps, confirming Kenshan Yellow Springs’s movement path.
"I see." The assistant behind her gently nodded upon hearing this.
However, neither of the two conversing noticed an invisible, ghostly image in the cabin, quietly watching their dialogue.
All is well...
Gu Mo gently nodded his head.
Although they were his creations, they were not puppets. Once brought into existence, they became independent entities with free will... They emerged from his thoughts and became flesh and blood; he merely defined their existence.
—Defined who they are.
—Defined their existence.
This allowed them to appear in the world and become independent entities. Just like the "Five-Minute Hypothesis," the Creator, along with the world and all the memories and historical evidence of its existence, was created five minutes ago.
His vast Mind Power has already reached this scale, capable of such astounding phenomena.
Gu Mo reined in his thoughts and casually shifted his gaze downward, towards the forest below.
Although the conception of this Illusion Technique was very thorough and complete, it was, after all, its first implementation, so there couldn’t be no flaws. Thus, it couldn’t be so easily judged as problem-free, perhaps he just hadn’t noticed it yet—
One must know that no game is completely bug-free...
No one knows when a customer might walk into a bar and whimsically order a serving of egg fried rice...
......
"There’s just too many; it feels like they queue up endlessly..."
The consumption of Spiritual Power was a bit excessive, so Kenshan Yellow Springs stopped to lean against a tree, resting a bit before her slightly pale complexion returned to normal. She scrutinized the forest surroundings carefully, finding the scene still pristine and rarely visited by people.
The Spirit Beast Chaotic Red Lotus guarded vigilantly by her side, easily tearing apart the stray Evil Spirits that approached.
However, as she refrained from attracting fire, pausing her advance, the Evil Spirit tide wasn’t so overwhelming and could be managed by relying solely on the Spirit Beast’s protection.
After all, tonight’s commotion is quite significant, shots even echoing from further away. These are from the Exorcism Armed Forces under the Ministry of Environment’s Department of Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures. Apart from Special Warfare Section Four itself being an elite organization, the other teams are comprised of soldiers equipped with special equipment.
They use special observation devices capable of seeing Spirit Bodies, employing Spirit Body Bullets for exorcism. Relying on numbers and firepower suppression, they can also achieve impressive results.
At least when facing D or C-level Evil Spirits, which aren’t individually strong but swarm in numbers, their firepower suppression is often more advantageous and trustworthy than a Demon Exorcist’s power. Therefore, the commotion temporarily diverted the forest’s Evil Spirits, sharing the burden with Kenshan Yellow Springs and allowing her a brief reprieve.
"The nonexistent Shrine shouldn’t be around here, right..."
Kenshan Yellow Springs exhaled, took out her phone to check once more, wanting to confirm the received information.
The screen lit up.
The next instant—
Her pupils contracted sharply. Almost reflexively, she turned, swung her blade, and drew back rapidly, while the blade flickered a killing intent, creating a silver light curtain in the night...
The blade abruptly halted from extreme motion, coming to a sudden stop as if without inertia, hovering less than an inch above the target’s forehead.
"Who are you?!"
Staring at the fearless young man before her, Kenshan Yellow Springs gritted her teeth in shock and anger.