The flesh cocoon was torn open by the scalpel. Mercury-colored liquid flowed from the wound, dripping onto the fungal carpet and making a 'hissing' corrosive sound.
After watching for two seconds, Sen Getsusa quickly retreated!
Like leaking gas, the giant worm began to shrivel visibly to the naked eye.
Silver, steam-like mist was sprayed out, slowly dispersing into the room.
Suddenly.
The swarm went still.
The heads of the men and women on the ground, their withered black hair blown by a sigh, drifted extremely slowly through the air, strand by strand.
On the ceiling, nail-sized purple slime passed through the slender strands of hair. After being cut in half, it too remained still amidst the distant murmurs... "You know all my ways,
You give me endless knowledge..."
Accompanied by Hannya's prayer, the swarm receded like a tide.
The fairies jumped warily in front of Sen Getsusa's feet, guarding their queen.
A long cry, seemingly from a cavern, echoed in the minds of all living beings.
A sigh.
Hiss hiss—
Minagawa Akane couldn't help but look up—
Thump... Thump... Thump.
A non-existent pendulum clock made of flesh, carapace, and scales swayed its massive, viscous body.
In everyone's ears, the bell tolled.
Black liquid slowly seeped from the ceiling, dripping into the mist that blocked their vision, like a rain of oil. A piercing ache flickered in the brain of every living creature.
Inside the shriveled maggot's body, a silver figure slowly unfolded itself.
Unlike the giant insects Sen Getsusa had seen along the way, this figure was very petite, like... "Mari?!"
Sen Getsusa furrowed her brows.
"Hayami Mari?!"
She couldn't have misseen it; that face was indeed Hayami Mari's face.
The girl was wrapped in a silver film, inhaling white mist with every breath. Maintaining a perfect human form, Hayami Mari glanced indifferently at Sen Getsusa.
She spoke.
The crypt rumbled.
"Mortal."
Well... starting off so impolitely?
Within a few breaths, the mist grew even denser.
She greedily sucked in everything on the fungal carpet; the students' corpses were melted by the black rain and merged into the bubbles of the fungal carpet.
'Hayami Mari' knelt on the ground, her face filled with an ungraceful longing as she gulped down the viscous fluid.
"the mist, my Lord..."
Hannya knelt piously before Hayami Mari; once the fungal carpet connecting him disappeared, the man regained his ability to move.
He glared irritably at Minagawa Akane nearby and was the first to speak.
"It was we who completed the ritual—"
His tone, which seemed to be seeking credit, received no response from the so-called mist.
The creature possessing Hayami Mari glanced dissatisfiedly at Hannya, as if rebuking him for interrupting its meal.
Behind him, Minagawa Akane also knelt not far away, gazing infatuatedly at the Hayami Mari who was devouring the juices.
The whispers of the crypt echoed in their brains. Except for Sen Getsusa—everyone, including the sprites, stood piously in place, staring fixedly at the silver figure.
—Her eyeballs rolled irregularly; she had not yet fully gained control of this body.
And in the brains of all creatures present, a black hair with countless tentacles was silently sprouting, as their vision began to turn from the outside to the inside.
They seemed to catch a glimpse of ulceration.
Inside bottomless flesh-holes, soft, bright colonies rustled as they surrounded them; bloated creatures dragged heavy bodies, mucus flowing out through sieve-like breathing ports.
In the deep darkness, mountains slowly moved. He walked among stone slabs and cold flames, His deafening chants enlightening every creature He passed—
This caused them to become porous and arthropodic, with fine short hairs growing on their eyeballs and teeth.
This was an abyss of ecstasy, where hymns and longing swept countless souls into a frenzy; spiral thought-tentacles spun and pierced into brains. Rot and infection were the final destination of the mist.
"What a beautiful creature..."
The whispers of the Little Sprites did not escape Sen Getsusa's ears.
The girl did not wait any longer, quietly hooking her fingers to recall the sprites at her feet back into cards—
They wouldn't be needed for the upcoming battle.
Tap.
The young girl took a step forward.
Hayami Mari looked up, and inside her ring-shaped mouth, countless short black tentacles squirmed.
A non-human creature.
"Mortal, surrender your body and soul."
The hollow echoes and the sound of tiny arthropods crawling grew louder—
Those were even more intense ravings from the depths of the mist... Sen Getsusa showed no reaction.
[Note: Ultra-high energy reaction detected]
[Boiling Old God Blood]
[Gold-Silver Species temporarily activated]
[Bio-field Filter in effect]
[Spell Power Barrier in effect]
[Note: Mentality Disintegration Field detected]
[Immune]
[Chaotic Resonance detected]
[Immune]
[High-level mystery Infection detected]
[Immune]
[Corruption Singularity detected]
[Immune]
The long string of prompts could not interfere with Sen Getsusa's resolve. No one noticed that in the girl's eyes, the originally dark pupils were gradually replaced by a blooming bright silver. They softy coiled and spread, blooming like liquid mercury.
Bang!
Mud and stone shattered!
An afterimage vaguely remained in the girl's lunging posture.
Sen Getsusa was like a silver sword, passing through space in a fleeting flash.
In the next second, the blade shining with starlight was gripped tightly by the girl and swiftly reached Hayami Mari's neck!
Clang!
A scythe-like arm blocked the girl's attack.
Hayami Mari licked the juices from her lips; a small ear was still hanging from the corner of her mouth as she chewed.
The skin on half of her arm was burst open, revealing the black raptorial leg inside.
Shaped like a guillotine—
A mantis.
"A very sharp attack..."
"But... useless."
Swish!
The guillotine-shaped arm slashed across Sen Getsusa's waist, and the afterimage dissipated—
Clang! Clang!
The girl's continuous attacks were blocked by Hayami Mari with ease. Behind her, the illusion of a porous crypt slowly emerged—
In the massive mirage-like entrance, countless tiny holes sprouted insect heads with compound eyes or insect limbs. The rustling chirps, crawling, and wing-fluttering sounds gradually grew louder.
Perhaps, it wasn't just an illusion.
It was a projection that had not yet descended.
[Name: the mist (Descending)]
[In the vast sea of chaos, countless giant creatures quietly peer into this World.]
[A giant monstrosity whose true form is shrouded in mist, a high-level mysterious creature keen on infecting and invading other Worlds.]
[Regarding life and evolution...]
[He has unique ideas and methods.]
[Swallow the insect eggs, and you will soon receive His response.]
[It's not hard, is it?]
[Don't some humans do the same just to maintain a good figure?]
[Energy Level: Lv3 · 'Judgment']
—
[Note: High energy reaction detected.]
[Note: Massive mystery siphon in progress!]
[Starting descent point calculation—]
[In three minutes,]
[This creature's energy level will rise to Lv4 · 'Apostle']
[In forty-five minutes, the target's life form will begin to leap.]
[In two hundred and thirty-five minutes, the opponent will likely maneuver its complete form through the planar barrier.]
[Note: Be a happy mama's boy/girl, and wait joyfully for rescue.]
[Sometimes, it's best to retreat when you should.]
[PS: Child away from home, mother's heart is worried (crying face).]
Sen Getsusa pursed her lips and gave a metaphorical (and literal) eye-roll.
In her view, the so-called 'forty-five minutes' and 'two hundred and thirty-five minutes' were meaningless calculations—
She had to deal with the eerie creature before her within three minutes, before it promoted to 'Apostle'.
As for this 'Parentheses Lady' who had been frequently and subtly (blatantly) conveying information to her through profiling or interference... she would have a 'good' talk with that profiling card of hers that often 'manifested maternal love' later.
For now... sorry, but since things hadn't reached a dead end, Sen Getsusa would never pin her hopes on a problem where she couldn't guess the answer.
The girl drew a second blade from her waist.
Ding—
The two blades touched, letting out a crisp ring.
Sen Getsusa tightly gripped the cold hilt, her small nose wrinkling as a large amount of Spell Power was inhaled into her body like mist.
Energy filled her small frame.
She stomped the ground!
Her black hair billowed, and her figure flashed!
-------------------------------
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