Chapter 494: Mountain Climbing

The way up to Mount Kita was more straight forward than we had imagined.

A circular path winding up like a spiral surrounded the mountain, with flights of stairs that was clearly man-made. Apparently, the Seirei Shrine we were looking for was at the very top of this mountain, so the staircase might’ve been built by the people there.

Yes, we could fly, but to be perfectly honest, after all the flying we did earlier in the day, none of us were eager to do that again. Besides, I wanted to check out what these ‘corrupted beasts and monsters’ were anyway, so walking by foot was best.

Unfortunately, however, we couldn’t all go. The reason for that was because the mountain had some sort of barrier surrounding it, limiting the amount of people that could enter. We had no idea until only Mei Gui, Lorelei, Amane, and I passed, while the others were locked out. Apparently, it was time-gated, so the next time someone else could enter would be tomorrow.

The old woman didn’t tell us about this, which led to me believing this was set in place by the Midnight Syndicate Archpriest we are looking for. The way this barrier functioned was awfully specific, which made me wonder why those detailed limitations were set in place.

In the end, only the four of us continued onwards while the rest of the girls returned to Hirokita Village via teleportation, as that was probably the best place to stay for the night.

Of course, with only four of us—and Lorelei being unable to actually fight—this meant our power level as a group had been reduced significantly. We would need to be careful from here on out, that was for sure.

“Master, Lorelei can detect several hostile signatures ahead,” a gentle voice whispered in my mind. “They appear to be the corrupt entities the old woman spoke of.”

“Hm… already?” I wondered aloud. “Well then… let’s not keep them waiting, shall we?”

Amane and Mei Gui both nodded, and together, we picked up our pace.

*****

“They are here.”

Mei Gui, Amane, and I came to a stop as Lorelei rode on my shoulders, and we glanced around.

“I don’t see them… where are they?” Amane asked.

I looked up, just in time to spot a few slime-like monsters staring down at us with their non-existent eyes.

“… Above.”

“GRAGHARGH!”

With a roar, the four amorphous entities dropped down at us, mouths wailing like a distorted chorus and arms flailing like morning stars. They had no eyes, no ears, no nose. Only gluttonous mouths, hungry for food.

“Heh.”

I smirked and evaded easily, rolling sideways while Mei Gui did the same towards the opposite direction. Amane, on the other hand, took a more direct approach and jumped above one of them as they were falling down. With her catlike agility and reflexes, that was easy.

Pulling out her katana, she easily stabbed it into the slime’s flesh, but to her surprise, it took no damage, instead swallowing the blade.

“Wha—!” She quickly pulled her blade back out before it was too late, then did a mid-air backflip and landed beside me.

“Their skin… it’s like a marshmallow,” she said. “My sword felt like it was sinking into it instead of doing any actual damage.”

“So, blades and bullets won’t work, huh?” I grinned. “In that case… get a load of this.”

Lifting my arm, I invoked their death.

Level Three Fire Magic — Pillars of Flame.

Instantly, four pillars of raw fire shot out of the ground beneath the four purple corrupted monsters, blazing them into a fiery hell.

“GRAGHAGHGHAHGHA!” They roared in agony, but could do little other than that. Being heavy and big, their movements were slow and clunky. Dodging my attack was an impossibility for them.

After about 15 seconds of this blazing hell, they finally were reduced to nothing but ashes, and I canceled the spell’s effect.

“Whew… they’re pretty tough, I’ll give them that,” I muttered. “Even under my Chaosfire, they managed to withstand for so long… impressive.”

“Look, Master!” Mei Gui suddenly interjected, pointing at the piles of ashes on the ground. “They’re… sinking into the ground.”

At this, I narrowed my eyes.

“Oho… how peculiar. Does this mean they were in fact from the earth to begin with…?”

I shook my head, discarding the thought. That was a solid theory, but it would need more evidence before I could say anything for sure.

Amane, Mei Gui, Lorelei, and I continued up the mountain through the spiral staircase, until at last, we arrived at what seemed to be a platform. The spiral staircase did not continue beyond this point, and instead, changed into a straight one, heading closer to the center of the mountain and upwards at the same time.

By now, the sun had set and night had fallen, but the trees surrounding the staircase here were kind enough to have lanterns hanging from them. Of course, this wasn’t natural, and it would be safe to assume someone had installed them there on purpose.

“This appears to lead to the peak of the mountain, Master,” Mei Gui said. “If my guess is not wrong, the shrine we are searching for should be up there.”

I nodded. “I think so too. But… isn’t this kind of weird? I mean, I don’t sense any lif-“

“Why hast thou cometh here?” A voice suddenly whispered from behind us, and I immediately spun around in shock.

“What… I didn’t sense you… how?”

“It is because she does not have a physical presence, Master,” Lorelei said in my head. “She only has a spiritual form now.”

I blinked several times in surprise. “Wait… then does that mean… she’s a ghost?”

“I prefereth to be called ‘spirit’, but ‘ghost’ is not an incorrect term,” the girl replied with a blink. She had shoulder-length white hair and crystal blue eyes, like sapphires that could not be any purer. On her head were two foxears, signaling that she was a foxgirl.

“Why, uh… hello,” I said, not meaning to have spoken aloud earlier. “This is the Seirei Shrine, is it not?”

“Yes. And thou art intruding upon these sacred lands. Telleth me, visitor. Why hast thou cometh at this time? Hast thou also cometh here seeking power?”

“And what if I am?” I taunted, just to see how she would respond.

“Then you shall not receive.”

What’s that supposed to mean?

“Anyway… I’m not here seeking some power or whatever. I’m here seeking the person who came here seeking that power. Did that make sense? Sorry, I don’t think that made sense…”

“I see,” the girl said calmly. “In that case, you will find that person deeper inside. Grasp the truth, and the power shall be yours.”

“What? You just said I won’t receive the pow-” I began, but it was too late. The girl had vanished into nothingness, like she had never been there in the first place.

“… Well then,” I folded my arms.

“… Let us carry on, Master,” Mei Gui said, and I nodded.

As we ascended the staircase, more corrupted beasts attacked us. It seemed to be endlessly tall, and for each ten flights of stairs, a few corrupted challenged us. It was almost as if they were guardians of the shrine, coming to test us to see if we were worthy of reaching the top. After all, each one got progressively harder than the next—though none were too much for us to handle.

Soon, we arrived at the top of the shrine. There, one final corrupted awaited. It was a humanoid one, different from all the rest. With burning red eyes and deep purple skin, he looked like a monster that was capable of human speech.

“… So, you are the invaders who are trying to get in our way.”

“So, you are from the Midnight Pussycate,” I chuckled, glancing at the classic insignia on her purple skinned arm. “Nice tattoo, by the way.”

“Hmph…! Insolent brats… my master is almost finished obtaining the power. I will NOT allow you to interrupt now!”

He roared in fury at my taunt, and charged up in strength. A rift of purple energy appeared around him, and two of those slime creatures from before suddenly appeared by his side.

“Oh…? So you can summon those guys… huh, how interesting. Too bad I just…”

Level Three Fire Magic — Pillars of Flame.

“… One shot them.”

As if on cue, two blazing pillars of fire shot out of the ground beneath the two slimes, reducing them to nothing but ashes in the matter of a mere few seconds. Earlier, I hadn’t put enough power into my spell, but now that I knew how much they could take, erasing them in the blink of an eye was as simple as breathing to me.

“W-Wha…” The man was clearly surprised by my power, but didn’t falter. “So you are a major threat… I see… then I will have to deal with you myself!”

Suddenly, the creature’s muscles grew bulkier as if expanding, and the girls and I narrowed our eyes in caution.

“RAGH… ARGH… RAGHHHH!”

The humanoid monster roared in rage as its body grew bigger and bigger, until what we were looking at was no longer humanoid at all.

This… was comparable to a Giant.