The sound of guttural, roaring laughter echoed like a monstrous wind.
I focused my magically enhanced vision on the mummified figures scattered throughout the forest, then took a step back to scan the area more broadly.
There wasn't a single normal tree in sight.
What had appeared to be a lush valley filled with trees, like something out of a Chinese UNESCO World Heritage site, was instead a grotesque landscape of withered, mummy-like monsters. The sheer eeriness of the sight made my skin crawl.
Fortunately, they didn't seem to be making any aggressive moves toward us. Still, it wasn't the kind of scenery you could simply ignore.
I turned to the one-eyed monster.
"...Are all of those things monsters?"
"They are," he replied, nodding swiftly.
"They're husks, really. Barely able to move, half-dead even as 'demons.'"
"So, they won't attack us with magic?"
"Hard to say. If you get too close, there's no telling what they'll do. Be careful."
Easier said than done. There wasn't a single space in this forest free of those creatures.
Aya and Nina finally took in their surroundings, their tense, shaky voices betraying their shock.
Before they could process it fully, I turned back to the one-eyed monster.
"Those tree-like monsters... If we can't get close to them safely, how are we supposed to find the
Oni Blight
?"
"Good question, kid. Lucky for us, we don't need to go looking."
"What do you mean?"
The monster grinned slyly.
"The
Oni Blight
is drawn to human life. It's got no brains, though—not much room for cleverness in a place like this."
He shrugged, as if this were the most obvious thing in the world.
"Think of the
Oni Blight
as a baby. It moves purely on instinct, chasing power wherever it senses it."
"So, if we just wait here, it'll come to us?"
"Not quite. We'll need to
call it
."
With that, the monster reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small bell. It was heavily tarnished, its color somewhere between green and blue, its surface etched with the marks of long use.
Holding the bell carefully, he glanced up at us.
"You kids ready?"
"Yeah."
I nodded, and Aya and Nina followed suit.
Satisfied with our readiness, the monster gave the bell a small shake. The sound that rang out was pure and crystalline, spreading across the Immortal Realm like a ripple in water.
The
Oni Blight
was a "Fifth Rank" entity. Not unbeatable, but definitely dangerous enough to require caution. I clenched my fists, steeling myself for the fight ahead.
We waited in silence for it to appear.
"..."
The clear, resonant chime of the bell slowly faded into the background. Nothing moved, no threads of
Silveit
lashed out toward us.
"Even a leg!"
"Anything at all will do!"
There were dozens of them, each clambering upward with unnerving speed.
I extended ten threads of
Silveit
, aiming for the group.
"
Blazing Spears.
"
The fiery lances shot down, propelled by both my magic and gravity. They struck the monsters in an explosion of flames and force.
With a heavy rumble, the ground quaked slightly beneath us.
The effect was devastating. The cliffside swarm was caught in the blast, the flames reducing them to black mist that quickly dissipated.
As the last of the smoke cleared, the one-eyed monster clapped his hands in delight.
"Amazing! You're something else, kid. No wonder you've taken down
Second Rank
entities!"
I'd just purified his fellow monsters, and he was applauding me. Did that count as betrayal?
No time to dwell on it. I scanned the surroundings, looking for the next wave of attackers.
But then I noticed something odd: the ground beneath us was still trembling.
"...An earthquake?"
Earthquakes weren't uncommon in Japan, but was that possible here in the Immortal Realm? As I pondered, the ground beneath us suddenly tilted violently.
The high ground we were standing on started to shift.
Before we could react, we were flung into the air. Gravity seized us, and we plummeted toward the ground below.
"Whoa?!"
"AAAAAAAH!"
"Ahh!"
"...!"
Everyone screamed in their own way as we fell. I quickly glanced down.
The ground was dozens of meters below.
I began weaving
Silveit
, ready to slow our descent, when the one-eyed monster's voice cut through the chaos.
"Kid! Look! The
Oni Blight
! It's here!"
"Where?!"
"Right in front of us! Open your eyes!"
I followed his frantic direction, looking ahead—and then I saw it.
"Oh, you've got to be kidding me..."
The high ground we had been standing on—the entire
platform
—was moving.
"It's the
Oni Blight
!" the monster shouted. "And it's HUGE! I've never seen one this big before!"