Why would the other urban legends bother targeting the Richter Hotel instead of other places?
Hikari guessed that perhaps Miss Mary had contacted other urban legends through some means, a phone call or something, asking them to come rescue her.
Just like before when Miss Mary came after him because Hanako told her about being exorcised, violated, and humiliated by Hikari, and Miss Mary came to take revenge.
Hikari had a vague suspicion, though he didn't dare be certain yet.
If it really was as he suspected, then you really couldn't take these urban-legend-type monsters lightly.
Looking at the hotel staff lying unconscious on the floor, Hikari patted their belongings.
Soon he found a key on the mature female manager, a key that could close the hotel's main doors.
He took the key and shut the grand, gold-decorated doors of the Richter Hotel himself.
Previously, because of his connections, Louisa had agreed to lend him the top floor of her hotel for long-term use free of charge, which meant she'd lost a lot of income.
Now, because he was holding Miss Mary in the Richter Hotel, some other supernatural urban legends might have come looking for trouble, even killed people, naturally Hikari felt responsible.
If people were sacrificed and the hotel suffered such huge losses for no reason, and it didn't end there, he'd feel bad leaving it be.
Besides, even ignoring the hotel, he had to consider Miss Mary, she was the urban legend he'd finally captured.
And dealing with supernatural incidents involving urban legends by calling the police probably wouldn't help.
So Hikari decided to close the hotel and handle it himself.
From his observations so far, the number of intruders shouldn't be large; their strength was unknown but didn't seem immediately life-threatening.
He felt confident he could handle it.
Also, he'd just drawn a Substitute Paper Doll.
At minimum he effectively had two lives now, if things went south, he could swap places with the paper doll and teleport out of the hotel. There was nothing to fear.
After quickly weighing the risks in his mind, Hikari strode toward the stairwell.
Not wanting to risk an ambush in the elevator and wanting to inspect several floors, he chose the stairs instead of the elevator for now.
First floor, second floor, third floor… He quickly rushed up more than ten floors.
By looking around, Hikari found that on most floors the eerie aura wasn't very strong.
Whoever it was seemed to have caused trouble at the hotel entrance and on a few specific floors, then gone straight upstairs.
"Could it be that Miss Mary actually called her urban-legend friends to rescue her?", Hikari frowned. He didn't feel like climbing floor by floor anymore, so he decided to take the elevator straight to the 99th floor to check on Miss Mary.
Because the situation was urgent, he took a nearby sightseeing elevator, the transparent kind where you can see outside as it rises.
While the elevator was climbing, Hikari noticed a strange black shadow darting across a hallway on one floor.
The shadow appeared and vanished so suddenly he couldn't make out what it was, but it was almost certainly not human.
Already in the elevator, Hikari didn't bother chasing it; he just wanted to check Miss Mary first.
Soon the elevator brought him to the top, the 99th floor, the presidential suite he knew well.
He dispelled the barrier and pushed open the door, entering the room directly.
In the suite's spacious master bedroom he immediately saw Miss Mary still bound to the bed.
As usual, the pet*te girl was tied up in elaborate bindings and seemed a little drowsy.
She only woke up groggily when she heard movement.
Blinking her big eyes a few times, she mumbled a greeting to Hikari, "Ah, Hikari-kun, good afternoon."
Hikari didn't reply. He walked quickly to the bedside, gently stroked Miss Mary's cheek, and asked, "Miss Mary, did you call your monster friends to rescue you?"
At the accusing tone mixed with calm in his voice, Miss Mary felt a chill run down her spine for no reason and snapped fully awake. She answered quickly, "No! I don't have that many friends, how could I call anyone to rescue me!"
Hikari didn't immediately believe her denial and pressed further: "Is that so? But today something strange, possibly another urban legend, broke into the hotel and hurt a lot of people. Miss Mary, are you sure you don't know it?"
Miss Mary grew nearly in tears from his suspicion. She shook her head repeatedly, "No, really! No! I don't have that many legend friends, they wouldn't come to rescue me! If some legend did come, I definitely wouldn't know it!"
"I… I just tried to sense it. I did feel a similar kind of aura. It might be an urban legend, but it definitely didn't come to rescue me," she closed her eyes to concentrate, then said hurriedly.
"Also, maybe it sensed my weak aura and wanted to come kill and devour me! Some urban legends do that. I vaguely felt that malice, but it wasn't strong enough to be certain," Miss Mary anxiously explained to Hikari.
Seeing her distressed like that, it seemed the intruder had nothing to do with her.
Hikari then produced the key he'd taken from the manager downstairs and handed it to Miss Mary, "This might be contaminated with its aura. Smell it."
Miss Mary took the key, sniffed several times with her small nose, and suddenly brightened, "I recognize it, this is the smell of a Half-Body Dead Spirit! I once ran into her before."
"Half-Body Dead Spirit?", Hikari frowned slightly. [T/N: AKA 'Teke Teke' in Japan.]
He'd vaguely heard of this urban legend in Japan. Roughly, a girl had been assaulted by occupying soldiers and either thrown onto the tracks to die or met with a subway accident that split her in two. In any case, she'd been run over by a subway and cut in half.
She died in rage and hatred at its peak; her resentment was so strong that even in death she used her mutilated body to exact revenge on the living so others could feel her pain.
While Hikari pondered, Miss Mary explained the Half-Body Dead Spirit as she understood it, basically matching his assumptions.
Hikari added, "I heard that although she lost her legs, she can still move very fast with her upper body and arms. She wields a large scythe, and if she catches someone, she'll cleave them evenly in two, right?"
Miss Mary nodded, "Yes, she really only has an upper body and no lower half. But I haven't closely witnessed her speed and attack style… However, her aggression does seem strong."
"Since you said she headed straight for the Richter Hotel, I guess she sensed my weak aura and aimed to kill and devour me to increase her power," Miss Mary explained.
"Is that so?", Hikari frowned.
He'd suspected the intruder might be another urban legend, but he hadn't expected it wasn't there to save Miss Mary. Rather, it had come to hunt and devour her.
After hearing Miss Mary's words, Hikari was a little surprised. Urban legends killing each other seemed odd, but then again, humans kill each other too, so it wasn't that strange.
To be honest, he believed Miss Mary's account. If the intruder had truly been called by her to rescue her, it wouldn't have randomly killed people downstairs; it would have headed straight to the 99th floor where she was.
From the current situation it looked like this brutal Half-Body Dead Spirit could only sense Miss Mary's general presence but not her exact location, so it was still searching.
So he just needed to deal with this vicious Half-Body Dead Spirit…
Seeing Hikari deep in thought, Miss Mary worried he still doubted her. She immediately pouted and volunteered, "Hikari-kun, since we're both legends, I can track her aura. I'll take you to her!"
"I really have nothing to do with her, I didn't call her to make trouble or rescue me. She came to kill me, I swear, you have to believe me!"
Hikari stroked her small head and smiled, "I believe you. Of course I believe you, Mary, we're friends."
Some humans might sneer at how easily he said it, suspicious a moment ago, now full of trust, but Mary, who had few friends, didn't have many tricks, and genuinely felt a surge of trust. She was touched.
After agreeing, Hikari untied the bindings on Miss Mary's wrists and ankles so she could move independently to lead him to the Half-Body Dead Spirit.
But he didn't fully relax: as he untied the ropes around her ankles, he infused two Vajra Demon-Subduing Forces into her, one bright and one hidden.
The bright one she could clearly feel, a reminder not to try to run.
Of course, the stated reason was protection, which was part of his intent.
The hidden one was so he could track her in case she did try to escape.
Miss Mary had no objections.
Perhaps, as she'd said, she had nothing to do with today's mess and only wanted to help Hikari and help herself, since the Half-Body Dead Spirit had come to kill her.
"Let's go, Hikari-kun!", Miss Mary wiggled her wrists and ankles and said excitedly.
Being released for the first time outside of their fights and getting to fight alongside Hikari, she was clearly thrilled.
Seeing this, Hikari smiled, "Alright, let's go."
They left the presidential suite together. Following Miss Mary's lead, Hikari descended floor by floor.
[Ninety-Eight]
"Not here yet, she hasn't reached this floor…", Mary shook her head.
[Ninety-Seven]
"Not here either, she's not on this floor."
With Mary acting as a living legend-detector, Hikari continued down dozens of floors, but per Mary's tracking the Half-Body Dead Spirit wasn't found.
He didn't rush, continuing to follow her.
Around the eighties, Mary suddenly perked up.
"I feel it! The same-type aura is intense, she's nearby!", she cried excitedly.
They hurried down several more floors. When they reached the seventy-seventh floor, Mary pointed to a room across the corridor, "Such a strong aura, she's very likely inside that room."
Hikari focused on the slightly ajar door. Even without Mary saying it, he guessed, a strong metallic blood smell drifted from that room again. The Half-Body Dead Spirit had probably been killing again.
Without fear or hesitation, Hikari strode to the room and pushed the door open.
This one really has a heavy bloodlust.
Inside the room was a scene of chaos. Sofas and tables bore signs of violent damage.
On the carpet lay four human body segments, two people cut cleanly in half, their organs spilled and blood flowing everywhere.
In the middle of the blood, a pitch-black, terrifying silhouette slowly lifted its head toward the doorway.