Chapter 128 – The Evil Spirit That Transformed Into a Tentacle Monster
Even with the dirty burlap sack in between them, Hachiman Hikigaya could clearly feel a pair of blood-red eyes staring intensely at him.
Why blood-red eyes?
Well, that was just his own assumption—after all, ghosts and demons in movies and TV always had red eyes, right?
"What powerful life force..."
The awakened evil spirit spoke again.
Surprisingly, even though it was supposedly just a Special-Class Evil Spirit, its speech was more fluent than some of the General-Class spirits Hikigaya had encountered before.
"So what?"
Hikigaya, unsure what possessed him, actually tried initiating a conversation with the evil spirit.
And he really went through with it.
"You're weak—but you are indeed an Exorcist."
The burlap-headed evil spirit scratched at its covered head, speaking in a tone that suggested it was stating a matter of fact.
"You know about Exorcists?"
A glimmer of excitement surfaced in Hikigaya's voice.
"Of course. After all, I've never forgotten the grudge of the one who slashed me back then."
At this point, the tone of the burlap spirit turned chilling.
"It was you damned humans that disrupted the Great One's plans and caused me to lose most of my power. I had no choice but to hide in a place like this, leeching off the life force transferred from low-level evil spirits just to recover."
"But that's all in the past now!"
The spirit's voice suddenly turned manic and exhilarated.
"An Exorcist with power rivaling a Demon King—if I devour you, not only will my wounds fully heal, but I might even step into the Divine-Class!"
Shadows began creeping along the alley's perimeter.
Back at the mouth of the alley, the three observers watched as the scene warped before their eyes—and Hikigaya vanished.
"Master, where did he go?"
Niguredou Yuria looked up at Takeda Mitsue, puzzled by the suddenly empty alley.
"He's probably been dragged into a Phantom Domain!"
Though not powerful, Takeda Mitsue's decades of experience allowed her to recognize what had happened.
"Will he be alright?"
The name Phantom Domain alone carried a terrifying implication.
To Yuria, Hikigaya was still more of a weird schoolmate than some noble Exorcist.
The moment she heard he was pulled into a Phantom Domain, concern clouded her face.
"Silly girl, what are you thinking?"
Takeda Mitsue smiled and patted her on the head.
"That's an Exorcist, you know. How could anything possibly happen to him?"
.
.
.
At the same time, the "invincible" Hikigaya—so assuredly spoken of—was running for his life inside the Phantom Domain.
"This is totally cheating!"
He was frantically dodging as the burlap spirit floated midair, extending countless arms that hurled debris in his direction like an octopus from hell.
This was not the kind of battle he had envisioned.
Aren't evil spirits supposed to specialize in close combat? That's why he specifically bought the Killing Stone to enhance his physical prowess!
So why was he now up against a damn Thousand-Armed Guanyin knockoff?!
"What's the matter, young Exorcist? Didn't you come to kill me? Then turn around and fight me already!"
The burlap spirit chased after him, shouting taunts in an effort to provoke Hikigaya into turning around.
"Only an idiot would fight you right now..."
Glancing back at the monstrosity with more tentacles than a sea monster, Hikigaya felt a chill crawl down his spine—and picked up the pace.
"Tch, coward!"
Seeing that Hikigaya still wouldn't engage, the burlap spirit cursed and sped up the chase.
But after pursuing him for some distance inside the ghostly alley, it suddenly lost sight of him.
"Did he hide?"
The burlap spirit looked around the now-empty alley, suspicion written all over its face. Then it began flailing its many arms, smashing the walls and floor around it.
A gust of wind cleared the dust, revealing nothing but ruins. No trace of Hikigaya.
"Damn it, where did that human go?!"
Its rage growing, the burlap spirit realized that its wide-range attack had failed to flush him out.
It had used up most of its painstakingly accumulated power just to maintain this Phantom Domain, specifically to prevent Hikigaya from escaping.
If it failed to eliminate him before its power ran out, not only would all that effort go to waste—it might even cost the spirit its life.
Because out in the real world, its power was only that of a Special-Class.
"Unless I deal with all those arms first, this fight is unwinnable..."
While the burlap spirit fumed, Hikigaya—hidden directly below it with his stealth skill active—was also looking troubled.
He badly wanted to take advantage of the spirit's distraction and stab it from below.
But judging from its earlier display of power, there was almost no chance of killing it in a single strike. The more likely outcome would be him getting flattened by hundreds of devastating punches.
"Life is really unfair sometimes..."
He sighed, bitterly.
If he made it out alive, he swore to grind for more Spirit Coins and purchase tools specifically designed to counter these tentacle monsters.
"But no matter how resolved I am, I still have to survive this first..."
Just then, Hikigaya noticed something odd—the rubble on the ground had disappeared.
This would've been a totally normal event—like in a video game where defeated mobs get cleaned up automatically.
But unlike the environment in games, the surrounding walls hadn't reset. Instead, they revealed a murky, fog-like boundary.
"Well, now this is interesting..."
Eyes narrowing, Hikigaya turned and looked back at the path he had just fled down.
Sure enough, while all the debris had vanished, the alley hadn't returned to its original state.
"If I remember right, that guy said it was injured..."
Hikigaya rubbed his chin, his perpetually dead fish eyes now glowing with a dangerous glint.
Well, he wasn't really the kind of person who liked kicking others when they were down.
But if your opponent is already bleeding and you don't exploit that—well, wouldn't that be an insult to common sense?