Chapter 177: Not Very Smart
After a brief silence, Hachiman Hikigaya and Inoue Yasutaka both moved again simultaneously.
Compared to before, Hachiman was now more vigilant, while Inoue Yasutaka no longer held back, slamming black spheres of energy into the ground as if they were worthless.
"I still need to figure out a way to get Miura to a safe place…" While dodging attacks, Hachiman observed Yumiko Miura's condition. Noticing her face had turned pale from the prolonged high-speed movement, he quietly considered retreating.
But Inoue Yasutaka gave Hachiman no opportunity to distance himself.
Clearly, he understood that Hachiman could not abandon Yumiko on his back. So whenever Hachiman tried to rush away, Inoue Yasutaka would use a wide-range spiritual energy attack, forcing Hachiman to stop and defend Yumiko.
"..." The roar and whistling sounds reached Yumiko's ears intermittently. She bit her lip and pressed herself tightly against Hachiman's back, using all her strength to hold on.
So useless… For the first time completely a burden, Yumiko felt extreme frustration. But as an ordinary human, she had no power to change the situation and could only silently curse her own helplessness.
"Is there really nothing I can do to help?" Feeling Hachiman's rapid breathing beneath her, Yumiko, who usually found him annoying, now wanted to help. Perhaps due to strong emotion or something else, a ball of golden light suddenly appeared behind her, condensing into a fox-masked shrine maiden.
"What is that?" Hachiman, resisting the spiritual energy shockwave from Inoue Yasutaka, suddenly noticed a fox shrine maiden outlined in golden lines next to him. He was puzzled but immediately alert.
"¥%＃@%!" The fox-masked shrine maiden opened her mouth toward Hachiman and Yumiko, speaking a string of incomprehensible words. Before they could react, Inoue Yasutaka's massive foot stomped down and swallowed the shrine maiden.
"!" Hachiman, dodging with Yumiko on his back, watched as Inoue Yasutaka lifted his foot again and returned to the shrine maiden. He twitched at the sight of the golden figure crushed in the pit. He had thought this new ally would be powerful, only for her to be wiped out with a single stomp?
"Uh-uh…" Suddenly, the remains emitted strange noises. A huge mass of golden threads shot out from Yumiko's body, reaching toward the crushed shrine maiden in the pit. In just a few breaths, the once-dead fox shrine maiden stood again before Hachiman.
"Eh?" Seeing the revived golden figure, Inoue Yasutaka cried out in confusion and lifted his foot to stomp again. Hachiman and Yumiko dodged once more.
This time, the fox shrine maiden seemed aware of the attack. She didn't move away, but raised her hands.
A golden barrier radiated from her palms, quickly forming a semicircular shield that enveloped her entirely.
Just as Hachiman thought a fierce confrontation would occur, the moment Inoue Yasutaka's foot touched the barrier, it cracked with a sound like breaking eggshells. 'Crack!' The shrine maiden was stomped down again.
"Hahaha! I thought you summoned something powerful—this is it?!" Inoue Yasutaka laughed heartily, then stomped on the shrine maiden's corpse several more times.
Hachiman, too, was speechless at this newly summoned supposed ally. He had expected a strong combatant to help fight Inoue Yasutaka, only to see her wiped out instantly.
The golden threads appeared a third time. After the fox shrine maiden revived again, Hachiman put Yumiko down in front of her.
"?" The fox shrine maiden tilted her mask-covered head, looking at Yumiko who had summoned her, then at Hachiman with his strong spiritual power.
"Take her to a safe place. You understand that, right?" The shrine maiden nodded, indicating she understood Hachiman's meaning, and took Yumiko's hand, moving toward the outside.
"..." Seeing this, Hachiman's heart nearly jumped out of his chest. Following this path, was she planning to take Yumiko to her death?
The whistling sound came again, this time Inoue Yasutaka used his fists. After two failed attempts to eliminate the golden figure, he sensed something was wrong. He concentrated massive spiritual energy into a single punch.
But in the next moment, he lost his target. The fox shrine maiden, calmly leading Yumiko outside, suddenly erupted with intense golden light, engulfing both of them before disappearing from sight.
Just as Inoue Yasutaka wondered where Yumiko and the golden figure had gone, a huge sense of danger surged in his heart.
"This is going to be our battlefield now." Hachiman infused the Demon-Slaying Blade with spiritual energy. The blade glowed cyan, combined with the attached ghostly flames, giving off a strange, eerie aura.
Pushing off with his right foot, Hachiman dug a deep pit while using the recoil to launch himself rapidly toward Inoue Yasutaka.
Inoue Yasutaka's mind rang alarm bells instantly.
He repeatedly unleashed black spheres to stop Hachiman's approach. But compared to the massive Inoue Yasutaka, Hachiman was tiny and agile.
In just a few seconds, Hachiman climbed up Inoue Yasutaka's thigh, heading for his head. Inoue Yasutaka reached to swat him away but Hachiman nimbly evaded.
"Damn it!" Unable to hit Hachiman, Inoue Yasutaka ground his teeth in frustration. He surged spiritual energy throughout his body, preparing a massive shockwave to blast Hachiman away.
Meanwhile, Hachiman had already reached Inoue Yasutaka's back.
.
.
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With the disappearance of the golden light, Yumiko, who should have been outside the abandoned factory, was now at a dilapidated shrine with the fox shrine maiden.
"This…where is this?" Yumiko looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings, puzzled, at the shrine maiden.
The shrine maiden didn't answer. With a wave of her hand, the sky before them turned into a screen, showing Hachiman and Inoue Yasutaka's battle.
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