Under the tense gaze of Miko Yotsuya and the others.
The Goat-Headed Spirit took a step forward, and an invisible aura quickly spread out, enveloping the surrounding, suspicious evil spirits.
In the next second, these evil spirits stepped out of the shadows uncontrollably, their deformed bodies constantly twisting and reshaping under the invisible force.
Once their bodies were roughly similar to normal humans, these evil spirits slowly formed a long queue in front of the three large mouths.
They stared at the three bloody maws before them, their faces filled with terror; they wanted to flee, but their bodies would not obey.
"I have kept you... waiting."
The Goat-Headed Spirit said to its three-headed colleague, then controlled the foremost evil spirit to walk toward the leftmost maw filled with fangs.
The moment the walking food entered its mouth, the rows of sharp teeth bit down fiercely.
Blood sprayed instantly. Accompanied by the sound of gruesome chewing, the screams of the evil spirit grew quieter and quieter until they vanished entirely.
Then came the next lucky winner.
The next evil spirit stepped forward, staring at the fanged maw inches away.
It suddenly backed away half a step in fear, then tried to run toward the toothless mouth.
But it had barely taken half a step when the Goat-Headed Spirit grabbed its head and reminded it, "Do not go the wrong way."
The evil spirit did not appreciate the help; it struggled violently to break free from the restraint.
Seeing it refuse to cooperate.
The Goat-Headed Spirit stopped wasting words. Several thick tentacles suddenly extended from its body, twisting the evil spirit into a pretzel in the blink of an eye before tossing it into the leftmost mouth.
Then came the sound of crunching and chewing.
"So, this is the real reason those evil spirits vanish one by one in a queue..."
Mitsue Takeda and Rom watched, increasingly entranced.
This was the first time in their lives they had seen such a sight.
It even solved a question they had held for years.
Both were clever people; based on this scene, they immediately guessed the duty of these two spirits.
These must be Messengers of Hell, whose duty was to take evil spirits wandering the mortal realm back to hell.
Then, based on the sins they committed, it would be decided which bloody maw they would enter.
Clearly, the leftmost one was the most painful.
It turned out Gabriel called them spirits not because of their power, but because they truly were deities in their own right.
"..."
Miko Yotsuya watched silently for a moment, but eventually could not stomach the bloody scene and instinctively looked away.
If Gabriel hadn't educated her on the stance and duties of spirits, she wouldn't have been this calm.
Suddenly, a large, black-and-white hand reached out from the ground without warning, lunging toward Miko Yotsuya's fair ankle.
Mitsue Takeda and Rom noticed instantly, and four feathers pierced toward the large hand beneath Miko Yotsuya's feet like speeding arrows.
But neither noticed that the Goat-Headed Spirit behind them had just raised its right hand before lowering it again without a trace.
The two moved fast, but Miko Yotsuya, having been specially modified by Gabriel, was faster.
"Help me, Berserker!"
Without a shred of hesitation, Miko Yotsuya decisively activated the second divine art of the holy cross (lily) in her hand.
Although the first divine art and the guardian cross were enough to deal with most evil spirits, this was the Mountain God's territory!
If the owner of this hand was the Mountain God and the two layers of protection couldn't hold, and if those two spirits didn't make it in time, things would be disastrous.
At this moment, Miko Yotsuya had fully learned the virtues of the Cautious Hero from Gabriel.
Whoosh!
The moment Mika Misono's figure appeared, golden holy light condensed into a spear in her hand, which she then thrust toward the hand protruding from the ground.
"Hey☆~!"
The spear tip flashed past, accompanied by a dull squelch as the hand from underground was ruthlessly impaled.
The four incoming feathers stopped instantly in front of Mika Misono before flying back to Mitsue Takeda and Rom respectively.
Miko Yotsuya, as if finding her backbone, moved to shield herself behind the pink-haired girl.
Everyone else also shifted their attention to Mika Misono.
Noticing their gazes, Mika Misono gave a slight bow, her voice clear: "Greetings, everyone."
She displayed perfect elegance and humility.
At her feet, the fingers of the hand impaled by the spear slumped weakly before being purified by the high-concentration holy light.
This must be the other angel Rom mentioned; he just didn't know which angel from the Bible she was.
Mitsue Takeda's gaze swept over Mika Misono's wings and the halo above her head, her mind trembling.
"Hello."
The Goat-Headed Spirit bowed slightly with neither arrogance nor humility. It straightened up and pointed to the long queue of evil spirits, asking, "I wonder if your appearance is to protect the human girl behind you, or if you have come for the fallen souls wandering this deep mountain?"
"If it is the latter, we are willing to give you half of the souls we have captured as an expression of our goodwill."
The Three-headed Monster also temporarily stopped feeding.
They could perceive that the girl before them was not the original body, but they also understood her background was not simple at all.
Furthermore, her power system was the same as the Gabriel who had made them sign the covenant.
Both had halos and a pair of snow-white wings; there was a high probability they were together.
In that case, they were likely on the same side.
The other party had no malice and was likely an ally, so they were willing to give the girl some face.
"I have received your goodwill, but I am not here to steal your work."
"However, I should remind you: to ensure you are not caught in the crossfire, the power of the covenant will soon send you back to your origin. If this causes inconvenience to your work, please forgive me."
Mika Misono reminded them with an apologetic look.
Before long, this mountain might become history.
"Thank you for the warning. It seems we may need to pick up the pace a bit."
The Goat-Headed Spirit was not ungrateful and knew the other party wouldn't speak without reason.
Consequently, the three-headed spirit began to eat even faster, as if it had been starving for days.
In fact, it had been; otherwise, it wouldn't have proactively contacted Mitsue Takeda and Rom.
All because Gabriel had unscrupulously cleaned out several cities.
The commotion here was significant, and the barrier was becoming unstable.
As a result, the Mountain God staying in the Mitsuko Valley Shrine sensed the activity outside.
The nearly four-meter-tall figure sat before the Torii gate. He waved his hand and summoned two attendants, about one and a half meters tall, wearing white shrine maiden outfits and possessing fox faces.
The Mountain God pointed toward the exit of the barrier below and ordered, "You two, go deal with the evil spirits causing trouble outside so the humans can enter the barrier smoothly."
He perceived many evil spirits gathered outside the barrier, along with three humans who possessed the qualifications to become sacrifices.
It had been over a decade since he last received a sacrifice; this time, new sacrifices had finally arrived, three of them at once.
Truly a stroke of luck.
"Yes!" the two fox-faced shrine spirits hurriedly followed their orders.