Page 371
When I let go of my hands, the fine sand slipped from my fingertips and returned to the sea of souls in the dim light. Gaia's light then dispersed like little fireflies.
The vines that were wrapped around the osmanthus tree loosened, and he quickly pulled the vines off and stepped back several steps, still feeling frightened.
His calmness just now did not mean he was not afraid. He was also terribly scared.
But how should I put it, it feels like a strategy game, thrilling and exciting.
"What was that just now, a vengeful spirit?"
Katsuragi knew that Oshima Rei, who was in their grade, was also a shrine maiden of Tsukimine Shrine. As a celebrity in the school, everyone knew about it.
"That's it."
"So exorcism is real too?"
Katsuragi originally thought that the shrine maiden's exorcism ritual was just a scam, and that it was just for show, but he didn't expect it to be real!
"No, it's not me who's exorcising the spirits, it's you."
Filling the hearts of the desperate and forcing out the evil spirits is the true exorcism. Lingye is only taking in the evil spirits that have been driven out.
Kana fell to the ground and lost consciousness.
"Is she okay?"
"It's okay. But you probably won't remember what just happened."
The previous Kana was not herself. Her heart was controlled by resentment, and the hatred would be infinitely magnified. After the evil thoughts were eliminated, this part of her memory would also be lost.
"What a shame. Is this the first time that Katsuragi-kun confessed to a girl in real life?"
"Ah? Why is that a shame? If the game save file was lost, of course it would be a shame. But in real life, there is nothing to worry about."
What's more, he confessed his love to a little girl in the first grade. This is simply a dark history.
It’s okay to forget it, yes, just like losing a game save file.
Reality is a rubbish game, not fun at all.
"But Katsuragi, there was a girl who liked you. This is true. She even gave up her hatred for the world for you. You did a very good thing."
Even if no one knows about it, this is a definite event that has been observed and whose cause and effect have collapsed.
"Take Kana and go first. From now on, I'll leave this place to Uncle Kotaro from the ZAT team."
'Uncle' again, I didn't expect Ling to call me that! But Kotaro didn't refute, he stared at the vines on the ground intently.
"Isn't the evil spirit dispelled?"
"The evil spirits have been driven away, but the battle has just begun."
The so-called evil spirits do not interfere with reality, so they will not cause harm to humans. The culprit for the harm is someone else.
As if in response to Reiya's words, the ground began to shake. Centered on the grave where the vines were growing, the ground began to collapse.
"Come on."
Hearing Lingye's urging, Katsuragi carried the unconscious Kana on his back. A seven or eight-year-old girl was not that heavy, and Kana was thinner than an ordinary child, weighing only about 30 kilograms. So it was not too strenuous for Katsuragi to carry her on his back.
Kotaro's ZAT gun has already fired.
Countless vines grew out from the ground, and composed of vines was a huge monster.
"It's a monster! Headquarters, this is Kotaro, please answer if you hear me, a monster has appeared in the Beika Cemetery!"
The other team members had already gone back, but Kotaro stayed here because he insisted on continuing the search.
A few seconds later, Moriyama's voice came from the communicator.
"Kotaro-kun, headquarters has received the news that the captain has issued an evacuation order for the surrounding area. He has ordered the vice-captain, Kitajima, and Ueno to drive the Sky Whale to your side. Please evacuate the surrounding people and pay attention to safety."
The abyss that had opened up in the earth had swallowed up all the surrounding graves, and the vine monster seemed to have crawled out of the abyss of hell.
No one knows when it took root in the ground of this cemetery, as if it were an ancient corpse guardian.
It is unclear whether it was born out of human fear or it seduces out the darkness in human hearts.
The afterglow of the setting sun had long since faded, and the cemetery had fallen into the deepest darkness. The twisted vines and branches looked like a giant monster made up of body parts. The 60-meter-tall monster was taller than the hills behind the cemetery.
They squirmed and twisted, and the baby's crying sounds that had disappeared appeared again, not just one sound, but countless sounds entangled together, with high and low tones rising and falling one after another.
"It ate the young children that were buried."
Man-eating vines, corpses are no longer enough for them, hence the recent attacks. Each of those flowers is an extension of its body.
This place is not far from the ZAT headquarters, and the Tianjing arrived quickly.
"This time it's a plant monster. Plants should be afraid of fire, right?" At the fire control seat of the Tianjing, Araki muttered to himself as he switched his weapon to incendiary bombs.
"Deputy Captain, there are a lot of plants here. Will it cause a forest fire?"
"What are you afraid of? There's liquid nitrogen on the plane. If there's a fire, we can just put it out."
Monsters are the biggest threat. As long as we can destroy the monsters, everything else will be easy.
"Hey, Kotaro, can you hear me? I'm about to drop a firebomb, get away from the cemetery."
Kotaro did hear it. Katsuragi and Kana had already left, and only he and Reiya were left in the cemetery.
"Deputy Captain, we are in a safe position, you can attack at any time."
After receiving Kotaro's reply, the Sky Whale flew over the monster and hovered, dropping incendiary bombs one after another.
Fathead's special bomb exploded as soon as it was touched, and the flames spread quickly. The plants were indeed flammable.
Roses burned in the flames, becoming brighter and brighter in the fire, but soon they became curled and charred. The flowers withered. Countless flowers were burned by the flames.
"Just watch, you space bumpkins, dare to go against our ZAT team."
The incendiary bomb was very effective, which made Aragaki a little proud.
The flames and smoke rose straight up into the night sky, blocking the view. Only the monster's sad cries were still creepy.
At a certain moment, a thick vine suddenly stretched out from the thick smoke, like the tongue of a frog when hunting, and the Tianjing was the little insect that had no idea where the danger came from.
In just less than half a second, the vines crossed a distance of more than a thousand meters and wrapped around the fuselage of the Tianjing.
Araki and Kitajima realized at this time that the flames had gone out in the thick smoke, and the liquid secreted from the monster's body put out the flames. The monster was not dead, and it was not even seriously injured.
The liquid that extinguished the flames was clearly dark blood.
The blood of the deceased, and perhaps some other living things, had turned black in the sedimentation.
"Oh no, the vice-captain and the others are in danger!" Kotaro turned around and saw the badge on his arm flashing.
He looked at Lingye again.
"Do you need help?"
Kotaro shook his head. He was not asking Gaia for help. He thought he could handle such a monster. She dispelled the evil spirits and saved Kana. That was enough.
He removed the badge from his left arm with his right hand.
"Taro!"
Chapter 389 Amnesia
Katsuragi carried the girl on his back and originally wanted to run back home.
When encountering danger, the first thing we always want to do is go home, thinking that it is the safest place. This is human instinct.
But when encountering monsters, home is not safe. Buildings made of reinforced concrete are no different from foam in front of monsters.
ZAT issued an evacuation order, and his family was also within the evacuation area. On the road, some people hurriedly fled from the community, running to the shelter in twos and threes.
So Katsuragi had no choice but to rush to the shelter.
It was already completely dark, the street lights were dim, and the only thing that illuminated the earth was the fire behind him. ZAT's incendiary bombs ignited the monster, like a huge torch.
It turned out that he was so close to such a terrifying monster just now! Just thinking about it, Guimu was so scared that he broke into a cold sweat.
The vines whistled and tore through the air, interweaving with the sound of ZAT missiles exploding.
He had been entangled by the vine not long ago. The vine could cut through the earth and tear apart steel easily. It turned out that he was so close to death.
I thought it was a bit exaggerated to think that I was trying to capture Kana as "Matou Sakura". After all, the black cherry was stained with the black mud of the Holy Grail, the evil of this world. But now it seems that even the evil of this world may not be as terrible as the monster.
Perhaps he should thank Kana. If she had really had any murderous intention towards him, he would have turned into a pile of meat by now.
Looking at it now, it was not a vine, but a monster's tentacles. A bunch of surging limbs, layered and densely entangled together, formed the monster's body.
If it was the disgusting, sticky, and greasy monster limbs in the story, it would be better. Because it is so far from common sense, it can be regarded as a nightmare and quickly forgotten.
But those vines that can be seen everywhere in daily life, precisely because they are everywhere, things that have long been commonplace in daily life have become so disgusting.
It's so common that it makes people feel that the whole world is full of malice.
He felt that he never wanted to see roses again in his life, including those vines.
Katsuragi took one look at the battle behind him and then dared not look again. The battle continued, with explosions and screams like a crying baby.
This world is really a rubbish game, he confirmed this even more. And it is a rubbish horror game, pure and meaningless death, without any fun at all.
At first, he didn't feel the weight of Kana on his back, but now after carrying her all the way, Katsuragi felt a little overwhelmed.
He also didn't understand his own train of thought, which had nothing to do with him.
He is not a member of ZAT, so he has no obligation to fight monsters. He is not a shrine maiden, so he cannot exorcise demons or bring blessings.
Perhaps the monster had destroyed the municipal power grid, and the street lights went out. The fire from the monster gradually died out, turning into thick smoke. Guimu's vision fell into darkness, and only the glow from the stars and the moon in the sky could help him identify the direction.
The greenery of Mihua was very nice, which was refreshing. But the trees along the road in the dark, the surrounding woods and fields, made Guimu think of the monster's tentacles again.
He had an illusion that he was not walking on the streets of a city, but was walking step by step in the monster's cavity, waiting to be digested bit by bit by darkness.
Katsuragi was breathing heavily and had to stop after walking a few steps.
The shelter should be not far away, but there was no one else around, and no other sounds. It was so quiet that it was scary.
He knew he should think about something else, otherwise he might go crazy if he was immersed in such thoughts.
Think of something else...something else. By the way, speaking of the witch, it was also the first time he realized that exorcising evil spirits was a real thing.
The witch can really bestow blessings.
Oshima Reiya, the Sun-shining Shrine Maiden of Tsukimine Shrine, is a celebrity in school, even though she is always low-key and rarely interacts with others except for being close to her best friend Daidoji. But she is always the center of conversation.
She comes from a wealthy family, is at the top of her class, is a TV star, and is also a mysterious shrine maiden. Such a character is definitely the first choice for the heroine in Galgame.