Chapter 630: Thank you for taking me here

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

Hoshi's vision darkened for a moment... and then he saw something incredibly beautiful!

Red, white, yellow, blue... Large amounts of flowers bloomed in varying colors here, creating a beautiful flower garden . Numerous small silver butterflies danced amongst the flowers, and abundant green leaves grew on vines that spread everywhere . These served to accentuate the flowers' beauty even further .

Clear water poured out of a long crack on a wall to Hoshi's right . The water cascaded downwards, forming a small waterfall that then became a babbling stream which curved through this entire area .

A giant red-leafed tree stood in the center of this area . It was apparently the same type of tree as the one from before, except that this one was bigger and also bore some black fruits .

"So beautiful..." Hoshi couldn't help but praise the scenery . He then heard the sound of song again .

Following the sound, Hoshi carefully walked past the flower garden so as to not trample on any flowers . When he approached the large red-leafed tree, he saw the gold-haired girl sitting on a tree branch as he expected . Just like before, she was singing that mysterious and ethereal song .

Hoshi silently enjoyed the performance for a while .

No mist was appearing, nor were there any spiritual monsters... This appeared to be a safe zone .

Quite a long amount of time passed without any spiritual monsters appearing at all . Hoshi was now confident that this beautiful place was safe .

"Thank you for taking me here," Hoshi thanked the girl who was sitting on the tree .

He then walked over to the bottom of the tree, sat down against the tree bark, and placed his shield down next to him . Hoshi finally relaxed himself and sighed deeply .

He had fought for so long by himself, running everywhere without daring to let down his guard... Now he could finally not worry and rest for a little while .

His originally tense state of mind eased itself . The accumulated fatigue of his body instantly overwhelmed him like an unstoppable tidal wave . The pleasant song echoed in his ears, making him feel drowsy .

He knew that he shouldn't sleep, but...

Hoshi gradually closed his eyes, no longer able to fight off the drowsiness overcoming him . He fell asleep right there under the red-leafed tree, with a peaceful expression on his beautiful face .

Seiji stopped paying attention to how much time had passed after their search for Hoshi passed two hours .

His [Interdimensional Locator Spell] mark still indicated a clear direction . This meant that Hoshi was still alive and healthy .

Even Seiji was feeling fatigued after traveling in the Domain for so long . However, his junior had managed to survive for so long despite this being his first visit to an Inner World, and even remained in good condition . This was... amazing!

Seiji didn't expect that Hoshi would be able to pull it off . He felt that he had underestimated his junior and Fourth Knight .

Any Awakened that managed to survive here would rapidly grow in power . Hisashi and Mika next to him were great examples .

After fighting here for so long and absorbing large amounts of mist, not only did their powers improve, they even learned new abilities .

*Bang!*

Hisashi kicked away an approaching black wolf with his right leg that had thunder entwined around it .

Hisashi was no longer restricted to only casting thunder spells with his hands . Even his legs and feet were now capable of producing thunder . This gave him powerful kicking strength, along with much greater agility for jumping, dodging, and close-quarters combat . The drawback to this was that if Hisashi used thunder on his legs and feet for too long, they would start to go numb or even hurt . He would then need to rest or receive healing from Seiji to help cure the symptoms .

Obviously, this ability's best use was to improve Hisashi's mobility . However, he also really enjoyed the feeling of kicking small monsters far away with his feet, so he kept using it often in such a manner .

*Whip!*

Mika shot out a black band from her Mashiro's Clothes . This black band accurately impaled the black wolf that had been kicked into midair by Hisashi . The black wolf was then transformed into mist that was absorbed by the black band .

Mika was now able to control her Mashiro's clothes to shoot black bands in a radius of twenty meters . She could control at most six black bands simultaneously to attack enemy monsters . Her accuracy with this was far higher than using the spiritual gun to shoot Mana Bullets, and this also had a lower Mana cost as well . The drawback was that these black bands had limited attack power, and could even be broken by boss monsters, which would cause a large amount of damage to Mika .

Although this seemed rather subtle, Seiji felt that this new ability of Mika's might become something like a powerful tentacle technique if it leveled up some more .

Mika and Hisashi were continuously getting stronger . However, their fatigue was also accumulating .

Luckily, there were three of them, so they all took turns fighting and resting .

Seiji didn't know how much longer it would take for them to find Hoshi .

After the Domain or Inner World transformed... not only were there more paths now, every district was much larger .

As the three traveled in the direction that Seiji's [Interdimensional Locator Spell] indicated, they even passed through a gigantic district that was larger than several football fields put together! There were so many monsters that appeared there which seemed like a tidal wave . It was impossible to count how many monsters were rushing at them...

Seiji and his friends broke through this district at the fastest speed possible . They managed to leave the tremendous group of monsters behind them by escaping to another district .

"What type of boss monster would appear there if we stayed behind and cleared out all the small monsters in such a district?" Hisashi asked this question after they escaped .

Seiji felt that at minimum, something like a tyrannosaurus rex would appear . He didn't know what the maximum limit would be . Perhaps a giant dragon or an amalgamation beast like a chimera would appear .

Seiji wanted to find Hoshi as quickly as possible . Seiji was also really worried about Shika and Kazuko, but he also knew that he needed to remain calm .

If something irrecoverable truly happened, he would load... But before then, he would believe in his companions! Seiji thought that to himself .

They entered another corridor .

As they proceeded down this path and killed the small monsters along it, they suddenly heard faint sounds coming from down this direction!

Seiji's first reaction was that of delight . However, he soon noticed that the sounds weren't from Hoshi as he first thought .

*Tat tat tat tat...* This sounded like continuous gunfire from an assault rifle . This was a sound that Hoshi certainly wouldn't be able to produce .

Out of the three that had gotten separated from Seiji, only Shika had a gun with her . But even if she brought out and used it, her gun wouldn't sound like this one .

"Can you guys hear that?" Seiji looked towards Mika and Hisashi .

Both of them nodded .

"That's not a sound that Hoshi, Shika, or Kazuko could possibly produce . I think that it's highly likely that there's others here . " Seiji had a serious expression .

"What should we do?" Hisashi blocked a black wolf that tried to jump him . He then swept it away with a kick from his lightning-wreathed foot .

Seiji pulled down the cover of his helmet so that his entire face was concealed . "Both of you stay behind here . I'll go on ahead to check things out . "

"Be careful," Mika reminded him while impaling two black wolves with her bands .

"I will . "

Seiji then cast a concealment spell on himself that made his presence very difficult to sense . It was as if he had put on a camouflage cloak .

Seiji carefully trudged, or perhaps a better word would be stealthed, towards the direction of the sounds . He wanted to investigate the situation .

He saw five people!

All five were male . Only one among them was wearing spiritual combat equipment, while the other four wore ordinary clothing .

The one in spiritual combat equipment was obviously a Spiritual Ability user . He wore a helmet, held an assault-rifle-type spiritual gun, and there was also a short sword visibly buckled to his right leg .

The other four in ordinary clothing were all Awakened . Three of them were all holding different blood-red weapons!

There was a brown-haired jacketed man who carried a greatsword .

There was a green-haired youth who wore athletic attire and carried a spear .

There was a shadowy-appearing youth who wore a hoodie and wielded a dagger in each hand .

These three were currently fighting together against a large dragon boss monster . Two acted as warrior type fighters while the third acted as an assassin . Their teamwork appeared average in Seiji's eyes .

The fourth Awakened who didn't have any visible weapons was a gray-haired boy who wore a normal shirt . He was holding a tablet computer... no, something that resembled a tablet computer . Every few seconds, this item would emit a circular red wave .

The Spiritual Ability user stood next to this gray-haired boy . It appeared as if he was either protecting or surveilling this boy .

Seiji silently observed them .

Just as he was assessing the combat capabilities of the three Awakened that were fighting the dragon boss monster, the gray-haired boy suddenly looked in Seiji's direction!

'Did he notice me?'

Seiji frowned at this . He knew that it wouldn't help even if he retreated now, so he could only stay there unmoving and pretend that he was only a rock .

At this moment, the dragon monster suddenly roared and started charging . It abandoned the three Awakened it was fighting and charged straight at the gray-haired boy!