Chapter 632: There's nothing to be afraid of anymore

Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

This place definitely counted as a type of hidden oasis . Just its beauty alone made it quite breathtaking .

Although Seiji was a little curious what might be hidden here, he was most worried about finding Hoshi right now .

After Seiji and his friends entered the "flower garden", they soon located the beautiful boy sleeping under the red-leafed tree!

Hoshi was sitting quietly against the tree bark . He had a peaceful expression and his eyes closed... Seiji couldn't help but think of a certain knight king's final ending when he saw this scene! Fortunately, Hoshi was only sleeping normally, not eternally .

Seiji crouched down next to Hoshi, took off his helmet mask, and called out to Hoshi, "Hoshi, wake up . "

There was no reaction .

"Wake up! Fourth Knight!!" Seiji increased his volume and shook Hoshi slightly by his shoulder .

"En..." Hoshi muttered a light sound .

The beautiful boy then furrowed his eyebrows and opened his eyes slightly . After blinking a bit, he slowly opened them more .

Hoshi had a confused expression for a moment when he first noticed Seiji's presence . Hoshi then widened his eyes slightly . "...Senpai?"

"It's me . " Seiji smiled at him . "It was quite difficult for us to find you . I never expected that you were sleeping in such a beautiful place . "

Hoshi stared at Seiji in surprise for a moment before he slowly turned to glance at Mika and Hisashi who had also unmasked themselves .

"Uehara-senpai... Juumonji-san... Are you guys real?"

"This humble one doesn't think that he is an illusion . " Hisashi chuckled . "This is reality . You're not dreaming at all, Fourth Knight . "

"It's wonderful that you're alright, Amami-san . " Mika also smiled .

Hoshi then looked back at Seiji again . The expression on Hoshi's face gradually turned to one of delight .

"Senpai... Team Leader!" Hoshi suddenly jumped towards Seiji and hugged him!

Seiji was rather startled by this . He never expected that his junior would be excited to such a degree .

"Calm down... How are you feeling right now? Are you injured anywhere?"

"Not at all... I'm fine... It's just..." Hoshi sniffled his nose . "I was a little afraid..."

"I'm sorry for leaving you alone for so long . " Seiji patted him on the back . "Everything's alright now . There's nothing to be afraid of anymore . "

The moment Seiji said this, he felt as if he had just uttered a classical death flag... er, everything should be fine, right?

"Wah... Team Leader..." Hoshi did his best to repress his tears so that he wouldn't cry .

Everyone fell silent for a moment .

Hoshi then let go of Seiji after he managed to calm down his emotions . Still, Hoshi's face remained somewhat red .

"How did you arrive in this district?" Seiji asked what he wanted to know the most .

Hoshi instantly recalled something upon hearing this . He hurriedly looked at the red-leafed tree .

The mysterious gold-haired girl was no longer there!

Seiji, Mika, and Hisashi were all rather mystified by Hoshi's action .

They also followed Hoshi's line of sight to the red-leafed tree . However, they only saw red leaves and some black fruits .

"Is something there?"

Seiji asked this quite seriously as he recalled how strangely Hoshi had behaved right before the Domain changed .

"No... she... isn't there anymore . " Hoshi then looked all around him but still couldn't find that girl .

"She?"

"Yes, an extremely beautiful golden-haired girl..."

Hoshi told the other three about his experiences .

"That girl is highly likely to be an existence from another world . " Seiji thought about it as he rubbed his chin . "Although she's also a bit different from the ones I met before..."

This girl was able to easily slay a boss monster with a single flick of her finger . She was even capable of opening up portals within Kazuko's Domain, as well as teleport Hoshi to such a secret garden-type location . It was obvious that she was completely different from Lloyd and Lana .

Was she much more powerful than Lloyd and Lana? Or was she a completely different type of existence?

"She brought you here so that you could rest here safely . She helped you out... But, it's also possible that she was the one who caused the Domain to transform and us to become separated . " Seiji had quite a serious expression .

Hoshi remained silent . Although he had also considered this possibility, he didn't want to think that it could be true .

"I... don't think that she's evil," Hoshi muttered . "I think that something else caused the change in the Domain, not her..."

"She helped you out, so I want to believe in her as well," Seiji told him .

Seiji recalled the so-called "Cliff Squad" that he just met not long ago . It was also possible that the change in the Domain was because of those people, although Seiji felt that was unlikely . Perhaps he could have tried to obtain some information when communicating with them earlier, but Seiji felt that would have likely been a waste of time . Finding his missing companions was his first priority right now . Seiji wanted to avoid any trouble he could . But just in case, he also saved a file earlier right before he made contact with the Cliff Squad .

"Let's not think too much into things right now . We can first focus on finding the others . "

Seiji was about to use [Interdimensional Locator Spell] again, but was interrupted by the sound of some footsteps approaching in the distance .

Seiji instantly reacted by decisively putting on his helmet mask again . He also indicated to Mika and Hisashi to put on their masks while he pulled down Hoshi's helmet mask for him .

"What's the matter?" Hoshi was confused about this .

"Someone's coming," Seiji told him .

The moment he said this, the same people from earlier appeared at the entrance to this district .

Nirou Iwazaki led his team to the target location . He discovered that the True Knight Order was here already!

He was now absolutely certain that the True Knight Order also had their sights set on this place .

'I didn't think that things would be so troublesome . ' Nirou furrowed his eyebrows .

There were three of them earlier, but now there was one more person... It wasn't important why another apparent Awakened had joined them . The important part right now was how to eliminate them!

No matter who they were or what faction this True Knight Order belonged to, this wasn't a place that Nirou's organization would possibly give up .

In a normal direct battle... the possibility of winning would be very low . Regardless of the three Awakened on their side, just the Spirit-branded Retainer alone would be quite difficult for his own team to deal with .

Call for backup... their support likely wouldn't arrive in time .

In that case, there was only one choice Nirou could make . . .

Nirou instantly made his choice when he saw the jacketed Spirit-branded Retainer walking over .

"Kill them all!" Nirou coldly gave such an order to his three team members that possessed spiritual weapons .

His three team members didn't hesitate one bit upon receiving such an order . They immediately rushed over towards the jacketed Spirit-branded Retainer with excited expressions on their faces .

They had gotten bored of slaying monsters . They wanted to try killing a real person!

However, the three didn't notice that right after they rushed forward, Nirou immediately took out a black remote from his pocket and pressed three red buttons on the remote .

The blood-red spiritual weapons that these three people were holding instantly started emitting mist that entered their bodies . The three felt great pain as their powers greatly increased and their consciousnesses went hazy . Their visions became bright red and an insane desire to kill welled up within their minds!

"Grahhhh!!!!!"

All three individuals roared just like monsters .

*Boom!!!*

The greatsword-wielding individual demolished a large portion of a flower patch with a single swing of his greatsword . This even left a large crack on the ground from the impact!

Seiji had an astonished expression under his mask as he managed to dodge this attack .

Why did they suddenly attack him with such strong killing intent!?

Was it to escape from the Inner World? Did they find it impossible to leave this gigantic maze-like Inner World, so they despaired and wanted to kill an outsider to achieve the condition of a person dying so that everyone else could leave?

But, these people didn't look like they were anywhere near despair earlier at all . And, they were in rather strange manic state right now...

Seiji had many questions in his mind, but no free time to ponder any of them . That was because a spear that was flashing bright-red swiftly stabbed at him from the side!

*Clang!!*

Seiji pulled out his sword and managed to knock away the spear .

He then immediately felt a gust of wind arriving at his back . Seiji felt an incredible sense of danger . . .

[Bullet Time] automatically activated for him!

Thanks to his passive ability's assistance, Seiji barely managed to dodge the hoodie-wearing youth's double dagger backstab . Seiji also counterattacked with a kick .

The assassin managed to dodge the powerful kick by jumping backwards . The dagger-wielding youth then adjusted his posture and turned to attack Mika and the others!

"Careful!!" Seiji shouted .

The next moment, Hisashi shout out a thunderbolt that hit the hoodie-wearing youth . However, this didn't manage to stop the youth's attack at all .

Mika brought out her shield and stood in front of Hisashi to protect him .

However, the assassin transformed into a shadow and went around her . He aimed directly for Hoshi! The blood-red sharp daggers were filled with killing intent as they aimed directly for Hoshi's neck!!