The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Page 16

"Having ambition is a good thing, but I'm just reminiscing about my unbearable, cringeworthy middle school days. It was such a proud thing to have an older sister who got into a prestigious school. It's a pity she later became a shut-in."

"Hmm? Mr. Scones, Lotus seems to have spotted a cat."

"Yeah, I saw it too. So, are you confident?"

"They're already within firing range. Can Lotus use [StarBurst Stream]? Let's go."

"Very grateful? Wait a moment, please put away your blade."

"?"

The black cat, which had been slowly sinking in the water and was no longer curled up in a ball but was now paddling with all four paws toward Mr. Hearn, finally drifted to the two of them after a period of difficult drifting.

The believer stared silently at the black cat that swam over, studying it for a moment, and then a strange smile appeared on her lips.

He reached out, scooped up the black cat, placed it on his left shoulder, and patted it gently to soothe it.

"Lotus must be half asleep. Mr. Scone, who is allergic to cats, actually went and touched a cat."

"I just hate cats, that's all. Besides, aren't you sleeping right now in real life?"

The black cat, which had been sitting on my shoulder, seemed flustered and at a loss, but it calmed down instantly after hearing those words.

“Mr. Hern, he’s from the police department.” The black cat on his shoulder spoke in a human voice, the tone extremely familiar.

“It’s Mr. Scones now,” the black construct beside him whispered, “Besides, there are no insiders in the police department. The one chasing you is probably an exorcist from the Countermeasures Office.”

“Scone, okay, I understand, Mr. Constantine.” Although she didn’t recognize the dark-skinned man at all, Yukinoshita quickly realized the hidden meaning in his words.

Isayama Yomi chased after the black cat and soon reached the bottom of the lake. The sound of her footsteps came from the Japanese-style tatami floor with its metallic texture.

The worst-case scenario.

She stared at the two distinct black and white figures about ten steps away.

Both are eye-catching in appearance and are well-known in the industry.

"Oh dear, it seems I've ended up on a terrible film set while chasing cats all the way here. May I ask if I'll be able to get home unharmed today?" Izayama Yomi leisurely raised her treasured sword, [Lion King]. The majestic twelve-eyed beast [Ran Honglian] with a lion's head and a snake's tail reappeared beside her. Chaotic breath was exhaled from the ferocious lion's mouth with its jagged fangs, and twelve chilling red eyes locked onto the two most conspicuous targets in front of her.

"The high-ranking members of the Golden Dawn and the legion commander of the Dark Nebula, you two have gathered here on such a peaceful and tranquil day as Christmas Eve. Do you intend to make the Dragon Palace a thing of the past?"

"Those shameless bastards really did include me in their calculations. Correction, Miss Exorcist. In fact, we achieved our goal a few seconds ago and are now preparing to go back to our respective homes. If you can pretend you didn't see anything, we might all be able to have a peaceful and quiet Christmas Eve and greet Christmas morning in high spirits." Facing the aggressive Red Lion and the Exorcist, the Believer Hearn, while soothing the slightly ruffled kitten on her shoulder, smiled and spoke eloquently to the Miss Exorcist.

"I'm sorry, although your suggestion is very tempting, my duty does not allow you to take that young lady away like this."

Isayama Yomi also smiled and suggested, "How about we compromise? You hand over the black cat to me, and I'll pretend you were never here."

The believer felt her left shoulder being firmly gripped by a cat's claws, a sensation she could feel even through her clothes.

“It is heartbreaking to reject a beautiful lady, and even more so to be caught in the middle of two, so I have proposed a compromise solution.”

"Tell me about it." Isayama raised an eyebrow.

“Lotus,” the believer called out briefly.

Before he finished speaking, the dark and magnificent construct vanished from its spot for a moment like a phantom. When it reappeared beside the believer, a sense of déjà vu enveloped everyone present.

The steel-like structure on the lakebed where the three stood was instantly cut into a circle. The ground could no longer withstand the pressure from the lake water. With a sickening metallic clang, a huge circular hole burst open, and the rapidly flowing torrent swallowed the three and the cat whole!

"It seems you're looking forward to a passionate and unforgettable Christmas Eve. I sincerely hope you'll still have the energy to get out of bed tomorrow morning, Miss Exorcist."

These were the last words that reached my ears before Isayama Yomi's consciousness was swept away by the torrent.

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Chapter 28 It's getting cold, let's take a bath.

Although there is a saying that "all tactics are adaptable", unfortunately, when there is no hope of changing sides, there is also the tactic of flipping the table.

A mere registered level 4 exorcist was of no real importance to the two people present. However, the person had powerful connections and a strong background. In order to make things easier for them in the real world, Lotus asked himself honestly that he would not usually take drastic measures against a public official like Isayama Yomi unless absolutely necessary. Moreover, although the conflict between the two sides seemed to be head-on, there were actually countless ways to resolve it.

For example, flipping the table.

As for the person next to him, Miss Lotus, who knew his character well, didn't expect him to take action at all. He finally saw a girl who was not only good at fighting but also beautiful, dashing, and a classic beauty with long black hair. It was already a sign of restraint that he didn't wave the flag and shout "Bravo".

So naturally, at the moment Scones gave the order, Lotus took the lead and overturned the floor and table.

Scone, a game ID that someone casually created when he was playing an old-fashioned game with his neighbor's younger sister. As payment for accompanying the internet-addicted girl to play a nostalgic game published by an unknown company in 2039, which was considered a flop, the younger sister promised to look after his reclusive older sister while he was away from home.

If this poignant truth were to be revealed rashly, it might shatter the long-held aloof image of Mr. Constantine, who is ranked No. 2 on the list of men most desired to be hugged by in the industry. Therefore, the real-life girl next door, Kuroyukihime, decided to keep the truth to herself until the end of time.

Yes, the end of time.

After a not-too-long descent, the subtle sensation of liquid enveloping the body disappeared, replaced by a damp and warm air, with a faint scent of incense in the breeze that brushed past the nostrils.

The believer lightly touched her toes to the ground, looked up, and looked around.

As his gaze swept across, the previously pitch-black space gradually brightened. It was a long corridor, its style identical to the lake he had seen during his descent, with mahogany roof ridges and pillars, warm yellow walls, and bright paper lanterns hanging high on both sides, stretching all the way forward.

The believer looked up and around. The corridor was very high, at least tens of meters high. At a glance, she could not find the entrance where she had slipped into this place.

We can only move forward.

The believer took out an antique compass from her pocket, deftly lifted the weathered bronze casing to reveal a needle that was barely functional.

The pointer at the S end points directly into the depths of the corridor.

"As long as we head south, not north, that's fine." The believer smiled, closed the compass, and walked lightly forward.

Since the Ryugu was brought under the supervision of the Countermeasures Office and the government behind it, BlackLotus is the only free person in recent years who has secretly infiltrated the Ryugu and survived. Although it was not a successful exploration, it still brought out some information worth considering.

After realizing that Yukinoshita might have accidentally wandered into the Ryugu Palace, Nobunaga pondered for a moment and decided to stick to the principle of sharing the burden and difficulties together, so she called out the only trustworthy comrade nearby who had experience exploring the Ryugu Palace.

If we simply consider Cyber ​​Ocean as a large-scale online multiplayer immersive MMORPG that is unrelated to reality, then Xin Nu's gaming style definitely doesn't qualify her for the title of "orphan player," probably.

Although, so far, the results have been minimal.

The believer walked alone down the corridor, with no sign of the cat on her shoulder, the neighboring Black King, or the exorcist girl from the countermeasures room.

It was scattered.

The believer walked to an ancient gate, which was extremely tall. Looking up, the top of the gate seemed to almost touch the sky. On the two mahogany doors with gilded patterns, there were unknown hieroglyphs engraved with gold powder, which seemed to have a deep connection with Far Eastern culture.

Almost all regulated large-scale high-risk [Hives] are connected to the culture of the country they are located in, and [Ryugu], located below Tokyo Port, is naturally among them.

The woman knew very little about the folklore of the island nation and had never studied ancient scripts whose authenticity was questionable before the Jomon period, so naturally she would not recognize the ancient script written on the two doors.

Due to certain indescribable experiences, his true area of ​​expertise was actually theology, demonology, and mysticism.

At present, it can be said that they are experiencing great difficulties adapting to the new environment.

The believer reached out and knocked on the massive door, though he was as small as an ant compared to the two doors.

Without warning, the giant gate opened inwards following his gesture.

A stronger scent of incense than before wafted in along with the warmer, more humid air from inside the door.

It was a pleasant scent, unadorned, pure and natural, filled with primal wildness.

The believer stepped into the main hall with light steps, her gait unconsciously becoming a little unsteady.

Exquisitely luxurious, this place inspires genuine awe in all who visit. Every extravagant decoration imbued with Far Eastern elements is arranged with perfect order. The golden walls of the main hall are adorned with magnificent ukiyo-e prints, and beyond the carved and jade-carved windows lies a deep-sea landscape illuminated by glowing pearls. Hundreds of millions of aquatic creatures roam freely outside the dragon palace. In the center of the hall stands a circular bath, several meters in diameter, with a white jade rim, its surface shrouded in mist and warm vapor.

The devout woman strolled leisurely along the path outlined by luminous pearls, bypassing the artificial hill made of coral reefs, her path leading unimpeded to the misty pool in the center of the main hall. As she drew closer, the soothing scent in the air grew stronger. When she reached the pool's edge, enveloped in the misty vapor, she even detected a faint, intoxicating sweetness of blood.

In the misty bath, a blonde, golden-eyed, elegant beauty, completely naked, extended her hand to the believer as an invitation. Every smile and frown exuded the alluring charm of a mature woman.

"???" Mr. Hearn was completely dumbfounded, thinking to himself, "Is there really such a good thing?"

However, before he could decide whether to take off his clothes and jump down or to wield his knife and deliver a powerful leap, a sudden change occurred.

Click!

Like the sound of fragile items such as glass suddenly shattering.

The entire hall emitted an unsettling cracking sound, as if rows of mismatched saw teeth were being forced together, sliding apart, and then producing a series of shattering noises.

A blurry shadow quietly emerged from the void behind the believer. The indistinct silhouette was the origin of the distortion within the entire hall, as if even the space itself was groaning in pain at its reckless intrusion. However, this show of weakness failed to elicit even the slightest pity from the tyrannical intruder. After an even more violent shattering sound, the distortion and hallucinatory groans within the hall abruptly ceased, as if it had been completely destroyed.

The next moment, the dense Mana in the entire space began to surge wildly towards his back like a flood.

In anthropology, Mana is considered a fundamental element of magic and a component of the soul. It is a power without person that exists in equal measure in humans, animals, and even non-animal objects.

At this very moment, the being that was drawing in Mana like a black hole was greedily savoring this chaotic power. It was behind the believer, and after consuming a sufficient amount of Mana, it began to take on a human form, but on this human form were many elements that resembled gods and demons. A halo with a dark golden glow appeared above its head, consisting of twelve layers of irregularly geometric black rings from the inside out. The corrupted emblems, which coexisted with holiness and blasphemy, continued to spread and erode all the splendid and precious things in the mortal world as the black rings continued to spread. A pair of illusory wings tightly enveloped the believer like a shadow.

The air in the entire hall became scorching and distorted. The water in the bath, which was originally filled with mist, began to boil and churn, and the smell of sulfur gushed out from the edge of the pool!

The believer, Hern, slowly drew her long sword, a look of regret on her face. On the alluring crimson blade, there was an ominous radiance, darker than the night, that distorted even the light.

"Beautiful lady, thank you for your invitation to bathe together, but the water in your pool seems to be boiling a bit too much, it's almost like a pot of fish soup."

The believer raised an eyebrow and grinned at the blue-backed, white-bellied giant shark that had revealed its true form in the boiling water.

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Chapter 29 [BlackLotus]

The pitch-black construct slowly descended, eventually hovering quietly in mid-air, slightly above the ground.

For BlackLotus, the difference between being in water and air is not significant. Its sword-like limbs retain the permanent, supreme cutting attribute buff. Combined with its slender, streamlined body, the surging torrent only has a minimal impact on it, such as carrying it all the way to this unfamiliar space.

It seemed to still be inside some kind of building, but the lighting was limited, and there was a bottomless shadow in front of it, with no idea where it led.

Through the glow of the luminous pearl in the sea outside the window, one can barely make out the scenery within a range of about ten steps. It is still the familiar Japanese-style building, but looking around, the walls are old and covered with mottled dents. The dents are long and continuous, and as the gaze gradually moves away, they eventually disappear into the darkness.

"Even on a peaceful Christmas Eve, Mr. Scones is still such a worry."

A disgruntled whisper came from behind Lotus's visor, the tone tinged with regret. The construct drifted forward at a constant speed, maintaining a degree of vigilance.

Then, after drifting about five or six meters, the pitch-black construct stopped, and the part of its visor that symbolized the eyes slowly moved downwards with its gaze.

"Hmm? This is..."

BlackLotus noticed something white lying quietly on the ground not far in front of her: a pure white top hat with a black ribbon tightly tied at the base of the brim. It looked very familiar.

He stopped nearby, and the black construct instinctively reached out a limb that symbolized a hand to try to lift the top hat on the ground. However, before the black lotus-shaped sword-like limb could touch the top hat, BlackLotus stopped and withdrew his hand as if pulling back from the brink of disaster. The sword-shaped upper limb paused in front of the mask, as if examining and thinking.

A moment later, with a distortion of light and shadow, the pitch-black construct symbolizing the ultimate severance dissipated into a pure stream of data. In its place, a black-haired girl emerged from the still-dissipating torrent of data and landed on the ground. She was dressed in casual home clothes, or rather, pajamas, predominantly black. She was slightly smaller than active high school girls like Yukinoshita and Isayama. Her face was luxurious and beautiful, with features that still retained a touch of childishness, like a budding flower, yet already graceful and elegant.

Lotus bent down to pick up the white top hat from the ground and habitually dusted off non-existent dust.

Humans living in the electronic world still retain some of the habits from real life, regardless of whether those habits have the same practical significance as in reality.

The girl stood still, her gaze subtly sweeping across her surroundings.

This is a spacious, enclosed space with limited lighting. Scattered on the ground are some broken debris, two or three meters high. Without a high vantage point, it is difficult to get a complete view.

After a moment, the black-haired middle school girl, certain that no one was around, turned her attention back to what was in front of her. She squinted slightly, trying to relax her slender, petite body as much as possible, while gently exhaling—then burying her face deeply into her pure white top hat.

Yukino Yukinoshita's outstretched cat paw froze in mid-air, her brain briefly shutting down, and the call she was about to utter was stuck in her throat at the last moment before it could be uttered.

A few minutes earlier, after finally breaking free from the turbulence, she landed in this dilapidated, huge, empty room. It was pitch black in front of her, but out of her feline instincts, she sensed a potential danger, so she did not act rashly. Instead, after landing safely, she hid in a large pile of debris scattered on the ground.

The ability to transform into a black cat was a reward she received from a random [Hive] she experienced and survived in the past. For some reason, she became very fond of this ability. Thanks to this little black cat, she was able to easily overcome many obstacles that would otherwise be insurmountable when she was on the run in reality.

The sense of impending doom forced the black cat to look up. She spotted a dark construct slowly descending from mid-air. Although she didn't know its origins, judging from its previous words and actions, it seemed to be a friend of Mr. Hearn. So, in the current situation, they could be considered allies for now.

I wonder where that black-haired high school girl with the knife went.

Yukino Yukinoshita felt that she didn't have the time or need to worry about the exorcist who was far more powerful than herself. After confirming that BlackLotus had landed, she briefly thought about it and decided to go and say hello.

The black cat crouched, ready to leap.

While Yukino was deep in thought, the dark construct moved forward a short distance before coming to a stop, for reasons unknown.

Black Cat Yukino leaped onto a higher and closer pile of debris. From a distance of less than ten steps, she unexpectedly saw the construct that could be described as a pure and outstanding killing machine dissipate into data streams. A black-haired girl who looked younger than herself and had a more unfortunate figure, probably a middle school student, leaped out from the pile and landed on the ground like a dragonfly skimming the water.

It seems like that guy's social circle is full of girls with long, flowing black hair. Is that just my imagination?

Yukinoshita, the black cat, scratched her ear as a thought inexplicably popped into her head.

However, the important matter at hand is more pressing.

Yukino decided to greet her first, since she hadn't introduced herself beforehand and hadn't even had the most basic conversation with the middle school girl. And it seemed she'd be working alongside her for a while now, so she decided to start by...

and many more!

What is this girl doing?

There's something wrong with this girl.

When she came to her senses, Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly noticed that the black-haired girl she was about to approach was doing something very strange—she buried her face deeply in the pure white top hat that looked familiar no matter how she looked at it. This process lasted for several minutes. Yukinoshita couldn't see the other girl's expression hidden behind the top hat, but she noticed that the strands of hair on the other girl's head, which looked like butterfly antennae, seemed to have a life of their own. In the dim space, there was no wind, and the swaying was light and leisurely, as if reflecting the same joyful heart of the person in question.

A few minutes later, the still-unidentified black-haired middle school girl finally stopped her strange behavior. She raised her head, and her delicate face emerged from the top hat. Her fair and tender cheeks were slightly flushed. She looked to be in good spirits and refreshed.

""

Yukino Yukinoshita remained silent, slowly backing away, seemingly determined to stay away from the girl.