Chapter 357: Hidden Faction, Attackers Appear
[Hidden Side Mission · Esper Purge (Hidden Faction Mission, Repeatable)]
[Mission Description: ??? denies the existence of Espers. Please kill ability users in this world.]
[Mission Reward: For each ability user killed, obtain Reputation based on the ability user's strength. Unlock Reputation Shop upon reaching Revered status.]
[Mission Penalty: Chased by Spirit World creatures for three mission worlds.]
Lee Chae-rin gasped for breath. The aura of that powerful Reincarnator behind her had disappeared. Under Suzuki Toichiro's mission arrangement, she originally planned to come directly to J-City to find Mercenary Tao.
But halfway, she encountered an accidental team battle mission. A team of 5 Reincarnators farming milestones by hunting Professional Heroes in W-City dragged her in.
Lacking resources considerably now, Lee Chae-rin drew her sword brazenly, killing three of them.
However, during the pursuit, she unexpectedly encountered [Tang Sanzang], a powerful follower of [The Final Day].
This person was said to have participated in the competition for the title of a certain [Supreme Powerhouse], an expert among the upper echelons of Title Level Reincarnators. After exchanging only two moves, Lee Chae-rin felt she was no match.
Activating [Godspeed] directly to escape, she finally plunged into the Spirit World Erosion Zone.
She looked up, seeing the sky here was very strange, presenting a completely pitch-black hue, like thick ink surging constantly. But the city buildings and the surrounding air flashed with colorful fluorescence, preventing this world from being completely dark.
This was probably an abandoned city. Buildings and streets were preserved very well, but there were no traces of humans in the city.
Hiding at the bottom of a building, Lee Chae-rin watched that huge humanoid creature retreat from the outside of the Spirit World Erosion Zone, guessing that the opponent was the target Suzuki Toichiro wanted to unite various Espers to defeat: ???
Lee Chae-rin's Observation Haki was fully activated. Suddenly turning her head, she saw several green will-o'-the-wisps light up in the dark corridor and float towards her.
Her Gantz Sword extended to nearly two meters instantly, fully covered by Armament Haki.
"Heh, this aura... You're not a good person. Want to kill ore-sama?"
A low tone, but the intonation was inexplicably somewhat comical.
Lee Chae-rin watched the will-o'-the-wisps float in front of her, revealing a green spirit body with only a head left, having two red 'blush' marks on its face.
This was...
She had also read the story of Mob Psycho 100 and recognized this spirit body as a key character—[Dimple].
Unexpectedly, Lee Chae-rin's hesitation made Dimple's expression darker.
"You know me..."
"I don't know you, but you know me, and have special combat abilities... I see, you are also that kind of guy..."
Dimple's voice became inexplicably eerie and chilling. The will-o'-the-wisps began to burn. In just a moment, Dimple's spirit body began to become huge, but at the same time, more illusory.
"Guys like you... turned that guy into this, and you still aren't ready to let go, huh..."
Dimple's gaze left Lee Chae-rin's face, looking at the ground. Intense spiritual power began to appear.
He really hated these inexplicable guys, far more evil than any Vengeful Spirit he had ever seen.
"Guys like you..."
Dimple's voice began to change. Lee Chae-rin stepped back a few paces. She felt this building seemed to start twisting, and an extremely dangerous feeling began to permeate.
Earthbound Spirit (Jibakurei)?
Among spirits, Earthbound Spirits weren't considered high-level. Even for spirits, becoming an Earthbound Spirit was torture and confinement.
It meant being unable to leave that place forever, becoming a prisoner.
But correspondingly, Earthbound Spirits possessed stronger abilities in their own environment.
Bang!
The ground exploded instantly. Lee Chae-rin leaped backward in an instant, smashing through the glass and returning to the dim street. Dimple arrived at the edge of the building. The bottom of the building began to twist, as if huge arms were about to extend from it.
Thoughts flashed through Lee Chae-rin's mind. She quickly realized this world probably encountered Reincarnators' actions before. Mob turning into this ??? form, Dimple turning into an Earthbound Spirit and hating Reincarnators...
Everything had a reason.
"Do you want Mob to change back, Dimple?"
While speaking, Lee Chae-rin accepted the hidden mission.
[You joined Hidden Faction · Spirit World Revelation. Current Reputation: Stranger (1/100)]
Sure enough, as she accepted the mission and joined this hidden faction, the ubiquitous danger in her Observation Haki weakened considerably.
She took a deep breath, feeling she might have accidentally found the best route to maneuver between those powerful Title Level Reincarnator teams in this world.
She betrayed Suzuki Toichiro's [Claw] organization without hesitation.
The opponent couldn't match Mob in ??? state even after accumulating energy for thirty years. Now with only three years of accumulation, wanting to defeat ??? was simply unrealistic.
And her 'Master' Kaito Shirogane playing Hero for Fun with great fanfare clearly intended to make a breakthrough from Saitama's side.
That was probably the theoretically highest completion method, but too dangerous.
Lee Chae-rin didn't plan to prioritize regrouping with him at this time. This hidden mission reward was actually quite generous.
It only required killing ability users. But from Dimple's words, it could be seen that ??? was actually hostile to all individuals possessing supernatural power.
Espers, Reincarnators, and even those heroes and monsters with varied abilities probably all met the conditions...
What she had to do was... kill!
"Miss Fubuki, multiple Esper attack incidents occurred in W-City. There are many calls for help. Look..."
[Lily], responsible for driving, turned to look at Fubuki in the passenger seat, somewhat troubled.
Fubuki also frowned, hesitating.
Tornado rarely sat in a car. Usually, she flew directly in the high sky or took the Hero Association's plane for deployment.
"Miss Fubuki, the Spirit World Erosion Zone seems to have expanded again. Someone in W-City just witnessed a giant black figure emerging from the Spirit World."
Tornado frowned. If it were just ordinary Espers and Spirit World creatures, she could accept letting Fubuki go play her hero role-playing game with those guys.
But if that guy appeared, it wasn't something Fubuki could handle.
She pushed open the car door. Lily exclaimed but couldn't stop her in time. Tornado flew directly out of the car, turning into a green light and disappearing instantly.
In the car behind, Kaito also saw the scene of Tornado leaving.
As Saitama and Tornado left the team successively, he clearly sensed the atmosphere within the team change.
[Red Dust] hanging outside the car stopped chattering. And [Sylar], sitting in the frontmost car, uncontrollably revealed a chilling smile.
[Locker] and [Short Hair] in the same vehicle as him felt as if they fell into an ice cellar.
These two hadn't noticed Tornado leaving at all.
Kaito also grinned. Among Reincarnators, it was always like this. Deception and betrayal were the eternal themes.
Sitting directly in the car, he pointed his index finger forward.
Hum~
Amidst the violent whistle of golden Qi, [Lilith], who was driving, hadn't realized what happened yet when she saw a laser shoot out from the windshield, piercing directly through the car Fubuki was in ahead and entering the frontmost car.
Then, that car tilted immediately. Two figures opened the doors on both sides and jumped out. The vehicle exploded with a bang.
Kaito stomped down hard.
Bang!
The car floor was pierced instantly. His feet, fully hardened by Armament Haki, stomped fiercely into the asphalt road. Amidst terrifying roaring, the vehicle lost power rapidly as all four wheels left the ground.
"Mr. Mercenary Tao, you are..."
Lilith gripped the steering wheel, shaken. Kaito tore open the roof and flipped onto the top of the car.
His gaze scanned the surroundings but saw no figures. Only in the explosion smoke, a semi-transparent figure walked out of the flames, then completely hid its tracks in the air.
"You're crazy!"
Fubuki got out of the car, shocked and angry. But in the next moment, white lightning flashed suddenly.
[Hado #4 · Byakurai] (Pale Lightning)
Lightning pierced through Fubuki's chest in an instant. As her body staggered and fell backward, Fubuki saw the space in front of her seemingly split open into a pitch-black door, and a man wearing a white suit walked out from it.
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