The formation of the "Regicidal Bellflower" grand array required five nodes to be selected in Kyoto, and Yayoi Hozuki had long since decided which five she wanted.
F Park.
The site of the Hogen Rebellion in 1156, and the stage of the Onin War in 1467. A stage that had drunk no small amount of human blood.
Kubizuka Daimyojin.
Known as one of Kyoto's strongest-class dens of evil, where the head of the oni leader known as "Shuten-doji" was said to be buried.
T Tunnel.
The site of the Battle of Tennozan in 1582, where Akechi Mitsuhide clashed with Toyotomi Hideyoshi's army. Perhaps because it had once been an old battlefield, many people claimed to have seen ghosts in this tunnel, and fatal traffic accidents inside it occurred frequently as well.
A Dam.
A place where many people had committed suicide in the past. In addition to rumors of ghosts walking across the lake surface, there were also eyewitness accounts of many supernatural phenomena.
Between OW Station and OT Station on National Route 1.
It was said that spirits wandered everywhere there, and employees working at companies in the area kept experiencing auditory and visual hallucinations, leaving them deeply troubled. Some even claimed "this land is cursed" and were hospitalized, while others apparently quit their jobs because of it.
Among them, A Dam was a haunted spot Yayoi Hozuki had set her sights on long ago. Its danger level was A-Rank.
...
Driving from Tokyo to Kyoto took about six hours.
Keitaro Gentoga held a Kyoto travel guide in his hands and said, "Famous sightseeing spots include the five-story pagoda, Kiyomizu-dera, and Fushimi Inari Shrine… and there are plenty of other tourist destinations and scenic areas that show off the charm of the ancient capital…"
As he spoke, he suddenly closed the guide and said with a heavy expression, "But we won't be going to any of those places…"
After arriving in Kyoto, the car took the four of them straight to A Dam, the A-Rank danger spot.
The moment the car reached its destination, the two "severe cases," Yayoi Hozuki and Eiko Hozuki, could not wait to unbuckle their seatbelts and cheer.
Yayoi Hozuki: "Then let's not waste any time… off we go~!"
Eiko Hozuki: "Time to go ghost-hunting~!"
Keitaro Gentoga turned pale with shock. "We're starting with the most dangerous place?!"
Of the five nodes, only A Dam was recorded on Yayoi Hozuki's haunted spot map. Because of that, Keitaro Gentoga and the others had assumed A Dam was the most dangerous of the five haunted spots. If they went to the other nodes, perhaps they would not even encounter evil spirits and could pass through safely.
However, that assumption was wrong.
"The most dangerous? Wrong, wrong~ Keitaro."
Xu Fu's sudden interjection drew all three of their gazes. As she chewed on senbei, she said softly, "This place isn't the most dangerous… or rather, it's the exact opposite. Of the five nodes Yayoi chose, the spirit at A Dam can be considered the weakest."
"The… weakest?" Keitaro Gentoga looked completely unable to understand.
S-Rank meant "you may suffer a curse you can never escape for the rest of your life," while A-Rank meant "there is a high chance you will suffer a curse worse than death." In terms of pure aggression, A-Rank was actually about the same as S-Rank, and could even be above it.
So even though Keitaro Gentoga and the others had successfully explored multiple S-Rank haunted spots, there was still a high chance they could get wiped out at an A-Rank.
And besides, the moment Keitaro Gentoga stepped out of the car, he felt an astonishing chill… or rather, he had the constant feeling that something nearby was watching them…
"Could it be that the evil spirit in A Dam actually hasn't reached A-Rank?" Eiko Hozuki asked curiously.
"No. The evil spirit here is unquestionably A-Rank in danger… But compared to the things in the other places, an A-Rank evil spirit still isn't enough to look at."
Xu Fu remembered what the protagonist group would encounter at these five haunted spots, which was why she said that.
An evil spirit capable of devouring Shinigami, the resurrected Shuten-doji, and even a demon god that Western missionaries had summoned long ago in order to spread their faith in Japan.
Yayoi Hozuki and the others all believed Xu Fu. They did not know Xu Fu had read the script, and only assumed it was divination or foresight from her Taoism Arts.
Keitaro Gentoga's expression turned somewhat ugly, and he could not help swallowing.
Even an A-Rank evil spirit was not enough to look at… then what kind of terrifying monsters were in the other haunted spots?
"This is difficult…" Yayoi Hozuki frowned in distress. "I actually wanted to deal with the most dangerous place first. After all, the farther we go, the fewer combat forces we'll have available."
In order to set up the "Regicidal Bellflower" grand array, Yayoi Hozuki had to arrange her spirits separately at the five haunted spots. Every time they finished conquering one location, they would have one fewer spirit on hand.
Yayoi Hozuki opened the digital map and held the tablet in front of Xu Fu. "Rank these five places by danger level, from highest to lowest."
"Rank them…? I'm not that sure either."
Xu Fu hesitated for quite a while, then pointed to the stretch between OW Station and OT Station on National Route 1, Kubizuka Daimyojin, and F Park.
"These three places are more dangerous than the other two. As for ranking… National Route 1 should be the most dangerous, followed by F Park, then Kubizuka Daimyojin. The spirit in T Tunnel should be about on par with A Dam."
"So T Tunnel is also A-Rank in danger. Understood."
Yayoi Hozuki furrowed her brows slightly, feeling she had still been careless. If she had known, she would have asked Xu Fu for her opinion before they set out.
"The National Route 1 area is actually the most dangerous? How dangerous is it?"
"At the very least, it definitely won't be more dangerous than that white god."
Xu Fu was not lying about that. Taisai Seikun was a god born in China during the Shang dynasty, and even his offshoot spirit had strength that nearly approached Japan's Three Noble Children. The one who appeared at National Route 1 might be one of the seventy-two Demon Gods, but compared to Taisai Seikun, he was still far behind.
"Then let's change the plan. The first location will still be A Dam. After that, we'll go to the stretch between OW Station and OT Station on National Route 1." Holding to the principle of "we're already here," Yayoi Hozuki still planned to finish conquering A Dam before moving on to the other places.
To enter A Dam, they first had to write down their names and the number of visitors with the administrator. In other words, they followed the normal tour procedure, and then the administrator would act as their guide while showing them around the dam.
During the tour, the guide introduced various details about A Dam to Xu Fu and the others, such as its height, purpose, and when the scenery was most beautiful.
However, what A Dam was most famous for was how often people could be seen jumping from it to commit suicide. In order to prevent that, the dam closed at night and did not allow any visitors inside.
"This is called the inspection gallery. It's where we maintain the dam's safety."
The guide opened a large iron door and smiled as he explained to the four of them, "Generally speaking, ordinary members of the public are forbidden from entering."
"Th-that really is a precious opportunity… though it feels a little ominous…"
For some reason, the instant the guide opened that door, Keitaro Gentoga felt the chill shrouding him grow even stronger. He could not help rubbing his arms.
Without thinking, he stepped into the pitch-black inspection gallery. Xu Fu and Yayoi Hozuki walked behind him.
But unexpectedly, just as Keitaro Gentoga entered, the smiling guide lifted one hand and stopped Xu Fu and Yayoi Hozuki, then closed the iron door.
"Ah~ no, no. Ordinary members of the public aren't allowed in here."
"…?"
Eiko Hozuki froze where she stood.
Yayoi Hozuki stared at the guide's face and said in confusion, "You let Keitaro in just now."
"Eh? What are you talking about?" The guide froze as well, and the doubt and bewilderment on his face did not seem feigned.
"What does that mean?" Eiko Hozuki suddenly felt a chill at the back of her neck, but she still refused to give up and said again, "You clearly let Keitaro in just now…"
"No… I'm not quite sure what you mean. Didn't the three of you girls come here together? Please stop saying such strange things, all right? If more weird rumors spread, that would be troublesome…"
The guide was not pretending to be confused on purpose.
This was a supernatural phenomenon.
With her double pupils, Yayoi Hozuki could clearly see several tentacle-like things protruding from the guide's head, writhing as they stirred around inside his brain.
These tentacle-like spirits had altered the guide's memory and perception.
"Xu Fu…"
Yayoi Hozuki turned back to look at Xu Fu and saw her shake her head. Xu Fu lowered her voice and said, "No need to worry about Keitaro. I already had Red Hood follow him."
The evil spirit of A Dam was an extraordinarily ugly female evil spirit, uglier even than Phryne, the captain of the Ishtar Familia from DanMachi whom countless netizens jokingly called "Mother Toad." And like Phryne, she also liked targeting handsome men and hated all women.
Perhaps this was the envy unique to ugly women.
Older men and unattractive men would be fed by the female evil spirit to her bug spirits—the "tentacles" that altered the guide's memory and perception—while handsome men would be imprisoned by her, letting the female evil spirit enjoy the pleasure of building a harem.
So there was no need to worry that Keitaro Gentoga would be killed by her. Xu Fu could have stopped Keitaro Gentoga from getting separated, but since he liked thrills and horror so much, she had chosen not to. In any case, his life would not be in danger, and Hood was following him. This was also a good way to make that female evil spirit show herself, saving them the trouble of searching.
"Ah… it's closing time. That will be the end of the tour, then. All right, all right, please leave quickly. Don't make this difficult for me…"
The guide began urging Yayoi Hozuki and the others to leave. Xu Fu lowered her own presence and secretly came up behind him, her deep eyes fixed on the back of his head.
These bug spirits had burrowed into his brain. The safest way to extract them would be to destroy the female evil spirit that was their source… but this was not difficult for Xu Fu.
She did not stimulate the bug spirits. Instead, she hypnotized them in an extremely gentle manner, making them fall asleep. After that, the sleeping bug spirits fell out on their own, without Xu Fu even needing to reach in and grab them.
The guide knew nothing about any of this. He did not know his memory and perception had been altered, nor did he know that Xu Fu had secretly performed a "brain bug extraction surgery" on him. He brought Xu Fu and the others back to the dam entrance, then closed it.
Expressionlessly, Yayoi Hozuki began observing the large, motionless fat bug spirits on the ground.
These bugs were probably not evil spirits, but rather the curse or ability the evil spirit possessed.
"If it's these bugs, they should be able to lead us to the evil spirit's main body… Keitaro should be where the evil spirit is too."
"Bugs? What bugs? I don't see anything." Eiko Hozuki could not see the bug spirits on the ground.
Xu Fu clicked her tongue and said, "You're better off not seeing them. These things are seriously disgusting when they wriggle… Xu Fu hates bugs~!"
Yayoi Hozuki was just about to take action and make an example of one bug to force the rest to lead the way, when the sound of a motorcycle engine suddenly came from the distance, approaching at high speed.
Far away, a black motorcycle sped straight toward Xu Fu and the others. As though it had not seen the three girls or the entrance to A Dam at all, not only did it fail to slow down, it kept accelerating, the roar of its engine growing louder and louder.
The person riding the motorcycle wore a full black motorcycle suit and a black helmet. However, if anyone looked through the visor, they would discover in horror that there was no head on his neck at all.
He was a headless rider.
Beneath the helmet were three writhing bug spirits. They were the ones controlling the corpse that had long since lost its head, driving the accelerating motorcycle straight toward Xu Fu and the others.
BANG!
Without slowing in the slightest, the motorcycle exploded into brilliant flames at the entrance of A Dam.
Rewind time slightly…
...
Seeing the iron door suddenly close, Keitaro Gentoga, locked alone inside the inspection gallery, instantly turned pale with shock. He hurriedly threw himself against the iron door, pounding and shouting.
"Hey! Open the door! Why did you lock me in here?! Administrator-san! Yayoi-chan! Xu Fu-chan! Can anyone hear me?"
The sound of his fists striking the iron door echoed through the sealed corridor, deafeningly loud. Keitaro Gentoga pounded until his hands hurt and he was out of breath, but no one came to open the door.
"No way… Am I really locked in here?"
After the door closed, that freezing chill and the feeling of being watched both seemed to grow even stronger. Keitaro Gentoga rubbed his arms again. It felt as though he had been locked inside a refrigerator, the suffocating cold threatening to swallow him whole.
"F-first, I should see if there's another exit…"
Keitaro Gentoga did not choose to stay where he was and wait for rescue. Instead, he began walking down the corridor.
The walls and floor here were covered in mold. The ceiling was packed with dense clusters of electrical wires, and every so often, a fluorescent tube brought a little light to this frighteningly gloomy corridor.
"S-strange… Why does it feel… like it's getting colder and colder? Is… is the sun about to set? Ahaha…"
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T/N: ugly ass spirit