Chapter 77: Yukari's Talisman and Primordial Malice
Just as the Lady of the Castle's grotesquely long neck snaked forward, her sneering head about to brush against the bedding—
Haruto abruptly threw the blanket aside and sat bolt upright. At some point, a black-and-white talisman card had appeared in his hand. With a light pinch of his fingertips, a fluid light shimmered across the card's surface.
"Eat this!"
The moment the words left his lips, a beam of light, blindingly intense, erupted from his palm. It tore through the air and struck the Lady of the Castle squarely in the chest.
Boom!
The concussive force sent her massive body flying backward like a kite with a severed string. Carried by the immense inertia, she crashed through the window in a shower of glittering glass shards. She finally slammed onto the balcony, her bloated lower body dangling precariously over the edge, nearly tipping her off completely. Her form was a bloody ruin, her neck almost severed in two as dark blood gushed from the wound.
"Perfect score!" Haruto grinned, giving a mental thumbs-up.
Yukari raised a delicate eyebrow. 'Kazami Yuuka's Magic Cannon?'
No, that wasn't quite right. If it were truly Yuuka's signature attack, even a suppressed version from a talisman card would have left nothing but ash.
Yotsuya Miko's eyes were wide with disbelief.
Lin Xuelao was just as dumbfounded. Though she couldn't see, the thunderous impact and shattering glass painted a vivid picture.
"Should we finish her off?" Yukari stepped forward, pulling a small potion bottle from her sleeve. A viscous purple liquid swirled within.
"Don't be hasty," Haruto said, shaking his head. "I have a feeling this instance isn't that simple. I doubt that 'killing it' in Task Two refers to her, or at least, not just her."
"True." Yukari tucked the potion bottle away.
Listening to their outrageous exchange, both Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao felt their eyelids twitch.
'The instance isn't that simple?'they both thought, exasperated.'Or is it that you two are just too ridiculously overpowered?'
If any other player had overheard their casual conversation, they would have likely cursed them until they were blue in the face.
During their brief talk, the grievous wounds on the Lady of the Castle's body had already sealed over. Her neck twisted back into place, curving upward as she fixed her gaze on them, her smile now dripping with an even deeper malice.
"Still smiling?" Haruto raised an eyebrow, his hand reaching into a gap in space once more.
When he withdrew it, another talisman card was held between his fingers. Its surface was a nightmarish canvas, covered in countless sinister eyeballs that rolled and swiveled slowly in their sockets.
"Go on! Smile for me again!"
As he spoke, the hideous eyes on the talisman card all swiveled in unison, locking onto the Lady of the Castle. In an instant, an indescribable pressure radiated outward like a suffocating tide. It was the unique pressure of a Boundary Youkai—a form of primal, undiluted malice.
The Lady of the Castle froze solid, as if every ounce of life force had been violently siphoned from her body, leaving behind a petrified statue. The smile on her face vanished, replaced by a dazed, vacant stare. She stood there, utterly still, as if even the last vestiges of her simple, predatory thoughts had been completely erased.
However, she wasn't the only one affected.
The talisman's primary target was the monster, but the mere overflow of its aura—the raw malice mixed within the pressure—sent a wave of terror through Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao.
Miko began to tremble uncontrollably. Her top-tier Yin-Yang Eyes, which could perceive the unseen, chose this inopportune moment to activate. She saw it—an endless, suffocating darkness that blotted out the sun, the moon, and the stars. It wasn't a visual blackness, but a void composed of pure, concentrated "evil intent."
Though Lin Xuelao could not see, her other senses were far more acute. Her white cane slipped from her left hand, which was shaking like a leaf in a storm, and clattered softly against the floor. She felt the very air around her grow thick and heavy, pressing in from all sides. A primal fear, born of pure biological instinct, seized her throat, making it impossible to breathe.
Yukari frowned slightly and took half a step forward, positioning herself between the girls and the talisman card. Her own power was formidable; though suppressed by the instance, this residual aura had little effect on her.
Haruto noticed their state and, with a mere thought, completely contained the malice. As a fellow Boundary Youkai, he didn't feel the same terror; he only found the aura familiar, and more, controllable.
"...You two okay?" Haruto looked at the pale, shaken girls, his tone tinged with apology. "Sorry, I forgot this thing isn't exactly friendly to you guys."
Yotsuya Miko panted heavily, shaking her head with lingering fear.
Lin Xuelao silently bent down to retrieve her cane. Her hands and feet were still ice-cold, and a tremor still ran through her body. She was certain of one thing: that power was definitely not from this game instance.
Haruto turned his head to observe the motionless Lady of the Castle and couldn't help but mutter, "Did I scare this gal to death?"
As if in direct response to his question, the monster's frozen body began to twitch violently.
The next second—
"Screeeech!"
She let out a shrill, inhuman scream that was a horrifying mixture of extreme terror and agony. The sound pierced through the entire castle, easily drowning out the drumming of the rain outside.
Immediately after, like a startled reptile, she scrambled backward on all fours. Her desperate retreat sent her tumbling off the balcony.
Thud—
A dull, wet smack echoed from below.
She did not try to climb back up.
The rain washed over the muddy ground as she struggled to her feet. Without a single glance back, she crawled away frantically, her posture twisted and broken, and vanished into the darkness.
Wait… was she really just scared witless like that?
Yotsuya Miko and Lin Xuelao were speechless, but even Haruto himself wore a peculiar expression. He had always known that Yakumo Yukari was terrifying, and that a talisman designed for deterrence would be highly intimidating to ghosts and monsters. But he truly hadn't expected it to be this effective—it was a hundred times more exaggerated than a mouse seeing a cat.
"Then… does this mean we don't have to get up early tomorrow?" Haruto suddenly mused aloud, propping his chin on his hand.
Two large, invisible question marks popped up over Miko and Xuelao's heads.
'Is that the important part?!'
"I don't know about tomorrow," Yukari said with a shrug, "but someone is definitely going to have a restless night tonight."
Originally, she and Haruto had planned to drive the monster toward Huang Dao, Zhang Katao, and the others who had tried to set them up. They just hadn't expected this particular turn of events.
Haruto nodded. "Let them live one more night. Those who deserve to die will get what's coming to them sooner or later."
On the other side of the corridor, Xie Lin and his group stared at each other, their faces etched with disbelief.
On the first night, they had vaguely heard the monster's screams, but it had been impossible to confirm.
But that piercing shriek just now completely erased all doubt. It was as if the monster had encountered an even more terrifying monster and been scared out of its wits. The sound had been so loud that the entire ancient castle must have heard it clearly.
Because their room was also in the right corridor, Wu Wenwen, who was closest to the balcony, had even witnessed the Lady of the Castle scrambling away from the castle walls.
Wu Wenwen breathed a sigh of relief. "This way, we shouldn't be in any danger tonight. Everyone can finally get a good night's sleep."
Liu Haoran, however, just grinned.
"A good sleep? We certainly can. That ghost thing has run off, and we're on decent terms with the big brother and sister next door. But as for… certain people," he chuckled, "that's hard to say~"
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