Chapter 90: SSS-Rank Clearance, God Summoning, and an Immortal Body
Rumble—
A terrifying pillar of dark green light erupted from the tip of the parasol.
The moment the Pseudo-God regained its freedom, it spun around, its monstrous form contorting in pure terror. It wanted to flee, to escape the suffocating pressure bearing down on it, but it was already far too late.
Its body was instantly swallowed by the torrent of energy. Before it could even begin to form a wail, it was simply wiped away, erased from existence as cleanly as a pencil mark, dissipating into absolute nothingness.
The pillar of light did not stop.
It struck the castle ceiling with unstoppable force.
The expected collapse, the rain of stone and splintered wood, never came. The moment the hard rock and ancient brickwork touched the edge of the Magic Cannon's beam, they were annihilated, vaporized as if by an impossible heat, leaving not even a fragment of dust behind.
The Magic Cannon tore through the air, carrying a power that could unmake creation itself as it soared straight into the heavens.
As for the corrosive acid rain that had plagued them?
It was gone.
A hundred meters… no, thousands of meters above, as far as the eye could see, the thick, roiling clouds were completely dispersed. They were swept away in an instant, revealing a patch of sudden, impossibly clear blue sky.
Yotsuya Miko's mouth hung open, her jaw slack with disbelief. She had thought the Magic Cannon Haruto had fired in the guest room was terrifying enough, but she never imagined there was something even more insane in his arsenal. Compared to this world-rending blast, that previous shot felt like little more than a child's firecracker.
The crowd of survivors stood frozen in place as if caught in a paralysis spell, their faces masks of dumbfounded awe. They had vaguely guessed that Haruto was holding back a trump card, that he was about to unleash something big the moment they saw Kaguya's unconcerned reaction.
But… this was a bit too much, wasn't it?
Were they even the same species? Were they truly playing the same Death Game?
The aftereffects of the Magic Cannon gradually faded. A single, pure beam of sunlight pierced through the newly purified sky, falling squarely upon Haruto and illuminating his clean-lined profile.
Lin Xuelao stood there in a daze.
She couldn't see the light, nor could she see the young man bathed within it.
But she saw.
In that moment, she saw a true deity… Just as she had always suspected.
The task required them to survive for seven days. Even though the final threat had been eliminated, everyone still had to wait for the timer to run out.
But it hardly mattered.
All danger had been cleared. The rest was nothing more than a waiting game, which for Haruto's group, was no different from a vacation.
For the first two days, Haruto and Kaguya would occasionally take walks around the castle grounds. But after discovering that the surrounding area was a desolate wasteland with nothing of interest, they immediately gave up. The two of them remained cooped up in their room for the next two days, passing the time in comfortable quiet.
The other survivors wanted to express their gratitude but could never find them. In the end, they could only leave behind some of their own reward items as a token of thanks.
Four days passed in the blink of an eye.
The evacuation point was the same Rain Pavilion where they had first arrived. As Haruto stepped inside, a familiar sense of dizziness washed over him, and in the next instant, he was back in the familiar old house that served as their hub.
He looked around, only to find that he and Yotsuya Miko were the only ones in the room.
"Where are they?" Haruto asked, his brow furrowing slightly. If he wasn't absolutely certain that nothing could have survived that Magic Cannon blast, he might have suspected the boss wasn't truly dead and the others had been left behind.
Yotsuya Miko shook her head, a hint of anxiety in her eyes. "I don't know. I clearly remember Kaguya-san was walking right ahead of me."
Haruto swiped his fingertip through the air. He could feel that the suppressive force here was even stronger than in the instance, but he could still manage to tear open a small slit in reality.
On the other side of that Gap, Kaguya was looking around blankly, searching for Haruto and Miko, when a voice suddenly echoed in her ears.
"Yellow River calling Yangtze, please respond if you copy."
Hearing the familiar voice and the ridiculously clandestine code phrase, Kaguya raised a delicate eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips.
"Yangtze copies. Go ahead, Yellow River."
"Yangtze, Yangtze, what's the situation on your end? Where are you guys?"
"Yangtze doesn't know. Yangtze and little Xuelao are in what appears to be a Reward Room. Yellow River, what's your status?"
"Yellow River is also in a Reward Room, with Miko."
Hearing that Haruto was with Miko, Kaguya was about to ask for more details when Lin Xuelao spoke up, her voice calm and informative.
"This is a normal mechanism of the game. After clearing an instance, as long as you didn't slack off the entire time, the Death Game will score your performance and issue rewards. Usually, players are grouped based on their contribution and affinity. Two to three people will be matched into the same room. If a team exceeds four people, it will be split into multiple rooms with a maximum of two people each."
Lin Xuelao hadn't expected Haruto to be able to establish communication even in this heavily restricted space. Most ghost artifacts and communication tools lost all function here. But then, recalling the god-like scene she had witnessed, she felt that for him, anything was possible.
After confirming that Kaguya and Lin Xuelao were safe, Haruto closed the Gap and turned his attention to the reward panel that had materialized before him.
[Player Haruto has cleared the instance—Ancient Castle.]
[Completed Tasks: Survive for seven days; Reveal the Castle Master's plan; Successfully thwart the Ghost Doctor's six-hundred-year plot; Kill the final Fusion 'Pseudo-God'; Fulfill the Butler's lingering wish; Completely terminate this instance.]
[Clearance Evaluation: SSS]
SSS-rank clearance?
This had to be the highest possible evaluation.
Haruto stared at the three brilliant, glittering golden S's, a wave of deep satisfaction washing over him. It was well worth the effort he'd put into painstakingly exploring the lore and participating in the plot.
[Rewards: God Summoning, Ghost Doctor's Six Hundred Years of Research, Stitched Resurrection, Improved Immortal Body.]
"God Summoning" was easy enough to understand, and the Death Game provided a specific explanation. It allowed him to bind a deity, whom he could then summon to assist in battle, though there was likely a time limit.
Not bad at all.
To an ordinary player, this ability might be next to useless. Where would they even find a deity to bind? But for him, it was perfect. If others couldn't find a god, could he, a denizen of Gensokyo, possibly fail?
As for the "Ghost Doctor's Six Hundred Years of Research," the reward manifested as three thick, heavy tomes.
Haruto felt a pang of disappointment. He had imagined it would be a direct infusion of knowledge—six hundred years of medical expertise poured directly into his brain. He had already planned how he would use this novel medical knowledge to casually show off in front of Yagokoro Eirin when he returned. Now it seemed he would have to self-study.
The third ability, "Stitched Resurrection," came with no specific explanation. Haruto speculated it was similar to the Ghost Doctor's own methods—using ghostly parts to stitch a body together, allowing one to arbitrarily combine the torsos of humans or even ghosts. But the so-called "resurrection"... if it were a true revival, that would be one thing. He feared, however, that the resurrected subject would end up as a mindless zombie, or worse, a monster like the Lady of the Castle.
But what truly delighted Haruto was the final reward: the Improved Immortal Body.
If it were just a simple immortal body, it would have been a fine but unremarkable prize. Haruto could easily achieve that by asking Kaguya for some Penglai Elixir, and its effects would far surpass anything the game could offer.
This, however, was different. The "improved" aspect was key. The ability not only increased his physical strength by another 50%, stacking with all his previous rewards, but it also massively expanded his energy pool, significantly boosting his Demonic Power and its upper limit.
In an instant, Haruto's reserves of Demonic Power had grown tenfold, and he could feel that the limit was still continuously expanding.
What he lacked most right now was raw power. As long as he had enough Demonic Power, he could use more complex variations of his Boundary abilities, and their potency would naturally increase.
Take, for example, the Boundary of Past and Present.
Previously, he could only perform short-term time reversals on inanimate objects. But now, not only was the duration significantly increased, but he could also apply the effect to living things.
If someone dared to pop a power-up pill in front of him now, even if the medicine had already been digested and absorbed, as long as the time reversal was sufficient, Haruto could simply return them to their state from before they ever took it.
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