Chapter 120: SS+ Rank Clearance, Time Stop Adaptability
Disgust?
The deity he worshipped was now looking down at him with an expression of nothing but pure, unadulterated revulsion.
Lu Bowen froze, his mind reeling.
This was completely different from the reaction he had anticipated.
Could this be… an act? A ruse to avoid exposing her true nature?
Even as the desperate thoughts flashed through his mind, his body trembled uncontrollably. He took a staggering step forward, his devotion warring with his fear.
"Boom—"
Kaguya mercilessly kicked him away. The blow sent him tumbling across the dirt. She then disgustedly rubbed the sole of her slipper on the ground before turning away, continuing to carry the stone-still body of Sadako toward the old well.
The others merely spared a passing glance at Lu Bowen, who was now slumped on the ground not far away, muttering to himself like a man who had lost his mind. Without a word, they followed close behind Kaguya.
Soon, everyone was gathered around the mouth of the well.
With a casual heave, Kaguya tossed Sadako's stiff corpse into the dark, gaping maw.
The blond-haired man wordlessly shoved the old television set over the edge after it.
Thump—Crack!
The dull thud of a heavy object hitting the bottom, followed by the distinct shatter of a screen, echoed up from the depths. In that very same moment, the familiar sensation of an instance clearing washed over them. This place, it turned out, was the extraction point.
The surrounding scenery began to distort and fade. The dense bamboo forest and the creepy cabin dissolved like smoke, replaced by the familiar sight of a quaint, old-fashioned wooden house.
Haruto found himself once again in the familiar cabin that served as the reward room.
He glanced around.
This time, the room only contained him, Miko, and Kaguya. The other players had clearly been assigned to different reward spaces.
[Player Haruto has cleared the instance — Cabin in the Woods.]
[Completed Tasks: Survived; Stopped her; Successfully saw through Kaguya's plan and used unique psychological tactics to defeat her.]
[Clearance Rating: SS+]
Haruto raised an eyebrow as he looked at the rewards listed. He had only received two.
He could understand an SS rank. After all, he hadn't made many direct moves, and his involvement in the plot had been minimal. But SS+?
His slightly furrowed brow finally relaxed after he carefully read the specific descriptions of his rewards.
The first was an ability: Time Stop Adaptability.
It didn't directly grant him the power to stop time. Instead, just as the name suggested, it allowed him to gradually adapt to the effect, with the ultimate potential to become completely immune to it.
Currently, there were generally only two ways to break free from the shackles of a time stop.
One was to possess the ability to control time yourself, using your own temporal power to forcibly shatter the restraint.
The second was to possess power that far exceeded the caster's—to reach a realm where you could brute-force your way through the temporal barrier with sheer strength alone.
And now, Haruto had just obtained a third method.
Unlike the other two confrontational approaches, his was one of complete adaptation.
The thought alone was enough to lift his spirits. As soon as he had discerned that the "Kaguya" in the instance was a fake—one who possessed all the real Kaguya's strength, including her ability to stop time—he had been planning his next move. Upon returning to Gensokyo, he was going to have to pester Mother Yukari to teach him some techniques or give him some talisman cards to counter time-based abilities.
He'd been lucky this time. It was Kaguya, after all.
Even if it was a fake, she held the real Kaguya's memories and therefore hadn't struck with any real lethal intent.
If it had been anyone else…
If he'd been caught in a genuine time stop without the real Kaguya around, and if Mother Yukari just so happened to be off playing with one of her friends instead of peeking at him through a gap, he probably would have been on a one-way trip to the Sanzu River to report in for tea and fried shrimp with Shikieiki.
Now that he had a way to counter time stop, all he needed to do was return to Gensokyo and find Kagu— no, find Sakuya Izayoi to practice and build up his adaptation. Then he wouldn't have to worry about being caught in such a helpless situation again.
After careful consideration, Haruto decided he wouldn't be seeking out Kaguya for practice anytime soon. If he were truly caught in her time stop, given her terrible personality, there was no telling what kind of mischief she might get up to while he was frozen.
Compared to her, Sakuya Izayoi's integrity was far more reliable.
After checking his own rewards, Haruto turned to ask Kaguya and Miko about theirs.
Kaguya had received a total of three items.
1. Rabbit Transformation Technique: Can transform targets into rabbits. Can also achieve strange hybrid forms such as "rabbit head, human body" or "human head, rabbit body."
2. A USB Drive: Contains a large number of rare items, limited-edition skins, and max-level accounts for future games.
3. Physical Strength +10%
Upon hearing this list, both Haruto and Yotsuya Miko's expressions became rather subtle.
The first and third items were understandable, but the second one… a USB drive filled with cheat codes and accounts for games that hadn't even been released yet? Wasn't that a bit too outrageous?
Kaguya, however, saw nothing inappropriate about it at all. In fact, she was brimming with curiosity about the contents of the drive.
Miko's rewards, by contrast, were quite normal.
1. [You Can't See Me] Sticker ×3: When used, the user's presence completely disappears. Each use permanently increases the user's presence-concealment effect by 1%.
2. Yin-Yang Eye Awakening +5%: Spiritual vision ability is slightly enhanced.
3. Physical Strength +10%
...
The moment they returned to Eientei, Kaguya eagerly plugged the USB drive into her computer. A dense cluster of icons immediately populated her desktop, revealing a plethora of new games she had never seen or played before.
She was just about to launch one when she noticed Haruto sitting by the bed, staring out at the bamboo forest in a daze. He seemed to be in a foul mood.
Kaguya blinked, her excitement over the new games dimming slightly. She put down the mouse, leaned back in her chair, and observed him, a hint of playful understanding dawning in her eyes.
Haruto noticed her gaze and snapped back to reality, finding her stare a bit odd.
"Why are you staring at me? Go on, play your game."
"Are you in a bad mood?" Kaguya asked directly.
Haruto paused for a beat before pouting. "I'm just a little tired, so I'm sitting here looking at the scenery. Do you think everyone is as energetic as an ox like you?"
Kaguya didn't retort. After a moment of thought, she connected his behavior to the instance they had just left and formed a rough guess. A half-smile played on her lips.
"Haruto, you've been sitting there in a daze, completely out of sorts, ever since we got back..." She deliberately drew out her words, her beautiful black eyes fixed on him. "Could it be because you had to deal with that impostor me back in the instance? Are you still feeling conflicted and upset about it?"
Haruto looked up at her but didn't answer immediately.
Kaguya sighed softly, then rose from her chair and walked over to his side. "Children are just children. Why be so sentimental?"
"You say that as if... well, you are indeed quite old," Haruto started to retort, but then he remembered that her true age was an unknown but certainly astronomical figure, far greater than his own.
Kaguya's face darkened for a split second, but she still didn't argue, merely sitting down silently beside him.
Haruto didn't press the topic. Instead, he said in a low voice, "I know she was fake. But she had your appearance, and your memories..."
Kaguya listened quietly, but every now and then, she couldn't help but let out a soft, stifled laugh.
More and more dark lines appeared on Haruto's forehead until he finally couldn't hold back any longer. "You shut-in!" he erupted. "Is that how you comfort people!?"
"Sorry, sorry, I really couldn't help myself..." Kaguya wiped a tear of mirth from the corner of her eye. "But have you ever considered that 'I' might not have been fake? She might have actually been the real me. And she might not have died."
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