Chapter 343

Crack—! A deafening roar, as if space itself had shattered!

The entire Kurosawa Shinai shook violently! The rotten beams and pillars of the worship hall emitted a grating groan! The heavy leaden clouds in the sky seemed torn apart by an invisible giant hand, but what was revealed was not the starry sky, but a strange, deep sky curtain rolling with eerie emerald light!

Splish-splash—!!!

Not snow! A freezing, bone-piercing downpour, murky as mud, poured down violently and without warning! This rain carried a stench of decay and a bone-deep resentment, instantly extinguishing all light and hammering hard into everyone's hearts!

Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai took shelter under the eaves of a tea house near the main hall of Kurosawa Shinai, both leaning against the rotting wall, Mai Xuejie released her hidden barrier, concealing them.

"What on earth is that?" Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but ask: "Is Kurosawa Shinai sealing some ancient evil spirit? And those frog people? Are they made from living humans?"

"I don't know." Mai Xuejie gave a wry smile and shook her head repeatedly, she lifted her gaze toward the entire inner world.

The torrential rain had already turned the entire inner world into a vast marsh, and for a moment both fell into silence.

Facing this situation, who would have thought, who could have imagined that such a being existed within the inner world?!?

According to Mai Xuejie, long-neglected inner worlds do produce some minor monsters, but they are easy to handle; today, however, what we encountered up here is something we cannot oppose!

"Junior Student, do you think I'm formidable?" Mai Xuejie gave a wry smile and showed her bow and arrows to Uesugi Muneyuki.

"Very formidable!" Uesugi Muneyuki couldn't help but nod; the power of Mai Xuejie's single arrow rivals that of an RPG rocket, and this is the first time I've seen her go all out—this destructive force is comparable to a Tiger tank and an Apache helicopter!

No wonder the former inner world entities had world-changing abilities; it's only now, with modern technology and firepower, that these entities have gradually gone into hiding; otherwise, if such a formidable general appeared on ancient battlefields, it would drastically alter the course of the entire war.

But Mai Xuejie has two weaknesses: first, her close-combat ability is far inferior to her long-range; second, inner world people are glass cannons—high damage output but extremely fragile.

"Normally, when encountering such a monster, I would return to headquarters and request the highest level of support." Mai Xuejie nodded, giving a self-deprecating smile: "But now..."

"Now the strongest is you—where would support come from?" Uesugi Muneyuki also felt despair.

"Strange, Kurosawa Shinai was founded in 1684, initially just a shrine to the mountain god of Gunma, where did the rain god come from? Moreover, in all the generations of rituals and transmissions, there has never been any problem—where did this terrifying entity come from?" Mai Xuejie spoke in a low voice: "It seems our exploration of Kurosawa Shinai ends here, sorry, Muneyuki... even I have things I cannot do."

"I understand." Uesugi Muneyuki nodded

"Now the biggest problem is, will she let us go back?"

Mai Xuejie swallowed a mouthful of saliva.

In the sky-covering downpour, the entrance of Kurosawa Shinai in the distance was completely invisible, and our concealment barrier cannot last much longer.

Rain woman, rain woman... Uesugi Muneyuki gazed at his Qinghui Stone flashing with red light, pondering what to do.

"Ihaveaplan!"

At the same time, Takahashi and the other two, lacking Mai Xuejie's concealment ability, were immediately found by the rain woman; the freezing, resentful rain continued to pour down, the shrine ruins twisted and deformed under the emerald sky curtain, Sato Kōsuke's muddy pit of death still bubbled with ominous gases. The remaining three were like prisoners trapped in a cold, wet hell, the rain woman's drenched white figure hovered beneath the worship hall's eaves, exuding a weary resentment that froze souls.

"Use this!" The life-saving talisman had already been used up; seeing the situation deteriorate, Takahashi immediately pulled out three injectors from his person: "This was given by Zuijin! Inject now!"

Nakamura Misaki was the first to inject; instantly, she felt a strange connection with the inner world, she raised her hand, and the raindrops beside her turned into rows of fine needles.

I have superpowers! I have superpowers!

The shift from despair to hope happened in an instant: "... Damn bastard!"

Extreme fear instantly transformed into hysterical aggression! She gathered all the surrounding raindrops, unreservedly pouring all her spirit power into them!

"Die die die die! Disappear for me!" she screamed, arms flailing wildly! Dozens of poisonous needles, no longer precise icy stars, became a chaotic shower of needles flashing with eerie green light, shooting indiscriminately at the rain woman beneath the eaves and at Ryūzaki and Sayo nearby! This is the madness of despair, also the final struggle.

However, those needles infused with spirit power, upon approaching the rain woman's body enveloped in thick water vapor and despairing resentment, suddenly slowed down; the green light flashing at their tips resembled a candle in the wind, quickly dimming and extinguishing!

Something even more terrifying happened!

The murky rainwater seemed to come alive! It wrapped around those lusterless needles, instantly rusting and dissolving them! The needle bodies turned black, twisted, and ultimately became puddles of foul-smelling iron-rust mud, visible to the naked eye!

"No... impossible!" Misaki's scream caught in her throat, turning into an incredulous sob. Her weapon, her means of survival and pride, in this rain domain, turned out to be as fragile and laughable as a child's toy.

Backlash!

At the very moment Misaki lost her composure due to her weapon being destroyed, the pool of stagnant water beneath her feet, soaked in resentful rain, suddenly surged violently upward!

This was not mere splashing! But countless sharp, slender "water needles" formed from murky rainwater and black resentment! They were densely packed, like thorny brambles thrust up from the depths of hell, and in an instant shot from below upward, piercing Misaki's feet, calves, thighs, waist and abdomen, chest... all the way to her skull!

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!...

The dense piercing sound, enough to make one's scalp Stopped, merged into a continuous noise! Misaki's body was like a rag doll, instantly pinned and suspended in midair! Her eyes bulged round, pupils dilated from extreme pain and terror, her mouth opened uselessly, yet no sound came out—only large gushes of black-red froth mixed with internal organ fragments welled up.

After piercing her, those "water needles" did not vanish, but instead writhed and expanded inside her like living things! Her body twisted and folded at an extremely strange, physics-defying angle, bones emitting grating cracking sounds. Beneath her skin, it seemed countless cold, poisonous worms were burrowing and swelling.

Finally—the woman in the rain curtain lightly pinched with her hand.

"Bang!"

A muffled explosion! Misaki's body, like a sack filled with sewage, was utterly blown apart and torn apart from within by countless writhing water needles! Shredded clothing, broken bones, rotting internal organs, and blood mixed with resentment, like a burst garbage bag, sprayed radially into the surrounding freezing rainwater and rotting structures. Only a few blood-stained cloth strips clung to the twisted water needles remained on the spot, along with a large pool of filth quickly washed away and diluted by rainwater. The air reeked of iron rust and the sweet, foul stench of rotting organs.

"Ahhh—! Misaki! Kōsuke!" Kobayashi Ayako witnessed this scene and completely broke down, she screamed hysterically, threw away her injector, and also abandoned all her courage.

And at that very moment, her mind was contaminated, assimilated, and twisted by the omnipresent, icy wails carried in the rain!

All the way fleeing, deep in the shrine, that ancient well long dried up, covered in moss and snow, suddenly emitted a "gurgle-gurgle" sound! The murky, foul well water, without warning, surged upward like a fountain! The murky water flow, like living tendrils, clung to the wet ground and residual snow, silently and swiftly spreading toward the mentally broken Ayako!

When Ayako awoke from the icy touch on her ankle, it was already too late!

Splish-splash—!

Several slippery, icy-cold "arms" condensed from well water suddenly wrapped around her ankle and calf! With astonishing strength, they instantly dragged her down!

"Help! Kenta! Save me!" Ayako let out a shrill, distorted death cry, her hands uselessly scraping on the icy wet ground and snow, leaving deep scratches.

Thud!

After a muffled splash, the surging filthy water from the well mouth instantly subsided, leaving only a few strands of soaked hair and a torn piece of cloth hanging on the icy well rim, swaying slightly in the mournful rain. From the depths of the well, a few weak bubbles seemed to burst, then all fell silent.

Takahashi Kenta personally witnessed the deaths of his two companions.

No, these are not companions; they are merely potential talents he selected according to the Sovereign's standards after coming to Kanto for development!

This cunning, treacherous leader now also has only bone-deep fear and despair on his face; he now only wants to survive!

He roared, like grasping at the last straw, taking advantage of the two companions drawing the rain woman's attention, he exhausted all his spirit power to raise over a dozen walls to block the view, his body lunged toward the exit of the inner world! He wants to leave here! Escape this hell!

At some point, the exit between the inner and outer worlds indeed opened; his body had already been thoroughly soaked in the downpour, yet as he approached the exit, he felt the fresh air of the outer world, the cool breeze, the scent of wood and leaves in the forest, and...

However, at the very moment he entered the exit, the rain woman, who had been hovering beneath the eaves, seemingly just "watching the show," her face half-covered by wet hair, twitched slightly.

A feeling even colder and purer—"weariness"—like an invisible warhammer, slammed hard onto the very spot where Takahashi was about to exit!

Hiss—!

The sound of fabric being torn! That exit to the outer world, which Takahashi had regarded as an escape route, under the will of the rain woman, was actually torn open and ripped apart like a cheap curtain, revealing the churning, even darker void behind!

"No——!" Takahashi's body was stuck in a half-virtual, half-real state, half in the outer world, half in the crevice of the inner world, and as the rain woman clasped her hands together, Takahashi was severed at the waist.

The cold resentful rain continued to fall.

The shrine ruins were in utter disarray: mud pits, bloodstains, filthy splatters, scraps of cloth and hair from the well opening...

Beneath the eaves of the worship hall, the rain woman's damp white-clad figure still hovered. Her thick, long hair obscured her face, and water vapor and despair swirled around her. She seemed to slightly "turn her head," that cold, weary gaze, as if containing the entire emerald-green sky canopy and endless resentful rain, slowly searching for the only two remaining people—Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai.

That gaze was colder than this bone-piercing resentful rain. It seemed to silently declare: intruders, die. Next?

Unbeknownst to them, a thick white fog had begun to rise around them, completely enveloping the rain woman's surroundings.

The rain woman paid it no mind; this was her world, her downpour could sense everything, and these two could not hide for long.

Absolute, suffocating silence, mixed with the stench of blood, decay, and burnt souls, enveloped everything. Only the endless, resentful rain echoed in the ruins, like a death knell for the departed, also like a prelude for the living. Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai's nerves were stretched to the limit in this hell of wet cold forged from pure resentment, making them the final targets.

Indeed, fleeing was useless.

Uesugi Muneyuki had already obtained the answer; he knew this inner world was the rain woman, and the rain woman was this inner world, just as the Odaiba Building was Hironaka Mariko. If the rain woman did not wish for Uesugi Shiro and Mai to leave, then their desire to leave was utterly impossible.

This was the precious information gained from the four others using their life proofs.

And to confront her directly... even Uesugi Muneyuki and Shirakawa Mai combined might not have a chance of victory.

But how would we know if we didn't try?

Uesugi Muneyuki had formed a plan...

Yan Gui Miyahara Toru was laboriously exhaling smoke; after a while longer, he would have to shake the emergency inhaler to restore his energy.

But this had already achieved the effect Uesugi Muneyuki needed; at this moment, the entire area of Kurosawa Shinai, though not large, was completely covered in thick fog, even as the rain poured down.

"Are you ready?" Uesugi Muneyuki asked in a low voice.

"Are you sure this will work?" Mai Xuejie said, her face shifting expressions: "If we conserve all our remaining spirit power, perhaps we could hide a little longer or take a gamble..."

"Useless, even if we could temporarily repel her, then what? We still couldn't get out." Uesugi Muneyuki said in a low voice: "Just do as I say."

"Alright." Shirakawa Mai paused for a few seconds, then said with a hint of sorrow and comfort: "I never thought we might possibly die together on the same day, only regrettable that your Minami and the others, if you go missing, they will surely search the world for you."

"Don't say such dispiriting things; once we resolve this great trouble, I still have to return to Tokyo to continue the investigation, and by the way, prepare to marry Minami!" Uesugi Muneyuki forced a smile, his gaze piercing through the fog, straight toward the rain woman's direction.

We can only gamble!

Because, the Qinghui Stone lit up!