Chapter 378: The Ghost God Who Plants Mushrooms
The rapidly charging Hikigaya Hachiman did not choose a head-on collision with the High-Rank Ghost God.
In the instant before they clashed, a spiritual flow suddenly surged from below, cutting off their line of sight and slapping toward the High-Rank Ghost God. Taking advantage of the moment the Ghost God's vision was obstructed, Hachiman shifted his body in a blur and appeared at its flank.
By the time the High-Rank Ghost God dispelled the spiritual flow, a lethal sense of crisis made it shudder with cold.
"Where did he go?"
Hachiman was nowhere to be seen. The High-Rank Ghost God retreated while searching everywhere for a trace of him. Suddenly, a cold light flashed in its eyes.
With a sharp shink, the Demon-Slaying Blade sliced directly through the High-Rank Ghost God's torso, cutting it in half at the waist. However, a wound that would be incurable for other spirits only served to make this High-Rank Ghost God more savage.
"You dare wound me?!"
Accompanied by the High-Rank Ghost God's loud roar, its two severed body halves reconnected. It then began to expand rapidly until it transformed into a bloated, eyeball-shaped evil spirit.
"Ah... compared to that other one, this is just too ugly..."
Upon seeing the High-Rank spirit's true form, Hachiman actually found himself missing the Nine-Tailed Fox. Although she was much more difficult to deal with, her true form was at least a relatively beautiful fox. Fighting the Fox, he at least didn't have to worry about vomiting up bile.
Thump!
Having returned to its true form, the High-Rank Ghost God immediately swung the dense rows of tentacles beneath its eyeball, smashing them toward Hachiman. This time, Hachiman did not choose to dodge; instead, he unleashed countless sword lights, severing all of the tentacles!
"AAAH!"
The agony of having its tentacles severed made the High-Rank Ghost God scream in pain. However, it quickly realized that what it couldn't endure wasn't just the severing itself, but the specific sensation of being cut by the Demon-Slaying Blade in Hachiman's hand!
"What is with that sword?"
For the first time, a sliver of the fear of death sprouted in the High-Rank Ghost God's heart. But it soon regained its composure.
"If it's just a sword, then I'll use long-range attacks!"
With that thought, the pupil of the giant eye in the sky glowed with purple light, which then transformed into a ray that swept across Hachiman's area from far to near! The region the ray swept through triggered a violent chain of explosions, engulfing Hachiman as he prepared to dodge.
However, the High-Rank Ghost God did not intend to stop there.
The wicked energy of the entire otherworld began to gather toward it, quickly condensing into a physical object that slowly floated in mid-air. When Hachiman swung his blade to clear the smoke surrounding him and prepared to launch an attack, he saw an object floating before him that bore a striking resemblance to a certain modern weapon. Just as he was wondering what the thing was, crimson patterns suddenly surfaced on the object's pitch-black exterior, and then it cracked open...
BOOM!
A purple mushroom cloud slowly rose within the otherworld.
"Hmph. Dead as a doornail, aren't you?"
The High-Rank Ghost God looked at the mushroom cloud with satisfaction. Ever since it witnessed the power of that human weapon decades ago, it had been trying to replicate it. It took over thirty years to successfully figure out this devastating move. This technique was so powerful that even the Ghost God itself would lose half its life if it took a hit at close range, let alone a mere Demigod-level Hikigaya Hachiman.
"Now I'll see what that Nine-Tailed Fox has left to say."
Confident, the High-Rank Ghost God turned to leave the otherworld to show off in front of the Fox, only to find that today's quota for leaving the dimension had already been used up.
"How unlucky!"
Its excitement to see the Fox humiliated was instantly dampened. Grumbling, the High-Rank Ghost God prepared to return to its dwelling to rest for the night and regroup with the Fox tomorrow.
"..."
Suddenly, a faint sound of weak coughing came from the smoke, instantly freezing the High-Rank Ghost God in place.
"Not dead? How is that possible?! How could he not be dead?!"
Countless thoughts raced through the High-Rank Ghost God's mind, but eventually, they all converged into one!
"Since you're not dead, I'll send you on your way one more time!"
A flash of ruthlessness crossed the giant eyeball. Purple light gathered in its eye once more, aimed directly at Hachiman, who had just emerged from the smoke.
"An evil spirit playing with nuclear bombs... I really underestimated you."
Wiping the blood from the corner of his mouth, Hachiman stood tall, looking at the giant eye in the sky without a trace of fear. If 'Avalon' hadn't deployed its barrier in time, he might have actually died in that explosion.
"Too bad. You only imitated the explosion of a nuke; you didn't simulate the part that's truly terrifying!"
Pointing his sword at the High-Rank spirit, the 200,000 Spirit Coins in Hachiman's account instantly dropped to zero. Simultaneously, all the wounds on his body healed. Not only that, but with every beat of his heart, a massive amount of life force flowed to every part of his body for a second stage of reinforcement!
"What?"
The High-Rank Ghost God was shocked to feel Hachiman's weakened aura instantly recover—and then surpass its peak! However, Hachiman was under no obligation to explain the existence of the System or the method of exchanging Spirit Coins for life force to rapidly boost his strength. Feeling his body growing stronger bit by bit, Hachiman conceived the thought that he could fly even faster. In an instant, he crossed the hundreds of meters separating him from the High-Rank Ghost God and appeared directly above its head.
"Die!"
The fully gathered ray shot toward Hachiman once more. However, this time, Hachiman merely raised his hand. A shield composed of scabbard fragments manifested out of thin air around him, blocking the Ghost God's attack.
"Impossible! How can you be completely unharmed?"
The High-Rank Ghost God looked in disbelief at the shield that hadn't even been breached. That was its full-power strike!
"So Saber's scabbard has such high defensive power."
While the High-Rank Ghost God was in a daze, Hachiman looked at the scabbard fragments and marveled as well. Although he had stayed in that Holy Grail War world for a long time and gradually understood that the combat power ceiling there might be much higher than his own, he was still shocked that Artoria—whose performance wasn't as flashy as Karna's or Gilgamesh's—possessed such effective defensive gear.
She actually gave me something like this...
Now truly recognizing the value of 'Avalon', Hachiman felt even more respect for Artoria, who had so easily given it to him as payment to ensure the safety of Irisviel and Illya.
"I hope the Holy Grail helps you achieve your wish..."
Thinking of the look of anticipation on Artoria's face when he left with the Grail, Hachiman offered a sincere blessing in his heart.
"…"
When Hachiman looked down at the High-Rank Ghost God's bloated body, the tenderness in his eyes had completely turned to ice.
"Go to hell."
With that, Hachiman pronounced the death sentence for the Ghost God before him.
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