Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

“Ahhh…!!!”

A strong sensation of numbness and pain entered Hoshi’s body. He felt as if countless venomous insects had crawled under his skin, all the way to bone marrow and even his soul.

He wanted to activate a defensive spell, but was unable to do so. His consciousness faded, with him feeling like a tiny boat being rocked on the ocean by a powerful storm. It was as if the boat might be capsized at any moment.

But in the darkness, a ray of light suddenly appeared in Hoshi’s mind…

While the red-clad woman was enjoying the feeling of dominating her prey, she suddenly felt an abnormal sense of danger.

*Whoosh!* Red thorns suddenly exploded out from the beautiful boy.

The woman had been on guard, so she managed to dodge this attack in time without receiving any damage.

A green arrow of light then shot towards her at tremendously high speed!

This arrow was far too fast. The woman knew that she could no longer dodge it, so she would have to forcefully take the blow. She immediately used a spell to increase her speed to still dodge as fast as she could!

This reaction was a correct move on her part. That was because a second, and then even more arrows of light accurately aimed exactly for her head! If it wasn’t for her high-speed defense spell, this barrage of arrows would have surely killed her here.

Hoshi’s clothing had transformed into dark green light armor with a dark green cape. He was now wearing a cap with intricate runes on it, and had a cold and distant expression with a sharp glint in his eyes. It was as if he had turned into someone else entirely.

After he finished this barrage of arrows, Hoshi then tossed out two red leaves with his left hand. The leaves let off a faint red glow before suddenly transforming into two giant wolves that kept releasing faint amounts of red mist. The wolves then charged directly at the woman who attacked Hoshi!

The woman released a large number of black snakes to fight against the two wolves. Dense black mist also erupted from her body and concealed her location.

Hoshi immediately nocked an arrow with a red leaf on it and shot it towards the location where the woman had just vanished. Right after that, a patch of red thorns exploded where the arrow landed, forcing the invisible woman to reveal herself!

Hoshi aimed at the enemy woman and was about to continue firing arrows when a dark red greatsword descended from the sky, heavily slashing at him!

*Boom!* The greatsword crashed into the ground with a powerful impact that shattered all the thorns.

Hoshi managed to dodge this attack in time. He turned around to deal with the second ambusher, a large man who wore dark red armor. Hoshi shot a barrage of arrows of light at this man!

The arrows pierced through the man’s protective barrier and dealt some damage to his body. However, the man seemingly didn’t react to this at all.

The red-armored man then stepped forward with an astonishing speed, rushing toward the elf youth and slashing with his greatsword!

Hoshi jumped up high and dodged the sword slash.

The red-armored man twisted his sword and slashed upwards!

Hoshi magically changed his direction in midair and dodged this attack.

The dark red sword suddenly let out a large amount of scarlet mist!

Yet, Hoshi’s entire body transformed into a beam of green light that swiftly flew out of the red mist.

While dodging the man’s attack, Hoshi also left a present for him.

Giant thorns several times thicker than the earlier patch suddenly rose beside the man’s foot, completely devouring his tall and sturdy body!

Hoshi’s right hand began glowing green as he nocked another arrow. His entire bow started glowing brightly as Hoshi let off a powerful aura.

It was quite evident that he was charging up for an ultimate attack.

The red-clad woman noticed this and released even more black mist from her body as she transformed into a giant black snake. She then opened her mouth and tried to bite the elf boy!

Hoshi shot out another red leaf with his left hand. The leaf let off a red glow as it transformed into a giant red bear.

*Roar!* The bear stood up on its hind legs and roared as it forcefully stopped the black mist snake with a bear hug!

However, the bear only lasted for two seconds.

The snake was far stronger. It viciously bit the bear on its head and crushed its body!

The bear collapsed back into mist and disappeared. Although it had only bought a short few seconds, that was enough for Hoshi.

A green and white arrow of light had finished forming on Hoshi’s bow. This arrow let off a gentle glow that seemed divine.

*Twang!* The arrow of light shot out while spinning at high speed, heading directly towards its target.

*Bang!* The large man suddenly broke free from the giant thorns restraining him at this moment.

However, it was already too late. The arrow of light landed a direct hit on him, piercing deeply into his body and exploding with brilliant colors!

The large man vanished in the explosion of light. The woman who was now a large black snake started attacking Hoshi even more viciously!

The elf boy kept dodging and blocking with his thorns while constantly counterattacking with arrows.

Yet, the snake woman suddenly stopped her fierce attacks as she transformed back into mist, which then vanished.

Kaede was heavily injured.

The white-clad man named Eiji had been telling the truth about him being far more powerful than she was. Kaede was unable to be anywhere near a match for him no matter how hard she tried.

But, she didn’t worry about this, because she still had her companions.

Kagura was now fighting the white-clad man in her stead.

Kagura’s original opponent, the yellow-clad man, had now disappeared. Kagura had sliced him into two, causing him to transform into mist, which then vanished.

This fight was now two against one in Kagura and Kaede’s favor.

Although Kaede was seriously injured, this didn’t mean that she couldn’t fight anymore. After resting for a short while, she intended on cooperating with Kagura to kill the white-clad man together.

But just as Kaede gritted her teeth and stood up again, the white-clad man suddenly transformed into mist and disappeared in an identical fashion to the yellow-clad man who had been slain.

What was going on? Did the enemy retreat?

Kagura looked all around her and remained vigilant.

After several seconds of seeing no signs of enemy, she reported the situation to Seiji.

A seven-headed giant snake monster was now spitting toxic mist at Seiji and his group. All the snake heads were viciously attacking with powerful force!

Yamata no Orochi… well, this snake monster wasn’t exactly the same, and it had one less head. Yet, Seiji wondered if they were perhaps related.

It appeared that this seven-headed snake monster had been created when the enemies combined together.

The black-clad man who appeared to be the enemies’ leader first transformed himself into a giant snake. Right after that, the green-robed man transformed himself into a giant snake as well, and then combined his body with the first giant snake. Then, more snake heads kept appearing, until the monster grew seven heads.

Killing or slicing off any snake head was meaningless as it would swiftly regrow. It was as if the snake monster possessed limitless energy and stamina.

Although Seiji cast a powerful barrier to forcefully absorb the snake monster’s attacks, it was evident that fighting like this for a long period of time would be no good.

“Let me maintain the barrier instead!” Natsuya requested.

She knew that she would last even shorter than Seiji. Natsuya had resolved herself to sacrifice herself if necessary so that Seiji could obtain enough time to cast a powerful spell.

Seiji rejected her proposal and instead summoned all of his companions to him.

Since this seven-headed snake monster seemed to consist of all seven human enemies who’d combined together, then Seiji would summon all his companions to deal with this monster!

Kaho and Kazuko were the first to arrive, followed by Hitaka and Rana, then Kagura and Kaede, and finally Hoshi and Hisashi… Out of everyone, Kaede and Hisashi were both seriously injured.

After confirming everyone’s condition, Seiji had everyone come close to him and simultaneously create seals for casting a spell and creating a barrier…

“Tremendous Light!”

Instantly, there was the resounding sound of a bell as a giant mystical spell formation appeared between the sky and the ground. This was a multilayered spell formation that started extending outward. Every place the spell formation touched started glowing golden with properties that cleansed the toxic mist and suppressed evil demons!!

“GAAAAHHHHHH!!!”

The seven-headed snake monster was illuminated by a powerful golden light, issuing a sizzling sound of something burning. The snake monster shrieked in agony.

Meanwhile, Natsuya and the others felt some power swiftly healing their wounds and restoring their energy. Everyone started feeling a great warmth well up from within them which gradually filled their bodies.

Kaho and Kagura, Seiji’s two Spirit-branded Retainers, felt the effects even more strongly than everyone else. Both of them started glowing golden as the warm feeling in their bodies kept surging around inside them just like unstoppable ocean waves. Their bodies were filled and filled and filled with his special Mana, to the point where they both wanted to utter certain sounds out loud.

At the same time, Kaede and Hisashi’s serious injuries were swiftly being cured.

“Let’s go, everyone!” After fully healing and buffing his companions, Seiji pointed at the seven-headed snake monster with his fan and issued the command for an all-out attack.