CHAPTER 97: REALITY ERASURE

In a moment, the titan was right in front of him, the massive stinking mouth’s hot, and suffocating breath hitting Johan’s head just a few centimeters away from it.

The titan’s intentions clearly being, biting Johan’s head off.

It made even Sebastian panic as he suddenly thought of turning [Reflect] off on Johan’s body.

He knew Johan could just regenerate, and then, he could throw the spell at the giant.

But his panic vanished as he saw the certainty in Johan’s eyes.

The gray light on Johan’s finger expanded in microseconds, turning into a circle filled with weirdly shaped roman numerals from two to nine— All making up a strange code—

And combining it all elegantly to make the shape of multiple zeros inside the magic circle.

The titan’s wet mouth touched Johan’s neck, but froze, like a video being paused.

The grey light entered the titan’s body, and then... he vanished. Countless light particles of midnight black and silver color fell silently from where the titan’s body should be.

"[Defuse: Biological Decode]" Johan mumbled under his breath with a small sigh, satisfied because the spell worked.

If it hadn’t worked, Johan had also predicted that Sebastian would remove [Reflect] from his body and this would result in Johan being eaten.

So, he had made another plan if the spell failed and he got eaten by that thing—

He could just make the flesh eaten his clone, and then cast hundreds of spells to instantly destroy the titan silently—the sound suppressed by the thick walls of flesh.

But, he would’ve never even thought of this in the first place if he knew what Sebastian was planning.

Sebastian’s breath softened as he didn’t have to use [Maximum Output Blackhole] to destroy its body, while expecting Johan to escape by the use of a perfect clone outside.

His pupils dilating at what had just happened.

Johan grinned proudly at the baffled faces of all three of them, then finally sighed.

"Sebastian, turn off [Reflect]. I’ll just use [Gravitational Bubble] instead. We’re not trying to confront anything like this again." he said placatingly.

He had noticed Sebastian’s physique getting worse, to which Sebastian nodded hesitantly. He couldn’t risk risking all three of their lives just because he wanted to save his honor in front of Johan.

Johan smiled, giving a look to Orihime, who was already doing what Johan was about to ask her to do, truly being as reliable as always.

Thousands of birds, made purely of white paper, flapped their wings around the group, and after just a moment, they spread out in different directions, like bullets fired from a rifle.

They waited patiently for Orihime to find which direction the grey fog ended, assassinating monsters that got too close to them, until—

"No, this is impossible..." Orihime’s eyes widened, her body shaking.

At the three’s probing looks, she hesitantly replied, "[Paper Cranes] found the location where the grey fog ended—towards the east. It’s a plain cobblestoned road from just the next corner that seemed to be made by humans, so reaching there will be simple enough."

Johan nodded appreciatively, while Olivia smiled with a sigh.

Sebastian just stared seriously, all three expecting Orihime’s bad news next from the tone she was speaking with.

"I gathered every crane at the place where the fog seemed to end, and thought of making a clone there—so we could just teleport there with my technique, but... the clone was killed immediately."

Johan’s breath was caught in his throat. All Orihime’s clones had exactly the same strength as her original body—meaning a top-shelf Stage Zero. Due to her battle experience, one of the strongest out there.

And she couldn’t even cast a spell before she was killed? This made sense in a way—there was a clean way to walk toward the location. If someone walked casually, reaching the end, that thing could take them off-guard and kill them before they even knew what happened.

"You didn’t see anything?" Sebastian, suppressing his shock, asked seriously.

"It was a statue. Like, about Johan’s height, wearing an old-school knight’s armor. It looked like any other armor stand, I even walked past it. But, before I could even turn back, my neck was decapitated, most likely from its sword as I heard a rusty sword being unsheathed..."

Orihime explained through gritted teeth, trembling at the vivid pain still hurting her brain. She only seemed unaffected because this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

"...So, it’s Damion?" Johan said with a shaky breath. Both Sebastian and Olivia’s faces instantly darkened, their pupils dilating.

"What’s that?" Olivia asked curiously, her face filled with worry at Orihime’s experience.

"It’s a Stage 0 manabeast. I can’t believe Leor was able to control a manabeast at this level." Johan took a deep breath filled with frustration.

Sebastian nodded grimly, "Even people like Radhaan have to take them seriously. I don’t think we should fight it, Johan..." he suggested.

Johan turned to Orihime, who promptly replied, "No, there’s no other opening. All dead ends. Cranes explored every area of different mazes, and all were closed, filled to the brim with thick grey fog."

"I don’t think we have a choice, Sebas..." Johan chuckled with a bitter smile.

Olivia nodded enthusiastically. Her bloodthirst and desire to fight had increased so significantly that she constantly felt itching in her entire body if she hadn’t at least run, or punched empty air.

But she didn’t really hate this feeling, as it provided a kind of thrill that she had never felt—always acting like the perfect woman with a soft, empathetic smile.

"Then let’s make a plan, and try our best..." Sebastian sighed, not even taking a second to make a decision.

Orihime stared at all three of them with a dark face, regretting her life choices once again.

The rest of the journey went without problems. With Johan’s [Gravitational Bubble], no lower-level monster was able to sense the wobbly gravity they

had become, crossing the distance at a decent pace.

"This is the crack that leads to where I saw the grey fog ending." Orihime muttered dimly, while Sebastian, Johan, and Olivia’s faces lit up with excitement.

A.N.= Fuck, I messed up, I was writing for priv Chapters, and couldn’t get much but had to set in 2 days, only 1 Chapter today. Enjoy and don’t complain children :D