Facing the exorcist who had been terribly afraid before, the three-headed malevolent spirit's fear was completely replaced by murderous intent after learning that Hachiman Hikigaya was not a formal exorcist.

Watching Hachiman charging with the spirit-slaying sword, its three necks instantly elongated to bite at him while its two hands formed a strange gesture.

"What is it doing?" Hachiman didn't think the spirit was just striking a pose.

Though he didn't understand the purpose of that gesture, his instinct was to rush forward and stop it.

However, aided by its necks that could freely change length and twist, the three heads coiled around Hachiman like eels.

Even though Hachiman had rich combat experience, fighting attacks from three directions simultaneously was tough.

"Why do these malevolent spirits all have such annoying abilities?!"

Missing with another swing, Hachiman showed a trace of helplessness. His swinging speed was already very fast, but the spirit's neck contraction speed was even faster.

Plus, if he attacked any one of the three heads, the other two would launch attacks from his sides, behind, or above, forcing him to defend!

"If only I had a defensive item…" At this moment, Hachiman started to miss the wristband he had before.

Although its side effects were terrible, its defense was truly strong.

Back then, a full-force strike from a special-grade spirit on the armor was like a tickle.

If he had a similar defensive item now, he wouldn't be so restrained.

But for now, Hachiman could only think about it.

Maybe the red ponytail wristband was so cheap because of its nasty side effects; other defensive tools often cost tens of thousands of spirit coins...

Just as Hachiman lamented lacking a defensive item, the spirit suddenly dropped its strangely posed hands.

"Heh heh…" Having finished its preparations, the spirit retracted all three heads and stared at Hachiman with six eyes, letting out a sinister laugh.

Seeing this, Hachiman immediately stepped back in front of Miko Yotsuya, raising his alertness to the maximum.

The next moment, the entire floor of the private room began to shake violently.

"Is this an earthquake?!"

Holding tightly onto the corner of Hachiman's clothes, Miko looked around confused.

Although earthquakes were common in Japan, the frequency of this one was excessive. The whole room was nearly falling apart!

"No, it's not." Compared to Miko's helplessness, Hachiman was calmer. "Did you forget what happened after we first met?"

"You mean we've been pulled into another alternate dimension?!" Hachiman's words triggered Miko's memory of the unpleasant experience of being dragged into the shadows by countless dark hands.

Instinctively, Miko glanced toward the corner behind her; seeing nothing, she swapped her hand from clutching her clothes to folding her arms.

"I can't fight like this…" Seeing Miko's action, Hachiman was exasperated. She'd already seen so many spirits—why was she still so timid?

"I'm just scared of getting captured again…" Hearing this, Miko sulkily put her hand back on her clothes and explained in a wronged tone.

Thud! Just as Hachiman was about to comfort her, a heavy object suddenly slammed onto the floor, accompanied by the spirit's wild laughter.

"This time, let's see how you die!"

Is this guy out of his mind?

Hachiman mentally scoffed at the spirit's words.

Had it not realized reality yet?

It was at most a general-grade spirit. Even if it pulled him and Miko into its home turf—the alternate dimension—so what?

It was just some special-grade or high-grade fodder here. Besides giving him extra spirit coins, what other use could it possibly have?

"Hey, something feels off…"

However, while Hachiman was pondering, Miko noticed something abnormal behind him. She quickly poked Hachiman's back, urging him to stay alert.

"How could it not be off?" Hearing Miko's anxious tone, Hachiman muttered to himself, then looked up to the opposite side. Just one glance, and Hachiman fell silent.

"System, why didn't you alert me earlier?" Watching the seven spirits opposite, Hachiman complained to his system.

"Scanning entire alternate dimension, please wait…" The system responded immediately but this answer gave Hachiman little confidence. This was the first time the system had taken so long to scan...

Roar! While Hachiman waited for the scan to complete, the spirits showed no intention of continuing the standoff.

Under the command of the three-headed spirit leader, six newly appeared spirits of various forms howled strangely and swarmed toward Hachiman.

"Scan complete!" Midway, the system's cold voice sounded in Hachiman's mind.

Auto-activated dungeon – Last Stand Objective: Successfully escape this alternate dimension with Miko Yotsuya. The escape point is marked on the map. Please check accordingly. Note: If the host is powerful enough, killing all spirits in this dimension is also an option. Remaining spirits: 3 Demon Gods, 24 Demon Kings, 139 Demon Lords, 2,679 General-grade spirits...

"No way I'm killing them all!"

Reading the mission, Hachiman wanted to flip the table mentally. Had that three-headed spirit led them to the spirits' main base?! So many spirits! He could accept Demon Kings, but what were Demon Gods?! If they were truly god-like beings, why hadn't humanity been wiped out?!

Without hesitation, realizing that he and Miko were dragged into a dangerous place, Hachiman charged at the seven spirits in front of him.

In this space filled with high-level spirits, he had to quickly eliminate the ones who knew about him, then escape with Miko as soon as possible!