As the explosion of verdant energies died away, the air swirling around us, volleys of metal darts began flying at us again, forcing us to take cover. As we retreated I had a sudden bad feeling, so grabbing Shaeula I leapt, and the ground erupted into sharp cones of bloody metal, the steel thorns chasing us into the sky. My own energies replied, and as threads of razor sharp wind slashed through the attacking spines, severing them, we landed safely on top of a nearby one-story building.

“She’s back again.” I muttered, putting Shaeula down. As she tugged at her yukata, straightening it carefully and adjusting her sash, she nodded.

“Indeed, she is quite the tenacious female. I can not-not say I approve.” Shaeula retaliated with some blades of wind, but the enemy defensive barrier easily shrugged them off once more.

“Yeah, having ranged attackers within the barrier is cheating. Still…” we had spent hours racing around the boundary encompassed by the defences of my rival candidate, and had established quite a lot of useful information. Dropping down behind the building we scampered away to a patch of bare earth, in which I began drawing a crude map with my spear.

“The area the enemy controls is roughly circular, though there are some jutting parts sticking out. It seems to be an area of a bit under eight hundred metres in radius, so nearly the full extent of a Rank 2 Territory. The barrier feels about as solid as ours was, or the one in Vegas.”

I had no way of being sure that every Territory followed the same rules, though there seemed to be a lot of similarities. This definitely felt like a Rank 2 one for sure…

Up overhead a ghostly woman was drifting, keeping an eye on us, and Shaeula clicked her tongue in annoyance. “I believe I can snipe her-her.” Shaeula told me, not for the first time. “If I wrap my flames in wind and launch it, I believe it would reach.”

“Yeah, I know. You are really starting to grasp the fire and air combination attacks. Still, I don’t think we should tip our hand just to eliminate a few scouts. That would just waste our advantage. No, when the time is right, then we’ll blind them and make our move.” In the same way, I had rejected the idea to use the combo attack we had done to breach the barrier in Las Vegas. Foehn, boosted by her wind and the pink jade bells, was certainly a powerful attack, and as it could cling to anything, even intangible barriers, it was able to deal damage over time in addition to the first strike, so it chewed through defences extremely well. But if we do that, then they might come up with a way to counter it, and breaking the barrier now is premature. No, best to finish our scouting. Besides… the wraith woman who was constantly trying to impale us on dirty metal spikes was a real threat. I felt Grulgor-level power from her, so if I was going to use Foehn, the Inextinguishable Blaze might best be served sending her to her rest, down in Yomi-no-kuni.

“I understand, I do.” Shaeula was pouting. “But I dislike being so oppressed by her-her. My pride demands we strike back.”

“And we will. But not right now.” I continued to draw, mapping out a picture of the area based on what we had covered. It was like a pie chart, we’d explored around seventy percent of the circumference of the barrier. Sketching on some marks to symbolise Defensive Emplacements, I drew out arcs of fire from what we had experienced. “There is at least one, maybe two at most, of the Sniper type. They can fire over pretty much the whole area so far. We’ve had a few close calls. In addition, there are others, shorter-ranged less powerful ones. The numbers are unknown, but their firing arcs are here and… here.” With cones dug in the dirt, we could see the best approaches. There were whole stretches of blind spots in the lesser defences, but what was interesting was…

“As we approached the northern end, we were forced to retreat-retreat.” Shaeula observed, using wind to draw her own jagged line on my map, demarcating the border where incoming fire was fiercest. “The spectral female became angry when we moved this way too.”

At that point orcs had flooded out as well to drive us off, and we had slaughtered many during our retreat. I had even gained a level-up out of it, which left me in a good mood. Still… she may be strong, but she’s no tactician.

“Yes, I agree with you indeed, my master.” Shaeula nodded, once more having guessed my thoughts. Is it me, or is that happening more lately? She definitely seems to get me…

“She is a failure as a strategist.” Shaeula continued. “My brothers would never have made such a blunder. She is screaming to all who would listen that-that there is something that must be protected to the north.”

“Yeah, and we need to know what it is.” I agreed. “We need to finish mapping their defences too, then we can return to Shirohebizumi shrine and plan our true offensive. She’s strong, all right, but if the boss doesn’t show themselves, I think we can win.”

“Yes, then we can call upon that brute Grulgor and his trolls-trolls. With their aid we should be able to destroy the barrier and rampage within.”

“Yep, that’s the plan.” I patted her head cheerfully, keeping half an eye on the scouts above. “Anyway, shall we go?”

At her nod we withdrew, moving away from the Territory, but still to the north. After a while we doubled back, trying to come around from a different direction. The streets here were reminiscent of a red-light district or pleasure quarter (not that I frequented such, of course!), the houses and shops blurred and indistinct, and between them was strung long ropes under which dangled many paper lanterns, burning red, purple and other hues. As we approached, I was getting a strange feeling. It was as if… something bad was going to happen, something yet distant, but coming closer with every moment. It’s hard to describe. An itch… an irritation? I just know something distant is going to go wrong, and every step we take this way brings it closer…

Several jade and gold pillars were rising in the distance, and with my excellent eyesight I could make out carvings of beetles and other similar insects on them, as well as shimenawa ropes of great width. It must be a shrine. I didn’t know there was one here, though I guess smaller shrines are everywhere, and I never really came to this tourist area, it had an … unsavoury… reputation locally.

As we approached Shaeula was looking around with her glowing eyes. “I can feel-feel the presence of some spirit, much like that of Shirohebizumi shrine. I believe one of your kami may be here, though it is odd. I can see a strange flow of energy… one I can not-not describe…”

“I see. That complicates things.” As we closed in a series of explosions started rocking the houses and shops in front of us, the lanterns breaking free from their hangings and plummeting to the ground like dying stars. Chunks of rock and stone were flying around like shrapnel, so we both called wind up to shield us, the green energies mixing in with the raucous lighting of this place.

“Guess we ran into those defences again.” I said, adding the details to my mental map of the area. Running further around we could see glowing bolts of aetheric light sparking towards us from several angles.

“They have invested heavily-heavily in defence. Unlike you, Akio. Perhaps this is a lesson for us?” Shaeula grumbled.

“Yeah it’s on the to-do list, once our Anchor has upgraded. Anyway, less talking, more running!”

We continued to evade, but as expected our foe was back, and waves of metal projectiles were raining down around us. I deflected what I could with wind and my spear, relying on my armour, strengthened with some of my aether, to defend against the rest. Several impacts stung me, but my armour held.

“You know…” I said, watching Shaeula running beside me, using me as cover. “… it’s at times like this I envy you being so small.”

At her flat look I leaked out a laugh. We had run clear of the first wave of Emplacements, but now bolts were coming from in front of us, punching fist-sized holes in the ground and any buildings that were hit by stray blasts. A tidal-wave of metal spikes was rising in front of us, so I charged through a wall after strengthening myself with aether, Shaeula following after, as the metal river slammed down behind us.

“This way…” I said, leaping through a window, shattered glass raining down before vanishing.

Multiple of the ghostly women were overhead now, covering a wide area. One spotted us and let out a near-inaudible hiss, attracting attention, and soon we were harassed by a mob of orcs who were flowing from their Territory. I would like to kill them for ether, but…

We continued to evade, only to run into yet another problem. As we cut back towards the enemy Territory another force was blocking our way, though this one… Good job Eri isn’t here to see this, she’s not a fan of beetles and other bugs…

Several dozen of what I could only describe as… well, bug-people… were grouped up across a defensive line, barring our path. They were upright beetles with bright green and copper carapaces, with multiple arms, some holding weapons, others tipped with cruel claws. And in their eyes… unlike the orcs I can see the gleam of intelligence…

Shaeula spat, her face filled with revulsion. “So disgusting. Such abominations have no right to stand before a noble princess such-such as myself.” Shaeula gestured and wind danced out, dirt and debris following in the wake of her sharp attacks. The front row of bugs was struck, but the expected scene of severed body parts and mangled corpses did not materialise, instead the insects only suffered minor scratches, jade energies glittering from their shells.

“It’s like the big beetles.” I began. “They too must have… oh shit…” I was interrupted by a vast volley of attacks, rains of green bullets of air, olivine blades of slicing wind, and emerald hammers of pressure.

I unleashed fire, and Shaeula followed suit, yellow energies clashing with green, the resulting explosion thunderous and painful. Still, our flames won out, and we were able to retreat, only to be barraged by more flying nails from a distance. Blood was running down my cheek from where I had been lucky not to lose an eye, and Shaeula staggered, almost falling, as one had drilled clean through her ankle before coming out bloody the other side. As she stumbled I stowed my spear and grabbed her in a princess carry, using aether to strengthen myself once more.

“Hang on tight, we are retreating. Otherwise I think we are in trouble…”

Orcs were mounting the buildings around us, crossbows releasing a rain of sharp quarrels down at us, and I was struck by several, my armour holding. Whips and blades of wind were falling around us, and even the Territory defences were joining in, bolts of light narrowly missing us.

“A perfectly executed ambush. She’s a better tactician than we gave her credit for…” I muttered, as we ran deeper into unknown lands, desperate to escape…

********

Putting Shaeula down gently, I then collapsed to my knees, spent. I had finally managed to shake our pursuers, though some of that was by luring them into areas where other beings held control. Yeah, seeing a dozen orcs simply … consumed… by some massive toothy octopus-type thing was not high on my wish list to experience…

She was looking flushed, and her leg was slick with blood. “Does it hurt? Sorry, let me take a look.” I reached over and pulled up her yukata, getting a yelp in response.

“No time for modesty, you’re hurt.” I chided, gently feeling around the wound. Luckily the nail had missed bone, going straight through her flesh, but it was ugly, skin and muscle caved in and clotted with blood. How the tables have turned. It reminds me a little of Inuyama…

Ripping the sleeves off my shirt, I used them to wipe away the filth, before shredding the rest of my upper clothing to make bandages. I worked as gently as I could, but even so, she was still in pain, flinching at my touch. I used Ether Healing to trickle in energy, accelerating the recovery of her wound, and while I felt resistance doing this, the make-up of her body strange, the angry inflammation around the edges of the hole diminished, and she started breathing easier.

“My thanks, Akio. I was-was careless. That female, I shall make her pay in kind for this insult.”

“Yeah. I didn’t expect her to have a hidden army. Those beetles are dangerous. Individually they aren’t a patch on your Kamaitachi, but in a big group… yeah, any assault we make is going to have to consist of our elites only. Otherwise we’ll just be getting them killed for no gain.”

“Still…” Shaeula forced a grin, despite the still lingering pain she felt. “… we have achieved our objective, have we not-not?”

I nodded. “That we did. There are a few blanks in the map of their defences we are missing, but in general we have avenues to attack, as well as discovering one of their weaknesses. The shrine. If we can take that…”

“… then they will likely lose the siege beetles and those hideous beetle-men.” She finished for me.

“Good girl.” I patted her head gently. “All right then, get on.” I patted my back, and she looked at me, confused.

“You can’t walk back, can you? So it’s a piggyback ride all the way to our Territory. Come on, don’t be shy.”

She looked away for a moment, before nodding and holding out her arms. I let loose a chuckle, before picking her up and setting her on my back. As she snaked her arms around me, I could feel her blonde hair tickling me, her breath hot on my face. I still don’t know why we breathe here. One day I’d like to find out if we even need to, but I guess old habits die hard, maybe?

“Master, are we going?” she asked, and I realised I had been lost in thought over stupid things again.

“We sure are, so hold on tight.” My own hands were under her thighs, and I realised it was rather immodest, but… What can I do? It’s my fault she got injured, I should have protected her better…

“All right then, off we go!”