Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: A Very Small Sacrifice-7
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The Blizzard Guild entered the gate.
Himiko and the sacrificial offerings followed behind.
"Everyone, stay alert! Monsters will come rushing at us soon! Maintain formation!"
The monsters of the Parade of One Hundred Ghosts mostly moved in groups. And they would spot any living person and charge first.
There was no need for the tedious task of luring them in.
"Lady Himiko, it would be best if you kept as much distance from us as possible. If you get caught in the blizzard, even we might not be able to protect you."
"I'll do that."
Himiko gave a gentle smile. One of the sacrificial offerings rushed up to Baek Se-ra.
"Truly... truly, thank you! For going this far for us..."
They had already steeled themselves for death. But that didn't mean they welcomed it.
A hunter from another country had risked her life to enter the gate and save them. And without even being certain she could overcome the Parade of One Hundred Ghosts.
How could they not be grateful?
"We'll do our best."
Baek Se-ra responded coolly, but everyone present knew it. A warm passion burned in her heart.
Himiko let out a deep sigh.
"We absolutely cannot let our guard down. Lewd yokai energy hangs thick in the air. I can feel cunning gazes... The monsters could do anything, and it wouldn't be surprising."
"That serious?"
"Yes. They might even be gathering intel on us right now and devising plans. Their intelligence seems extraordinarily high..."
Humans could roughly gauge what monsters lay inside a gate before entering.
But with a gate that had suddenly grown, things changed. The pre-checked intel wasn't entirely useless, but variables could arise.
Monster hunting was like war.
Suppose humans used detection devices outside the gate to learn, "There are five hundred heavy infantry inside!" They could prepare countermeasures accordingly.
Something like, "Heavy infantry means slow feet, so no need to worry about mobile units. Prepare heavy attack methods to pierce armor and shields."
Of course, the readings weren't perfect, but the margin of error was something like, "Plus fifty archers!" It wasn't huge.
But in a grown gate, that error margin ballooned.
You prepare for "five hundred heavy infantry," only for a variable like "The enemy has brought a hundred mammoths!" to explode.
In severe cases, the gate's nature could change entirely, rendering the hunters' preparations meaningless.
That was why Himiko had overprepared. Why she'd brought sacrificial offerings to perform the forbidden ritual and sweep this gate clean.
Even if it was five hundred heavy infantry plus a hundred mammoths, a nuke would kill them all equally.
'Haa...'
But Baek Se-ra had chosen to fight fairly. They had to weather the gate's variables with their bodies.
"They've spotted us!"
"Everyone, stay sharp. We proceed as planned."
"Yes!"
Parade of One Hundred Ghosts.
Numerous oni and lesser ghosts began swarming in.
A normal guild would have exhausted all arrows and mana, only to be swept away by the horrific waves of monstrous horrors.
But Baek Se-ra was different.
"Let's begin."
She raised her hand high to the sky. Frigid air swirled. The heavens screamed as if tearing apart. Winds howled. The temperature plummeted.
The chilling cold that made one's back crawl, as if ghosts stood behind them, seemed like child's play. A gruesome, violent, destructive blizzard engulfed the procession of oni and ghosts.
"Hup..."
She felt the mana draining away. She gripped her momentarily dizzy mind and refocused.
The Blizzard Guild's tanks held the line with their lives. They blocked massive oni clubs with sturdy shields and endured the cold seeping into their flesh with iron wills.
Healers sweated profusely, replenishing the tanks' dwindling health, while supporters unleashed blessings in unison to restore Baek Se-ra's mana.
"As expected... can't underestimate them..."
Baek Se-ra had thought herself strong enough, but the Parade of One Hundred Ghosts monsters were formidable.
An unprepared human would halt at the mere touch of that cold. Ice shards would slice flesh like blades.
Yet the oni advanced step by step toward the hunters, faces lost in desire. The ghosts pressed forward, shrieking horrifically.
"Haa, huu, haa..."
She endured it.
Her magic was already pouring out at maximum output. Squeezing more mana here wouldn't change a thing.
She just had to hold. Trust. Trust that the Blizzard Guild tanks would endure this merciless monster wave. Trust that they would stand until she felled every last monster.
In that moment, lewd thoughts disrupted her mind.
Lee Seong-ha would soon ravish her. She had already given her body to that man.
She envisioned him waving photos before her: "Should I spread these, or delete them...? Well, depends on what you do."
Her pussy grew wet. Her nipples ached.
'Why this now!'
If a cast spell faltered even once, recasting from scratch demanded enormous mana. In this tense situation, it would be irreversible.
"The enemy is using mind-disrupting spells! I'll block it from here!"
From behind, Himiko erected a massive barrier. Baek Se-ra barely regained her senses.
"Thank you!"
They fought together. To prevent sacrifice. To protect everyone.
Time passed like that.
"Uh, huh?"
"It's over! The enemies are falling!"
The oni and ghosts, who had endured until the very last moment, collapsed all at once.
"They were linked together, huh..."
The oni and ghosts of the Parade of One Hundred Ghosts appeared as individuals, but their true nature was a horde. They were like cells or body parts of the massive monster called the "Parade of the Grotesque."
They had stubbornly shared life force with allies until the end. Thus, they fell together.
Himiko's protective barrier, which had steadfastly shielded them until moments ago, lifted. The lewd thoughts that had tormented Baek Se-ra before it went up no longer arose.
"We... won."
Baek Se-ra basked in the sentiment.
They had triumphed. Repelled the enemy. They had sacrificed much, but gained far more.
"Thank you so much."
Himiko from behind approached her with a smile.
"No need. Without Lady Himiko's help, we couldn't have done it."
In that instant, Himiko flashed a chilling grin.
"Ah, so this bitch's name was Himiko?"
"Huh?"
"Eehihihihihihihihi!!!"
A spirit burst from her mouth. The monster, forming a grotesque shape, extended bizarre limbs and seized Baek Se-ra's throat.
"Guh, hrr, ngh..."
"Thank you! Thank you! Keehihihihi... Thank youuuu!!!"
Only then did Baek Se-ra grasp the situation.
'We got played!'
She had anticipated this gate's monsters being far more numerous and dangerous. She believed she had defeated the "more numerous and dangerous" Parade of One Hundred Ghosts.
No. This yokai demon with its immense aura was the true threat.
"Good girl! Well done! Thank you!"
The yokai knew.
The monster horde of the Parade of One Hundred Ghosts defeating Baek Se-ra was pointless. It would be a tragedy for humans, but failure for the monsters too.
If the Blizzard Guild fell, Himiko would use the sacrificial offerings to devastate the gate. The monsters would die regardless.
To survive, they needed to target Himiko, not Baek Se-ra.
Without Himiko, the sacrifice ritual couldn't clear the gate.
That's why the yokai thanked Baek Se-ra. Had she not created hope, Himiko would have performed the ritual without hesitation.
Himiko's spell barrier vanishing at the end was because the yokai had entered her body. The lewd thoughts stopped tormenting Baek Se-ra then because there was no need anymore.
From the start, the yokai had targeted Himiko.
'Because of me...'
Baek Se-ra bit her lip hard.
"You're pretty. Wanna live together? I'll take good care of you?"
The yokai reached out to Baek Se-ra.
"Take this, and you'll be my slave. Kill all the other humans, and we'll play just us two? I'll prepare lots of fun toys... Eehihihihihi!!!"
With a hair-raising laugh, the yokai tapped Baek Se-ra's forehead.
'Ngh?'
"Heh, heehih, heehihihihihi!!!"
The yokai laughed as it released Baek Se-ra.
'What happened?'
Baek Se-ra hesitated briefly but soon assessed the situation.
'Yokai enslavement spell.'
A spell that forced obedience to the caster and ignited burning lust.
'It failed.'
Seong-ha's skill. NTR Prevention.
She gazed at the yokai before her without excitement. Only revulsion filled her. The only one she wanted to yield her body to was Lee Seong-ha.
No compulsion to submit to the yokai weighed on her. Her master remained Seong-ha. If she had to kneel to anyone, it had to be that man. No one else.
'It let its guard down.'
It never imagined failure. Or rather, it had succeeded, technically.
Like a syringe piercing flesh and injecting into a vein successfully, but the drug losing effect the moment it entered her body.
Baek Se-ra extended her hand.
Her mana was nearly depleted, but the yokai must be at its limit too. No doubt.
It had expended much power fighting Himiko, pouring the rest into that spell.
Such a clever, powerful yokai wouldn't overlook that once Himiko and Baek Se-ra were subdued, no remaining hunter could harm it with destructive power.
"My pretty one... Now freeze all those useless humans!"
"No."
"Huh?"
Hundreds, thousands of icicles poured from Baek Se-ra's hand. Ice pierced the yokai's body again and again.
"Gaa, graaaaaah! Why, why!"
"Too late."
The icicle barrage, squeezed from her remaining mana, stabbed into the yokai relentlessly.
"Uh, aaaah..."
The yokai's flesh vanished. Baek Se-ra hurried to Himiko.
"Are you alright?"
"Hi- eehiiit? Whooo... Is that you, Miss Baek Se-ra?"
"Yes."
"S-sorryyy... Because of me, I should have warned you about the yokai-"
"No need to worry. We just found out."
"Huh?"
Baek Se-ra smiled faintly.
"We won."
Himiko finally understood. They hadn't been dragged to the yokai's lair.
"Thank you."
Himiko beamed.