Chapter 617: I feel like I was scammed!
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu
“Hahaha… hahahahaha!!”
After remaining silent for a while, the dog head mask girl started laughing out much louder than her gentle chuckles from before. This handsome boy who pretended to have such deep emotions was just too much for her.
“What is this… haha… where did you quote that from… hahaha… truly amusing…”
‘Of course it’s amusing as I quoted it from a classic in my previous world,’ Seiji thought to himself. He felt even more respect now for the comedy king who created this quote 1 !
“What is this from? A movie or a television show? Or an anime?” the dog head mask girl asked again after she finally managed to stop laughing. “You couldn’t have possibly come up with that on the spot?”
“I saw it in a movie from Huaxia, although I forget which one it’s from,” Seiji told her.
“A Huaxia movie…” The dog head mask girl paused for a moment. “Excellent sincerity, Mr. Knight.”
“Thank you. As long as it pleases you.”
“I was even moved for a moment there, although it was because of comedy, not love. You put on such an excellent performance.” The dog head mask girl chuckled. “You have excellent talent for acting. Perhaps we could even make a film together.”
“…Miss Dog Head Mask is actually an actress?” Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes.
“I told you before that I’m interested in cosplay. However, I’m not exactly an actress.” The dog head mask girl lifted her hand and slowly took off her mask.
The night breeze blew past and caused her beautiful black hair to flutter in the wind. Her incredibly beautiful appearance seemed just like the silver moon in the sky, pure to the point of being holy.
To his surprise, Seiji instantly recognized who she was. He couldn’t help but widen his eyes.
“Miyuki Sakuraku!?”
She was the beautiful national idol singer of Sakura Island who countless citizens loved!
“Ding dong! Aren’t you pleasantly surprised, Mr. Knight?” Miyuki Sakuraku now spoke differently in a cuter and gentler voice than before. “The mysterious girl that you had fun chatting with was actually a first-rate super popular idol! Aren’t you delighted?”
“…Indeed,” Seiji muttered as he regained his sense. “This is such a pleasant surprise.”
“I can even give you my autograph and take a selfie together with you.”
“…Thank you so much.”
“If you’re so happy, you should show it more! Please give me another performance to express your feelings!”
“My acting ability is still on cooldown. I can’t use it yet.”
“Then how about singing a song for me!”
“I don’t have the courage to sing in front of the best singer in all of Sakura Island.”
“That’s praise I like to hear, but I still want you to bring out your courage!”
“I need far more experience to level up my singing skill first.” Seiji looked directly at her. “It’s my honor to meet you, Sakuraku-san.”
“You know my name now, but I still don’t know yours.” Miyuki smiled.
Seiji highly doubted that she knew nothing about him at all. But since she was asking, he might as well introduce himself.
“I have two names. In this school, I’m known as Seigo Harano. To my friends, I’m known as Seiji Haruta.”
“What name should I address you as, then?”
“Either is fine.”
“Which name do you want me to use?” Miyuki spoke in an ambiguous tone.
“Whichever you like,” Seiji replied calmly.
“It would seem that Mr. Knight is truly an herbivore man… Well, that’s fine as well.” Miyuki chuckled. “I’ll just call you Harano-kun then. Very nice to meet you.”
She then put her mask back on.
“This is a special favor I’m doing just for you, letting you see who I really am. You can’t tell anyone else about this.”
“…What about that autograph and selfie you promised me?”
“I’ll give you an autograph right now if you give me pen and paper. As for a selfie, you’ll have to take one with my mask on.”
“I feel like I was just scammed!”
“I’ve never taken a selfie before with anyone else while looking like this. You should feel honored!” Miyuki made a V for victory pose with her fingers like how she always did on television. This seemed rather abnormal because she had her dog head mask on.
“Although it’s difficult for me to accept, I suppose it sort of counts as a type of memory.” Seiji really did take out his cell phone and took a picture of him together with Miyuki. “As for pen and paper? Please wait for me for five minutes!”
He then ran off at top speed and returned a few minutes later to give the idol pen and paper.
Miyuki readily gave him her autograph.
Seiji accepted it with great satisfaction.
He just obtained a selfie and autograph of the national idol!
Although the selfie had a rather big problem with the image, it still counted as a selfie. It greatly satisfied his vanity!
“Harano-kun is truly such an amusing boy,” Miyuki happily praised him.
It was now time for serious business.
Miyuki brought out a black object.
This appeared to be the same object from last time. Seiji could only see that it was shaped like a plate.
This item slowly started glowing red. When the light became blinding, Miyuki toosed it onto the black oval. The plate then instantly transformed into a whirlpool-shaped bright-red oval! When overlapped on top of the original black oval, the entire spell formation greatly resembled a mysterious eye, the same as the other Dimensional Eyes that Seiji had seen.
The next instant, everything started swirling around him as his vision went hazy and he heard faint sounds. His consciousness also became hazy as he started falling downwards…
A blood moon was high in the sky. They were in a dark forest that had a bloody smell to it.
“A blood-red moon… Could this be the Blood Moon Mountain?” Seiji recognized this Spirit World.
This Spirit World was in the information that he received from Hana. This was a group of mountains illuminated by a round blood moon. And according to the information, this Spirit World was far more dangerous than the Forest Palace!
This giant blood moon in the sky didn’t simply provide lighting. It was actually a danger in and of itself. Those who looked at it for too long would suffer penalties to their mental spirit and receive negative status conditions.
Even those who didn’t look at it directly would still receive negative status conditions after being illuminated by it for a period of time. As for how long it took to receive a negative status condition and what status condition was received, that was different for everyone.
An analogy would be that this was a dungeon which would give all game players a random debuff. The debuff’s type and time would depend on each game player’s resistance stat…
“That’s right, this is the Blood Moon Mountain,” Miyuki explained. “This is a rather high level Inner World. The monsters here are at a similar level to powerful demons from the ancient generation. No ordinary person could survive here. Even average Spiritual Ability users will easily die here, that’s how dangerous it is.”
“High level Inner World…”
“There’s no specific standards as of yet. Once Soul Society formally starts operating, we’ll be creating a set of standards.”
“Sakuraku-san joined Soul Society?” Something flashed in Seiji’s eyes.
“Yep. Harano-kun should consider joining us as well. There’s lots of benefits.” Miyuki smiled.
“…I shall consider it.”
Seiji actually wanted to ask what types of benefits there were, but he didn’t have the time to do so. That was because a large number of powerful demons surrounded them!
Right, surrounded them.
A large number of blood-red vicious demons appeared in the forest. Every single one was on par in power with the one that he, Natsuya, and the others teamed up to take down!
This was no joking matter. Seiji felt like his life would be in danger against so many powerful demons.
If he was by himself, this would be a dangerous situation where he would need to pull out all his trump cards to break free.
As for killing off all these demons? He wouldn’t even dare dream of it! It would be quite excellent already if he didn’t die to them.
As expected of a high level dungeon.
But just as the blood-red demons were about to pounce on them, the high level player leading the team took action.
Miyuki Sakuraku waved her hand and sung a song with her beautiful voice.
Seiji instantly recognized the song she was singing…
“Ethereal Snow!” This was the number one hit single which still topped the charts even now that she released a while back!
The moment she started singing, all the pouncing demons froze in their movements as if they had been snared by a large area of effect spell.
A truly amazing singer would be able to move people with even an impromptu performance. Without a doubt, Miyuki Sakuraku was an amazing singer. Not to mention, it was quite obvious that she was currently adding something magical to her singing.
Just hearing the prelude of this song made Seiji feel like the entire world had changed.
The blood moon faded and the forest disappeared. Everything around him turned white, transforming into a frigid yet also gentle aura.
A cold, frosty wind gently blew past him. Pure white snowflakes slowly drifted downwards, appearing dreamlike, beautiful, and ethereal.