Chapter 6

One might hesitate to get bystanders involved, but there's no need to agonize over blasting a hypnotist uncle!

Artemina plucked her bowstring, and instantly, three or four Moonlight Arrows fired in succession towards the Professor, each beam possessing enough power to melt a tank.

Unfortunately, the Professor was prepared this time; he raised his curved staff, imposing his will upon the space around him.

All three Moonlight Arrows were twisted and deflected by his telekinesis.

The moonlight could not pierce the will of this Inner Realm's master.

However, a top-tier Magical Girl at least had the ability to briefly stalemate and trade fire with the hypnotist uncle.

Artemina's Moonlight Arrows and the Professor's telekinesis clashed and bombarded each other within the black stone hall, trading blow for blow.

Waves of light scattered, exploded, and shattered, suddenly turning the scene into a genuine artillery duel!

The duration of this artillery stalemate was the opportunity for others to act.

One of the crocodile-men was finally blown to bits by a submachine gun just two steps away from Elaine.

The remaining three crocodiles continued to pursue her relentlessly.

Elaine tossed her gun aside, unbuckled the ammunition belt from her waist, and twisted the pin off one of the grenades.

Dodging left and right, she slid between two of the crocodile-men, feigning an attempt to evade their claws and fangs, but caught them off guard by leaping high and stepping over the shoulder of one of the crocodile-men.

She slipped the ammunition belt over the head of one of the crocodiles.

"Hallelujah!"

The entire pack of holy grenades exploded amidst the beautiful sound effects of a pipe organ, blasting the three monsters into fragments.

Elaine didn't even look back; riding the shockwave of the explosion, she landed beside Artemina and shook the dust from her hair with an expressionless face.

Even the Magical Girl was stunned by this combat style: "Is this how Roman Church exorcists fight?"

"I don't have the destructive power you Magical Girls possess, so of course I have to rely on tools," Elaine replied nonchalantly.

"Don't get distracted. Watch out for the Professor."

It was then that Artemina realized that in the intervals between their exchanges, the Professor had been staring intently at her from afar.

Merely by being caught in the Professor's hypnotic gaze, she felt a violent turbulence suddenly arise in her heart; her body froze involuntarily, and her mind went blank.

From her brain to her spinal cord, she felt paralyzed, with only waves of euphoria continuously washing over her.

—No. It's about to overflow—

—If my head breaks, if it goes on like this—

But Elaine immediately pulled out a strip of paper and slapped it onto Artemina's stomach.

Instantly, the Magical Girl screamed in pain, snapped back to reality, and for some reason, her face turned beet red.

"What's going on? How were you able to break the hypnosis?"

The Professor, who had tried every effort to control the Magical Girl, finally felt dumbfounded.

"If it were a top-tier exorcist nun carefully trained by the Roman Church who could temporarily resist my hypnosis with unwavering faith, I could accept that.

But how can you break the hypnosis on a Magical Girl too?"

Elaine silently picked up the strip of paper.

The small strip of paper was covered in fine, handwritten Latin.

Anyone in the know could tell at a glance that it was from a precious medieval biblical manuscript; the detached page from the ancient book was at least a thousand years old.

Written on it was a verse from the New Testament: "Marriage is honorable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."

Elaine flipped the paper over.

This time, when the Professor focused on the content, he nearly vomited blood—because on the back of this ancient biblical manuscript, there were actually five characters for "Thunder" [Lei Lei Lei Lei Lei] written, along with the personal signature of Master Leipu, Qi Xing!

"How could a nun like you do such a thing? This is a holy relic, isn't it?!"

"A holy relic that can't save anyone isn't worth a damn, not even worth a hair," Elaine replied dismissively, explaining calmly.

"The prayer and incantation to prevent marital infidelity can take effect temporarily, even if he and I are only pretending to be married for now."

"You underestimate us, Professor Van Stra.

If we didn't have absolute confidence in avoiding hypnosis, how would we dare to search separately?

It's just a pity that we also underestimated you; I didn't expect you to have already constructed an Inner Realm."

Having made anti-hypnosis preparations with Qi Xing, she hadn't expected the hypnotist uncle to be strong enough to hypnotize the world itself and construct his own pocket world—this was a major oversight in Elaine's mission.

Furthermore, this talisman paper was only effective against mental hypnosis; they truly couldn't resist those that interfered with physical reality.

If the Professor only had the ability to hypnotize people, even with the gap in their realms, it wouldn't have been impossible for Elaine to hunt him down alone.

As for why this note was also effective on the Magical Girl Artemina, Elaine was actually just treating a dead horse as if it were alive.

Perhaps it was because Artemina had only been saved by Master Leipu the day before yesterday, her mind still filled with one-sided pink bubbles, and now, being stimulated by the thunder talisman, the hypnotist uncle's hypnosis could no longer satisfy her?

This causality was truly wondrous.

If Qi Xing hadn't gone to save the Magical Girl the day before yesterday, none of these miraculous coincidences would have occurred.

In other words, "Why wouldn't I be hypnotized? Does that even need asking?

You are playing the role of the god Osiris in this Inner Realm.

Although you are indeed the fertility god who once [censored] your brother's wife and fathered a child with another man's wife, you were also assassinated by your brother because of it, and your [censored] was chopped off and fed to the crocodiles."

After speaking, Elaine coldly snorted, "How could an Osiris who doesn't even have a [censored] still [censored] someone else's wife? You [censored] bastard."

For a moment, the surrounding air became as awkwardly cold as dry ice.

The Magical Girl was speechless.

Professor Van Stra finally exploded with rage.

"I! I am going to slaughter you, you foul-mouthed, lewd nun!! I will definitely kill you!!"

The awkward silence lasted less than a second.

Accompanied by the Professor's uncontrolled scream, the entire Inner Realm changed.

Elaine and Artemina immediately felt as if the core of the entire world had been cracked and torn apart by rage, making their scalps tingle.

Elaine immediately opened fire, and Artemina also reacted and continued to shoot arrows.

But the enraged Professor blocked their attacks with just a blast of telekinetic energy.

From within his rage, a long, red-and-black thing writhed out.

The protrusion at the front resembled the head of a reptile, and the way it crawled along the ground, twisting its body as it advanced, looked just like a snake—but it was huge, incredibly huge, fully two stories tall, like a giant serpent angrily rearing up, raising its curved head and spitting venom; only its tail was different from a snake, growing two particularly large lumps.

The Inner Realm is a world reflected from the creator's inner heart.

In other words, this was the manifestation of Professor Van Stra's deep-seated rage, this was what he called the [God within his own heart].

A giant [censored].

Such a brazen and foul evil god, filled with ugliness and madness.

An ordinary person would go insane and collapse just by looking at it.

It was just that impressive.

"Is this a psychological compensation phenomenon for losing your [censored]?"

The nun was not afraid in the slightest, sneering as she watched.

"Stop mocking him!"

The Magical Girl, however, was truly terrified.

It was obvious that her flat-fired Moonlight Arrows lacked the power to pierce a six-meter-long giant [censored].

If they kept fighting like this, the scene would likely become inappropriate for minors.

Although Elaine had a sharp tongue, she also knew that relying solely on herself and the Magical Girl who happened to be on the ship, it was highly unwise to fight the creator's [censored] deep within the Inner Realm.

Although their cooperation meant they wouldn't be killed instantly, barely holding on was likely their limit.

Either fight a retreat, striving to withdraw to the shallow layer; or barely hold on and engage in a scuffle here, waiting for Qi Xing—who might not be able to arrive in time to help… Which side to choose? Or should they improvise based on the situation?

"Artemina, besides these flat-fired light arrows, what other abilities do you have? Tell me."

The nun asked the Magical Girl, "Don't be afraid.

I am Master Leipu's assistant, and I usually formulate the combat plans.

The secret rituals of these myths and the mysteries of magic are all in my mind.

I'll teach you how to deal with a mere [censored] bastard."

At least, she appeared very confident.

— Returning to the shallow layer of the Inner Realm, on Qi Xing's side.

He watched the people in the cruise ship hall who were trading wine and bread for chickens, and couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

This cutting of chickens for wine was clearly a sacrificial ritual.

It was not offered for summoning, but to resurrect the dead.

That said, Qi Xing's knowledge of the occult wasn't actually particularly high.

Even seeing the priestesses singing, dancing, and cutting off [censored], he could only grasp the general idea.

How this ritual was conducted, how to stop it, and where the core lay—Qi Xing had no idea.

As far as Qi Xing knew, generally speaking, all Inner Realms were pocket spaces existing outside of reality.

However, they could be entered from the physical world, and there would be at least three layers.

The shallow layer was very similar to the real world; at first glance, there wasn't much difference.

If an ordinary person were accidentally drawn in, they might not even be able to tell the difference.

This cruise ship hall where everyone was singing, dancing, and cutting chickens was clearly the shallow layer of the Inner Realm.

Although human behavior had become very crazed, the laws of physics were, for the time being, relatively normal.

As for the deep layers of the Inner Realm, they are distinctly different worlds.

Even common knowledge of physical laws might be rewritten in the depths.

Therefore, fighting the master of the Inner Realm in its deep layers is usually as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Because it is he himself who decides the rules of this otherworld.

So, naturally, he can create environments, items, and soldiers out of thin air, and can also transform captured people into monsters.

Finally, there is the so-called core of the Inner Realm, which, as far as Qi Xing knows, is usually called the Heart Chamber.

It is said that destroying the Heart Chamber can cause the entire Inner Realm to collapse.

However, to enter the Heart Chamber, one must first pass through the deep layers; one cannot simply barge in directly from the real world.

Regarding the current situation where progress is difficult, Qi Xing had a very ominous premonition: in this world that feels like an eroge, just "waiting" is simply too suicidal.

He must take the initiative and act first, otherwise, trouble will surely arise elsewhere.

"Tsk, I have a feeling that Elaine might have already found the deep layers and is already fighting over there."

Although Qi Xing had not attained the true path and did not understand the Great Dao of the Golden Elixir, he was, after all, a semi-immortal who lived forever in the human world and would not die, so he would occasionally have flashes of inspiration and premonitions.

While thinking, having had this premonition, he couldn't help but complain: "Although we entered the maze together, my teammate has already reached the bottom floor while I'm still crawling through the map—what kind of crappy game design is this?"

However, many eroge are like this.

Don't complain, Master Leipu!

Qi Xing suppressed his impatience and stared intently at the chicken-slaughtering ritual again.

If he could understand the symbolic meaning of this ritual, he should be able to enter the deep layers—the Inner Realm usually operates this way.

But…

"Who could understand this thing?"

He watched the maids slaughtering the chickens and couldn't help but frown.

"If you don't understand it, isn't that just because you are unlearned and unskilled?"

Unexpectedly, a voice retorting to him came from behind.

Even his spiritual sense had completely failed to detect the source of this voice, and it had somehow circled behind him without him knowing.

Qi Xing immediately turned around, only to see something in the hall behind him that he hadn't seen since he boarded the ship.

A Mysterious Little Girl.

She stood on the grand staircase, looking down at the entire hall.

She looked to be under fourteen years old, wrapped entirely in a pure black Gothic Lolita outfit, which, along with her dark red long hair, made her skin look even fairer.

For some reason, although she appeared to be just a Mysterious Little Girl, the smile on her face had a bewitching charm that was completely inconsistent with her age.

Her features were so beautiful that she didn't seem like a real person existing in this world, with her small mouth curled up like a generous cat.

For some reason, although Qi Xing's eyes could see her and his ears could hear her, his spiritual sense and sixth sense told him that there was absolutely nothing there; it was as unreal as a dream.

The common sense he had gained over ten years of transmigrating told Qi Xing that anything capable of such feats was extremely, extremely deadly.

"Don't be so vigilant; I am not your enemy."

The smile on the Mysterious Little Girl's lips grew even deeper.

"You want to enter the deep layers of this Inner Realm, right? I can show you the way."

008: He is impotent.

It might be a bit abrupt to say, but this strange, inappropriate-for-children world that Qi Xing transmigrated into actually has no "official ranking standard."

In a worldview that contains superpowers, magic, cultivation, and super-ancient technological modifications; with kunoichi, exorcist nuns, and Qi Xing, a semi-immortal, beating up R-18 demons every day, how could there possibly be a unified ranking standard?

It's not a forum battle; everyone's upgrade paths and systems are vastly different, making it truly too difficult to objectively standardize.

The Global Supernatural Council was established together with the United Nations after the end of World War II.

To conveniently smooth things over, the Council introduced a set of ranking standards based on Hermeticism, inheriting the traditions of the Rosicrucians, and referencing the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, which everyone could barely use to get by, for people who practice magic globally.

This ranking standard consists of three circles and eleven tiers.

Pure mortals are at the [0 = 0] tier.

Ordinary people who possess even the most basic supernatural tricks and can perform a move or two are considered [1 = 10] tier.

Starting from [1 = 10], [2 = 9 (Apprentice)], [3 = 8 (Disciple)], and [4 = 7 (Proxy Mentor)]—these four tiers in total are classified as the "First Circle," belonging to the many mundane magicians in the world.

Elaine is a nun, and the mysteries of Christianity do not apply to this ranking standard for magicians.

But if one were forced to calculate, she could probably be counted at the [4 = 7] level.

Starting from [5 = 6 (Mentor Tier)], it is considered the "Second Circle," also known as the Inner Circle.

The practice of magicians will gradually step into the realm of the superhuman.

Magical Girl Artemina has at least [5 = 6] tier, and her maximum potential might be [6 = 5 (Master)] tier combat power, capable of resisting artillery shells with her skin and melting tanks with light arrows.

As an Eastern cultivator, it is difficult to classify Qi Xing into this makeshift ranking standard.

However, the Council believes he is at least [6 = 5] tier.

Moreover, Qi Xing once killed a [7 = 4 (Grandmaster)] tier fallen time-based mage in actual combat—that Grandmaster could accelerate, decelerate, and stop time, and for far longer than just a few seconds; he could summon dinosaurs from the Jurassic period, summon living ancient people, and even save-scum and rewind time within a very small range, using these great magical powers to do whatever he pleased for pleasure—Qi Xing had to rack his brain at the time to luckily defeat him and completely blast that fallen Grandmaster away.

He absolutely does not want to fight the time-stopping uncle again; the hypnotizing uncle is much simpler by comparison.

In summary, this set of rankings is just a subjective human evaluation, like piano grading or martial arts belt levels; it is just a designed rating system.

It is not completely useless, but ultimately it only has reference value.

In actual combat, a second-degree black belt in karate might not necessarily lose to a fifth-degree black belt, and [6 = 5] might not necessarily fail to kill [7 = 4].

If there is a terrain advantage, Elaine, at [4 = 7], could also kill a Master-tier if she is lucky.

Since that's the case, why emphasize this ranking?

Because Qi Xing, even at his lowest evaluation, is at [6 = 5 (Master)] tier.

However, with the Mysterious Little Girl in front of him now, his naked eye cannot keep up with her movements, and his spiritual sense cannot see her at all.

This is very, very terrifying.

In other words, this Mysterious Little Girl is likely at least a powerhouse who has exceeded [7 = 4] tier, entered the Third Circle, and transcended the mortal realm.

For example, those fairy queens, immortals, the most powerful vicious demons, or ancient spiritual beings.

Qi Xing has never dealt with such an enemy before.

What could she possibly be?

Look at the black wings extending from her back and the thorny halo on her head—that's really hard to guess!

"Don't be so nervous. I'm not here to eat you."

The Mysterious Little Girl walked down the grand staircase, swaying to Qi Xing's side with movements that the naked eye couldn't track and spiritual sense couldn't see, sat on the sofa as if no one else was there, and dangled her two legs.

She was indeed beautiful enough to make people tremble, because this power level was terrifyingly high.

"You want to enter the deep layers of this Inner Realm, but you cannot find the way in. I can show you the way."

As she spoke, she picked up a piece of chocolate from the candy basket placed in the hall to entertain guests and took a bite.

"Eating chocolate occasionally isn't bad; do you want some?"

After saying this, she handed the chocolate to Qi Xing, smiling mischievously.

The chocolate had a bite taken out of it, leaving clear tooth marks.

I'm afraid no one had ever taught this little brat [not to offer half-eaten food to others].

Qi Xing ignored her.

He frowned, both vigilant and deep in thought.

"What is the price?"

He asked.

"The price?"

The Mysterious Little Girl raised one eyebrow, deliberately covering her mouth with the chocolate, revealing a look of surprise.

"I am just offering you chocolate; why would there be a price?"

"Don't try to insult my intelligence."

"You really have no sense of humor."

The girl sighed faintly and took another bite of the chocolate.

The dark brown chocolate crumbled between her lips, looking very much like dried blood.

"That [Professor] stole my stuff, my legal property.

And he doesn't even know how to use it; he's just using it indiscriminately.

I want to take it back, that's all."

This answer did not exceed Qi Xing's expectations.

Elaine had previously said that Professor Van Stra had stolen the Roman Curia's most precious ancient holy relic, the spearhead of the Spear of Longinus.

Qi Xing had originally thought the professor wanted to use the Holy Spear to summon some evil god or great demon.

But now it seemed that was not the case; instead, it was to hold a resurrection ritual for the dead.

Is this an evil god or great demon running over here in person now?

But, which evil god or great demon could be related to the Holy Spear?