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As Frank and Matsuo explored the accursed shrine, they came across more than Akaname, as tiny and lesser Youkai crossed their paths from time to time.
There was some interesting specimen of Rank 1 that were walking parasols with a large and bubbly eye atop their parasol bodies, alongside tiny claws, and a long tongue, although smaller when compared to the Rank 2 Akaname.
These Youkai were named Kasa-obake, and although weak and frail alone, they always came in high numbers, gathering together against the intruders of their shrine, and even working as lackeys and pawns for the bigger and stronger Akaname.
"Kill, kill~! Kill the intruders!" said a large group of Kasa-obake in unison, rushing like a small legion of jumping parasol towards Matsuo and Frank.
"These things don't hit hard at all, but they seem to be able to conjure the magic of some sort when working together…" said Matsuo.
"Ah, there is another one!" said Frank, as he glanced at a group of six Kasa-obake gather their Mana into a magic circle and releasing a sphere of darkness towards Frank, only for it to be completely blocked by his Mana Barrier.
Boom!
"I commend your efforts, but it is time for all of you to go back on being mana and negative emotions," said Frank nonchalantly, as he conjured a large spinning mana bullet, sending it towards the small Youkai as it exploded with a loud bang.
Boom!
"Gyaaaa!"
"Grryarrr…!"
"Rieeerrr…!"
Frank and Matsuo glanced at the spectacle of countless tiny parasols becoming black smoke one after another, it was as if Frank was playing bowling with them… Making the Akaname commanding the tiny creatures to feel enraged and offended, roaring and rushing towards them.
"Damned human!"
"Kill the humans!"
"KILL, KILL!"
"Oh! They got more aggressive, it seems! Good, it wouldn't be fun either way" said Matsuo.
"Are you getting more pumped up, Matsuo?" asked Frank, as he rushed towards the Akaname while raising the spear lend to him by Matsuo, practicing some of his Spear Technique and unleashing it as three consecutive stabs towards one of the Akaname's throat, blasting its head away and turning it into black smoke not long afterward.
"Grooowl…!"
Boom!
"Damned Human!" roared an Akaname that came from behind Frank, as it pointed its tongue towards him!
"Grawr!"
However, Ruby surged from the crowd of small parasol youkai as she burned them alive with her fire breath, her flames reached the Akaname behind Frank, burning its back into a crisp, making the little creature shriek in agony.
"GYAAAAA!"
"Good girl!" said Frank, as he pointed his Spear towards the shrieking Akaname and finished it off with a powerful stab into its head, the creature quickly turned into black smoke, as Frank did not lose a second of concentration and glanced at his next target dashing towards him, yet another Akaname, who was throwing bullets of acidic saliva instead of attacking with its tongue!
"Mana Barrier!" said Frank, shielding himself with his Mana Barrier as he charged forwards.
The Bullets of Acidic Saliva began to shower over his Mana Barrier one after another, as he noticed that they became more and more strong, the acid even seemed to be melting his own Mana Barrier, needing way more Mana than before to regenerate.
"It seems that my Mana Barrier is not almighty, huh? I need to improve upon it afterward, perhaps other Skills that could go with it… Hmm, that might be good. But which one amongst the many in the Tinker Shop of the Clan? Decisions, decisions…" thought Frank, as he thought such things, he had already defeated the Akaname, laying below his feet as it quickly exploded into black smoke.
Boom!
By using his Parallel Thinking Skill alongside many other Skills related to the enhancement of his mental capabilities to multitask, he was able to think and plan different things, unrelated to the acts he was doing with his body.
"Graaaaawr…!"
Ruby roared, releasing a strong breath of flames that burn down the last Kasa-obake left.
Frank and Matsuo sighed in relief as they glanced around their surroundings, sensing no more presence.
"It seems that we are cleaning this place pretty well, it hasn't been more than an hour and we had gotten most of it done…" said Matsuo while resting his hands on his hips.
"Man, I'm hungry, let's beat the Boss and go eat something, it's on me," said Frank.
"Oh? Nice, I want some sushi~" said Matsuo.
"You know that it's pretty expensive though?!" asked Frank.
"Expensive? Aren't you rich now?" asked Matsuo with a smug.
"Ah, if I am rich, how rich are you though?" asked Frank.
"You don't ask a man his salary, Frank!" said Matsuo.
"Ah, shut up... Hm? Something's coming…!" said Frank, sensing the presence of an ominous creature emerging from within the corridors of the large shrine temple.
"That's… Oh? It seems that the beast came to us instead. Well, that's nice, it saved us some time, finding it out," said Matsuo with a smile.
"What is this thing? Its presence… its as strong as the Giant Spider Queen…" said Frank.
"Giant Spider Queen? Is that the thing that gave you the spider thread Skill?" asked Matsuo.
"Yeah, it was a Rank 3 Monster, it was quite hard to defeat it… but with Ruby's help, I managed. Although I swore that I would not go against a Rank 3 monster until I leveled up a bit more, I've gotten a bit stronger since then (Because of the Job Change…)" said Frank.
"It seems that I will have to assist you a bit, my kouhai~," said Matsuo, as the enormous creature finally appeared, it resembled an Akaname in appearance a bit, but its body size was clearly bigger, being over three meters. Its skin was rough and green-colored, and it had a long black mane atop its head, it had a large and fat belly and strong black claws, alongside crimson eyes. Its mouth was absurdly opened as it revealed an enormously long and very thick tongue, which dripped with acidic saliva that even melted the wooden floor a bit.
"Visitors~ Welcome to my shrine! Fuhihihihihi~!" it laughed, as it released an Aura of Fear around itself, making Frank gnash his teeth as he countered the powerful pressure with his own Aura combination, while Matsuo glanced at it with crossed arms and a confident and carefree smile.
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