"We're here," Lorraine announced as they approached another clearing.
In the middle of it was a ramshackle wooden house that looked like it's about to fall at any given moment. There was nothing irregular about the wooden house so Yuuta approached it with ease.
"Careful!" Lorraine whispered as she shivered in fear. "There are at least a dozen of Evil Spirits in that clearing."
"Got it." Yuuta nodded.
By now, Yuuta was aware that he couldn't really see Evil Spirits. The only things he could see were its physical manifestations— basically when an Evil Spirit decided to show itself to a person who can't see it. At first, he thought that Ashuril and Lorraine were playing tricks on him but he realized that such was not the case. That's because even until now, he still can't explain the unnatural rustling of the wind, nor the occasional air that brushed against his cheeks, giving him goosebumps all over his body.
[Special Quest: Save Hirasawa Yua
Rewards:
—Ally +1
—Reputation +1000
— 5 Garnets +bonus rewards
— 1 Randomized Gift Box
Description: Hirasawa Yua has ventured into the Spirit Jungle where evil spirits reside. An S-rank evil spirit has found a suitable vessel for itself. It is now grooming Hirasawa Yua to be its vessel. Save her before the ritual is complete.
Time Remaining: 34:21:16.99]
"I still got at least 35 or so hours. For now, I'll gather enough information, and then I'll try to do what I can." Yuuta mumbled to himself.
The decrepit wooden house appeared even more ominous when Yuuta was only a meter away from it. Regardless, Yuuta decided to enter the house without thinking twice. Although he felt oddly uncomfortable, he couldn't see anything frightening. That's why he had the courage to enter.
As for Ashuril and Lorraine, they were scared stiff that they couldn't move. In the end, Yuuta had to retrace his footsteps to get them. "Those things will approach you if you don't stick with me." He advised.
Both of them nodded.
From the outside, the wooden house may have looked worn down but on the inside... well, it looked even more rickety. There was a centimeter of dust on the floor and the windows were filled with cobwebs. One doesn't even need to mention the state of the walls, ceilings, and floor. Those were basically eaten by termites and rotten sawdust fell and flew everywhere. Yuuta and the two couldn't suppress the fit of coughs that plagued them after inhaling the dust.
"Cough... look... cough!" Lorraine managed to let out as she gestured towards the center of the wooden house.
A mirror. There was a mirror in the middle of the house.
It was an awfully large mirror, barely two meters tall. There were engravings on its rim that resembled hieroglyphs so Yuuta thought that he won't be able to read it. Ashuril and Lorraine peered in to get a closer look but before they took another step, Yuuta went in front of them and t-posed with his hand. "Wait," He half-whispered in an urgent tone.
Although Yuuta wasn't paying attention to anything, he realized that the ruined house was filled to the brim with an assortment of traps— most of which were deadly. Just stepping forward alone would've triggered countless spikes coming out from the ceiling. Fortunately, Yuuta noticed everything even though he wasn't really paying attention. "Another close call, all thanks to my All-Seeing Eye Skill. I wonder how it usually works... because right now I can't see a single Evil Spirit. Does it have limitations when it comes to the spiritual? Or maybe my level is just not high enough?"
Realizing that he was wasting precious time, Yuuta shook his head as he put his thoughts at the back of his mind. Right now, his sole goal is to rescue Hirasawa's daughter. The thinking can happen later.
"Yuuta, is there anything wrong?" Lorraine asked while holding her breath. She didn't want to move for fear that one small misstep would result in trouble.
"Yes, a lot. This place is a den full of traps. I'm guessing Aakra set it up so no one would venture near the Mirror of Spirits." Yuuta continued.
"Mirror of Spirits? Did you just say Mirror of Spirits?" Ashuril questioned with his eyes widened with shock.
Yuuta pursed his lips. Since the name of the mirror appeared on top of it, he thought that the mirror is just a common item. After all, his inspect skill doesn't usually work with high-level objects. Usually, it would just show a series of question marks on top of it. "Y-yes, I heard it from someone. It's a uh— "
In a hurry to explain things, Yuuta clicked on the mirror's name from afar as if he was in-game interacting with things. He knew that doing so would enable him to see details of the item.
[Item: Mirror of Spirits (S-Grade)
Description: A Mirror that is said to have a spiritual dimension. In ancient times, it was believed that mirrors were gateways to evil spirits and so, people decided to write talismans and engravings on their rim to prevent evil spirits from going in or out. One day, a certain inscriptionist miswrote a character and the mirror became cursed. Since then, this mirror served as a gateway to the spirit world, giving it the name Mirror of Spirits.
Special Functions:
—Only those who received the Blessing can enter this mirror
—This mirror is indestructible and immovable (only a Spirit can move this mirror)]
"— gateway! It's a gateway to the spirit world." Yuuta continued, clearing his throat soon after. "I'm guessing this is where that Aarkra thing 'spirited away' that girl. I can't go inside, however, I need to receive a Blessing or something like that."
"Oh, in that case, you can come over here and we'll give you some Blessing." Ashuril offered. "Do you want us to go with you into the Mirror of Spirits or do you want us to wait here?"
Had they wanted to go with him, Ashuril wouldn't have bothered to ask Yuuta about it. Yuuta experienced firsthand just how jumpy the two of them could get when it comes to seeing Evil Spirits. If he brings them with him, who knows just how dangerous and risky it would be. Adding to that, he didn't want the two of them to finish his quest of rescuing Yua. If they managed to do that, then there's a huge probability that Yuuta wouldn't get the rewards of the quest since he wouldn't be the one to accomplish it. It didn't take long for Yuuta to weigh out the pros and cons of the situation.
"No, you don't have to. My goal is to rescue the girl and you're goal is to stop the expansion of the Spirit Jungle. How about this, why don't you contact your group and tell them about the existence of the mirror as well as Aarkra's current position? If you wait in ambush just outside this wooden house, you'll be able to capture Aarkra easily. "
"How can you be so certain, do you have some sort of plan?" Ashuril asked.
"Of course, when I take the girl, I'll also piss Aarkra off. While he's enraged, I'll lure him out of the Mirror of Spirits and then you can take care of him from then on." Yuuta confidently announced as he pressed his thumb on his chest.
"You sure you're going to be okay? If you successfully managed to lure him out of there, then that'd make his subjugation a little bit easier. We'll get back here after thirty minutes or so... so please hold out as much as you can."
"Leave it to me," Yuuta reassured the two.
"You don't have to do this. Why don't you go with us back to our Guild and then we'll regroup?" Lorraine offered.
"No, right now, that poor girl is probably suffering way worse than we can imagine. I can't waste my time waiting for reinforcement when I can handle it alone. I mean, I can handle the rescue part, but the subjugation part is all yours... or something like that."
"T-then... please be careful." Lorraine pleaded before turning around. "Big brother, let's go, we have to hurry." She continued.