Chapter 142: Secret Realm
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The moment Aoki and Kurome stepped into the forest, a ball of red energy shot out from the mist, striking the spot where they had just stood.
Boom!
The red energy rapidly expanded, transforming into a violent blaze. A massive mushroom-shaped fire cloud erupted, consuming the rocks, soil, and trees in its path.
A powerful shockwave swept through, scraping the ground layer by layer as though it were tofu. Trees, thick as waists, were uprooted and sent flying.
The rolling heatwaves turned into a fierce, howling wind.
After a while, the chaos subsided, leaving a deep crater several dozen meters wide, surrounded by scorched earth.
"Phew!"
Aoki lowered his arm, wiping the dust from his face before spitting out a mouthful of blood. He turned to Kurome and asked, "You okay?"
"I'm fine," Kurome replied, sitting up. "Most of the damage was blocked by you."
"I'm glad you're alright."
Aoki glanced outside, and through the gaps between the trees, he could make out the large crater in the ground.
"Is that the super-dangerous species?"
Kurome nodded. "This one is considered extremely powerful among the super-dangerous species."
Having a demon doll of her own, she was well aware of their strength.
"I see," Aoki murmured.
Judging by the power they'd just witnessed, he figured he could withstand one attack, maybe two or three, without dying. But if he didn't resist and let them continuously bombard him, it would be fatal.
They waited a while longer, but there was no second attack, nor did they catch a glimpse of the super-dangerous species that had attacked.
Aoki, puzzled, asked, "What does this mean? Are we being warned not to enter its territory?"
Crash.
Just then, a rustling sound came from behind them. A group of dangerous species emerged from the forest, their green eyes gleaming with cruelty and bloodlust as they stared at the pair.
"Don't act rashly. Just hand it over…"
Aoki trailed off, falling silent.
Another group of dangerous species appeared from a different direction.
"They must've been drawn by the commotion earlier," Kurome said. "More will definitely show up soon. We should leave."
Aoki agreed with her suggestion, and the two took the opportunity to make their escape.
When one direction proved impassable, they explored three other paths.
Before they realized it, night had fallen.
At the base of a cliff, a small flame flickered.
Aoki sat down, taking out paper and pen, sketching and writing, while Kurome focused on grilling the meat.
The firewood crackled, and in the distance, the occasional roar of an animal could be heard.
Suddenly, Aoki felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to look.
"Here you go"
Kurome handed him a piece of grilled meat, one in each hand.
Aoki eyed the charred piece and asked, "What's this?"
"Barbecue"
She shoved one piece into his hand, then bit into the other. Her face immediately scrunched up.
Aoki noticed the inside of the meat was still raw and bloody.
What surprised him the most was that Kurome didn't spit it out. Instead, she forced herself to swallow and was even ready to take a second bite.
Aoki quickly stopped her. "Let me handle this."
The meat was dangerous, and eating it like that would definitely lead to food poisoning.
He hadn't expected Kurome's cooking skills to be this bad.
Aoki waved his hand, and a bottle of white powder appeared on the ground.
But when he looked again, he was stunned.
Only the salt remained?
He had taken more than a dozen different spices, yet only one bottle had materialized. The rest were all gone.
A one-in-ten success rate—even the dogs would shake their heads at it.
Of course, the remaining nine-tenths don't all fall into spatial turbulence. It's more likely their landing points have shifted. In fact, only about one-tenth might actually fall into turbulence.
However, this is a matter of life and death, and even a one-in-ten chance is terrifying.
After a few more tries, Aoki finally managed to gather enough seasoning.
Although he didn't need to eat, he still prepared a variety of supplies in his alternate space—especially after it expanded.
Not just seasonings, but also grains like rice, corn, soybeans, as well as clean water, daily necessities, and more.
With all that extra space, he could pretty much do whatever he wanted.
Very busy indeed.
Aoki pointed at the sizzling steak and said, "Try it"
Kurome took a bite, and her eyes immediately lit up.
"Tasty!"
Aoki smiled. "I am a professional chef."
Though calling himself a professional chef was a bit of an exaggeration, he had studied cooking systematically.
He wasn't on the level of a true professional, lacking a sense of taste and relying only on experience to season his dishes. Still, compared to the blackened, blood-filled barbecue that Kurome had made, with no seasoning whatsoever, his dish was undoubtedly a masterpiece.
"Hmmm." Kurome munched happily on the steak, clearly enjoying it.
Aoki picked up his pen and continued sketching.
Kurome quickly finished the steak, looked at the remaining barbecue, then glanced at Aoki.
"You're not eating?"
Aoki waved his hand. "Eat it!"
Kurome hesitated for a second, then eagerly grabbed another piece of barbecue, enjoying it as she munched happily.
While eating, she stretched her neck to look at the notebook in Aoki's hand.
"What are you drawing?"
"A map," Aoki replied, not looking up.
"A map?"
Kurome's curiosity was piqued.
Aoki pointed at the notebook and explained, "This is where we first arrived. Here's where we were attacked by the super-dangerous species. And this marks the areas we explored earlier today…"
In addition to landmarks and unique terrain, it also recorded the dangerous species in each area.
Dangerous species weren't just strong beasts; many had special abilities. For example, today they had encountered a group of snakes disguised as branches.
It wasn't something you could detect by sight alone.
If Aoki hadn't kept his Transparent World active, they might've fallen into serious trouble.
Those snakes were venomous, and their poison was particularly lethal.
Even if it couldn't kill him outright, it could still cause a lot of complications.
Kurome took out a piece of candy and stuffed it into her mouth. "This must be a secret realm."
Aoki nodded.
The so-called secret realms were areas with high levels of danger, places where humans couldn't survive long. There wasn't anything inherently special about them.
"So, what's the plan for tomorrow?"
"Keep exploring."
Kurome silently nodded in agreement.
The super-dangerous species hidden in the mist was extremely powerful. Even with imperial weapon, she was unwilling to take the risk.
As the wielder of Yatsufusa, she knew that while the puppet retained much of its power from when it was alive, its true strength had significantly decreased.
And that super-dangerous species was obviously far stronger than Yatsufusa had been when he was alive.
However…
If they didn't leave by tomorrow, she would run out of medicine.
And there had been no news from the assassination unit for two days. She wondered if there was a problem.
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T/N: There is a Patreon for this work, and any new work I add will be dropped there first. check it out for an early chapters.
Patreon link:- Patreon.com/ANelite
And also:
Imperial weapon = Teigu
Teigu = Imperial weapon