Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Kurisu

  "There's no need to skate more just for me, unless you really feel like it's necessary to practice more…"

  Seiji detected something before he could finish speaking and looked in another direction.

  Seeing him like this, Mika also looked in the same direction. They saw that a large wave of monsters was approaching!

  It was a school of small white fish that had half-translucent red gills. A huge group of them with high density was swimming right towards them.

  These fish monsters didn't seem all that scary. Compared to the other monsters here, they were actually the most ordinary appearing of all. However, their number was truly terrifying!

  It would be bad if Seiji and Mika were surrounded.

  "We should get out of here!" Seiji recommended to Mika.

  The two of them immediately began running… No, Seiji began running, while Mika speedily glided away from this location.

  They continued onwards and took care of any smaller monsters that jumped out to block their path. Some time later, they arrived at another wide opening and saw a giant monster that resembled a crocodile on the top and a jellyfish on the bottom.

  "This guy is…" Seiji recognized that this was the huge monster that he had fought with earlier!

  This crocodile monster was heavily injured and had already lost most of the tentacles on its lower half. It opened its jaw and roared fiercely, viciously dashing at him!!

  Seiji dodged the attack and cast [Evolved Body-strengthening technique] on himself as he faced the monster with his sword and shield.

  Mika also glided at high speed to dodge the attack. She then used Mashiro's Clothes to form some extra mist to attack with from the side.

  The crocodile monster furiously attacked both of them!

  Seiji slowly sliced and injured the crocodile monster continuously, intentionally taking it slow so that Mika could also fight and earn more combat experience.

  After a fierce fight that seemed like it came right out of Monster Hunter, the crocodile monster finally collapsed.

  Mika immediately absorbed the thick mist the monster transformed into with her Mashiro's Clothes. It seemed that her control over her own powers was quite good.

  "That was a monster that I fought earlier while I was trying to find you," Seiji told her as he looked at the path around them. "It looks like we've returned here… using a path that wasn't here before."

  "Wasn't here before?" Mika paused in surprise."

  "Yeah, earlier when I passed by this location, this path wasn't here at all." Seiji pointed at the path they just took. "It appears that the paths in this realm will constantly change."

  "Constantly change… how are we supposed to find our way, then?" Mika was rather worried.

  "That is indeed a problem, but I don't think we need to worry." Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation. "We simply need to kill off all the powerful monsters in here, and this path took us back here. I believe this means the Inner World is intentionally causing us to meet the powerful monsters, which is the same as our goal. Or, another way of putting it is that this location will forcefully make people meet strong monsters, and that only by killing them all will we finally be able to leave."

  As for the other method of escaping an Inner World, it basically wasn't possible for him and Mika.

  The two of them continued attacking the monsters in this world.

  They then met their third powerful boss-type monster, a gigantic sea urchin!

  It shot out black needles that were incredibly threatening. The needles had high attack power and a wide area of effect, so getting up closer to the monster and engaging in melee combat with it was quite dangerous.

  Seiji withstood its attack from the front so that Mika could find an opportunity to use the Dimension Shattering Jade, which dealt with the mini-boss monster in one hit!

  The fourth powerful monster had the appearance of a mix between a crab and a shrimp. It had a hard outer shell and sharp pincers, and was even able to spit out exploding bubbles!

  Not only did it have high attack and defense power, it also moved at a high speed and its attacks were swift. Seiji was almost pincered by one of its claws.

  Luckily, it didn't have a particularly long reach, so there was still enough space for Mika and Seiji to dodge the attacks. The two of them had a fierce battle with the crab/shrimp monster and cut off most of its legs before finally defeating it.

  Some time after that…


  Seiji and Mika faintly heard the sounds of fighting coming from in front of them!

  There were others here as well!?

  The two of them exchanged glances.

  "I thought that this place was empty of other humans apart from us, but now it seems that's not the case."

  "What should we do?" Mika inquired.

  This wasn't like the real world. Inner Worlds were a mysterious alternate dimension, and the rule was that if one person died, everyone else would be released from this location. Meeting with strangers would be risky.

  Seiji thought about the situation.

  "Once we get closer, I'll check out the situation first, while you stay behind and wait for me."

  "Why?"

  "Because there might be a fight."

  "I can fight as well," Mika said seriously.

  "I know, but you still don't have any experience fighting against other people."

  "Not long ago, I also didn't have any experience fighting against giant monsters…"

  "This is different."

  "Why is it different?"

  "Monsters are monsters, while humans are humans," Seiji told her. "Can you treat humans the same as you do monsters?"

  Mika fell silent.

  "…Another thing is, I'd like to keep an ace card up my sleeve." Seiji looked at her. "If there really is a conflict between me and these other people, and I need assistance, I'll shout for you to come. I'll be relying on you."

  Something flashed in Mika's eyes upon hearing this.

  The two of them headed in the direction of the sounds.

  When they got closer, Seiji indicated for Mika to stop and wait while he cautiously edged closer.

  Then, he witnessed a dog-head person and a cow-head person fighting together against a giant turtle monster!

  More accurately speaking, these two individuals were a female Spiritual Ability user who wore a dog-head mask and pitch-black Sakura Island style combat clothing, and a male Spiritual Ability user who wore a cow head mask and gray combat clothing in an identical style. The girl wielded a blue spiritual sword, while the boy wielded a red spiritual sword. They were currently fighting against a large sea turtle-like monster with strange plants growing out of its back.

  A dog, cow, and turtle… this scene was rather abnormal.

  Seiji silently observed from a distance.

  Although he really wanted to comment on the masks that these two were wearing, they showed off incredible power. They were able to completely dodge the large turtle's attacks, and any attacks that they didn't dodge were easily parried by their swords. As they whirled around, they took advantage of every opening to slice the turtle monster. Not only that, the girl took one side while the boy took the other side, and they attacked simultaneously from both sides of the giant monster.

  Seiji watched for a while and felt that rather than a battle, this seemed more like a dance, or even a game.

  Two strange and powerful individuals… That was the conclusion he came to from his observation. He silently backed away.

  Seiji returned to Mika and told her what he just witnessed.

  "I think it's best not to come into contact with them. Let's take another path."

  "Okay."

  Seiji and Mika returned to a previous area and took a different fork in the path.

  Not long after, they heard a low roar. The sounds of fighting then stopped.

  "They killed off that powerful monster… let's hurry."

  The two of them increased their speed.

  Yet, just a minute later, they heard sounds speedily approaching!

  Seiji and Mika turned around and saw the dog-head girl and cow-head boy approach with an astonishing speed!!

  This scene seemed mysteriously pressuring.

  "Seiji…" Mika was quite nervous.

  So fast!

  Seiji was just considering whether to run away at full speed when he saw the two individuals suddenly speed up and instantly caught up to them!

  "Mi… Sixth Knight, behind me!"

  He almost reflexively said Mika's real name out loud and hurriedly changed to use her code name instead.

  He stood still and brought out his sword and shield to carefully protect her as he faced off against these strange individuals.

  The dog-head mask girl stood on the left while the cow-head mask boy stood on the right. They looked at the handsome boy and silver-haired beautiful girl.

  Everyone fell silent for a moment.