Tokyo bombing incident Nth time

Unlike the ghosts we are familiar with, ghosts are basically humanoid no matter what, so they retain human limbs and human behavioral habits, making their precise operations more convenient.

As for spirits, spirits come in all shapes and sizes!

Yuri dodged the fire serpent that was about to pierce through the protective barrier and head straight for his face, then punched the pillar of fire. As a result of the successful attack, the already severely damaged protective barrier shattered.

Yuri hurriedly activated the protective barrier again, blocking the pillar of fire that was hurtling towards him. This time, he discovered the problem.

Yuri's fighting style relies on explosive, single-target attacks using his limbs, but this pillar of fire doesn't rely on bursts; instead, it directly damages all enemies it touches. If we're talking about bursts, it's like this—his entire body rushes forward.

This new fighting style lacks technical skill and is very resource-intensive, leaving no room for counterattack if faced with an opponent whose physical attributes are superior. However, it poses a significant challenge to Yuri, who is skilled at using tricks.

We can't just keep fighting like this; we need to get out of there as soon as possible.

He exchanged two more blows with the fire pillar, or rather, was struck twice. Perhaps growing impatient, the fire pillar began to expand its flames once more as it rammed into Yuri for the third time.

Fortunately, Akemi had already seized the opportunity to slip away to the other side of the wooden stake.

Yuri barely managed to parry another attack, and the protective barrier exploded once more. Without being distracted by reactivating the barrier, Yuri accelerated towards Akemi, just in time to witness Akemi quickly parrying the tree branch attack instinctively launched by the wooden stake.

This wooden stake is a hole!

Even so, Yuri still sprinted between Akemi and the fire pillar, activating the protective barrier.

He had initially thought he would take at least two hits from behind during the attack, but he didn't. It seemed that Fire Pillar wasn't very agile or mobile.

Good news: even if we can't win, we can at least run away.

The bad news is that the stake is probably not going anywhere, and if Yuri and Minmei start running away directly, not only will they lose this ally, but it will also alert the enemy, making it even more difficult to track them down, as mentioned before.

The flames crashed into the protective barrier and collided with it.

Yuri focused his will, hoping to maintain the stability of the protective barrier in this way—he had no evidence that continuing to concentrate after the barrier was released would be effective, but he also couldn't look away when the barrier was teetering on the brink of collapse.

Mingmei has resolved the conflict with the wooden stake. It seems that her attack just now was just an instinctive reaction. If she had thought about it rationally rather than instinctively, the wooden stake would still be able to distinguish between friend and foe.

The fiery whirlwind slammed against the protective barrier for a moment before receding. Yuri tried hard to find signs of fatigue, exhaustion, or depletion on the pillar of fire, but to no avail; it seemed he could use this tactic many more times.

Seeing its three enemies gathered together, the fire pillar did not activate the whirlwind again, but instead began to slowly approach in its main body.

"How are you? Can you still contribute firepower?" Mingmei hurriedly asked about the condition of the wooden stake.

"No." The wooden stake's voice was quite low. Although it could be heard that it had tried its best to speed up, it still seemed unaccustomed to speaking. "I'm afraid of fire—it would cause great damage."

"This is terrible," Yuri thought.

There is an enemy on the scene now, and this enemy is quite powerful, and is a natural counter to weaklings who try to fight in melee.

There are three combatants present: Yuri, who is weak and relies on melee combat to defend the wall; Akemi, who is weak and relies on melee combat to attack and cannot sustain a prolonged battle; and the wooden stake, who is completely countered and relies on melee combat to attack.

The situation is extremely unfavorable for us. Where is the chance to turn the tide?

The attack of the pillar of fire interrupted Yuri's thoughts.

He forced himself to calm down and began to analyze the situation—indeed, contact with the fire pillar itself would cause damage, but the fire pillar's shape-shifting ability had not yet been demonstrated—

Covering his arm with a shield, Yuri suddenly stretched out his arm, trying to push away the pillar of fire.

Instead of being pushed forward, they were slowly pushed back by the pillar of fire.

Yuri ignored the issue of being pushed back and carefully observed the performance of the pillar of fire.

At first, he was misled by the other party's appearance. In reality, flames have no physical form and therefore cannot be pushed away. Reaching out with his hand would only pierce the flames and injure him...

He should have realized this during their first encounter, but it's not too late now. The Flame Spirit isn't flame itself, but a tangible spirit; with the right methods, it's entirely possible to reduce the contact area and hinder the opponent's advance.

This spirit doesn't seem to have much ability to change shape, just like the spiritual aura it left behind elsewhere.

Now, you can fight enemies simply by covering yourself with a shield, effectively reducing resource consumption.

Yuri retreated step by step, buying time for his two teammates behind him to move away. Once they were off, Yuri quickly withdrew and rejoined his teammates.

Chapter Sixty-Seven: Alternating Cover

However, we can only stall for time now. We can't just take a beating if we want to win... but how can we win?

Yuri tried to continue using his strength to understand his opponent's weaknesses, but there was no suitable opportunity. His opponent might not know what Yuri was doing with his eyes glazed over, but he obviously wouldn't miss this good opportunity, and Yuri couldn't defend himself effectively while he was concentrating on observing... As the main tank member of the temporary trio, the consequences of being severely injured were unbearable for him.

As for getting information out of people... is it really possible to get it out of them?

"Why are you so violently moving around, you pillar of fire over there? If it's for the spiritual essence, shouldn't you stop once you've secured a spot?" Mingmei asked, hoping to find a solution.

“Under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t mind letting you die knowing why. But that lord specifically instructed me not to tell anyone about the plan… not even the dead.” Fire Pillar spoke gruffly, his movements continuing as he forced Yuri back again.

"Who is that person?" Akemi asked, voicing Yuri's question.

“That sir is—” Huozhu drawled.

Then a wall of fire burst forth from the pillar of fire, crashing head-on into Yuri. Yuri managed to hold on for a moment thanks to the protective barrier, then hurriedly ran to one side. Akemi pulled on a wooden stake and came to the same side as Yuri.

"Hmph." The pillar of fire showed no intention of continuing the conversation—it seemed that he had been drawing attention from the start in preparation for an attack.

After being dodged, the wall of fire quickly disappeared, lasting much shorter than the fire whirlwind. Such a solid attack must have been incredibly energy-consuming; even a pillar of fire couldn't be sustained indefinitely.

However, the initiative was still in the hands of the other party, and Yuri had no way to force them to quickly deplete their spiritual essence.

We have to take some risks.

Yuri took a step back, keeping his eyes fixed on the pillar of fire, and quickly said, "Block it for me."

I hope Akemi can hold on.

Akemi didn't hesitate, or at least not much, before rushing ahead of Yuri. At the last moment, Yuri reopened the protective barrier, enveloping her within it, and then began to focus his observation on the pillar of fire without regard for anything else.

We need to figure out the characteristics or weaknesses of the fire pillars, otherwise we'll have to run away.

Abandon attention from your surroundings and focus all your attention on this matter.

The fire is burning.

Throughout human history, fire has played a significant role. Learning to use fire is considered the beginning of human civilization, or at least one of its beginnings. However, fire is not without its harmful effects; it can create and it can destroy.

What's before us is a form of destruction, not just a simple flame spirit, but a "fire" spirit.

The damage caused by flames intended to destroy things created by humankind is called a fire.

It cannot tolerate spirits that coexist with humans, and unless such a spirit is far more powerful than itself, it must kill it upon encountering it.

Its weakness is... an illusion enters Yuri's mind.

It's a rainstorm.

Yuri was so angry that he lost his composure and was ejected from observation mode.

Just then, I saw flames start to appear on Akemi's sleeve, which means that the fireproofing measures on Akemi's clothes have almost reached their limit.

While Yuri hurriedly stepped in to shield Akemi from the attack, he inwardly screamed his dissatisfaction with the information he had received earlier.

Where can you find a downpour now? There's no chance of even a light drizzle, let alone here indoors. Even if it did rain heavily, Yuri would have to tear down the roof.

Akemi retreated behind Yuri, quickly pressed a button on the wall behind her to extinguish the fire, and asked in a low voice, "Do you know the weakness now?"

I understand, but it's useless.

"A downpour, it needs to be heavy enough."

The pillar of fire overheard this conversation, flinched for a moment, then swelled up again, "Even if you know, it's useless—humans are no match for nature, you have no way to stop me without the power of nature!"

"What nonsense are you spouting! You talk as if you represent nature! You're just a fire spirit, what do you represent about nature!" Yuri retorted. The technology for artificial rainmaking exists, but it's clearly impossible for Yuri and Akemi to pull it out together—Yuri recalled the sky before they entered the house; there were clouds, but not very dense, suggesting that even if they possessed the ability to make rain, they lacked the necessary conditions.

There's no need to say it out loud then; it won't help to build momentum. A verbal battle might be pointless, but at least it will buy Akemi, who's trying to cool down her clothes, some time.

"I am the representative of nature, the punishment for humanity—I exist in this world to bring retribution to mankind!"

"But you were created because of human activity! Without human civilization, there would be no fires, only flames on their own!"

The two exchanged insults for several rounds. To be honest, Yuri didn't know what he was arguing about, but the other person seemed to care about this...this relationship between humans and nature...anyway, he wanted to buy as much time as possible.

"Human beings think they have usurped the hegemony of nature, and are arrogant and conceited—the spirit existed in this world before humans existed, and if humans disappear one day, the spirit will still exist in this world—" The pillar of fire's deep voice seemed to be saying some universal truth.

No, Yuri realized he was mistaken. Regardless of the exact nature of the relationship between humanity and nature, the second half of the statement is indeed a universal truth.

"Humans, I understand your desire to preserve everything you've built." — This was said to Akemi.

"Unknown spirit, I can't be bothered to think about your actions, but you look very human, so it's only natural that you'd side with humans." — This was probably directed at Yuri. Yuri internally planned to teach him a lesson about the existence of ghosts… but the other party probably didn't want to listen.

"And you, a wood spirit, as a spirit of nature, actually deliberately wasted your potential, turning yourself into a human's toy!" — Well, this can only be said to a wooden stake.

"No, it's not a toy, it's an artwork—" the wooden stake tried to refute, but unfortunately, its speech wasn't as fluent as the other side's.

Although Yuri wanted to mock the fire spirit, saying something like, "You speak human language so well, you must be...", he suddenly realized that this might anger the spirit and cause it to stop speaking. Meanwhile, Akemi's eyes darted around, lost in thought, probably trying to find a solution. The stake explained, but no one paid it any attention, so it simply stopped talking.

The environment fell silent for a moment, with only the flames crackling intermittently.

Was enough time to buy her? Akemi's clothes had stopped burning, but it wasn't certain whether the heat had dissipated. There seemed to be a burn mark on the back of her hand, which probably wouldn't heal quickly. Even if Akemi had excellent physical fitness, it was impossible for the wound to disappear in just a few minutes.

"I don't want to negotiate with humans, but you've earned yourselves an opportunity—" You could tell that the Fire Pillar was trying to make his voice sound more amiable, but it was far from it. Yuri felt as if a tiger was smiling at him.

"What kind of opportunity?" Yuri answered anyway.

“I don’t want to let you go at all, but you seem to have figured out a way to wear me down—I can break through your defenses and burn you all to ashes, but it will still take some effort. If you two troublesome intruders step back and hand over that wooden stake, I can let you go.”

Even if you want to catch up, you'd better be able to catch up with me!

Yuri believed the other party would keep its promise because, firstly, it couldn't catch up with them at all, and secondly, its ultimate target was still the trembling wooden stake behind it.

What to do... If selling the wooden stakes could reveal who was behind it and lead to the mastermind, Yuri would actually be tempted, but the fire spirit in front of him wasn't so easy to talk to.

"What if I asked you to tell me who's behind this?" Yuri asked, trying to buy some time as he continued to work on his thoughts.

"Well..." Huozhu's voice sounded somewhat mocking, giving an absolutely negative answer, "Although I have no idea why it should be kept a secret, it is absolutely impossible for me to tell you who it is."

Then there is no other way.

Akemi glared at Yuri, gave him a wink, and then ran toward the broken window behind her—only then did Yuri notice that after going around in circles, she had actually returned to the place where she had entered through the broken window.

"Hmm?" the wooden stake asked in confusion.

“Ah, your human friend is very clever; she has decided to think carefully about her own life. What about you?” The pillar of fire was still staring at Yuri.

First of all, it's certain that Akemi doesn't mean she's never coming back—if she did, she could just say so directly. What Yuri needs to do is trust Akemi... at least hold on until the very last moment (meaning hold on until the last chance to escape).

But what exactly did Akemi go to do? Giving her a look was probably to prevent the Fire Pillar from noticing anything amiss, but Yuri doesn't have the ability to understand that immediately.

"She... escaped?" The wooden stake uttered a clear voice of doubt from behind.

“I don’t know, but I haven’t run away yet,” Yuri said, his back to the stake, ready to face the fire.

These words stabilized the wooden stake, but to the fire spirit, they were like a signal to charge. Since Yuri had no intention of leaving, it wasted no more time trying to persuade him and launched another attack.

Yuri used the same method to hold out for a few more minutes, trying to push his opponent away and counterattack as much as possible, quickly retreating when he couldn't hold on any longer. The living room was quite large, leaving relatively ample space for maneuver while not being able to restrict the movement of the fire pillars.

The problem lies in the spiritual essence. Although Yuri has tried his best to minimize his energy consumption, the enormous effort required to counter the opponent's offensive is still rapidly depleting his energy.

In fact, by now, half of their strength has been used up, and judging from the current situation, the other half is not far off, while the opponents show no signs of weakening.

The opponent seemed to have grown tired of it (once again), stopped chasing Yuri, and activated the Flame Whirlwind once more.

Yuri erected a protective barrier to stop the flames from encroaching, but this time was different from the past. The flame whirlwind did not retreat after it failed to achieve its purpose, but continued to scorch the barrier.

"You're very agile, able to jump around for so long, but you're ultimately a weakling—your spiritual essence is almost depleted, isn't it—" The Fire Spirit made no attempt to hide its smugness.

"How long can you keep this up?" Yuri was doing his best to maintain the protective barrier. "You've been releasing them every time they didn't work, and then you had to take them back. That must have taken a toll on you!"

"That's true, but I can at least keep doing this for another eighth of a day and night—what about you? How much longer can you keep going?"

About three minutes, five minutes at most. The Fire Spirit may have exaggerated its energy reserves, but the trend is as it predicted; if this continues, Yuri will definitely be the first to give out.

"Are you still using this method to tell time, day and night?" Since there was nothing more to discuss, Yuri simply mocked the other person, "Isn't it rather unsophisticated?"

"Foolish! The records of the Sun Father and Moon Mother are more valuable than any theory created by humankind!" The spirit of fire was momentarily agitated, then turned into malice towards Yuri—although Yuri felt that the other party's malice had already reached its limit, every word uttered by the pillar of fire now made him feel a chill down his spine.

"You're very persistent... then let me see you slowly roasted... You look like you were once human, so do you know what it looks like to be cooked?"

Of course I knew, but I had no idea that spirits could be cooked. Yuri gradually understood the meaning of the phrase "gritting one's teeth," which meant a state of being so exhausted that even if one could speak, one didn't want to.

"Spiritual essence, insufficient?" came the sound of a wooden stake from behind.

“Yes,” Yuri replied through gritted teeth.

It's no use pretending to be rich now. The only one on the scene who didn't make a judgment on whether Yuri had enough spiritual essence was this wooden stake.

A branch extended from the wooden stake and rested on Yuri's shoulder, followed by the sensation of spiritual essence flowing into him.

Yuri instinctively wanted to cut off this interference, but fortunately he managed to control himself.

"You still have a lot of reserves?" The rate at which spiritual essence flows in is quite fast, far exceeding the consumption required to maintain the protective barrier.

“No, but intact.” The wooden stake’s voice grew weak. “I intended to self-destruct and die, so I deliberately preserved these.”