One-way traffic

"I'm more concerned about you than anything else. Could it be that you're actually wandering around like this every day just to help people who are in trouble?"

"Huh? You actually guessed it? As expected of Yifang, you understand me so well on our first meeting. You're just like one of my closest friends!"

I just don't want to be talked about by someone like you.

The white-haired ability user picked up his fingers with utter boredom.

"And so, is this all the work you did today?"

"No... actually, it's more than that today."

Reinhard shook his head.

"Because we've actually been investigating the Witch Cult recently."

Witch Cult...?

Even if a completely unknown word is truly important, it should be meaningless to Accelerator.

but.

At that moment.

The first person felt a sense of resonance, a feeling that came from their own heart, no, from the depths of their soul.

That was a system notification; the term "Witch Cult" was related to his mission.

His gaze immediately fixed on it.

"...Tell me in detail what exactly this thing called the Witch Cult is all about."

"Huh? You don't know about the Witch Cult? Hmm... Theoretically, even people from other cities should know about it, but never mind."

Reinhard also took a sip of his honey fruit tea.

Moreover, he deliberately lowered his voice.

"The Witch Cult, a group of followers who exclusively worship the Witch of Envy Satella, can be described as an extremely serious cult. Moreover, they are not just a simple cult group, but also believers with great power."

"Power? Could it be some kind of magic?"

"No, as far as I know, there should be seven Archbishops of Sin within the Witch Cult, and they are the main fighting force of the Witch Cult."

An unknown period of time ago in this world, there once existed seven witches who corresponded to the seven Archbishops of Sin of the Witch Cult.

Of the seven witches, one of them killed the other six and ultimately attempted to destroy the world.

Satella, the Witch of Jealousy.

Her power was so great that she eventually devoured nearly half the world, and even the combined efforts of heroes could only barely seal her away; they were unable to completely kill her.

The followers who worshipped this world-destroying witch and made her their faith are these people called the Witch Cult.

That's truly astonishing.

Accelerator looked stunned. Having lived in the scientistic Academy City all his life, he had basically never encountered anything like cults or anything like that. At most, he had only experienced some supernatural events.

This reminded him of the unique aura he had felt when he saw Emilia using ice spike magic—an aura belonging to this world.

Perhaps everything is connected.

"The Witch Cult is very dangerous, so if you see any members of the Witch Cult, be sure to let me know. I will do my best to take them all out. These guys are monsters who won't let anyone in the city go."

For a kind person like him to utter words like "deal with them all" shows that this witch cult is indeed more outrageous than he imagined.

However, Accelerator still chuckled softly.

"Well, there is a possibility, if I see it—provided that there are still any survivors left for you to deal with."

"Uh... what does this mean?"

However, before Reinhard could finish speaking, the waiter had already brought the dishes to the table.

The two of them didn't waste any time and immediately started lunch.

——————————————————————————————————————

Where did you go?!

This is the text message content that Accelerator found after turning on his phone.

On the left side of the text message was a cute onion avatar, and the name was even a very eye-catching one: "You are a princess!"

You don't even need to think to know who it is.

But the main problem isn't there.

"What's going on? This world doesn't even have dry cell batteries, so how could there be radio waves for me to receive messages?"

"System notification: When the host is linked as friends with another system user, the two can communicate with each other through their communication devices in the same world. This is a communication network built by the Soul System, so there is no need to worry about any communication problems."

Wow, it really has a full range of features.

The first person thought this way and started typing on their phone.

You don't need to worry about it, I'm coming to find you right now.

After briefly replying to Hatsune Miku's message, the first person to do so was to get up immediately.

"Huh? Are they leaving already?"

"Yes, unfortunately, a clingy young lady wants to see me, so I don't have time to continue with you now."

Accelerator put his phone in his pocket and left the restaurant.

"Then I look forward to our next meeting. Let's have dinner together again then, Yifang!"

Damn it... Dealing with such a kind person is as difficult as dealing with dog shit.

The first person sighed and left without looking back.

——————————————————————————————————————————

It was already quite late.

Following the signal index from the Soul System on his phone, Accelerator arrived directly at a desolate, wilderness-like area.

"What the hell is this place?"

Looking around, the scenery was completely different from the previous city; it was like a haunted house area deep in the mountains.

The only thing visible in front of us was a rather large wooden house that looked very old, with its roof covered in moss.

The first person clicked their tongue in displeasure.

"That damn young lady... what is she doing coming to a place like this?"

Let's make it clear beforehand that if it weren't for the system connection issue, Accelerator would never have done something that went against its own principles.

He has always believed this.

Although it should be winter now, there are still insects buzzing in the grass, but these sounds are meaningless to the first one who has the ability to reflect.

He easily stepped over the weeds and came directly to the front of the house.

"Look! It really is Yifang!"

What came into view was Hatsune Miku and that silver-haired beauty standing together in front of the wooden house.

Hatsune Miku had a look of great surprise on her face, and she was still holding her smartphone tightly, which meant that she must have already located Accelerator's position.

The first one curled his lip in displeasure.

"Why did you come to this godforsaken place to play?"

"We're not kidding! We're just here to help Miss Emilia. And you're the one who should be scolding us! Where have you been all morning?! Honestly—!"

Hatsune Miku puffed out her cheeks slightly and made a slightly angry face.

However, it recovered in the next second.

"But... that's really strange."

"Ah? What's wrong?"

Accelerator walked up to the two of them, and the silver-haired girl seemed to look at him with some surprise.

"Um, hello..."

"We can talk about your business later. I just want to know what you're doing in such a remote place?"

Even though the first one asked this question, the two girls couldn't downplay the issue.

So all I can talk about is what they're dealing with right now.

“Um, Mr. Natsuki Subaru, the gentleman who was attacked by thugs earlier… He just entered this room, saying he wanted to help Miss Emilia find her lost item.”

"Yes... Although Mr. Natsuki Subaru has been inside for a long time, it seems there hasn't been any movement."

Both girls looked worried.

"Um! Could something have happened...?"

As a kind-hearted and beautiful girl, Emilia instinctively blurted out those words.

The first one squinted his eyes.

He smelled a scent—a familiar scent, a scent belonging to the dark world.

"You two, stay right here."

The white-haired, red-eyed figure placed his hand directly on the doorknob; the door wasn't locked, and he pushed it open easily.

But as soon as he entered the room, the smell became even stronger.

Even with my eyes closed, I know exactly what this tastes like.

The first person walked in without hesitation, and just then, he felt a sound as if he stepped on something.

Blood was spread all over his feet.

He saw it not far away.

Natsuki Subaru's body lay helplessly in the pool of blood.

"How...how could this be?!"

The two girls following closely behind immediately widened their eyes, revealing expressions of astonishment.

They stood there, stunned, unable to believe that this was reality.

however.

The first person turned his eyes to the left and immediately pressed the two people's bodies down with his left hand.

"Get down."

Eh?

Before the girls could react, a sharp gust of wind swept towards them.

Without any mercy, it stabbed the white-haired figure in the abdomen.

But is it really possible to succeed?

Bang——! !

As the sound rang out, the shadow was instantly blasted away by an unknown force.

Reflection has been activated.

Even if the entire Earth were multiplied by a hundred billion times and then lifted up and smashed onto Accelerator, it wouldn't be able to harm him in the slightest. This ultimate protective shield covered Accelerator's entire body.

The reflection successfully sent the enemy flying, and a shadowy figure appeared faintly in front of the table.

"Oh my, that's really an unexpected result."

It was a very charming, slightly mature voice.

By the light of the moon outside the door, the group could see that a shadow had appeared there.

—Black hair, purple flower headdress, her body stained with blood, her smile was charming, but unexpectedly terrifying.

She was a woman, probably over twenty years old, judging from her impressive figure.

She chuckled softly, her face full of excitement as she stared intently at one person.

The strongest in Academy City, ranked number one.