Chapter 13: Took Two Punches and Three Kicks in One Go!
Seeing the sea of mannequins, Luke was genuinely scared.
From an exorcist's perspective, ordinary souls weren't actually terrifying, nor did they possess the ability to harm or kill people.
In fact, you could say ordinary souls were far weaker than humans with physical bodies.
There's a fitting term: Humans and ghosts walk different paths.
Though they shared the same world, humans and ghosts were like beings from separate dimension.
Only a small fraction of humans had strong enough spiritual senses to perceive the existence of the other world.
And while souls could observe humans, crossing the boundary between the human and ghost realms to interfere with the human world required some essential conditions.
For example: a spiritual beacon formed by a human actively observing and focusing on them.
But this method not only scared humans, it scared ghosts too.
Some ghosts might be happily playing around, only to suddenly find themselves face-to-face with a human, getting scared out of their wits.
Even if they weren't scared away, if an ordinary person mustered their courage and threw a punch, the human, possessing a physical body, could still take them down.
Another method was possessing an object, turning it into a spiritual vessel.
But objects suitable for possession were extremely rare.
Usually, only items deeply cherished by a resentful spirit in life could become spiritual vessels.
Ordinary ghosts, even resentful spirits formed from hatred, could easily be dealt with.
But souls possessing objects were more troublesome.
And now, seeing so many possessed mannequins... could they all be spiritual vessels?
Luke prepared to test the waters.
Miura Yumiko, seeing Luke who had just sent a mannequin flying with one punch, felt her panicked heart settle somewhat.
But the eerie, haunting call still relentlessly wrapped around her ears—
"Miura Yumiko."
Panicked, she grabbed onto Luke's trousers with her hand.
Lacking a sense of security, she was like a drowning person unconsciously grasping at nearby driftwood.
Luke, who was just about to charge forward, felt a tug below.
He stumbled, nearly tripping.
"Hey! Why are you grabbing my pants?"
Luke looked down at the blonde girl, crying pitifully, looking like a weeping pear blossom.
The weak Miura-san is actually quite cute, he thought.
But, she seemed terrified.
Luke sighed and comforted her, "Don't worry, I'll protect you."
"I don't know if this helps, but... that, that voice, I keep feeling like someone is calling my name," Miura Yumiko told him.
"Mm." Luke took this seriously and pulled out a talisman.
"Here, hold onto this talisman."
Miura Yumiko felt her mind suddenly become very clear, and the lingering whispers in her ears vanished.
"It's gone... G-good luck."
Miura Yumiko tightly clutched a corner of the talisman, holding it to her chest and gently cheering him on.
Her eyes, washed clear by tears, sparkled brightly.
Her slightly wrinkled nose and pouting lips adorned her pitiful face.
Isn't this cuteness a bit rule-breaking?
Luke's heart skipped a beat.
He quickly turned his head back to stare at the approaching mannequins.
There were quite a few of them, and the peach wood sword was useless against these things.
He tightened his grip on the Book of Strength in his hand, and holding a talisman in the other.
"Help me hold my backpack. I'll clash with them. I refuse to believe they're really that tough."
Miura Yumiko looked at the boy standing tall and facing forward, her eyes filled with expectation.
Then she saw Luke run back, head tucked, scattering over a dozen talismans into the air.
He took two punches and three kicks in one go.
"Damn, they really are that tough."
Luke solemnly observed the mannequins before him.
These things had actually become spiritual vessels.
This meant each ghost was gradually adapting to its body, their strength still increasing.
Right now, they could already exert the power of an ordinary person.
Alone, whether using his 16-point strength fists or talismans that could suppress or eliminate the evil spirits within them, he couldn't achieve much effect.
He simply couldn't defend against their attacks coming from all directions by himself.
A righteous group beatdown.
This was big trouble.
Miura Yumiko's heart plummeted completely.
Tears were about to burst forth, a stark contrast to her usual proud and confident style.
"Maybe... maybe you should just run by yourself. Don't worry about me," The blonde girl said fearfully.
Is this kid scared silly? Luke glanced at her, then rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a bottle of bright red liquid.
"Looks like I'm gonna bleed today," Luke said, trembling, reluctantly uncorking the bottle.
He applied the hawk blood, which his friend had gone through quite the trouble to find for him, onto the blade of the sword.
He fiercely drew the reddened peach wood sword, stepped forward, and struck the foremost mannequin.
Instantly, the soul within the mannequin melted away like snow encountering fire.
Luke didn't dare waste a single drop of the precious hawk blood.
Using all his strength, he struck down mannequin after mannequin, scattering their souls.
One by one, the mannequins fell, but the hawk blood was being used up faster and faster.
Luke quickly stopped his attack, looking at the once again dry peach wood sword and the remaining half-bottle of hawk blood.
These mannequins were becoming increasingly attuned to the souls within them.
The amount of hawk blood needed to drive the souls out was increasing.
And it wasn't just the per-unit consumption; facing dozens of mannequins, his meager amount of hawk blood was like trying to put out a cartload of burning firewood with a cup of water.
In fact, even against the initial mannequins that weren't fully integrated with their bodies, his amount of hawk blood wouldn't have been enough to eliminate all of them.
The hawk blood definitely wasn't enough.
Luke painfully tightened the cap.
The hawk blood already used was truly water spilled – impossible to recover.
"A-are you okay?" Miura Yumiko asked with concern.
"Heartache," Luke answered truthfully, quickly stuffing the hawk blood back into his backpack.
As for his other items, he didn't plan on using them either.
They were all single-target items anyway.
Facing such a large number of evil spirits, maybe if he threw in all his assets, he'd have a chance.
But then, he'd have to live the rest of his days clutching steamed buns with not a drop of oil in his vegetables.
Luke slung the backpack onto his back. Miura Yumiko watched him nervously.
"We might die here today..." Luke said faintly.
Miura Yumiko's hand clutching her clothes tightened instantly, her expression changing.
"Just kidding, stop teasing you."
Luke smiled and extended his hands towards the girl.
Before the girl could react, in a daze, she was swept up into Luke's arms in a princess carry.
Miura Yumiko suddenly blushed.
Her hands tightly gripped his shirt, resting her head against his shoulder, feeling an overwhelming sense of security.
Her thoughts ran wild, but then she snapped back to reality and quickly shook her head.
"Hey, don't you dare wipe your snot on my shirt," Luke warned the girl, alarms blaring in his head.
"Mmph, when did I do that?" Miura Yumiko poked him resentfully.
Luke was very strong.
Even carrying a backpack and a pretty, cute burden in his arms, it didn't affect his ability to pull away from the mannequins at all.
"We're here." Luke reached the building's exit.
A few more steps would count as failing the challenge.
Whether for the mission or his professional ethics as an exorcist, for any reason, he couldn't let those mannequins run wild.
He gently put Miura Yumiko down.
"Get out. Even though your leg is injured, this is as far as I can take you. Just bear the pain and get yourself out," Luke told Miura Yumiko, reaching into his pocket.
"Huh? What about you?" Miura Yumiko heard this and asked worriedly.
"Me? Of course, I have to deal with those things behind us... Can't let them get out, otherwise, more people would get hurt or possibly die... Besides, didn't I promise to protect you?"
Luke said faintly, taking out his phone and tossing it to the girl.
Miura Yumiko caught the phone, the tear tracks on her face already dry.
She stared blankly at the reliable boy.
"Call the person I have saved as 'Shady Merchant'. Tell her it's an emergency, she'll tell you what to do. Then go to school. Anyway, get as far away from here as possible."
Luke saw the dazed Miura Yumiko and couldn't help but frown and snap, "What are you standing there for? Hurry up, run outside and make the call."
"Thank you," Miura Yumiko bit her lip, whispering softly.
She frantically took out the phone and stumbled away.
"Remember, you must call, and then get as far away as possible," Luke reminded her again.
He then turned his head to look at the mannequins that had already come down, pressing a hand to his heart.
It's been a long time since I used my trump card.
No idea if I can take them all out.
...
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