Although there was the protection of the golden barrier, just passively taking a beating like this was not a solution.
Soyo thought about calling Kaito for help, but her phone had no signal. Sending messages on social media only resulted in a big red exclamation mark, informing her that the network was disconnected.
She also tried to leave the private room, but the Jorogumo was blocking the door, eyeing her like a tiger. Clearly, if she wanted to leave, she'd have to get rid of it first.
Even though the golden barrier's defense was excellent, no one knew how long it would last, or whether it might eventually run out of energy.
Soyo was still able to stay calm. She unconditionally trusted Kaito and trusted even more the jade pendant he gave her, believing that it couldn't be easily broken by a spider monster like this.
But the others didn't have that kind of courage.
"Are we… going to die here?"
A petite, fragile girl spoke with a sobbing tone, looking at the brown-haired girl beside her. Choked with emotion, she could barely speak, "Soyo, I don't want to die…"
"We won't. None of us will die," Soyo was burning with anxiety. Even though she trusted Kaito's jade pendant, being stuck here was not a solution either. Sharing a room with such a terrifying monster, the psychological pressure alone was enough to make ordinary people collapse.
Seeing her friend crying so miserably, she could only suppress her inner anxiety and cheer her up with a gentle voice.
But such empty comfort clearly didn't have much effect.
Someone turned their gaze toward a black-haired girl who had kept her head down the whole time, speaking with resentment, "It's all Sayaka's fault! It's all because you suggested playing that spirit-summoning game that this monster came!"
The girl named "Sayaka" was also the one who invited Soyo to come sing karaoke.
It was just earlier that she thought regular singing was boring and insisted on playing a spirit-summoning game, which sparked everyone's interest.
This sentence was like opening a floodgate. The frightened girls immediately found a target to vent on, and all sorts of accusations flooded in from all directions, all aimed at Sayaka.
"Everyone… please calm down!", Soyo was extremely anxious. Now that the situation had reached this point, no amount of mutual blaming would help. The monster wouldn't go away because of that. What they needed most now was unity, internal conflict would only lead to their own destruction.
But the anxious crowd wouldn't stop attacking just because of a word from her, just like how her desperate efforts back then couldn't stop Mutsumi from quitting or prevent CRYCHIC from disbanding.
The Jorogumo watched everything with cold eyes. It just looked at the golden barrier not far away with some wariness, its eight spider legs restlessly scraping the ground.
It had poked at it for quite a while but still hadn't broken through the barrier, instead, its legs got hurt.
The humans before it were clearly just blood food waiting to be slaughtered, but now they were like turtles hiding in their shells, leaving it with no way to strike.
But…
The spider-bodied, seductive woman curled her lips slightly, a sinister smile forming. Under the colorful neon lights, it was bone-chilling.
The girl named "Sayaka" had no reaction to the accusations from those around her.
She just silently kept her head lowered, like a robot that had run out of power. The eyes hidden beneath her black long hair were dull.
Seeing some people getting more agitated, already starting to push and shove Sayaka, Soyo had no choice but to step forward and stop their excessive actions.
Even if they wanted to argue, shouldn't they at least wait until they were safe?
Besides, while the barrier's power was strong, its range just barely covered a few people. If a fight broke out and someone accidentally stepped outside the protective range, how was that any different from seeking death?
Just as she stepped in front of Sayaka, Soyo suddenly froze.
She didn't know when it started, but the girls who had been angrily blaming Sayaka now wore expressions of terror, staring dumbly behind her, as if they had seen something terrifying.
Soyo instinctively turned around, only to find that Sayaka, who had been keeping her head down, was now lifting her head.
Those lifeless pupils stared blankly at them, chillingly hollow.
"S-Sayaka-chan?", Soyo called out tentatively, but got no response.
Anyone with eyes could tell that Sayaka was not in a normal state, like a puppet controlled on stage, completely stripped of autonomy.
Thinking back on how Sayaka had been especially determined today to bring her to karaoke, and was the first to bring up playing the spirit-summoning game, Soyo instinctively tightened her grip on the koi pendant in her hand.
'Could it be… everything that is happening is a trap laid by the Jorogumo?'
It had long since controlled Sayaka's actions, and she herself was just prey that had been targeted.
Just when the brown-haired girl didn't know what to do, she suddenly heard shouts from behind: "Watch out!" "Don't come over!"
Sayaka lunged forward. Not at her, but past her, toward the few girls behind her, clearly trying to push them outside the range of the golden shield.
The Jorogumo, though lacking in high intelligence, had a predator's instincts and had long noticed something off about Soyo.
This golden shield seemed to originate from her.
The puppet was its last hidden move. It didn't dare rashly attack the shield's master, it might cause an unexpected event.
But targeting the other blood food didn't require such caution.
Once it devoured the rest of the blood food, the remaining Soyo would still be a turtle in a jar, unable to escape.
Soyo tried to stop it, but with her speed, she clearly wasn't a match for the puppetized Sayaka. On top of that, her nervousness caused her to trip, and she fell heavily to the ground.
The sudden incident frightened the remaining girls out of their wits. They wanted to run, but the private room was only so big, there was nowhere to run or hide.
As they left the protection of the shield, the Jorogumo couldn't wait any longer. Its eight sharp spider legs, gleaming with a cold light, rose high, ready to strike.
'Please… anyone is fine…'
'Just stop this now!:
Surrounded by endless despair, Soyo instinctively closed her eyes, unable to bear witnessing the bloody scene.
A "BANG" shattered the stillness of the room.
The tightly shut door was kicked open at this moment.
A familiar figure strode in against the corridor's light, like a dazzling sun, scanning the room with sharp eyes.
Soyo stared at him in a daze.
As if she hadn't come back to her senses yet, her mind still unresponsive, her cherry-colored lips slightly parted.
"K-K… aito-kun?"
"Sorry, I'm a little late," Kaito smiled gently at her, like a reliable older brother from next door, "Let's leave the long catching-up talk for later. As for now…"
He turned his gaze to the Jorogumo before him, snapped his fingers lightly, and a thread of flame burst from his fingertips, "It's pest control time."
[🎉 Shoutout to Amainses, Wilver, Odds, Roger_Manon, Adolf_Cruz, Lord Clamiral, Kamron, Azurae for joining patreon. Thank you very much.🤗]
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
patreon.com/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining Patreon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 40 advance chapter through Patreon.
https://discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y