This bizarre situation instantly put Akimi and Asuna on edge.
Asuna even shivered, quietly reaching out to grab the corner of Akimi's clothes—during all their past demon-slaying quests, they had never encountered something like this.
Just then, the flames on the candles flickered and suddenly went out.
In the room, now lit only by the oil lamp, Akimi and Asuna cautiously scanned their surroundings while activating their detection skills.
But the search skill didn't detect any monsters—then, even the oil lamp in Akimi's hand inexplicably went out.
"Crack… crack… crack…"
After the sound of three wooden boards splitting echoed through the room, the oil lamp and the candles suddenly whoosh! burst back into flame, filling the place with light once more.
However, when they saw what had changed, both Akimi and Asuna's expressions turned even grimmer—apart from the direction they had entered from, the other three sides of the room now each had an opening, just wide enough for a single person to pass through.
Calling them "doors" wouldn't be quite right—these were just three holes smashed through wooden boards.
From each opening, they could only see about half a meter beyond, and what lay past looked almost exactly like the entry hall they'd seen before coming in.
What was even stranger was that the splintering patterns of the boards were identical—even the jagged wooden splinters along the edges matched perfectly, as if all three holes had been cut from the same mold.
"Gulp…"
Asuna swallowed nervously, her grip on the corner of Akimi's clothes tightening even more.
Clearly, they now had to choose one of the three openings to enter…
Of course, choosing two was also an option—but splitting up now would be a surefire way to get themselves killed.
But since the three openings weren't just similar but completely identical, Akimi and Asuna found themselves in a dilemma, unable to decide which to pick.
After hesitating for a moment, Akimi decided to stop overthinking it and started an elimination rhyme.
"Big hen, small hen, hen, young hen, old hen… alright, this one it is."
The rhyme landed on the right-hand opening.
First, Akimi poked his Nichirin Blade into the hole a few times to make sure there wasn't any strange or grotesque thing waiting inside.
Once he was satisfied, he led Asuna forward into it.
Inside was pitch-black; even the oil lamp was barely of any use.
The passageway turned out to be unexpectedly long—it took them nearly a full minute to reach the exit.
But this exit was odd as well—once again, it was a hole smashed into a wooden board, and the splintered edges… looked very familiar.
Beyond the opening was yet another room lined with many lit candles.
Akimi stuck his head out to take a look around, and when he saw nothing out of the ordinary, he stepped out.
But the moment Asuna stepped into the room, the candles once again went out and relit just like before.
And, as expected, on the other three sides of the room where the wooden walls had been intact, new openings appeared—exactly the same kind as in the previous room.
"We… went in a circle?"
Looking at the bizarre room before her, Asuna's voice trembled.
Akimi also wasn't sure what was going on.
He stared at the wooden wall, his brow furrowing slightly, then suddenly drew his blade and slashed at it.
Swish!
The Nichirin Blade instantly struck the wall—or rather, it didn't.
The blade met no resistance at all, passing through as if slicing through air.
Both of them froze in surprise.
Akimi then tried reaching his hand forward, but this time he actually touched the wall.
The slightly rough texture was clearly transmitted to his hand through the Sensory Feedback system.
This made his brow furrow even deeper.
Just then, Asuna tugged at the corner of his clothes and said, "W-wait… look at our shadows…"
Hearing this, Akimi looked toward the wall where their shadows were cast.
At first glance, there didn't seem to be anything wrong—but he quickly noticed the oddity.
With so many candles in the room, there was no way they should each have just one shadow.
And even if they really did only have one shadow each… there were two of them, so why were there three shadows?
While Akimi was still puzzled, the extra shadow suddenly raised its hand, revealing sharp claws, and reached for his shadow.
Sensing danger, Akimi instinctively stepped back, but still couldn't dodge completely.
The moment the shadow attacked his, five claw marks appeared on his left forearm.
"—Tch! What the hell?!"
Akimi stared at the five wounds on his arm, which were already beginning to heal, a special effect indicating recovery.
He was stunned—if the shadow was attacked, he would be hurt too?
But he quickly regained focus and began thinking of a countermeasure.
"Shadow… shadow… Right! Attack the shadow!" Akimi shouted, staring at the wavering shadows on the wall cast by the flickering candlelight.
As for why he didn't try putting out the candles… who knew whether, without the candlelight, the room would have no shadows at all—or be filled with them.
Raising his Nichirin Blade, Akimi swung it vertically at the strange shadow.
On the wall, his own shadow mirrored the exact same movement.
But the shadow suddenly grew larger, and when the blade's shadow passed over it, nothing happened.
Worse, as the shadow swiped its claws again, five more wounds appeared on Akimi's back.
He was stunned—why didn't it work?
At that moment, Asuna, who had been observing from the side, suddenly drew Radiant Light and unleashed a Horizontal Square slash at the shadow.
The moment her rapier's shadow swept across the strange shadow's wrist, the shadow's hand fell clean off.
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