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"The true body…"
Hiruko no Kami floated in mid-air, her red eyes devoid of any human emotion, only endless indifference. Her gaze swept over Amamiya Natsuki without lingering, instead stopping on Kaguya, Yukino, Hayasaka, and Chika, and then she spoke for the first time:
"It's you."
Her voice was childish but exceptionally cold, showing no hint of emotion.
After saying this, Hiruko no Kami stretched out her right hand towards the girls and clenched it in mid-air.
The next second, Shinomiya Kaguya was as if grabbed by an invisible hand, and she floated directly into the air.
"Eh eh? Kaguya!"
Fujiwara Chika couldn't help but exclaim.
Hayasaka Ai's gaze sharpened, a magic gun appeared in her hand out of thin air, and she raised her hand and fired a shot. Colorful streams of light burst from the muzzle, flying towards Hiruko no Kami in mid-air.
Unfortunately, the magic light was too slow, and a shadow directly bounced into mid-air, blocking the attack with her body.
Hayasaka Ai knelt on the ground, still wanting to continue shooting, when a low voice suddenly sounded:
"Attacking a god is a serious crime."
Yote shook his head and unhesitatingly pulled out a black spear made of muddy substance from behind him, throwing it violently.
A sharp whistling sound suddenly erupted.
The spear transformed into a black lightning bolt, tearing through the night sky, and struck directly towards the Spy Maid.
Yukinoshita Yukino was right beside Hayasaka, and she hugged the Spy Maid, rolling to dodge.
Bang!
The black spear grazed past the two girls and plunged into the ground. Amidst the roar, another deep pit appeared on the ground, with soil and gravel constantly splattering.
At the same time.
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze fell on Hiruko no Kami, his thoughts rapidly turning.
No wonder he only saw Shadow Tsubame, Shadow Marin, etc., but never Shadow Kaguya, Shadow Yukino, or Shadow Hayasaka, because… these were targets Hiruko no Kami deliberately left behind to copy herself.
When ordinary shadow creatures copy players, a memory fog appears in their minds, making it impossible to probe. So… what about Hiruko no Kami, who is a god?
If Hiruko no Kami personally copies a player, will a memory fog appear in her mind?
In the previous loop, Hiruko no Kami probably hadn't tried to copy a player, but that didn't stop her from verifying. And Kaguya was the target she had just chosen to copy.
So… what should he do now?
Amamiya Natsuki's brain rapidly thought of countermeasures.
Defeating Hiruko no Kami seemed impossible. His eyes didn't even give any hints. Even if this thing was injured, it was probably a super-rule existence that ordinary players couldn't kill.
So, use the Dark Shadow to escape the encirclement by entering the shadows?
Amamiya Natsuki quickly rejected this idea.
He couldn't escape.
Hiruko no Kami was clearly a super-tier Boss. Ordinary shadows had the ability to move by entering shadows, and Hiruko no Kami must also have the same ability, or even stronger. Even if he turned into a Dark Shadow Cat, there was a high possibility of being directly caught by the opponent in the shadow state.
Besides, even if he successfully escaped, how would the instance mission of killing Yote be completed?
These thoughts surged in his mind, but it was only for an instant. Amamiya Natsuki, relying on his keen intuition, chose the boldest approach—
Kill that monster Yote!
Yote clearly had an extraordinary relationship with Hiruko no Kami. As long as Yote was killed, Hiruko no Kami could go berserk again, and then restart time again!
The restart ability might be unsolvable, but it wouldn't affect the game. For example, Shoko could record all information in her portable diary. As long as the diary was stored in the backpack, it wouldn't be affected even if time restarted.
There was no time to write a diary now, but…
[After careful consideration, you decide to wear the Mask of Remembrance, remembering today's humiliation, and returning it twofold in the next loop]
Amamiya Natsuki remembered the loot mask that the Forgotten Weird dropped when he killed it in Chiba Prefecture.
[Item: Thorn of Remembrance]
[Category: Weird Drop]
[Quality: Unique]
[Attribute: Takes effect when worn. Some memories are etched into the bone. After wearing this mask, your memories will be engraved and will not be forgotten even as time flows]
[Note: Sometimes, forgetting is not a painful thing]
It was a weird entity with the power of forgetting, yet the item it dropped was a mask that remembered everything forever. It was quite peculiar, one must say.
Everyone had tried wearing this thing before. After putting on the mask, all experiences in life, whether happy or painful, would be recalled with extreme clarity.
Happiness in life is always fleeting, while pain is abundant, so after trying it on once, they threw it into a corner of their backpack.
However, according to the prompt that appeared before his eyes, the power of remembrance of this mask could clearly resist the power of time restart, and would not be forgotten even as time flowed.
Since that was the case…
"Snap!"
Amamiya Natsuki lightly snapped his fingers, and the next instant, the time on the entire island suddenly froze.
Leaves floating in mid-air.
Crushed stones splattering on the ground.
Yukino and Hayasaka kneeling on the ground.
Chika hugging Kaguya.
And Hiruko no Kami floating in the sky, everything was completely frozen.
"Hmm?"
Amamiya Natsuki's gaze narrowed, and he suddenly noticed something moving in the frozen world.
It was Hiruko no Kami.
This supernatural creature, whose appearance was that of an elementary school student, had her eyes moving. Her dangerous red eyes looked at Amamiya Natsuki, clearly showing surprise.
"Because she has the ability to restart time, she still maintains her thoughts and actions even in a Time Stop state?"
Amamiya Natsuki silently analyzed in his mind.
However, looking at Hiruko no Kami's appearance, her ability to act was clearly exceptionally weak, suppressed to the extreme.
Amamiya Natsuki's expression was calm, without the slightest hesitation, and he began to act. The Time Stop only lasted for three seconds, and every second was exceptionally precious.
The first second.
"Accio!"
Amamiya Natsuki decisively stretched out his right hand and suddenly grabbed towards Yote, who was dozens of meters away.
The strength judgment passed successfully.
Yote, in a Time Stop state, had his gaze frozen, without the slightest resistance, and flew directly into Amamiya Natsuki's hand.
The second second.
Amamiya Natsuki gripped the hammer weapon he had used before with both hands, swung it vigorously, and slammed it into Yote's chest.
It had already appeared in the previous prompt that the black armor on Yote's body was not metal, but mud formed by materialized shadow.
Since it was shadow, a heavy blow was still exceptionally effective.
Boom!
A hammer struck the chest of the flying Yote, and the black armor on Yote's chest immediately rippled, followed by the black mud rapidly contracting with the impact point as the center.
The third second.
The mud contracted completely, revealing the frozen face of a middle-aged man, and an unguarded chest.
Amamiya Natsuki then put away the hammer, and a surgical knife appeared in his palm, plunging it into Yote's chest…
Time Stop ended.
"No!"
Hiruko no Kami finally shrieked.
Pfft.
What responded to her was a splash of blood.
"What… happened…"
Yote came back to his senses, only feeling an intense pain in his chest. He looked down and saw a surgical knife, incredibly sharp, had somehow, in an incomprehensible way, plunged directly into his heart.
Amamiya Natsuki did not stop, but held the handle of the surgical knife and distorted it forcefully, completely crushing Yote's heart, giving Hiruko no Kami no chance to save him.
Having done all this, Amamiya Natsuki decisively retreated, quickly took out the Mask of Remembrance, and put it on his face.
"Did the President just use Time Stop?"
With Yote's death, Hiruko no Kami immediately released Kaguya. Fujiwara Chika hurriedly hugged the Young Lady and came to Amamiya Natsuki's side.
Yukino and Hayasaka Ai also came to converge.
Shinomiya Kaguya breathed a sigh of relief, her tone solemn:
"President, let's go quickly."
Amamiya Natsuki shook his head:
"It's too late. The third loop is about to begin."
"Eh?" Yukinoshita Yukino was startled and asked in confusion, "What do you mean?"
"Ahhhhhh!!"
As Yote completely lost his life, Hiruko no Kami in mid-air immediately went berserk.
Amamiya Natsuki only felt his ears suddenly lose sound, and everything became silent. Then, everything around him turned into countless strands of flowing light, rapidly retreating at an incomprehensible speed.
After an unknown amount of time, a familiar girlish voice suddenly sounded in Amamiya Natsuki's ear:
"Eh, Natsuki, when did you put on this mask?"
Amamiya Natsuki came back to his senses, turned his head to look around, and found that he was not on the cruise ship, but had already landed on the island. He was standing under a few banana trees, and beside him were Kaguya, Chika, and the others, not one missing, all present.
"Hoo…"
Amamiya Natsuki took a deep breath.
The third loop.
Officially restarted.
"Natsuki, why aren't you speaking?" Kitagawa Marin reached out her right hand and waved it in front of Amamiya Natsuki, her tone a bit worried, "Are you alright?"
Amamiya Natsuki shook his head:
"I'm fine."
Juju crossed her arms, surprised:
"When did Stupid Natsuki put on that mask?!"
"How strange." Sayu's tone was puzzled, confused, "I was clearly watching Natsuki-sama the whole time, and I didn't see how Natsuki-sama put on the mask at all."
Haruno pursed her pink lips and said:
"I didn't notice either… Did Natsuki-kun use Time Stop? But why would he use Time Stop to put on a mask?"
"This mask must be painful to wear, I tried it on earlier and it was agonizing." Fujiwara Chika urged, "President, hurry and take the mask off."
"I can't take it off now." Amamiya Natsuki shook his head, looked around, and said in a low voice, "The time isn't right."
He was currently wearing the Engraved Mask, remembering everything from the previous cycle clearly. If he took it off now, his memories could very likely be instantly reset. That absolutely couldn't happen. No matter how painful it was, the mask had to stay firmly on his face.
Besides, the time on the Island had indeed been reset, but the time was off.
Amamiya Natsuki remembered clearly that the dungeon began the moment they stepped onto the Island from the pier.
But at this moment, everyone had clearly left the pier and arrived under the coconut trees near the beach.
Was Hiruko no Kami doing this on purpose?
"Probably not."
Amamiya Natsuki quickly dismissed this possibility.
If Hiruko no Kami was doing it on purpose, it should have set the time to the moment before Yote was killed, not jumping from night to day.
"President?" Shinomiya Kaguya lightly furrowed her delicate brows, noticing that Amamiya Natsuki's state was a bit off, and worriedly said, "What happened?"
Amamiya Natsuki said in a low voice:
"Were you just discussing the dungeon mission content?"
"Eh?" Kitagawa Marin blinked, her expression puzzled, "Didn't Natsuki say we should come over to discuss it? Why are you asking such a question?"
Amamiya Natsuki said:
"I'll explain later… Have you all mentioned your respective dungeon missions yet?"
Yukinoshita Yukino gently shook her head and said:
"Not yet."
"Then I'll tell you." Amamiya Natsuki's voice was low, "Kaguya and Yukino's dungeon mission is to investigate the mystery of the abandoned Hospital."
Shinomiya Kaguya's gaze slightly narrowed, and she said softly:
"That's right."
Yukinoshita Yukino gently nodded and said:
"It is indeed my dungeon mission."
Amamiya Natsuki continued:
"Haruno's dungeon mission is to survive for twenty-four hours."
"Eh?" Yukinoshita Haruno raised her hand to cover her mouth, surprised, "Natsuki-kun is amazing, I haven't even said it yet."
Amamiya Natsuki's voice was low, and he said:
"And Chika and Marin's mission is to protect a person named Matsuko… She's actually a third-grade elementary school girl, currently playing on the beach."
Fujiwara Chika's eyes widened, disbelieving:
"How does President know all of this?"
Juju put her hands on her hips and complained:
"Is it the legendary precognition?"
The other girls also looked over, their faces showing puzzled expressions, wondering why Amamiya Natsuki could know things in advance.
"It's not precognition." Amamiya Natsuki shook his head, "Because it's already the third cycle."
"Eh?"
The girls' expressions were bewildered.
Kitagawa Marin said uncertainly:
"Natsuki, does 'third cycle' mean…?"
"That's right." Amamiya Natsuki pressed the mask on his face, his voice low, "The dungeon time has been reset."
Upon hearing this, the girls' first reaction was disbelief.
"How is that possible."
"President must be joking, right?"
Amamiya Natsuki said:
"Kaguya, Yukino, Chika, Hayasaka… You can check your respective backpacks and recall the quantity of Witch Potion you have stored."
Several girls pursed their pink lips and quickly checked their backpacks.
"Eh eh eh?" Fujiwara Chika quickly said, "I'm missing two bottles of Witch Potion."
Shinomiya Kaguya said softly:
"My potion is also missing two bottles."
"It's not necessarily just potion." Amamiya Natsuki looked at Shinomiya and lowered his voice, "Actually, you're also missing a pair of spare panties."
"Wh-what?!"
Shinomiya Kaguya's eyes narrowed, and she quickly checked, indeed finding that a pair of panties was missing from her backpack—unless it was equipment or items recognized by the game, ordinary items from reality could not be put into the game backpack, preventing players from becoming Gatling Bodhisattvas. So, there weren't many pieces of underwear that could be put into the game backpack, they were all items opened from Blind Box.
"It's, it's really gone…"
Shinomiya's pretty face quickly flushed red, and she quickly searched her memory, but there was no memory of using panties.
Why did the panties mysteriously disappear?
Why didn't she know, but President did?
Could it be, could it be that she accidentally fainted, and during that time, President helped her change her panties?
"Actually, it's not just Witch Potion and underwear." Amamiya Natsuki's voice was low, "If you check carefully, you can see that the water and food stored in your backpacks are also missing some."
"That's true." Haruno and the others were also checking their backpacks, and upon hearing this, they all nodded, "Natsuki-kun, what exactly happened?"
Amamiya Natsuki's tone was weary, the after-effects of wearing the Engraved Mask were surging, and he said in a low voice:
"Shoko, take out your notebook. Every word I say next, without missing a single one, must be written down in that notebook."
"Mm-hmm."
Komi blinked upon hearing this. Although she didn't understand why, she didn't hesitate at all. She quickly nodded, took out her notebook, and held her pen, ready.
The other girls also leaned in, listening intently.
Amamiya Natsuki's voice was tired, and he said in a low voice:
"The secret of the Island is the Shadow Replicas… The characteristics and abilities of the Shadows are…"
"Kaguya and Yukino's first dungeon mission is to find the secret behind the abandoned Hospital. The secret is… After solving the secret, the second dungeon mission will be unlocked: kill Yote… Yote's identity and appearance are…"
"There is a huge underground cave beneath the Island. The entrance is… A supernatural entity resides within, which the islanders call Hiruko no Kami. Its specific appearance is…"
"Hiruko no Kami's currently known ability is 'Time Reset'. The time we are currently in is already the third cycle…"
"Eh?"
Upon hearing this, Marin couldn't help but let out a soft gasp.
Even Kaguya and Yukino, who were usually rational and calm, also widened their eyes in disbelief, their first reaction being that it was impossible.
But the information Amamiya Natsuki was now revealing, along with the mysteriously missing items in their backpacks, silently proved that everything was not mere fantasy. Many things had indeed happened, they just hadn't known about them.
Amamiya Natsuki raised his right hand and gently tapped his head, alleviating the after-effects of the mask, his voice hoarse and low, and continued:
"Listen to me… The first cycle's situation is unknown… The specific events of the second cycle are…"
"The reason the Witch Potion disappeared is that we already used it. After killing Yote, Hiruko no Kami will go berserk and reset time, and Hiruko no Kami's memory will not disappear… And Hiruko no Kami should not know that I have memories from the previous cycle…"
"Besides, the reset time is a bit off, it's not the moment we disembarked…"
It took a full twenty minutes to completely recount the dungeon experience of the previous cycle. Amamiya Natsuki looked at Komi, his voice hoarse and low:
"Shoko, did you write it all down?"
Komi quickly nodded upon hearing this.
"Shadow Shoko talks a lot more." Amamiya Natsuki muttered, then extended his right hand and said, "Give me the pen."
Komi quickly handed over the notebook and pencil.
Amamiya Natsuki took a deep breath, enduring the headache, and sketched the middle-aged man Yote after the sludge dispersed in the notebook. Japan has had art classes since elementary school, and although Amamiya Natsuki was not a manga artist, simple sketching was no problem for him.
A moment later.
A middle-aged man appeared on the paper.
Amamiya Natsuki still didn't stop, and simply drew the appearance of Hiruko no Kami. Only then did he let out a long sigh of relief, his voice tired:
"That's all."
Kitagawa Marin was heartbroken. She took out a tissue and wiped the sweat from Amamiya Natsuki's forehead: "Natsuki, hurry and take that mask off."
"Mm… After I take off the mask, my memories of the previous cycle will likely disappear. The notes must be kept safe…"
Amamiya Natsuki raised his hand and took off the mask from his face. At that instant, all memories of the previous cycle instantly vanished.
"My head hurts so much…" Amamiya Natsuki groaned softly, then saw the girls forming a circle, completely surrounding him. He couldn't help but ask in confusion, "What are you doing?"
Kitagawa Marin stood on her tiptoes, helping Amamiya Natsuki wipe the cold sweat from his forehead: "Natsuki's memory really did disappear."
"Memory disappeared…" Amamiya Natsuki's expression was puzzled, "What does that mean?"
"It means exactly what it says." Fujiwara Chika complained, "Just now, a huge coconut fell from the tree, hit President's head with a thud, and then President lost his memory."
"Impossible."
Amamiya Natsuki instinctively denied it.
With his Time Stop ability, he could still be hit by a falling coconut and lose his memory?
It sounded totally unreliable.
Kitagawa Marin blinked, chiming in from the side:
"Natsuki, you really were hit on the head by a coconut, you know."
Juju: "That's right, I can testify."
Sayu: "Um… Marin is right."
Haruno: "Cough cough, Natsuki-kun's head must hurt a lot, right?"
"…"
Amamiya Natsuki touched his head. It was indeed quite throbbing and dizzy, and he even broke out in a cold sweat, making him hesitate a bit.
Could it be that he really was hit on the head by a coconut, and even lost his memory?
Shinomiya Kaguya, on the other hand, pursed her pink lips nearby, still agonizing: "President still didn't say why his underwear from the previous cycle… disappeared!"
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones=1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr | 16 novels being updated, I can't read all comments