What met their eyes was a twisted, apocalyptic world.
The sky was purplish-black, buildings were decaying, and Black Smoke billowed from every part of the land.
Grotesque, humanoid monsters, like walking corpses, writhed and squirmed in every street and alley. Even on the city's skyline, there were two gigantic, worm-like monsters, over a hundred meters tall, with terrifyingly twisted, hollow skulls for heads.
Tentacles like an octopus grew from their bodies, slowly grasping the evil spirits on the ground and continuously bringing them to their mouths. The crunching sound of the skulls chewing could be heard clearly even inside the Cafe.
For humans, this place was hell in the true sense of the word.
Not just for humans, but for the world itself, this place was "hell."
This world did not possess the ability of "reincarnation," so it could only separate the fallen evil spirits from reality. This place contained all the evil spirits from the time humanity established civilization until now.
Of course, evil spirits would devour each other, so their numbers weren't so exaggerated as to completely fill the "deep layer."
However, this also led to the birth of many monstrous evil spirits with exaggerated sizes.
"So many, yet not as dense as a Kabane tide, but each evil spirit is very strong. If this strength were applied to humans, I probably wouldn't be confident in killing even one." Ikoma came to his senses, his face stern, and quickly took out the forged sword from his belt.
As a God's Grace who had fought from the apocalypse until now, monsters could not scare him; at most, it would be death.
After death, in his next life, as someone who had contributed to the world, he would still reincarnate as a human.
Moreover, with a "God" overseeing him, he couldn't die.
"Yes, indeed, these evil spirits react very sluggishly compared to us who have Divine Blessing." Ayame immediately saw the specific combat power of these evil spirits.
"This is an evil spirit—gulp, so, so terrifying." Nibutani Shinka's voice trembled with fear, and her body instinctively stiffened.
Although she had long prepared herself for battle in her heart.
But when truly facing such terrifying evil spirits, her body wouldn't obey her.
"Clack-clack-clack-clack—" Tomioka Yuuta's face had turned green with fear, his upper and lower jaws trembling, his teeth constantly clashing together, making clacking sounds.
"To, to fight, monsters like that—can we, can we really do it? Will we, will we win?"
Kumin Tsuyuri hugged herself, trembling, her soft voice tinged with a cry: "I, I don't know, I leave my body to you."
She activated her "Divine Blessing" without hesitation and immediately fell asleep.
Just as her body lost conscious control and was about to fall, her subconscious in the dream instantly took over her body. A snot bubble appeared at her nose, her breathing became calm, her face expressionless, her eyes tightly closed, and her ears moved slightly.
"Understood. I will fight in your place now."
"Cheating! What kind of Divine Blessing is this? It's too much of a cheat!" Nikuratoudou Yuriya stared, pointing at Kumin Tsuyuri, and loudly exclaimed.
"What a wonderful Divine Blessing, I want it too." Yotsuya Miko was full of envy. If she had this "Divine Blessing," she could face any terrifying evil spirit head-on.
"Asleep? A snot bubble, I've only seen that in manga, it's so amazing." Yurikawa Hana blinked her eyes, curiously moving closer to Kumin Tsuyuri, wanting to reach out and poke the snot bubble.
But as soon as she reached out, her wrist was grabbed, and her neck was simultaneously choked.
"Huh?" Yurikawa Hana was startled, and quickly retreated two steps: "I won't touch, I won't touch, I won't fight you."
"Hmph, what's there to be afraid of? Those monsters are nothing to be afraid of. If you're scared, just hide behind me, Death!" Dekimori Sanae put her hands on her hips, her expression also becoming very serious.
"Mm, if you're scared, I'll protect you." Rikka Takanashi took off the eye patch from her right eye.
"Who, who's scared? They just look a bit scary, that's all. Watch me fight!" Tomioka Yuuta, upon hearing that he would be protected by girls, instantly mustered his courage and clenched his fists.
"Exactly! I am now a powerful Archmage. Don't underestimate me. I was just disgusted because it was the first time I saw such an ugly monster." Nibutani Shinka said stubbornly.
She had already made up her mind to become the heroine of her dreams, so how could she falter in her first battle?
And if she retreated before even starting to fight, God would definitely dislike her, and she didn't want to be disliked!
"Mm." Busujima Yako nodded. Not bad. In a peaceful world, to have such determination and quality in their first supernatural battle was already passing.
"This street where the Cafe is located is a safe zone. No evil spirit can trespass a single step. If you encounter a tide of evil spirits, retreat as much as possible while killing as many as you can."
"Discuss among yourselves how you want to fight; I will not interfere."
After Busujima Yako finished speaking, her figure disappeared before them.
After Saya Takagi left, everyone fell completely silent and began discussing how to form teams.
A team should ideally not exceed seven people and must have both combat and support personnel.
Everyone possessed the "Basic Magic Encyclopedia" and had multiple spells, so everyone was considered a combatant.
Currently, there were three support personnel: Ayame Yomogawa, who possessed "Healing Lv.4" and could quickly heal injuries unless limbs were missing.
Yurikawa Hana, who possessed "Life Source Lv.1" and could contribute vitality to teammates, as well as provide a lot of "Curse Power," making her a super strong logistical healer.
Nibutani Shinka, who was a semi-support, possessed "Magic Arts Lv.1" and could significantly enhance the effects of basic healing magic.
The healing magic in the "Basic Magic Encyclopedia" was effective for ordinary people, but not to an exaggerated extent. Healing severe injuries required continuous use of magic, and the healing time was still very long, at least three to five days.
But for ordinary people, this was already a miracle.
For those in combat, basic magic was completely insufficient; it was merely a drop in the bucket.
Finally, everyone split into two teams.
Ayame Yomogawa, as the leader of the first team, would lead Rikka Takanashi and the other novices, with Ikoma, a standard warrior, focusing on protecting them.
Yotsuya Miko and her two companions joined Mumei's team. Although the three of them were also novices, their combat coordination was already quite good, making them relatively less worrisome.
"Alright, now, as the captain, everyone listen to my command." Ayame Yomogawa said to Rikka Takanashi and the other five with a serious expression.
"Yes!" x5.
The five had no objections; even Dekimori Sanae was very obedient. Although she had chuunibyou, she still strictly followed the adults' guidance.
"Then! Let's go!"
For the first time in thousands of years, this deep layer welcomed humans who came to subjugate them.
Both subjugation teams had solemn expressions, sweat beading on their foreheads, but their eyes were filled with burning resolve.
With a creak, the Cafe's door opened.
The two teams, mentally prepared, quickly arrived outside the area covered by the Cafe.
Looking back, it was as if a pale golden bowl was inverted, protecting everything inside. Evil spirits would be scorched into Black Smoke the moment they touched the golden edge.
"Charge!" Ayame Yomogawa took out a Kagura bell from the sleeve of her miko outfit and, taking the lead, rushed out of the golden protective barrier.
Ding-a-ling-ling!
As the Kagura bell swayed, wisps of crimson flames flew out from it, transforming into cherry blossom petals.
"Karmic Fire!"
The crimson cherry blossom petals spread, and a five-meter-tall, bloated evil spirit was touched by the petals, instantly engulfed in flames.
"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!" The evil spirit roared in pain within the flames.
At this moment, crimson eyes, or black, hollow eye sockets, turned towards them, and voices, as if from chaos, surged towards them.
"You can see, you can see, you can see us!!"
"You saw me! You saw me!"
"Eat! Make them eat! Everything seen must be eaten!"
An endless torrent of malice surged towards them, who had just stepped out of the golden barrier.
At the same time, one evil spirit after another rushed forward like mad.