It’s Dangerous To Intervene In A Fight

We walked to the suspicious temple. Normally, temples are fancy and large, but this is a small one, so the structure came into view at a glance.

Well, it's not even a boss fight, so there's no need to make it wider.

I could see several statues of Buddha whose heads have fallen off. All of the ponds are dry, and the structures with a Buddhist feel are wrapped in spider webs, making it difficult to recognize their original form.

Spider webs are the best for creating a spooky atmosphere. But isn't there too many? Is this also a part of the reality patch... If not...

With that thought in mind, I ordered to open the door to enter the building.

Click.

"Looks like it's locked."

Oh right. You had to solve the riddle and enter through another passage, right?

But that's annoying.

I got out of the mirror for a second and kicked the door to pieces.1

Oh cool! We can just break it in, instead of finding the key or some other route? I know it's trying to add a puzzle element, but I hate annoying things.

"""..."""

"What?"

They're making faces like I'm denying common sense. I didn't care and went back to the mirror. The time to be active outside is precious, so I should save it as much as possible.

The structure of this building is very simple. It consists of only a hallway and one room, and when viewed from above, it was a large square with a small square in the center.

The room consisted of sliding doors on all four sides, sliding left or right. The shape is designed to be very easy to see when someone passes through the corridor.

Don't you already have an idea in how the exorcism will happen?

It is similar to [The Rose of Sharon Blooms Again].2

In the center, a monster in the shape of a Buddha statue sings an evil song. This nursery rhyme is a curse, and even if you plug your ears, you will be affected.

If you get cursed, your ears will be cut off and you will die instantly, so you must have [Sacred Sound] or another artifact with a purification skill.

However, if you use the bell, it will know your location and open one of the doors, trying to attack you, but you can avoid being caught by hiding between the objects placed in the hallway.

This is how you protect yourself from this monster, and the way to get rid of it is even simpler. Hitting a special Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva.

A total of four Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva are located in each corner of the hallway, and if you hit the one without ears three times, the monster will be exorcised.

I asked in a low voice if they were ready.

The children nodded their heads with determined expressions. So let's get started.

The kids go inside. Then, the broken door was repaired and the surroundings became dark. The sound of singing began to be heard from the room ahead.

[At the corner of Udun palace.]

[There is a monk who cut his ears standing.]

The children moved in a hurry. They went around a corner. This Ksitigarbha has ears. Not this guy.

[How many more people are standing.]

[Three of them are standing.]

Go straight to the next corner. Is this the guy? It turned out to be a Ksitigarbha with ears again. The song is halfway through, so it's time to shake the bell.

I whispered to Eun-jeong.

"Be careful of branches that make noise if you step on them and ring the bell. Don't forget to find a place to hide."

[The monk who cuts his ears laughs.]

[Not hearing children crying anymore.]

-Jingle.

The bell rings at the moment when the ears start to hurt. The clear sound ripples through the air, and the eerie curse disappears.

"Ah..."

I covered my mouth to hold back the sound of being tickled.

Swoosh!

[...]

A Buddha statue opens the door and examines the hallway. If it doesn't find us, it will close the door again and go back.

However.

Thud.

The sound of the Buddha taking a step is heard. What the hell? I had to step out of the mirror and check what was going on.

The statue is the same as the one seen in the game. But the legs and head of a spider protruding from the inside of the stomach puzzled me.

It looked like a spider parasitized it one-sidedly, but even though the Buddha statue was a monster, it didn't seem to care because it was closer to an object than a living thing.

I considered it was possible for his behavior to change.

However, I couldn't even imagine that the monsters would merge. Besides, it's a spider again! Why do these jerks keep appearing!

At this point, it was clear that something had happened to the boss monster [Ms. Spider].

It only makes an appearance at chapter 3! I mean, why is it influencing the early stage so much?

If this is the case, I have no choice but to revise the strategy. If it closes the door and sing the song again while wandering the hallway, we will be discovered.

In other words, I have to do something now!

Seeing the mysterious statue approaching, Ha-rim asked in a trembling voice.

"Ella, what do we do?"

"...Go find the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva!"

I jumped out of the mirror. And kicked the metal body 2,5 times larger than an adult male.

Bang! With a loud sound, the giant was pushed away and went back into the central room. I followed it.

The spider monster on the lower half of the body seems mortified.

"It's a foul if the tagger goes out into the hallway."

[Kieeaek!!!]

The sharp legs of the spider and the arms of the Buddha swing wildly.

The sound of cutting the air was sharp, so I intuitively felt that it would be difficult to kill it as simple as the [Spider Attendant].

[At the corner of Udun palace.]

[There is a monk who cut his ears standing.]

The nursery rhyme comes from its mouth. This song was something that could be sung while attacking.

First of all, the attack range is longer than mine. If it shows a gap while avoiding an attack, it would be better to stab the spider's head in one shot.

POV Switch - Ha-rim

Ella jumped out of the mirror and kicked the monster. It's amazing. That giant is being pushed away. How does she get that much power from such a small body? Is it related to the black smoke that Ella absorbs?

"Let's go, guys!"

The plan seems to have gone awry, but what we have to do hasn't changed. As Ella was fighting the tagger, she would be able to defeat him rather quickly. But Ella said she has a time limit on her coming out, so we have to finish it soon!

"Ha-rim, look over there! It's a Ksitigarbha with ears cut off!"

At the place Kyeong-min pointed at, there was a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva who had no ears.

It really is! It's right over there!

[At the corner of Udun palace.]

[There is a monk who cut his ears standing.]

An unpleasant song that rings in the ears. Ella had told me that if it sang all of that nursery rhyme, my ears would be cut off and I would die instantly. I'd rather interrupt it right away.

"Eun-jeong, purification!"

"Got it!"

-Jingle.

The sound of Eun-jeong's bell washes away the unpleasant aura.

Good!

Now we hit it!

However, the body of the Bodhisattva in front of me shakes. Then, a spider leg protruded from the inside of it.

Clack clack clack clack clack!

A Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva that runs away from us at great speed. I froze for a moment at the sight.

"The Bodhisattva is running away!"

"Eww, gross!"

"Isn't it too fast?"

In addition, not only the earless Bodhisattva, but spider legs also protrude from the bodies of other ones, and they run away in all directions.

It's too fast. We need to speed up too. I shouted at Eun-jeong.

"Eun-jeong, speed!"

"Okay!"

-Jingle.

Eun-jeong waves the bell in the other direction. My body becomes lighter.

"Run and catch it!"

Me and the others ran at full speed. The corridors were too short to run and there were many obstacles, so I couldn't speed up. I'm going to need another way.

"Suho and Eun-jeong are going to go in the opposite direction! It's a closed place anyway, so we'll catch them if we keep running!"

"Got it!"

"And Eun-jeong, cleanse the curse periodically!"

"Yes!"

Bang!!

Shortly after parting ways with Suho and Eun-jeong, Ella flew through the door from the center room. It seems that the monster in the form of a Buddha statue got a strike.

"Ella, are you okay?!"

"Never come near or interfere."

Ella said, her red eyes glowing in anger. At this sight, I winced a little.

Even during the operation, if an unexpected situation occurs, we decided to look at the circumstances and proceed according to the plan, but she told me not to intervene to the point where she herself had to step in.

Ella charges at the monster again, exhaling a ferocious aura. The violent sound of fighting can be heard in the middle room. If I get hit even once in that fight, I don't think I'll even have bones left.

"Ha-rim, it's over there!"

Kyeong-min pointed to the ceiling. There, an earless Ksitigarbha was moving at high speed.

I can't reach there. Do I only need to hit it?

I picked up one of the objects that had fallen in the hallway along the way. If this necklace power functions the way I thought it would, it will work.

"Ha!"

[Luck]

The object I threw flew away drawing a strange line. The earless Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva took a direct hit from it.

"Nice!"

It staggered and fell. When I looked at it again, it had ears.

I didn't see it wrong. Ella said that if you hit an earless Bodhisattva, it will get ears, and one of the remaining ones will randomly lose its ears.

"If the Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva on Suho's side has changed, they will drive it here."

As expected, the Ksitigarbha with a spider leg appears with Suho. This time, without ears.

I and Kyeong-min jumped in and grabbed the Bodhisattva so that it could not escape. I got goosebumps when I heard a crackling noise from inside.

"Ewww!"

"You're done!"

Suho strikes it with the shield he was holding. It has ears again. Now you just have to hit it once more. Where is it?

"Ha-rim, beside you!"

At that moment, another Ksitigarbha passed right next to me. We turned the corner to chase after it and saw it running into the central room. let's try following.

There, I could see Ella being held down by the huge arm of the Buddha statue.

It's a crisis! I have to help!

I thought of the Bodhisattva who was knocked down after being hit by Suho's shield while looking around.

POV Switch - Ella

While avoiding the spider's attack, a golden arm came crashing down on me, and I had no choice but to grab it. A tremendous weight pushes me down.

Is it a characteristic of this body? The more I was attacked, the more the anger inside me seemed to explode.

"Even if I'm weak..."

I'm still one of the bosses!!!

I hold the monster's arm in reverse with the power and arm strength that I had gathered to the limit with my psychokinesis, which I hadn't been using against it until now.

The body of the Buddha statue leans, but the lower half of the spider doesn't. The legs then aim for my body and stabs me.

Or it would've stabbed.

"Ah.. Ella! Watch out!"

Ha-rim, who intruded, threw a Ksitigarbha Bodhisattva towards the spider.

In an instant, the spider's attack stopped. It seems that it is reluctant to attack its allies. Suho then lunges forward with his shield, striking the body. The spider monster shows an opening.

I passed through the legs like lightning and decapitated the spider's head that pierced the statue's stomach. The fishy smell of blood exalts my body.

The arm of the Buddha statue strikes me again.

"Is it over already?"

I threw the knife at the Bodhisattva who quietly escaped. Every time the children caught one, the statue reacted, so I knew that we needed to hit it only one more time.

Then, the statue, which was about to strike with its arm, stopped functioning like a machine without energy.

"Suho? Can you give me the shield?"

After that I took the shield. I hope it still works even after being merged with another monster.

Unsurprisingly, the frozen statue still muttered something. If you try hearing it, it's sounded like curses.

After muttering a few words, the Buddha statue stops mumbling, and letters are engraved on the police shield. With this, it was completed. A new artifact!

And the monsters turned into smoke and were absorbed into me.

The materialization time was tight, but I'm glad. If an unexpected situation occurs on the way back, it will be difficult in many ways. I handed over the shield to Suho and returned to the mirror.

"Are we done, Ella?"

"Yeah, it's over now."

"I'm glad."

Ha-rim relaxed. Ah, wouldn't that be okay?

POV Switch - 3rd Person

"You're glad? Why are you glad?"

Ella said with a smile.

"Eh...?"

Ha-rim tilts her head with a puzzled look.

"I'm sure I told you not to interfere?"

"Eh?"

"Why didn't you listen to me~?"

Ha-rim thought to herself.

The face is smiling, but the eyes are not smiling at all!

Are you mad about that?