Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 247, Section 245: At the Foot of Mount Fuji

"Auntie!"

Hachioji City, near the highway entrance with that transparent protective film.

The tree-man unleashed a technique called "Old Tree Roots Coiling," its branches flailing wildly, tightly binding a monster resembling an American cockroach.

The twin ponytails that kept swaying from the top of her head were like two tentacles, constantly punching the tree man's chest with tiny fists, but unfortunately, the effect was not good.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the monster tried to escape, but its wings were locked and it could not open them.

Hirosue Eri leaped lightly from the treetop, her gaze sweeping over the monster's two repulsive tentacles. She then subconsciously smoothed her smooth blonde twin tails, her expression growing increasingly hostile.

"die!"

Suppressing her nausea, she flicked a ivy seed from her fingertip, precisely shooting it into a crack in the monster's head shell.

Under full force, the twin-tailed hair's eyes rolled back, its body trembled, and wildly growing climbing vines spread from the top of its head.

The wildly growing vines, as if alive, rapidly spread and coiled along the monster's joints and veins, binding it into a green rice dumpling in the blink of an eye.
Soon, a Japanese-style bondage was completed, and even the two wriggling ponytails were forcibly cut off.

Eri couldn't forgive having such ugly twin tails dangling in front of her!

"Woo-coo-coo".

The treant poked the bound monster with its branch.

"Suck slowly, don't kill him all at once," Eri said coldly.

Once granted permission to eat, the tree-man eagerly stretched out its roots, inserted them into the monster's body, absorbed its nutrients, and made satisfied cooing sounds.

Eri had no intention of dealing with the monster cleanly. She knew that once the thing died, its corpse would quickly disintegrate, turning into red light and returning to Mount Fuji. The tree spirit wouldn't have time to absorb it, so all her efforts would be in vain.

As the monster lost its ability to resist, the climbing vine withered quickly, but left behind a section of vine about the thickness of a thumb and a foot long.

It crawled up to Eri's hand with a bow-like motion, gently coiling around her arm and leaving a spiraling, curved line.

"Another special plant?"

Feeling the faint connection transmitted through the vines, Eri was no longer as surprised as she had been at the beginning.

This seems to be a side effect of her abilities.

There is a chance that the plants she activates will gain rudimentary intelligence and maintain their combat form for a long time.

Just as with cherry blossom trees, so too with this climbing vine.

Given time, perhaps she can raise an army of tree people.

but
Her gaze fell on the seed pattern on her wrist, and the dark green lines that stretched from her veins all the way to her elbow.

The prerequisite is that she can find a way to curb the erosion and assimilation brought about by the power of the other shore flower within her body.

Otherwise, it won't be long before she is completely assimilated.

Boom!
The falling lava rocks crashed onto the membrane, creating ripples. Many of them were pure stone, but many others were monsters.

They collided with the membrane, were forced out of their lava state, and then slid down the arc of the membrane.

As the impact intensified, Hirosue Eri could see with her own eyes that the defensive perimeter seemed to be shrinking inward little by little.

The distance that was originally over a hundred meters away from her has now shrunk to a few dozen meters in a short time.

The situation seems dire, and it's unclear how much longer Muramasa Taki can hold on.

And can they resolve the source of Mount Fuji before this defensive perimeter collapses?

The roar of a motorcycle came from behind. Eri turned her head and saw a small motorcycle coming towards her.

Three people were riding on the motorcycle, approaching her at a speed that was completely out of character for a motorcycle like that.

"Hiroshie Eri?"

With a screeching sound, the car braked suddenly and blocked the way in front of the wary Tree Man.

Nobi Tomoyo looked up and asked Eri, who was standing in the treetop.

He learned the name from Taki.

Hirosue Eri landed on the ground, nodded slightly, and then glanced at the three people in front of her.

The speaker was Nobita, and behind him sat a samurai and an unidentified driver in a delivery uniform, presumably a new superhuman.

Are there only the three of you?

"Yes, Demon Mist. She's gone first."

"How long will it take you to get to the foot of Mount Fuji?"

Nobita looked at Hayato Miyamoto, who patted the front of the car confidently: "Half an hour is more than enough. If we go all out, ten minutes wouldn't be a problem!"

"Hurry up, Muramasa might not be able to hold out for long." Eri said calmly, seemingly unsurprised by the speed of 100 kilometers per hour in ten minutes.

"You think you can be faster than me?" Hayato asked, clearly unconvinced by her tone.

“Yes.” Eri readily admitted.

"Alright! Let's have a contest then, the loser is the loser!" Hayato didn't bet anything substantial, he just childishly made a harsh statement.

Nobita's lips twitched. This guy seems more like a high school student than he does.

Renault actually quite likes this simple-minded companion; he's another backup upgrade package.

Eri glanced at the defensive perimeter, which had shrunk by a few meters: "See you at the foot of Mount Fuji. Don't keep me waiting too long."

Before she finished speaking, she had already flipped over and leaped back into the treetop.

"I won't lose!" Hayato roared dramatically, twisting the throttle sharply!

Om-!
The engine roared violently, and the car body instantly deformed.

The blazing tank reappears.

The tires rubbed against the ground, leaving behind blinding sparks and scorch marks. The entire car, like a burning meteor, vanished from its spot in an instant, leaving only a trail of fire stretching rapidly forward.

Eri calmly watched the motorcycle disappear from sight before patting the treant's trunk: "Protect yourself, try to stay within the shield's range, and don't fight monsters head-on."

The tree-man nodded, bewildered.

After giving her instructions, the seed mark on Eri's wrist suddenly lit up.

Her figure began to blur and become transparent, eventually disappearing from the spot.

Although teleportation is accompanied by intense dizziness and a sense of spatial tearing, the speed is indeed unparalleled.

On the highway, cars were being smashed and thrown about, and burning chariots transformed into crimson hurricanes along the road. Nobi Tomoyoshi was engulfed in flames, but he was not burned. He was gripping Hayato's shoulder tightly, the wind pressure from the high speed slamming against his face like a solid wall. The scenery at the edge of his vision had already been blurred into streaks of light, especially since he wasn't wearing his knight's armor.

He even doubted how much of the road Hayato could see at that speed; was it possible that the shortest distance between two points was a straight line?

"Boss! What's the plan for the island?" Renault practically roared.

He felt no qualms about calling a high school student "boss".

“His abilities are greatly limited. He has already attacked once and needs a long time to cool down.” Nobita’s answer also seemed to be torn apart by the wind.

Renault quickly calculated the combat strength in his mind.

He had contacted the demon mist, but he was alone. Yui seemed to have special abilities and couldn't fight either.

Needless to say, Uesugi's abilities remain a mystery, but it's certain that her unfavorable initial fate resulted in her abilities being less than ideal, making her unsuitable for combat.

So it's normal that they don't come.

"Tian" is even more mysterious. At least the others can get a reply, but he can't be contacted at all outside the game. He can't be found anywhere!

Meanwhile, Muramasa Taki, a fighter with at least three of the top-tier abilities among the extraordinary, needs to stay behind to protect Tokyo.
In other words, the only ones who can participate in this battle are the Knight, the Demon Mist, the Delivery Falcon, and Hirosue Eri, the plant-type ability user from the Extraordinary Countermeasures Bureau who somehow acquired supernatural abilities. That's roughly how they're called.

As for Renault, he can only be considered half a Renault.

Because he's always prepared to run away if things go wrong, and he might even steal some of the extraordinary blood on the way out.

Four and a half extraordinary beings confront the demon of Mount Fuji, Ashiya Dōman.
Can you win?
"Can you hold on?!" Nobi sensed that the speed had subtly slowed down, and assumed that Hayato had reached his limit.

"It will definitely work!!" Hayato's face turned red, and veins bulged on his forehead. He almost roared as he twisted the accelerator to the floor again.

For a total of nine minutes and thirty-six seconds, with tires still burning and flames raging, Hayato, carrying the two men, drifted almost out of control and came to a stop at the so-called meeting point at the foot of Mount Fuji.

It was supposed to be a meeting point, but it was actually a terrifying, scorched-brown land filled with smoke.

Every building that once stood was completely obliterated by the massive shockwave that hit them right in the face.

The outline of Mount Fuji was twisted and grotesque under the dual ravages of the nuclear explosion and eruption, resembling a huge scar flowing with dark red blood, its surface covered with surging lava.

Standing at the foot of the mountain, one not only has to endure radiation and heat waves, but what truly makes it hard to breathe is the pair of giant, crimson eyes above, piercing through the billowing smoke and volcanic ash, looking down upon them.

Each breath felt as heavy as if I were inside lava.

Ashiya Dōman seemed to have been waiting for them here.

The lava was deliberately diverted, leaving this open space.

A typical boss battle map.

The chariot braked suddenly and stalled, transforming back into a small scooter.

Hayato, like a dehydrated, dying fish, tumbled off the car seat, his hands bracing against the scorching ground, his chest heaving violently as he gasped for breath. Sweat, barely seeping from his pores, hissed and steamed up.

"Do you still have any holy spring water?" Nobita asked, touching the bottles of holy spring water in his pocket with a serious expression.

That was provided to him by Uesugi and Taki.

He has other uses and doesn't want to be used here.

However, if your teammates are not up to par, you definitely can't be stingy.

Hayato was so exhausted that he couldn't even speak. He could only nod with difficulty, trembling as he pulled a bottle from his pocket and gulped it down.

The refreshingly cool spring water instantly replenished his depleted energy, forcibly pulling him back from the brink of exhaustion.

Once he caught his breath, he looked around anxiously: "Where is she?"

"At this."

The sound was coming from the smoke above.

Hirosue Eri's figure fell silently like a fallen leaf.

After landing, she did not immediately look at the three people, but bent down, carefully picked up a small handful of the scorching hot soil under her feet, rubbed it between her fingers and sniffed it.

Her brows were furrowed, and the soil between her fingers held no trace of life, only a deathly stillness.

In this battlefield, utterly scorched and devoid of life, her abilities were likely largely rendered useless beforehand.

Looking around, the forests near Fuji have long been turned into a sea of ​​fire, and the greenery in the distance is far away, dozens of kilometers away.

"Looks like I'll have to play support."

Eri silently accepted reality.

"How did you get here so fast!"

Hayato's voice was hoarse, his eyes wide, his tone filled with incomprehension and a hint of resentment at being crushed.

More importantly, how come this woman doesn't even have a drop of sweat on her face?!

This is completely unreasonable. He barely made it to the scene when his lungs were about to burst, while the other person seemed to have just taken a walk!
"Now is not the time to talk about these things, be careful."

Nobi interrupted Hayato's desire to investigate, staring intently ahead at the center of the scorched ground, where a seemingly tiny patch of burnt earth was eerily rising upwards.

As if in response to his warning, there was a loud "poof" sound from the center of the raised mound!
An arm, withered like charcoal and covered with cracks, suddenly pierced through the mound of earth and emerged abruptly.

Five withered fingers dug deep into the scorching hot earth, like a visitor from hell.

The clods of earth were cleared away, and a hunched figure, resembling a skeleton with only a layer of withered, dark skin clinging to the frame, slowly emerged from it.

The movements looked difficult, but everyone present was on high alert.

Renault silently took a half step back, his eyes flashing, and shielded everyone in front of him.

Hayato sat back on the bike, gripping the handlebars warily, the engine humming.

Eri quietly adjusted her position and pulled a handful of seeds from her sleeve.

Nobita took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the pounding in his heart, and summoned the Hero's Armor and Hero's Sword, ready for battle.

The gaunt man's head was tilted limply to one side, and where his eyes should have been, there were only two bottomless, dark voids.

Above him in the sky, the enormous crimson eyes that loomed above him, encompassing the entire battlefield, moved in sync with his movements.

In the deathly silence, a hoarse voice, as if it hadn't uttered a word for centuries, faintly drifted from the direction of the withered body.

"Where does your power come from?"

　There's one more chapter, which will be later.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)