Why is my journey to the world of anime a strange tale of rules?

But suddenly, he opened his eyes.

Those seemingly cloudy, bloodshot eyes shone with a clear light at this moment.

Gao Hai looked ahead, at the darkness that seemed capable of swallowing everything, and at the various corners of the city beyond that darkness.

[Oh, there's another trick to this? This is really troublesome.]

He already knew the method the [Hospital] used to deal with the elite squad: forcibly cramming 30 core obsessions from seven different Red Moon-level dungeons into a single space. This created a chaotic mess of core obsessions and various strange creatures, making normal exploration nearly impossible. Although the player teams currently in the dungeon were exploring with all their might, they hadn't made much progress yet, and it could be said that they had temporarily reached a stalemate.

Thirty core obsessions crammed onto a single map—this damned [Hospital] really dares to think of such a thing. This situation is far more absurd than the combined Nightfall Mountain Middle School and Bydos Research Institute dungeon he had conquered before. Even though his players now possess very convenient methods for banishing monsters, to avoid alerting them, everyone must confirm each core obsession individually and plant mines on each one before detonating them all at once. The [Hospital's] countermeasures have made this crucial confirmation step incredibly difficult, and even Gao Hai couldn't think of a solution for the time being.

It all depends on everyone's individual performance.

Although Gao Hai desperately wanted to do something himself, he simply couldn't do anything right now. He was simultaneously providing support to various areas of Tokyo while also guiding his bandmates—Ryo, Nijika, and Hoshika—who had now mistakenly entered the instance. He simply couldn't spare any more energy. Moreover, even though no signs had yet appeared, Gao Hai was certain that once his power erupted on a large scale within the instance space, the [Hospital] would notice and react. Therefore, he only had one chance to go all out in that mixed instance, and he couldn't afford any mistakes.

In addition to this issue, there is another crucial matter. Something that was originally just a trivial bait plan became incredibly eye-catching after it was actually implemented, and it actually had a real possibility of success.

hum-

The golden light was pulsating.

Surrounding the deserted, abandoned city, the immense golden light emanating from Maki and Kaguya, who stood atop a building, had already enveloped an area of ​​about four or five city blocks.

Based on Hayasaka Ai's blessing [Fictional Domain], a remote activation is performed to construct a spatial structure belonging to Takami, filled with Takami's own power. Then, Hayasaka Ai's third blessing, [Idealistic Domain], further amplifies Takami's power. After completing this spatial construction, Shijou Maki deeply experiences this power through her own blessing [Mystic Resonance], while Shinomiya Kaguya resonates with Shijou Maki's perception through [Existence Chain], further stabilizing the current spatial structure and using the power of [Disturbing Words] to further enhance the effect…

The final result of this series of complex operations and the combined power of various blessings was that, with the remote support of Maki, Kaguya, and Ai, the combined power of their blessings created a unique domain space belonging to Takami in the abandoned city, and continued to expand this domain, gradually encroaching on the surrounding space.

If left unchecked, this area will undoubtedly eventually cover the entire city of Tokyo. And if that moment truly arrives, none of the monsters still active in the city will survive; they will all be exorcised. All the preparations made by the [Hospital] will become meaningless with the change of ownership. In other words, the plan devised by Maki and Kaguya, initially intended to draw the enemy's attention and provide cover for the player team, has now become a real act of undermining the [Hospital]'s load-bearing walls.

Sometimes you really have to admit, you can't underestimate your own girl. She's gotten herself into such a mess without even realizing it. Just in the last ten minutes or so, hundreds of players messaged me saying they saw the sun, which really confused her.

As for the hospital's reaction, Gao Hai could already sense it.

Those malevolent auras gathering from all around made no attempt to conceal themselves.

Buzz-buzz-

The golden light continued to spread little by little.

The two girls standing on the rooftop had already opened their eyes.

"Grandma, you're here."

Zhenfei looked at the darkness flowing outside the golden light and spoke softly to her companion beside her.

"I know we can't back down, at least not in the first wave."

Kaguya's dark red eyes were also fixed intently on her surroundings. She could sense the heavy atmosphere; the number and quality of the monsters that had gathered were terrifying. It was hard to imagine how an enemy of this scale had managed to assemble and how they had silently appeared before them. Kaguya suspected she might have missed some crucial clue, but with the enemy so close, she didn't have time to confirm her suspicions.

zizi——

Amidst the piercing scorching sound, the first monster charged into the space overflowing with golden light.

boom! ! !

The divine power belonging to Gao Hai undoubtedly tore this thing apart in an instant, turning it into countless flying fragments with a violent tremor. The blood rain fell, but it was evaporated before it even touched the ground, turning into ashes along with the monster's remains, leaving no trace.

Golden light trembled, and crimson shadows lingered within it.

As a demigod who ascended to godhood through spiritual power, Gao Hai's domain might lack some other aspects, but his spiritual power was exceptionally strong. And after being imbued with divine power, this spiritual power's suppression of strange creatures had now reached an extremely unreasonable level, to the point that the initial enemy that broke through couldn't even put up a slight resistance before being annihilated.

However, this is clearly only a warm-up for both Gao Hai and the hospital, and it is far from the time to officially begin.

"The derivative monsters have no original form. It seems we need to use cannon fodder as the first wave of probing!"

Maki had deduced the opponent's situation from the fate of the torn monster. Her eyes glowed with a red light similar to Kaguya's, and she was ready to unleash the power of her berserk blessing and fight to the death.

"That way we've attracted attention. The next wave... more than five hundred?"

Kaguya's eyes also glowed with a dark red light. She silently counted the number of the generated monsters charging from all around, and then her expression changed slightly.

The sheer number of these derivative monsters isn't a major concern, but the question is, where did they come from? How could so many of them appear so quickly from all around? They must have a dedicated area for spatial teleportation; there must be some kind of portal to do this. But the question is, where is that place?

Located on the rooftop of the building, protected by a vast golden flash, Kaguya was unable to see the buildings shrouded in shadow outside the surrounding space, nor the bizarre creatures made of twisted flesh and deformed bones crawling out of the black cracks within those buildings.

Black cracks, black pits.

There was no way to see where the black road led.

The mass-produced monsters spawned by the [Hospital] were emerging in an endless stream, creating an effect that nearly blotted out the sky. Completely surprised by the effectiveness, Maki and Kaguya could only do their utmost to maintain the barrier and defend against the monsters' onslaught.

Rumble, rumble, rumble——

Violent explosions continued one after another, and flames raged across the deserted city, while the torrential rain continued to fall relentlessly, showing no signs of abating.

Rumble, rumble——

Even from a great distance, the explosion sounded like a muffled thunderclap.

Boom——

In the dimly lit corridor, Xiong Mi looked up in confusion at the shadows above her, wondering if she had misheard something.

"It sounded like an explosion? And it felt like it was quite powerful."

At this moment, the lawyer accompanying Xiong Mi spoke up, allowing him to rule out the possibility of hallucination and begin to think about the source of the strange voice.

However, when the three of them actually started to pay attention to the sound, the explosion, which had been quite clear, quickly disappeared and soon could not be found.

"Want to try?"

The lawyer waved a heavy book with alloy ramming edges at Xiong Mi.

"...No, keep moving forward. The source of that sound was moving very fast; it must be something violently active. It's unlikely to be a core obsession, so there's no need to chase it."

Xiong Mi frowned and thought for a while before slowly shaking her head and giving a negative answer, then continued walking forward.

To be honest, the team's exploration process was not smooth. The three of them had been exploring this instance space for quite some time and had encountered the monsters many times, but they had not found a single clue about the core obsession. After nearly an hour of investigation, they had almost entirely wasted their physical strength, mental energy, and obsession objects.

If it were just a waste of time, that wouldn't be so bad, since that's how dungeon exploration is. The problem is that the three of them have already returned to the places they've been before a total of six times, and they've collected countless clues from various sources, all of which are completely useless.

Even if a seemingly normal rule table without any informational interference is obtained, the result is often that the rule table does not correspond to the current scene at all, making it impossible to make any verification. The chaos of the entire instance space has rendered the original rule system almost completely ineffective. Players have no way to effectively judge the various document clues they have obtained. Therefore, in the end, everyone's investigation has reverted to the most primitive method, which is to walk around this hellish place on foot and rely on luck to confront the monsters head-on to find opportunities.

This isn't a good solution, but Xiongmi has no other ideas at the moment.

"This is a place we've never been before, so be careful."

Push open one door, walk down a staircase, and finally arrive at another door.

This time, Xiong Mi smelled a faint odor of disinfectant as soon as she opened the door, and also noticed the "Indoor Swimming Pool No. 2" sign on the wall.

A swimming pool? I remember seeing a mention of a swimming pool in that messy rule list I saw before. So this must be a new area; hopefully, I'll find something different here.

Thinking this, Xiong Mi walked forward and came to see a swimming pool filled with sewage, which looked like a pool of mud. The pool itself wasn't small, measuring 50 meters long. Next to the pool were various chairs and lounge chairs, as well as some areas clearly reserved for vendors. However, now both the chairs and stalls were empty and covered in a thick layer of dust.

tread--

With clear footsteps, the players moved slowly through the indoor pool.

The dark room seemed impossible to fully illuminate; even when Xiong Mi turned the brightness of his flashlight to the highest setting, the light could not travel very far.

"New traces have been found."

Then, the lawyer behind Xiong Mi suddenly spoke up and stopped walking.

"where is it?"

Upon hearing this, Xiong Mi carefully turned her head and then noticed the unusual thing about the wall beside her.

It wasn't a wall; on one side of the room next to me was actually a row of floor-to-ceiling windows, windows that allowed me to directly see the outside environment and enjoy the scenery.

But now, these floor-to-ceiling windows are revealing what's inside the room.

It was as if it had become a mirror, reflecting the place under the light, but in an extremely distorted, almost cursed way.

After all, Xiong Mi couldn't recall ever doing something like hanging himself from a rope, floating in mid-air with his feet off the ground and his tongue hanging down as if he had been hanged.

call--

The next second, the feeling of falling as my feet left the ground came quickly.

Chapter Twelve: Gao Hai's new support, rescue team member Lao Guo comes to lead the way.

By the time I noticed, my teammates had already disappeared.

The space became chaotic without anyone noticing, and the scene changed once again without warning. Dark rooms lined up endlessly on both sides of the road, merging together, and the road itself gradually twisted, along with the surrounding rooms and ceilings. In the foreground, they were clearly distinct, but gradually transitioned into merging as they receded into the distance.

However, they can still sense the presence of their teammates.

Perhaps because these instances are still within the same space, even though they are now scattered due to spatial disorder, they can still sense each other's existence to some extent. But even if they can sense each other, reuniting is not so easy. At least one thing Xiong Mi can confirm is that the distortion and fusion of the instances themselves has made it difficult for spatial artifacts to work in this environment. Right now, even if they brought in the blood key that Mr. Gao Hai possessed, they probably still wouldn't be able to reach their destination. After all, the spatial rules of this instance itself are probably already close to a state of complete distortion and collapse.

Of course, although the current situation is somewhat unfavorable, since the decision has been made, Xiong Mi is still prepared for the situation she will face.

The blessing of the nameless one is activated silently.

Xiongmi's presence in front of the monster rapidly diminished, reaching a level of near-complete invisibility. Then, the blessing of Asamoto Eriko, which he had acquired by clearing Yoruyama Middle School, activated, and began to provide Xiongmi with sound information about the surrounding environment.

Compared to Gao Hai and his harem, Xiong Mi and Jian Bing, who cleared Yelu Mountain Middle School at the time, also gained the power of the blessing, but it was essentially just a byproduct. Therefore, Xiong Mi's Asamoto Eriko blessing only provided precise auditory perception within a 1-kilometer range, and the ability to teleport coordinates could only be used once every 48 hours. Even with this level of power, it was still an ability that players of the same level would greatly envy. Putting aside everything else, this blessing undeniably gave Xiong Mi an extra life to squander, which alone made it a significant gain.

Of course, what's even more outrageous in this regard is Cat Bro and his two companions who participated in the Infant Cry Village instance. As players who also gained some abilities along the way, Xiong Mi only received a few incomplete Red Moon-level blessings, while Cat Bro received a genuine blessing from the Mother of All Things. Even though that blessing's power was far from reaching the level of Gao Hai and the girls around him, it was still a genuine power of transcendence. The blessing's effect of almost completely eliminating the side effects of obsession items alone made everyone in the entire Lazybones gang extremely envious.

tread--

A few random thoughts flashed through Xiong Mi's mind, but he quickly refocused and looked ahead.

Your team has split up.

Then, after hearing the voice in her ear, Xiong Mi was a little surprised and paused for a moment. After carefully confirming the source of the voice, she cautiously used her mental power to communicate.

[How did you manage this? While the connection does exist, this is already a deep area of ​​the instance. Mr. Gao, how can you still talk to me?]

Xiong Mi was very puzzled.

That's right, this aura, this powerful spiritual force, is undoubtedly Gao Hai himself.

He had been monitoring the Red Moon level players' actions and providing remote support. But now that the players had ventured deeper into the dungeon, he shouldn't be able to easily use his own power, let alone communicate remotely, to avoid alerting them.

Some unexpected things have happened; the connection between this instance and the real world is deepening, and my perception of the instance is becoming stronger as a result.

Gao Hai quickly offered an explanation, and from his tone, Xiong Mi could tell that he wasn't in a good mood.

The fact that an ultimate dungeon with over 30 core obsessions has deepened its connection with the real world is certainly not good news. It's likely that something terrible is happening outside right now, and there may already be large-scale casualties.

Is something really bad happening? Do we need reinforcements?

Xiong Mi immediately asked.