A journey into an infinite dimension

"Okay, let's speed up. After all, we can't keep Yoshino and Yoshina waiting too long."

After waving goodbye to the two, Shiori turned and said to Kotori and Tohka.

"Shiori, where is Kaye now?"

Tohka, who also didn't have much watercolor on her body, asked Shiori while pouring a bottle into the sniper rifle in her hand to load it with new watercolor bullets.

Although sniper rifles are not suitable for close-range combat, this is not a real sniper rifle after all. It is just a water gun with the appearance of a sniper rifle. Therefore, the principles of a real sniper rifle are not suitable for water guns.

"In...the same direction as Junai and the others?"

After concentrating his mind and sensing for a while, Shizhi suddenly opened his eyes, his expression looking a little stunned.

"Coincidence?"

"Maybe it's not a coincidence."

Shaking her head, Kotori, who had bruises all over her body, habitually wanted to take out the Chupa Pearls. However, because she was wearing a swimsuit and outerwear, she didn't have the Chupa Pearls with her, so she could only withdraw her hand awkwardly and cough lightly.

"Because according to my sister, Junai was able to materialize thanks to the spiritual power she provided, so maybe there is some kind of connection between her and my sister."

Hearing this, Shizhi suddenly felt a sense of unhappiness for some reason.

...It's like suddenly realizing that the most important thing that has always belonged to you no longer belongs to you alone.

Crackling——

"...!"

The strength in his hand suddenly increased unconsciously, even causing a faint crack to appear on the plastic gun handle. Then Shizhi suddenly came to his senses and quickly let go of his hand.

Looking at the cracks on the gun handle, Shizhi didn't know what was wrong with her. She just felt very unhappy and had an urge to vent her unhappiness.

"Shiori?"

"elder sister?"

Not noticing anything unusual about Shiori, Kotori and Tohka were just a little confused by her sudden silence.

"...It's okay. Let's go quickly. We can't let Origami and the others find Jiaye first."

Suppressing this strange emotion deep in his heart, Shiori smiled calmly, then took the lead and walked in the direction where Junai and Origami had just left.

"Let's go too, Kotori. We can't let Tobiichi Origami catch Kaye first!"

Hearing that Origami might get to Kaya first, Tohka immediately became anxious.

She could lose to anyone, but she didn't want to lose to Tobiichi Origami.

"Ah."

Looking at Shiori's back with some confusion, Kotori responded and followed Shiori's pace with Tohka.

......

......

At this moment, on a beach named 'Twin Islands - Adventure Island', the venue for this game.

"It seems to be very lively."

Stepping on the soft and fine sand, Jiaye looked in a certain direction inside the jungle, as if she could see Junai, Shizhi and others rushing towards her. She gently scratched Qianyu's chin on her shoulder with her right hand, and a playful arc seemed to appear at the corner of her mouth.

"The rule is to find and catch me. In other words, finding me doesn't count as victory. What's important is catching me. So there's no need to hide, just avoid getting caught."

He whispered to himself, with an undisguised smirk on his face.

"Ow~"

The tail gently scratched Jiaye's cheek, and Qianyu nudged her hand with her little head, as if telling her not to make that angry expression again.

"What are you afraid of? Isn't Shizhi beautiful when he smiles?"

Lightly tapping Qianyu's eyebrows, Jiaye couldn't help but complain.

"Ow."

Qianyu's speechless expression seemed to be saying, 'She is beautiful, but her smile is so scary that it is totally unappreciative for a fox.'

“—Ouch!”

Suddenly, all the hair on Qianyu's body stood up without any warning, and at the same time, a tender yet fierce growl was pushed out from its throat, and its petite body showed signs of trembling.

It seems like the fear of something unknown, or the instinctive reaction of a creature when encountering a powerful natural enemy.

"You feel it too."

Gently smoothing Qianyu's hair, Jiaye looked up at the sky which had been swallowed up by thick dark clouds at some point in time. His eyes, which gradually lit up with the color of flames, quietly reflected the sun which was also about to be swallowed up by the darkness.

"It looks like the game is about to end. What a shame! I wanted them to play a little longer."

Chapter 174: The title of the chapter does not have enough spiritual power to appear

"Is it going to rain...?"

Shizhi happened to look up at the sky and was stunned for a moment.

The weather at sea can change at any time. It is not impossible that it may be cloudless one second and covered with dark clouds the next.

"It seems the game has to end early."

Nodding, Kotori took out the earphone-shaped communicator, put it in her ear, and connected with Fraxinus.

"Lingyin, please take us back."

sizzle ————

However, the expected voice of his friend and right-hand man did not come, and instead, there were irritating noises and cacophony.

"The communication was disrupted by the weather?"

Seeing this, Qin Li was stunned for a moment.

Logically speaking, this is impossible, because with the level of technology possessed by "Ratatosk", communication signals would be affected by weather, and that was a thing that happened many years ago.

Even in storms and heavy snow, communications can still be transmitted to the other side of the earth without missing a word - unless there is human interference.

But this is Jiaye's territory, how could someone deliberately interfere with their communications?

Although it is also possible that Jiaye did this to prevent them from cheating, Qinli thinks this is impossible because she knows that Jiaye's character is not that petty, and even if it was really her who did it, she would not be able to help but remove the interference at this time.

Thinking of this, a certain ominous premonition quietly crept into Qin Li's heart.

"Kotori, is the communication not working?"

His intuition also kicked in, and Shiori, who suddenly sensed something was wrong, asked Kotori.

"We can't get through. Let's go meet up with Junai and the others first, and then go back to the resort island together."

Shaking her head, Kotori said with a serious expression.

"No, you guys go back first."

At this moment, a third voice quietly interrupted the conversation between Shiori and Kotori.

Under the gaze of Tohka, Shiori, and Kotori, Maruna and Origami walked over from the front.

"Juuna, Origami, are you okay?"

After successfully reuniting with the two, Shiori breathed a sigh of relief and asked with concern.

"fine."

Shaking her head, Origami looked up at the dark and thick clouds above her head.

"It was sunny two minutes ago, and within two minutes the weather suddenly turned like this. This is not normal."

"Ju Nai, what did you mean by that just now?"

Looking at Junai seriously, Kotori asked.

"You go back first, I'm going to find my father."

After repeating what he had said, Junai's expression did not change at all.

"It's okay, Junai. As long as Jiaye stops materializing, he'll come back to me."

Thinking that Junai was worried about Kaye's comfort, Shiori comforted her softly.

"Mother, haven't you noticed yet?"

However, in response to her words, Junai's expression suddenly turned gloomy without any warning.

"Father is mobilizing more spiritual energy than is required for materialization. She is encountering an enemy."

You are clearly the same person as Father, and you are clearly supplying Father with spiritual power. Why can I, the one being supplied with spiritual power, notice the changes, but you, the one supplying spiritual power, cannot?

Will he return to you after he dematerializes? If Father had dematerialized, then the enemy would have already arrived. In other words, Father is currently using his less-than-full strength to help you hold back the enemy. It's fine if others haven't noticed, but why haven't you noticed either?

Want to go back? Go ahead. Junai will support father.

After taking a deep breath and calming down a little, Junai's expression returned to calm.

"I'm going to support my father. If you want to go back, you can go back on your own."

After saying this, Junai ran towards Jiaye without looking back.

"wait---"

Coming back to his senses from his daze, Shizhi subconsciously wanted to call out to Junai, but he was a step too late and could only watch her figure disappear from his sight.

"Kaya is encountering an enemy? Shiori, is this true?"

Tohka confirmed with Shiori.

"...The flow of spiritual energy is indeed different from before, but the change is not significant, so I subconsciously ignored it."

After closing his eyes and sensing for a while, Shizhi opened his eyes with some guilt and gloom.

Why didn't Jiaye inform me? Why did I ignore the past?

Obviously, I don't want her to fight alone——

"Sorry, everyone, please go back and discuss countermeasures. Without my body, Jiaye cannot exert his full strength."

Then Shiori turned around and said something to Origami and the other two. Without waiting for them to stop him, he used his spiritual power to shape a pair of crimson lotus wings behind him. Then, he flapped his wings and quickly flew through the air in the direction where Junai had just left.

"One or two, why are you all so impulsive?"

She put her hand down in a daze, and stomped the ground hard in angrily. Then she turned around and saw Origami who had taken out a small square component and was lifting her bangs with her other hand.

"Origami, wait a minute. You don't want to go over there too, do you?"

"I have the ability to help my dear and Kaguya."

He kept pressing the part in his hand gently against the side of his forehead, and then in a flash of light, the swimsuit and outerwear on his body disappeared, replaced by a gorgeous and majestic pure white armor and a laser spear.

———Belonging to the CR-UNIT-〈Brunnhilde〉, which also belongs to the 'Nordic God Machine Series', this is the highest-level CR-UNIT that Kotori requested from Ratatoskr after Origami joined Ratatoskr in order to maintain her combat effectiveness.

Although, originally, Ratatoskr did not approve Kotori's application, after all, Origami's value was far from comparable to Shiori's, and she was forced to join Ratatoskr unwillingly, and the senior management of Ratatoskr could not trust her.

However, with the exception of a small number of supporters, the opposition had experienced some things that made them feel extremely scared when they talked about them, so Kotori's application was successfully approved.

After all, everyone in this world has some dark secrets that they cannot reveal.

Especially for powerful people, the negative information about them is almost equal to their power.

"...Aaaaah, I'm thinking we should wait until we've discussed countermeasures and understand the enemy's presence before taking action, but if you want to go, go ahead."

After a long silence, Kotori couldn't help scratching her head in annoyance, then said in a self-deprecating tone.

"One more person means more strength. I'll leave my two stupid sisters and Junai in your care, Origami."

"give it to me."

A smile seemed to flash across her eyes, and then Origami took a step, and her figure turned into a white meteor and disappeared into the distance.

"Kotori, I..."

Tohka seemed to want to say something, but before she could finish her words, Kotori interrupted her.

"Tohka, calm down. Your spiritual power has been sealed now. Even if you go back, you won't be able to help your sisters."

Gently pressing Tohka's shoulders, Kotori said seriously.

"All we can do to help them now is return to Fraxinus and help them analyze the enemy's intelligence and data."