Reincarnated in a Shounen Manga - Chapter 222: Bone Forest

{Perfect Me!}

As I walked through the mind maze, I deftly picked the lock on any abilities that held sway over my mind. The sweet scent enveloped me, dominating my thoughts. But the entrapment was broken, and instead of it smelling sweet the mist turned heavy and tried to push me down.

My mind raced at breakneck speeds, deciphering the Dream Maze and breaking through its illusions. It felt strange, like solving calculus while writing a creative novel.

I surveyed the surroundings, using more than just my eyes to navigate the maze. Illusions shattered, and new paths opened. Then, as suddenly as it began, I opened my eyes, finding myself in a field of black grass.

Undoubtedly, some creature had cast the Dream Maze upon us. However, trying to locate the caster would be futile. The Dream Maze’s range was vast, limited only by the boundaries of this island. Outside Avalon Island, its power would diminish significantly.

At least now I knew our location, a zone I was quite familiar with—the Black Tear Grass Field, where a special type of grass induced absolute despair when eaten.

What would absolute despair feel like? Would it engulf me suddenly, or would it reveal things that would break my spirit? Could Perfect Me defend against such a thing?

Though I considered myself relatively safe against Avalon Island’s weaker phenomena, I wasn’t reckless enough to test the grass on myself. I wasn’t about to become my own lab rat.

“We should keep moving,” I urged, stretching my shoulders and wincing at my injured arm. I knew I had to tend to it soon; the pain was becoming distracting.

Sei asked ”Is it safe to just walk in random directions like this?”

“It doesn’t matter much,” I replied. “In this place, even moving forward or backward could lead to the same destination. The logic here defies the norm.”

Someone attempting to apply logic in this place would find themselves in deep danger, for nothing here made sense.

As we ventured through the field, the trees gradually took on a white hue. As we walked further, the trees transformed into bone-like structures, reminding me vividly of the Death Bone Forest. Here, a colossal skeleton demon resided. Normally a high-class demon, within the bone forest, it gained control over all the bones, making it as formidable as fighting Carpy on the sea – akin to confronting an Ultimate Class Demon. Its home-field advantage was almost unmatched.

It should have already sensed that we were here, and despite its home-field advantage, it was still just a high class. The giant skeleton had no special dangerous abilities that would counter any of our own as far as I knew, so we should be able to deal with it relatively easily after that. Though the key point of the battle would be for Sei to drag the skeleton into his mirror.

Unexpectedly, instead of the Giant Skeleton Demon coming to confront us, an explosion erupted in the distance, drawing our attention.

As we ran toward the explosion, there was an unarmed man adorned in full heavy armor battling against a giant skeleton towering seven stories high. Astonishingly, despite the enemy’s massive size, the small man seemed to hold a slight advantage in raw power during their clashes.

The ground quaked, and a massive bone spike hurtled towards the mid-air Strength Exorcist. Attempting to defend himself, the man crossed his arms, but the spike’s impact sent him flying. Although the spike didn’t pierce his armor, the force was enough to make blood spew from his helmet as he landed a great distance away. No doubt incurring some internal injuries.

“You fucker!” The man growled, rising to his feet unsteadily. He took a deep breath and concentrated all his Ord onto his fist, leaping at the demon.

Though not a special ability, the demon raised a colossal bone sword to strike him. The dense bone sword shattered upon clash, but the Strength Exorcist barely lost momentum. He swung his fist at the giant skeleton, creating an explosion that obliterated the skull in one powerful punch.

The demon fell, and more bones began gathering to form a new skull. Undeterred, the Strength Exorcist threw another punch, shattering the skeleton’s body into hundreds of pieces and creating a massive crater. The hearth below our feet shook, and we jumped back so we wouldn’t be swallowed by a crack on the ground.

“Hey,” I called out to him, not sensing any of my Ord being drained. It meant that this Strength Exorcist was from the same timeline as me.

“Oh, it’s you,” the Strength Exorcist replied, his smile evident even though he wore a helmet.

However, as the Strength Exorcist approached, he suddenly sprang into action and aimed a punch at me. “You bastard doppelganger! Do you think I’ll fall for the same trick twice?!”

Reacting swiftly, I formed a shield of water around us. Despite the Strength Exorcist’s punch lacking excessive Ord behind it, his epithet held true. I was thrown back, crashing through multiple trees.

Even though I had used water to cushion the blow and soften the impact, the arm I used to block his attack twitched. It felt as if my bone was on the verge of snapping in half.

The Strength Exorcist looked at me closely. “Well, a doppelganger wouldn’t be able to survive that. They’re pretty weak in general. But you, you have a strong body for a Master. Do you have a warrior affinity as well?”

I simply shrugged and decided not to answer. Revealing any information to Exorcists with dubious loyalties was dangerous.

The reason behind my good physique was the usage of Perfect Me to heal myself whenever my muscles were fatigued. This allowed me to compress decades of training into just six months. However, this training method wasn’t without risks. While using Perfect Me to heal more severe injuries consumed some lifespan, the amount was relatively insignificant. Even the battles against the Demonic Exorcist only deducted a couple of days from my lifespan at best.

Perfect Me wasn’t inherently a healing ability, but it facilitated rapid cell division to accelerate my healing process.

I would have been more conservative with my healing if it came with a substantial cost. However, my contract ensured that if I were to lose a significant portion of my lifespan, my bargain would weaken, and the boost from Ord would diminish as well.

When I had aged myself up, I faced such a consequence. Fortunately, I still had over a hundred years of lifespan, mainly due to Ord maintaining my health in optimal condition and not having any kind of dangerous sickness. At least my Ord had grown through training, so the loss was minimal.

“Either way, you must have trained rigorously to attain a body like that,” the Strength Exorcist snorted.

Oh, right. I almost forgot how this guy was. He was still a top Special Exorcist, and they were all quite strong-headed.

Sei and Anika exchanged weird looks, and the latter asked, “Why do you speak as if training is the most dreadful thing in the world? Everyone does it.”

The Strength Exorcist removed his helmet, revealing his face with a long scar running along it, and his disheveled green hair. “Training and creating special abilities are for losers. I would never do something like that. I only rely on the strength God has bestowed upon me.”

Like most other Special Exorcists of his power, the Strength Exorcist’s statement was entirely hypocritical.

Sometimes, Ord was really unfair. This guy had never trained a day in his life and didn’t even create a special ability. Yet, he managed to reach the position of the 7th strongest exorcist. One could only imagine how strong he would be if he had actually put in the effort to train.

“Not training at all? Isn’t that just being lazy?” Anika retorted. It took considerable courage to speak back to one of the strongest exorcists.

The Strength Exorcist shook his head. “While I do not engage in formal training, I maintain a healthy lifestyle. My body is a temple, blessed and molded by God. There is no way I will ever taint something so sacred! Training is the coward’s way out; real men rely on their God-given strength!”

Anika appeared ready to counter his statement, but I had no desire to challenge him. To me, he was simply another fervent special rank exorcist. They were the sort of individuals so set in their beliefs that attempting to sway them was futile.

I shook my head and let out a sigh. Trying to reason with people in this peculiar world was an exercise in frustration. Dealing with those who held such entrenched views was not worth the effort.

After all, most special exorcists seemed to be endowed with incredible power but were also, unfortunately, somewhat unhinged. I knew of someone who would kill people just for insulting their pet demon.