Chapter 303: Let’s Split Up

Looking at the sign, Kimura Kazuki and the others did not express any fear.

Strength came in numbers. With what Ikioi Ito and the others were made of, even if some kind of monster really were to appear and they panic momentarily, they would eventually be able to calm down. Moreover, the sign was about the appearance of wild beasts, not monsters. Hence, even in the middle of the night, they did not feel scared or fearful. Ignoring the warning on the sign, the group of them began their hike upward on the trail.

However, Kanayama was indeed quite untouched by humans. The trail leading upward only lasted tens of meters with no further road any farther in. Everywhere the eye could reach was a scenery of forestry buzzing and alive with the chirping of unknown insects. There were trees everywhere and during this time of the night, vision was very poor as well.

Thankfully, everyone there was a practitioner with night vision capabilities, so there were no occurrences of any of them stumbling.

“Where was the exact location that Daisuke Kojima got lost in?”

“Don’t know.”

Hearing this reply, Kimura Kazuki stopped in his tracks. Once he stopped, the others had to stop as well and they too were speechless at the answer given.

“Didn’t you all investigate?”

At this, Ikioi Ito and the others turned toward Tomoya Saito and Mizuki Sugawara.

“Don’t look at me…” Mizuki quickly defended himself. “I was led by my friend the last time and before I could even wrap my head around what was going on, this fellow disappeared. When he appeared again, he just grabbed my hand and we ran.”

Tomoya Saito smiled awkwardly. “My apologies…I forgot where I met that pretty lady as well.” At the time, he had brought Mizuki up the mountain with him to look for monsters and also because he was inherently adventurous, so they had merely been investigating blindly with no direction. Furthermore, he did not have the habit of marking his tracks, resulting in the both of them just simply walking around the mountain. When they had finally descended the mountain, they had not even taken the official path, they had come down from another way, taking another hour to reach Kobayashi Village itself.

Kimura Kazuki was at a loss for words…

Kanayama’s altitude was even higher than Mount Unto and was at least 500 meters above sea level. Moreover, the greenery across the mountain was unevenly spread on rugged terrain. If they wanted to investigate Kanayama, it would not be easy. Fortunately, it was not raining, otherwise it would have been even harder for them to conduct an investigation under the rain.

After today, he had also found out that Kanayama had been a place of hunting for Kobayashi Village in olden times, but as times changed and the standard of living picked up, Kobayashi Village had progressed into a tourist hotspot by virtue of the chief. Now that the villagers were richer, they no longer went up Kanayama.

Due to decades of inexperience of climbing up Kanayama, not only would wild beasts pose a threat, even the trees and shrubbery before them would have posed an obstacle to them.

He had initially thought that Tomoya and Mizuki had already investigated certain matters clearly from their earlier trip up the mountain. For example, the location of Daisuke Kojima’s disappearance. More importantly, this careless fool had forgotten where he had met the beautiful woman.

If this was the case, then they would have to start from zero. As he gathered his thoughts, Kimura Kazuki could feel a headache coming on. Subsequently, he could only say helplessly, “Then let’s split up.”

Huh? Upon hearing this, everyone looked at Kimura Kazuki imploringly.

Ikioi Ito’s facial expression contorted. “Boss Kimura, haven’t you ever watched horror movies? If we split up, the monster will single us out individually to attack. You won’t die because you’re powerful, but the rest of us will probably die on Kanayama just like that.”

The others nodded fervently in agreement. Of course, Tomoya Saito was not one of them, he agreed with Kimura and said, “We probably won’t get very far by investigating together, but if we split up, we can practically finish exploring Kanayama within one night. I think this suggestion isn’t too bad.”

“Piss off.” Ikioi Ito was annoyed. “You may have the protective jade from Deity Rising Palace, but the rest of us didn’t bring ours. If we meet that lady that you described, it’s all too possible that we’ll just disappear.”

“That’s correct.”

The others were just about to chip in before Kimura Kazuki cut them off. “Don’t worry, I know that there are unknown dangers on Kanayama, so you all shouldn’t worry either.” As he haid this, he pulled out a small stack of Enchanted Talismans from his pocket.

Following the progression of states, his Enchanted Talisman drawing speed had also increased. Combined with his familiarity in drawing, the probability of success of his Enchanted Talismans were now above 80% and this was under the circumstances of the thin reiki in the air. If he had been in the era of the recuperation of reiki, the Enchanted Talismans he drew at Foundation State would have already hit a 95% success rate and above.

“Harunaka, Katsuki, Yayoi, the three of you will be in a group.” Kimura Kazuki pulled out nine Enchanted Talismans consisting of three Ghost Expelling Talismans, three Spirit Stabilizer Talismans and three Detonator Talismans. “Use the Ghost Expelling Talisman immediately. Although its effect is greatest on wraiths, using it on yourself will prevent wraiths from coming near you. So even if you meet the pretty lady, you shouldn’t be so easily bewitched. If you see anything, just trigger the Detonator Talisman and I’ll be there in no time.”

“Then what about this one?” Yayoi Momoi took three Enchanted Talismans with curious eyes. The Momoi family was located in a small village and while they would also get visits from Onmyoji, Yayoi did not recognize any and had naturally never seen any Enchanted Talismans either. This was her first time encountering them.

It was the same for the rest of them. Of course, Ikioi Ito, Mizuki and Tomoya’s families were constantly in contact with the Deity Rising Palace, especially the Ito family who was unrecognized by the Ancient Kendo Community. They had the deepest connections to the Deity Rising Palace. Even so, Enchanted Talismans were a rare sight to them.

This was for no other reason than the fact that they were simply too hard to draw. More importantly, they heard that the success rate of drawing Enchanted Talismans was very low. Hence, when they saw Kimura Kazuki simply whip out a stack of them, the three of them began to question themselves.

“This is a Spirit Stabilizer Talisman. If you meet a wraith, use it straight away and the wraith won’t be able to move for a while. It works on monsters as well.”

Spirit Stabilizer Talismans pinned the soul, so of course, if a physical body was present, the effect of the Talisman was greatly reduced. However, it would still work to some extent.

As Harunaka received her share of the Enchanted Talismans, she could help but pause in surprise because she had four Enchanted Talismans in her hand. Upon closer inspection, it was different from the other three Talismans and had a simpler pattern drawn on it, but too long a look gave her the creeps.

Due to the poor visibility at night, the others had not noticed that Harunaka was holding three Enchanted Talismans in her hand.

“This is a Lightning Attracting Talisman. It’s very powerful, so be careful when using it.” Kimura Kazuki did not open his mouth to speak, instead, he transmitted it to Harunaka.

Lightning Attracting Talismans were very hard to draw and they expended red reiki so he did not have many of them either.

Katsuki and Yayoi were the least capable of the group and although they were not too far from the Peak of the First Foundation State, there was still a palpable difference. On the other hand, Harunaka was the strongest since she had activated her consanguinity and had covenanted with Furuhashi Sakurakyu. Thus, in the three person group, it would most probably be Harunaka taking care of the other two.

As for the others, they were not allowed to form groups.

Both Ikioi Ito and Mizuki were in the Second Foundation State. After receiving three Enchanted Talismans each, they looked resentfully at Kimura Kazuki.

Meanwhile, their friend was pumped up in excitement as he looked at the Enchanted Talismans in his hand, planning to keep them for research later on.