"You guys, quickly seek shelter! Or call the guards! Hurry!"

I grabbed the mercenary who had just escaped being killed and shouted at them.

"Y-yes! Um, thank you."

The mercenary thanked me and ran towards the city wall with the others.

Along with them, the people who had been waiting outside the city gates to enter quickly ran to the city, continuously pounding on the gates.

"You should also seek shelter, it's not your place to fight."

I said to the girl beside me.

"No... I know that compared to you guys, my combat experience is lacking, but... I'll never become stronger if I don't fight, right?"

Lois rejected my suggestion and assumed a combat stance.

"Well... be careful."

This way, she can also gain experience points and level up.

Meanwhile, Odin, Demetrius, Cyrus, Gabriel, Baiyueguang, Taishi Xi, Dale, Black Rose, and Oyado each faced different shikigami. Of course, Dandan, an archer, couldn't fight against shikigami, and Black Rose was currently fighting alongside Baiyueguang.

"Hmm?"

There were a total of nine shikigami on the opposing side, meaning there was still one left. As expected, a figure suddenly jumped from the last carriage and chased after the fleeing people!

I smiled and quickly took out my katana from the ring.

"Acceleration, Shadowstep, Wind Sprite, Strengthen!"

Although I couldn't reach any height I wanted like the Ice Totem, within the ten minutes of strengthening, coupled with my original power points, my jumping ability was several times that of an average person.

The shikigami's jumping height was completely insignificant!

"Don't be in such a rush. It's not good to bully the weak!!"

The blue blade directly slashed towards the opponent, but the opponent blocked my attack with his hand.

"Oh? It's really good to have a sturdy body. Saves you the trouble of even using a weapon."

But the opponent didn't respond to my sarcastic remarks, instead, he extended his other hand and stabbed towards me directly!

The opponent's fingers stabbed into my chest, causing a dull pain, and I flipped backward, landing on the ground.

"Well, the attack power is indeed strong. Although it was just an experiment, I should avoid it next time."

Looking at my chest, the ice armor on it was already cracked, and with another touch, the entire armor shattered and scattered into pieces.

It seems like I'll have to remove the ice armor on my body.

"Although I've only learned a few moves from the game, please enlighten me, shikigami! Ice Sword Summoning!"

The katana immediately gained a layer of blue luster, and I charged directly towards the opponent's chest.

Just as the tip of the blade was about to hit the opponent's chest, the opponent abruptly turned, waving his hand and redirecting my attack to the side.

Although I could also guess that the opponent would do this, it still didn't feel good to see my attack being directly resolved by the opponent.

However, this was also expected.

And precisely because it was expected, it didn't matter.

"Bloom, Tundra Devourer."

A light blue mist suddenly enveloped us, and almost at the same instant, the opponent's body was covered in frost.

"Even if it's a shikigami, being frozen would make them unable to move like a humanoid, right?"

But suddenly, blue light emitted from the opponent's eyes, and a drop-shaped symbol appeared above his forehead!

Just when I was about to kick the opponent away, countless little holes suddenly appeared on the opponent's arm, and strange mist sprayed out from the holes!

And my ice mist was instantly swallowed by the opponent's mist, and the frost on my body disappeared at the same time.

Although the opponent's body was completely wet, he escaped from my restraint.

Water magic that can cover intermediate-level ice magic? No, this isn't magic, is it Onmyodo?

"Wild Stream · Forty-Nine Ice Arrows!"

Since the opponent can also use spells, I can't just use regular attacks against it.

The opponent stretched out its hand, and the mist quickly gathered around it. Forty-nine ice arrows pierced through the mist in the same instant, just like a straw man pierced by countless feathered arrows.

Did we manage to defend against everything?

The shield made of water opened up in the middle, and the figure emerged unharmed from within, holding a water sword in their hand!

"Ice Totem!"

A massive ice pillar immediately pushed me into the air, and at the same time, I reached up and three giant ice blocks slowly condensed in the air.

"Fall! Ice Fall!"

The first ice block fell directly downward!

Boom!

A sword made of water cut Ice Fall in half, and from the cut, the shikigami directly rushed up, stepping on the outer wall of the ice totem!

"Cut!"

That's not very friendly at all, at least let me feel a little satisfaction getting hit at a time like this!

"Dance! Ice Flower!"

A series of ice spikes emerged from the top of the ice totem and extended downwards!

But the opponent once again severed the ice spikes on the totem with a slash and rushed up at the same time!

Alright, I can only try again!

I jumped from the top of the ice totem and directly swung my sword down!

And the opponent also raised their water sword to meet me!

Indeed, this guy only responds with attacks corresponding to their opponent's actions, right? That's good then!

The two blades clashed together, and at the same time, the two Ice Falls above us slowly moved and rushed towards the shikigami from the side!

I exerted force, pushing the opponent back after shaking them off. At the same time, I used the last remaining mana potion from the item bar to quickly restore my mana.

"Ultimate skill, Sanction, Torn Cross!"

In the shikigami's rapid attacks, the huge ice block shattered into pieces, slowing down the opponent's speed. At the same time, my cross stabbed downwards.

"The only things you can cut are tangible, what about intangible things?"

The cross pierced through the opponent's body, and after a loud boom, it fell to the ground.

"This is... Hikari."

As my body slowly landed on the ground, the ice totem also fell beside me. The explosion just now broke the bottom of the ice totem, so I had no choice but to jump down from above.

"Hmm, where's the person?"

I looked around but didn't see the opponent, however...

Two white objects slowly floated down from above, and I reached out and grabbed one of them. It was a humanoid piece of paper that was cut in the middle.

"Are they dead? If the paper talisman is destroyed, then it should be unusable, right?"

I picked up the other piece of paper as well, and then put them both into my ring.

"Fir, quickly help me put these things onto the magic crystal below."

The one speaking was Dell, and at this moment, he was standing at the top of the carriage with a teleportation array drawn on it, still fiddling with something in his hand.

"Huh? Did you defeat the shikigami already?"

"Of course, if we were to say that the opponent is nothing but paper, then they must exist in a form formed by the user's energy? There are so many shikigami, it's absolutely impossible for one person to control such complex attacks, so the opponent should be using a fixed attack pattern and have an external energy source as automatic shikigami."

"Well, that's true. They only respond to the enemy's moves and should be preset data. But what does this have to do with defeating them?"

"Electrocution. After temporarily stunning them, drain the energy from their bodies."

"Drain? What do you use to drain it?"

"This, here."

The opponent pointed to the thing he was tinkering with, and I carefully looked at it, finally figuring it out.

"Hey hey hey! Isn't that my magic trap destruction device?"

Yes, it was the pot lid I used to dismantle magic traps before. Now Dell had directly mounted it on top of the carriage, with the external shell removed and various messy wires pulled out from within, extending to below.

"Connect the bottommost interface to the magic array below and the interfaces of those empty magic crystals."

"... Fine, but remember to help me reassemble it later."

I walked over and directly connected the interface.

Snap!

An electric current directly threw me out!

"Hey hey hey! Give me a heads up at least!"

"I'm sorry, there's no switch for this."

But at this moment, the thing that looked like a lid emitted a ripple-like wave of light, and the surrounding space shook. Several indistinguishable things were sucked in from the surroundings and flew into the lid. At the same time, all the empty magic crystals inside the carriage suddenly lit up!

Did they all fill up in an instant? No wonder these shikigami used so much magic but didn't seem exhausted at all.

Battle ended.

Defeated Shikigami - Empress of Darkness, Experience gained: 1000.

Teammates' experience - 50x8 = 400.

Experience settlement: 1400.

Teammates leveled up.

Oyado leveled up to LV18.

Dell leveled up to LV20.

Dell leveled up to LV21.

"Dell, did all the experience go to you?"

"It seems like it, yeah."

Dell shrugged.

Just then, a ray of light slowly appeared in the sky. It seemed that it was finally getting bright.

At the same time, the city gates gradually opened.

"I'm so hungry, let's go have breakfast."

"That's a good idea."!