172 First Blood! (1/2)

”They're here! Haruta-kun, activate your Astral Vision!”

Seiji instantly activated [Astral Vision] upon Natsuya’s reminder.

He actually hadn’t mastered this spell yet. He was casting it with his bonded spirit’s assistance.

Seiji’s eyes instantly turned blue, and everything within his field of vision was also tinted blue. The world around him became much sharper; it was as if he were wearing high-tech night goggles.

[Astral Vision]... This type of vision rendered the school in a completely different light.

Spell formations of various sizes were engraved on each of the school buildings, and some were revolving slowly. All the spell formations were radiating differently colored light.

The largest spell formation was on the school grounds. It was so large that it exceeded the boundaries of the school grounds, and even with his enhanced vision, it was impossible to see it entirely.

Apart from the formations, there were many other defensive measures: interlinked chains which hovered above the ground; strange, totem-like objects; and flying lanterns, dolls, talismans, and sheets of paper. There were also a variety of other mysterious objects that were either flying in midair or following fixed paths. The chaotic scene made Seiji feel dizzy.

But what stood out the most of all were the various demons and spirits either guarding specific locations or roaming around.

There was a huge, large hammer-wielding one-eyed monster with green skin and a bald head.

There was a pitch-black demon that looked like a growth of aquatic weeds, and its many tiny eyes were opening and closing rapidly.

There were a team of skeletal warriors clad in tattered armor and wielding rusty weapons—Seiji assumed these were grudge-bearing ancient spirits from some battlefield.

There was a smooth, completely white abnormal-appearing demon. It was lanky, and in the place of legs and arms, it had four sharp blades. It lacked any facial features, and its head was also blank, save for a black talisman attached to the top of its skull.

…

Witnessing all these sights was a truly eye-opening experience for Seiji.

Many of these entities' appearances were inside of his expectations and were rather normal, while others seemed incredibly out of place.

There were a few that he really wanted to comment on—especially that smooth, white demon. Seiji felt that without that talisman on top of its head, it would belong in a horror movie rather than a mystical school!

There were far too many different types of demons and spirits for him to ask Natsuya about, which was why he didn’t ask anything. There would be plenty of time to chat after the duel.

This was indeed Natsuya’s castle with her as its Yin-Yang Master; this was indeed her well-defended territory.

However, the castle was currently under siege.

A huge number of demons approached both from the ground and the air!

The majority of them were red-skinned demons sporting horns and wings—they were the same type that Seiji saw when he was dispelling the amnesia spell on Shika.

This time, there weren’t a ridiculous amount of demons like in the soul layer, but there had to be at least several thousand pouring towards the school like an unstoppable tidal wave.

When they got close enough, various spell formations suddenly lit up and shot orange lasers at the demons, vaporizing most of them into thick, smoky mist.

The remaining few demons continued to press onwards.

Yet more spell formations lit up, filling the courtyard with beams of multi-colored lights that shot into the ranks of the remaining enemy demons.

Thanks to yet another baptism by lasers, only a few dozen demons remained.

After they finally entered the school grounds itself, the barrier covering the school destroyed many of their number, leaving only a pitiful dozen or so that were instantly mopped up by the patrolling skeleton team’s swords and arrows.

Seiji rubbed his chin in contemplation. 'This feels like a tower defense game.'

In actuality, that was probably what this was. The enemy’s goal was to destroy the critical defense locations here, while Natsuya needed to protect the school, which was basically the exact goal of a tower defense game.

Not only that, if Seiji thought of the Yin-Yang Masters as summoners and treated the Spirit-branded Retainers as champions… this was basically freaking League of Legends!

Come, let’s shout ”Demacia” together!

Seiji coughed. 'I shouldn't get too excited.'

Seiji, a temporary Spirit-branded Retainer and a beginner to Yin-Yang Master warfare, felt that he could only be the equivalent of Garen if he were compared to a League of Legends champion.

The starter champion, who was one of the cheapest ones to buy, had abilities which only needed a cooldown and no mana. He was easy to learn and had a balanced attack and defense but had a few obvious weaknesses.

'Hey, that means I should… Whoops, I went off on too much of a tangent.'

Seiji hurriedly made himself come back to his senses.

He saw that a new wave of demons had already arrived en masse. They rushed at Natsuya's defense formation frenziedly.