626 My… balls hurt… (1/2)

Hoshi agreed to pay attention not to absorb too much experience.

More black wolves appeared again. Hisashi struck first once more by throwing a chain lightning ball which caused large amounts of AOE damage and paralysis.

Mika shot many [Mana Bullets] with her spiritual gun. Although her accuracy was quite poor, all the monsters were unable to move due to the paralysis effect. She was able hit them easily enough.

Hoshi also controlled his spiritual birds to attack. Each time his three birds attacked in unison, one wolf would be killed.

Under the three's teamwork, very few black wolves were able to even reach them. The few that got close were all easily taken care of by Mika's Mashiro's Clothes ability.

Seiji and Shika didn't even need to do anything at all.

Hisashi and Mika already had prior combat experience along with excellent abilities. Although this was Hoshi's first time in an Inner World, he also did quite well for himself.

Of course, this was also because the Forest Palace ”dungeon” had an easy difficulty level. It would be quite easy to do well here as long as everyone remained calm and cooperated well with their teammates.

Seiji felt a sense of accomplishment as if he was raising video game characters as he watched the three continuously improve their teamwork and cooperation against the spiritual creatures here.

After observing for a while, he recommended to them that Mika should fight in the front, Hisashi in the middle, and Hoshi in the backline. This would be their basic formation.

Mika had the strongest Spiritual Ability out of the three. Her Mashiro's Clothes ability was capable of completely blocking all minor monsters' attacks. It was no problem for her to act as the tank if she only had to deal with smaller mob spiritual creatures.

Hisashi's ”Thunderboom” chain lightning attack was his main ability. He had excellent AOE crowd control abilities with this. And after his previous fighting experience, his thunder-enchanted shield also had a certain degree of close-combat capabilities. Hisashi would be the most suited for fighting in the middle row.

Hoshi's three red birds were highly agile and capable of either concentrating their attacks together or attacking separately. Hoshi's weakness was that he required a high degree of concentration to use this ability. Plus, he was a newbie at fighting, so he would naturally be suited for the back row.

After they started using Seiji's suggested formation, the three's combat effectiveness rose by a great amount.

Seiji's sense of accomplishment from raising them became even stronger as he watched them speedily improve their teamwork.

”Is this an evolution?” Seiji blinked in surprise. ”Hoshi, how are you currently feeling?”

”I just felt something heat up within my body. Then, I felt my connection becoming stronger to that bird, and it also became easier to control it… Ah, that same sensation is back!”

Before Hoshi even finished speaking, the second spiritual bird also enlarged and ”evolved” just like the first one did.

'Looks like the third will be evolving soon as well. Hoshi, looks like your true path won't be as a magical girl after all. You're on your way to becoming a Pokemon master!'

The evolved spiritual birds… er, spiritual eagles were easier to control, more agile, and more powerful.

Hoshi now felt a concrete sensation of what it was like to become stronger. He was quite excited about being able to level up in real life, and fought with even more motivation!

Not long after, Kazuko who was idly floating in midair warned them that a boss monster was coming.

A green-and-black-furred giant wolf soon appeared. This was the exact same boss monster as last time.

Previously, Seiji and Shika had taken care of this boss monster with just a single [Dragon Counterattack] and a few slices afterwards. This time, they would stand by and watch, letting the boss monster act as a tutorial level boss to train the newcomers.

The giant wolf opened its mouth and spat out a gigantic [Mana Bullet] as a greeting!

*Boom!!* Vanguard Mika managed to block it using her shield and Mashiro's Clothes! The [Mana Bullet] exploded in a blinding flash of light but didn't cause her any damage at all.

”Thunderboom”! Hisashi instantly tossed out a large lightning ball that he had prepared.

His black lightning ball exploded and shot lightning bolts all over, snaring the enemy monster… not at all!

The giant wolf agilely dodged the lightning ball and took only a few lightning strikes. It wasn't paralyzed at all.

Mika shot at the giant wolf with her gun while Hoshi had his spiritual eagles attack.

The giant wolf moved rapidly and dodged the gunshots. It withstood the eagles' attacks as it rushed towards Hisashi!

Hisashi recalled his previous near-death experience and reflexively became afraid. However, he immediately restrained himself and didn't allow his hands to shake.

This was a real battle that was quite dangerous. He had recognized this long ago.

This was a good time to hide behind Mika… No! Mika had already blocked a powerful attack for everyone already. Rather than only relying on her, he should be relying on his own strength!

Hisashi entered a state of high concentration as the boss monster rapidly charged at him.

With his current combat experience, his own abilities, along with all the magic abilities he'd seen in manga and video games before…