Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 329: Arc 5, - 23: A New Foe Part I

Another corpse for the night; laid starkly across the floor of the warehouse. The people took a moment to stare and investigate—most went about their business without a second glance.

Languid footsteps echoed throughout till the heels came to a stop. The one figure that actually approached the body had the back of her knuckles under her chin as she cocked her head to the side ever so slightly.

She wore cream-hued satin gloves that went up her arm and a fanciful gown of yellows with deep blues on some frills and sections. Ribbons and bows went down her back and till the end of her gown that was barely a centimetre off from touching the floor.

Her silverish-violet hair drifted down her shoulders while she adorned a large hat with frills, feathers, a fake white flower and lace ribbons.

She turned and looked up with as minimal movement as possible, "Was this one marked?" her drowsy and blasé voice spoke with an accent Jotou would often put on.

As she turned to show her face, her skin was like porcelain. Only a little of her skin displayed from her head down to her collarbone before her gown covered it; but with what little they could see...

From her neck going down, the skin was more akin to cracked porcelain. And each ’crack’ was no crack at all; each of them were lines and lines of runes that split in rivers and continued down her skin.

Most noticeable of all, was that all the runes across her skin glowed and pulsed. They gave off a golden glow then dimmed; the next second, they glowed a deep blue and then dimmed.

The cycle kept repeating each second as her half-closed eyes with thick lashes gazed up for her reply.

Up above and through the furthest doorway now missing a door, sparkling greyish-silver stone had emerged into a slope through the door.

At the end of the slope was a foot they couldn’t quite see. However, they could assume whoever that was caused the scene they just witnessed. The stone sunk into the floor and disappeared completely like collapsing gravel.

"No, he was not bloody marked!" an enraged woman’s voice echoed back down.

The woman below sighed lengthily. "What a waste... Clean this up," she ordered to no one in particular. Within the second, two of the ghosts on standby made their way and picked up the bloody corpse before lifting into the air.

The woman leaned back and a large yellowish ghost floated out from under the floor and lifted her up as she sat on its lap like a makeshift throne.

She floated up to the second floor and towards the door, while a few other yellow ghosts floated up with her. "What in the world has riled you up this time...?" her voice quieted down as she floated in.

Back down below, a bluish glob of goop slithered over from one of the shutter doors towards the blood splatter. As the blue blob sat over it, the blood sizzled and hissed—within seconds the blood evaporated.

"Is that a slime?" Jotou whispered.

"This is a whole circus show..." Fumeko replied.

"I don’t think this is what we did in the circus," Asobi hushed.

"So, what do we do now? D’you see anything you can grab and run?" the redhead spoke.

"A few useless things like a wristwatch or something, but I don’t think anything that can count as evidence... If we can get to that room with the broken door, there might be something I can grab."

"With that spirit-mage in there?" Jotou doubted. She exhaled, "We’ll need to be quick if anything."

"I can just quickly peek in," Fumeko was preparing to make a dash around the walkway.

"Uhm..."

"What is it Sobi?" Hotaru heard.

"When the ghosts attacked our house, they could see me while I was invisible, right...?"

"SHRIEK!!!"

As if on cue, they all turned to the right to see a translucent golden ghost with a large upper body and tiny lower screeching at them—they all felt a cold shiver down their spine.

Asobi froze in place, "Is it looking at us?" she squeaked.

With a piercing howl, the ghost lunged for them with sharp, twisted claws. "SHLICK!" With a single slash through the elbow joints, the arms were severed and fell on the mesh with a clunk.

A gleaming purple dagger appeared in the air, "Obviously," the brunette voiced... Their eyes could only stare to the dozens of ghouls that floated up and flew out of the room with the broken door.

The people below dropped what they were doing and rushed to view the upstairs walkway. A few of the closed doors up top opened up with some holding flintlock pistols at the ready.

"Aru, I know you wanted to avoid this, but now’s not the time for that. Sobi, put on a show, Meko grab what you can, Aru guard the door, I’ll deal with the rest," sparks flew around and encased the invisible figure of Jotou.

Fumeko blinked towards the broken down door and her invisibility faded the moment she reappeared in shadows. Jotou sprinted along the walkway with her sparking blade out.

Ghosts floated up and halted both their paths. "PING!" Jotou blocked a pistol bullet with her sword. Shooters were behind the ghosts and aimed through the ghosts to let the bullet fly through their intangible bodies and hit the target on the other side.

"Aegis-Aura!" four figures were covered in a bluish aura.

With the ghouls being able to see them, the brunette completely visible and the others seen very clearly, the elf dropped the invisibility spell, revealing the four of them in the middle of the fray.

Hotaru backed up against the door and held out her hands. Water formed around her fingers and spiralled upwards and formed into claws, trickling in a bluish hue. She watched people rush up the staircase in front of her.

As the ghosts became tangible and opaque, "Zap!" lightning would sizzle through them and take them down with ease—same went for any spirits trying to claim her from the floor.

The brunette’s gleaming purple dagger cut through tangible and intangible souls all the same, making it easy for the two to advance.

Fumeko blinked forward and stabbed the gunners in the throat without hesitation; five of them fell with their pistols all clacking to the floor.

Asobi flourished her wand and light formed into a figure in front of her, "Mirror Me," she casted. Another Asobi, made completely of white light appeared in front of her.

With a smile and a tip of her hat, they both mirrored each other. Asobi ran through her illusory twin and rushed down the stairs while her illusion mimicked her movements whilst running towards Jotou.

"All this commotion... my head," the spirit-mage from earlier floated out to take a look with a slightly perturbed gaze. "Forallei, we have guests..."

She lifted her hand marginally and the runes on her body stayed glowing golden as dozens of spirits rose from under the lower floor; they joined with those already on standby and all flew up in haste, making the howls of a demented wind current.

Through purplish-black shadows, the ghosts could not grab the blinking Fumeko making her way. She faced the spirit-mage and their eyes connected, hers a silvery-gold.

She blinked to the spirit-mage and aimed her dagger for the neck. The spirit-mage almost yawned as her throne-like ghost simply rotated to the right a smidgen at an eery speed.

Fumeko landed on the other side and switched targets—she was right in front of the broken door after all. Ghosts flew through the floor under her, but she blinked into the room without a second thought.

Meanwhile, a butterfly made of light manifested into reality at the tip of the magician’s wand—the same butterfly appeared on her illusory double; a line of white light seemed to connect her to her illusory twin.

She descended down the steps, swishing her wand left and right through the crowd running up with metal pipes, bats and anything they could grab.

Beside Jotou, an illusory Asobi made of light did the same. The blonde kicked and bashed through the guards with no weapons—some of them hid in the rooms and held the door shut.

The butterfly swished through the ghosts and "Eugh!" Jotou ducked her head as the illusory twin swished the butterfly towards her head. "Sobi! Watch it!"

Asobi turned her head up to the right, "Gh!" the elf felt overwhelmed as she narrowly dodged a metal pipe to the side of the head. She went invisible, "Sorry!" a bluish aura still covered her, but she was at the end of the steps.

She glanced to her right and leapt off the railing, "Oof!" she landed and got up on the concrete floor. "Hotaru!" she yelled up. Her illusory twin jumped, landed on the mesh walkway and rolled for no reason next to Jotou.

"I know!" Hotaru backed herself against the door and bared her fangs to the incoming assailants.

Asobi cleared her throat and saw herself in between crates and containers. "Hey bastards, this is it! You’ve been busted, so surrender!" she mimicked Daiyu’s voice at a lower tone and growled, making the sound echo throughout the warehouse.

The wolf-girl slashed forth, tearing through the clothing of the incoming people and drawing their blood. A knife pierced her protective aura and pierced her cheek lightly. The cuts and blows to her adventuring attire served no purpose in injuring the redhead.

"BANG!" Her head spun from a bash of a metal pipe to the side of her head. Her ears and tail spiked and she clawed her hand into the torso of the man that did so.

Each drop of blood was engulfed by her liquid claws and slithered into the veins of her wrists and healed the injury as quick as she got it. The man she had pierced started to fade and lose all complexion of his skin, like he was withering away.

With a swish of her arm, she threw the man off of her hand and kept her guard up with the others attacking her. "BLAST!" A rifle shot into her chest and she recoiled; her head and back hit the metal door behind her with a clang.

She winced and sneered—the pain was akin to a pebble thrown at full force. With a growl she continued her assault, rejuvenating herself when required—her claws slashed through the barrel of the rifle, which sent a shiver to the woman aiming it at her.

Asobi looked to her illusory twin above and moved to dictate its actions from below to help Jotou. Her footsteps danced around the crates and containers whilst her illusion mirrored her.

However, the elf’s jade-green eyes bubbled as she noticed the slime moving towards her feet. She eek-ed back and aimed her butterfly lower.

To her surprise, the slime shrunk in width, but grew taller... It formed into a feminine figure in the nude, about the same height as her.

Its hue was an aquamarine and had translucent eyes that blinked. A small nose and gap for the mouth formed on the slime-like humanoid.

While it wore no attire, it seemingly had no sexual organs and had no nipples on its bust. Its ’hair’ was liquid-like and went down till its upper back.

"Uh..." Asobi tilted her head and her hat almost fell off.

An unnerving smile formed on its ’lips’ and it leaned forward as Asobi took several steps back, "Awww, what a pretty elf, so much prettier than that prince," she gawked, her voice ethereal and appealing.

"Owhhh," the slime-like humanoid held her fists together in yearning, "I want you to be mine~ Get on your knees and be mine," she giggled vivaciously. "I promise to take care of you and not hurt you too much, since you’re soooo pretty~"

Asobi cocked her head back and raised her wand with both hands in front of her face. The butterfly of light grew bigger as she furrowed her brows in confusion, "Sorry, I’m not interested..." she peeped.