Reincarnated Into A Dead Woman's Body In Another World-Chapter 333: Arc 5, - 27: Outmatched

Jotou’s focused eyes broke concentration and she could feel her heart in her throat. All her sparks fluctuated and fizzled for a split-second before returning to normal.

In that moment- "BASH!" A cylinder of stone emerged from the mesh floor and slammed into her stomach. With all the wind knocked out of her, she was about go flying towards the ceiling.

However, the stone turned into a fist and grasped around her waist. It pulled the blonde back towards the silver-haired woman with a yank and connected to one of her four arms.

Jotou forehead fell forward and she hit her head against the stone, "Ngeh!" she groaned and winced as she pulled her head back. One of her arms was free, while her dominant hand which held the sword was encased.

The blonde was brought closer to the uncovered face of the silver-haired woman. Her scarlet eyes kept staring and staring and staring... Jotou panted and knitted her brows—she could feel something tightening around her waist.

She choked on her breath and sputtered; her breath was shallow and she could feel her bones pressing up against skin. Jotou’s eyes darted till all she could focus on was the scarlet eyes staring right back...

Jotou’s left arm spasmed to move; all that kept her from being crushed into pulp was her adventuring attire which was being tested to its limits. Even so, this was agonizingly slow...

Whoever this woman in front of her was, she understood that sense of malice all too well; except this was a much rawer form of such anger.

Jotou’s eyes sparked and then faded; they sparked and faded again—like a flickering lightbulb. Each of the blonde’s fingers crawled along the fist that held her.

With a grunt and a loss of breath, Jotou threw her hand forward and grabbed the woman by the side of the head. The woman growled in response as Jotou gripped her silvery hair, "Zap," she wheezed.

The sparks buzzed and ran down her arm, all along her fingers. "BZZZZZZZZ!!!!" With all her strength she sends volts and volts of lightning coursing through the woman’s skull—enough to turn most things to dust.

The woman did not scream, but she did tremble with gritted teeth. Lightning went down her silver hair and down her neck, into the stony armour.

The fist around her waist didn’t tighten anymore, but it wasn’t loosening either... As Jotou’s spell came to an end and she was ready to fire another zap.

"GUHH!" the silver-haired woman was finally able to scream and the fist of stone released Jotou onto the mesh floor. Jotou gasped for breath and felt her gaze go fuzzy. All the stone that covered the walls and floors turned into gravel and disappeared.

Meanwhile, downstairs was a whole other dilemma.

"Woosh!" Fumeko stood beneath the ape and stabbed the dagger through the wrist that held Hotaru by the tail. The ape grunted with closed lips and checked its bleeding jabbed through wrist.

"Are you done?" the spirit-mage floated down on her ghostly throne and gazed at the ape. "We have a matter upstairs; leave Beauregard to clean this up," she gave a small yawn.

"In a moment," the hole in his wrist stitched back together slowly and he watched the brunette pull the wolf-girl away from the scene in a hurry. The spirit-mage floated back up.

"Blast!" "OwOwO!" as Asobi got up a bullet grazed her right cheek and she felt it whizz past her ear. She held her cheek and flourished her wand.

"SPLASH!" Water circled Asobi in an orb of rushing waves. She clutched her wand tight as she was tossed and spun around within.

Beneath the orb water slithered forth, like rivers to an ocean, from the slime-woman’s legs, "Finally, my new toy! Go on, I will clean this up," she glanced to the ape.

The ape shifted and transformed into a much smaller hawk and shot upwards to the mesh walkway.

Shadows appeared in front of the slime-girl and a gleaming purple dagger slashed through her face. Fumeko watched as the slime-girl’s face stitched back together as if nothing happened.

Unlike slimes Fumeko faced before, there seemed to be no core to stab... The split in half smile of the slime-woman giggled on both sides of her cheeks as they attached back, "Another one? Don’t mind if I do-"

"TSSHHHH!!!" "PLEH!" Asobi got out of that washing machine of a trap. Her large butterfly sizzled the water as she slid onto the floor. The slime-girl gave a childish pout.

Back upstairs, the silver-haired woman had been staggered and Jotou had just been released onto the floor.

The blonde took to her feet, even though she had not gathered her bearings whatsoever. "Spark!" she yelled out and swished her blade aimlessly as nine ghosts swarmed her at once.

Ectoplasm splattered all over and the spirit-mage simply sighed as she floated back up. The stone-woman moved each finger one by one and then moved her limbs—ironically, like she was breaking out of a statue.

’That, that... How’d that not kill her!?’ Jotou looked up to the woman and saw her opportunity; the silver-haired woman was breaking free of her paralyzed state.

She panted a breath and readied her blade; sparking from head-to-toe she sprinted forward as fast as she could. ’Everything you’ve got Jotou, you have to.’ Every spark on her body travelled in unison towards her sword and gathered.

Greyish-silver stone encased the woman from her feet and fists; a quick thin layer of stone covered her right before-

"THUNDERING STRIKE!"

Other than the slime-woman, every single person within the warehouse felt their hair rise and watched a streak of lightning flash across and light up the entire building in yellow...

Within the blink of an eye. "BLASSTSTTTT!!!!" Thunder roared and clangoured throughout the building. If the lightning didn’t make them cover their eyes, the thunder certainly made them shut their ears.

In her swing, the Thundering Blade directed every bit of the deafening noise she could, towards the stone-covered woman. The sound echoed against her and stripped her off parts of the stone-like armour.

She flinched and snarled, sure... Perhaps her head hurt and ears were ringing... Wait. But surely... that’s not all...? She stood upright and shook off the remnants of stone on her, before another layer of stone encased her form.

Crimson went down Jotou’s eyes as she stared—astonished, surprised, thunderstruck. "..." Anxiety, fear, uncertainty, confusion, disbelief—all of it came crashing down like a house of cards. Thus, causing a sense of panic...

’We need to get out of here.’ That much she could process whilst she at least still stood.

Having witnessed the spectacle upstairs... "It’s time to go," Fumeko’s voice cracked whilst staring up in horror.

"FWOOSH!" Water surged up and caught Fumeko. "Go where~?" the slime-girl spoke; even she was distracted by the display of lightning and thunder upstairs.

Fumeko blinked out and landed near the elf. Water dribbled down her brown twin-tails and weighed her down as she grabbed Asobi’s hand, "Sobi, we’re going!"

Asobi’s eyes bubbled to the brunette, "J-Jotou-"

"She’ll be fine, I’ll get to her, move it for now!" her brows furrowed and she dragged the raven-haired woman. Asobi had no choice but to run and make them both go invisible.

"SPLASH!" Water smashed onto the floor in a high wave—missing the intended targets. The slime-girl hummed and stared after witnessing them disappear again...

"Chnk!" Behind Jotou, a hawk transformed into a dark-suited man who landed on the mesh walkway. In front of her, the silver-haired woman had been forcibly shunted back a few metres. The spirit-mage floated above her, alongside ghouls in every direction.

’I... don’t have a lot left...’ She gulped and sparked only her sword. Using her eyes, sparks sizzled out, hardening the sanguine fluid remaining on her face. She steadied her shaking legs and brought her feet close.

"There’s the fear," the spirit-mage commented and lifted a finger for the ghosts to lunge at the blonde.

’Fear?’ It was written across her blonde brows and her brown eyes that darted all over. Her insides hurt, her forehead was beginning to bruise, sweat went down right by her ears and her hair was ruffled.

Her grip tightened and she spun with a stifled groan to the incoming spectres. She sliced through them and faced the suited man who reached to grab her. Jotou stumbled back and swiftly twirled to face the silver-haired woman-!

"CRUSH!" "NGAH!" Stone emerged from the railing and slammed her against the wall. Her head banged into the surface and she saw white for a moment.

She reeled her head back and thudded onto the mesh floor. Before she could even figure anything out, the suited man grabbed her by the throat and gripped tight.

Jotou coughed and her left hand grabbed onto his arm as an instinct. "GRFF!" Stone emerged from her right side and encased the arm wielding the blade.

"This is the one causing so much trouble?" the man looked her in the eye.

"Seems she’s worn herself out. Put her out of her misery already," the spirit-mage sighed.

"Mine..." the silver-haired woman marched forward.

"You had your chance, it is not our responsibility if you decided to play with your prey and drag this out," the spirit-mage tilted her head slightly.

"If you want to test my patience, you will keep running your mouth," she side-eyed upwards. Her gruff tone had lessened into a low elegant one, for the victor of this battle had been decided...

The spirit-mage rolled her eyes and shut up.

’Ow... Hotaru... Is this, is this the part where all my life plays out in front of me...?

The HELL are you talking about Jotou Howllett, get the hell up!

Ugh, every muscle in my body’s sore... and, I can barely breathe... What do I even? Is Meko gonna blink up here... Detective... Do ssssomething—I need to do ssssomething...’

Her thoughts were fading and the scene before her was blurry—she was going in and out of consciousness and could catch a glimpse of the silver-haired woman over her, next to the one holding her throat.

The silver-haired woman raised her fist which coated itself in stone to make a sharp spike.

Jotou’s weakening left hand flopped to the side and no longer held onto the man’s arm. "r..." Jotou’s lips quivered. "Re-rejuvenate!" she spat out.

Lightning coalesced from her fingertips and rushed over her palm. Like a mini lightning bolt, electricity struck through the centre of her palm and sent an intense shock through her body, that jolted her form and jumpstarted her eyes.

Her left hand folded and formed a fist, to the dismay of the two figures standing over her. Sparks covered her from head-to-toe and grabbed the hand at her throat, "Zap!"

The man grunted and was stuck as electricity coursed through his veins. "BASH!" The silver-haired woman punched with her spiked fist, but hit the wall behind instead.

Jotou tilted her head to the left as fast as she could. She felt her heart kicked into overdrive from the shocking invigoration she casted.

Her zap ended and the man’s hand jerked away. "Kickbolt!" her right boot lurched forward with a trail of lighting.

"Gh!" the silver-haired woman was kicked in the crotch.

The stone encasing Jotou’s right arm weakened enough for her to wrench herself out of it. "Ngh-AH!" Jotou partially dislocated her right shoulder as she yanked it out.

The blonde rolled to the side and breathed frantically. She lifted herself off the ground and pivoted her sword. The spirit-mage tightened her lips with an ’I told you so’ expression.

"JOTOU! We’re going, get down here!!!" Fumeko screamed from the top of a few crates—it’s not like she could get close to them without being punted off immediately.

Without a second thought, Jotou ran back the way she came down the mesh walkway. "BSH!" "Hck!" Jotou was hit in the side of the jaw from an emerging stone pillar from the side.

The blonde went off the side of the railing and soared downwards. Her eyes opened up and lightning trailed down her leg; with a kick of her boot.

Her Kickbolt spell boosted her and spun her up in the air, right before she hit the ground. "Thud." "Crack!" "AH, FUCK!" Jotou shouted; whilst the fall was certainly lessened, she landed improperly and twisted her left ankle.

"Uhhck..." she was also concerned about her jaw broken to one side as blood went down her teeth and stopped when it touched the lightning sparking around her face.

"Hell," Fumeko blinked and appeared in front of Jotou. "You look great," she grabbed the blonde’s arm and rushed her forward.

Jotou groaned and hopped forward with her right foot whilst being pulled by her left arm. Behind her, a falcon flew down and landed as a cheetah that dashed for her. Ghosts flew down for the two as well.

"Keep close!" Fumeko pressed her back into Jotou and spiralled her dagger, making quick work of the ghosts. Jotou switched her sword to her left hand and slashed the incoming cheetah that pounced.

The cheetah held its maw onto the blade; lightning jolted down Jotou’s arm and zapped the feline off, which fell with a growl. Fumeko then continued to escort Jotou somewhere.

"It’s a last resort, but we’re gonna have to. The front door isn’t an option and they’re up there," Fumeko stated as she rounded a corner and went behind crates where she finally saw the redhead and the magician.

"JOTOU!?" Asobi jumped back.

Hotaru’s eyes widened and her brows furrowed as she reached a glowing blue palm towards her immediately.

"Where’s the slime lady?" Asobi turned to Fumeko.

"Mopping up bodies as a proper slime, now’s our chance, stay together!" Fumeko planted her feet down. She took Jotou and Hotaru by the arm while Asobi held onto the brunette’s shoulder.

Shadows formed around her feet and spread across the ground around her like the roots of a tree. Purplish-black shadows arose like tendrils as Fumeko’s own shadow extended much, much larger than herself.

"CRASH!" Something fell from the upper walkway onto the lower floor.

"Where to!? Home!?" Fumeko asked.

"The company, right?" Asobi suggested in shaking breath.

Hotaru noticed behind Jotou, the four-armed woman rushing for them and covered in stone. Greyish-silver stone emerged and crashed one of the crates they hid behind.

Purplish-black shadows warped and echoed light eerie sounds, forming around the four in a misshapen circle. Blood trickled down the brunette’s nose; in a flash of dark purples and blacks, the four disappeared...