Huohuo looked a little hesitant, because in her eyes, the banner she was holding hadn't changed at all. But somehow, everyone who looked at her—no, looked at the banner—was filled with fear?
Huohuo: "Everyone... is this really that scary?"
Stelle: "Extremely scary."
Xueyi: "I cannot comment. I'm not sure if it will be effective against the Heliobi."
Her tail spoke sincerely: "I can guarantee you, this thing is absolutely effective against those guys. Forget them, even I get chills just looking at it. Eek!!!"
Huohuo: "Really?"
Everyone around seemed terrified, but Huohuo couldn't feel anything herself.
Pei Guang spoke up to remind her: "Why don't you just try it out? Trust me, any enemy with even a little bit of intelligence will be terrified of you. And for the ones without brains, I believe with your skills, you'll manage. How about this? If you're really nervous, I'll accompany you. We won't intervene in the fight. How about it?"
Hearing Pei Guang's words, Huohuo suddenly felt like she had found her anchor and nodded vigorously. Pei Guang then looked at Hanya and Xueyi: "I'll take her and Stelle to catch a few Heliobi, is that okay?"
Hanya shook her head: "No problem. If it's really as you say, you can handle the Heliobi here however you like. Just be careful: there are still some Heliobi inside Fyxestroll Garden that haven't been fully suppressed."
So far, they had only managed to contain most of the Heliobi within Fyxestroll Garden's borders. Inside, several Heliobi were still causing havoc due to limited manpower and the Heliobi's special nature.
Huohuo set off. Beside her, Pei Guang and Stelle followed closely, while Huohuo clutched the buffed banner tightly, nervously glancing around.
Watching the trio walk farther and farther away, Hanya took a deep breath. She had to admit: seeing Huohuo hugging a toilet plunger was enough to make her vision go dark. Just looking at it made her feel her mental strength draining away rapidly.
And Hanya wasn't wrong. That plunger Pei Guang had given her was crafted using an Albinauric helmet as material. Although it was technically a purple-grade cosmetic weapon, it still provided attribute bonuses.
In a normal game, that would just mean a tiny, almost negligible stat boost. But in real life, even the slightest stat adjustment could have deadly effects.
Pei Guang only regretted one thing: that the plunger wasn't a gold-grade special effect. If it were gold, maybe something even crazier would happen.
And so, a terrifying sight appeared within Fyxestroll Garden: Huohuo marched in front, hugging her banner tightly, while two Trailblazers followed behind her like bodyguards.
But, of course, that wasn't the scariest part. For the Heliobi lurking in the shadows, the most terrifying thing was seeing Huohuo hugging a plunger: and the plunger itself looked like it had absorbed the marks of countless years.
Not only was she hugging it, but she even poked it toward her own face.
That alone was enough. Every Heliobus that saw this shuddered and dared not approach. Even Heliobi had their pride. Forget about the risk of possession, just getting poked by that plunger would be enough to lose all dignity among their kind!
Because of that, Huohuo hadn't encountered any Heliobi along the way so far.
Pei Guang and Stelle followed her, searching for any signs of Heliobi. But after leaving the pavilion and stepping into the small woods, Pei Guang suddenly realized something: their team was missing one person.
"Hm? Where is she?"
Pei Guang's voice made Huohuo stop in her tracks. "What's wrong?"
Pei Guang looked at the minimap, frowning. "She's gone. You keep searching for Heliobi: I'll go look for her."
Huohuo's body stiffened immediately: "No, no way... Let's go find her together."
Her tail muttered: "You'd better worry about yourself first."
Even Tail was speechless now. Thanks to Pei Guang's one shout, Huohuo was hugging the banner even tighter. In Tail's eyes, it looked like the plunger was practically squished against Huohuo's face.
Still, the scene was pretty amusing: a scared girl hugging a plunger to cover her face. If Pei Guang weren't around, Tail would've laughed for three straight days.
Thinking about how some poor Heliobus might soon get smashed in the face with that thing, the tail felt an overwhelming sense of joy.
Huohuo looked at Pei Guang with teary eyes: "Doesn't it feel... strange around here? I'm so scared... Can you stay closer to me? I'm afraid you'll disappear too..."
Pei Guang: "Scared? Then let's stick together. It's true: in horror movies, when teammates start disappearing one by one, splitting up is the dumbest choice."
Huohuo: "Eh? Horror movies..."
Pei Guang looked around at the environment, then at the minimap where Stelle's marker was still frozen in place, and muttered: "Isn't this just like that? According to the cliché, now is when we split up and then get picked off one by one by monsters!"
Huohuo: "Eeeek!!!"
Hearing Pei Guang's words, Huohuo immediately grabbed the hem of his clothes with her right hand, while nervously waving the little flag in her left.
Seeing this, Pei Guang smiled and led Huohuo toward Stelle's location.
Following the indicator on the minimap, Pei Guang brought Huohuo to a courtyard. Glancing around and at the map, he muttered suspiciously: "Weird. The map says it's here, but there's nothing? Did she enter some kind of subspace?"
Though he could teleport directly to Stelle's side, today each of them only had one teleport use left. To be safe, Pei Guang decided to hold onto it for now. After all, Stelle wasn't showing any danger signs—in fact, she seemed to be having fun.
Listening to Pei Guang's muttering, Huohuo nervously looked around and swallowed hard: "Um, she's supposed to be here? But... there doesn't seem to be any demons or monsters around..."
Pei Guang: "Actually, there is something. Look: there's a mirror over there. If we go by horror game and movie logic, it's probably the gateway to the Other Side through that mirror. Come on, let's check it out."
Pei Guang walked up to the mirror, checked his reflection, and nodded in satisfaction. Huohuo nervously crept closer too, staring at the mirror and stammering: "Th-that... this mirror... there's something wrong with it, right?"
Pei Guang didn't answer. Instead, he started gesturing and making signs in front of the mirror, then began playing rock-paper-scissors with his reflection. Huohuo, gathering her courage, looked at the mirror… and what she saw almost made her stop breathing.
Pei Guang threw scissors; the reflection showed paper.
Pei Guang threw paper; the reflection showed rock.
Pei Guang threw paper again; the reflection still showed rock.
At first, Huohuo's heart was pounding so hard she thought it would leap out of her chest. But then she realized: Pei Guang was winning every round, and she suddenly wasn't so scared anymore.
"Eh? Pei Guang, you're beating the mirror-you!"
Pei Guang: "He's just bad at the game. Come on, let's go again!"
Pei Guang's words seemed to enrage the mirror version of himself. The next round, Pei Guang threw rock—and the mirror showed paper.
The reflection Pei Guang smirked proudly at his victory, but immediately after, his expression froze.
Because the real Pei Guang had pulled out a flamethrower, aiming it straight at the mirror. His presence suddenly surged with such intensity that even Huohuo felt reassured.
"Huohuo! Watch closely, this is how you deal with demons and monsters!"
As he spoke, Pei Guang grabbed the little flag from Huohuo's hand. Both Huohuo and Tail seemed to hear BGM rising in the air, and with the music, Pei Guang moved into action.
"Don't know how high the heavens are, huh? Still daring to mess around? Time to catch a demon!"
At that moment, Pei Guang's battle BGM hit full blast. Huohuo could clearly hear it—and amidst the music, she vaguely caught phrases like 'Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon, Daluo Dharma Spell, Prajna Buddhas, Prajna Pamakong Kang'.
Right then, Pei Guang's flamethrower shot a tongue of fire, and the mirror-Pei Guang looked absolutely terrified as he bolted.
"Fiend! Where do you think you're going!" Pei Guang yelled as he charged into the mirror, dragging the flamethrower with him.
He had always wanted to test whether a flamethrower would work against demons. Normally, he worried about roasting his teammates along with the enemy, but today, he was using Savory Truefire: no worries about friendly fire!
With that, he didn't hesitate to pull out his beloved flamethrower.
Who cared what scientific explanation the Heliobi might have? To him, they were demons. and demons must be exterminated.
"Eh, eh, eh?! He went in!!!"
Tail: "Yep, he went in. What? You want to go too?"
Even though Huohuo's voice was full of fear, she clutched the flag tightly: "I-I'm going in too!"
Huohuo didn't really understand what the words in the BGM meant, but she couldn't help but start chanting along: "Great Mighty Heavenly Dragon! Daluo Dharma Spell! Venerable Kṣitigarbha! Prajna Buddhas! Prajna Pamakong!"
Strangely enough, as she chanted, Huohuo felt her whole body fill with strength. Tail, too, widened his eyes in disbelief.
Before Tail could say anything, Huohuo, empowered by the BGM, grabbed the flag with her left hand, scooped up Tail with her right, and charged into the mirror.
The instant she passed through, Huohuo felt the world spinning around her. When the dizziness passed, she found herself in a strange space: a dimension created by the Heliobi.
In folk tales, it would be called a "ghost maze."