Chapter 238
"Is it built upon such a pile of bones?"
Haruto had no interest in feeling sentimental about the dead beasts.
Because of the upper limit--
One of them was equivalent to the mass of more than ten ordinary void souls, which Haruto absorbed silently.
They were absorbed into his body; if it were a whole or Blanks, it would be equivalent to thousands of them.
--The upper limit of the Soul King Hakusui is increasing at a rate visible to the naked eye.
"I knew I came to the right place."
Haruto no longer paid attention to the sand and gravel around him.
I have a feeling.
"If we can kill about a thousand more of these Gillian, we can activate a higher level of the Soul King Hakusui."
"Bakudō 58: Kakushitsuijaku"
Haruto began to sense the Menos Grande aura surrounding him.
The mission of the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force was to reduce the number of Hollows in the Forest of Menos in order to achieve a balance among the three realms.
The more Gillian Haruto kills here, the less pressure the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force will face, making it a win-win situation...
Just don't go too far with the killings.
"Oh?"
"There are so many people gathered over there?"
The existence of small groups of Gillian is understandable. A stronger Menos Grande might need to consume Gillian of the same level to evolve, and has no interest in weaker members of its own kind, which is why it gathers into such small groups.
However, if their numbers increase further, there's a chance that a second, stronger Gillian individual could emerge... These two Menos Grande will definitely not coexist peacefully; they will devour each other in order to evolve into a stronger Adjuchas.
Now.
Within the limits of Kakushitsuijaku's perception, Haruto simultaneously sensed the auras of hundreds of Gillian of varying strengths—whether they were devouring each other or being controlled by a high-level Menos Grande, it didn't affect Haruto's ability to harvest wheat.
"Whoosh!"
"..."
Haruto quickly moved to the marked location of the virtual group.
These Gillian were indeed devouring each other, but this was merely their leisure activity: scattered across the ground where these black cloaks had glided were mangled limbs and crimson-stained Shihakushō.
"Was a task force wiped out here...?"
The Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force has a specialized organizational structure. Not to mention that the nobles and the Gotei 13 each have their own affiliations, both are also divided into many factions: whether it is to compete for credit or to die, it is by no means easy to reach a consensus among the various parties.
So.
To ensure a reasonably efficient execution, the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force is divided into various task forces of different sizes that operate independently.
The annihilated team before us... judging from (pieced together) its numbers, was probably around thirty.
This is considered one of the larger sub-teams.
"..."
"Kill them first, then we'll talk."
Volume 1: 143, Virtual Group
"Boom!!"
The flames of the crown painted the sky.
No matter how powerful Gillian is, its Fourth-Class Spiritual Pressure is already its limit... If it continues to devour, it will turn into an even smaller and more delicate Adjuchas.
To deal with these guys, there's really no need for high-level Hadō above number 60: Haruto simply used the combination of Byakurai and Sōkatsui to burn the Gillian... Anyone would think it was a captain-level Kuchiki Clan Captain-level leaving behind a "I was here" mark.
"Call."
Haruto's flames and lightning quickly died down on the sand.
"The condition of the expeditionary force is worse than we imagined."
He began to examine the corpses of the Soul Reapers on the ground one by one— Haruto had protected these remains with the rock walls created by the Daichi Ten'yō before activating the Kidō bombardment.
The total number of people is only around six hundred.
The Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force, whenever dispatched, maintains a size equivalent to one-tenth of the Gotei 13 each year, although about 30% of them are composed of private armies of nobles; if the rotation system is included, half of the Soul Reaper of Seireitei will participate.
"My coordinates are way off to who-knows-where, yet I'm still seeing 1/20 of the death toll."
This is the real-time death toll.
Even within the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force, this represents a significant proportion.
"Expeditionary Force Headquarters..."
"Is this really a cleanup of Hollowfolk, or is it being wiped out by Hueco Mundo?"
Haruto was lamenting the terrible situation.
"Um?"
He casually tossed aside the rock face not far away.
It revealed the figure of Soul Reaper, whose face was completely destroyed and who remained only with an arm.
"Thump."
Haruto knelt down and placed his palm on the Soul Reaper's forehead.
Although his Kaidō technique was terrible, it could still be used to treat Soul Reaper below the Fifth-Class Reii, by forcefully pulling them back to life through the Miracle... They definitely wouldn't survive, but at least they could leave some last words.
Half an hour later.
The Soul Reaper, whose appearance was obscured, finally slowly opened his eyes.
"Can you recognize me, Third Seat Sakurai?"
That's right.
Haruto recognized his colleague by the tattered Seated Officer tag: it was Genya Sakurai had once come to the Thirteenth Division to challenge them.
Unexpected.
Not only did his Zanpakuto recover quickly, but he even joined the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force —whether it was out of shame or not is debatable, but it certainly showed commendable courage: after Kanmuri Yasu joined the Expeditionary Force, due to the 11th Division's disastrous performance in the World of the Living, the Seireitei did not continue to recruit Soul Reaper from the 11th Division to join the Expeditionary Force, and all the Soul Reaper who came to Hueco Mundo joined voluntarily.
The same applies to the Thirteenth Division.
"Haruto..."
"Fourth Seats?"
The Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force's access to information about the Seireitei was relatively limited, and news of Haruto's transfer had clearly not yet reached them.
"Very well, is there any last message you'd like me to pass on?"
The former Joker.
Today's warriors.
Genya Sakurai, who never liked his overly handsome appearance, surprisingly upheld his position as the 11th Division Seated Officer even in his dying moments, despite being nearly disfigured.
"Captain Kanmuri Yasu led everyone in a breakout in that direction."
"..."
He actually addressed Kanmuri Yasu as captain?
The growth of a man before his death is always regrettable.
"Understood."
Haruto laid down the completely lifeless Genya Sakurai: "It's already an unimaginable the Miracle that you were able to say that sentence in one breath."
Breakthrough?
In other words.
This squad didn't run into a group of Hollows, but rather was besieged by Menos Grande.
If it's the former, you just need to return the way you came in the direction where the virtual group is sparser. However, judging from the direction indicated by Genya Sakurai, the road is clearly trending upwards.
Directly above the Forest of Menos lies a "canopy" desert composed of corpses and Reishi. The Hollows living here, unless they are so weak that no one cares about them, are mostly Adjuchas... This is their hunting ground for evolution and battle.
It is far more dangerous than the Forest of Menos.
Normally, the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force wouldn't venture into this territory, just as Adjuchas rarely comes to the World of the Living through the Garganta: ordinary spirits are barely considered snacks for the Gillian, but Adjuchas consuming them would be of no benefit to him.
Therefore, the main task of the Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force was to eliminate the Gillian and ordinary Hollows located in the Forest of Menos.
"Bang!"
Crimson flames ignited in his palm.
Haruto burned his dead colleagues and the remains of Menos Grande together in a single fire.
"Take care."
"Whoosh!"
He then sped along the dark and twisted road toward the direction where Kanmuri Yasu had broken through.
The Hueco Mundo, the Desert.
"Bankai!"
The halberd swept through the air.
The sweeping, single-line slash forced the two Adjuchas attacking from high above to retreat; the following powerful split was a perfect combination of the previous slash, the cross-shaped beam of light cutting the two Adjuchas into several pieces.
But.
Kanmuri Yasu's sudden burst of power only managed to kill one of them.
The other one managed to dodge to the side just in time to save its head and heart—as long as these two parts remain intact, they can quickly recover to their original state through High-Speed Regeneration... Even if their combat power cannot return to its peak in a short time, reducing the number of those that fail still makes them extremely dangerous.
"Oh no."
Kanmuri Yasu was not proficient in Bankai.
Although his Reiatsu had successfully advanced to the third Captain-level during his years of campaigning in Hueco Mundo, he hadn't had time to further hone his Bankai... In order to protect the few remaining members of the 11th Division in the Expeditionary Force, he didn't even reveal his Captain-level strength:
Captain-level face greater pressure and are no longer able to lead small teams on missions like they do now.
"Four more..."
A pitch-black shadow flapped its wings and soared above the inky sky.
"Our biggest chance was wasted on just one enemy."
Kanmuri Yasu the more than forty Soul Reaper who had broken through the Gillian encirclement around Guan Lüyi, less than ten remained. Half of the team members had been lost during the breakout, and upon reaching this desert, half of them were instantly killed by Adjuchas's sneak attack.
If these mid-level Menos Grande hadn't been completely playing with them... he'd probably be the only one left now.
Kanmuri Yasu's Bankai is characterized by becoming stronger the more blood he has.
It's undoubtedly most useful for making a desperate last-minute effort.
But these Adjuchas in the sky...
Their fighting style is inherently cunning and treacherous, and they are even less likely to give Kanmuri Yasu such an opportunity now.
Withdraw?
Beads of sweat the size of rice grains gathered into streams on Kanmuri Yasu's face.
--Instead of thinking like that, it's better to think about how to kill as many Adjuchas as possible before you die, which would also be a way to teach the Hollows a lesson Menos Grande: the Adjuchas undoubtedly possess a considerable degree of intelligence, and judging from the timing of their appearance, the Gillian group that attacked from the shadows earlier was most likely the work of these guys.
"..."
With his remaining Reiatsu and stamina, he could only manage to take down two more at most... No, judging from Adjuchas's High-Speed Regeneration, he could only manage to kill one more at most. It was just a pity for his comrades who had fought alongside him.
Those who could follow him out of the Menos Grande with a Reii level of nine or ten were truly worthy of the title of elite: their Reiatsu might not be very strong, but the experience and skills honed in the battles of Hueco Mundo were wealth that could never be bought with the former.