Spiritual Power Compression

"Refas was right." Before Wien knew it, he had followed Refas deep into the heart of the forest.

Just as Wien and Refas finished their conversation, dozens of powerful Spiritual Pressures suddenly sprang up around him. Had Wien not advanced to a High-Level Hollow, those Spiritual Pressures might have been enough to leave him completely immobilized.

"Hello, outsider. I'm Jekain, the temporary leader here," a Humanoid Hollow who came only up to Wien's thigh said to him. "Just as Refas said, we need a highly intelligent Hollow to lead us out of this crisis."

"Why don't you leave?"

"It's no use. Mirot's ability to sense Spiritual Pressure is second only to mine." A Mutant Hollow covered in tentacles answered Wien's question.

"I'm Inora. My ability is sensing Spiritual Pressure, but I'm not much of a fighter, so I need protection.

"Everyone here has memorized one another's Spiritual Pressure, and Mirot is one of our oldest members, so he's no exception. Even if we escape for a while, once he advances, if he retains his consciousness, he'll make sure we don't escape this calamity.

"If we're lucky and he loses consciousness, there are still unknown dangers outside.

"So we plan to strike back while he's still injured. That way, we might have a sliver of hope."

"Hmm..." After hearing Inora out, Wien fell into thought, weighing the advantages and disadvantages.

If Wien chose to help them, he might have to face an enemy at the Menos Grande level. If they lost, he would certainly die, but if they won, Wien might get the chance to devour a Menos Grande's Spiritual Pressure.

If Wien refused, he could only leave and head for a new area. Along the way, he would either be able to continue hunting or be killed by a higher-level Hollow he encountered.

No matter what he chose, both options carried risks.

"Outsider, please tell us your decision," Jekain asked Wien after a long silence.

"I agree to help you. But I have a few conditions." After thinking it over, Wien made his choice and spoke to Jekain.

"First, I can direct you in battle, but I don't know how strong the enemy is, so I can only do my best. Casualties will be unavoidable. I might even die myself. I want to make that clear beforehand."

"That's acceptable. We understand," Jekain assured Wien, and the Hollows behind him nodded in agreement.

"Second, if he really advances into a Gillian and I decide we can't beat him, I'll guide everyone in retreat. Again, I can't guarantee there won't be losses. If we win, the Gillian's mask goes to me, and its body goes to you."

"No." A voice raised an objection. It was Inora, the Mutant Hollow beside Wien. His words made Wien's expression turn cold.

"Uh... you seem to have misunderstood me." Sensing the faint fluctuations of Wien's Spiritual Pressure, Inora hurried to explain.

"My ability is sensing Spiritual Pressure, so I can sense the fluctuations inside you. Your Spiritual Pressure is extremely swollen right now, which is why your body has grown so large.

"If you absorb the Spiritual Power of a Gillian-level Menos Grande in your current condition, and that Spiritual Power isn't enough to advance you, you'll swell up even more. You might even burst and die."

"What?!" Inora's words made Wien's heart give a violent shudder. "You're saying you can see the fluctuations of Spiritual Power inside me?"

"Yes. You just digested the Spiritual Pressure of two High-Level Hollows. Now the Spiritual Pressure inside you has swollen a little more, and it isn't very stable. Haven't you noticed you've grown taller again?"

"How can I get rid of this height?" Inora's words struck at Wien's greatest concern, and he asked the question instinctively.

"Compress your Spiritual Pressure," Inora said. "Every Hollow is different. Some can naturally grasp how to control and compress their Spiritual Pressure. Jekain, for example, can control it very well. Others have to learn how to compress it later.

"But they all begin figuring it out for themselves as Elite Hollows. This is the first time I've seen a High-Level Hollow whose Spiritual Pressure has swollen to such an extent without bursting and dying."

"What should I do, then?" After hearing Inora, Wien couldn't help feeling a lingering fear. It would be fine if his body could keep expanding, but if it stopped at a certain stage, either his Spiritual Power would be strong enough for him to advance, or he would never be able to make further progress. Otherwise, he really would burst and die.

"What should you do? Imagine a bottle filled with water vapor. What you need to do now is condense the vapor in the bottle, turning the vapor-like Reishi inside you into water and compressing its volume.

"That way, you'll have more room inside you to absorb Reishi from outside," Inora told Wien. "The size of a soul increases as its owner evolves through the levels, while its density can be compressed according to one's ability. The denser the soul, the stronger the Spiritual Power."

"Compress it?" Wien pondered for a moment, then began controlling the Spiritual Power inside him. It was true that he had only ever tried to move Reishi around or gather and release it. He had never considered compressing his Spiritual Power as a whole. So he immediately began getting a feel for it.

He gathered and compressed the Reishi inside him. He had thought it would be difficult, but to his surprise, the Reishi quickly gathered together and began to compress. A space that had once held one mass of Reishi could now hold two. Perhaps after growing into a High-Level Hollow, the ability to compress Reishi had long since become instinctive, and Wien had only been unaware of it because he had transmigrated from a human.

The compression went very quickly. In just a short while, Wien felt much lighter. His body also seemed to have shrunk a little.

He hadn't expected a casual attempt to produce such results. If Wien had time to concentrate on compressing it, he believed returning to his former height of around 1.8 meters would be no problem at all.

"So you already had the ability to compress Spiritual Power, but you didn't know how to use it?" Inora looked at Wien strangely. "You really are an odd Hollow."

"Uh..." Wien was embarrassed. He hadn't been a Hollow for long, so how could he know so much?

"My name is Ace Wien."

"Outsider, have you agreed to help us?" Seeing the change in Wien's attitude, Jekain spoke up.

"Yes, but you have to agree to the conditions I just mentioned. Otherwise, I won't do something so thankless."

"Agreed. If you can lead us through this crisis, then, as long as you're willing, we can even make you our new leader," Jekain said frankly.

He himself knew how important a highly intelligent leader was to him and the entire group.

"First, tell me your names and abilities. I need to make tactical arrangements." Wien neither agreed nor refused.

It had to be said that, as a human in his previous life, Wien had played quite a few strategy games and knew a little about battle tactics. He just hadn't expected that in this life, as a Hollow, he would have a day when he got to lay out a strategy.

From their reports, of the fourteen Hollows remaining here, eleven were intermediate High-Level Hollows, two were advanced High-Level Hollows, and one—Jekain, who stood beside Wien—had reached the peak of the High-Level Hollow stage. As long as he kept eating, he would become a Menos Grande sooner or later. But their current enemy was a Hollow about to reach the Menos Grande level, and even he would have difficulty facing it alone.

"Right, I have a general idea of the situation." After listening to the Hollows' reports, Wien nodded and began making arrangements.

"First, we need to treat our enemy as a newly advanced Gillian. That way, we'll be prepared for the worst. Second, a Gillian's Spiritual Pressure is more than ten times, or even dozens of times, greater than ours. We need to be prepared. Casualties will be unavoidable this time."

Hearing Wien's words, all the Hollows present nodded solemnly.

"Next, as for the information we have on Gillians, they stand dozens of meters tall, move slowly, and possess immense strength.

"They can use powerful moves like Cero.

"Their weakness is their mask. Shattering it or inflicting extensive injuries on their body can kill them.

"So we need to make a huge trap that will let us attack his mask more easily. Understood?"

Seeing that everyone was listening intently, Wien continued making arrangements.

"Inora, you're not good at attack or defense, so stay by my side when the battle begins. I need you to help me monitor the precise fluctuations in Mirot's Spiritual Pressure, especially when he's about to fire a Cero."

"Okay." Inora nodded.

"Refas, take the larger Hollows in the back and dig deep pits nearby. Then have Fisilina cover them with spiderwebs to make pit traps. They need to be more than five meters wide and over ten meters deep. Dig at least five of them."

Fisilina was a spider-type High-Level Beast Hollow. Her attack was to spit out spiderwebs made of Spiritual Power to bind her enemies.

"All right, I'll get to it right away." With that, Refas left with Fisilina and four or five Hollows.

"Parik, Jis. You two are the only Hollows among us who can fly. When the time comes, I need you to distract Mirot. At the same time, when the enemy uses Cero, you'll be responsible for drawing it away." Jis was a flying-eagle-type Beast Hollow, while Parik was a Mutant Hollow capable of flight.

"Understood."

"Understood."

"Everyone else, except Jekain, go cut down two trees tall enough to stand around the traps. Be quick." After he spoke, the remaining Hollows, apart from Jekain, quickly darted into the forest to find weathered trees they could cut down.

"Jekain, you have the strongest attack among us. When the time comes, I need you to deliver the killing blow with me. Of course, that's the worst-case scenario. If Mirot hasn't evolved from devouring them, the fight will be much easier," Wien said to Jekain calmly.

"Although I don't know why you're having us do these things, you made arrangements so quickly after only learning about each of our abilities. I believe that if it's you, you'll surely be able to resolve this crisis for us."

"I hope so. I also hope I can..."

"Roooaaaar!!!!!!"

Before he finished speaking, a terrifying howl came from deep in the forest. The intense Spiritual Pressure made the entire forest tremble.

"It's Mirot!" Inora cried in fear beside Wien. "That's his Spiritual Pressure! It's rising rapidly! He's about to evolve!"

"Hurry it up! Move!" Sensing the fluctuating Spiritual Pressure, Wien had no time to hesitate. He rushed toward the place where Refas had gone to dig the traps.