A Person in Izumo, Making Honkai Great Again

The discordant voices in the crowd disappeared, but Granny Zhuohua didn't feel any happier. She held a pessimistic view of the current situation.

If monsters like these came along with the thunderstorm, was the shelter truly safe?

And how long would the shrine maiden be willing to protect them?

The Narukami Shrine Maiden would probably escort them to the shelter and then leave. She surely had more important things to do.

But the gunshots from the direction of the shelter...

Was the shelter truly safe?

"What's going on? What's going on? Why aren't we moving? Where's Mei?" Kiana's voice came from behind. She walked from the back of the group to the front, searching for Raiden Mei's trace. "Where did Mei go?"

The reason for the Narukami Shrine Maiden to stay and escort this group appeared. Kiana hadn't seen Raiden Mei at all during her search, and the people in the group had scattered. Those who knew each other went to different places, seemingly planning to rest on the spot.

The thunder in the sky never stopped, so Kiana at the back of the group didn't notice the faint gunshots ahead, masked by the sound of thunder.

"Kiana. The Narukami Shrine Maiden said there were gunshots ahead, so she told us to rest here for a while and she's going to check it out."

"Gunshots?!"

Kiana was greatly alarmed. She listened intently for a moment and indeed heard gunshots from the direction of the shelter, faint and masked by the thunder.

"It must be the Oni Gods!" Kiana's expression changed.

Mei actually went alone without consulting her, clearly not wanting her to follow and take risks.

Moreover, with such a large group now, someone needed to stay and guard them.

But knowing Mei had gone to the dangerous area, even knowing she was unlikely to get hurt, Kiana still felt very worried.

"If you want to chase after her, you can go, Kiana."

Granny Zhuohua saw her hesitation and indecision and spoke up, encouraging her and giving her a gentle push.

"But here..."

"The shelter is just ahead, and it's relatively safe here. Don't worry about everyone encountering more monsters. Go do what you need to do."

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Beauty's Head Perched on the Skyscraper (Eighth Update)

Granny Zhuohua knew that Kiana's heart had already followed the shrine maiden ahead.

She was a good child.

If she had tried to keep Kiana back, there was a high chance Kiana would have stayed to look after everyone.

But Granny Zhuohua didn't do that.

She chose to go with the flow.

"...I understand!"

Kiana was already inclined to go find Mei. With Granny Zhuohua's encouragement, her resolve became even stronger.

She rushed towards the direction of the gunshots.

"Don't worry, Grandma. I'll solve the trouble and be back as soon as possible!"

Neither the shrine maiden nor the mysterious Kiana were people she could keep here.

Since that was the case, why make enemies?

Granny Zhuohua was pragmatic, and the others had no objections, because it was Raiden Mei who had just displayed her power by slaying an Oni.

Kiana hadn't had any spotlight moments.

Most people had also seen Kiana, but they didn't think Kiana possessed the same strength as the Narukami Shrine Maiden.

So, let her chase after them.

Kiana followed the sounds and reached the vicinity of the shelter in two minutes. However, when she reached a distance where she could see, Kiana saw a scene that shocked her.

There were terrifying, giant white spiderwebs everywhere, and fist-sized white spiders everywhere. And there was a colossal, terrifying spider at least tens of meters large.

It was crawling on the spiderwebs between buildings, constantly laying spiderlings.

On the ground, a scattered group of armed forces was hiding, continuously firing at the giant spider with the beauty's head and the approaching smaller spiders.

The entrance to the shelter was still within the defensive perimeter, but there were fallen trees, shattered glass, collapsed kiosks reduced to ruins, and some corpses torn apart by spiders.

Where was Mei? Mei was...

Kiana quickly searched for Raiden Mei's trace and saw her using the gunfire as cover, heading towards the building infested with spiders.

"Mei!"

Kiana's heart skipped a beat. She picked up her baseball bat and looked at the vast distance between herself, the building, and the giant spider.

"Damn it!"

If she had known there was such a huge spider ahead, she would have bought a sniper rifle.

It was too late to regret it now!

"Hiss—"

With a sound of chitin rubbing, several white, terrifying spiders, each as large as a person, surrounded Kiana from several directions, blocking her escape routes.

"…Your luck is terrible, because I really hate spiders!"

She couldn't reach the giant spider in the distance, but could she really not reach these small ones?

Kiana charged forward with her baseball bat. The spiders didn't expect their prey to not only not flee, but to brazenly charge at them.

It spat a stream of silk from its abdomen, which detached and formed a web that covered Kiana.

Kiana didn't even consider this kind of attack. She dodged the spider web nimbly and, upon reaching the spider, swung her bat fiercely, directly smashing it into white goo.

"First one!"

There was no kill notification, nor did any dark energy emerge. These 'small' spiders were likely all part of that giant spider with the beautiful head.

Even if it was part of it, she had to kill it!

Like a wolf entering a flock of sheep, Kiana swung her baseball bat, killing one after another as she advanced towards the building.

"Captain, there's someone over there!"

The armed personnel shooting at the small spiders saw Kiana killing one with each swing and immediately realized she was also support.

"Cover her!"

Even though they had only learned about the existence of Oni Gods an hour ago, these people overcame their fear and bravely stood on the front lines of the battle for the city.

The firepower they possessed couldn't pose a threat to the giant spider. Just as they were about to despair, Raiden Mei appeared.

She burst in like lightning, charging towards the terrifying giant spider perched on the building, crackling with electricity.

They saw hope and shifted their attacks to cover, hoping to relieve some pressure on their hero.

Now another warrior had arrived, and they were naturally excited, being unable to turn the tide on their own.

Every extra bit of strength meant a better chance of winning!

Kiana wanted to do as she had just done, killing small spiders while approaching the giant one. Just as she was about to swing again, a bullet struck a spider, killing it.

When Kiana killed the first one, she had already noticed that although these small spiders were numerous, they were also very fragile.

Only the webs were something to watch out for.

Getting stuck would waste too much time.

She glanced in the direction the bullet came from. An armed personnel wearing a helmet gave her a gesture to keep moving forward.

Are they covering me?

Kiana nodded at him and then sped up her advance, no longer killing them one by one.

She avoided what she could, and for those she couldn't, the covering fire would shoot them down directly.

The few stragglers that slipped through were easily dealt with by Kiana's bat.

She reached the base of the building quickly and without incident. Meanwhile, Raiden Mei, represented by her lightning, had already engaged the giant spider on the web.

Kiana looked at the bat in her hand again, wishing time could turn back.

"Next time, I'm definitely changing to a ranged weapon!"

She muttered resentfully and found a way to run up the building.

At this point, Raiden Mei had already jumped onto the giant spider's body, stabilizing herself. The samurai sword Kiana had given her was wielded without restraint, slashing towards the spider's waist, imbued with the power of lightning.

However, her strike sounded like it hit steel, making a metallic clang. She quickly leaped back. The spider's arm-thick silk, just as it blocked her attack, now moved like a flexible limb, continuing to attack Raiden Mei, who stood on its body.

"Insolent one, die!"

The spider's beautiful head uttered a venomous voice, making Raiden Mei, who was holding her samurai sword to block the silk attacking from all directions, tremble again.

Including the lizard head from before, she had already killed two Oni Gods, but neither could speak, nor were they very intelligent.

No, the lizard head died too quickly.

Being able to speak meant a certain level of intelligence, and intelligent enemies were much harder to deal with than mindless beasts.

The samurai sword Kiana gave her was very sharp, but the beautiful-headed spider's silk was also very tough. Raiden Mei even suspected that this silk was comparable to strong alloys.

The giant spider's body was also different from those small spiders, its offspring; it was extremely hard.

To leave a wound, she had to go all out, but the surrounding silk interfered, attempting to kill her right there.

It was difficult to deal with.

Raiden Mei, caught in the midst of the battle, quickly adapted to the beautiful-headed spider's attacks. However, she set her sights on the beautiful head of the spider.

The spider's body was huge and disgusting, but its head was a beautiful woman's upper body with white hair, bare-chested.

The spider's body was as hard as steel, but this human-like upper body wouldn't be the same, would it?

Raiden Mei feigned weakness, blocking attacks while stealthily approaching the spider's beautiful head.

Then...

"Mei, be careful!"

A voice from above made Raiden Mei's eyes widen. This familiar voice, this familiar scene.

She leaped from the rooftop of the building.

Kiana gathered all her strength into the baseball bat she held, using the speed of her precise descent to slam the bat into the beautiful face of the spider-humanoid.

Chapter 30: You wanna fight me one-on-one!

A massive thud echoed as the giant creature crashed to the ground.

What happened next left everyone stunned. Kiana had knocked the spider, dozens of times larger than her, to the ground with a single swing of her bat, even creating a crater upon impact.

And Kiana?

The wind whistled past her ears as Raiden Mei held her in a princess carry. Only after the spider-humanoid landed did Mei gently set Kiana down on the ground.

If not for the Stigmata, which had greatly enhanced her physical abilities, and the cushioning effect of the spider webs.

Just the fall from that height alone would have likely depleted more than half their combat strength, leaving them severely wounded or even near death.

"Kiana, that was reckless!"

Raiden Mei's face was stern. After landing, she put Kiana down, her heart having leaped into her throat.

Kiana, however, only felt exhilarated!

She hadn't really thought things through. She figured if she jumped down and hit it directly, she could severely injure the giant spider, and so she did.

"Why didn't you call me when Mei came over..."

Kiana muttered in protest, still feeling the adrenaline rush. She craned her neck to look at the giant spider, which was now lying on the ground, seemingly knocked out cold by her single blow, embedded in a crater.

Even with the speed boost from her jump.

To be able to take down something this massive with one hit, leaving it stuck in the ground like this, her strength...

Could the five percent Finality Process she possessed have entirely manifested as increased strength?

"Kiana!"