"Mm..." Jiu Ming stared silently at the flames on the ground, their contaminated blaze rising and falling unevenly, with faint traces of black at the edges.
"Right, if you turn left after leaving the village, it's the Demon King's castle. But why are we fine when we're this close? There hasn't seemed to be any problem from just now until now, has there? Also, can I kill monsters and level up?"
"Kill monsters and level up?" Haruhi continued eating without even raising her head. "You definitely don't have time for that right now."
"As for why there aren't any monsters... hohoho, that's my power. Don't worry—unless something unexpected happens, this place has been empowered by me, so we'll have at least a day or so of peace!"
"Is that so? Then what counts as something unexpected...?" Kyonko blankly looked up at the sky. A grotesquely warped monster swooped down from above, resembling a flying dragon but possessing three bizarrely shaped wings, and promptly rammed its head into a suddenly appearing golden barrier.
Watching ripples spread across the barrier, Kyonko could practically feel the pain for that monster, whose very appearance seemed capable of inducing vomiting!
"Something unexpected? That means the safe zone keeps shrinking under outside attacks until it finally vanishes."
"...Hey, Panel-kun, what level of danger is this?"
[Moderate critical point, about to approach severe]
"Holy shit, didn't you say Haruhi's world was only mildly affected? Then what the hell is this!!?"
[Calculation complete. There is a 90% chance that the distortions appeared long ago, but were isolated within a newly created world due to the world itself and Suzumiya Haruhi's subconscious rejection]
"You've got to be...? It can actually work like that?" Jiu Ming's mouth twitched. "Can this be solved? I'm feeling a lot