"No way..."
When Chisato Nishikigi followed the map to Luo Shu's location, the shrine of gray brick and red timber left her stunned.
"A huge shrine like this, in a place surrounded by poor villages?"
Standing on the steps halfway up the slope, Chisato looked toward Kaede's Village nearby and clicked her tongue.
"Built on the people's blood and sweat."
Just then, Luo Shu's voice came from behind her.
"You took a little longer than I expected."
Chisato turned at his words and immediately spotted Luo Shu standing beneath the torii at the very top of the steps.
Looking down at Chisato from above, Luo Shu glanced at her slightly dusty skirt before asking:
"Did something happen on the way?"
"Monsters attacked me."
Chisato's face immediately fell, and she waved the handgun in her right hand.
"I used up all my bullets. I don't even have any magazines left. I'll probably have to make bullets with Dying Will Flames from here on."
"There were that many monsters?"
Luo Shu was surprised. He knew how good Chisato's marksmanship was. If even she had run out of ammunition, he could imagine how frequent the monster attacks had been.
"Exactly! This Abyss is super unfriendly. Just passing through a forest gets you swarmed by monsters."
Chisato climbed the steps, grumbling indignantly as she went.
"They kept shouting 'human flesh, human flesh,' and didn't even know to run after I'd killed half of them. They weren't that dangerous, but the fights were seriously nonstop. I almost matched my kill count for a whole year."
By the time she finished speaking, her little leather shoes had reached the last step.
"What about you, Luo Shu? Did monsters attack you too?"
"I ran into two and got some information out of them."
Luo Shu glanced back