“Lefas was right.” Without realizing it, Ace Wayne had followed Lefas deep into the heart of the forest.
The moment their conversation ended, dozens of powerful Reiatsu surges erupted around him all at once.
Had he not already advanced to High-level Hollow, those dozens of signatures would have been enough to lock him in place.
“Hello, outsider.
I am the temporary leader here — Jekain.” A humanoid Hollow whose head barely reached Ace Wayne’s thigh spoke up.
“As Lefas said, we need a Hollow of exceptional intelligence to lead us through this crisis.” “Why don’t you just leave?” “It would be no use.
Mirot’s Reiatsu sensing is second only to mine.” An Aberrant Hollow covered in tentacles answered the question.
“I am Inora.
My ability is Reiatsu Sensing, but my combat strength is low, so I need someone to protect me.
The companions here have all memorized each other’s Reiatsu signatures, and Mirot is one of the oldest members among us — he is no exception.
Even if we fled for a time, once he advances and regains his consciousness, he would hunt us down.
There would be no escaping it.
And if by some chance he lost his consciousness, there are still unknown dangers outside.
So we intend to strike while he is still wounded.
That way, we at least have a slim chance.” “Hmm…” Inora’s words sent Ace Wayne into thought.
He turned the options over, weighing the costs on each side.
If he chose to help them, he might have to face a Menos Grande-level enemy.
Lose, and death was certain.
Win, and he might have the chance to devour Menos Grande-level Reiatsu.
If he refused, he could only leave and move on to a new area, where he would either continue hunting or be killed by a higher-ranked Hollow along the way.
Either path carried risk.
“Outsider, tell us your decision.” Jekain broke the silence.
“I’ll help you.
But I have conditions.” Ace Wayne made up his mind and turned to Jekain.
“First, I can direct your fighting, but I don’t know the enemy’s strength, so I can only do my best.
Casualties are inevitable.
I might not even make it out myself.
I’m stating that upfront.” “Acceptable.
We understand.” Jekain confirmed it, and the Hollows behind him nodded one by one.
“Second, if the enemy actually advances into a Gillian and I judge we can’t win, I’ll lead everyone in a retreat.
I can’t guarantee losses in that case either.
If we do win, the Gillian’s Hollow Mask goes to me.
The body goes to you.” “No.” A voice objected.
It was Inora, the Aberrant Hollow at his side.
The word made Ace Wayne’s expression go cold.
“Ah, I think you misunderstood me.” Inora felt the faint shift in Ace Wayne’s Reiatsu and hurried to explain.
“My ability is Reiatsu Sensing.
I can feel the fluctuations inside your body.
Right now the Reiatsu within you is surging intensely, that’s precisely why your body has grown so large.
If you were to absorb the Reiryoku of a Gillian-level Menos Grande in your current state, and that Reiryoku wasn’t enough to trigger an advancement, you would be stretched even further.
You could burst and die.” “What?!” The words hit Ace Wayne like a fist.
“You’re saying you can actually see the Reiryoku fluctuations inside my body?” “Yes.
Just now you digested the Reiatsu of two High-level Hollows, and the Reiatsu inside you has expanded a little more, and it’s unstable.
Surely you’ve noticed you’ve grown taller again?” “How do I get rid of the height?” The question came out before he could think.
Inora had struck right at the thing he worried about most.
“Compress your Reiatsu.” Inora said.
“Every Hollow is different.
Some are born able to grasp and control Reiryoku Compression on their own, Jekain is one of them.
He manages it well.
Others have to learn it through effort.
Either way, it’s something most Hollows start to understand naturally once they reach the Elite Hollow level.
A High-level Hollow whose Reiatsu has bloated this badly without bursting and dying, you’re the first one I’ve ever seen.” “So what do I do?” A chill of retroactive fear settled in.
If his body could keep expanding, that was one thing.
But if the growth stalled at some point, unless his Reiryoku grew powerful enough to force an advancement, or he mastered compression, he was going to burst and die.
“Think of it like a bottle filled with steam.
What you need to do is condense that steam, turn the vapor-like Reishi inside your body into water, compressing its volume.
That way your body has more space to absorb Reishi from the outside world.” Inora continued.
“A soul’s size grows as one’s level advances.
But soul density can be compressed through one’s own ability.
The greater the density, the stronger the Reiryoku.” “Compress it…” Ace Wayne turned it over in his mind, then reached inward and began to work his Reiryoku.
He realized Inora was right, in the past, he had only ever tried to shift the position of his Reishi, or gather and release it.
He had never once thought about compressing the whole of it.
He set about trying to feel out what that meant.
He had expected it to be difficult.
It wasn’t.
The Reishi inside him converged at remarkable speed and began to compress.
The space that had once held one cluster could now hold two.
It made sense, after advancing to High-level Hollow, the ability to compress Reishi had probably long since become instinct.
Ace Wayne simply hadn’t known about it, having crossed over from being human.
The compression was fast.
Within moments, his body felt noticeably lighter.
His frame seemed to have shrunk a little as well.
A casual attempt, and it already worked.
Given real time to concentrate, returning to around 180 centimeters felt entirely within reach.
“So you already had Reiryoku Compression, you just didn’t know how to use it?” Inora stared at him strangely.
“You really are a peculiar Hollow.” “Yeah…” Ace Wayne had no good response.
He hadn’t been a Hollow very long.
How was he supposed to know any of this?
“My name is Ace Wayne.” “Outsider, have you agreed to help us?” Jekain spoke up, reading the shift in his demeanor.
“Yes.
But the conditions I stated, you need to agree to them.
Otherwise I’m not doing a thankless job like this.” “That is fine.
If you can lead us through this crisis, then as long as you are willing, we would make you our new leader.” Jekain said it plainly.
He understood it well enough himself, having a leader of exceptional intelligence mattered, for him and for all of them.
“Give me your names and abilities.
I need to make tactical arrangements.” Ace Wayne neither accepted nor declined the offer.
It had to be said, having lived as a human in his previous life, and having played more than a few strategy games, he was no stranger to tactical planning.
He just hadn’t imagined that in this life, as a Hollow of all things, he’d one day be laying out a battle strategy.
The reports came in.
Of the fourteen Hollows remaining, eleven were mid-tier High-level Hollows, two were high-tier High-level Hollows, and one, Jekain, standing right beside him, had already reached the peak of the High-level Hollow rank.
With enough continuous feeding, becoming a Menos Grande was only a matter of time.
The problem was that their enemy was a Hollow already on the verge of that same threshold, and Jekain alone would have a hard time facing it.
“All right.
I have a general picture.” Ace Wayne nodded and began laying out his plan.
“First, we treat our enemy as a freshly-advanced Gillian.
That’s how we prepare for the worst.
Second, a Gillian’s Reiatsu is ten, maybe dozens of times greater than ours.
Casualties are unavoidable.
Prepare yourselves.” Every Hollow present gave a grave nod.
“Now, what we know about a Gillian: its body spans dozens of meters.
It’s slow.
It hits hard.
It can use Cero.
Its weak point is the Hollow Mask.
Shatter the mask, or pile enough wounds across its body, and it dies.
So we’re going to build a massive trap, one that lets us reach the mask more easily.
Understood?” Everyone was listening.
Ace Wayne kept going.
“Inora, you’re not suited for direct combat.
From the start of the battle, you stay at my side.
I need you monitoring the detailed fluctuations in Mirot’s Reiatsu, especially when he’s about to fire a Cero.” “Understood.” Inora nodded.
“Lefas, take the larger-framed Hollows and start digging near our position.
Large pits.
Then have Fislina spin her webs over the top to make covered pit traps.
At least five meters wide, ten meters deep.
Dig at least five of them.” Fislina was a spider-type High-level Beast Hollow.
Her attack ability was spinning Reiryoku-infused webs to bind enemies.
“Got it.
I’ll start right away.” Lefas led four or five Hollows and Fislina away from the group.
“Parik, Gis, you two are the only ones here who can fly.
When the time comes, I need you to disrupt Mirot’s line of sight.
And when the enemy fires a Cero, you’re responsible for drawing it.” Gis was a flying eagle-type Beast Hollow; Parik was a flying Aberrant Hollow.
“Understood.” “Understood.” “Everyone else except Jekain, go cut down two tall trees and plant them upright around the traps.
Move fast.” The remaining Hollows plunged into the forest at once, searching for weathered trees to fell.
“Jekain, you have the strongest attack among us.
When the moment comes, I need you beside me for the killing blow.” Ace Wayne said it calmly.
“That’s the worst case.
If Mirot hasn’t evolved from his devouring, this gets considerably easier.” “I don’t yet understand the full purpose behind what you’ve asked of us,” Jekain said.
“But simply by learning each of our abilities, you’ve made arrangements this quickly.
I believe that if anyone can resolve this crisis, it is you.” “I hope so.
I want to—” AWOOOOOOOO!
The howl tore out of the deep forest before he could finish.
A wall of Reiatsu hit the trees like a shockwave, and the entire forest shuddered.
“It’s Mirot!” Inora’s voice cracked with fear.
“That’s his Reiatsu — it’s surging!
He’s evolving!” “Speed it up!
Move!” Ace Wayne didn’t hesitate.
He was already running, pushing toward the spot where Lefas had been digging.
➤ Next: Combined Operations