Editing Ghost Hunt:Volume4 Chapter4 (section)

=== 3 ===

Boneless, my body collapsed back onto the bed. My head hurt. I felt a wave of dizziness pass. I wanted to vomit and…

Then…

Fighting the dizziness, I searched the room for any strange atmosphere.

As I tried to control my breathing, all light in the Sickbay suddenly vanished.

It’s here…

“What are you doing… Are you playing with me?”

Indeed, this room is… I turned to look at the beds lined up inside the room. Light from the street lamps outside permeated the windows. The mattresses glowed white in the dark.

My heart raced. The second innermost bed… on the third bed away from me towards the inside of the room… someone slept on the bed. It was a human figure cocooned in the blankets. 

“So you have appeared, monster.”

It was really incredible. I was so unexpectedly bold. Perhaps the formalin had spoilt a certain part of my brain.

I sat up slowly.

The fellow inside also sat up slowly.

I could tell the air was changing. The air, the atmosphere; something like that was changing, distorting.

There was a vague black thing below the white mattress.

It (referring to the figure on the bed, not the black shadow beneath) rose at the same speed as I did.

I climbed up. It squatted on the bed.

I stacked my hands together; this time I would not forget.

“Naumaku, sanmanda, bazaradan, kan.”

The black body beneath the mattress swelled. “Dong”, a deep and abstruse sound resonated from beneath the ground.

Its body grew larger than the bed. Once more, a moan resounded from below.

It was the sound of that thing starting to rise. A putrid smell filled the entire room. It was black; as though it was nothing but shadow, it did not even have an outline. I could only tell that it was extremely immense.

I repeated the chant 3 times, and stacked my fingers together again. I gathered the Sword Seal.

“臨 Rin”

I cut a horizontal line through the air.

“兵 Pyoo”

I made a vertical cut.

“闘 Too”

As my hands moved, with a thump the bed started to shake. I was thrown down from the bed, and landed heavily on the ground.

Cold air crept up my legs. It was sticky, ice-cold air. The figure had gotten off its bed. The mattress covering the gigantic shadow fell onto the ground.  Its body sank below, dissolved into the darkness and disappeared.

Where?

I looked around me as I moved to the door without changing posture. (tl/n: she landed on her bottom, flung off the bed; now she scrambles for the door, still on her bottom)

Where is it?

The thin darkness had diffused the room. I could not even see the shadow of anything. With my hands against the wall behind me, I searched for the door. Leaning on the hardness of the door, I stood up slowly. Just as I was about to open the door, the room rocked violently once more. I momentarily lost my balance and fell down.

At the same time, came a shocking “Dong” that strong enough to shake my body. My body was suddenly suspended in midair. Even before I could think “Uh”, my body landed on the collapsed flooring. <!--(tl/n: basically the floor fell out from under her, and she landed on the floor that had just collapsed.)-->

Moaning, I stood up. Taking note on of my surroundings, I tried my best to quickly reach for the door.

I touched a hard object. It felt like rough concrete. It did not feel like the door.

Uh?!

I involuntarily turned my head.

“Ah…”

The door was still there. Just above my head. I turned back and looked into the room. What in the world happened? One side of the floor had dropped beneath floor level!

Once more I stacked my fingers up.

“naumakusanmandabazaradankan.”

I said at high speed.

Click. Click. Soft noises sounded around me. It was like there were some small animals moving agitatedly around on the ground. 

“naumakusanmandabazaradankan.”

I was completely blind. The critters were coming closer to me, their numbers were increasing.

“naumakusanmandabazaradankan.”

There was a soft slithering sound. It was coming closer to me. It was already very near.

I released the seal and gathered the Sword Seal and started the horizontal and vertical strokes.

“Rin (臨), Pyō (兵), Tō (闘), Sha (者), Kai (皆), Jin (陣), Retsu (列), Zai (在), Zen (前).”

I made horizontal and vertical cuts.

I brandished the sword seal at that invisible thing.

“Be gone!”

The room suddenly trembled, and the slithering sound cackled to a stop. The miasma vanished. Now’s the time! I hurriedly jumped up and climbed up the wall. After forcing the door open, I held on to the door frame and climbed up. At that moment, something grasped my foot and once more I fell onto the ground.

It hurt to death…

I’m doomed, if I was alone. (tl/n: “I’m screwed if no one saves me.”) I couldn’t even make enough time for my own escape. 

The sound of footsteps approached the door.  

“Save me!”

“Mai?!”

It was Naru’s voice!

Lying on the broken surface of the shattered floor, I shouted. “Naru!”

“What happened?!”

“Careful!”

The door above my head was open. A figure halted in the doorway, nearly falling in.

“Naru!”

I lifted my head and looked up. Naru looked, stunned, around the room, and quickly extended a hand towards me.

“Come.”

I stretched my arm out towards Naru’s. Just then something tripped my feet. Before I could reach Naru’s snow white hand I was thrown horizontal. Naru jumped into the room, and helped me up. I leaned against the wall while he stood in front protecting me.

“Where is Ayako?”

“Printing Room.”

As I answering the question, standing behind him, the pitter patter of footsteps and the voices of the monk and the others could be heard.

“What was that noise just now about?!”

With another sound, the room started shaking once more. Naru and I were thrown together onto the floor. At the moment we fell to the ground, the sound of something fracturing came from above.

Something split open with a “peng”. Lifting my head I could see it. The ceiling was about to fall down…!

“Ah…!”

I shut my eyes, and instinctively raised both hands. Then came an intense low pitched crashing sound.

Then I promptly lost consciousness.