Bleach: The Invincible Slacker from Rukongai

Hearing the other party say something so intriguing, Uehara Shiroha became genuinely curious about what they had discovered, so he walked closer and asked with growing interest.

"What exactly is this thing you're talking about? Could it be that you've actually found the reason why these dimensional cracks exist in the first place?"

Raymond turned around and gestured toward his assembled companions, then spoke with a serious expression.

"If it's convenient for you, please come over and have a proper discussion with us. If after hearing our explanation you still decide to act alone, we absolutely won't try to stop you."

"Anyway, we can't do anything about this creature right now with our current resources, and of course we won't prevent you from attempting to repair the cracks on your own."

Uehara Shiroha pursed his lips thoughtfully and considered the offer carefully. He still didn't know exactly what kind of situation they were dealing with yet. If he could understand the full scope of the problem in advance, it would definitely be helpful for him to properly prepare and complete his mission successfully.

So Uehara Shiroha nodded his agreement and followed Raymond over to where the group of people had gathered around what appeared to be a makeshift camp.

Seeing that Raymond had successfully brought the newcomer back with him, one of the more imposing, burly men stood up and walked forward to introduce himself to Uehara Shiroha.

"Welcome to our little group. I'm their appointed leader. Just call me Fasius."

Uehara Shiroha looked Fasius up and down carefully and noticed that this guy's equipment and gear were easily on par with his own high-quality items.

Even someone of this caliber needed to find a group of capable companions to help him. It was becoming increasingly clear that this task was indeed not going to be easy to complete.

Uehara Shiroha introduced himself politely to everyone present and then took a seat off to the side. Fasius stood up with a commanding presence and began to speak.

"Since we have a new member joining our ranks, I'll recount the current situation we're facing for everyone's benefit."

"At this moment, a very special and dangerous type of Hollow has appeared right at the border between the inner circle and the outer circle. For lack of a better term, let's call it the 'Black Spirit' for now."

"This creature possesses extremely powerful destructive capabilities and is continuously destroying the dimensional barrier that separates the two regions."

"If we can't repair these cracks quickly and effectively, more and more high-level Hollows will continue to pour into the outer circle, and then we'll all be facing absolutely massive trouble."

Uehara Shiroha had never heard of anything called a 'Black Spirit' before, so he asked with obvious curiosity and concern.

"Where did this thing originally come from? Did it somehow escape from the inner circle, or is it something else entirely?"

Fasius shook his head slowly with a troubled expression.

"That's still completely unclear at the moment, but what we do know for certain is that this creature is definitely not just an ordinary high-level Hollow."

"We attempted to launch an attack against it once before, but several of our team members were decisively defeated and badly injured in the process."

"So this time around, we absolutely must be fully prepared before launching any kind of assault, and we cannot afford to suffer any more casualties."

Just by listening to their detailed description, Uehara Shiroha couldn't quite get a feel for exactly how powerful this Black Spirit truly was, but he could clearly see that all of these people were genuinely strong fighters in their own right.

If the combined might of all these capable individuals still resulted in casualties during their previous encounter, it definitely meant that this Black Spirit was indeed not going to be an easy opponent to deal with.

After thinking through the situation carefully, this particular task wasn't absolutely necessary for him to complete, but the power level of his Hogyoku needed to be upgraded as soon as possible for his future plans.

If these dangerous cracks couldn't be sealed properly, all of these low-level Hollows in the outer circle would sooner or later be completely devoured by the invading high-level Hollows.

When these low-level Hollows in the outer circle disappeared entirely, Uehara Shiroha feared that he would no longer be able to easily improve the level of his Hogyoku through their spiritual energy.

Faced with this concerning dilemma, Uehara Shiroha reluctantly decided to join forces with these people's team, hoping to fight alongside them and achieve their mutual goals.

"Then with my addition, we should definitely have enough power to handle this situation."

As soon as Uehara Shiroha finished speaking with confident assurance, a blonde-haired man sitting nearby responded with a look of obvious disdain and skepticism.

"What a complete joke! We had three additional people with us last time and we were still completely crushed by that thing. One more person isn't going to make the difference you think it will."