Chapter 529: Courage
"You stink! This one really, truly stinks!!"
As the black-armoured samurai charged, the Giant Yōkai let out a roar of disgust, raised his kanabō high, and swept it at him.
The Giant Yōkai's kanabō was a thick, long bar of black iron. In his hands, it was like a battering ram!
The Giant Yōkai moved very fast, swinging the enormously heavy kanabō as if it were a light weapon!
The black-armoured samurai was just as quick. He knew the gap in strength between himself and the Giant Yōkai. He checked his charge abruptly and leapt backward, avoiding the sweep.
The Giant Yōkai hadn't expected to miss. He raised the kanabō high again and brought it smashing down for a second blow!
A downward smash covered far less ground than a sweep. The black-armoured samurai sidestepped it easily.
The Giant Yōkai had put so much force behind it that the kanabō slammed into the ground and sank in!
The Giant Yōkai's movements were so huge that it was hard for him to lift the club and swing again right away, and the black-armoured samurai seized his chance!
He stepped in and raised his sword to cut at the Giant Yōkai's hand gripping the kanabō!
He didn't go for the wrist. The Giant Yōkai's wrist was far too thick, nearly as thick as a grown man's waist.
The black-armoured samurai went for the fingers gripping the kanabō. That big, thick thumb!
The Giant Yōkai's arm was so thick that even with all his strength, the black-armoured samurai could never have cut through it. That would defy the laws of physics.
But the thumb was much thinner than the wrist. With the right technique, it could definitely be severed!
Sure enough, the black-armoured samurai raised his katana high and brought it down hard, landing a precise cut on the thumb wrapped around the kanabō.
His swordsmanship was superb. The blade bit squarely into the thumb and released all its force!
The rubbery skin split, then the steel-cable muscle, and finally the ultra-dense bone!
The blow fell in the blink of an eye. Before the Giant Yōkai could even feel the pain, his thumb had parted from his body and dropped to the ground.
Without his thumb, his grip was cut by more than half. The Giant Yōkai actually couldn't hold the heavy kanabō anymore, and it slipped out of his hand and fell!
The Giant Yōkai's eyes flew wide. A mortal had actually wounded him!
The pain shot up his nerves to his brain. His face had only just begun to twist when the black-armoured samurai launched his second attack.
After the first blow, the black-armoured samurai flashed to the Giant Yōkai's side like lightning, raised his treasured sword, and brought it down hard.
This time he struck at the inside of the Giant Yōkai's elbow.
The Giant Yōkai's skin was as thick as rubber, but the inside of the elbow, the back of the knee, the inner thigh, and the armpit had to bend, so they were softer than everywhere else.
The cut didn't take off the Giant Yōkai's whole arm, but it opened a very deep wound on the inside of his right wrist.
The Giant Yōkai let out a wild roar. That one had really hurt him.
There were several blood vessels on the inside of the wrist, the same ones people usually draw blood from for testing.
Once the black-armoured samurai cut them open, blood came gushing out of the Giant Yōkai.
The black-armoured samurai drew back his blade to gather his strength and roared:
"You demon who toys with men's hearts and destroys the bonds of human decency! Do you feel fear now?!"
Blood sprayed from the Giant Yōkai's right hand, and a trace of fear showed through the savagery on his face.
He swiped viciously at the black-armoured samurai with his other hand, but the samurai dodged and slid through between his legs.
He came up behind the Giant Yōkai, drew his sword back with both hands, and drove it forward hard, plunging the blade into the back of the Giant Yōkai's knee!
"ROOOOOOOAAAAAR!!!"
The Giant Yōkai screamed. The thrust had gone nearly a hand's depth into the back of his knee!
The Giant Yōkai's leg gave out, and he dropped to his knees.
The black-armoured samurai twisted the blade viciously, widening the wound.
Then he pulled the sword free, leapt up onto the Giant Yōkai's back, and, beneath the dying sun, raised his treasured sword high, a living embodiment of the word courage!
The samurai on the walls watched with wide eyes.
"He can do it!!"
"Cut him down!!"
"Lord Minamoto!!"
The black-armoured samurai raised his sword and gathered his strength. Every muscle in his body tensed, building explosive power!
Then the Steel-Cleaver came down like lightning on the Giant Yōkai's neck!
SHLUK!!
Blood sprayed wildly. The cut went deep into the Giant Yōkai's neck and severed one of his great arteries!
The samurai on the walls felt their blood surge. They raised their fists and punched the air again and again!
Some were so worked up that they drew the swords at their waists and let out cry after cry of excitement!
But the Giant Yōkai wasn't dead. The blow hadn't taken off that enormous head!
With another wet sound, the black-armoured samurai pulled his treasured sword out of the Giant Yōkai's neck and raised it high again, meaning to strike the same wound a second time and finish the Giant Yōkai off for good!
In a matter of moments, the black-armoured samurai had cut him again and again, and the Giant Yōkai was now in a state of terror.
He let out a yell and started thrashing his body wildly.
The black-armoured samurai couldn't keep his footing and slid off the Giant Yōkai's back.
But on instinct he grabbed the tangled black hair on the back of the Giant Yōkai's head, hung on behind him, and started stabbing frantically at the Giant Yōkai's kidneys!
Because of the awkward angle and the thicker skin around the Giant Yōkai's waist, he stabbed seven or eight times without getting very deep.
The Giant Yōkai twisted around and drove an elbow into the black-armoured samurai's chest. The samurai lost his grip and went flying backward, slamming into the ground.
Lying on the ground, the black-armoured samurai groaned in pain. The armour over his chest had been caved in by the elbow, and his chest was black and blue, but fortunately no bones were broken.
He scrambled to his feet. He knew the Giant Yōkai was more badly hurt than he was, and he had to seize the moment and kill it for good!
By now the Giant Yōkai had lost all his earlier swagger. With grievous wounds to his neck, arm, and the back of his knee, he was clutching the spurting wound on his neck with one hand and limping toward the gate tunnel.
"Bastard! Stop him! KILL HIM!!"
The Giant Yōkai shouted as he ran. The Big Yōkai who'd been standing around watching the show heard his order and immediately came at the black-armoured samurai, fangs and claws bared!
The black-armoured samurai had no choice but to stop and face the Big Yōkai coming at him!
He truly was powerful, and his swordsmanship was remarkable. Standing his ground, he swung twice and took off the heads of two Big Yōkai over two metres tall!
Then he darted and wove through the barbican and cut down three more Big Yōkai in a row!
But there were just too many Big Yōkai. Five hundred of them!
The black-armoured samurai was, after all, only a man. After he took the head of yet another Big Yōkai, he had nothing left.
Just as the black-armoured samurai was about to be overwhelmed and killed by the demon army, a rain of arrows suddenly poured down from the barbican walls into the demon army, throwing it into turmoil!
Then the battered barbican gate was thrown open from the inside, and thousands of samurai charged out with spears levelled and katana in hand, shouting.
"Lord Minamoto!! We're coming to help!!"
"Kill the demons!! KILL THE DEMONS!!"
"DIE, DEMONS!!"
The samurai charged out shouting. There was still fear in their voices, but something had changed.
When the black-armoured samurai saw that the soldiers who had lost their nerve had found their courage again, he felt fresh strength welling up from nowhere!
"Everyone!
"Good! KILL THE DEMONS!!"
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