Chapter 163: You're So Hard!
The four of them walked carefully along the narrow shrine path, single-file.
The missing unit consisted of two Kanoe-rank swordsmen and one Hinoe-rank
veteran. If even they had gone silent, the situation couldn't possibly be
simple. While it was possible they had just been careless, that probability was
practically zero.
If she were alone, Kugisaki Yamahana might have been nervous. But with two
reliable teammates and their "Deputy Captain," Yukibashiri Seiko, standing
alongside her, her confidence remained high.
"Let's hurry up and find this demon," Yamahana muttered, her lip curling in a
slight frown. "I don't want to waste time in a dump like this."
"Finish the mission, head back—I've got a date tomorrow."
Seiko glanced sideways at her. "Oh? A date with who?"
"None of your business."
The two mid-tier Slayers trudged along at the rear of the formation. Kozura
Yuhito and Togashi Hai exchanged a tired, "Here they go again" look.
"Yamahana always has to compete with the Deputy Captain over everything," Yuhito
whispered. "Do you think she's trying to gun for the 'Successor' spot?"
"I heard rumors that Yukibashiri-san is practically locked in to become the
Luminary Hashira's primary Tsuguko..."
"No way—" Togashi glanced nervously at Yamahana's back. "She's the exact same
rank as the Deputy. What is she even competing for?"
By now, both Togashi and Yuhito were closing in on the Hei (Rank 3) threshold.
Give them another year of grinding, and they might even qualify for the Hashira
selection trials themselves. Fighting over an apprentice title seemed redundant.
"Maybe Yamahana just wants to prove a point?" Yuhito guessed. "Like, 'Surpassing
the Deputy,' 'Winning the Hashira's Favor,' or 'Becoming the #1 Female Swordsman
in the Dojo'?"
"Yuhito... the first one sounds plausible, but the last two...?" Togashi rolled
her eyes. "If she actually wanted to win the Hashira's favor, wouldn't she be
sucking up to him instead of picking fights?"
"Well..."
Yamahana suddenly stopped walking, her ears twitching. "Shut up, you two. Do you
smell that?"
The group froze.
A strange, oily stench drifted through the cold mountain air, laced with a
sickly-sweet coppery tang. It wasn't the musky reek of a wild beast, nor was it
the generic rot of a garbage heap.
"It's a demon," Seiko stated, her voice dropping into a low, professional
register. "And there's fresh blood."
She raised a hand to signal a halt, then slipped like a ghost along the
moss-covered exterior wall of the shrine, pushing her sensory perception to its
absolute limit.
Within seconds, she picked up the sound of movement inside the dilapidated main
hall.
It wasn't a heartbeat—demons didn't have heartbeats. But there was the distinct
weight of an apex predator lurking in the dark.
An uncomfortable, instinctive dread prickled at the base of her neck. It was the
same feeling of impending doom she'd experienced back during her early survival
trials in Hokkaido.
She remembered Natsuya casually throwing around the term "Death Flag" during
their theory classes.
Trusting her gut, Seiko raised a hand to signal a tactical retreat. Trying to
fight a superior demon inside a pitch-black, enclosed structure was a massive
tactical disadvantage.
However, before she could whisper the order, a low, rasping chuckle echoed from
within the shrine.
"Heh-heh-heh... more stray sheep wandering into the slaughterhouse."
Screeech—
The warped wooden doors of the shrine swung open without the aid of the wind.
Moonlight spilled across the threshold, illuminating the interior.
A graveyard.
Shattered Corps uniforms, splintered Nichirin Swords, and several unmentionable,
mutilated remains were piled carelessly across the floor.
Standing in the center of the carnage was a gaunt, two-meter-tall humanoid
figure. Its skin had the dull, ashen sheen of unpolished stone. Its face was
covered in bizarre tribal tattoos and strange, metallic ornaments. Its eyes were
sealed shut, yet it seemed to track them effortlessly. Across its back, several
rigid, black, needle-like spikes protruded like the quills of a sea urchin.
A demon.
"The 19th Squad..." Yuhito whispered, recognizing a tattered haori trailing on
the floor. His voice was bone-dry. "They're all dead."
The demon didn't seem threatened by the four Slayers standing outside. It
casually licked a streak of fresh blood from its claws.
"They actually had some decent grit," the demon rasped, its voice vibrating with
macabre amusement. "Not a single one of them begged for mercy."
"So when I ate them, I made sure to grant them a quick end."
"Heh... though, speaking of flavor, should I praise the Slayers' diet? Everyone
here has a much better texture than the common rabble down in the valley."
The sound of swords clearing scabbards rang out in unison.
"Don't talk to us like you're human, you freak," Yamahana spat, her grip
tightening on her hilt.
"Want to fight me? I'll let you pick the venue. Since the moon is out, you can
at least see where you die," the demon taunted, stepping down from the raised
altar.
Call it a reward.
The first to move were Yuhito and Yamahana.
Yuhito dropped into his ancestral Fox-Shadow Step, his body blurring into a
flurry of chaotic afterimages as he darted across the wet ground.
Yamahana didn't bother with fancy footwork. She channeled her inner voltage,
lightning crackling around her boots as she rocketed forward in a straight line.
Fast.
Even an experienced warrior would struggle to track both of them simultaneously.
[Thunder Breathing, First Form: Thunderclap and Flash!]
Yamahana aimed straight for the demon's neck, her blade wrapped in a screaming
bolt of static.
Simultaneously, Yuhito closed from the flank, his Water Breathing form shifting
into a targeted, single-target piercing strike.
[Water Breathing, Seventh Form: Drop Ripple Thrust (Modified)]
Instead of aiming for the heavily guarded neck, Yuhito aimed low—targeting the
micro-joint spaces in the demon's ankle and metatarsals to lock down its
mobility.
Standard Pincer Tactic. Attack the vitals while disabling the foundation.
Clang!
A violent, metallic shriek rang through the clearing.
Yuhito's thrust had hit the demon's instep dead-center. But instead of piercing
flesh, it felt like he had stabbed a hydraulic piston made of solid, hardened
tungsten. The sheer kinetic shock traveled back up his wrists, threatening to
snap his bones.
What the hell?! Yuhito's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. Why is its foot harder
than a boulder?!
Meanwhile, Yamahana's lightning-fast decapitation strike fared no better. The
blade slammed into the demon's collarbone with enough concussive force to
flatten a car door, yet it merely skidded off with a shower of angry orange
sparks, leaving only a faint white scratch on the ashen skin.
The demon didn't even flinch. It simply raised a gray, heavy-knuckled hand and
swatted the air.
WHAM!
Yamahana was sent flying backward like a batted baseball, crashing into a stone
lantern and shattering it into dust.
Yuhito managed to flip away just in time, but the kinetic blowback left his
right arm completely numb.
His stats... his body density... He's not a standard mob! This is a massive
Stat-Check Boss!
☆☆☆
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