Chapter 211: Tunnel Hundred Ghosts, Swept Away By One Person! Powerful Effect Of The Rin Character Technique! Sword Control With Qi, Unrivaled Mowing Down!
Three minutes ago, Jundong County Tunnel.
In the secluded and deep mountain forest, in an instant, a massive amount of surging Demonic Energy burst out from this dark tunnel that had been abandoned for who knows how many years.
Grudge, Hatred, Unwillingness…
In the blink of an eye, the tunnel entrance, which had almost been cleared by the Special Affairs Office Agents, was once again filled with those Lost Souls and ghosts.
The number was even greater than before.
“How much longer until Shangshan Jun arrives!”
“He said—arriving soon!”
After a response, Yagyu Oshi, whose consciousness was blurred to the point he could barely stand, gripped the lightly trembling Tachi in his hand and raised it again.
The surrounding Special Affairs Office Agents were either unconscious from the complex mental attacks, had exhausted all their Spiritual Power, or had even fallen into a near-death state from excessive blood loss.
In a sorry state.
Only two or three Agents still retained the minimum combat capability.
They had already fought too long in front of this tunnel that should have been cleared within half an hour.
No one had anticipated that this task, crushed by numbers to the point of being overly simple, would suddenly undergo such a drastic change.
“Thanks to Tamamo’s foresight…”
The successor of the Ryūgen Shinkage-ryū Shizuoka Prefecture branch dojo glanced sideways and saw that girl standing in the absolutely safe rear, still protected by several Barriers even now.
——”Calling mercenaries earlier means more assurance and manpower, anyway someone will reimburse us!”
—That was what she had said.
The petite girl called “Tamamo” wore a yellow Safety Helmet like an elementary school student’s, pacing restlessly inside the Barrier.
She was gripping her Mobile Phone tightly, not telling Yagyu Oshi that this was already Shangshan Che’s fourth reply of “arriving soon”!
And before this, the earliest “arriving soon” could be traced back to twenty minutes ago!
At that time, the anomaly in the tunnel had only just occurred.
Tamamo gazed at the rotten situation before her eyes and the endless Resentment emerging from the tunnel.
She cupped her hands into a megaphone shape and shouted at the top of her lungs: “Yagyu! Retreat quickly, we really can’t hold on this time!”
“Dying now means losing everything!”
“—Retreating now, and all these Demons and Monsters will flood out!”
Yagyu Oshi hoarsely retorted: “What about Numazu City’s citizens!”
He took a deep breath with all his strength, causing blood to spray from the small wounds on his body, then shouted loudly,
“Hold on! Even if we die! Hold on until Shangshan Jun arrives!”
With that, he charged ahead toward those essentially weak Lost Souls that had surged out in hundreds and thousands following the earlier anomaly.
Blazing Qi Barrier erupted, melting the swarms of Lost Souls like sunlight on snowflakes.
But it was a drop in the bucket.
While dragging another severely injured Agent into the Barrier and skillfully bandaging him, Tamamo cursed in a Kansai accent,
“Damn it, that stubborn Yagyu…
At this rate, we’ll all end up as living stakes nailed into the tunnel, and in eighteen years, it’ll be us getting killed!”
After simply finishing the bandaging, Tamamo pulled out a small Scroll sealed with healing Onmyōdō from her backpack and tore it open over the Agent who was taking in more air than breathing out.
In the green glow, Tamamo glared resentfully at the phone that showed no reply.
With nothing else to do for the moment, ordinary human Tamamo could only grip her Special Mobile Phone tightly, ready to reply to any message at the fastest speed,
“Damn it, are we really pinning all our hopes of life and death on one outsider… He’s not even Ghost God level.”
“Just a Three-Star like you, don’t get hot-headed and trust him so blindly…”
At this moment, one of the two remaining Onmyoji up front finally exhausted his Spiritual Power.
The surging firewall suddenly vanished, allowing the Lost Souls in that area to squeeze forward like a Tide, surging madly with hands and feet.
In an instant, the already precarious defensive line completely collapsed, instantly overwhelming Yagyu Oshi at the very front.
Tamamo watched anxiously.
But if she rushed out, she’d definitely be torn to shreds in two seconds flat!
Forget becoming a living stake, she didn’t even qualify as side dish!
She could only watch helplessly as the Tide of Lost Souls… no, far more than just simple Lost Souls.
Following them, the “black handprint that keeps growing” from Numazu City’s Supernatural Phenomenon, the “ghost that turned into a traffic light,” and those twisted human faces emerging on the Cement Ground all poured out in full force!
Tamamo, who couldn’t even fire a fireball, could only watch as her colleagues outside the Barrier were entirely devoured by the Demons.
She asked Shangshan Che again when he’d arrive.
But no reply this time.
Tamamo drooped her head dejectedly, opening her mouth in some Despair: “What the hell, not even giving us a sliver of hope…”
She looked up, silently staring at the Demons that had completely surrounded the Barrier in layers, able to tear her and her colleagues inside to pieces in dozens of seconds.
“Fuck it, die then, who cares…”
Tamamo gritted her teeth, pulling a Black Ball printed with a skull from her backpack: “I’ll blow you all up!”
But at that moment, her phone suddenly vibrated.
Her professional instinct made Tamamo instinctively look at the phone, just in time to see that unfamiliar message.
【Look up】
So she looked up.
Boom!
Pale and fierce Lightning followed the full moon’s glow downward, striking straight to the ground.
Lightning Slurry splashed like rain.
In a snap of the fingers, countless Lost Souls and human faces evaporated and vanished like cut-down Straw, filling her ears with heart-wrenching screams.
But it was far from over.
Because such Lightning wasn’t just one strike, but several, over a dozen!
Lightning intertwined, thunder roared, leaving even Demons and Monsters hiding in the deepest Darkness of the Mountain Forest nowhere to escape.
Like Divine Punishment!
“Ah… huh?”
Coincidence?
Tamamo blinked, looking around the now empty surroundings, confirming it wasn’t an Illusion.
What was that?
The weather forecast didn’t say there’d be thunder here today, and it wasn’t even raining?
By the way.
Could it be some mountain god in charge of Lightning inexplicably awakening?
Tamamo, who had been just a moment from detonating the Black Ball in her hand to blow them to bits, dazedly wondered.
In her eyes, after these abrupt Lightning strikes, a slender Phantom sliced through the sky holding the Silver Moon high.
A… sword?
Tamamo was stunned.
How could a sword appear in the sky by itself?
The Blade wrapped in withering Pale Color and pure black Plague followed gravity’s pull downward, stabbing straight into the ground outside the Barrier, right before Tamamo’s eyes.
“You… hello, you’re… safe… now.”
She could hear that stunningly beautiful Daito outside the Barrier speaking to her like this.
Tamamo felt she must have gone mad.
Everything before her eyes was surely just the fantasy of the final instant before death.
Otherwise, how could there be so much Lightning out of nowhere, and how could a sword possibly speak.
But no matter what Tamamo thought, the black Pale Color domain swirling around Kaga Kiyomitsu had unfolded the instant it pierced the ground, surging madly outward.
The mindless Lost Souls dissolved without resistance the moment they touched the Pale Color.
Pure numbers meant nothing before the Sorrow of Parting domain.
The remaining Demons and Monsters also hissed and retreated, allowing the previously surrounded Yagyu Oshi and others to reappear before Tamamo’s eyes.
Yagyu Oshi pointed the Blade Tip downward, propping himself up with the sword to support his body, arduously turning his gaze backward.
“Not… an illusion?”
“With such a disparity in combat power, if I’d arrived one minute later, you’d really have been wiped out.”
A fair and strong hand grasped the exquisite Hilt, holding it tight.
Pulled from the ground.
Tamamo saw the man in casual clothes before her shake his head with a sigh: “Shizuoka Prefecture Special Affairs Office’s head is way too tough.”
—Shangshan Che, incarnated as Four-tailed Fox and using Thousand Faces to take human form, withdrew his gaze from the 1.4-meter-tall elementary school girl and walked toward the tunnel.
A grinning Hannya Mask swayed at his waist, mixed with the light tinkling of a Copper Bell.
With no Ghost God level figures around, Shangshan Che as Four-tailed Fox wasn’t afraid of being recognized.
Soon, he arrived beside Yagyu Oshi, who was at the forefront, body swaying unsteadily yet still trying to hold strong: “You’re Ryūgen Jun?”
Before the other could laboriously reply, Shangshan Che saw it in his eyes.
“Nice.”
Shangshan Che gave him a thumbs up—daring to stand so far front in this situation meant only one of him and the Demons in the tunnel could survive.
A real tough guy.
“Shangshan…”
“Don’t talk anymore, hold your breath.”
Shangshan Che glanced at Yagyu Oshi, whose Qi Barrier was completely drained and could no longer maintain Qi Circulation: “Next, just rest assured in the back.”
He shook the Copper Bell, having Koma-inu Hatamoto carry the struggling Yagyu Oshi to the Barrier.
Shangshan Che turned back, looking toward the countless Demons and Monsters forced back to the tunnel entrance by the Hannya Mask’s Ghost God aura and the Pale Color domain.
He sneered lightly,
“A bunch of small fries.”
In Shangshan Che’s eyes, almost all were Zero-Star and Half-Star Prompts, with even One-Star being rare.
Perfect to test the new move just learned from the Nameless Swordsman…
As he thought this, Shangshan Che paused, remembering Darkness Sword was single-target.
At least, for him who had just mastered Darkness Sword, it was.
He raised an eyebrow noncommittally, silently activating Rin Character Technique in his mind to strengthen himself—this was another new move he hadn’t tested yet.
On the back of his right hand, Silver Light bloomed faintly.
Shangshan Che’s Pupils contracted slightly.
Not because the effect was too weak, but…
Too strong!
The instant Rin Character Technique activated, Shangshan Che felt a surging Power flood his body, even sharpening his mind further.
If he checked the Panel, he’d see Physique and Willpower Attribute both increased by a full ten points in that instant!
Utterly unreasonable.
After all, raising his already high attributes by another ten points now was worlds apart from the beginning.
“So this is Great Onmyōdō…”
Shangshan Che cracked his neck, grinning at the now quiet Hundred Ghosts at the tunnel entrance: “You’re really unlucky.”
He plucked a heartstring,
“Little Jia, try that.”
“Y-Yes, sir!”
Shangshan Che opened his palm, wrapping only the tail of Kaga Kiyomitsu with Qi Barrier.
The Qi Barrier lifted Kaga Kiyomitsu, making it wobble in mid-air.
That’s right, what he was trying now was—
Sword control with Qi!
All these Demons were intimidated by the Ghost God aura from the Hannya Mask, not daring to move.
They were numerous, with many targets, and extremely weak… Kaga Kiyomitsu could skewer countless Demons with a single charge.
Where else was there a better chance to try?
Shangshan Che focused his mind, concentrating entirely on the Qi connecting to Kaga Kiyomitsu’s Hilt.
He shouted loudly,
“Go!”
With rapid consumption of his body’s Qi Barrier, Kaga Kiyomitsu vanished instantly, carving a visible Qi wave in mid-air.
In moments, the tunnel entrance was cleared into a straight Pale Color path leading to the deep, lightless interior.
The Demons killed by it didn’t even have time to scream.
Shangshan Che watched the rapidly rising Soul Spirit Points on the Panel, unable to hide his smile.
—This method worked!
Facing swarms of weak Demons, Shangshan Che naturally wanted to turn them into Soul Spirit Points for Kaga Kiyomitsu.
But hacking away one by one with Little Jia would be too slow.
Now that problem was solved.
—For ordinary people, the troublesome vast numbers and the Demons and Monsters’ abnormally strong Vitality were nothing to Shangshan Che.
Kaga Kiyomitsu’s Blade surged with four layers of fatal debuffs, eight if counting Plague’s double.
One slash was like the Scythe of Death to weak Demons.
As for consumption?
Shangshan Che feared consumption wars the least.
Qi Barrier was backed by the already substantial Void Qi Sea in his body, and Spiritual Power was constantly replenished by Spirit Control Technique.
He grew more Proficient in controlling the increasingly Pleasant Kaga Kiyomitsu.
It rampaged through the panicking Demon horde like playing some hacked Dynasty Warriors mowing game.
In just a few minutes, the Mountain Forest once shrouded in thick Resentment was renewed.
Leaving only one Demon standing bewildered in the tunnel’s center, its body pitch black except for three massive scarlet Eyeballs on its surface, looking around left and right at a loss.
【—Three-Eyed Ghost（ Two-and-a-Half Star）】
Shangshan Che oddly remarked, recalling Kaga Kiyomitsu to his back.
What kind of Demon was this?
Hundred-Eyed Demon’s juvenile form, incomplete body?
Anyway, this “Three-Eyed Ghost” was the strongest among the Hundred Ghosts at the tunnel entrance.
“Anyway, Demons with Eyeballs are good Demons.”
Shangshan Che showed a kind smile.
He stood in place, dozens of meters away, gesturing at the three Eyeballs fixed on him.
Crack.
The Three-Eyed Ghost’s slowly retreating body stiffened.
Invisible, intangible Sword Light bloomed suddenly inside it, finely slicing everything but the Eyeballs into mince.
Precise and elegant.
Natural Reason School Secret Technique · Darkness Sword · Hidden!
Shangshan Che’s Clear Mirror dimmed for an instant; seeing this, he couldn’t help marveling: “This Secret Technique is no joke.”
He cast his gaze into the pitch-black tunnel still transmitting countless tiny sounds.
Since Three-Eyed Ghost was at the entrance, deeper in there must be stronger ones from the same family like Five-Eyed Ghost, Ten-Eyed Ghost, etc.
Full of anticipation, Shangshan Che prepared to dismiss the piled-up Prompts, but his gaze stopped on the popped Item Prompt,
“This thing… has potential.”
Inside the rear Barrier.
The still-awake Shizuoka Prefecture Special Affairs Office Agents watched that back figure nearby in shock.
Clearing all the Hundred Ghosts in this tunnel Mountain Forest single-handedly…
No one would believe it if told.
“This mercenary big bro is too strong, when did the HR department’s lifelong pension guys ever do real work!?”
Tamamo gaped: “Chopping them like vegetables is one thing, but unscathed too… This big bro Shangshan Che is really just Three-Star like you, Yagyu?”
“Wait.”
She suddenly realized something,
“After we take Shizuoka Prefecture Champion, we’ll face this monster directly in the Seed Battle!”
Tamamo clutched her head with both hands, howling skyward in Kansai accent with pained shrieks:
“Then why the hell are we even fighting!”
Today 4.4k
Adjusting my state, forgive me folks
