Chapter 13

【Current Region Unlocked: Arakawa Guicun (One-Star)】

【Main Quest One: Explore the Guicun at least 80%, Current Exploration Degree: 0%】

【Main Quest Two: Exorcise the One-Star Mononoke, the Wounded White Hannya.】

【Side Quest One: The Damaged Jizo Statue——When was the Jizo Statue enshrined on the south side of the village damaged?】

【Side Quest Two: The White Straw Man——In the fields eroded by chemical wastewater, the straw man sways in the wind.】

One-Star Map.

It was actually a One-Star Map almost equal to his current level.

Uesugi Toru took a deep breath, and suddenly the pungent sulfur smell in the air became pleasant.

The Main Quest was actually just to exorcise a measly One-Star Mononoke, while over at Edo Castle he was required to slay a demon samurai who had achieved the Ten Thousand Man Slayer feat.

So, did that mean the small fry in this Guicun were mostly Half-Star or even Zero-Star Kokara demons?

Now there were Walking Soul Ash everywhere, just right to save up for a ten-pull from the One-Star Card Pool opened two days ago.

Uesugi Toru rubbed his hands excitedly and took out the Rotten Firewood Knife he had drawn earlier.

Although this Firewood Knife was completely no match for the Uchigatana and Tachi of wandering samurai in Edo Castle, and the length wasn't ideal, it was still very handy for bullying weaklings, and better than having no weapon at all.

Also, the "White Hannya" in the Main Quest was the super-evolved state of his own "Laughing Hannya," and he didn't know if there would be any extra rewards after defeating her.

Not thinking further, Uesugi Toru took out the Walking Token and hung it at his waist.

This time he didn't open the door first, but instead used the Firewood Knife to chisel a small hole at the bottom of the house, then quietly rolled out the Hundred-Eyed Demon Eyeball.

Accompanied by faint Spirit Power fluctuations, the Hundred-Eyed Demon Eyeball flew up silently and circled the Thatched Hut once.

Uesugi Toru's eyes narrowed, and he discovered a Humanoid Figure lying horizontally on the ground at the doorway of the Thatched Hut.

It wore a raincoat, looked like a peasant on the outside but definitely wasn't human.

He coldly smiled once, good fellow, so it was waiting for him here after all.

If he walked out carelessly just because this was a One-Star Map, he would most likely step on this thing and get door-killed again.

Uesugi Toru withdrew the Hundred-Eyed Demon Eyeball, silently stepped behind the door, and silently recalled the position of the Humanoid Figure's head.

He gripped the Sword Hilt, circulated the Kiai Technique, and thrust out with one sword!

Thrust!

The rusted blade tip penetrated the wooden board without obstruction, and the feel transmitted from the Firewood Knife told Uesugi Toru that the Blade should have deeply nailed into the Humanoid Figure's skull.

But no Kill Prompt popped up.

Such strong vitality?

"Roar... roar..."

A chilling hoarse roar began to sound slowly outside the door, Uesugi Toru slightly frowned, his blue-black Left Hand exerted force, and he tore the Thatched Hut door apart in one go.

The Laughing Hannya's face suddenly poked out from inside the house, pulling a sinister smile at the demon struggling with its mouth open.

Fear Smile!

The roar stopped abruptly, and Uesugi Toru drew his sword in this gap, without hesitation slashed its Neck, then stabbed the Blade into the heart area and fiercely stirred.

Black-red blood spurted out, splashing onto the cold Hannya Mask.

【You killed the Half-Star Resentment "Polluted Robust Farmer," gained 30 Soul Ash.】

This door monster was quite hard to kill, a sneak attack stabbing into the skull actually couldn't kill it.

But the Soul Ash dropped was quite a lot, equivalent to obtaining three portions of String Hun Xiang Hui.

Without wiping the blood-stained Blade, Uesugi Toru casually chose a direction and began exploring the Arakawa Guicun leaning against one Thatched Hut after another.

Under the 270° super-wide Vision, unless a demon suddenly tore through the wall to ambush inside a Thatched Hut, Uesugi Toru was equivalent to having full map vision, and any danger could be discovered in advance.

The Arakawa Guicun was abnormally quiet, and relative to that, was the rumbling sound constantly coming from outside the village.

Uesugi Toru knew what that sound was; in his past life, every time he passed a chemical factory or construction site on the Way to School, there would often be such a commotion over there.

"But the density of these monsters is a bit low."

After walking for over ten minutes, Uesugi Toru encountered the second Polluted Farmer.

The Farmer's strength was completely incomparable to wandering samurai; Uesugi Toru, proficient in using the Backstab Technique, beheaded it in two or three slashes, and Soul Ash popped out.

【You killed the Zero-Star Stray Spirit "Polluted Farmer," gained 5 Soul Ash.】

5 Soul Ash... can only say a mosquito's leg, no matter how small, is still meat.

The more he walked, the more Uesugi Toru was sure that the era of this Arakawa Guicun was roughly around the Meiji period, because the advanced farming tools occasionally placed by the Roadside didn't look like things Japanese people could make.

"So speaking of that, aren't there still armed Western Adults standing at the factory side?"

Uesugi Toru secretly slandered, but suddenly saw three Farmers wearing Straw Hats and Raincoats wandering together toward the distance at a crossroads not far away, holding broken farming tools in their hands.

He squinted and looked at their heads, and thus three 【Polluted Robust Farmers】 simultaneously popped up.

Uesugi Toru's complexion lit up, and the Firewood Knife was eager to move.

Compared to ordinary Farmers, Robust Farmers were just a bit stronger and a bit harder to kill; three gathered together were somewhat troublesome.

But they were just troublesome.

These 90 Soul Ash couldn't be let run away.

Thinking of this, Uesugi Toru quickly approached, with no intention of hiding his movements at all.

To him, even if he died here it didn't matter, as long as these three Farmers died before him, it was a profit.

"Big Brother, I'm over here!"

Uesugi Toru shouted loudly, instantly attracting the attention of those three Robust Farmers.

"Roar! Roar roar!"

After seeing Uesugi Toru's Western School Uniform, the three Farmers were as if greatly stimulated, rushing at him madly.

"Good, come on!"

Uesugi Toru suppressed the upturned corners of his mouth as best he could, erupting all the Qi within his body in one breath.

The already strong physique of Laughing Prajna rose another step, muscles bulging on his dark-blue arms, and Uesugi Toru, who had already begun sprinting, even brought forth gusts of whistling wind.

Before the three slightly clumsy sturdy farmers could react, Uesugi Toru, like a black shadow, crashed into the three of them, using the force of his run to drive the Firewood Cleaver deep into the neck of the middle farmer.

Wait, why does the feel seem a bit off this time?

Uesugi Toru, who had not drawn out the Firewood Cleaver in one go, thought to himself that something was wrong, only to discover that the three sturdy farmers each bore the same blood-red word-mark above their heads.

【Three Men Make a Tiger: When the number of farmers within a certain range increases, the physiques of all farmers are improved. Current number: 3】

Uesugi Toru did not feel vexed; he merely raised his face, sketching a smile devoid of emotion.

In the instant the three farmers were struck by strong control, Uesugi Toru pressed the farmer directly in front of him to the ground, then expended all his strength to sever this neck tougher than a tree trunk.

Before he could smash this head, the attack from behind landed heavily.

Looking down at the sickle tip piercing through his chest, Uesugi Toru spat blood, trembling as he crushed the skull, abandoning the Firewood Knife that could no longer be used at point-blank distance.

The Green-Faced Fanged Laughing Prajna opened his mouth, cackling as he pounced on the farmer nearest to him.

"Die for me!"

End of Chapter