Chapter 61: The Death of Ye Chun (Please Keep Reading!)

Tricked.

The ferocious expression on the Hannya mask flickered away, and the anger that had just risen in Uesugi Toru's heart was ruthlessly extinguished by him.

Because compared to pointless rage, Uesugi Toru believed what he should do now was swing his sword.

Words were never as powerful as action.

Since this foolish hayashi was only one-and-a-half stars, he would drive it back with one sword strike!

Then return at full speed to support Ye Chun and the others.

"Inhale—"

Under the effect of the Kiai Technique, Uesugi Toru's chest swelled like a ball, and surging power flowed through his limbs and bones.

At this moment, every movement of the small black-and-yellow tanuki before him was laid bare.

On that ugly tanuki face surged human-like glee, mockery, and contemptuous disdain.

This seemed far from the first time it had done such a thing, so it was especially skilled.

Next, it would continually close the distance to harass, then run far to lure, thus fooling this stupid Hannya until the two humans accompanying it were all dead.

—Such an expression, even if the foolish hayashi had seen it countless times, still anticipated it greatly.

After all, it was still the first time seeing this novel yokai.

But the Hannya was merely expressionless.

"Exhale—!"

A white qi wave compressed and surged, then exploded in an instant, obscuring the vision of the tanuki called the foolish hayashi.

"Squeak?"

It was just crying out in surprise, preparing to retreat, when Kaga Kiyomitsu tore through the white qi, creating phantom afterimage in the tanuki's eyes, slashing upward at extreme speed!

Gyakukesa Zan!

Compared to the Tenraku using the Heijougan stance, dealing with a smaller yokai like the foolish hayashi, slashing was undoubtedly easier to hit and caused larger wounds.

"Squeak—!"

Concentrated immense arm strength plus Kaga Kiyomitsu's sharpness tore through a small half of the foolish hayashi's body in an instant, causing it to emit an extremely painful and terrified shriek.

This sword, it actually couldn't react at all!

Even though this type of yokai did not have a physical body in the conventional sense, what was undeniable was that it was currently suffering an extremely painful heavy injury.

Run!

Must run!

This Hannya was completely different from other humans and yokai; if it stayed any longer, it would die!

Pain and instinct told it so.

The foolish hayashi moved its short limbs, dragging its swaying lower half, and fled desperately toward the other end of the tunnel.

Uesugi Toru did not chase, merely narrowing his eyes to memorize all its features.

It was a pity that Haku-sama was not here; otherwise, he would definitely mark this dead tanuki and hunt it down to death.

Without thinking further, Uesugi Toru sheathed his blade and quickly sprinted toward the tunnel entrance.

—But it was already too late.

By the time Uesugi Toru arrived, the Taiko Drum Bell seemed to feel this Hannya was not easy to provoke and had already left, becoming a blurred dot at the end of his vision.

And its method of killing was exactly as Uesugi Toru had predicted: killing with a continuous stream of drumbeats.

The closer to its main body, the greater the killing power.

So even though Haku-sama reacted quickly and pulled Ye Chun to run in the opposite direction, it still could not avoid the girl's death.

Even Haku-sama himself looked pale and swayed unsteadily, almost dropping back down to Half-Star Level.

After all, no matter what, a Half-Star Haku-sama could not possibly run faster than a Two-Star Taiko Drum Bell.

Uesugi Toru slowed his footsteps and lowered his head in silence.

Ye Chun was dead.

In the pitch-black tunnel, the short-haired girl's complexion was bluish-purple, her skin stiff and pale, yet she alone did not show the ferocious expression of one who died a violent death.

Haku-sama stood beside her, bowing his head deeply and clenching his fists: "I'm sorry, Toru-sama, I failed to protect her..."

"No, it is my fault."

Uesugi Toru replied calmly: "I know too little about Mononoke lore; if I had known from the start what abilities the foolish hayashi had, this situation would not have arisen."

He emphasized: "So, Ye Chun's death is due to my fault."

Haku-sama opened his mouth, still looking self-reproachful: "Toru-sama, Miss Ye Chun asked me to give you a message before she died."

"What?"

"She said, 'My death is not Uesugi-kun's problem.'"

Uesugi Toru closed his eyes, silent.

After a long while, he sighed softly: "Find a place to bury her."

Haku-sama nodded: "Please let me carry Miss Ye Chun."

Uesugi Toru responded, but strangely discovered that even after Ye Chun's death, Main Quest Two had not changed in the slightest.

Generally speaking, if the quest objective died, the quest should be directly judged a failure.

Otherwise, how could he save Ye Chun?

Uesugi Toru did not have the ability to resurrect the dead.

So the Main Quest Two still hanging on the panel seemed very strange at this moment.

Doubts came one after another, but Uesugi Toru knew the most important problem before him was not this: "Haku, did you mark the Taiko Drum Bell?"

"Mm-hmm!" Haku-sama showed a hint of ferocity, "I can clearly see that guy's position; he is currently hiding in the mountain forest on the right side of the tunnel, and keeps running farther away."

"Good, next time we'll kill it."

Even so, Uesugi Toru wanted to deal with the already heavily wounded Baka Bayashi first; it might have communicated with the Taiko Drum Bell, which is why it appeared at intervals, one before and one after, in the tunnel.

This point can be exploited.

Without Ye Chun's burden, it wasn't long before Uesugi Toru reached the outside of the tunnel.

He took out the foreman's crowbar, dug a pit over one meter deep, placed Ye Chun inside, then silently buried her with earth.

Ye Chun Ren was a good person, so at the very least he couldn't let her corpse be exposed in the wilderness.

Returning to human form, holding the two-foot-tall Adult and resting for a while, Uesugi Toru, recovered to full condition, once again walked toward the inside of the Isanuki Tunnel.

He at least had to scout what lay at the other end of the tunnel besides that Tanuki, and whether he could pass through.

He gave the weakened two-foot-tall Adult a portion of Soul Incense Ash (Small), and Uesugi Toru let her return to the Jizo Statue to rest and recuperate.

Next, Uesugi Toru alone stepped into the deep, long passage.

Without the two girls' cheers and laughter, his advancing speed also became much faster.

After about fifteen minutes, Uesugi Toru arrived at the end of the tunnel.

Then, he saw the dense, countless Chizhou blocking the entire tunnel exit.

Vast numbers of Chi stood in place aimlessly, neither speaking nor making any extra movements.

Uesugi Toru merely glanced roughly and could definitely confirm the number was not less than several thousand; the pop-up prompts nearly filled his vision.

Even if the vast majority of them were Zero-Star Chi with almost no combat power, it was enough to make the majority of Two-Star and even Two-Star Half Demons hesitate and retreat.

But Uesugi Toru drew his sword without hesitation and strode into the sea of countless Chi.

Immediately after, Kaga Kiyomitsu's clear blade cry rang through the Isanuki Tunnel.

(End of Chapter)