Chapter 85

Boom!

Boom! Boom!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Four intact puppets stood atop a towering wooden frame, wearing eerie grins.

Two of them held jade-white drumsticks, striking the bizarre drumhead with gradually increasing force, while the other two temporarily hid behind the taiko drum, shaking brand-new bells.

Uesugi Toru looked back and discovered that the shattered taiko debris scattered across the ground had vanished at some unknown time, and the komainu that had been tearing at a puppet in its mouth suddenly bit into empty air.

The taiko's dull resonance swept through the mountain forest like a wave; in a single instant, it caused the two komainu that wanted to charge forward to burst apart, transforming into straw and hemp cloth scattering across the sky.

Are neither the taiko nor the puppets the true body of the Taiko Drum Bell?

Uesugi Toru's gaze instantly locked onto the exquisite jade-white drumsticks held by the two puppets, which were obviously out of place in the surrounding environment.

—Could it be that those drumsticks are the true main body of the Taiko Drum Bell?!

"Tch."

He hadn't expected a mere non-human Mononoke to possess such cunning schemes; he had to admit, this move by the Taiko Drum Bell had indeed deceived Uesugi Toru.

Shocked into spitting a mouthful of fresh blood, Uesugi Toru's eyes held not the slightest emotion of retreat.

Corona Breathing Technique, First Form!

Condensed, scorching Internal Qi flowed through his body, swiftly clearing stagnant blood and repairing his injuries.

Facing the bizarre methods of the Taiko Drum Bell, Uesugi Toru wanted to proceed even more steadily and securely.

If he were more aggressive, he might fall into its trap once again.

"Hee hee hee!"

"Geh geh geh!"

The puppets let out creepy mocking laughter, striking the taiko beat by beat, as if looking down on the stupidity of the Prajna before them.

The taiko's echoes accumulated more and more in the mountain forest, the damage growing higher and higher; if this dragged on, even Uesugi Toru with his Berserker Talent would be unable to continue enduring.

"Want to anger me?" Uesugi Toru slowly assumed the Three-Stage Thrust Stance and sighed, "Too bad, you picked the wrong target."

In the gap between the drumsticks falling and rising last time, Uesugi Toru stepped forward without hesitation, breathing scorching Internal Qi, forcibly enduring the reverberating overlapping sound waves to unleash Kaga Kiyomitsu!

Pfft!

The tough taiko instantly let out a sound of leaking air, and the reverberating overlapping sound waves stagnated for a moment, breaking apart.

But the four puppets' faces showed not the slightest fear; instead, they simultaneously revealed wild grins of a scheme succeeding.

"Hee hee hee—!"

Uesugi Toru halted his sword-swinging motion, snapped open the Blessed Folding Fan in his hand, his gaze icy: "The same scheme still wants to work on me a second time?"

Qingfeng Planet activated, making Prajna's figure, stagnant in mid-air, instantly shift three meters horizontally to the left.

The next moment, an intact black-yellow skin face smashed heavily onto that damaged drumhead, repairing the leaky taiko whole.

If Uesugi Toru had unfortunately been hit, by now he would likely have been sealed inside that taiko, shaken to pieces by sound waves that could reverberate over a thousand times in an instant.

"Eh—?"

The puppets stopped their hands that had been about to strike the drum, staring in shock and doubt at the Prajna who had not died as expected.

—This Yokai, something's off about it.

—Why not, let's just kill it together with Bakabayashi another day?

The Taiko Drum Bell had already given birth to thoughts of retreat; although it still had many killing moves unused, fighting an unknown outside Yokai to the death for no clear reason held no benefit at all.

Uesugi Toru would never allow such a thing to happen; the Taiko Drum Bell beat him to severe injury and still wants to run?

But he estimated the Taiko Drum Bell probably still had some unused methods; blocking all of them would likely not be easy.

"Since that's the case, let's end this quickly to prevent complications from delay."

The Chief Priest Robe fell upon his body without warning, making the Taiko Drum Bell's retreat intent even thicker.

And just as it had the puppets shake their bells, wanting them to quickly carry it away, a bolt of lightning struck precisely onto the drumsticks.

Crackle!

Whether the taiko, the bells, or the puppets' movements, all simultaneously stagnated for an instant.

As expected, the two drumsticks are the main body and core!

Uesugi Toru once again maintained the Three-Stage Thrust Stance and sprinted forward, but this time his speed was far beyond comparison with before; if one listened closely, one could even hear Prajna compressing the cold clear air into a continuous series of ear-piercing air bubble bursting sounds.

In the mountain forest, Prajna flashed and sprinted like a ghost.

Corona Breathing Technique, Fifth Form!

—No matter how much Corona Qi remained in his body, it would all be consumed to exhaustion within a single breath.

Thereby unleashing an unprecedented all-out strike!

"Woo woo woo!"

After recovering from its brief paralysis, the Taiko Drum Bell felt the shadow of the threat of death pressing down on it like a canopy of heaven.

Under the pressure, it had no time for more thought or counterattack; it could only rely on instinct to hurl the massive taiko at Uesugi Toru like a consumable.

Crackle!

First sword, Kaga Kiyomitsu tore through and burned a hole through the center of the taiko; the expressionless Prajna continued closing the distance between them.

"Squeak squeak squeak!"

The four puppets hurriedly merged into one, transforming into a drum-beater over a meter tall with a ferocious terrifying face and countless stitch marks on its body.

But before it could even pick up the drumsticks to make them strike each other, the blade of Kaga Kiyomitsu had already arrived.

Second sword, Uesugi Toru slipped past the flying wide wooden frame and the drum-beater's grapple like a swimming dragon.

He half-crouched, causing the sword blade to pierce through the drum-beater's entire head from bottom to top, and incinerate it to ash.

On the empty space not far away, only two lonely jade-white drumsticks remained, fleeing desperately into the distance; the puppets and taiko's regeneration only required a brief moment.

But this yokai's attack came too fast, too—

Taiko Drum Bell's curse in his heart had yet to be spoken when his thoughts were abruptly cut off.

The third sword, Prajna, came like a violent storm.

The cold blade light twisted, attacking from behind his side and in an instant piercing both drumsticks that were not on the same straight line!

—Tennen Rishin-ryu: Three-Stage Thrust!

After the last sword thrust, the two drumsticks let out a bewildered wail, and the originally faint eerie echo vanished completely in an instant.

—Taiko Drum Bell, Exorcism!

Uesugi Toru's five senses immediately recovered clarity.

He looked at his hand.

Kaga Kiyomitsu's blade trembled joyfully, draining the two exquisite drumsticks dry into two pieces of ash in a short while.

Uesugi Toru stood in place, blood seeping from under the Mask, breathing with some difficulty.

After the battle ended, many pains in his flesh surged like a tide, especially since he had just used the complete Three-Stage Thrust and Corona Breathing Technique's Fifth Form for the first time at once.

The power of these two arts used simultaneously was too powerful, whether for himself or for the enemy.

Just running out with the sword earlier had almost made his body unable to support him and collapse halfway.

Uesugi Toru felt this could almost be called a secret art.

But all of this was still worth it—

【You killed the Two-Star Urban Legend "Taiko Drum Bell", gained 340 Soul Ash!】

【You used Kaga Kiyomitsu·Imitation to slay "Taiko Drum Bell", Kaga Kiyomitsu·Imitation's quality slightly increased.】

【Your skill, Corona Breathing Technique proficiency +92!】

【Your skill, Tennen Rishin-ryu proficiency +94!】

【Because you slew Taiko Drum Bell, Main Quest Three progress increased!】

【You obtained, Life and Death Taiko!】

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End of Chapter