Chương 32: Book 1: Chapter 10 - The Bell [Part 5]

Weapons rose throughout the hollow as the hunters moved into position. Heita managed three steps before bending aside and vomiting into the leaves. Tarō glanced back while the man wiped his mouth with one sleeve.

"Finished?" Tarō asked. Heita nodded.

"For now."

"Then let us do this." Three heads rose near the cave. Moonlight showed gray skin stretched across bodies that were a poor imitation of men. Their arms were too long, and their joints swelled in the wrong places. One possessed a jaw divided almost to the throat, opening sideways around several rows of teeth, while another still held part of a human face between its fingers. Nagai raised his blade.

"Advance." The two cells separated. The left formation moved with three yari in front and two cutting weapons behind, while Nagai rode beyond the spear points, prepared to drive the creature back toward the line. On the right, Tarō, Seki, and Fujita leveled their yari. Heita waited behind them with his long naginata, while Shimon raised the ōdachi. Kagawa remained mounted on Kurobane beside the formation as its auxiliary. The yōma separated.

One moved toward Nagai's cell, while the remaining two advanced toward Kagawa's side.

"Hold the formation," Tarō ordered. Kagawa ignored him and drove his heels against Kurobane's flanks, and the primal predator launched across the clearing.

"Kagawa!" Tarō shouted. Kurobane struck the first yōma before the spear line could advance. Its jaws closed around the creature's shoulder, while the yōma twisted with impossible flexibility and raked its claws across the harness. Kagawa cut downward from the saddle. Tarō swore and called, "Spears forward. Support the beast!" He, Seki, and Fujita ran after Kurobane, and the charge drew all three yari away from the cutting weapons. The remaining yōma climbed over the fallen cedar toward Shimon and Heita.

They had trained as five men against two targets, but they had never practiced holding a creature with only two cutters and no spear line. Heita extended the naginata, and although his face remained pale, his hands had steadied. Then the yōma began to move.

"Right," Heita warned. The creature had not yet turned, but Shimon trusted him and his own lightning reflexes. He shifted just as a gray arm swept through the space where his head had been, while dark nails cut through the air. Shimon struck the forearm, and the ōdachi severed two fingers before the creature tore itself out of range. Black fluid scattered across the leaves. Heita thrust for the throat, but the yōma bent backward until its head nearly touched its spine.

The point passed above it, and the creature snapped upright again. In defense, Shimon brought the flat of the ōdachi across his body. Claws struck the blade and drove it hard against his armor. Health: 21/24 His brain stupidly realized at this most inopportune time that his Health had dropped because he had lost points in the Body attribute. The creature opened its mouth, releasing the smell of old meat, damp soil, and sweet rot. Heita hooked the naginata behind one knee and pulled.

The joint folded sideways, and the creature fell against Shimon, driving him backward over a root. He kept the ōdachi between them while its teeth snapped close to his face, his strength surprising even him [HOSTILE CONTACT] [RECOMMENDED ACTION: DISENGAGE] Shimon hissed at the advice, even as the yōma seized the ōdachi with both hands. Its fingers closed over the edge, cutting down to the bone without loosening their grip.

The former professional e-sports gamer released the hilt, and the sudden loss of resistance pulled the creature off balance. He swiftly drew his katana and cut cleanly through its elbow. You have learned Iai (lvl. 5) The severed arm dropped with the ōdachi still clutched between its fingers. A beat later, Heita drove the naginata point through the creature's chest, but the yōma seized the shaft and began pulling itself toward him. This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent.

Report any appearances on Amazon. Shimon remembered Jirō's killer doing the same.

"Heita, release it!" he warned. However, instead of retreating, Matsunaga stepped forward. He turned the shaft, withdrew half a pace, and caught the naginata's curved blade behind the creature's neck.

"Take the head!" Heita cried out. Shimon recovered his weapon, and raised it high as the other man dragged the creature's head downward and away from the naginata shaft. Shimon planted his feet and cut with his entire body behind the stroke. The neck parted cleanly, smooth as foul silk. The corpse collapsed and continued clawing at the leaves for several seconds before it finally stopped moving. You have assisted in slaying Yōma: Grey Feeder. 9 experience gained.

Heita pulled his blade free and stared, a look of shock on his face. Suddenly, across the clearing, Kurobane roared. The second yōma had wrapped both arms around the fukuiraptor's neck, while Kagawa struck repeatedly at its back and the three spearmen worked from below. Kume drove his yari into the hip, Fujita fixed the shoulder, and Seki thrust through the ribs before dropping the butt of his weapon into the earth and bracing his full weight behind the shaft. The creature stopped advancing.

The raptor rider cut through the neck from above as Kurobane bit down, and the head disappeared between the animal's jaws with a heavy crack.

"Dead!" the one-eyed man called triumphantly. The fighting on Nagai's side had already ended. Their yōma lay pinned beneath three yari, with one arm several paces from its body. The naginata bearer removed the head while the second cutter severed both legs. They had killed it exactly as they had been taught. Nagai crossed the clearing and surveyed Kagawa's scattered formation.

"Kagawa," the senior retainer called, his voice controlled.

"The creature is dead," Kagawa replied succinctly. The senior retainer kept his expression neutral.

"That was not as it should have been."

"My charge prevented it from reaching the formation."

"Your charge destroyed the formation and destroyed order," chided the older man. Kagawa glanced toward the corpse.

"Still, the result speaks for itself."

"It does," Nagai agreed coldly, "and it speaks poorly." Kurobane worried at the severed head until Kagawa ordered it to release the remains. Tarō recovered his yari, while Fujita inspected the damaged harness. Seki sat upon a stone and examined a shallow claw cut across his forearm. Heita walked several paces away and vomited again, although this time no one remarked much upon it. They collected teeth and claws, took measurements, and made drawings before burning the remains at the scholar's direction.

Abe moved quickly between the corpses while dictating observations to a porter who had been unwillingly promoted to clerk.

"The third creature continued moving for approximately six heartbeats after decapitation," Abe recorded.

"Four," Shimon corrected. Abe looked up from the body.

"You counted? While fighting?" The chip displayed an exact duration.

"Approximately six," Ayanokouji conceded. Ryōzen prepared the dead. The prisoners were cut down and laid together with their heads beside them, while the yōma corpses were kept separate, salted, and surrounded by strips of written paper. The monk chanted while the pyres were built. His voice remained low and steady, and prayer beads moved beneath his thumb as the oil-soaked kindling caught. Shimon remained until the rites were complete. Kagawa used the time to improve his account of the battle.

"The creature seized Kurobane," he recounted, "but I held the saddle with one hand and cut through its neck with the other." Seki tightened the cloth around his forearm before remarking, "Kurobane should receive your stipend." Kagawa pretended not to hear him. Nagai ordered them back before the pyres had fully collapsed.

"No lingering," he warned.

"Blood has called once, and it may call more of their foul kind again." The hunters formed around the porters and wounded. The yōma teeth were sealed in separate pouches, while Abe carried his notes beneath his robe as though the pages were more valuable than the men who had produced them. Spirits buoyed by success, they marched through the remainder of the night. Dawn found them on the road below the castle.

No one had slept, armor rubbed against bruises, and Shimon's shoulders ached beneath the weight of the ōdachi. His clothing smelled of blood, sweat, smoke, and yōma viscera. Even the boastful and cruel Kagawa had stopped talking. Nagai did not dismiss them to their houses when they reached the castle.

"The scholars will question each cell after you have rested," he informed them.

"Food will be brought, and you will remain within the castle until the inquiry is complete. Sleep while you can." Bedding was arranged in a barracks room near the concealed council chamber. A small household altar occupied one corner, where two wooden tablets stood behind a dish of salt and a cup of water. Someone had placed a fresh evergreen sprig beside them. Shimon lowered himself onto a sleeping mat, but before he could close his eyes, the familiar sensation returned: something was paying attention to him.

He looked toward the altar, but nothing sat there. The tablets, salt, water, and evergreen branch remained undisturbed. [UNKNOWN CARRIER SIGNAL DETECTED] Signal Strength: Low Pattern: Multiple interference points suspected Heita lay two mats away, still awake.

"Do you see anything?" Shimon whispered to him. Heita kept his gaze fixed upon the altar.

"Yes."

"What do you see?"

"Two kami are sitting there." Shimon stared into the empty space.

"What are they doing?"

"They are looking at you," the odd man answered quietly. Ayanokouji considered waking Tarō or finding Ryōzen, but exhaustion overcame him before he could choose between them. Sleep took him almost at once, and he dreamed that the room was full of little gods.