Chapter 174: Blade Demon

Compared to her confident entrance at the beginning,

now she had almost no desire left to survive.

“…Just one more second, hold on for one more second.”

Only this kind of gray, desperate mindset remained.

No! She couldn’t resist at all. This was the power of a Corpse Hound close to the “King’s Nightmare” level.

Ryugai Tobu used all her strength to swing her steel blade, blocking the enemy’s attacks.

She didn’t know how long it had been. Covered in wounds, her consciousness was blurred, barely holding on at the edge of breaking.

The next second, the terrifying beast grinned contemptuously. With just a casual strike, it turned into a dreadful impact that sent her flying.

She had realized the moment they first fought—the gap between them was like a vast chasm.

Uzou, who understood this more directly and earlier than her, had shouted “Run!” almost the instant he saw the enemy.

She recalled the scene that had just happened like a revolving lantern… After realizing the enemy had arrived, Uzou stepped forward to engage in a death battle, fiercely clashing with the Corpse Hound that charged onto the rooftop.

In the blink of an eye, he unleashed a “Blade Demon Transformation” slash. Under the effect of the Blade Poison curse, his right hand that held the blade became wrapped in steel, turning into scales.

The beast across from him sneered coldly. Its dark red claws swept forward like a gust, and the shadow of its claw attack cut through the air.

Uzou also stepped forward with his right foot, explosively stomping on the roof tiles, advancing mercilessly.

Two streaks of light crossed each other, sparks flying from the high-speed collision.

The man and the beast roared at different volumes, and soon began running side by side across the roof.

Two shadows dropped vertically from the building. Even as they fell, they exchanged terrifying blows before spinning and landing.

“Go now!”

Torimata Tsuki had desperately pulled her to run outside at that time. However, their group had suffered heavy losses while breaking into this building complex, with more than half of their members gone.

Subsequent continuous battles, while wiping out the Corpse Hounds, also caused the remaining companions to all lose their lives.

By this point, only she, Ryugai Tobu, along with Torimata Tsuki and Uzou remained.

Thud!

Pushing open the door leading downstairs, it was pitch black. The power for the indoor lights had been cut.

The two of them ran quickly.

They reached a wide area like a church.

The smell of blood hit them, as if a nightmare was beginning.

…

“Strange… Why did we come to a place like this?”

In their panic, they seemed to have accidentally stumbled into some bizarre location.

Their eyes lifted slightly, and they realized the church was in complete disarray—one could even describe it as a “bloodbath.”

Looking around, they found several horrifying remains that had been subjected to brutal punishment.

Crunch, crunch—the sound of muscles being chewed to pieces came from nearby.

Several black dogs covered in dark fur were feeding on the pile of corpses.

At that very moment, numerous “hounds” noticed the presence of the outsiders who had intruded into their territory.

There were nearly a hundred of them.

And each one emitted an overwhelming pressure.

Every single one here was likely a high-ranking Corpse Hound with direct bloodline heritage.

It felt like a den of mountain demons. Under the deathly pressure emitted by the powerful beasts, their minds grew somewhat dazed.

“We can’t… stay here.”

Torimata Tsuki placed one hand on her sword hilt and gripped the scabbard with the other. She touched the blade with her thumb, letting the Exorcism Blade cut a tiny wound on her fingertip.

Tobu knew exactly what she intended—she was planning to undergo Blade Demon Transformation.

The essence of Blade Demon Transformation was to let the Blade Poison from the Exorcism Blade invade the human body, triggering a certain “mutation.”

However, this “mutation” only occurred in a very limited number of people—those qualified to wield the Exorcism Blade, the Fang Hunters.

Fang Hunters were humans with special traits. Blade Poison had no external effect on ordinary people, but if it invaded a Fang Hunter’s body, it would force the Blade Demon Transformation to occur.

After using Blade Demon Transformation, a person’s body would undergo obvious abnormal reactions.

The first was mental excitement, enhanced physical strength, and improved nerve reflexes.

It was like unlocking the switch to human potential, allowing ordinary people to gain supernatural abilities comparable to those of Corpse Hounds for a short time.

The second was physical mutation, with the more common form called “Armored Form,” where steel scales grew on the arms and legs, wrapping around the body like armor. The “Armored Form” appeared on different parts of the body depending on the individual. The sturdy black scales acted as armor, providing strong defense that even bullets and blades couldn’t easily penetrate.

Torimata Tsuki’s Blade Demon Transformation covered her hands and feet with rust-colored steel plates. Her two hands gripped the sword hilt like beast claws.

“Tobu, left!”

As she spoke, she rushed fiercely to the right, slashing with a high arc that was invisible to the naked eye.

Sslash!

The flesh of the charging Corpse Hound was split in two.

She then kicked out with her right leg, which had hook-like sharp claws, sending a black dog flying four or five meters. The impact made the black dog crash into a row of chairs, shattering them like thin paper.

Ryugai Tobu finally regained her spirit and used her “Jiang Liang” to pierce the skull of a black dog.

The two had to stand back-to-back to protect each other’s weaknesses, engaging in fierce combat with the charging beasts.

Several minutes later, they fought their way out of the church. Those few minutes felt as long as several hours.

Both were drenched in sweat, panting heavily.

Tobu could only feel grateful for her luck—surviving was entirely thanks to the harsh training she had endured since childhood.

She had to thank her teachers and the years spent in desolate mountains, with daily, unending, grueling practice.

To gain the power to face Corpse Hounds head-on, both she and Torimata Tsuki had undergone that cruel training. Every day, from morning till night, they pushed their bodies to the limit, so hard that they often wanted to die or felt their bodies were about to break.

(But once they endured it, they grew as if reborn.)

They kept running.

They kept running…

They didn’t know how long it had been. Finally, they left the dangerous area.

But unfortunately, just when they thought they could escape, something like a beast charged from behind.

The first strike—a claw shadow that cut through space like lightning—sent Torimata Tsuki, who had turned to push her away, flying. Her armored right hand was shattered along with it.

A monster they couldn’t defeat at all.

A black claw flashed, capturing her consciousness once more.

Even resisting desperately with her blade was meaningless.

Crack!

“Jiang Liang,” one of the Twelve Artifacts, couldn’t withstand the pressure at that moment and shattered.

What?

Did Jiang Liang abandon me as well?

She jumped back a step and stared ahead at the massive body that she had to look up to see.

From its roaring mouth came fierce breaths, and its sickle-like claws were dug into the asphalt road.

Its glowing green eyes held a ferocity that seemed to freeze one’s heart just by being seen.

“Wait, how could this be… Uncle Uzou…”

She saw the monster’s claw clutching a corpse that was missing its lower half.

It was Uzou’s body. Half of his head was crushed and hung limply in that enormous claw.

“Huh?”

In an instant, blood splattered everywhere.

Tobu coughed up blood as the sound of tearing flesh and breaking bones came from her own chest. A large hole was smashed through her chest, and a human hand pierced through from behind.

“What a pitiful child.”

She heard a voice from behind her.

It was a woman’s voice.

(Wait, why are there two? No… this is the third one. This presence… Could the intel be wrong? No… This is!)

Then, her consciousness faded into darkness and became empty.

“The Ki no Shou of Xiongbai, Uzou, and the holder of Jiang Liang, Ryugai Tobu, both failed in the last mission.”

The message, sent in a secret code, revealed major news.

That was, the Mobile Operations Room had ordered a surprise attack, and two Ki no Shou had been killed.

At the same time, the two Exorcism Blades, Xiongqi and Jiang Liang, were taken by the Corpse Hounds.

The only survivor was the Ki no Shou of the Lan Zhu Blade, Torimata Tsuki, who was severely injured and receiving treatment.

Amasue Suetora carefully read through the related intelligence.

He found it hard to imagine that this operation could have failed.

After the great war forty years ago, the Corpse Hounds’ power had significantly declined.

Basically, in previous missions, the Fang Hunter Organization had the upper hand, while the Corpse Hounds were in a losing position.

According to the secret message, this operation was supported by the intelligence team and led by the executive officer of the Mobile Operations Room, Uzou. It was a large-scale surprise attack involving thirty people.

Also participating were Torimata Tsuki and the next head of the Ryugai family, Ryugai Tobu.

Their target was suspected to include an Elder Class existence.

Uzou was a top expert among the officers, with rich combat experience and strong decision-making skills in battle. As a Ki no Shou, he alone was worth two other Ki no Shou.

Torimata Tsuki and Ryugai Tobu were both elite Fang Hunters in their prime.

Generally, the peak age for Fang Hunters was between fourteen and twenty-six, as this was a period of rapid growth.

The growth of Fang Hunters often relied on actual combat. Moreover, for Ki no Shou, this period was when they were most in sync with their Exorcism Blades.

Under normal conditions, it was hard to say, but if they underwent Blade Demon Transformation, both could maintain it for over forty minutes.

With this lineup, even if they encountered a large group of Corpse Hounds, they could retreat safely if they couldn’t win.

But the result was the complete opposite.

“So, these three at least encountered three Elder Class Corpse Hounds, and it’s very likely they met four…”

Was the intelligence wrong?

Or perhaps a King’s Nightmare level being appeared.

Impossible. In the great war forty years ago, the three major factions—Oblique Tooth, Phantom Jaw, and Wild Fang—planned to use the “Yellow Banner Ritual” to breed a Corpse Hound King. However, they were struck hard by the Fang Hunter Organization, and all the gathered King’s Nightmare level beings were killed.

After losing the King’s Nightmares, the three factions never recovered.

The higher-ups even concluded that the Corpse Hounds would enter a period of decline, and it would be at least seventy years before they could produce powerful King’s Nightmares again.

“Even a King’s Nightmare level being couldn’t kill two and repel one Ki no Shou at once. So, it’s highly likely that multiple Elder Class Corpse Hounds appeared.”

But this was just his speculation. Only when the Ki no Shou of the Lan Zhu Blade woke up could he verify if his guess was correct.

(Speaking of the Ki no Shou of the Lan Zhu Blade, Torimata Tsuki, I heard she is an expert in Mind Control Art. It’s said that she barely survived because of that skill. It’s a pity I never learned that kind of mental induction technique, or I wouldn’t be in this difficult situation now.)

She held a note in her hand, her brows furrowed, feeling completely at a loss.

It was an ordinary note with words cut out from a newspaper, pieced together to form a message—”Kagami God Room Aobanuma will be attacked by Corpse Hounds soon.”