RWWOKS Chapter 88

Chapter 88: Hantengu

As soon as the attack was confirmed, the swordsmiths immediately began evacuating.

When Fang Bo returned to the village, he noticed that the evacuation was being carried out in an orderly manner.

To prevent such situations, multiple secret routes leading to the outside world had been prepared in advance.

As long as they could enter these tunnels, they would be safe from demon attacks—unless the enemy followed them inside.

“You’re back!” Someone waved vigorously at him, trying to get the Spider Pillar’s attention.

Fang Bo recognized the person; he was one of the lackeys who always followed the village chief, usually responsible for relaying messages.

Looking around and noticing the absence of the elderly village chief, Fang Bo realized that the chief must have run into some trouble.

“Over there,” the lackey pointed toward the source of an explosion, tears welling in his eyes. “The village has been blocked by the enemy. The Mist Pillar is currently fighting them.”

“I understand,” Fang Bo nodded but didn’t head that way immediately.

A large group of fish monsters was rushing down the street toward them.

If no one dealt with them, at least 20% of the villagers would be lost, bringing the hidden mission dangerously close to failure.

Pulling out his Dragoon pistol, Fang Bo shattered the ceramic pot on one of the fish monsters’ backs with a single shot. He then turned to his shikigami, who was standing nearby, and said, “It’s up to you. Protect everyone to the best of your ability.”

In the earlier battle in the cave, Fang Bo had realized something—Jorogumo actually had strong combat abilities, and he didn’t need to personally direct her every move.

Even without him, the shikigami could handle things after some time.

To be honest, he might have been underestimating his summons, and now was the perfect opportunity to confirm their full potential.

“Understood,” Jorogumo nodded, then began spraying webs over the nearby houses.

Although her perception had been clouded by space, it didn’t mean her intelligence was diminished. She could still distinguish between the urgent and the trivial.

She might slack off under normal circumstances, but now, at this critical moment, she knew she had to fight, if only for the sake of her own evolution.

After observing for a moment and seeing that the potfish monsters were struggling to escape Jorogumo’s webs, Fang Bo felt reassured and left.

Ever since she acquired the “Tough Spider Silk” trait, Jorogumo’s webs had become a powerful weapon. While they might seem unassuming, once they stuck to something, it was nearly impossible to escape.

Although there were many potfish monsters, their movements were predictable. No matter how they attacked, they couldn’t avoid the few paths Fang Bo had webbed up.

As long as the traps were set in advance, the monsters were nothing more than snacks delivered straight to Jorogumo’s door.

And eating them would even slightly increase her destiny completion.

Elsewhere, a black-haired young man was engaged in battle with several strange-looking enemies.

The ends of the boy’s hair and his irises were mint green, giving him a sharp and lively appearance. However, his somewhat oversized Demon Slayer Corps uniform looked a little odd on him.

This young man was none other than Muichiro Tokito, the Mist Pillar, one of the Ten Pillars of the current generation.

“What strange creatures,” Muichiro muttered, his body lowering into a crouch. In an instant, his sword sliced through the enemy before him.

**Mist Breathing, Second Form: Eight-Layered Mist!**

Eight slashes formed a thick mist, making it difficult to see clearly in the surrounding area.

The demon he was fighting was cut into several pieces almost instantly.

However, this enemy was no ordinary demon. Despite being severely injured, it quickly regenerated its wounds.

“So tragic,” the demon said as it picked up a cross-shaped spear from the ground, gazing at the boy with pity. “Your sword is fast, but it won’t work on us. Dying at such a young age… truly heartbreaking.”

As it spoke, the word “sorrow” was clearly visible on its tongue.

This demon was one of Hantengu’s split forms, known as “Aizetsu,” the embodiment of sorrow.

Just as he said, Muichiro was troubled. He knew these opponents weren’t the main body, but he simply didn’t have time to search for it.

“Maybe I need to cut all their heads off at once,” he thought.

Just as he was about to act, a fierce gust of wind suddenly swept in from the side. Not only was the Mist Pillar affected, but even the house he stood on was torn apart by the wind.

Amidst the swirling debris and roof tiles, the boy coughed up several mouthfuls of blood.

“Hahaha!” A demon with curved horns on his forehead emerged at that moment.

Unlike the sorrowful spear-wielding demon, this one seemed to be constantly laughing.

The strong winds from earlier had been his doing, using a fan that resembled autumn leaves. Each swing of the fan caused a violent storm, strong enough to collapse houses.

This demon was another of Hantengu’s split forms, named “Karaku,” the embodiment of joy.

The Mist Pillar’s abilities allowed him to use mist created through his breathing techniques to conceal his movements, making it impossible for enemies to pinpoint where his attacks would come from.

Combined with his incredible speed, it was these techniques that had earned him his reputation for single-handedly defeating Upper Moons.

However, against the mighty fan of Karaku, the mist was easily blown away. Several attempts had already been thwarted by this demon.

To cut off all of their heads at once, Muichiro knew he first had to eliminate the fan-wielding demon.

Raising his sword to his side, Muichiro resolved to continue fighting, even if it meant pushing himself to the point of collapse.

But before he could land, a new wave of attacks arrived.

A bird-like demon, constantly cackling, swooped down, moving with the speed of a predatory hawk. In an instant, it slashed two deep wounds into Muichiro’s body.

“Pathetic, truly pathetic,” the bird demon sneered, laughing maniacally, showing complete disdain for his opponent.

And why not? In the past few centuries, they had killed at least twenty or thirty Pillars. By now, they were too lazy even to remember their victims’ names.

If even those mighty warriors couldn’t survive, what hope did this young boy have?

Today’s battle was nothing more than adding another name to their list of the dead.

This bird demon was another split form of Hantengu, known as “Urogi,” the embodiment of delight.

With control of the air, Urogi had the absolute advantage. Working with the other three, they could defeat any Pillar that crossed their path.

*Bang!*

Muichiro crashed to the ground, his face still as calm as ever, as if he wasn’t aware of how dire his situation had become.

In the previous battle, he had managed to decapitate the demon with “Anger” engraved on its tongue by unleashing a burst of power.  

He thought that would give him the upper hand, but the demon quickly revived within moments.

Fortunately, he had dealt with the “Anger” demon in advance, or when the thunder struck, Muichiro might not have had the chance to be lying on the ground as he was now.

Still unaccounted for was the “Accumulated Anger” demon, the last and leader of Hantengu’s four split forms.

Wielding a staff capable of unleashing thunderbolts of immense power, he could severely injure his enemies in an instant.

“Heh, the kill is mine,” Urogi cackled as he swooped low, intending to finish the battle with his razor-sharp talons.

However, the ease of the fight had made him underestimate the boy before him.

Believing himself to be unbeatable in terms of speed, Urogi didn’t even see the blade before it sliced through his neck.

**Mist Breathing, Fourth Form: Shifting Flow Slash!**

In one fluid motion, Muichiro swung his sword, cleanly decapitating the bird demon.

Slowly rising to his feet, Muichiro felt heat spreading through his body.

“Must be the aftermath of the windstorm,” he thought, brushing it off as he continued running toward the attic.

Having just decapitated the bird demon, his plan was to take advantage of the time before it regenerated to decapitate the other two demons as well.

By exploiting the gap between their recovery times, he aimed to eliminate the enemies one by one.

A few seconds later, the bird demon’s neck began to heal.

“Damn that brat!” Urogi hissed, scraping his talons against the ground, imagining the scene of ripping out Muichiro’s heart with his own hands.

But before he could act, his sharp senses screamed in warning, as though a blade had been placed against his throat.

*Bang!*  

A bullet pierced through Urogi’s neck, followed by a searing pain, as if boiling oil had been poured over him.

“AAAHHH!!!” Urogi let out a bloodcurdling scream as the holy white flames burned his flesh.

Watching this, Fang Bo slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees, directing Yoriichi Type Zero to slice the demon into a dozen pieces.

Even for a split form of an Upper Moon, it would take a long time to regenerate from such damage.

Muichiro could likely hold out for a bit longer. Fang Bo needed to use this opportunity to locate the real body of the enemy.

The four split forms were mere decoys, designed to confuse. No matter how much Muichiro fought, even if he activated his demon-slaying mark, he would eventually be worn down and killed.

To defeat the enemy, Fang Bo had to find Hantengu’s true body, the “Fear” demon.

A creature no larger than a mouse.

Ignoring the writhing chunks of flesh around him, Fang Bo sat down cross-legged and activated his battle sense at full power.

In the hazy world of his perception, faint threads of aura began to emerge.

The strongest belonged to Muichiro’s battle aura, and the others weren’t far behind in strength, but none of these were his target.

“Sigh, if only I were a few levels stronger. It wouldn’t be so difficult to track the enemy.”

After about two minutes, Fang Bo finally caught a faint and elusive trace of something.

“Finally found you,” he murmured with a smile, opening his eyes and turning toward the bird demon, which had mostly regenerated.

Now that he had locked onto the real body’s aura, he could keep tracking it. But for now, he had to deal with the immediate threat in front of him.

With a few swift slashes, Yoriichi Type Zero once again sliced Urogi into pieces, turning the bird demon into sashimi. Fang Bo then glanced to the side, where another figure appeared, radiating pure fury.

“You’re still wasting time,” said the newcomer, his red kimono unable to conceal the blood-like rage seething within him.

This was none other than “Zohakuten,” the most terrifying of Hantengu’s split forms, embodying Accumulated Anger.

“What an unpleasant aura,” Zohakuten muttered as he gazed at the white flames surrounding the demon slayers.

He slammed his staff heavily onto the ground.

“Thunderstrike!”

The enemy’s attack came so quickly that Fang Bo had no chance to dodge.

Knowing about the attack in advance did nothing to help—his agility wasn’t nearly high enough to evade the wrath of a thunderbolt.

As expected, Fang Bo was struck down in an instant, slammed hard into the ground by the lightning strike.

(End of Chapter)

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