Chapter 1 The Shadows Deepen

Perhaps the relentless pursuit of the past few days had left a deep impression on Mikoto Kamifuku and her group. The moment they heard Su Lun say "They're here," they immediately went into combat mode. The ninja guards instantly drew their weapons, surrounding the Mikoto.

The atmosphere in the bamboo forest instantly turned heavy. Everyone could hear each other's slightly labored breathing.

Mikoto glanced at Chitiao, her peripheral vision actually on Su Lun, her meaning clear: What should we do now?

Although she knew Su Lun's strength was definitely not weak, he was, after all, only one person.

The Oni Warriors were originally samurai who had died in battle. They were numerous and knew the encircling and killing tactics of their previous military formations. Their combat power was astonishing. The key was that they were immortal, which was the most troublesome thing. In this situation, even fifth- or sixth-order professionals wouldn't gain an advantage. Otherwise, their group wouldn't have been killed until only this remained.

If they still fought head-on as they had done in the past two days, there would definitely be heavy casualties. They might not even make it to dawn.

Faced with the arrival of a powerful enemy, Chitiao still maintained her indifferent attitude of "taking life and death lightly, drawing her sword and fighting." She saw Mikoto's gaze, shrugged, and gestured to Su Lun beside her.

Su Lun was stared at by several pairs of eyes, his expression normal, but he actually felt a little pressure in his heart.

Hearing that the Oni Warriors had chased Chitiao and her group so embarrassingly, he knew they would definitely not be easy to deal with.

Before he came, his original plan was to run away with Chitiao and Lolota if he really couldn't win.

But the real situation was that this Mikoto was quite righteous, repeatedly persuading them to split up and leave.

This made Su Lun feel that if he just let go and ran away like this, it seemed... not very righteous.

Besides, Chitiao's intention was probably to repay the favor and try to protect Mikoto as much as possible.

Forget it, he would do his best.

......

Chitiao's hands were sealed, and her hand seals were very stiff. The sixteen Implant Unsealing Seals that usually came with a single clap of her hands had turned into a slow-motion performance, taking almost half a minute to condense. The Implant arms behind her were also restricted by the magic-sealing runes, barely managing to condense two usable Implant arms. She placed her hand on the hilt of the "Demon Blade Sozheng," and her entire person suddenly exuded a chilling aura.

Lolota also drew her long sword, protecting Chitiao with a serious expression. After drawing her sword, this little girl seemed to have become a different person, her tender face fearless.

In contrast, Su Lun was the most relaxed.

Because he had waited in the bamboo forest for nearly an hour in advance, he had already prepared everything he needed to, and there was nothing else to do now.

However, his attitude of not doing anything made the ninja guard captain beside Mikoto's eyes twitch. He felt that this person was unreliable and wanted to persuade his princess to escape first several times. In the end, he was just a guard, and no one dared to overstep their bounds.

Su Lun didn't want to explain anything. He held the Human-Skin Rune Fan in his hand, carefully sensing the suddenly emerging ghostly spiritual bodies in the bamboo forest.

Mikoto's expression was normal. Seeing that the "reinforcements" had no other tactical arrangements, she thought that she probably only had a hard fight ahead. She had long been mentally prepared. She bit her silver teeth, took out a longbow, and carried a quiver on her back, looking like she was ready to fight hand-to-hand.

However, she was also very curious as to why this Mr. Su Lun was more sensitive to the arrival of enemies than she, a Shinto priestess who was more sensitive to monsters.

......

Not long after everyone entered a state of combat, dense footsteps suddenly came from the dark bamboo forest.

It sounded as if hundreds of people were surrounding them, making their hair stand on end.

After a few breaths, everyone's eyes finally saw figures surrounding them.

Upon closer inspection, they saw that they were corpse soldiers wearing tattered samurai armor and holding spears and swords. They looked like dried corpses, with blue phosphorescent flames flickering in their eye sockets.

"These are the Oni Warriors..."

Su Lun looked at these ghostly figures, had already identified the details, and had a general idea in his heart.

This was a type of monster with some of the characteristics of both zombies and ghosts.

If it was just like this, Su Lun felt that the problem was not too big. After all, these small monsters only had the combat power of first- or second-order professionals, according to Chitiao.

In the legends of Yamagumo Country, humans and the dead coexisted. During the day, humans were active, and when the sun set at night, it was the time for the dead to travel. Originally, the night was the time when the yin energy was the strongest. The moment those Oni Warriors appeared, the temperature dropped sharply, giving people a shivering cold that made their souls tremble.

However, Su Lun didn't feel anything. He was from the dark warlock lineage and had high resistance to dark energy.

Several ninja guards were visibly nervous. These ghostly things had left too many shadows in their minds.

There were a great number of Oni Warriors, estimated to be over six or seven hundred, and their pairs of ghostly blue phosphorescent eyes were particularly eerie in the dark bamboo forest.

The leading monsters had approached Su Lun and his group less than a hundred meters away. At this time, the ninja guards rubbed their hands together, and several shuriken were thrown out.

These hidden weapons, infused with wind blade techniques, were extremely fast, sharp, and highly concealed in the darkness. Su Lun only saw a flash of light in front of his eyes, and those hidden weapons easily cut off the bamboo. With a series of crisp sounds, they hit a group of Oni Warriors, piercing through them.

"Very strong..."

Su Lun's eyes narrowed slightly.

If sustainability wasn't a consideration, the damage from these elemental shuriken felt much stronger than conventional alchemical bullets.

However, his gaze was more focused on the Oni Warriors who had been hit.

The guards beside Mikoto were all high-level ninjas with strong combat abilities, probably with the combat power of third- or fourth-order alchemical professionals. Therefore, it was easy to kill these generally first- or second-order Oni Warriors. With just this one round of shuriken, they hit a dozen or twenty Oni Warriors, all hitting vital points, and chopped off a pile of limbs and corpses with a crash.

But what was surprising was that once the Oni Warriors were killed, they suddenly turned into a mass of black sand-like corpse qi, dissipating into the air.

In the blink of an eye, the black qi re-condensed and turned into a solid body again.

Su Lun's left eye glowed with light, carefully observing the process of this transformation from an elemental state to a corpse, and his thoughts became active: "The death and resurrection of the Oni Warriors is a transformation from a spiritual body to a physical process, but the attacks are still physical attacks, so it's not too tricky. Moreover, they can be physically controlled before being killed again. And they are humanoid monsters, although they are dead, their body structure is still human... I wonder if the [Mental Tentacles] can control them."

This was similar to the information he had obtained from Chitiao before.

The black crow on his shoulder croaked, seeming to like the death qi very much. Su Lun narrowed his eyes, and another possibility came to his mind: "If this thing can be used in the puppet legion, this immortal attribute... is definitely a good thing! But, what is the source of their energy?"

.......

Because they could re-condense after death, even if the several high-level ninjas were working hard to fight, the number of Oni Warrior legions didn't decrease. Instead, they became more and more numerous, vaguely forming an encirclement.

In the current situation, no one could stand by and watch. Even Mikoto Kamifuku, as a princess of the imperial family, took out a longbow and drew and shot arrows.

Her arrows were not ordinary. The Shinto priestess also knew some spells, and the arrows condensed with magic power were like a beam of light, instantly piercing through several Oni Warriors. The Oni Warriors whose bodies were pierced through were burned to ashes in the blink of an eye. She drew arrows quickly, and her damage to the Oni Warriors was the strongest among their group.

"A priestess from the Iga Shrine, Amaterasu, light-based spells..."

Although the magic system was different, Su Lun could also see that this was obviously a spell arrow with a dispelling effect on undead monsters.

Unfortunately, the power was not very good.

Su Lun had stayed with the Daru tribe for a long time and had a full understanding of the abilities of the believers of the gods.

Shinto was weak, and all spells based on Shinto were equally weak.

This Mikoto was okay for self-protection, but killing enemies was a bit beyond her ability.

Su Lun kept observing, watching the dissipated and re-condensed death qi, still not taking action, "Sure enough, there is a source of death qi..."

If he wanted to solve the pursuit, then the problem was not just the Oni Warriors.

There was also the root cause of the problem.

For example:

Why couldn't these monsters be shaken off?

Who was controlling them?

Was there some special tracking method, or was the problem internal?

In the eyes of some ordinary people, many phenomena could not be explained and were attributed to "supernatural events."

Especially in Yamagumo Country, a theocratic society, mystery, inviolability, and the rule of ignorance would make the rights and beliefs of those in power more stable. The residents were, to some extent, "ignorant."

Therefore, the Oni Warriors were also unsolvable.

But in the eyes of an alchemist, energy was conserved.

All seemingly strange phenomena could be traced back to their roots and their principles found.

These Oni Warriors were immortal. There must be a reason for their immortality.

Su Lun was still waiting.

He felt that he was still missing the most crucial link.

......

Su Lun, this "reinforcement," didn't take action and still watched coldly. This abnormal behavior surprised everyone except Chitiao.

But no one could say anything.

Now they were experiencing the nightmare they had gone through in the past few days, and they could only resist with their flesh.

Now the Oni Warriors had completely surrounded them, and long-range methods were no longer efficient. Everyone began to fight hand-to-hand.

At this time, the Oni Warrior leader finally appeared!

Su Lun sensed an extremely powerful spiritual body.

Looking again, he saw an Oni Warrior wearing crimson samurai armor.

It wore a blood-red ghost mask, and its chest armor was pieced together from five dark-red diamonds. The shoulder and knee armor were woven from crimson dragon scales. This was the famous Sengoku-era armor of Yamagumo Country, "Iron Red Scale Coated Five-Piece Torso Armor"!

Su Lun identified the material of this armor. From the iron plates to the binding ropes, they were all extremely rare materials. The chest armor was made of meteorite iron, and the scales were actually top-quality materials stripped from seventh-order sea monsters. It had amazing physical and magical defense.

The shuriken that could easily kill ordinary Oni Warriors before only bounced off sparks on this armor.

Even Mikoto's arrows only dispelled some of the lingering death qi, neither hurting nor itching.

The expressions in everyone's eyes became extremely solemn when this guy came.

This monster had killed too many of their companions in the past two days.

Several ninjas drew their swords and rushed in, and Lolota also rushed in.

Before Chitiao rushed in, she said one more sentence to Su Lun, "This guy's armor defense has no weaknesses, but there is a gap one inch to the left of the back of its head. However, its combat instinct is also difficult to deal with, making it extremely difficult to kill. It only has a slight stiffness when re-condensing its body."

"Mm."

Su Lun nodded. This information could save him a lot of effort.

"I'm going!"

After saying that, Chitiao glanced at Su Lun, drew her sword, and rushed forward.

In the blink of an eye, Chitiao and the Oni Warrior leader were fighting together.

For a time, sword qi crisscrossed, sand and rocks flew, and large swaths of green bamboo fell in the bamboo forest.

The Oni Warriors were killed and resurrected, killed and resurrected...

Su Lun had almost completely figured out the characteristics of these monsters.

However, he still didn't take action, his eyes were like torches, carefully searching the surroundings of the bamboo forest, wanting to find something.

......

Chitiao and several high-level ninjas were very strong in combat. Although they were absolutely outnumbered, they didn't fall behind.

But the number of enemies would only increase, and the final result would be the same as in the past few days, which was to be exhausted to death.

Gradually, there were more and more Oni Warriors around, and everyone was finding it more and more difficult to cope.

Mikoto Kamifuku's frequency of drawing her bow and shooting arrows decreased a lot, and the power of her light arrows also became smaller and smaller.

Chitiao's situation was also not optimistic. Her hands were sealed, and it was very difficult for her to swing her sword. The Demon Blade had not been tamed and seemed unwilling to be used. Apart from being sharp, it didn't show the killing power it should have.

Before long, dangers arose one after another, and several high-level ninjas were also injured.

As the "reinforcement" that everyone expected, Su Lun's performance was very disappointing.

It didn't look like he was protecting Mikoto Kamifuku. Instead, Mikoto was protecting him.

He stood beside Mikoto, not rushing or impatient, firing cold shots occasionally. He occasionally used his not-so-skilled swordsmanship to draw his sword and kill a few Oni Warriors who approached. He didn't make any other amazing moves.

In terms of combat enthusiasm, even the little girl Lolota was more eye-catching than him.

At least, he was not worth the expectations everyone had just had.

Finally, seeing that the situation was becoming more and more dangerous and there was no sign of improvement, the guard leader finally couldn't bear it anymore and shouted, "Princess, please leave first! We will hold off these Oni Warriors!"

They couldn't see any hope from Su Lun, this "reinforcement."

If they dragged on any longer, it would be too late!

Before, because he was a guest of the princess, the team leader didn't want to say much, but now that it was a matter of life and death, he could only be rude.

He even suspected the motive of this "reinforcement"... Was he deliberately delaying?

Hearing this, Mikoto Kamifuku also looked embarrassed.

Although she guessed that this Mr. Su Lun beside her had not tried his best, what could he change even if he fought with all his strength?

Su Lun listened to those obviously angry words, but his face still didn't have any expression, and he calmly observed everything.

If these people left like this, it would save him a lot of trouble.

After all, the only person he had come to protect was Chitiao.

As for outsiders he didn't trust, not to mention whether it was worth saving them, saving them would also be trouble in the future.

Besides, it wasn't that he was deliberately dragging his feet.

If he didn't fight to the death, the person behind the scenes probably wouldn't show up.

Even if they repelled them tonight, it would allow the other party to know his bottom line, and many plans would no longer work, causing endless troubles instead.

......

Because of distrust and suspicion, the atmosphere was a bit awkward.

Chitiao had absolute trust in Su Lun. She could roughly guess what Su Lun was thinking at the moment, so she wouldn't urge him at all.

But after all, there were outsiders.

She was hired to protect that Mikoto and couldn't just say nothing. She asked Su Lun, "How is it?"

Su Lun said only three words, "Wait a little longer!"

Chitiao listened and didn't say anything more.

At this point, trust him and wait. If you don't trust him, then he has done his best.

The conversation between the two was heard by everyone. Chitiao had already asked, and Mikoto also realized that the choice was up to her.

If she wanted to leave, she could fight her way out and wait until dawn.

But if she escaped tonight, she might not be able to escape tomorrow.

But if she didn't leave, looking at the current situation, the guards would definitely be buried in this bamboo forest tonight when their strength was exhausted.

For a time, Mikoto was caught in a difficult choice.

The guards in the distance were still urging her.

"Princess, it's too late if you don't leave!"

"Hurry up!"

"..."

She could not care about her own life, but she bore the heavy responsibility of a Shinto priestess and a member of the imperial family...

Intuition told her that this might be the most important turning point in her life.

Mikoto Kamifuku continued to draw her bow and shoot arrows. She glanced at Su Lun, who was holding a black umbrella, out of the corner of her eye. Seeing his calm expression, a decisive look flashed in her eyes. She finally bit her silver teeth, chose to believe him, and shouted, "Listen to Mr. Su Lun and continue fighting!"

......

Su Lun glanced at Mikoto and said in his heart, "A smart choice."

Since she chose to trust him, he felt that it was worth it for him to take action.

Moreover, after observing for so long, Su Lun roughly determined that the problem was not internal.

Now that they were in a desperate situation, none of the ninja guards showed any flaws.

At this time, probably seeing that the Oni Warriors had forced Mikoto and the others into a "dead end," the person behind the scenes was also planning to show his face. Su Lun suddenly sensed an abnormal soul fluctuation in the Oni Warriors. His eyes narrowed, "It's him!"

In the next moment, Su Lun's warlock hand seals changed like lightning. The hideous eight-armed spider spears behind him and the hexagram formation under his feet lit up, and a huge cross slowly condensed in the sky above the bamboo forest.

He whispered, "Arcana・Puppet Theater!"

Chitiao finally took action and breathed a sigh of relief.

Lolota, who had been in danger several times, looked at the cross in the sky and obviously recognized this spell. She muttered to herself excitedly, "Is Mr. Su Lun finally going to use that warlock art..."

In the confused eyes of Mikoto Kamifuku and several ninja guards, Su Lun changed his lazy attitude and his eyes were like lightning, and his movements were smooth and flowing: "Seal・Release!"

In the next moment, spatial fluctuations exploded everywhere in the bamboo forest.

Looking again, one after another, grinning puppets were suspended strangely in mid-air, and not far away was a mechanical battle armor wielding a ship-slaying sword.

The puppet legion had finally appeared!

These hundreds of puppets that appeared out of thin air seemed even more bizarre than the dense Oni Warriors.

Looking at the exaggerated number of puppet legions, the confusion in their eyes turned into shock. At this moment, Mikoto Kamifuku finally understood.

She understood why Miss Chitiao trusted this Mr. Su Lun so much.

"A heavenly army descends, this is too exaggerated..."

Mikoto never imagined that this "reinforcement" would save the day in such an unexpected way!