“Mmmph… woo…”
From afar, a sobbing sound could be heard, seeming quite sorrowful.
Pure Black approached slowly, his eyes growing more wary.
“Mmmph… woo…”
The young lady, while weeping, plucked at the strings of the zither in her hands.
“Why are you crying?”
“Woo… because sorrow overwhelms me…”
“For what are you sad?”
“Because I do not know where Lord Zuozuo is now, nor if he is well. I cannot know, and so I am sad. Even if we cannot meet, at least I wish to hear news of him.”
“But…” the woman’s voice turned cold, and the zither’s melody became sharp. “My letters remain unanswered, and no one tells me where he is. This brother… Lord Zuozuo, where is he?”
“I don’t know,” Pure Black shrugged. He was utterly confused, not understanding any of this.
“Ah… you are lying to me too…”
The woman suddenly became agitated, her voice filled with venom. “Why does everyone have to hide things from me?”
This person is foolish…
*Puchi!!*
Before Pure Black could finish his silent thought, the woman suddenly drew a fine sword, like an embroidery needle, from the zither and struck Pure Black. Having landed the blow, she immediately leaped back, creating distance.
*Zheng!!!*
Pure Black, who believed he was maintaining the utmost vigilance, drew his blade quickly, but he ended up cutting through empty air. The woman’s movements were light and agile, each strike and retreat as if she were dancing.
[Peril]
The next moment, blood-red text suddenly appeared above his head.
Pure Black instinctively dodged to the side, but the woman’s low sweep attacked, and the embroidery needle struck his body again. His health plummeted drastically.
!!
After two consecutive exchanges, Pure Black’s expression immediately turned serious. This woman before him seemed to possess some skill.
Each move appeared light and airy, yet when they hit, his health dropped with alarming speed.
*Swoosh!!*
A sound of breaking air reached him. Pure Black immediately collected his focus and raised his sword to block.
*Clang clang clang clang clang!!!*
Instantly, the sound of metal striking metal erupted, and sparks flew across the scene.
The more Pure Black parried, the more astonished he became. The speed of her swordplay surpassed even his visual judgment. He could only manage to block frequently by relying on his accumulated combat experience.
What kind of monster is this? He couldn’t even discern her initial movements, let alone perfect parries.
Unbeknownst to him, his posture gauge had filled up.
*Puchi!!!*
His body froze in place for a moment, and the embroidery needle reached his throat. The next instant, Pure Black lost an entire segment of his health.
‘Damn it, she’s this strong!?’
‘Overcoming the strong with the weak. She looks harmless, but how is her technique sharper than the White Ape Sword Saint?’
‘The most notorious shrew of Waterfowl Village!’
‘Her yellow bar, the posture gauge, is easy to fill, Pure Black, don’t slack off just because she’s an unknown minor enemy.’
‘Unknown? Isn’t this the famous Waterfowl Okami?’
……
The sounds of the viewers’ discussions from the bullet comments came in succession.
It was then that Pure Black noticed the boss’s health bar ID—Waterfowl Okami.
He seemed to recall something, but it was vague.
The dark-skinned samurai had mentioned hearing zither music earlier and seemed to be looking for a woman, but he hadn’t persisted to this point.
Never mind, now is not the time to delve into Waterfowl Okami’s story. He had to defeat her first.
Pure Black shook his head, clearing his wandering thoughts.
This old hag was trying to kill him with every move, and he couldn’t let her off easily.
Right,
The yellow bar is short!
Remembering the viewers’ hints, Pure Black immediately devised a counter-strategy.
*Swish!!*
Waterfowl Okami’s embroidery needle struck again. When she was about two body lengths away from Pure Black, she made a very obvious, yet swift, upward movement.
With his concentration heightened, Pure Black saw through it, but his speed still couldn’t keep up.
[Noob]
“It seems I need a bit of prediction to fight her. Her attack speed is quite fast.”
After being defeated by Waterfowl Okami’s combo once again, Pure Black gained a new understanding of her.
Blood and tears were the fastest ways to gain experience. Death after death, puzzle after puzzle solved.
The mysterious woman before him was like a tightly wrapped ear of corn. As time passed, Pure Black peeled away her layers of mystery, finally exposing her curves to the air.
Reviving once more,
The moment Waterfowl Okami approached him, Pure Black raised his leg. As Waterfowl Okami made her move, he smiled.
“Saw through it!”
He shouted coldly, easily breaking through the close-quarters attack that had tormented him multiple times.
Then, it was Pure Black’s turn to counterattack.
*Clang clang clang clang!!*
After being seen through, Waterfowl Okami’s posture gauge had already increased significantly. Then, Pure Black’s storm of Whirlwind Slashes easily filled her posture gauge!
*Puchi!!!*
He thrust his sword into Waterfowl Okami’s heart and immediately retreated.
Not greedily attacking was a quality etched into his bones.
With only one segment of health remaining, Waterfowl Okami finally fell to Pure Black’s sword.
“Ah… so good…”
As tiny starlight scattered, Waterfowl Okami found release.
[Killed]
[Obtained: Breath of Life Protection · Yin
When an enemy is successfully killed, HP is restored to the constant effect. By battling strong opponents, one can make the breathing become lengthy.]
“I feel that agile and elusive movements are very effective against skills like seen-through head stomps. I can add another piece of advice to the guide: lightness counters head stomps.”
Fearing the viewers wouldn’t understand, Pure Black added, “Lightness refers to agile and elusive movements, unpredictable. These generally focus on agility, not defense. Head stomps can generate a lot of yellow bar. You all saw it just now, one head stomp filled one-third of the yellow bar.”
“As for this skill, it’s a bit of a waste. It only restores HP after killing an enemy. If I’ve already killed the enemy, what’s the point of having HP?”
“Lastly, let’s check on that samurai brother. After all, we killed the person he’d been longing for.”
Recalling the brother’s earlier help, and despite being eager to uncover the secrets of Waterfowl Village, Pure Black turned back and walked towards the samurai.
“Ah, the person you were looking for has been found…”
“Is that… Warrior-sama over there?”
“Holy crap, this guy isn’t dead?? He was just in temporary shock?” Pure Black flinched violently, startled by the suddenly ‘alive’ samurai.
“I must thank you, sir… You brought that female zither player, didn’t you?”
*Hoo hoo~~~*
A gust of cold wind revived, sending a chill down Pure Black’s spine. “Damn, what is this guy talking about? Didn’t I just defeat that Waterfowl Okami? How could she be here?”
The samurai seemed not to notice Pure Black’s hysteria, muttering blankly, “Just now… she stroked me… and played music for me… Unlike the zither music before, it was like a lullaby, a peaceful and warm melody. As she played, she said to me—[Thanks to you, you’ve come…] She was indeed calling for me. Lastly, Warrior-sama… please… accept… this.”
[Zin’s Swaddling Jizo
A small child Jizo wrapped in a cherry-colored cloth. Worshipping it in the palm of your hand grants one revival]
[Layers of wrapping contain the parents’ wishes for the Jizo]
[Lord Zuozuo… please use this cloth to swaddle the child. May the little life live peacefully and tranquilly.]
“……”
This time, it was Pure Black’s turn to fall silent.
He seemed to understand the relationship between Waterfowl Okami and the samurai before him. They were likely family, more accurately, mother and son.
On his deathbed, he had finally met the relative he had searched for throughout Ashina Castle in vain.
And she, who was a wandering soul, had not waited for the one she longed for at the moment of her dissipation. Instead, she had waited for the crystallization of their love, and it was good that she could perform a lullaby for her son one last time.
The viewers also fell silent. They hadn’t expected that a passerby, foreshadowed from the beginning, would hide such a touching family story.
‘I do not love flowers, but the one who plucks them; what is obsession, but to covet.’
‘Rin is a dead mother calling out to her child, so only he can hear her.’
‘This samurai is Waterfowl Okami’s son, what kind of human-ghost romance is this.’
‘If this is the concept, then all the vengeful spirits in this game are from a long time ago, at least from the generation of grandparents.’
‘Mother’s love is touching… What the samurai said here is about music he heard when he was young, which also proves that Rin is the samurai’s mother.’
‘The ghosts you fear are the family members everyone misses every day.’
……