Chapter 240: Slaying the Cursed Serpent Monster
At this moment, because "Bad Nobu" had left, although it was a rare fortress that was easy to defend and hard to attack, the opponents were also unprecedentedly powerful. The villagers on the bank fought desperately but still failed to hold back the demonic bandits climbing up from the waterway. These bandits possessed strength several times that of ordinary men and feared no pain; they were practically monsters.
However, in this instant, not a single villager turned to flee. They thrust their long spears with all their might to hold back the bandits and prevent them from advancing, for behind them were their homes—their wives, children, and elderly parents.
There was nowhere left to retreat.
One bandit ignored the wound in his chest and seized the bamboo spear a villager was holding against him, crushing it into splinters. With his other hand, he drew a katana and swung it down at the villager.
"Hah! I'm here!" Nobu's eyes flashed with fury as she cut down that demonic bandit with a single sword strike.
Unfortunately, she was one step too late. The villager had already been struck and had collapsed to the ground.
"Lord Nobu... you finally returned! I didn't run away..." The villager on the ground spoke, his hands clutching his stomach, which had been sliced open by a blade, to keep his intestines from falling out.
"Yes, I saw. You are all warriors! You are people with the value to live on! Leave these guys to me!" Nobu raised her matchlock, aimed at the head of another bandit approaching from the side, and pulled the trigger.
Taking advantage of the fact that Maou Nobunaga was currently pinned down by Souji, she utilized her mobility to begin clearing out the bandits throughout the area.
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Shirou held his blade, facing off against the giant serpent monster transformed from Mochizuki Chiyome.
Sword light flashed. The giant serpent coiling around Mochizuki Chiyome completely enveloped the female ninja within its form. Despite its thick and long body, it was fiercely agile. Every time it opened its massive maw and extended its neck to bite at the enemy, it was as violent as a swung meteor hammer.
The sharp blade in Shirou's hand sliced open wounds on the giant serpent time and again, but they were all covered by surging black sludge and repaired instantly.
"As expected... this serpent monster is very similar to that man from before."
Kojiro recalled the battle he had fought late the previous night when he had broken into the bandits' campsite alone.
There, a ronin samurai with half his face covered stood waiting. Under the moonlight, his ash-blue hair was visible, and his eyes held the madness of a man-slayer, a cold-blooded executioner.
"I've waited for you... waited a long time. Sasaki Kojiro! The legendary Great Swordmaster!" Okada Izo said, his eyes shimmering with madness.
"Ho, a mere mountain swordsman like myself is surprisingly famous. However, the heart leaping with excitement at the prospect of a powerful opponent—on that point, I am the same," Sasaki Kojiro replied.
"You understand well! Hum-hahaha! It's exactly a swordmaster like you who is worth my cutting! Remember! The name of the man who kills you is the 'Manslayer' Okada Izo! Die! Die!" Okada Izo continuously unleashed different sword techniques, all of which were the quintessential skills of various schools.
No matter how exquisite these moves were, they were all blocked one by one by Kojiro's long blade.
The swordsmen of the Bakumatsu era were active in the latter half of the 19th century. The sword styles passed down to them could be said to be the essence distilled from a hundred schools; thus, many famous kendo masters emerged.
In legends and anecdotes, Okada Izo was even more renowned for his prodigious memory and ability to learn others' techniques—a genius executioner who integrated a hundred schools.
In contrast, the era in which Kojiro grew up was the late Muromachi period and the Azuchi-Momoyama period when Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi ruled Japan. During that time, samurai were mostly active on battlefields and held martial combat in high regard. Therefore, a group of samurai focused on the cultivation of martial arts such as swordsmanship.
The slaughter of the battlefield produced many famous generals, and likewise, the duels and contests produced many masters of swordsmanship who created and improved new styles. Even the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru was known as the "Swordmaster Shogun."
Kojiro's blade had also created its own "Ganryu" style. His most famous ultimate technique, the "Tsubame Gaeshi" (Swallow Reversal), pursued a realm beyond limits—"Infinity"! Within the same moment and the same space, it turned the impossible into the possible. What was originally one strike became three, making it impossible to evade or block.
It was a miracle akin to magic.
"You are very talented in the way of the sword, but can you learn this move?" Kojiro came to a halt and took a stance.
The moonlight reflected off the long nodachi. The light moved steadily, sliding slowly from the tip of the blade to near the hilt. This moment was like a sentence from the God of Death.
The strike hit Okada Izo's body.
Black mud erupted from the man's skin, instantly repairing the sword wound. He then slashed back toward Kojiro's waist. If this hit connected, Kojiro would likely be cut in half.
"Hmph!" Kojiro, rich in combat experience, forcibly retracted his blade. At an exquisite angle, he perilously blocked Izo's lethal strike, then turned the blade and slashed at the enemy's body once more.
How could the wounds of Tsubame Gaeshi be so easily repaired? The original wound was carved open once again.
Okada Izo's body split into three gashes. Black mud and a massive amount of blood sprayed out as he collapsed to the ground.
"Puh... I still lost, eh..." Okada Izo revealed a satisfied smile and ceased breathing.
Although Kojiro had claimed victory, he had not done so without paying a price. It was during that perilous moment when he blocked the attack; because his defense was slightly hasty, a chip had appeared in his blade. Due to the urgency of the situation, there had been no time to repair it.
A katana is inherently thin and sharp, its advantage lying in its agility and speed; it is not suited for excessive clashing. Therefore, if used carelessly, it can easily snap or develop chips—the longer the blade, the more true this is.
This is why samurai usually used shorter uchigatana or tachi for duels, rather than the long and cumbersome nodachi.
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Back at the mountain, Shirou acted as a distraction, charging forward, while Kojiro kept his eyes fixed on the giant serpent. He gripped his sword hilt tightly, prepared at any moment to deliver a decisive blow.
Meanwhile, on the other side, at the breached village gate, Okita Souji relied on her footwork to press Maou Nobunaga. The two were locked in a fierce struggle; Souji was too occupied to stop the bandits rushing inside.
"Hahaha! My boys! Charge in! Your food and wealth are right inside!" Maou Nobunaga laughed loudly, pushing Okita Souji back with her blade as the cannon turrets behind her fired rounds.
"Aaaah! Money! Food!" Driven by their instinctive desires, the demonic bandits raised their blades and charged.
Everything fell into chaos. The village, its defenses lost, was suddenly flooded with a horde of bandits.
"Kyaaa!" In a large house near the center of the village, the women, children, and elderly from dozens of households had gathered. Seeing this scene, they let out panicked screams.
At that moment, a bandit who sensed the presence of these women raised his blade with a wicked laugh and approached.
"Women... women... hehe..." Driven solely by desire, the demonic bandit grinned maliciously at the house. Drooling and staring at the young women inside, he muttered and walked forward.
Farm women holding hoes and carrying-poles ran to the door, waving their weapons wildly in an attempt to drive the bandit away. However, he caught their weapons with one hand, unbothered by the impact. He simply giggled foolishly and closed in step by step.
"Bully! Don't pick on my mom!" A child rushed out, swinging a wooden stick.
"Inuo! Don't come over!" the farm woman whose pole had been seized screamed in terror.
"Child... unnecessary..." The bandit glared at the child and raised his tachi high, preparing to swing it down.
"No!" the farm woman shrieked in grief.
"Hah!"
Sword light flashed, and the bandit's arm fell to the ground. At the critical moment, Yukino had arrived.
There was no time to be afraid, though it was terrifying. There was no time to retreat, though it was cruel. If she hesitated now, she might regret it for the rest of her life.
Thus, Yukino charged forward, slicing off the bandit's arm before swinging her blade at his forehead.
The bandit's mutated demonic horn was severed, and his skull was split halfway open. He collapsed heavily to the ground.
The women and children in the room recoiled in fear, their hearts racing.
"Big Sister Yukino! You came to save us!" Inuo rushed forward with joy and hugged Yukino.
"Yes! Sister is here. Everyone is safe now!" Yukino's face was deathly pale, and she was panting heavily, but she still spoke comfortingly to the child beside her.
"Mama, don't worry! The samurai is here! Everyone is fine now!" the boy said happily, turning back to the group.
"Thank goodness! Inuo! Thank goodness..." The boy's mother dropped her pole and embraced her child, crying out.
"Hehe... samurai... woman..." At that moment, two more bandits looked over and approached with their blades raised.
"Ugh..." Yukino forced back the nausea and discomfort in her chest. However, her sword was wedged into the bone of the first bandit's skull, and she couldn't pull it out for a moment.
Facing the twin blades, she could only draw the wakizashi at her waist to duel the two bandits' long swords.
"Wuhahaha! Leave it to me!" Nobu held her matchlock high and brought out the Holy Grail with one hand. As magical energy was funneled into it, a linear beam of light erupted, blasting the two bandits away.
"Miss Nobu!" Yukino cried out in surprise and joy.
"Well done! Yukino! You are now a mature samurai. Ah, it seems I underestimated these farmers too," Nobu, standing to the side, reached out and patted the girl's head in praise.
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In the back mountain, the surrounding trees were all snapped, and the scattered rocks on the ground were swept away. It looked like the aftermath of a natural disaster or a typhoon; the surroundings were in ruins.
Shirou's body was covered in several more wounds—scrapes from flying stones and bruises from impacts. While he could dodge the giant serpent's lunges and counterattack with his sharp blade, he couldn't account for every small stone.
The serpent seemed to perceive this and became increasingly reckless, continuously thrashing the ground.
Three flashes of sword light passed. Kojiro seized the opportunity and used Tsubame Gaeshi to lop off the snake's head, destroying it within the light of the blades.
But black mud suddenly erupted from the severed body, and the head regenerated. The giant serpent was born from its connection to Chiyome's body. As long as the host coiled within the
serpent's body did not die, the serpent could regenerate no matter how many times it was killed.
The newly born serpent head opened its maw, revealing sharp fangs, and bit toward Kojiro's skull.
Kojiro quickly raised his nodachi to block the fangs.
But this time, the blade could no longer bear the burden. Under the pressure of the fangs, it snapped. One fang pierced into Kojiro's shoulder; the body connected to his left arm was punctured by a hole the size of a cup.
Even more terrifying was the giant serpent's curse-laden venom, which dyed the surging blood a purple-black. Kojiro's left arm turned entirely purple, covered in hideous black veins.
The silent swordmaster, who had lived his whole life for the blade, suddenly felt his body become very light.
'Ah... my blade has reached its limit too, eh... The sword is the very life of a swordsman; it seems I have reached the end of this life's journey as well...'
But! It wasn't over yet! This wasn't merely his own solitary martial journey; it couldn't end yet!
"Now! Shirou!" Kojiro shouted at the top of his lungs. He grabbed the giant serpent's head and drove a short blade through its jaw from above the snout, pinning the head so it couldn't evade.
"Haaaaaaaah!!!" Shirou let out a roar. He drove his sword into the wound beside the serpent's lip, then used every ounce of his strength to slice into the serpent's body. The sharp blade carved through the serpent's lips inch by inch... then through its neck and belly, until half the body was sliced into upper and lower sections, reaching where the ninja girl was located.
The katana in Shirou's hand absorbed the serpent's toxic blood and visceral fluids; the blade began to emit an eerie purple light. In an instant, it severed the portion connecting the serpent to the ninja girl.
"Sssssaaaaah..." The giant serpent let out a piteous cry and finally lost its ability to regenerate.
"Kojiro! Are you alright! Pull yourself together!" Shirou sliced off the giant serpent's fang and helped Kojiro lie down on the ground.
"Now is not the time to rest! I can only go this far; I leave the rest of the battle to you." Kojiro spoke his final words to Shirou, closed his eyes, and became motionless.
"I understand!" Shirou set Kojiro's body down.
At that moment, the body of the white-eyed giant serpent began to loosen bit by bit. Mochizuki Chiyome, who had been coiled inside, fell to the ground. However, since her life was linked to the giant serpent, she could not survive much longer now that the serpent had been killed.
The ninja girl lay on the ground, her eyes—now hollow vertical slits—unable to see anything. "I didn't expect to fail in the end, but to die at the hands of a man like you isn't a loss. You are somewhat similar to Lord Sanada."
A lonely girl, she had been tormented by curses since childhood because of her ancestor's deeds and feared by her family; she had no place of her own. Upon growing up, she found her only value as a ninja, serving her lord. As long as she performed meritorious deeds, she would receive the lord's praise and recognition...
But due to the hardships of war, her lord grew thinner and weaker by the day.
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