Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 14

The youkai fox thinks with impatience. How did this happen?

Everything was going so well. But then, she was almost killed by that human-skinned monster, and half in agony, she performed the split body youkai-jutsu.

It was a technique that could only be performed by highly intelligent, skillful, and most of all, powerful youkai, including the top-ranked youkai foxes. A mere miscellaneous youkai would not have the skill to tear out their own souls, and if they divided their power, they would lose their very existence because of the weakening of their individuality. So, the act of dividing one's own existence was possible only for the Calamity Youkai with its great power.　

And having divided into dozens of incarnations, they blend in with others and try to regain their power by devouring others in the darkness of the night. Some of the incarnations seem to have been killed, but they are just small fry of inferior strength, and the overall damage is minimal.

 Now, the incarnations have re-merged with each other and gradually regained their power.

 Luckily, this is a capital city, and some civilians have spiritual power, albeit weak. In fact, for them now, it is perfect. After all, it would be too risky to fight against those who have enough spiritual power to fight badly.

Alternatively, the defective exorcists who lacked experience and training in combat were the perfect prey for them. But not a few of them are former peasants or servants. Still, they are proud of their weak power, and at the same time, they know the hardships of servants who are used by the exorcists, so they handle their techniques secretly, illegally, and self-taught. So, because they have a desire for experimental subjects and materials for techniques and curses, the fox incarnations use their own incarnations of young youkai and small youkai as decoys to attract them, and when they are caught in a trap, several medium youkai incarnations attack them, and there is no way for the defectives to deal with them. In fact, more than a dozen people could be eaten in this way.

...At that time, it was lucky that while eating some of the curses-master, the youkai fox got some information about the trading company from one of them who was begging for his life. The goods were good for them, the people carrying them were helpless, and the guards, though troublesome, could be killed off if they were outnumbered. Compared to the people waiting in the capital, they were a pretty target. At this opportune moment, she gloated. Naturally, she took advantage of the curse master in the way she liked best.

That way, the youkai fox could have regained a lot of strength by devouring the whole convoy. She could already have... but...

"Damn you, monkeys...!!"

From the forest near the capital, where one can see all the lights of the night, the big fox with its four tails outstretched grunts and mutters words that are half-curses from so much resentment. A dozen or so youkai foxes of various sizes gather around it. All of them are smaller than the grunting fox, and all of them have only one or two tails at most.

"Gggghh......"

The fox monster crouched down as if in agony. She is naturally prone to pain, but this time, she has a surprise. She never expected this...

"Gghhh... My wound doesn't heal. And... that woman, how dare she look me with that eye...!!!"

The wound that the small fish with the Noh mask had inflicted with the dagger, though shallow, is still not healed and continues to bleed, little by little. It must have been a specialized item for youkai, which had been carefully and painstakingly infused with spiritual power and cursed with multiple curses. It is abominable.

And what was more annoying than that was the blow that shattered the right half of its skull. The stone itself had no spiritual power in it, though it may have strengthened by muscular strength. Still, it was literally just a stone... But it had completely crushed its right eye. The blood had finally stopped bleeding, but that was no comfort. Even at this moment, the youkai fox had a headache and nausea so bad it felt as if its head would shatter.