Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 43

　It was a foul itself.

After all, it would be impossible for a merchant, even an individual peddler, to train himself, much less train himself to fight against youkai if he were to become an executive of a big trading company. No, it would be a different story if he were an executive in the security department of the trading company, but there is no one in that position at least here, and therefore it would be pointless to discuss it.

Anyway, this situation should be a precious example of what would happen if a single "youkai" were thrown into a group of merchants.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh!!?"

"D*mn! This guy is so fast... Ughh!!?"

One man screams as his shoulder is trampled by the monster that suddenly appears and leaps at him. Another man, who was standing beside him, fires his handgun to fight back, only to have his hand sliced open with the gun barrel. The severed finger falls to the ground with the barrel of the gun, and the man cowering with his wrist gushing with blood.

"Eeekk..!? Run...!?"

The man's back is turned in terror as he runs away, which is a bad move. Youkai, whose body is currently mutated, runs with the swiftness of a lion, closes the distance at once, and with a single swing of his claws, rips open the body of the one who runs away. The man, paralyzed by severed nerves, falls to the ground and convulses.

The monster looks like a horse, a lion, a lizard, a wolf, an insect, and even a fish. Even now, the monster's body is being destroyed, regenerated, and reconstructed with each passing moment as the complex intertwining of the two forces of energies within it causes everyone to look at the figure with disgust and fear in their eyes.

'Grrrrrrr... Roooarrrrr!!!!'

"Ah... ugh......"

The creature turns around and lets out a roaring roar. Meanwhile, Kayo, who was unable to keep up with the change in the situation, gazed at the figure in a daze. To her, the roar seemed to be angry, despairing, lamenting, or in agony.

　...but to the rest of the people, it was nothing short of horrifying.

　"D*mn...!? D*mn you ......!"

　"Huh...? Aaaahhh... Noooo!?"

　Kurayoshi takes advantage of the chaos and starts to take action as the monsters attack the men in the vicinity at random.

　He hid in the monster's blind spot with a Matagama he obtained from Danjo-dai (Imperial Prosecuting and Investigating Office), blocked Kayo's mouth, and dragged her away in the dark night. From Kurayoshi's point of view, there was any number of ways he could have done it as long as he could have secured Kayo. He had many subordinates other than the ones he had brought here. Only Kayo, the hostage, could not be replaced here, so Kurayoshi tried to escape the situation by kidnapping her...

　'ROARRRRRRRRR!!!!'

　The next moment, the monster jumped as if it were running in the sky, and it blocked Kurayoshi's path. The creature, which seemed to be a mixture of several beings, let out a ferocious and maniacal roar when it finally came to a halt, stomping on his foot. Kurayoshi and even Kayo, who was directly confronted by the monster's deadly gaze, shudder involuntarily.

　"Tsk! Someone get this thing... D*mn it!"

　He quickly turns around and tries to shout at someone, but it's no use. The scene behind him was horrific. Noses and ears, fingers and wrists cut off, abdomens and backs ripped open, shoulders and legs crushed, and not one of the men crumpled in a bloody heap, moaning and groaning, was able to carry out the order.