Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 57

Time will go back a while.

　"All shields up!! The kappas are coming!!"

　"Kahekitama (a type of hand-thrown grenade used in ancient Japan) ready to throw... Throw! Throw it!"

　Following the shouts, they put thin steel and wooden plates on top of each other, and then they hold up fireproof coated shields all at once. Then, countless Kahekitama, thrown from above using a projectile, disappeared into the avalanche of attacking kappas that filled the narrow passage... and exploded in the next instant, turning them into countless lumps of flesh.

　In the upper part of the cave where the monsters lurked, the battle between the servants and youkai was unfolding in a passage that was by no means wide. The youkai took advantage of the poor visibility and terrain in the narrow cave to attack the intruders with their mass, subterfuge, and traps, while the raiding party dealt with them mainly with the servants because they cannot afford to lose valuable exorcists to traps and ambushers. In short, the servants will be left to take care of the small fry.

　Naturally, the servants dispatched by each family had to suffer many casualties in the face of the army of spiders and kappa that were thrown in one after another... but among them, only the servants dispatched by one family had advanced deeper into the den with only minor damage.

　The 48 servants dispatched by the Kizuki family's subordinates and deployed into the den have so far suffered only one seriously injured and three slightly wounded, but no one has died, and yet they have marched deeper into the den than any of the other families' servants.

　One of the reasons for this may have been the ability of the people themselves. The equipment obtained and deployed through the Tachibana Trading Company was undoubtedly the most high-class and high-performance among the servants participating in this raid, and they were also highly coordinated to make the best use of their strengths.

　In particular, their skill in disarming traps and uncovering ambush soldiers, and sometimes using them to divide and destroy each enemy individually was considerably more refined than that of the other families' servants. Regardless of their individual skills as servants, they were definitely superior as a group of servants.

　Another reason, and a bigger factor than the above-mentioned, was the presence of outsiders who participated in this group of servants.

　"There's something wriggling behind them, throw the flash ball (閃光玉)!"

　Following the instructions of the leader of the front group, the throwing team in the rear throws a flash ball (閃光玉). With their arms strengthened by spiritual power, the flash balls are thrown into the darkness more than fifty steps ahead, and in the next instant, they emit light, exposing the monsters in hiding to the light.

　"Three youkai in the middle are confirmed! They are coming this way...!!"

　"Prepare the bows and spears! Front guard, get ready to form a perimeter!"

　"Assault team! Get ready!!"

　With that call, dozens of arrows and spears are fired. The black giant spiders ahead of them, whose bodies looked like elephants, were attacked mainly on their faces, and they stopped in their tracks, where they were hurled by Kahekitamas. Numerous stones and pieces of iron scattered from inside the spider by the explosion pierced its body, and it collapsed from exhaustion, though it did not die instantly.