Yamiyo no Hotaru

Chapter 158

 "Injured parties, head to the tent on the right!!"

 "What about the people late in escaping!? Has the retrieval been completed!?"

 "Damn, the rear group brought along a bunch of monsters!! A few of you, follow me! Let's quickly eliminate them!!"

 "Guardians, don't let your guard down! Protect even if it costs your life!!"

 The boundary line between the forbidden land "Anma Mountain" and the human realm. The camp of the diplomatic mission and the surveillance team was in the midst of turmoil and chaos.

 It was only natural. A group heading into the mountains had returned scattered like a brood of baby spiders, breaking the control. Moreover, the diplomatic mission representative had been kidnapped and was under attack by a group of youkai.

 The remaining group at the camp and the subsequent withdrawal were tasked with the retrieval of the diplomatic mission, escorting the remaining guards from the Tengu's clutches, and driving away the miscellaneous youkai that were coming to attack.

 "The actual losses are not that great. But the situation is chaotic."

 Shirowakamaru, who had finished setting up temporary reinforced boundarys and spells around the campsite, murmured as she surveyed the commotion. The chaos resulting from the ambush on the narrow mountain road and the abduction of the representative. However, the damage did not seem significant in terms of quantity.

 As far as reported, there was one death among the exorcists, two missing, and around five or six injuries. In total, the casualties may not exceed thirty. The majority of them were non-combatants, such as laborers and those without fighting experience. Unaccustomed to battle, they were the first to break formation and flee, inevitably getting picked off as they separated from the group. It's common sense that those who stray from the herd are targeted first.

 However, to Shirowakamaru, the fate of nearly ninety percent of the casualties was none of her concern. The issue lay with... him.

 "Shirowakamaru-sama, I think it would be difficult for the first princess to conduct the command."

 Mikage, the squad leader, who had pushed through the Hitogama to come before Shirowakamaru. Without surprise, Shirowakamaru nodded calmly, as if it were expected.

 The person who is said to be the representative of the Onitsuki family's contingent is currently unable to fight due to the battle with Tengu, and is unable to fulfill her duties as representative. It is said that the rope, which is one of Tengu's curse tools, sucks out the spiritual power it touches and becomes proportionally more powerful.

 The rope wrapped around Onitsuki Hina's entire body is getting bigger and bigger, and now it is like a rope. She is unable to move, and it is so strong that not even a sword can cut it. Due to this characteristic, her own supernatural powers, spiritual arts, and physical enhancement are also sealed. Trying to untie her is helpless, as her knot is so tight that even exorcists can lose their strength with just a touch.

 In addition, she has suffered considerable strain from the effects of her fall from a height. Her bones are broken and her internal organs appear to be damaged. It is no exaggeration to say that she is seriously injured. If she could activate her supernatural powers, it might be easy to regenerate her... but currently she can't even give her instructions and can only spit out her curses.

 "Please leave the First Princess in her bed as she is. Absolutely maintain complete bed rest and ignore any requests to deviate from that. ...There is no other choice but to wait until the amount of spiritual power consumed by the rope leads to its self-destruction."