Chapter 227: Tengu
[What happened?]
A strong dizziness and impact filled the area around the young girl. The constantly illuminating spiritual energy reaction on her body proved that Mai Shinomiyai was under attack. The blue pendant around her neck was flashing wildly, seeming to indicate the severity of the current situation.
Struggling to open her eyes, the originally bright field of vision was replaced by an indescribable dark white. The strange, flowing softness and corrosive sensation on her skin made Mai Shinomiyai’s heart sink.
[The pendant’s protective energy is constantly decreasing, I can’t stay here any longer!]
The pendant on her chest flashed faster and faster, indicating that the protective energy stored within it was rapidly depleting. Although her body was temporarily protected by spiritual energy and not yet injured, the attack reactions coming from all parts of her body made Mai Shinomiyai’s expression increasingly solemn. Regardless, the current situation was definitely caused by the black-clothed person from before, and leaving this place was the first priority.
“Arashi!”
Finding the only remaining giant bird sensed by her shikigami, Mai Shinomiyai gathered pale blue spiritual energy in her hand. Ignoring the disgusting soft feeling around her, she forcefully climbed towards the direction of the sky, reaching her hand towards a gap above that let in a sliver of light.
“Mai—”
A loud hawk cry echoed in the sky, and a powerful force was transmitted from her hand. The dim environment around her instantly changed, and the familiar night sky and exceptionally fresh air met her eyes again.
[Baiyue and Juli have both directly dispelled the ninjutsu, what about Riko-nee and the others…]
The cold wind blew on the young girl’s face, temporarily calming her somewhat flustered mood. She slowly turned her head, wanting to see what kind of attack she had encountered and the current situation of everyone else.
“This!!!”
But the moment Mai Shinomiyai turned her head, her bright eyes contracted fiercely as if struck by a violent impact. Her tightly closed lips slowly parted in surprise, and she wanted to say something but found herself unable to make any sound.
Because what appeared in mid-air beneath the young girl’s feet was a “sea of maggots” composed of white maggots, as thick as a thumb and as long as a finger, filling half of the graveyard!
“Blech!”
The young girl held on with both hands to the feet of the giant bird named “Arashi.” Looking at the maggots nearby, which were constantly writhing together with a fleshy texture, spitting out green mucus, and recalling the strange soft feeling of being buried in a pile of maggots before, a strong sense of nausea surged from her stomach uncontrollably.
Although Mai Shinomiyai forcefully restrained herself from making such a dangerous move on the battlefield, this physiological discomfort could not be suppressed. The young girl’s head tilted forward sharply, and she vomited streaks of greenish-yellow stomach fluid to the side.
“Hii—”
Before Mai Shinomiyai could recover from the weakness of vomiting, a tragic eagle’s cry came from in front, accompanied by a violently shaking perspective.
The corpse crows, which had been entangled with the giant bird, would not let such a good opportunity pass. While Arashi was rescuing Mai Shinomiyai, the corpse crow flock surrounded them again, and cleverly seized the weakness of the giant bird protecting Mai Shinomiyai’s feet, furiously attacking its right leg. This forced the giant bird, in order to protect its master, to withstand several pecks from the corpse crows.
“Arashi!”
The young girl cried out her shikigami’s name with concern, clinging to the giant bird’s claws. She fumbled in her embrace and took out a talisman. The pale red talisman burned up, forming a dazzling wall of fire in mid-air, temporarily blocking the corpse crows’ attack.
“Swish swish swish—”
A barrage of the stench of death brushed past Mai Shinomiyai’s ears like a shadow. If not for Arashi’s swift speed, the young girl would have been hit by Kazumi on the ground several times already.
[This won’t do!! The opponent’s attack frequency is too fast, I must find an opportunity to catch my breath!!]
She forcibly stimulated the spiritual energy within her body and injected it into the giant bird. Arashi’s speed increased by a notch out of nowhere, dodging the next wave of death barrages and shaking off the surrounding corpse crow flock.
At this moment, Kazumi’s attack frequency was like a continuous giant wave pushing against Mai Shinomiyai. She didn’t even have a chance to climb onto the bird’s back, only managing to cling to the bird’s claws in a sorry state, using talismans to temporarily delay the opponent’s attack.
[I definitely can’t go to the ground, the number of those worms is too terrifying, but Arashi is no match for this flock of crows.]
The young girl threw another yellow talisman. The spiritual energy in the air exploded, repelling the surrounding corpse crows once more.
Mai Shinomiyai’s original plan was to use the advantages of her shikigami to target the weak point in close combat provided in the enemy’s intelligence. The giant spirit with powerful strength, the agile white wolf, and the giant bird with aerial mobility, along with the cooperation of several shikigami, could essentially suppress the opponent.
However, she never expected Kazumi’s move to be a direct kill. The terrifying number of maggots, too numerous to look at directly, had directly altered the entire terrain. The corrosive liquid secreted by the worms and the attacks from their sharp mouthparts had melted everything that entered the maggot pile.
If not for the protective spiritual artifact passed down by her family on Mai Shinomiyai’s body, she would have likely melted into the sea of maggots in that instant.
[I don’t have enough spiritual energy, and I don’t have any shikigami that can deal with this situation. Neither Suimoku nor Honoo would be of much use in the current predicament.]
As if remembering something, Mai Shinomiyai trembled as she reached into the deepest part of her embrace. Her dim, emerald green eyes looked at the crumpled, yellowish-green talisman in her hand with a complicated expression.
[Father’s shikigami is still here, but my current spiritual energy level is definitely not enough to control him.]
Pressing her lips together, Mai Shinomiyai was momentarily unsure of how to decide, because in her first lesson as an Onmyoji when she was a child, the first thing her father told her was, “Don’t try to control power you cannot control.”
“Hii—”
Before the young girl could make a decision, a tragic cry came from the giant bird’s mouth. A strong corrosive sound came from behind Arashi. This injury made the giant bird unable to maintain flight and it crashed heavily towards the ground.
Looking at the corpse crows in the sky, each holding a claw filled with corrosive liquid, Mai Shinomiyai understood the opponent’s attack method. With a flash of ninjutsu in her hand, she forcefully recalled the giant bird that was injured but still holding onto its master.
And Mai Shinomiyai, tightly gripping the crumpled talisman in her hand, plummeted towards the sea of maggots on the ground with gravity. Her small body couldn’t even cause a ripple, and she was calmly swallowed by a patch of dark white.
“…”
“Boom—”
Suddenly, a powerful roar erupted from the ground. With the increasingly rapid flow of air, it eventually formed a giant dark whirlwind. A terrifying number of maggots were directly sucked into the whirlwind, churned into disgusting chunks of flesh.
The vast sea of maggots had a large hole cleared by the whirlwind, and in the center, where the tornado had cleared, appeared a tall, humanoid creature with wings on its back and a red demon mask on its face.
