Having successfully distanced myself from the chaotic scene of snowstorms and mayhem while being carried by Iruka, I was set down, and I spat out those words. In the distance, the clash between the calamity youkai wreaked havoc, blowing away the forest, shattering rocks, and carving into the mountains. Even from afar, the scene was reminiscent of hellish devastation.
"Haa, haa, haa... Who the hell do you think you are, acting all high and mighty? You've just been waiting this whole time, haven't you? Meanwhile, I've been desperately playing a life-or-death game of tag!"
The giant wolf that had set me down slumped on the spot and rapidly shrunk. As it shrank, it transformed into the form of a wolf-woman, Iruka, with half-grown wolf fur on her back. She stared at me intensely, sweating and breathing heavily. She wasn't wearing any clothes, and there was a white spider on her head that looked like it was crying. It seemed she had gone through quite the struggle to guide Namahage.
"Hey, hey, wasn't it my job to handle that? Don't come complaining now, of all times."
I threw the fur I had been wearing while hiding in the snow towards Iruka as I declared. In response, Iruka threw the d*mn spider off her head, 'ヾ(*´∇`)ﾉ It's like I'm flying in the sky (. >д<) Ugh!?'... I quickly dodged the spider as it was hurled towards my face and the white spider plunged headfirst into the snowy field. Hey, cut it out, stop saying things like some idiotic dumpling.
Originally, the plan was for me to lure Yamanba by myself while the old man's puppet and Iruka to use a white spider as bait to lure Namahage. However, Iruka unexpectedly intervened midway.
"Haah, haah... Are you an idiot? I can't just leave such a sloppy plan alone. Haah... Escaping while trying to fool them with pills, spiders, and blood? You never know when things will go completely haywire and logic will fly out the window."
As I wore the fur I had received, Iruka scolded me. It was frustrating that I couldn't argue back when she put it like that. Looking back, it was probably a pretty unrealistic plan. But there weren't many other options, were there... '(；∀；) Ouch, it hurts, Papa, can you pat my head?'
"Anyway, at least half of the task is finally resolved. Now we just have to hope those monsters take each other down. And... it's also a matter of what to do with him!!"
With a weary expression, I pick the white spider into my pocket and concluded with those words. Immediately, I turned around and threw a kunai towards the approaching presence. Kamui's body emerged from the snowy gusts and swallowed the released kunai into darkness. Ugh, this guy's body has been annoying me all day!
"Oraaa!! It's been a hundred years since we met here!!"
And the one leaping towards him was Iruka. Using me as cover, she launched a surprise attack. With only fur covering her body, she swung her axe at Kamui. However, that mighty strike was also swallowed by darkness, and her weapon disappeared from the middle of the handle.
"You piece of sh*t!!"
Without delay, this time it was the wolf's hand that struck. They were so powerful that even thin iron plates would crumple under her strikes, not to mention a human body. However, her opponent wasn't human at all. Instead of hitting her target, her hand passed right through, like trying to catch mist. Meanwhile, Kamui seized her wrist, taking control of the situation.
"It's been a long time, Iruka, and yet you're giving me such a rough welcome!!"
"Just die, you traitor!!!!"
In response to the call of her former comrade, Iruka responded with a roar. Opening her mouth wide enough to reveal her sharp fangs, she let out a deafening shockwave that shook the surroundings.
"Ugh...!!?"
Even Kamui, who had turned into an indescribable entity of gas and liquid, seemed to have been affected by the impact of the sound wave. Kamui was blown away along with the snow under his feet. He was slammed into a tree trunk, scattering into darkness.
"Ouch, that really got me. ...My ears are ringing, it's incredibly noisy."
Slowly reforming from the gathering darkness in one place, Kamui's movements were noticeably less vivid than before. Apparently, while slashing attacks might not be effective, it seemed that this guy was susceptible to impacts and vibrations to some extent.
"Cough, cough... D*mn it. You took that hit from that distance and still act like that? Cough, cough... You b*stard, even though I gave it my all!!"
Meanwhile, Iruka cursed while coughing, realizing that she hadn't dealt a fatal blow to Kamui with her previous attack. Her roar seemed to strain her throat, and she couldn't unleash it repeatedly in a short period of time. Moreover, her full-force attack from that distance was a one-time surprise. It seemed that Iruka felt she had missed out on a precious opportunity.
"It's not going so well, huh? ...But hey, it's pretty crazy how you transformed your own body into a monster like that. You know, looking after the body you got from your parents is a way of showing respect and gratitude, right?"
Drawing a spare dagger (cheap) from its sheath, I declared while looking at Kamui sarcastically.
"Can you really talk about principles? Even if you try to maintain a clean facade, you're more of a monster on the inside than I am or that dog of yours," Kamui retorted.
I glared back at Kamui. I glared, but at the same time, I felt a bitter taste in my mouth. I couldn't fully deny his words. I was aware that my own body had become an incomprehensible mess.
"Don't you think there's always someone below you? It's not cool to feel secure by making others feel bad. And it's kinda dumb not to want to improve yourself, right?"
Taking a step closer, I sneered.
"What's that supposed to mean? Is that a quote from some book? It's not something an uncultured servant like you would come up with, right?"
"Hey now, don't see through it so quickly when someone is trying to act clever. It's embarrassing, okay?"
It was not a lie. I was genuinely embarrassed.
"Anyway, I consider myself quite cultured. I've read The Four Books And The Five Classics (四書五經), a famous works. So, I can tell whether someone is speaking in their own words or just borrowing surface-level phrases from others without grasping the true meaning."
"Well, well... I'm in awe," Kamui responded sarcastically.
I casually shrugged my shoulders while looking at the Ezo in front of me. I knew exactly why Kamui was making small talk. He wanted to fix his ear, which got messed up because of Iruka's loud roar.
(That jerk is probably reading our conversation by watching my lips, not using his ears.)
And now the problem was that the ringing in his ears was likely starting to fade. Would he make his move soon? The other reason for this conversation was probably to distract me and find a chance to attack.
Silently, I glanced at Iruka standing beside me. We exchanged a look. It was a response through eye contact. Good, then...
"Hehe, but it's strange, isn't it? It's true that those words earlier weren't yours, but even I don't recall that particular passage. Could it be a poem? Or maybe a story? It's unlikely to be from a scholarly text... Whatever it is, it's truly mysterious."
Kamui had also noticed our eye contact. Despite realizing it, he continued with meaningless small talk. And as Kamui casually declared, he took one step, then another, seemingly unaffected. It synchronized with our movements. And then...
"Well, in the end, what I want to hear is..."
And just as the sound of his firm footstep resonated on the third step, he was already looming before us. Approaching, with a mocking smile on his face.
"Who wrote those lines? After I've torn your limbs apart, I'll make sure to ask you carefully!!?"
"Iruka!"
Right before the sword swung above my head, I commanded Iruka to unleash a second roar. But it didn't work. Iruka couldn't roar.
"What!? I can't move...!!?"
"Uh!?"
I heard a voice behind me and realized that Iruka was stuck behind me and couldn't move. It was getting dark, and the fading sunlight made Iruka's shadow stretch out behind me. And then, out of nowhere, Kamui stepped on that stretched-out shadow, just like he did to Yamanba.
This guy, was he stalling for time with his small talk...!!
"Kuh...!!?"
Iruka's counterattack failed, and as I was pressed to respond, I barely managed to intercept the downward swing with my backup dagger. But it was a cheap one, and Kamui's sword easily pierced halfway into the blade of the dagger upon impact.
And as Kamui continued to put his weight on the sword, the blade lodged itself even deeper, making an unpleasant sound, inching further...
"Ugh!"
In an instant, as the blade of the dagger was severed in two, I took a step back. Thanks to that, my skull wasn't cleaved open. Though I had received a shallow cut from my forehead to my cheek since I wasn't wearing a mask.
"You... Tsk!"
As I tried to launch an immediate counterattack, I suddenly realized that my body couldn't move. I shifted my gaze, clicking my tongue.
Without me realizing, my shadow had also been stepped on, and held down. I locked eyes with Kamui, and he approached me with a smug grin on his face.
As I stared at the shining blade, catching the last rays of the setting sun, I forced myself to speak. I needed to find the perfect words for this moment.
"I've already forgotten the name of the literary genius in the textbooks, you old fool!!"
"...Huh?"
In that tense moment, Kamui momentarily showed confusion and slowed his movements at my incomprehensible and low-priority response.
And it was right after that. From an ambush that had been lurking all this time, two crossbow bolts, filled with poison, pierced through Kamui's head and shoulder...
