The Battle Formation

"Hiss!"

Accompanied by a hiss, a several-meter-long centipede was sliced into two. Many yokai, seeing the death of their companion, turned their gaze.

Seeing the approaching yokai, Nura Rihyon immediately concealed himself. Then, the tanuki yokai took a big gulp of sake from his hand and spat out a burst of fierce flames, engulfing all the gathered yokai in a sea of fire, where they struggled desperately.

"Well done, Tamamura."

"No time for small talk now, keep chopping, you idiot!"

Inside the dungeon, countless yokai surged in, attacking everything visible. These yokai had all climbed up from the cliffs behind the mountain. After killing a few guards, they rushed directly underground, bursting into the dungeon and colliding with Nura Rihyon and his companions who were in the midst of rescue work.

"Hey, hey! I told you guys to leave quickly, don't mind me." Yamausagi said anxiously, frowning as he watched the three fighting yokai outside his cage.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Frog. While our initial goal was indeed just to rescue you, the situation has changed..." Nura Rihyon said in a low voice after cutting down another yokai, looking at the dungeon entrance where yokai were still pouring in.

"Although I don't know where these guys suddenly came from, they're clearly insane. They're just killing indiscriminately as soon as they get in. If we leave them unchecked, they'll kill all the yokai and humans here..." As he spoke, Nura Rihyon glanced behind him, where a group of humans who had fled from above were trembling.

"To help the weak and punish the strong, a yokai's chivalry, this is my code of honor! How can we retreat now? Right, Tamamura!"

"You're a big idiot!" The tanuki yokai said indignantly, smashing a sake flask hard onto a kappa's head-plate.

"If I didn't need your abilities to escape, I would've left long ago! Who wants to fight a bunch of suicidal madmen!"

"Hahaha! Let's become famous together, Tamamura! Little Miss Yamausagi, please continue to assist us!"

Several more red-eyed yokai attacked. Nura Rihyon and Tamamura quietly faced their enemies, while Yamausagi, behind them, joyfully hopped and then slammed her hand on the ground.

"Whoosh~ Whoosh~ Keep it up~"

A wave of demonic power spread from Yamausagi. Under the influence of this wave, Nura Rihyon and Tamamura's movements suddenly accelerated, allowing them to dodge countless attacks and cut down a pile of charging yokai.

At this moment, hidden on a beam above the dungeon, Morimura Saemon secretly observed everything below, gritting his teeth as he muttered.

"Damn it... How did these inexplicable yokai suddenly appear here! They're blocking the way, I can't get in at all!" Morimura Saemon's eyes were filled with malice. He was the Minamoto clan's mole embedded in Fangshan Castle, and these surprise yokai troops, attacking from the rear mountain, were guided by him. His goal was to go directly for Itsumaden.

Although Itsumaden's hiding spot wasn't with these yokai, it was still within the dungeon, and its passage had to go through this area. Now, Nura Rihyon and his two companions were blocking it, preventing the other yokai from passing, which made Morimura Saemon very anxious.

While he could wait for the main yokai army to break through from the front, he wouldn't be able to claim credit then. So, he had to find a way to quickly deal with this troublesome trio.

On the south side of Fangshan Castle, the main direction of the yokai army's assault, smoke signals rose, and battle raged. Yokai and humans clashed, countless bodies littered the front lines, blood splattered, and battle cries shook the heavens.

Within the human defenses, the Taira clan's samurai were the backbone. They guarded various chokepoints of the fortifications, using the terrain to cut down advancing yokai, engaging in close-quarters combat with these superhuman monsters. During the day, the extraordinary individuals sent from Heian-kyo provided support from the rear with shikigami and talismans. Further back were the ashigaru soldiers originally stationed in Fangshan Castle, who, facing the ferocious yokai, could only use high ground and watchtowers to attack with bows and arrows and rolling stones, alleviating the direct pressure on the Taira samurai.

Under the command of a Taira samurai captain, the humans of Fangshan Castle united to jointly resist the wild yokai's frenzied assault. However, the cost was being paid every moment; in a short time, a large number of ashigaru soldiers and nearly ten Taira samurai had died, and morale was gradually wavering. Although the yokai also suffered heavy casualties, those under evil spells continued their suicidal attacks, placing immense pressure on the city's defenders.

The commanding samurai captain looked at everything before him with a worried and anxious expression. At this rate, the complete collapse of the defense line was only a matter of time; the power gap between the two sides was simply not on the same level.

Just then, a scream came from nearby. The samurai captain turned to see several baboon-like yokai, skilled climbers, scaling a towering platform. The ashigaru soldiers who had been defending remotely there were instantly taken out by their sudden ambush. These ape yokai were now screaming as they charged towards the blood-soaked chokepoint, intending to attack the rear of the samurai's defense line!

Seeing this, the samurai captain immediately drew his sword and stepped forward, preparing to personally intercept the baboons. If their ambush succeeded, the defense line would be finished!

Just then, a blurry, swiftly moving figure flashed past him. Before he could even clearly see what it was, several stark white cold lights flickered among the baboons, and then they were neatly sliced into several pieces, falling to the ground as bloody chunks.

"This is..." Seeing this, the samurai captain's eyes widened. His gaze quickly fixed on the swiftly moving figure that had now stopped.

A black-haired, black-eyed girl rode atop a massive fox. She wore a white kariginu but no tall eboshi. In her hand, she held a disproportionately long jumonji yari, visibly imbued with powerful spiritual energy that shimmered with white light under the moonlight.

The samurai captain's mind quickly recalled her name: she was the Onmyoji from Heian-kyo who had arrived during the day, Asakura Hao!

Riding Tsuruha, Miketsu stood on the high platform. She looked at the wildly surging tide below, her expression hardening.

"Let's go, Tsuruha..."

"Understood, Lady Uka!"

Tsuruha leaped, launching herself directly from the high platform into the horde of yokai, charging into the enemy lines, all under the disbelieving gaze of the samurai captain!

The long spear in Miketsu's hand, beyond its feathers, radiated dazzling spiritual energy. As Miketsu swung it, it carved out an arc of brilliant light, turning the affected yokai into shattered pieces.

Riding on Tsuruha, Miketsu charged deep into the yokai horde, wielding her long spear to carve wide arcs of light, slicing apart the yokai in her path.

Similar to the demonic energy emission of the Demonic Blade mode, this spirit spear mode also possessed the ability to project spiritual power. However, while the Demonic Blade transformed slashes into waves for ranged attacks, the spirit spear stabilized the emitted spiritual power around itself, extending its attack range and sharpness, and magnifying the slash itself. This allowed Miketsu to cut down a swath of enemies with a single swing. Combined with Tsuruha's high mobility, Miketsu transformed directly into an efficient meat grinder, pulverizing all enemies around her.

At this moment, Miketsu had the illusion of becoming an unrivaled hack-and-slash general. She now had a warhorse (fox) and a long weapon, and the battlefield was a mountain castle—the sense of déjà vu was strong.

Due to Miketsu's direct charge into the enemy lines, slaughtering everything, the number of yokai attacking the chokepoint significantly decreased. Just as the samurai cut down the last enemy yokai before them, they gasped and looked ahead, then were immediately stunned by the scene before their eyes.

"Is that... an Onmyoji?"

"An Onmyoji charging directly into the enemy lines with a long spear? Don't Onmyoji usually draw talismans, chant spells, and summon shikigami? You look like a general!"