Chapter 25 - Demon-Faced Centipede.

Miketsu and Yura barely dodged the sudden attack. They stood up from the ground with ugly expressions, instinctively keeping their distance from each other to avoid being hit by a single attack.

"What... what is that thing?"

"I don't know... but one thing's for sure, we're in big trouble."

The two remained on high alert, staring into the darkness where the monster had just charged. The continuous clicking sounds from that direction indicated it hadn't gone far.

With a gust of sinister wind, the giant demon face charged out of the darkness once again. This time, however, the angle was different; it dove down from the high canopy of the trees, targeting Yura. Aided by gravity, its speed was even greater, making it harder to evade.

"Tanrou!"

Yura threw out a paper doll she had long prepared. Amidst a fierce burning of blue flames, a pale, giant wolf, as tall as a person, leaped out of the fire. It swiftly bit onto Yura's clothes and dodged to the side. The immense explosive power from the wolf's well-developed limbs allowed it to evade the strike from above.

"BOOM!"

A loud crash echoed through the forest. The monster's massive body slammed into the ground from above, sending dust flying everywhere. However, its long body didn't stop there; it made a sharp seventy-degree turn and crawled at high speed in another direction.

We can't let this thing get back into the shadows! This was the shared thought of Miketsu and Yura at that moment. They both launched their attacks immediately.

Yura threw out her shikigami Rokuzon, which charged fiercely at the monster, while Miketsu had Tsuruha, from within her sleeve, spit fire. Their attacks hit the monster at the same time, but the effect was something neither of them expected.

Tsuruha's fox-fire sprayed onto the monster, but it remained completely unfazed. The stag Rokuzon crashed into the fast-moving monster but was sent flying by a much greater force.

"Rokuzon!"

"It was useless..."

Seeing their attacks have no effect, both Miketsu and Yura were astonished. They could only watch helplessly as the giant monster crawled towards the woods, about to disappear into the darkness again.

This time, however, the monster didn't enter the woods. Instead, it coiled itself around a large tree at the edge of the clearing, winding from the roots all the way to the top. Because the monster's body was so thick and long, a single tree couldn't accommodate it. Its head, having reached the top, then moved to coil around another tree. In this way, it wrapped itself around several large trees before its entire body was visible.

Only now could Miketsu and Yura get a full view of the monster.

It was a centipede, a ridiculously large centipede. Each of its segments was about as wide as an ox-cart, and its length could be visually estimated at twenty to thirty meters, coiled and spiraled among several giant trees.

The centipede's head had a massive mouthpart with a pair of blade-like chelicerae. Its antennae, several meters long, floated on either side. Above the mouthpart was a huge demon face.

Not only the head, but both sides of every segment of the centipede's body were covered with different kinds of demon faces from head to tail. The only difference was that, unlike the one on its head, these faces had their eyes and mouths tightly shut.

Staring at the unprecedentedly terrifying giant before them, Miketsu and Yura were both frozen in place, their eyes and mouths wide open, unable to express the horror in their hearts.

"This... this is a centipede? How can it be so big... And... I didn't sense any demonic energy..."

"How can something like this be in this forest..."

The demon face on the giant centipede's head stared down at Miketsu and Yura in the clearing below.

"Hmm... just now... did you attack me?... Heh heh... I almost didn't feel it..."

"Not bad... you two... you're the first... who could fight back..."

Upon hearing the centipede yokai's words, Miketsu and Yura shuddered. They immediately understood the hidden meaning.

"Did you... attack other people?" Yura grabbed another handful of talismans, gathering the giant wolf and the stag by her side, vigilantly watching the most powerful yokai she had ever seen in her life.

"Attack?... No... I simply... ate them all..."

Hearing the centipede yokai's words, Miketsu suddenly understood why Yura and Tsuruha had sensed numerous magatama gathered together and moving quickly. It was likely that a considerable number of mystics who had collected magatama had been swallowed whole by this creature, and all the magatama had gathered inside its body. Read at Novels Haven (novelshaven.com)

'Lady Uka, be careful! This is a Demon-Faced Centipede, an incredibly powerful yokai. And judging by its size, it's probably lived for over two hundred years. Even I might have trouble with it!' Tsuruha urgently warned Miketsu. The yokai before them was perhaps even older than she was.

Hearing Tsuruha's words, Miketsu's heart sank. Just from a visual assessment, this creature was in a completely different league from the One-Bite Yokai she had faced before. Did they even stand a chance?

"You monster..." After hearing the Demon-Faced Centipede, Yura tightened her grip on her talismans, but just as she was about to attack, Miketsu stopped her.

"Hao?"

"I don't think we can handle this thing. We need to find a way to get to the Onmyoryo group and let them deal with it," Miketsu said in a low voice, clearly unwilling to risk a direct confrontation.

"Hmm..." The not-so-reckless Yura understood Miketsu's meaning. A direct fight with this thing right now was indeed an unwise choice.

"Do you want me to lend you Rokuzon?"

"No need, I can keep up with you." Yura glanced at Miketsu, then lowered the talismans in her hand, moved closer to her shikigami, and recalled Rokuzon.

Seeing that its prey seemed to intend to escape, the Demon-Faced Centipede's hundreds of legs pushed off in an instant, propelling its massive body forward. Its enormous head shot downwards like a cannonball.

Seeing the approaching centipede head, Yura, who was already prepared, was snatched up by the giant wolf and dodged aside. She then flipped onto the wolf's back.

"Tsuruha!"

On the other side, Miketsu, who wasn't the target of the attack, released the divine fox from her sleeve. After it quickly grew in size, she leaped onto its back.

Just like that, Miketsu and Yura mounted their steeds at the same time. The wolf and the fox immediately galloped away, quickly distancing themselves from the giant centipede behind them.

The Demon-Faced Centipede watched the figures fleeing at high speed. Its hundreds of legs went into overdrive in an instant, kicking up a large cloud of dust as it gave chase.

"You... can't escape..."