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The wolves left behind tens of corpses before retreating into the forest.

Among Hiromasa’s soldiers, only a six-man formation was scattered apart by a few wolves. All six of them died. The rest of the formations only reported minor casualties.

In the small conflict, more than ten soldiers on the Spirit Jade Stage or lower were injured or killed, but they eliminated three wolves on the Permanence Stage and twelve on the Spirit Jade Stage. It was considered to be a great success.

Of course, this wasn’t a simple exchange in numbers. After all, the Empire had dispatched just about 100 archer teams and dozens of Onmyo teams in the back line as damage dealers.

But no matter what, this allowed Lily to witness the true strength of the elite soldiers of the Empire. Although Hiromasa’s personal strength was average in her eyes, he was much better when it came to commanding soldiers.

If the entire Vanguard had such combat effectiveness, then conquering Mount Ooe might just be a possibility.

However, the situation on any battlefield would change constantly. It would be an entirely different scenario if they were encircled by a large swarm of demons.

Lily bid Hiromasa farewell and returned to the third position. On the way back, she passed the Vanguard’s camp and was discovered by Igarashi Kaede.

“This b̲i̲t̲c̲h̲! How dare you show yourself in front of me!” Igarashi spoke spitefully.

“Madam Igarashi, we’re not in a good position to do anything among the army. Why don’t we wait for another chance?” The gloomy warrior beside Igarashi said.

“Hmph…” Igarashi also secretly thought about taking action against Lily, wanting to kill her in the chaos of battle. However, firstly, it wouldn’t sooth her rage; Secondly, although she had a massive grudge with Lily, they were all human. Hence, she knew it was too excessive to kill Lily.

‘We need to find a chance to apprehend that woman and teach her a good lesson, humiliate her in front of everyone!’ Igarashi thought in her heart.

In this place, the mountain terrain was even steeper; the trees were even more ancient, taller, and shrouded the sunlight; the area itself was even darker as it was surrounded with thicker and thicker Eldritch Energy.

“What is this feeling…” As she traveled along the mountainous roads on horseback, Uesugi Rei could occasionally feel intense Resentment Energy affecting her soul.

These Resentment Energy mostly came from women. Each was more intense than the other.

Before she knew it, Uesugi Rei was already getting closer and closer to Mount Ooe.

Suddenly, a powerful wave of Eldritch Energy came from behind.

“Sword Miko! Don’t run!”

The ground itself shook. Touko Chakura carried his flaming blade and pursued her with a bunch of demons behind her.

“What’s going on? I ditched them and was one day’s worth of travel ahead of them. How could they catch up?”

Little did she know, she had been walking in circles around the mountain these days. Hence, they would naturally catch up to her once she was spotted.

“Sword Miko!” Aokiba Takamizu also leaped around the massive trees and lunged at her from the side.
“You two again!” Uesugi Rei could only escape on horseback!

But Takamizu was faster. It lunged from an ancient tree like a flash of blue light and slashed its heavy Big Blade towards Uesugi Rei.

Bang! The intense and horrifying impact force shook Nioh’s legs, it almost toppled over. Uesugi Rei gritted her teeth and used her long sword, Nameless, to block those attacks. She escaped on horseback while defending herself against Takamizu’s second strike.

“Huff!” An indivisible spiritual rubber suddenly appeared under Nioh’s leg. Even Uesugi Rei couldn’t notice it ahead of time.

Nioh screeched as it was tripped and fell onto the ground, its heavy body tumbled over and sent Uesugi Rei flying out. She rolled around the ground uncontrollably.

Aokiba Takamizu and Touko Chakura took the opportunity and approached.

Bam—! Takamizu was faster and slashed. Rei suddenly jumped up and dodged the attack. She raised her long sword in mid-air, trying to counter Takamizu as he showed a gap in his defense at this moment.

Suddenly, a gust of incredibly terrifying and robust Eldritch Energy surged behind Rei.

Rei’s back trembled. She was out of time. A dark shadow enveloped her from behind.

Bang!

Rei had never been struck by such a heavy baton strike before.

The bronze staff slammed into Rei’s lower back heavily and sent her flying like a meteor. She slammed into an ancient tree’s center that was more than 10 meters wide and shattered it, felling the entire tree.

Rei felt the world tumbling around her as her back had lost all sensation. After going through the massive tree, she slammed onto a boulder and was bounced onto the ground.

Her silver hair was scattered and she trembled all over. She couldn’t bring herself to stand up at that moment.

That mighty demonic monk with green skin was the Lord of Mount Hiei. He stood on a massive tree branch not far away and radiated the strength of someone on the Throned Sovereign Stage! His strength was comparable to one in the Yamato’s Eight Legions. In addition, this demonic monk had tough skin, immense strength, and barbaric prowess. He was probably much stronger than any human on the same Stage!

Rei was struck in full force this time. The power behind this attack was way stronger when compared to attacks from Aokiba Takamizu and Touko Chakura, who were on the Throned General Stage!

“Hahahahaha! Sword Miko Uesugi Rei, right? Tanba is so big. Out of all places, why would you come to Lord Shuten’s domain, Mount Ooe? Aren’t you walking into your own grave?” Mount Hiei’s Lord had a low and guttural voice.

“What… This is Mount Ooe?” Uesugi Rei was also shocked. She knew she wasn’t great with directions. But still, even if she was running around randomly, wasn’t she just too unlucky?

Uesugi Rei barely managed to stand up using her sword to support herself. She wanted to call out to Nioh.

Yet, she saw Nioh being tied up by several spiritual ropes soaked with Eldritch Energy. It remained on the ground, its robust muscles trembling from time to time as he stared at Rei with blank eyes.

“Nioh… Even you…”

Rei raised her long sword. She was determined to fight despite facing an Archdemon on the Throned Sovereign Stage!

“Merely a Sword Miko the pinnacle of the Permanence Stage. Incredibly naïve!” The Lord of Mount Hiei spun his bronze staff.

Bam! Boom! Boom! Massive pillars of earth rose from beneath Rei’s feet. She kept dodging but those pillars were simply too fast and they scraped her. She lost her balance and fell to the side.

“Hah!” The Lord of Mount Hiei jumped up and lunged at Rei like a gust of wind. Swinging his incredibly heavy bronze staff at her!

Rei instantly fired an ice spike and shot it towards a tree beside her. She changed directions in the air using the recoil and dodged the strike. With a somersault, she stepped on the massive tree and then lunged at the Lord of Mount Hiei, slashing Nameless at him.

Clang! The Lord of Mount Hiei spun his staff, the horrifying power sent Rei flying away.

“This is bad. This guy is really strong…” The wild and confident smile on Rei’s face finally disappeared.

All of the sudden, a figure emerged from above.

Rei couldn’t react.

“What?”

Bang! A horrifying impact!

A round but incredibly robust body that was as heavy as a mountain slammed into Rei’s waist, crashing her onto the ground.

Bam—! Creating a massive crater on the ground!

“Cough!” Rei couldn’t help but vomit blood.

A pair of tiny eyes glistened within that massive circular figure as it started spinning rapidly. Those tiny eyes formed into two lines as they dashed towards Rei.

“Huff—!” A Virtual Projection that was several feet tall emerged in front of Rei and slashed at that round ball.

Bang! The slash slightly changed the trajectory of that round ball.

Wham! It crashed right beside Rei’s body and she broke out in cold sweat.

But at this moment, a reddish tall figure flashed behind the Virtual Projection.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Swoosh! Several curved blade scars emerged behind the Virtual Projection.

The Virtual Projection was actually torn apart by these slashes and soon dissipated.

“Hiss— hiss!” A Snake Woman on the upper Throned Sovereign Stage landed while swaying her body. She held a naginata as she approached Rei.

“What?” Rei stood up and realized she was surrounded by several Throned Sovereign Archdemons. The likes of the Lord of Mount Hiei and that Snake Woman were way stronger than her.

“Looks like this place is really Shuten’s nest! I alone managed to attract so many Archdemons to pursue me?” Rei’s well endowed chest was filled with sweat. She hunched over due to the burning sensation she felt with every breath and trembled constantly. Blood was trailing down her lips but she still smiled slightly.

“At this point, how can you still smile? Sword Miko?” Akahime would never show mercy to women.

“A bunch of Throned Sovereign Archdemons surrounding me, someone on the Permanence Stage. Isn’t this humiliating?” Even in such a desperate state, Rei still managed to mark her opponents. Although she was no longer strong enough to stand on equal footing, she was still as prideful as ever!

Wham! Suddenly, a massive figure emerged behind Rei and she couldn’t react. That massive figure yanked Rei’s hair and tossed her into the air. Their other hand heavily slapped the back of her head and sent her flying. She spun in circles and slammed onto the ground!

This figure had two horrifying demon heads. One was green with white hair, the other was red with black hair. He was 8 meters tall, and his body was as tough as grade-nine tamahagane!

He was Soto-no-Oni. Someone on the Throned Sovereign Stage!

“You’re about to die, why so stubborn?” Soto-no-Oni spoke two trembling voices at once.

“Hey, hey! Brother Soto, slow down. Don’t kill her or all of our efforts will be wasted. Lord Shuten will blame us by then!” That giant ball turned out to be an incredibly obese person with a concealed neck. His round face was a combination of a human’s and a tortoise’s. His body was filled with bright scales and his back carried a massive shell that seemed to be assembled from stone; With the massive bald spot on his head, he was the demon— Pakuzan, who was on the middle Throned Sovereign Stage!

“Uhm… Ah…” Rei couldn’t help but groan. She was trembling as she carried her sword. In a slow pace, she slowly got up to her feet, albeit barely. She couldn’t even stand up straight. The long sword in her arms waved around as she was about to topple again.

“This ends here, Sword Miko—” An attractive and alluring male voice was heard.

On top of an ancient tree that had wilted for many years, Ibaraki Doji appeared, with long purple hair and dashing clothing.

He had a massive ghost claw behind his back, and an armless sleeve floating around in a fog.

Rei raised her head with difficulty and stared at Ibaraki Doji. This man was stronger than she had ever expected. Although she couldn’t pinpoint his specific power level, she sensed that Ibaraki Doji was probably stronger than all of the other demons around here combined!

“Lord of Mount Hiei, tie this woman up and send her to Lord Shuten!” Ibaraki said, “If she dares to resist, then cripple her! After all, she will be broken sooner or later once she reaches Lord Shuten, isn’t it?” Ibaraki Doji ordered while grinning ominously.

“Yes!” The Lord of Mount Hiei put down his bronze staff and pulled out a thick rope before approaching Rei.

Around her, five Throned Sovereigns, two Throned Generals, and Ibaraki Doji —who was way stronger than all of them— had made preparations and encircled this place. Rei was completely surrounded.

No matter how prideful Rei was, she already knew that she had no chance of winning this time.

“Wait!” Rei said suddenly.

“Hmph, at this point in time, what else are you trying to do?” Ibaraki sneered.

“Just surrender! I wouldn’t want to accidentally break your arms. Hehehe!” The Lord of Mount Hiei threatened.

Despite facing such a desperate situation, Rei still grinned. Instead of humiliation and hopelessness, her eyes were still filled with arrogance and pridefulness.

She suddenly knelt down on one knee. With one hand on her long sword and one on the ground, she lowered her head and her long hair scattered all around the floor like silver water droplets.

“I, Uesugi Rei, am willing to submit myself to His Majesty, Shuten Doji¹.”

1. Robinxen: WAIT WHAT?! What kind of act is this?!