The Great Serpent God's Curse / Slaying the Cursed Serpent

The villager smiled but didn't reply. He simply put down the tray, bowed, and returned to his fellow villagers to eat and drink with them.

"That bad Nobu wasn't wrong, they really do have some good stuff hidden away." Shirou smiled and shook his head; this was the wisdom the villagers relied on for survival.

"Kojiro, have something to eat. There's dried meat and sake," Shirou said.

"Nothing else is needed, just some wine." Kojiro said, taking the wine cups and spilling two on the ground. "Come, Prince Fujita, have a drink too. I know you love this kind of food."

Regarding the funeral of Tawara Toda, the villagers only sent people to bury the body on the mountain. They simply didn't have the manpower to do so right now, so they could only try to hold a proper funeral later.

Shirou, mimicking this gesture, spilled his drink on the ground and said, "Well, Fujita, I'll toast you too. If I have the chance, I'll definitely treat you to a good meal again."

"What a beautiful moonlit night, and the wine is excellent too."

Kojiro clinked glasses with Shirou, gazed at the clear, full moon in the sky where the golden toad and jade rabbit could be seen, and exclaimed in admiration.

The next morning.

On the other side, the area where Demon Nobunaga was responsible for guarding the fields was much quieter. After repelling several waves of bandits, few people came over to the easily defensible fields.

"You all keep watch, I'm going to check on the other side," the black-haired, red-eyed girl said to the group.

"Huh? But..." the tense villagers said, somewhat panicked.

"It's not difficult at all, just do it the same way as before. By the way, after I leave, you'll be in charge here, Niu." The black-haired, red-eyed girl patted one of the farmers on the shoulder and said.

"Hey? Me?" Niu, the villager who had been fighting at the front with his bamboo knife, exclaimed in a daze.

"Yes, it's up to you now. Even if you're scared, don't run away. Everyone's lives depend on you." The girl waved casually and left.

"Hozoin, how's the battle going on your side?" The black-haired, red-eyed girl arrived at the village gate, addressed the group of people holding guns in defense, and then turned and left.

"Oh, Prince Nobu, how are things on your end?" Houzoin Inshun, who was completely focused on fighting the enemy, asked directly without turning around.

"I'm fine on my end... but Shirou is going to lose." Nobunaga the Demon Nobunaga had barely finished speaking.

"What!?" In that instant of exclamation, Houzoin Inshun lost his guard.

Amidst the astonished gazes of the villagers who turned around, Nobunaga's musket was already aimed at Houzoin Inshun's back, specifically at the heart.

With a loud bang!

A bloody, mangled hole appeared in the monk's body.

Chapter 239 The Curse of the Giant Serpent God

"Pfft!" Houzoin Inshun clutched his chest, not expecting to be attacked from behind. He gripped the Jumonji Kama Yari tightly with both hands, trying to turn around.

But the other party didn't give him a chance.

At that moment, the Demon King's long black hair fluttered, and hundreds of muskets fired in unison behind him!

The monk's body was blasted open with dozens more bloody holes, leaving him a bloody mess.

Houzoin Inshun ultimately failed to turn around. With his last ounce of strength, he flung his spear, but it flew to the side of Nobunaga and crashed into the ground four or five meters away, the shaft trembling.

"Ah, that was close. If I hadn't ambushed you, I might not have been able to kill a warrior like you," said Demon Nobunaga, looking at the unconscious monk lying on the ground.

"You bastard! You scoundrel!" Soji shouted angrily as he finally arrived.

A sword slashed down, severing the barrels of more than a dozen muskets that had popped out.

"Okita? So you're not dead after all." Demon Nobunaga said with a smile after recognizing the newcomer.

Okita Souji gripped his katana with both hands, coldly staring at his opponent and saying, "You said you were going to lead the bandits to conquer this village, but now you've turned all the bandits into puppets. What exactly are you trying to do? What do you take other people's will and beliefs for granted?"

"Huh? Willpower? Belief? The weak don't need those things. They only need to follow my will! Becoming stronger is the most basic basis for survival in this world. The weak will only be plundered, so I suppose they are grateful to me."

"But it's really not a good thing to have your mind controlled by power. The reason you ended up like that is simply because your desire to plunder has grown stronger. I only gave them the seed of that power at the beginning; it was they themselves who activated it."

The Demon Nobunaga smiled coldly and said:

"I said from the beginning that this is just a game. Compared to a battle between tens of thousands of people, this is just child's play. The goal is just to defeat Shirou. At first, it was to conquer this village, but that won't achieve my objective, because Shirou won't submit just like that. 'I will not let you harm the women and children of this village before you kill me.' That's probably what he said."

From the very beginning, Demon Nobunaga did not care about the lives of the villagers and bandits. In a chaotic world, the plunderer and the plundered are destined to be each other. Even if the plundered party is not under her control, others will come after them.

And the party that plunders will inevitably have to compete with others.

Mountain bandits and government soldiers who do not engage in production cannot survive if they do not obtain resources from other places.

So whether they are farmers who cultivate the land for a living, these plundered people, or other plunderers who have to pay with their lives to fight, this is their fate.

Whenever someone possesses more benefits than others, some of those benefits will inevitably be taken away. However, it is human nature to want more, to have more wealth, and to attain a higher status than others.

Standing at the pinnacle, as the ruler of the world, she naturally intends to seize control of the world as the greatest plunderer, desiring to accomplish everything.

"Besides, do you think it's as simple as just turning a bandit into a human?" Demon Nobunaga said with a smile, his eyes flashing with an evil red light.

"What's going on?" Soji frowned and asked Nobunaga.

"Hahaha! I'm magnanimous enough to keep even my enemies by my side! But in return, she has to show the utmost sincerity!"

"Waaaaah!!" A piercing scream erupted from the back of the mountain.

Evil demonic power emanated from the slain demon, enveloping the surrounding space and lingering for a long time.

Shirou, who replaced Tawara Toda, and Kojiro led the villagers to firmly guard the back mountain.

In the fierce battle against the fearless bandits, each of them sustained some kind of wound.

The female ninja who fell from the tree clutched herself and struggled on the ground, her eyes turning bloodshot. Evil magic had infected the curse on her body, and the giant snake behind her writhed rapidly, growing larger and larger.

The ninja girl's body was marked with black and purple welts from the restraints. She rolled on the ground in pain, cursing and swearing.

"Why are you stopping me! I only want revenge! Nobunaga! Ah! I must go to Nobunaga! My eyes... my eyes can't see clearly..."

In Mochizuki Chiyome's eyes, everything she saw overlapped with the giant serpent. The objects and figures she saw became blurry, and eventually, she developed an infrared sensory ability to detect heat sources, just like a snake. Although she couldn't see human faces clearly, her perception of living beings was many times stronger.

"Yeah, then why not just kill them all..."

The demon bandit was spat into the giant snake's gaping maw.

Four or five villagers were swept away in the middle and sent flying, crashing into the earthen wall, spitting blood, and unable to move.

The giant snake opened its mouth wide, to an exaggerated angle, swallowing the bandit and his horse whole, leaving only its two legs sticking out. At first, it shook violently, but then it became still.

The giant snake raised its head and swallowed the entire horse whole, its thick, long body only slightly bulging.

"Aaaaaah! Monster!" The villager, his legs trembling with fear, tried to run away but fell to the ground and screamed in panic.

Shirou rushed forward and used his sword to deflect the force, blocking the attack.

The giant snake opened its mouth and bit the blade, trying to break it in two.

Shirou glared angrily, his eyes wide, and with a swift upward swing of his blade, he sliced open the giant snake's jaws before it could bite down on the blade, creating a large gash.

The snake, in pain, opened its massive jaws, splattering blood.

Shirou, sword in hand, glared at the giant serpent and shouted, "Back off! Villagers, take the wounded and defend the village. Leave this to us!"

"Yes...!" The villagers pulled up their fallen companions, dragged the wounded who had been flung away, and quickly moved away from the back of the mountain.

Shirou dared not relax for a moment. He didn't believe that such a small knife wound could have much of an impact on such a behemoth. The girl inside had bulging, ferocious veins. The giant snake had crawled out of her body, and part of its body was still wrapped around her, coiling her inside.

This giant serpent, which materialized out of resentment, actually originated from some powerful curse.

"This terrifying evil aura is even greater than that of the man-slaying monster I encountered last night," Kojiro said, gripping his nodachi and staring coldly at the giant serpent.

Just then, the girl responsible for delivering the message ran over and shouted, "Master! The other side of the village has been captured!"

Shirou turned and glanced at the girl, chuckled softly, and then ordered, "Yukino! Go and protect the women and children in the village! Listen carefully, this is an order! If you can't win, try to buy time, even if it means escaping! I will definitely come to find you afterward."

"Yes!" Yukino gritted her teeth, drew her sword, and ran towards the center of the village.

Chapter 240 Slaying the Cursed Serpent Monster

At this moment, because of the departure of Bad Nobu, although it was a rare fortress that was easy to defend and difficult to attack, the opponent was also stronger than ever before. The villagers on the shore fought desperately, but they still couldn't hold on. The demon bandits who climbed up from the waterway had strength several times that of ordinary people and were not afraid of physical pain. They were simply like monsters.

At this moment, not a single villager turned to run away. They desperately thrust their spears forward to hold back the bandits, preventing them from advancing, because behind them lay their homes, their wives, children, and elderly parents.

There's nowhere left to retreat.

Ignoring the stab wound to the chest, the bandit grabbed the bamboo spear that was thrust at the villager and crushed it to pieces.

With his other hand, he drew his katana and slashed at the villager.

"Drink! I'm coming!" Nobu's eyes flashed with rage, and he slashed down the demon bandit with a single sword stroke.

Unfortunately, it was too late; the villager had already been struck and fell to the ground.

"Lord Nobu, you're finally back! I didn't run away..." The villager lying on the ground, clutching his stomach which had been ripped open by a knife to keep his intestines from spilling out, spoke.

"Ah, I see! You are all warriors! You are people worth living for! Leave these guys to me!" Nobu raised his musket, aimed it at the head of the bandit who had stepped forward from the other side, and pulled the trigger.

Taking advantage of the fact that Demon Nobunaga was being held back by Soji, she used her mobility to sweep away the bandits in the area.

Shirou, sword in hand, confronts the giant serpent monster conjured by Mochizuki Chiyome.

A flash of sword light appeared, and the giant snake coiled around Mochizuki Chiyome completely enveloped the female ninja. Its thick, long body was fierce and agile, and every time it opened its mouth and stretched out its neck to bite its enemy, it was as fierce as a meteor hammer being swung.

Shirou's sharp blade repeatedly sliced open the giant serpent's wounds, but each time the black sludge that gushed out covered them, repairing them.

"As expected... this basilisk looks a lot like that man from before."

Kojiro recalled the battle that had taken place late the previous night, Kojiro ventured alone into the bandits' camp.

There stood a ronin samurai man with half his face covered, his gray-blue hair revealed in the moonlight, and his eyes held the madness of a murderer or executioner.

"I've been waiting for you, for so long! Sasaki Kojiro! The legendary swordsman!" Okada Izou said, his eyes gleaming with madness.

"Wow, the next swordsman from the mountains is quite famous indeed. But I feel the same way about feeling excited about facing such a formidable opponent," said Sasaki Kojiro.

"You think you know a lot! Hahaha! It's swordsmen like you who are worth my time to kill! Remember this! The name of the man who will kill you is 'Man-Slayer' Okada Izou! Die! Die!" Okada Izou unleashed a series of different sword techniques, each a quintessential skill from various schools of swordsmanship.

No matter how exquisite these moves were, they were all blocked by Kojiro's long blade.

Swordsmen of the late Edo period were active in the latter half of the 19th century. The sword styles that have been passed down can be said to be the essence of many schools, and thus many famous sword masters emerged.

Okada Izou in legends and anecdotes, was renowned for his exceptional memory and erudition, capable of learning the techniques of others, a genius executioner who combined the strengths of many schools of thought.

Kojiro lived during the late Teramachi period, which coincided with the Azuchi-Momoyama period under the rule of Oda Nobunaga and Toyotomi Hideyoshi. Samurai were mostly active on the battlefield and valued martial arts. Therefore, there was also a group of samurai who focused on practicing swordsmanship and other martial arts.

Many famous generals emerged from the battlefields, and many sword masters who created and improved new styles of swordsmanship also emerged from the martial arts competitions. Even the Shogun Ashikaga Yoshiteru was known as the Sword Master Shogun.

Kojiro's swordsmanship also created its own "Yan" style, with the most famous technique "Swallow Counter" pursuing a realm beyond limits—"Infinity"! In the same moment, in the same space, he turns the impossible into the possible, turning what was originally a single slash into three slashes, making it impossible for anyone to dodge or defend against.

A miracle, like True Magic.

"You're very talented in swordsmanship, but can you learn this move?" Kojiro stopped and assumed a fighting stance.

The moonlight reflected off the long nodachi, meandering slowly from the tip to near the hilt, a moment that felt like a death sentence.

It struck Okada Izou's body.

Black mud emerged from the man's body, instantly repairing his knife wound, and he slashed at Kojiro's waist again. If this strike landed, he would likely be cut in half at the waist.

"Hmph!" Kojiro, with his rich combat experience, forcefully sheathed his sword and narrowly blocked Okada Izou's fatal blow at a precise angle. Then, he turned the blade and slashed at his enemy's body again.

Swallow Counter's injuries were not so easily healed; the original wound was cut open again.

Okada Izou's body split open into three fissures, spurting out Black Mud and a large amount of blood, before collapsing to the ground.

"Pfft... I still lost..." Okada Izou smiled contentedly and stopped breathing.

Kojiro won, but he did not come without paying a price.

It was during that perilous moment, when he blocked the attack, that Kojiro's sword suffered a chipped edge due to a momentary lapse in defense. However, the situation was urgent, and there was no time to pick it up and repair it.

Samurai swords are inherently thin and sharp, their advantage lying in their dexterity and speed. They are not suitable for excessive collisions, so if used carelessly, they can easily break or develop nicks. This is especially true for longer blades.

Therefore, when samurai dueled, they mostly used shorter Uchigatana and tachi, rather than long but inflexible nodachi.

Meanwhile, on the back mountain, Shirou charged forward as a distraction, while Kojiro kept a close eye on Orochi, gripping his sword hilt tightly, ready to deliver a decisive blow at any moment.

Meanwhile, on the other side, at the breached village gate, Okita Souji, relying on his footwork, approached the Demon Nobunaga and became entangled in a fierce battle. He was too busy to help himself and had no way to stop the mountain bandits rushing in.

"Hahaha! My minions! Charge in! Your food and wealth are inside!" Demon Nobunaga laughed loudly, shoving Okita Souji aside with his sword, while the turret behind him fired projectiles.

"Ahhh! Money! Food!" Driven by their instinctive desires, the demon bandits charged forward, swords in hand.

Everything was in chaos; the village, now under attack, was suddenly flooded with bandits.

"Ahhh!" In a large house near the center of the village, women, children, and the elderly from dozens of households gathered. They screamed in panic at the sight.

At this moment, bandits who had sensed the presence of these women grinned and raised their knives, closing in on them.