"I found you, Obanai!"
The shrill female voice suddenly rose, then moved toward Kurozawa with tremendous commotion, rumbling like thunder.
Kurozawa watched the dense green bamboo being crushed and snapped, feeling the intense tremors beneath his feet. Calmly, he said, "Obanai, run down this pebble path. You'll only get in my way if you stay here."
Iguro Obanai clenched his teeth and glanced at Kurozawa's tall back before turning and running away. If he could, Iguro Obanai wanted to stay and help Kurozawa, but he knew he lacked even the strength to truss a chicken. Without any power to support him, staying would only burden Kurozawa, so he decisively fled.
"This demon has quite the distinctive look."
After Iguro Obanai had run several dozen meters away, the dust cloud spread around Kurozawa as well, and he finally saw the giant demonic silhouette within it.
Her upper body was that of a seductive, bewitching woman, covered in strange Demon Marks. Her lower half was a serpent's tail covered in blue-purple scales, its armor carrying an icy metallic sheen.
Her body was enormous. Her snake tail alone, as thick as a water barrel, was over eight meters long, while her humanoid upper body stood around two meters tall. Her human half alone was larger than Kurozawa's entire body, and her total length approached more than ten meters.
"Get out of my way!"
The Snake Woman Demon paid no attention to Kurozawa. Her eyes held only the fleeing Iguro Obanai. Casually swinging up her thick, massive tail, she smashed it directly down at Kurozawa from above.
A massive body brought massive strength. The resulting air blast was visible to the naked eye, and Kurozawa felt an immense pressure.
Gust after gust of fierce wind crashed into him head-on.
Total Concentration! His Breathing Technique suddenly operated at full force. Streams of white breath curled around his nose and mouth as the muscles throughout his body began to pulse and tremble, erupting with powerful force from every minute part of him. At this moment, Kurozawa's blood flow accelerated, his heart pumped like a piston, and all aspects of his physical abilities rose dramatically.
If represented by Gray-White's data, all his physical attributes apart from intelligence would probably average around 0.8. The burst of Total Concentration temporarily increased that average by 0.2.
The stronger the user and the more proficient they were with the Breathing Technique, the greater the boost unleashed by Total Concentration.
"The one who should get lost is you!"
Bang! Kurozawa crossed his arms and blocked the descending tail head-on. A dull shockwave spread outward, and the green bamboo caught in the tail's wake snapped apart in swathes.
Compared to the tail over eight meters long, his body was truly tiny. Yet this seemingly small Kurozawa, with strength no less immense than the Snake Woman Demon's, forcibly withstood the attack and stopped the tail from descending another inch.
Crack! At the same time, the ground beneath Kurozawa suddenly split and caved in, swallowing his entire lower legs in an instant.
"You!"
The Snake Woman Demon was both shocked and enraged. She had never expected to be stopped by someone who had appeared out of nowhere. Seeing Iguro Obanai running farther and farther away, she grew anxious. She had raised that exquisite food for fourteen years and waited fourteen years. Now that the time to harvest him had finally come, she could not let him escape no matter what!
At that thought, the Snake Woman Demon's expression turned vicious and cruel. Her beautiful, alluring face abruptly distorted, the corners of her mouth splitting all the way to her ears, revealing rows of sharp fangs glowing with a faint ghostly blue light.
"You damned swordsmen again! Die!"
Her upper body moved as she spread her arms to grab Kurozawa, while her gaping maw viciously bit down at him.
"What fiery passion. Sadly, I can't accept it."
Those faintly blue fangs were clearly loaded with deadly poison. Kurozawa certainly did not dare let that danger-filled snake kiss land on him. It would kill him.
His crossed arms shifted, and Kurozawa wrapped them around the Snake Woman Demon's tail. Then he bared his teeth in a smile at the charging demon.
A man's smile possessed a miraculous power.
Because of his smile, you would fall in love with his lips, his eyes, his brows, and ultimately everything about him—fall in love with him.
Faced with such danger, the charging Snake Woman Demon's body stiffened. Her eyes became unfocused, as though she had been struck by a charm skill. Forgetting the current situation, her attack came to an abrupt halt.
Now that Kurozawa had figured out just how lethal his smile was to female creatures, he no longer regretted spending so many Potential Points that day.
Anything produced by Gray-White was bound to be top quality.
And in the instant the Snake Woman Demon stiffened, Kurozawa's arm muscles suddenly bulged, veins popping as he tightly clutched her tail. Then the veins on his forehead bulged as well, and he shouted, "Up!"
His steel-cast arms suddenly exerted force and spun. Like cracking a whip, his immense strength sent the Snake Woman Demon spinning.
Snake Tornado Devastates the Bamboo Grove!
By the time the Snake Woman Demon came to her senses, Kurozawa had already clamped her by the tail and was spinning her at high speed, smashing down patch after patch of green bamboo. Her unprotected upper body was pierced bloody by broken bamboo, and the dense waves of pain relentlessly assaulted her nerves.
Opening her venomous maw again, the Snake Woman Demon struggled to control her body and turn around to bite Kurozawa. Unfortunately, she was being flung around in dizzying circles. With her body airborne and no point of leverage, she could not break free from the inertia.
Meanwhile, simply spinning her with his hands was no longer enough for Kurozawa, so his own body began to turn as well. He even employed the power-accumulating technique of the sword form Constant Flux. With every rotation, his speed increased further, until he soon seemed to have stirred up a violent ground-level storm.
Centered on Kurozawa, everything within a radius of eight or nine meters had been swept bare, leaving only broken bamboo scattered all around.
After six rotations, a piercing wind filled the bamboo grove. Some Iguro women rushing over from afar stared wide-eyed at the Snake Woman Demon, who had become a spinning afterimage. Not one of them dared approach.
At the center of the storm, Kurozawa's arms had crushed through the scales on the Snake Woman Demon's tail, almost embedding themselves within it. Her mind had become completely blank, and she was utterly dizzy, unable to think.
At this moment, Kurozawa was also feeling somewhat dizzy, and the power he had accumulated was about to spiral out of control. He lowered the angle of the Snake Woman Demon's body, then suddenly released his grip.
Propelled by the massive inertia, the Snake Woman Demon spun sideways through the air and slammed heavily into the ground, producing a quake-like crash. Kurozawa used the opportunity to bleed off the inertia and accumulated force, shaking his dizzy head.
About ten meters in front of him, the surroundings had been devastated beyond recognition. The Snake Woman Demon lay in a massive crater half a meter deep, her bones dislocated and her flesh twisted out of shape. Her injuries were severe enough that she had temporarily lost consciousness.
Though her wounds were healing at a visible rate, it would still take several minutes for her to fully recover. That was already enough time for Kurozawa to kill her ten times over.
Clang! With quite a few Iguro women already approaching from afar, Kurozawa did not want to expose the Pitch-Black Aura. At last, his Nichirin Blade had a chance to prove its worth. That clang somehow sounded like a cry of joyful tears.
Step by step, Kurozawa approached the unconscious Snake Woman Demon and raised his Nichirin Blade.
Just then, a familiar female voice shouted, "Stop! Otherwise, I'll kill him!"
Turning around, he saw Iguro Sayaka holding a dagger to Iguro Obanai's throat. Two other women stood beside her, firmly restraining Iguro Obanai and covering his mouth.
Slash! After only a faint glance, Kurozawa brought his blade down. The Snake Woman Demon was beheaded in a single stroke.
Under Iguro Sayaka's incredulous gaze, Kurozawa lowered his head and wiped the blood from his Nichirin Blade. Without even looking up, he said unhurriedly, "If you want to make a move, go ahead and try."
"One life of his in exchange for your entire clan."
Before you continue