A Troublesome Bug

"Tch~ I was worried this place would collapse, so I wasn't attacking at full strength."

When Uchiha Madara saw his broken blade, he didn't address the bugs first. Instead, he claimed he hadn't been using his full strength.

"Right, right. This place was holding you back."

Tao Yu continued refining the seal and brushed him off.

Tao Yu had usually spoken politely to Uchiha Madara, but now that he didn't have time to humor him, Madara got a taste of the Hunter's foul mouth.

Still, Tao Yu had just tested the waters and shown some of his strength. He'd managed to make up for the difference through sheer power.

Madara didn't know what to say.

"If you have time, check on the injured. This one seems to have been infected. See if there's any hope for him."

Tao Yu could tell how troublesome the bugs were, even after they scattered.

A single bug wasn't very strong. It seemed to have put all its points into survival; Tao Yu felt he had to exert some force just to crush one. That was how they'd managed to crawl onto Madara's blade.

But now there were at least tens of thousands of them, and Tao Yu knew some had surely escaped. For the moment, all he could do was capture as many as possible, then see if Dream Divination could reveal anything.

"What are these things? A hive mind? It feels like they can rearrange themselves however they want..."

As he sealed them, Tao Yu used his powerful Fist Intent Materialization and his immunity to corruption to barge forcefully into the seal, examining the little bugs one by one.

Every one of them was thick with zombie virus, and it had been consecrated by an evil god.

The strangest thing was that each