Hidechiyo headed toward the graveyard, her gallant figure, alone with a single blade, striding straight toward the Ox-Headed Monster—a colossal creature as huge as a small mountain, radiating an astonishing aura, its mere presence shrouding everything within several hundred meters in "Perpetual Darkness."
The creature had been searching all around the graveyard, wandering for some unknown reason. The moment the girl approached, it noticed her. Its enormous bovine head snapped around, its crimson eyes flaring with terrifying bloody light as it let out an excited howl!
The next moment, the massive, ponderous beast broke into a charge, dragging its enormous spiked iron club behind it as it barreled toward the girl!
The sheer weight of this monstrosity was terrifying. The combined mass of both the Ox-Headed Monster and its weapon was already unimaginably dreadful, like a locomotive charging at full speed. Its hair-raising momentum even tore up the ground ahead of it, smashing burial mounds and gravestones alike into pieces in an instant!
Yet faced with the horrifying charge of that dreadful beast, the girl, who seemed tiny by comparison, also quickened her pace and met it head-on.
With a howl, the Ox-Head Demon suddenly swung up the enormous spiked iron club it had been dragging behind it. The wind instantly shrieked in misery, but before that sound could last even a moment, it was drowned out by a thunderous crash that shook the earth violently!
Wielded with overwhelming force, the enormous spiked iron club came crashing down!
Amid the gale unleashed by the explosive shockwave, dirt and stone fragments sprayed everywhere. The ground caved in beneath the blow, and enormous cracks spread outward in every direction like lightning. Let alone a human body—even a main battle tank would have been reduced to unrecognizable scrap in an instant.
But in the very next second, a flash of cold light burst forth from the violent impact, effortlessly slicing through the gale.
The domineering, dazzling slash traced a perfect, deadly arc. Time seemed to freeze in that instant. Against a backdrop of solidified space, the black-haired girl appeared behind the Ox-Head Demon, holding a breathtakingly beautiful posture as she elegantly and precisely swung her blade forward—
Somehow, she had slipped past that ferocious blow and launched her own attack at the same time!
The gale was shredded by the blade's light. Though no blood splashed forth, a crisp sound like shattering glass rang out, followed by countless crystalline golden specks erupting into the air, their radiant essence reflecting glimmers of jade-like brilliance!
"Roar—!!"
The miserable howl shook heaven and earth. The Ox-Headed Monster, which had seemed invincible just moments ago, appeared to lose all strength supporting its body. It crumpled limply to the ground. Forget lifting its heavy weapon—even its thick arms and head drooped weakly at once.
The Perpetual Darkness field enveloping the surroundings vanished.
On the Ox-Head Demon's head, the pair of crystalline yellow-jade horns that rose toward the sky, seemingly containing some flowing essence, had dimmed just like its red eyes. Only the roots of the horns remained.
—Because both horns had been severed at the base and shredded by that previous slash!
Having lived alone and made a profession out of slaying yokai, Axiu knew very well that for most yokai and ghosts, Demon Horns were a weakness... though that was only relative. For an Ox-Head Demon like this one, its horns were also its most powerful and deadly weapons.
So if Demon Horns themselves were fragile and easily damaged, how could they possibly be used as weapons?
It was precisely because Demon Horns were so hard that they seemed impossible to destroy that they became the Ox-Head Demon's strongest weapons. Thus, even though most people knew that shattering those horns would defeat this terrifying yokai, they still could not do it. Another useless piece of trivia had been added to the pile.
But Axiu was not among them. She was no ordinary person.
Turning around, she flicked her blade as though out of habit, shaking off nonexistent dirty blood from its edge, then strode briskly toward the Ox-Head Demon.
"Roar!"
Perhaps sensing the threat to its life, the badly wounded Ox-Head Demon still struggled and roared wildly. It forcibly pushed itself up, seemingly preparing for one last desperate counterattack.
Watching everything unfold from afar as the brief yet seemingly perilous clash came to an end, Gu Mo could not help revealing a look of admiration.
So strong—and so cool!
Although he had known the girl would definitely be fine, her effortless, flowing performance still stunned him somewhat. That beauty, that precision, that unruffled composure—after a single exchange, she had suffered no injury at all while her enemy was practically half dead.
He let out a soft breath and felt completely relieved. This Dungeon no longer seemed to pose any problem. In only a short time, the situation had completely reversed from before.
Just a few minutes earlier, Gu Mo had been the weak, pitiful, helpless one. In the entire scene, aside from the corpses, he might have been the weakest one there. No matter what, there was no way he could clear this scenario using his own strength—if clearing it truly required killing monsters.
He had died so many times even in the game. He was just an ordinary person; how could he possibly be confident that he could clear it in one life when reenacting it for real?
The most likely outcome would have been that he knew nothing, muddled through things, and ended the Dungeon by the second method without even understanding how he had died.
But a few minutes later, after his cling-to-a-powerhouse strategy had succeeded, this little Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village suddenly became utterly uneventful. There was no suspense at all; it felt as relaxed as coming here for a vacation... Still, although being carried by a big shot was indeed so dull and boring, Gu Mo could not comfortably resign himself to being dead weight.
He did not deny that he was currently a freeloader. Otherwise, he would not have wanted to borrow a tiger's might and use his information advantage to lightly set Hidechiyo up. It was not out of ill intent; he simply knew his current position. Without clinging to a powerful thigh, he could not take a single step forward.
But—
Not denying that he was currently a freeloader did not mean he wanted to remain one forever.
After all, he knew very well that things could not continue like this. There would inevitably be other Dungeons in the future, and he could not guarantee that he would always happen to encounter someone as easy to talk to as Hidechiyo... Ahem, someone who did not talk but was still incredibly reliable. What would he do then? Would he not still have to rely on himself?
Of course, one could say that there would be no problem as long as he did not participate in those Dungeons. But not only had the prompt before entering a Dungeon now disappeared, meaning he might enter a new scenario by accident, Gu Mo himself was unwilling to give up such an extraordinary opportunity.
He did not currently possess any particularly grand ambitions. He merely wanted to see more different sights.
So—
He turned his gaze once more toward a ruined, burning house ahead. In front of its door was a small monster frantically feeding. It was so absorbed that even the huge commotion from the graveyard had failed to disturb it or draw its attention.
"I should be able to handle a Lesser Hungry Ghost..."
He muttered to himself, encouraging himself in this way. No longer paying attention to the battle at the graveyard, Gu Mo, knowing the girl would have no trouble wrapping things up, slowly crept forward on tiptoe. Throughout the process, he made his footsteps as light as possible while keeping his eyes and ears open, his nerves stretched to their limit.
Because the game had left too deep an impression on him.
Malice was everywhere. Whether it was an Item Light Spot clearly visible at a glance or a monster equally visible at a glance, either could very well be there simply to draw his attention. What he saw was only what he had been allowed to see, intended to distract him.
And it was not only this game. Similar games all had this kind of design, and he had indeed learned too many painful lessons from it—
Seeing an Item Light Spot at the edge of a high place, he would eagerly go over and pick it up, only to find an "About to Vanish Soul." Just as he was disappointed that it was trash, a small monster would suddenly rush out from behind and shove him off...
Yes, it really was about to vanish.
Of course, it was not talking about the item.
After looking carefully again and again and confirming that the Lesser Hungry Ghost ahead truly was a lone monster, Gu Mo finally relaxed slightly. By then, he had already approached within a short distance of it. Slowly holding his breath, he crouched down and grasped a somewhat rusty short blade lying on the ground.
He had noticed it earlier, which was why he had made his way over here. Otherwise, he would have had to find a weapon somewhere else before making a move.
There had probably been a brief battle here as well. Large splatters of blood covered the ground, though they had long since congealed.
There had probably been more than one or two corpses at first, but judging from the drag marks on the ground, something had likely hauled them away. Only one especially mangled, bloody corpse remained lying there alone, being frantically gnawed on by the Hungry Ghost with its grotesquely oversized head, like a giant-headed monster infant.
This weapon was probably also left behind from that brief battle.
Gu Mo quickly examined it. The short blade was forged entirely from black iron, but its quality was worrying. Its edge was somewhat dull and covered in chips and cracks, with traces of foul-smelling black blood congealed upon it... Even in his field of vision, there were only simple interaction options: "Press F Key to Pick Up," "Press F Key to Equip," and the like.
Beyond that, there was no further information. It seemed this sort of low-grade equipment did not even count as system-recognized gear, so there was no separate appraisal panel displaying additional equipment attributes.
But after looking around, this was already the only usable weapon Gu Mo could find nearby... So the real world truly was not a game. It was not as if every random mook, roadside corpse, or even accidentally breaking a pile of stones would make a divine artifact drop.
Since he had already been mentally prepared for that, he was not disappointed. Or rather, would it not have been absurd to expect otherwise?
Slowly drawing in a breath, Gu Mo tightened his grip on the short blade's hilt and fixed his gaze on the Lesser Hungry Ghost ahead, his Mental Power focusing to the utmost.
At first glance, it resembled a human child, except it wore no clothing, its naked skin a deathly gray, and its head abnormally large...
Hungry Ghosts were deceased souls who had fallen into the Hungry Ghost Realm because of their actions in life, a posthumous world tormented by hunger and thirst. Thus, they were forever in a state of extreme starvation. Any ordinary food they consumed would spontaneously combust and vanish in their throats, unable to ease even the slightest bit of hunger in their bellies.
Under such endless torment, Hungry Ghosts naturally had no capacity for thought. The more they failed to sate themselves, the more desperately they ate, even devouring their own kind... They went mad trying to satisfy their hunger and thirst, only to be driven mad by the eternal hunger that could never be satisfied. Thus, the vicious cycle continued.
That was why the battle and commotion in the distance had not attracted its attention. It merely desperately devoured the corpse within reach before it. To divert its attention, the corpse would have to be gnawed clean—or... fresher flesh and blood would have to appear nearby.
Just like now, the Lesser Hungry Ghost, which had been frantically chewing the corpse, suddenly stopped its head-shaking, flesh-tearing motions. It smelled the vibrant scent of a living person—
Crack!
A fierce kick shot out with explosive force. Gu Mo's toe struck the Lesser Hungry Ghost as it turned around, hitting directly into its swollen, bulging belly that glimmered with pale yellow essence light—the Hungry Ghost's weakness as he remembered it!
"Waa!"
With a shriek like a child's cry, the Lesser Hungry Ghost was kicked into a backward roll by Gu Mo's unrestrained ambush. Yet its viciousness immediately showed itself. It was about to spring up and pounce, opening a gaping maw large enough to swallow a human head as it prepared to let out a—
It did not get the chance to scream. A rusty short blade viciously stabbed into its mouth like lightning!
Driven by the full strength of his veins-bulging arm, although the blade was not particularly sharp, it still pierced straight through its throat via its relatively vulnerable open mouth, emerging from the back of the Lesser Hungry Ghost's head and pinning its skull to the ground!
It did not die immediately. Instead, it struggled even more fiercely, its strength becoming even more terrifying. But Gu Mo did not end his ambush. The moment he knocked it to the ground and drove the blade through its throat to nail it down, he rose and lifted his foot, then stomped down with the fiercest explosive force and speed, putting every ounce of strength he had into it!!
With a muffled bang, like stepping on an overripe watermelon, the Lesser Hungry Ghost's belly burst apart!
Black filthy blood splattered everywhere, carrying a foul stench.
Gu Mo did not stop, because his nerves had already issued the command. His body faithfully carried out the thought his mind had formed beforehand, stomping with all his strength several times in a row. Only when the soles of his feet were jolted from pain into numbness, until he could no longer feel them, did he stop, panting.
He had no experience and did not know whether he could succeed, so he could not remain calm or hold anything back. From the beginning, he had gone all out to kill this Lesser Hungry Ghost.
Several seconds later, he finally recovered his senses. Looking at the disgusting monster lying dead on the ground, his brain slowly regained its ability to think.
That had been somewhat dangerous just now. While he had still been some distance away, the thing had noticed him and turned around. At that moment, he had not even had time to think—his body reacted faster than his mind. Rather than freezing in fright, he had fiercely lunged forward.
Everything after that had been entirely instinctive and had not unfolded as he imagined. For example, the weapon had not ultimately been used to cut open the Hungry Ghost's belly, only serving as a convenient means of restraint...
Not ideal, but relatively smooth.
Overall, it had gone fairly well.
After catching his breath, Gu Mo revealed a gratified smile. This was the first small monster he had killed, and it was also his starting point. At that moment, he suddenly felt full of confidence in the future.
But immediately afterward, his expression stiffened slightly. Not far away, the black-haired girl had appeared at some unknown point. She was looking at him with an oddly subtle gaze, as if his painstaking killing of a single Lesser Hungry Ghost were some incredible achievement.
—Behind her, in the distant graveyard, the enormous Ox-Headed Monster lay collapsed like a mountain, its corpse long since silent.
—Forming a stark contrast with the little monster's corpse beneath his feet.
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