The Right Way for a Mage to Fight

"What exactly did you see?"

"Y-Yokai! So many Yokai! They just suddenly appeared, all over the mountain..."

"Did this all happen today? When exactly did they appear? Did you notice any warning signs beforehand?"

"Yokai! So, so many Yokai... And snakes! Huge snakes!"

"So you just fled down the mountain? What about the others up there? How are they?"

"I-I don't know. There were so many Yokai, we couldn't do anything. They just suddenly appeared in the mountains..."

Looking at the soldier before him, who seemed badly frightened, pale-faced, stammering, and trembling all over, Gu Mo finally could not help twitching his lips. He waved a hand and gave a helpless order through his headache—

"Take him away and let him rest properly. He's probably scared out of his wits."

This man had been the first to flee down the mountain and report that Yokai had run rampant in Viper's Divine Realm. He had originally been a soldier guarding Saito Dosan's residence, but he now looked utterly distraught. Gu Mo had hoped to get some useful intelligence out of him.

After all, he did not believe those things had grown out of the ground. Even if Yokai had been drawn here by the spirit stones, there should have been some warning signs beforehand. Nothing had gone wrong for so long, and Saito Dosan had not only just begun collecting spirit stones.

Since there had been no problems in the past, that meant the viper's secrecy measures had been quite effective. Yet such a change had suddenly occurred recently... Well, even if he blamed it on the butterfly effect he had brought about, that explanation was far too vague.

If he had to trace the exact cause, Gu Mo was more inclined to suspect that some other change had recently occurred on the mountain. Or perhaps, like in those formulaic movies, everything had been fine until someone recently broke a taboo.

However, the result of the questioning was plain to see.

Who knew whether the soldier had truly been frightened that badly or not? In any case, he had only repeated the same things over and over... To sum it up—Yokai had indeed appeared, and he only knew that Yokai were causing trouble on the mountain. As for what exactly had happened, how many Yokai there were, and how the others on the mountain were doing...

Emmmm, he knew none of it.

That was the situation. As for what kind of situation it specifically was, they still had to assess the situation.

"Lord Gu Mo, what should we do now... Should we immediately gather men and go up the mountain to take a look?" Tokichiro watched as the distraught soldier was led away, then spoke in a worried whisper, seeking Gu Mo's opinion.

Because Gu Mo insisted on it, and because Monkey wanted to build rapport and get closer to him, he had taken the opportunity to address him intimately in everyday life. But that was only in name; he never neglected the proper etiquette or distance. Especially in front of others like this, he would consciously correct even his form of address.

It was fine to build connections in ordinary times, but he could not overdo it. Even if the other party truly did not mind, there would still be those with ulterior motives who grew jealous and launched attacks... Tokichiro had plenty of experience with that. He had suffered because of it before.

After all, he had not been a spirit stone merchant from birth and only entered service today. In his earlier years, he had already wandered through places such as Owari Province, Mikawa Province, and Suruga Province as a ronin seeking a warrior's post. Later, he successfully entered the service of Matsushita Kahei in Totomi Province.

He had been a clever man by nature, diligent in his work and proactively competitive, so he had naturally caught his lord's eye and become highly valued. Kahei liked this clever Monkey and had been willing to promote him... But his lord's favor could not withstand the jealousy of those with ulterior motives—

Though Kahei had protected him time and again, when more and more retainers began slandering, defaming, and maligning him, Kahei had been forced by pressure to give him up.

When Monkey was dismissed, he had not even known what had happened. It was only through Kahei's kind yet helpless explanation that he came to understand. To this day, he remained deeply grateful for Kahei's repeated protection and support, and he had also learned from the experience, becoming more worldly and tactful in certain respects.

"This... There's no rush."

Gu Mo raised his head and glanced at the sky. Perhaps because the setting sun had already sunk behind the western mountains for the most part, the heavens were gradually darkening. This was the final moment of dusk, the moment before nightfall. Before long, it would be completely dark.

"It's already late today. Traveling at night is unsafe enough, let alone entering the mountains to investigate. We'll set out tomorrow morning."

Tokichiro opened his mouth, then nodded with a bitter expression.

Though he was anxious, Gu Mo's reasoning made sense. Yokai would not be afraid simply because there were more people; they would only grow excited at having more prey. They were clearly not mindless beasts, yet in some respects they were even more terrifying than beasts that acted according to instinct and experience.

On the human side, night battles were no advantageous home ground. Even in broad daylight, inexperienced soldiers would panic when facing Yokai, much less at night, when visibility was limited and the battlefield would be the tangled terrain of the deep mountains.

Unless they could gather a great army and sweep through the mountain, sending a slightly smaller force up there overnight would not solve the problem. It would only deliver a midnight snack to the Yokai...

"Make the preparations first. We'll set out at dawn tomorrow." Gu Mo sighed. A new scenario was about to begin, but his abilities did not seem to have grown enough.

Compared with the end of the Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village scenario, how much had he grown now?

—His Strength attribute had increased by one point...

—He had gained a Guardian Spirit that was like an imaginary friend...

—He had firmly mastered the talisman skills of two Onmyoji Magic techniques, had some other skills still in training with insufficient proficiency, and had also developed a certain understanding of basic swordsmanship...

Well, that seemed to be it. After racking his brains, Gu Mo suddenly felt worried. This degree of growth did not seem nearly enough. He pondered it anxiously for a while longer, then turned and walked into the house, leaving Tokichiro and the local officials who had already been serving in Sagiyama Castle and assisting with its administration.

They all looked deeply worried. Their brows were tightly furrowed, and their faces had unconsciously crumpled into bitter expressions. After all, this disaster had come out of nowhere.

The next morning.

The sun rose as usual.

Not long after the morning sun climbed over the horizon, a force that had long been ready set out from the city and headed straight into the mountains. They were not especially numerous, but all of them were experienced elites, without a single raw recruit among them. They had also equipped themselves with everything they could.

Armor, matchlock guns, and so on. Of course, matchlock guns were not cannons; that was simply what this Sengoku Period called matchlock firearms.

Gu Mo was unfamiliar with Sengoku history and did not know whether this was due to some divergence in this world, but firearms of this kind had indeed begun to spread at this time. After looking into it a little, he found that the forces under the various Daimyo all possessed such equipment, only in differing quantities.

Though there were still many shortcomings from a later generation's perspective, they were already quite rare for this era. He had no intention of letting such fine military equipment gather dust in a warehouse, so he put it straight to use...

If they would not use them when going up the mountain to fight Yokai, then when would they? These were not things to buy, hoard, and wait to appreciate in value.

Riding on horseback, Gu Mo studied the crudely made matchlock gun in his hands as he traveled, then finally shook his head. Using this thing did not quite suit his ideas. It was more advantageous when issued to soldiers in sufficient numbers, but in a non-battlefield skirmish, using it alone against an enemy was rather unwise.

The operation was somewhat complicated, and reloading was far too slow...

It felt inferior to using a bow...

He glanced at the black-haired girl beside him and saw the longbow on Hidechiyo's back. Gu Mo let out a breath and lowered the matchlock gun. Sure enough, game mechanics could not be equated with reality. In a game, even if he could not fire in a sustained burst, he could still shoot once per second.

It was as if pulling the trigger would fire immediately. As long as he had ammunition left, there was no need for reloading or complicated handling. That was why firearms and cannons had practical combat value.

But in reality, it was not that easy.

After marching for a while, the group reached the mountainside. Ahead of them stood a camp shrouded in mist. It was the barracks of the soldiers who had originally guarded the mountain, positioned at a dangerous point on the mountainside to block the road upward.

Beyond the camp, they could vaguely see a complex of buildings built against the mountain, magnificent and exquisite, with upturned eaves layered one upon another as though ready to take flight.

Constructing such an extravagant residence on a rocky mountain, and doing so over two or three years, had a rather wasteful feel to it... But after thinking about what that old man had been doing, Gu Mo found it understandable. Without such a massive project as a public cover, the act of hiding a great number of spirit stones here would likely have been exposed long ago.

"This is the place. Kill them!"

In the dark camp wreathed in mist, Gu Mo saw outlines that clearly did not belong to humans. He also spotted several familiar figures. Turning back to look at the Matchlock Ashigaru behind him, he found that some wore grave expressions and others seemed nervous, but none were frightened into panic.

They had all faced Yokai before and had experience. As his thoughts turned, he immediately gave the order.

The Matchlock Ashigaru behind him rapidly moved forward, then raised their matchlock guns in unison at the front. The tactic was simple: first, unleash a volley to inflict as many casualties as possible, then judge by the distance between both sides whether there was time to reload and fire a second volley. If there was, so much the better. If not, they would meet the enemy with cold weapons.

Bang! Bang, bang!

A burst of dense gunfire, like firecrackers, crackled through the empty mountains and echoed away, followed by the thick smell of gunpowder smoke.

Miserable, furious howls rang out. In that strange mist-shrouded camp ahead, the Yokai that had seemed to be aimlessly wandering about were instantly hit hard. As low-level cannon fodder and minor fodder, they were not invulnerable. Bows, arrows, and blades could wound them, much less firearm bullets.

Quite a few of them had only just sensed the presence of living people and turned their heads when a barrage of crackling shots sent them falling in droves.

However, most of those struck were minor monsters like Hungry Ghosts. Only one or two ordinary Yokai had fallen, while the rest were either uninjured or only lightly wounded. They were thoroughly enraged.

With savage faces and blood-red eyes, the Yokai all turned and roared as they charged down the mountain path outside the camp!

The massed soldiers swiftly lowered their matchlock guns and drew their cold weapons, preparing to meet the charge... But one figure was faster than them.

Hidechiyo drew her sword and, light as a Swallow, flew over the line of soldiers formed across the mountain path. She landed at the very front and cut down the head of the Yokai charging fastest and most eagerly with a single stroke. Perhaps her blade had been too swift and fierce, because the headless, burly body continued charging for more than ten steps on sheer momentum before toppling over!

—Blood gushed from its neck like a fountain, staining the surrounding ground red.

Using the momentum of her swing, the girl had no intention of withdrawing her blade. Instead, she spun forward with the motion, and the gleaming edge traced a wide arc in a sweeping slash, neatly dividing two Lesser Hungry Ghosts that pounced toward her into two parts. Clean and decisive.

A Greater Hungry Ghost, larger than a human, with a grotesquely oversized head that looked capable of swallowing a person whole, let out a shrill cry. But just as it leaped forward, a fist-sized fireball whistled through the air in a spiral of interwoven flame and struck it squarely.

The Greater Hungry Ghost that was knocked down screamed and rolled across the ground, its body catching fire. Though the remaining flames quickly went out after only a breath or two, half its body had been charred black. The spot hit by the fireball smoked with heat, its skin and exposed flesh transformed into a scorched mess of black and crimson!

In Gu Mo's sight, he could clearly see the Health Bar above the Greater Hungry Ghost's head. Nearly half of it had been blasted away at once.

He frowned almost imperceptibly, and another talisman paper covered in mysterious patterns appeared in his hand. With a flick of his wrist, the supposedly light and weightless paper immediately ignited after leaving his hand, turning into another fist-sized fireball identical to the last!

Boom!

It struck the Greater Hungry Ghost's head again, completely removing the other half of its Health Bar.

Quite a good performance. Compared to when he had needed to struggle desperately even against Lesser Hungry Ghosts, Gu Mo now seemed much more relaxed. Yet his face was full of helplessness.

He knew his own situation best. Last night, he had intensified his training and maxed out the scant remaining proficiency of his Fire Bullet Talisman, truly mastering the Skill. In use, it seemed like the fireball spell indispensable to any ordinary mage class, just with an Eastern style.

Yet it took two Fire Bullet Talismans to kill a Greater Hungry Ghost, and that was with the fire-element damage bonus from his Guardian Spirit...

Moreover, he had yet to master a special power such as spiritual energy, so he could not directly shoot out fire bullets. He could only expend stamina and mental energy beforehand, combining materials to make Spirit Talismans for use. But the number he could make was always limited.

"I need to increase my spell power... Should I add Intelligence or Spirit? Or perhaps both?"

Thinking this, he simply drew the sword at his waist and slapped a Spirit Talisman onto its blade. A faint, clear radiance suddenly coated the already coldly gleaming edge. It was a sacred power capable of purifying filth; against things of Tokoyo, it was a pure attribute that came with true damage.

The number of directly attacking Fire Bullet Talismans was limited, and their killing power was limited as well. He could not just keep firing them all the way through. He had to conserve them.

Another Greater Hungry Ghost came straight at him. Though its gaping maw was horrifying, and its fierce lunging, clawing, and biting were frightening, perhaps his body had already formed an instinct, or perhaps the muscle memory Minamoto no Raikou had carved into him through pain was taking effect.

He sidestepped and dodged, then slashed upward with his sword as they passed each other!

The blade was fast and fierce. Amid flashes of clear radiance, its sacred power tore through the Yokai Energy and Yokai Power protecting the thing from Tokoyo. The Greater Hungry Ghost was directly split into left and right halves, its guts spilling across the ground.

Glancing back at it, Gu Mo twitched his lips and silently tightened his grip on the sword in his hand.

This was still more useful. Firing away for ages could not compare to drawing his sword, enchanting it, and giving the enemy one vicious slash... Sure enough, this was the right way for a mage to fight! He had figured it out!