Viper's Divine Realm

Focusing his attention on that bamboo tube container, Gu Mo was fairly familiar with this item. In the early stages of a new playthrough, he'd relied on it heavily, chugging it like water—gulping down a tube before facing a boss, and gulping down another whenever an unfamiliar new monster appeared.

Without it, he simply lacked the confidence to step forward.

Of course, by the late game, this thing no longer appeared in his item bar. From not having enough at the start, to later not knowing how many had piled up in storage. It wasn't that the item had become useless; it just fit the role of an early-game tool perfectly.

He carefully read the system's notes and confirmed that this item's function was largely the same as what he remembered. Though differences did exist, they seemed to be enhancements. It wasn't limited to the single purpose of restoring stamina—it had some additional effects.

"Sacred Water."

"Origin: Any shrine or sacred ground."

"Quality: Common."

"Effect 1: After drinking, temporarily increases stamina recovery speed to a certain degree."

"Effect 2: After drinking, temporarily removes or alleviates most minor abnormal statuses, slightly restoring Health and Mental Power."

"Additional Effect: Can be used as a special material for ritual purposes (specifics to be explored by the user)."

"Note: Water that flows from the divine realm, said to be especially efficacious. It is said to have been used in rituals since ancient times, drunk when swearing oaths before the gods."

Something like that.

Simply put, it could speed up stamina recovery and also restore a bit of HP and MP. What caught his attention was the wording—"slightly." Just how slight was slight? Maybe the kind of token amount that barely made a difference, like a few +1 or +2 numbers floating above your head before vanishing?

And that "temporarily"—he wasn't sure how long it lasted either.

In the game, he remembered it being a buff that lasted less than a minute, fading after a few uses. But... he glanced at the tachi held loosely in his right hand. A faint, hazy glow still clung to its blade. He'd slapped a Purification Binding Talisman on it earlier, and the enchantment buff was still there, the glow not dimmed much.

Because of this purifying power that exorcised the Tokoyo, yokai blood couldn't even cling to the blade. After a whole battle, it was as clean as if it had never been used.

After mastering the Purification Binding Talisman and the Fire Summoning Talisman earlier, Gu Mo had already run some quick tests and even consulted Abe no Seimei. The result was that, compared to the game's buff lasting less than a minute, it was completely different. Direct use was hard to gauge—it depended on the situation—but when applied as a weapon enchantment... it could last nearly half an hour.

Of course, that was the maximum duration—just slapping the talisman on and leaving it unused, seeing how long it naturally held.

If used in actual combat, each time he cut down a yokai or exorcised the Tokoyo's power, a sliver of that divine force dwelling in the weapon would be consumed, so the duration would naturally drop. Still, even if yokai lined up for him to mechanically hack away, it wouldn't fail to last even a minute.

Well, once he popped a few more of the same items later, he could test it out. This still required his own experimentation.

Schooling his expression, Gu Mo turned his gaze to Tokichiro, who had moved closer and looked like he had something to say but was hesitating. Gu Mo asked, "Found something, Monkey?"

"Well..." Tokichiro hesitated. "Lord Gu Mo, I just took a look around here. It seems there isn't a single human corpse. It's like everyone had already fled this barracks before the yokai took it over."

"I see..." Gu Mo blinked, then nodded with a smile. "That seems like a good thing, at least. Everyone got away."

"Yeah, maybe they're all hiding in the mansion up on the mountain..." Tokichiro watched the other's expression, then put on a simple, honest grin and scratched the back of his head. It seemed the other had already noticed, so a single reminder was enough.

He himself felt something was off about what had happened on this mountain. Now he was even starting to suspect that the group guarding the mountain had stolen from their own post and planned to use the yokai to cover their tracks.

The black-haired girl beside them tilted her head curiously, looking between the two.

Just then, the soldiers who had spread out to sweep the battlefield began returning from various directions one after another. No incidents had occurred, and nothing unusual had been found.

Gu Mo didn't delay and immediately ordered the advance to continue.

The mountain path ahead, because it led to Saito Dosan's residence, had been well-maintained—wide and level, even suitable for riding horses. But since they didn't know what lay ahead, they chose to proceed on foot, leading the group of Matchlock Ashigaru behind them.

To be honest, this scenario run was far better than the last one at Thirteen Cherry Blossom Village, both in difficulty and personal experience...

Gu Mo looked at the black-haired girl beside him, then at Tokichiro on the other side, who was warily scanning their surroundings. The golden Divine Ape at his side had shed its aloof demeanor and was now darting alertly around Tokichiro, taking on the role of a guard.

Behind him trailed a large, motley crowd of Matchlock Ashigaru, matchlock guns slung across their backs, clad in fine armor, wielding the best weapons. Though their movements weren't perfectly coordinated, the clatter of footsteps, the rustle of armor plates rubbing together—these somewhat chaotic sounds surged up the mountain path behind them.

Clank, clank...

Rattle, rattle...

—The sense of security this gave was unparalleled.

There was strength in numbers. With so many people moving together, all fully armed, even the soldiers' faces showed no sign of panic or fear. Instead, they were spirited. The first skirmish had done a good job of boosting their morale.

Though above the halfway point, strange mists already coiled around them. Walking along the mountain path, the dense trees on either side cast flickering shadows, and anything farther away was indistinct and unclear, only a vague silhouette. Yet no one felt particularly afraid.

Because right next to them was a crowd of people. Subconsciously, they felt nothing could go wrong. If something did happen, it wouldn't be their luck that ran out. And even if it was, someone nearby would surely have their back...

That was probably the general mindset.

Gu Mo himself felt the experience was top-notch. Compared to soloing a new area alone, having to map everything out himself, treading carefully and nervously facing all kinds of dangers and threats, this feeling was the polar opposite—absolutely exhilarating.

It was like a horror game. Playing it alone was terrifying, but if you had a group of friends to co-op with, it instantly turned into a comedy, and you wouldn't be scared at all.

Next, they pushed straight up the mountain path.

As expected, countless yokai lurked hidden in the mist. They had been aimlessly wandering the mountain, but any living person who entered the mist naturally became their target.

Unfortunately for them, they'd hit a wall of iron. This squad was not only large in number but also well-equipped and relatively well-trained. On top of that, there were heavy hitters in the group carrying the whole team. So the yokai that swarmed in didn't get a taste of fresh flesh and blood—instead, every single one of them became a soul under gunfire and blades.

They turned into someone's experience points and dropped a few items here and there.

Mostly things that were barely useful, useless for now, and probably useless later. But he collected them all anyway. A player's middle name was "pack rat," and as a qualified pack rat, you hoarded everything—useful or not.

Still, not everything was filler. A few decent items had dropped.

Before reaching the mountaintop, another battlefield had already concluded shortly after the fighting began. Gu Mo cleaved down the head of a Lesser Hungry Ghost before him; the corpse toppled to the ground, reeking of stench and spilling filthy blood, but no light coalesced into an Item Light Spot, prompting him to pinch his nose with a look of disdain and turn away.

The faint, hazy glow flowing along his blade had dimmed over the course of the journey's battles and consumption, now nearly invisible with time.

Of course, a single talisman enchantment lasting this long had already paid for itself—the cost-effectiveness was truly worth it—so Gu Mo didn't hesitate to slap on another Purification Binding Talisman, renewing the enchantment buff's duration.

As one of the Onmyoji Magic talisman skills he'd first learned, he'd stockpiled quite a few of these talismans during this period, totaling nearly twenty. As derivative products crafted from a system-recognized skill, these items could be stored in the inventory for easy carrying, so there was no need to be stingy now.

He swept his gaze around and found another scene of corpses strewn across the field, with Yokai bodies lying haphazardly all over the mountain path.

Some had been riddled like sieves by gunfire, others had their heads lopped off, and still more were pinned to trees with several spears thrust through their bodies...

All the way down, not only had Gu Mo grown more adept at slashing lesser demons, but the others had as well. The soldiers' coordination had become seamless; as long as the waves of Yokai weren't overwhelming in number, the encounters quickly devolved into efficient assembly-line slaughter.

Of course, the main reason was the black-haired girl's incredible performance—the most troublesome and vicious enemies were always dealt with by her first, and even if something unexpected cropped up with the rest, she could handle it.

Silently giving Hidechiyo a thumbs-up, Gu Mo looked up toward the top. A bit further up the mountain path, it ended at a magnificent complex of buildings—Saito Dosan's residence built deep in Mino's mountains. Though visible from halfway up the slope, reaching it still took some time.

"This is the place, Lord Gu Mo..." Monkey said breathlessly beside him. He'd worked hard along the way, but his stamina had taken a heavy toll. Climbing a mountain in full armor and weaponry was no easy feat, let alone fighting all the way—any normal person would be exhausted.

"This is Lord Dosan's residence, but I've never been here before, so I can't say what the situation is like up above."

Saito Dosan's mountain residence was built against a steep, rocky cliff face. Gu Mo knew very well that the mansion was actually constructed to seal off the entrance to the rock face, because the mountain's interior was hollow, containing a vast natural cavern space.

Though no one had ever seen its depths, nor knew what the mansion was built to conceal, it still sparked wild imagination. At some point, it came to be called the "Viper's Divine Realm."

Gu Mo's impression of the place was the same—snakes everywhere. Those monsters called Nurarihyon, with the upper body of a woman, long hair trailing to the ground, bodies drenched, and lower bodies of a serpent's tail, were all over the place. One wrong move and they'd suddenly drop from above, coil tightly around a person, then open their gaping maws to bite off heads.

The final boss was also a giant serpent yokai...

Shaking off his thoughts, he glanced at Monkey's expression, then looked around. Seeing that the soldiers were all thoroughly exhausted, he decisively gave the order: "Let's head up first, find a place to rest. Everyone must be tired..."

To be honest, he felt a bit tired himself. Only Hidechiyo seemed completely unfazed.

The black-haired girl wasn't even flushed or out of breath, nor had she broken a sweat. She looked exactly as she had when they set out that morning—her long black hair fluttering in the wind, fresh and clean.

The group moved out again, and Gu Mo walked while tallying his gains. This stretch was just the appetizer; the real trouble of this scene lay ahead. He naturally needed to prepare for battle, knowing what cards he held and when to play them.

Useful items first: "Sacred Water" had increased to four, "Gunpowder Bomb" to three, and one rare-quality "Spider Lily," said to be something Yokai brought from the Tokoyo into the human world—a plant that truly grew in the land of the afterlife.

It could be used as medicine through special secret arts, but if ingested directly, it was lethal poison to humans, though it could replenish Yokai Power for monsters. So it might be worth giving to Axiu...

On top of that, an "Arrow Protection Talisman" had dropped, which was a bit of a lucky break—

According to the description, it was a lower-tier substitute for the Wind Repelling Talisman. Using it granted a temporary blessing of arrow evasion, negating damage from ranged attacks like arrows or bullets. Though it couldn't reflect projectiles, it was still pretty good. Gu Mo studied it for a moment, feeling reluctant to use it.

Until he could craft this kind of talisman himself or master the Wind Repelling Talisman, this item was actually more valuable than it seemed. While it might not have stood out in a game, if he ever entered a Dungeon World involving modern warfare or gunfights, it would be incredibly useful.

Lost in thought, he finished the last stretch of mountain path and arrived at the grand mansion's main gate.

The gate stood wide open, revealing a scene of utter chaos inside.

The moment he stepped through, the world drained of color, the surrounding space shifting to a near-monochrome palette. That not-unfamiliar heaviness spread through his entire body.

Perpetual Darkness!

It meant a powerful Yokai was lurking ahead!

(Third on the recommended list, huh. Well, I want to thank my editor, Penglai, here. For a newcomer like me with a new book, it's been incredibly helpful—I'm deeply grateful... Ahem, I won't drone on about the usual stuff. I'll do my best to step up. I've also seen all your trust and blessings, thank you... d=====(￣▽￣*)b)