A bone claw grazed past Bai Zhu's hair.
Bai Zhu twisted on his feet, evading the other monsters' attacks while stepping out of the range of the Flame Light. A monster smashed through the stone slabs, burying its entire arm in the ground. When it yanked its arm free, it sent a chunk of rubble shooting toward Bai Zhu.
The rubble was still in midair when a foul gust swept across the back of Bai Zhu's neck.
Another Mushroomhead pounced from behind, its two reverse-jointed long legs tucked beneath its belly, clearly about to deliver a proper knight's kick to Bai Zhu.
Bai Zhu did not even turn his head. He twisted aside to avoid the flying rubble, gripped the butt of Hozukimaru with his right hand, and swept it backward.
The Mushroomhead preparing to kick him was cut cleanly in half at the waist by the heavy blow.
The wind pressure from the strike sent the two halves flying far apart. There was not much blood at the severed ends. Vast patches of grayish-white mycelium surged out at once, lunging toward the upper half rolling across the ground.
The mycelium tangled together and rapidly contracted.
Crack.
The misaligned halves of the body were forcibly dragged back together.
The monster propped itself up with both claws, cracks still visible across its newly reattached waist.
"It can do that too?"
Bai Zhu raised the shaft of his spear to block a claw striking from behind, his soles scraping two tracks into the ground as he slid backward.
The monster that had been cut apart earlier also kicked off the ground fiercely. Its mushroom cap shot toward him like a cannonball. The remaining creatures spread out, flanking him simultaneously from both sides of the trestle bridge and tracks.
They recovered far too