It was hard to imagine that this ancient structure stood five stories tall.
Around the Tenshu-kaku, squads of soldiers armed to the teeth patrolled the perimeter, while quite a few warriors guarded its entrance.
Moreover, not a single one of these warriors and soldiers was human. They were all skeletons.
They were completely different from the demons outside the city walls. Aside from their resistance, those demons defending the walls were no different from ordinary monsters, with no discipline whatsoever.
These skeleton soldiers, however, were different. They looked like highly professional soldiers—elite troops, even—completely unlike the foot soldiers of those daimyo.
Japan at this time more or less used the militia system. Soldiers rode into battle during wartime and farmed at home during peacetime. The government did not pay them military wages, but exempted them from certain taxes.
The quality of such troops was easy enough to imagine.
But the skeleton soldiers before her were different. Sirin was certain that they had been full-time elite soldiers in life.
She had no idea where Takiyasha Hime had found so many Skeleton Soldiers and Skeleton Warriors.
Sirin roughly estimated that there were over eight hundred skeleton soldiers around the Tenshu-kaku.
No wonder Takiyasha Hime had been able to conquer eight provinces so easily. Even without all those miscellaneous demons... these Skeleton Soldiers alone would have been enough.
Perhaps they had noticed the commotion outside the city. Several Skeleton Warriors led three hundred-man squads of skeleton soldiers, along with dozens of demons, quickly toward the city gates.
But Sirin was not worried. With Luo Hao there, those Skeleton Warriors would only be walking to their deaths.
Looking at the Tenshu-kaku before her, Sirin turned and told Kikyo to have the others move farther away.
Then...
"The time for judgment has come..."
Sirin