His steps were unhurried, yet they carried a peculiar rhythm, as though he were not walking toward a battlefield of life and death, but going to a date to start a match.
Alone, he walked to the narrowest entrance of the valley, where only a sliver of sky showed overhead, and stopped.
Meanwhile, beside the mule cart carrying Yuejian, the donkey pulling it had been so frightened by the earth-shaking beast tide in the distance that it had broken free of its reins and run off to parts unknown.
Yuejian sat in the cart, still reading his novel, oblivious to the world around him.
As though he had eyes in the back of his head, Qiji added to the group, "Bring Old Yue."
"What?!" Setsuna, who had just wrapped her arms around the two frightened children, one on either side of her waist, was utterly unwilling when she heard that.
"He doesn't care whether we live or die! Why should we care about him?!"
But before she had even finished complaining-
Huomu had already rushed to the cart and shoved all its cargo onto the ground.
He cleared the cart of its load!
Then he slung the harness over his own shoulders and called to Setsuna, "Setsuna, put those two kids on the cart too!"
"Huomu! You..." Setsuna felt there really was no need for them to bother with that bastard of a teacher.
But-
"I believe in Qiji!"
Huomu was exceptionally firm.
"Because Qiji is absolutely right! So whatever he says or does, he must have his reasons!
We don't need to think about anything. We just have to listen to him and do as he says!
Quick! Help me push! I can't pull it fast enough... by myself!"
At this critical moment, with life and death hanging by a thread, Huomu's almost single-minded way of thinking and his unconditional trust instead gave him decisiveness and follow-through no less than Liuli's.
His mind was nearly blank. He did not think about how terrifying the beast tide was or how dangerous it was to stay behind and cover their retreat. He simply and absolutely carried out Qiji's every instruction-
Lighten the load!
Run!
Bring Teacher Tsukimi!
Get to the exit and send the signal!
The other students were still unhappy with Yuejian, but seeing Huomu working so desperately and recalling what Qiji had said, several of them gritted their teeth and stepped forward to help push the cart.
Just as Huomu and the others began dragging the mule cart toward the other exit with all their might, Qiji called one last warning from afar:
"The rampage of these Void Beasts was caused by someone, and there are still enemies hiding in the dark.
Once I'm gone, all of you must be extremely careful."
Having said that, he felt he had overlooked nothing and had said everything that needed saying. At last, he could focus without distraction.
Sword in hand, he turned.
He faced the Void Beasts that had finally charged up to him, filling the narrow entrance to the valley with their bloody maws agape.
Qiji flicked his wrist and swung his sword, dipping its tip lightly into the hard ground before him.
Then he drew it straight to the side.
"Scht-"
A clear, straight sword mark, cut deep into the rock, appeared between him and the beast tide as the blade moved.
Then he raised his sword, its tip pointing diagonally at the ground, and tilted his head slightly.
"Sorry about this."
"Beyond this point-"
"No passage."
Chapter 30: An Absolute Powerhouse! An Unbeatable Genius!
As his words faded, Qiji stood with his sword held across his body.
One man, one sword.
He completely blocked the only entrance on this side of the narrow valley.
Rock walls rose sheer on either side, while moonlight fell through the narrow opening overhead, illuminating Qiji alone like a spotlight.
[Ding!] [System notification: Special item "Spotlight Card" used successfully!] [Ding!] [System notification: Special item "Sound System Card" used successfully!] [Ding!] [System notification: Special item "Filter Card" used successfully!]
In that instant, one man and one sword faced hundreds upon thousands of ferocious beasts of all shapes and sizes, their eyes red as blood-
The scene suddenly had an immensely epic visual impact.
And with the suddenly powerful hit song playing in the background,
the viewers sending bullet comments actually felt goosebumps:
"Holy shiiiiiit!!!"
"Going for this kind of cool, Haki-Qiji?!"
"One man, one sword, holding the line alone! Damn, I'm fired up!!!"
"You bastard! You got to show off yet again!"
"Qiji is a goddamn legend!!!"
It was also fortunate that this rift was only D-rank, and the strongest Void Beasts inside were no higher than tier two.
Even driven berserk by drugs, their increase in strength was ultimately limited.
And as far as Qiji was concerned-
Below tier three, he was invincible.
This was not a gap that numbers could bridge.
After all, no matter how much trash there was, it was still just trash.
Wasn't it?
"Roar-!!!"
Several wolf-type Void Beasts at the front pounced first, bringing a gust of foul wind with them!
Sharp claws and fangs tore through the air, heading straight for Qiji's throat!
Qiji moved.
It was neither an earth-shaking eruption of power nor a dazzling display of sword-light effects.
Just the simplest, most direct, and deadliest-
Slash!
"Swish-!"
A silver-blue arc, so cold it seemed capable of freezing the soul, flashed beneath the moonlight.
The three Shadow Wolves at the very front abruptly went rigid in midair.
The next instant, their heads slid apart from their bodies along smooth cuts!
Blood shot into the air like fountains!
Before their corpses could hit the ground, Qiji had shifted half a step sideways like a phantom, sweeping the Sword of No Thought across in the same motion!
"Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!"
Three more Dreadclaw Apes that had pounced from the side were cut in half at the waist by the sword light!
Their innards spilled from the severed openings with a wet rush, filling the air with a bloody stench.
Qiji moved so fast that only afterimages remained.
With every step, he evaded every attack with exquisite precision.
With every swing of his sword, he invariably took the lives of several Void Beasts.
There was not a single superfluous movement, not a shred of strength wasted.
The efficient, precise slaughter was like a dance, incomparably elegant.
The bullet comments marveled:
"Elegant! So fucking elegant!"
"Haki-Qiji, do you want to dance too?"
"Kamishiro Seigen: Brother Qiji, is my sword working well for you?"
"No Thought-chan, nothing matters more than you and Qiji living happily together!"
Sword light swirled, and flowers of blood bloomed.
Qiji stood there like an immovable reef.
The beast tide crashed toward him like a torrent, only to be split apart by his sword.
Every Void Beast that charged at him, whether thick-skinned and tough or quick and agile, was as fragile as paper before this one man and his sword.
Severed limbs, heads, shattered carapaces, splattering fluids...
They formed a nauseating yet utterly astonishing wave that poured madly to either side, with Qiji as the dividing line.
The long line he had drawn beneath his feet at the start seemed to truly possess the magic of "no passage."
Not a single Void Beast managed to cross that boundary.
The group, having already run far away, heard the astonishing commotion behind them and could not help looking back.
And then they saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.
There-
In the distance, at the far end of the narrow valley, the surging beast tide seemed to swallow heaven and earth.
And in the center of that torrent of destruction, a lean yet upright figure stood against the flow.
His back was slender, yet it seemed as imposing as a mountain.
Moonlight cascaded down, stretching the shadow of him holding his sword long and narrow across the ground.
His robes billowed, his sword danced, and flesh and shattered armor flew in every direction.
With him at the center, death spread rapidly and magnificently like living ink.
Wherever the sword light reached, nothing remained standing.
The clamor of life and the silence of death formed a strange and astonishing harmony within three feet of him.
Truly-
One man held the pass.
Ten thousand beasts,
all slain!
The group stared, dumbfounded.