While Nanako pulled Lily inside the cavern, she tripped because of a vine under her feet and fell to the ground.
Nanako got up in a hurry yet discovered that the vine had coiled around her pigtail and the more she tried to free it, the more it entangled with the vine. When she saw the gloomy samurai approach them, she grabbed the pigtail in desperation and sliced it off using her dagger and then pulled Lily into the cavern.
Although Nanako had the Sakura Parasol, now that she had been discovered already, its invisibility wouldn’t be effective even if she hid underneath it now.
After pulling Lily inside the cavern, Nanako stood in front of her and directed a cold gaze towards the samurai who approached them while facing him with her dagger and fist. She was ready to engage in a deadly battle with the samurai if he still planned to get closer to them!
“Li…Ly…” However, the masked samurai called out Lily’s name with an obsessive voice and turned around unfathomably before sitting down cross-legged at the entrance of the cave while placing the sword upright on the ground1.
Nanako felt puzzled as she couldn’t understand what this samurai was trying to do. Although she remained vigilant for a long time, the samurai just sat there silently at the entrance of the cave as if he was guarding it.
Nanako checked her surroundings and discovered that this was a cave that spanned a dozen or so meters without any passage within it.
The cave had some long weathered cases arranged with it along with firewood as well as antique cloth, pots and other articles. The smooth wall at the back of the cave seemed to have some ancient characters written on it, and from the looks of it, it seemed like this cave was a dwelling of a person from long ago. However, the lighting was too dim inside the cave and Nanako also didn’t have the time to check what was written on the wall.
“Nanako, it seems like that samurai has no intention of harming us. Let’s hurry now. Master’s condition is deteriorating, so we need to save her immediately.”
“Mhm. Tell me how to transfer my spirit power to Sister Lily quickly then,” Nanako inquired.
“Hmm… We don’t have enough time for you to learn other spirit power transference techniques right now, but there’s something that might work even though I haven’t seen it in action personally.”
“Say it, then. Just what method is it? No matter what method it is, I shall not hesitate to perform it for Sis, even if I have to sacrifice my life for it.”
“According to the legends, in the Jōmon period, women with spirit power fed their milk to their children so that the children have a powerful spirit power foundation right from birth and become a powerful primal warrior of the tribe,” the Sakura Parasol spun around while floating in the air.
“Huh?!” Nanako blushed hard immediately, “W-What are you saying?! How could something like that be possible?! Moreover, I don’t have…”
“Hehe. This is just a legend, so it’s unclear whether it’s really effective. However, even if there’s no milk, there’s spirit power, so it should be enough. At least, that’s what I believe. Naturally, I’m not certain about it too…” the Sakura Parasol stated while trembling slightly2.
Nanako’s gaze turned resolute as she asked, “Sakura, can you promise that you won’t peep?”
“Tut. Although I’ve lost most of my memories, I was once a shikigami and that too a female shikigami, so there’s no need for you to worry! I’ll hide you just in case that undead samurai turns around,” saying so, the Sakura Parasol turned around grumpily.
Nanako nodded. Even though she had the Sakura Parasol, Nanako had leaped off the cliff into the Abyssal Rift that loomed with eldritch energies valiantly for her sister in spite of the chance that she might not come out of it alive. This required an unprecedented amount of determination and if she failed to find her sister, Nanako had no plans to return alive!
“I-It’s just breastfeeding, t-that’s all! Although there’s nothing to feed…”
Nanako’s gaze calmed down and her face blushed slightly as she hugged Lily’s shoulder and placed them on her lap after sitting down in a seiza.
She untied the front piece of her kimono while panting and pulled one side of the pink kimono down to reveal her fair and tender shoulders. However, she didn’t stop at this point and continued to pull down the kimono until…
Although it was unlikely, it was perhaps a woman’s instinct to transfer the essence of her spirit power via this method. This was also the reason why Sakura believed Nanako would be able to master it by herself.
And although Lily was unconscious, when a certain part of Nanako’s body touched her lips, perhaps she too reacted instinctively and…
“Mmh…” Nanako moaned lovingly and resisted that irresistible sensation and transferred all of her spirit power to Lily along with emotions.
Lily’s complexion turned better gradually, and her breathing also turned even, her face regaining a healthy flush. However, she hadn’t woken up yet. Although Nanako hardly had any spirit power left, she still remained seated in a seiza and allowed Lily to rest on her lap. She then wore her clothes and guarded Lily in that position, letting her sleep peacefully.
“Senior Sister…” Lily grabbed Nanako’s clothes within the sleep and called out this name once again.
Nanako cried tears of sadness, but she smiled contentedly again.
“No matter whether it’s this Senior Sister or Sister Uesugi, Nanako was never the most beloved woman in Sister Lily’s heart. I know that this matter cannot be forced, so I have no regrets, nor do I feel saddened by it… I know how it feels to become obsessed with a person, so you have my blessings, Sister Lily…”
Nanako embraced Lily and waited for her to wake up while the Sakura Parasol also landed beside them quietly.
And late into the night when it was time for dreams, a noise arrived from outside the cave once again.
This roused up the asleep Nanako who was still hugging Lily and caused her to unsheathe her dagger vigilantly. When she opened her eyes, she saw that a terrifying human-faced dog had appeared outside the cave.
“Dammit! It’s that abominable dog!” Although it was just a human-faced dog, its strength was among the superior mid-ranked monsters, which surpassed Nanako’s strength. Moreover, the strange pairs of glowing eyes within the bushes outside the cave kept multiplying.
“Sis! Wake up! Quickly!” However, no matter how hard Nanako shook her, Lily refused to wake up.
The undead samurai who sat crossed-legged at the entrance of the cave with his back towards it stood up and blocked the entrance with his gigantic stature.
In the eyes of the human-faced dogs, the undead samurai was one of them, so they talked to him in human speech, “There… Fleeing… Mirror… Girl… Move… Aside…”
“You… Hojo… Demon… Samurai… Why… Block…. Move!”
However, that gigantic samurai raised his tachi up and refused to make way for them.
About a dozen human-faced dogs surrounded that undead samurai at the entrance of the cave.
One of the dogs jumped forward suddenly in an attempt to cross past that samurai while ignoring him.
But the samurai waved his sword down!
“Spurt—!” And followed by a streak of monster blood, the human-faced dog whimpered on the ground before embracing death.
“What?” In the cave, Nanako looked at this scene dazedly, “This undead samurai is really guarding the entrance? Is he protecting us?”
The other dogs barked at the undead samurai, yet he remained motionless.
In the next moment, the dogs pounced towards the samurai and bit at him crazily, pulling hard at him, almost engulfing him amidst them.
However, the samurai seemed to have no sense of pain and issued a long and deep growl as he waved his tachi haphazardly and slew those human-faced dogs, hacking each one of them to death.
After a crazed exchange of attacks, the corpses of the dogs laid on the ground. Not even a single one of them had managed to break through the samurai’s defense!
The remaining dogs scattered one after the other and climbed up the steep cliff, a few of them howling in despair as they fell into the abyss. However, a few of them managed to climb up the misty cliff and there was a chance some of them could climb up to the top.
