Mount Ise was shrouded in dense fog all year round.
The pine trees were so tall that they could be mistaken as pillars supporting heaven. Each of them was at least a hundred meter tall and their trunk was so thick that it required several adult men to encircle it. The treetop hid the sky from view and only fragments of moonlight were able to pass through. Thick miasma lingered at the foot of those enormous pine trees throughout the year. It was dark and damp, exactly the kind of place that monsters liked to wander around. Will-o’-wisps occasionally appeared around the burial mounds that scattered all over the place and lit up the surroundings before they slowly faded away.
Lily —with her flimsy red kimono— was quietly walking in this burial ground just at the perimeter of Mount Ise.
She involuntarily quickened her breathing due to excessive wariness, her breasts were visibly swaying up and down. Traces of white vapor could be seen exhaled from her red lips.
She thought this was just a wild, mountainous region. However, it turned out that the hillside was filled with tombs. It was not in her expectation that they’d be so many graveyards around here.
What Lily didn’t know was that many of the paths leading to Mount Ise were filled with graveyard.
The will-o’-wisps illuminated the mountain woods in place of the moonlight. The only problem was that the light from the will-o’-wisps only lasted for a brief moment and changed irregularly. This made it easier for people to get lost.
As a matter of fact, even with Lily’s sense of direction, she also had no idea which direction she was heading towards.
Lily had lost her way.
She ought to be able to differentiate the direction come tomorrow morning, but now, Lily only wanted to leave this burial ground as soon as possible.
She really didn’t want to spend the night in a graveyard.
Lily might have remarkable sword skills and 380 plus kan of penetration force, she was not fearful of bandits, but… she’s afraid of ghosts. This was totally unrelated to strength. If it was just some bizarre monsters, Lily might be able to deal with it. However, if an ordinary person suddenly showed up and turned into a ghost, she would probably be scared to the point of crying.
“No, I must stay strong! How can I be so cowardly? I have even experienced something more dangerous than this, the night parade of a hundred ghosts. This is nothing more than the graveyard for private citizens, there’s nothing to be afraid of!”
“Pat!” A hairy hand was placed on Lily’s shoulder.
“Kya——!!!” Lily immediately let out a scream as though her soul had left her body.
Lily turned around instinctively as she was too inexperienced in monster extermination.
What she saw illuminated by the will-o’-wisp was a hairy face that resembled a monkey or a human. The weird thing was that no nose was present on the face and only a vertical eye could be seen.
The Mountain Imp spread open its mouth and attempted to bite Lily’s neck.1
In a split second, a powerful wave of Spirit Power burst out from Lily’s body instinctively. At the moment, there was not enough time for Lily to draw her sword, but the Spirit Power was directly released from every inch of her skin, so it was quick enough.
That powerful wave turned into a light-blue mist and repelled the Mountain Imp. It flew out for several meters and fell onto the ground.
The Mountain Imp jumped upright from the ground with a somersault. Its height was about that of a child, but its arms and feet were as thick as that of an adult man. Its body hair was black and thick. The head of the Mountain Imp resembled a monkey, but with a bald spot on the crown. It only had one eye and no nose, but the nostril was clearly there on its ash-colored face. Moreover, it had a big mouth with fangs protruding. The features of the Mountain Imp could only be described as extremely ugly.
For a moment there, Lily felt her limbs growing weak and she even had the urge to shout, “Don’t come over here! Help!”
However, she soon recalled that if she wanted to take this path, she must bear with it and conquer this fear! Apart from this, there’s no other way.
Lily calmed down her breathing as she lightly placed her hand on the sword handle.
All of these happened in only a few seconds.
The Mountain Imp ‘s only eye finally took notice of Lily’s katana. The Mountain Imp fed on human flesh, the females would even get ⓡⓐⓟⓔⓓ first before they were eaten alive. On the other hand, the female samurai wanted to kill the Mountain Imp for her test. Both parties did not have the option to run away!
However, after they were locked in a stalemate for a few seconds, the Mountain Imp came to a conclusion and decided to run away from this alluring beauty. It didn’t show any hesitation to carry out its decision.
Lily immediately chased after it!
Lily had long legs, so her speed was naturally faster than the Mountain Imp on flat land. However, the Mountain Imp stopped after a few steps and started climbing up the tree.
With no time wasted, Lily’s body glowed with a blue aura and her speed suddenly increased. The Mountain Imp quickly jumped from the tree trunk towards the branch. It grabbed the branch and hanged in midair.
Lily took a sudden leap and hold the sword handle firmly. With the Spirit Power as the jumping force, she jumped much higher than any ordinary person could hope to achieve.
“Shing—Sound Effect”>2” Seiwa Tamashi, which was drawn for the first time for the purpose of killing, was giving off a cold glint under the moonlight.
The Mountain Imp nimbly moved behind the thick tree branches.
“Swoosh!” Lily pulled out the sword in the sky with opportune timing— leaving behind a streak of blue light in the darkness of night.
“Slash— Pfff!!!”
Lily exerted too much force behind this slash and hit the thick branches instead. With the extraordinary penetration force she exerted in a panic and the extreme sharpness of Seiwa Tamashi, she cut through the tree trunk like radish and sliced the Mountain Imp’s skull.
The Mountain Imp was cleanly sliced into two equal halves!
The Mountain Imp attempted to attack a novice female samurai, and it was on the brink of success. However, it had chosen the wrong target.
During this fight, the Mountain Imp didn’t make a single mistake from beginning to end. Starting from the sneak attack to running away and using the tree branches as a shield, all of these were carried out perfectly. On the other hand, Lily responded in a panic and it was very inefficient.
But the one who died in the end was the Mountain Imp, mainly thanks to the big gap in strength between the two parties!
With her penetration force that was close to 400 kan, Lily in fact had power equivalent to that of the mid-tier samurai despite this being her first monster extermination mission. Moreover, her Seiwa Tamashi was a rarely seen masterpiece among the Grade Two katanas. She crushed the Mountain Imp with pure strength!
As Lily landed on the ground, warm sweats seeped out from her exposed chest and rolled into the valley of her breasts3. Because she was scared, nervous, and used too much strength, the young girl was gasping for breath.
Lily was aware that although she had won, her fighting techniques were too clumsy. Rather than her sword skills, it was more of a mental issue and lack of experience. She got scared out of her wits and counterattacked with all her power.
She wasted one-tenth of her spirit energy just to kill one Mountain Imp, it was very wasteful.
However, Lily was a lot calmer now. She approached the corpse of the Mountain Imp and took out the Anima Container in the guise of a small cosmetic box.
Once she opened the cosmetic box, it vibrated slightly and released peculiar energy. The Mountain Imp’s chest gradually started to shine and a silvery white translucent anima slowly seeped out from that spot. That anima seemed to possess a little bit of awareness as it tried to run away. However, the cosmetic box vibrated and let out a small ring, which lured the anima towards it.
And yet, the Seiwa Tamashi at Lily’s waist started to vibrate at this time. It seemed as though the sword had some kind of attractive force towards the anima. As a result, the floating anima distorted in midair as it was pulled apart by two different force.
Lily was scared that the anima she obtained with great difficulty would be destroyed at this rate, so she moved the Anima Container closer and allowed it to suck the anima into the box. As soon as the monster anima was sucked in, the spell inscribed in the box activated and absorbed its vitality. Moreover, the anima had shrunk to the size of a tadpole and wandered aimlessly in the black box.
Lily then closed the lid.
She had successfully collected the first anima.
Lily looked at her Seiwa Tamashi with a puzzled expression. Just why did the katana vibrate earlier?
Could it be that all the powerful swords contained a nature to kill everything in sight?
That may be so.
Lily put the Anima Container away and didn’t think about that any further. Then she continued to walk towards the hill.
