Chapter 239: The Curse of the Great Serpent God
"Pwah!" Houzouin Inshun clutched his chest. He never expected to be attacked from behind. Gripping his cross-shaped sickle-spear with both hands, he tried to turn around.
But his opponent gave him no opportunity.
At that moment, the Maou's long black hair fluttered, and a volley from hundreds of matchlocks appeared behind her!
The barrage blasted dozens more bloody holes into the monk's body, leaving his entire form a mangled mess of flesh and blood.
In the end, Houzouin Inshun failed to turn. Using the last of his strength, he hurled his long spear. It flew past the side of Nobunaga and slammed deep into the ground four or five meters away, the shaft trembling violently.
"Ah, how dangerous. For a brave warrior like you, if I hadn't used a sneak attack, I might truly have been unable to kill you," Maou Nobunaga said, looking down at the monk who had lost consciousness and collapsed to the ground.
"Bad Nobu! You bastard!" Souji, who had finally rushed over, shouted in a voice filled with rage.
With a single slash, she cut through the barrels of over a dozen matchlocks that had manifested.
"Okita? So you didn't die after all," Maou Nobunaga said with a smile, seeing clearly who had arrived.
Okita Souji gripped her katana with both hands, staring coldly at the other.
"You said you were going to lead bandits to conquer this village, but now you've turned all the bandits into puppets. What exactly are you trying to do? What do you take other people's will and convictions for?"
"Ha? Will? Convictions? The weak have no need for such things; following my will is enough! Becoming strong is the most basic requirement for living in this world. The weak are only meant to be plundered, so I imagine they are actually quite grateful to me.
However, having one's heart dominated by power is indeed unsightly. The reason those who came here turned out like that is simply because the desire to plunder in their hearts grew too strong. I only provided the seed of that power at the beginning; it was they themselves who activated it."
Maou Nobunaga smiled cruelly and continued:
"I said from the start that this is a game. Compared to a battle between tens of thousands, this is nothing more than playing house. The goal is simply to win against Shirou. At first, it was about capturing the village, but if it were just that, I wouldn't achieve my goal. Because if that
were all, Shirou wouldn't yield, would he? He'd likely say, 'Until you kill me, I will never let you harm the women and children of this village.'"
From the beginning, Maou Nobunaga had no regard for the lives of the villagers or the bandits. In a chaotic era, both the plunderers and the plundered were destined for their roles. The plundered, even if not dominated by her, would be targeted by someone else.
And the plunderers, naturally, would inevitably have to compete with others.
Bandits and soldiers who do not produce anything cannot survive unless they take from elsewhere.
Therefore, whether it was the farmers living by cultivation—the plundered—or the other plunderers who had to stake their lives in combat, it was all fate.
As long as someone possesses more benefits than others, then a portion of those benefits has surely been taken away. But it is human nature to want to gain more, to possess more wealth and a higher status than others.
And as the one standing at the summit, the person of the realm, she would naturally act as the greatest plunderer to control the world and complete all things.
"Moreover, do you think I simply transformed the bandits? Is it that simple?" Maou Nobunaga's eyes flashed with a wicked red light as she smiled.
"What do you mean?" Souji frowned as she looked at Nobunaga.
"Wuhahaha! My magnanimity is such that I can even keep my enemies by my side! But in return, she must show the greatest sincerity!"
"Waaaaagh!!" A shrill, piteous scream rang out from the back mountain.
Evil magical energy erupted from the bodies of the slain demonic humans, enveloping the surrounding space and refusing to dissipate for a long time.
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Shirou, who had taken Tawara Touta's place, along with Kojiro, led the villagers to hold the back mountain tightly.
In the struggle against the bandits who charged forward without fear, every one of them had sustained more or less injury.
The female ninja who had fallen from the trees clutched her body, struggling on the ground. Her eyes turned blood-red as the evil magical energy infected the curse upon her. The great serpent on her back writhed rapidly, its size growing larger and larger.
The marks on the ninja girl's body turned a bruised purple-black. She rolled on the ground in agony, her mouth spewing curses and vitriol.
"Why stop me! I only want revenge! Nobunaga! Ah! I must go to Nobunaga! My eyes... I can't see clearly..."
In Mochizuki Chiyome's vision, everything had merged with that of the great serpent. The sights and figures she saw became blurred, eventually turning into infrared heat sensing exactly like that of a snake. Although she couldn't see faces clearly, her perception of living beings grew countless times stronger.
"That's right... then wouldn't it be fine just to kill everyone..."
A demonic bandit was swallowed whole as the great serpent opened its massive maw.
Four or five villagers were swiped away at the waist, sent flying to crash against the earthen walls. They coughed up blood, unable to move ever again.
The great serpent opened its mouth to an exaggerated angle, swallowing a bandit along with his horse. Only two legs remained sticking out, kicking violently at first before falling silent the next moment.
The serpent tilted its head back and swallowed the entire horse into its stomach, its thick, long body bulging only slightly.
"Waaaaagh! A monster!" screamed a villager whose legs had turned to jelly. He tried to run but fell to the ground, howling in panic.
Shirou rushed forward, using his blade to deflect the force of an attack, standing in the front.
The serpent opened its mouth and bit down on the blade, trying to snap it.
Shirou's eyes widened in fury. He swung the sharp blade upward. Before the serpent could clamp down, he sliced open the creature's massive mouth, carving a deep gash.
Writhing in pain, the serpent opened its maw as blood splattered everywhere.
Shirou held his sword and glared at the serpent, shouting loudly: "Retreat! Villagers, take the wounded and guard the village center. Leave this place to us!"
"Yes...!" The villagers pulled their companions from the ground and dragged the wounded who had been swiped away, quickly distancing themselves from the back mountain.
Shirou did not dare relax for a second. With such a massive creature, he didn't believe a small blade wound would have much effect. Within the creature, the girl's body bulged with hideous veins; the serpent had crawled out of her, and part of its body was still coiled around her, wrapping her inside.
This serpent, which had manifested a physical form through hatred, actually originated from some powerful curse.
"This terrifying wicked energy is even greater than that of the manslayer I encountered last night," Kojiro said, gripping his nodachi and staring coldly at the serpent.
At that moment, the girl responsible for delivering messages ran over, shouting loudly: "Master! The other side of the village has been overrun!"
Shirou looked back at the girl, gave her a small smile, and then instructed: "Yukino! You go over and protect the women and children of the village! Listen well, this is an order! If you can't win, find a way to stall for time. It doesn't matter if you have to run in circles to escape! I will definitely come and find you afterward."
"Yes!" Yukino bit her lip, drew her sword, and ran toward the center of the village.
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