Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 181, Section 179: The Koga Rebellion Begins

in the afternoon.

The mountain path in the ordinary wilderness where Takatsukasa Tetsuo's adopted son left.

Two police cars drove one after the other.

"We're getting close to the location of the person who reported the incident. Are there any roads nearby leading into the forest?"

"Yes, there are some rough, unpaved paths. Don't you remember? We once caught a guy whose body was buried in these places, scattered here and there, and it took us days to find it."

"We're close, about fifty to one hundred meters apart. We'll launch a drone for reconnaissance."

Two police cars were parked on the side of the road.

The rooftop base station was opened, and several drones searched the designated area.

"Found it, getting closer." The pilot spotted something unusual, intervened, and flew towards a small clearing in the woods. Slowly, a car with its headlights crashed into a tree could be seen.

But when the field of vision expanded, with no obstacles in sight, and everything on the scene was faithfully transmitted back by the drone, the terrifying scene made those who saw it forget to breathe for several seconds.

"They've found the person who called the police."

Suppressing his discomfort, after confirming that there were no other signs of activity around, the drone continued to approach the ground, zooming in on one spot.

The drone pilot could see a severed hand on the ground holding a cell phone, which was still in use.

These pieces of limbs were scattered around the car, and even the torso had been cut open, leaving a scene of utter devastation.

Are there any suspicious individuals nearby?

"Nothing has been found yet."

"Leave two people to operate the drone to provide visual cover and maintain communication. The rest of you take your weapons, get out of the vehicle, and check the situation on site. Inform headquarters and notify the nearby mountain garrison to prepare for a mountain closure."

There were six people in two police cars: three patrol officers and three criminal investigators.

After leaving two behind, the four drew their weapons and headed into the woods.

The captain approached a tree and carefully examined the scratches on it: "There are quite a few scratches on the tree. It's clear that the driver was in a panic when he drove in here, probably because he was frightened by something."

Broken glass remains on the ground, stretching all the way down.

After making a mark, the group continued forward, slowly approaching the car.

"hiss"

Even though they were mentally prepared and had seen the footage beforehand, they were still quite shocked by the scene.

At a glance, they could tell that there weren't many victims, maybe three or four, but the parts were densely scattered all over the ground.

Suppressing their urge to vomit, they split into two groups: one group kept watch around the area, while the other carefully avoided the wreckage and approached the car.

The car's windows were almost completely shattered, and bloodstains inside the car were splattered everywhere.

In the driver's seat, the lower half of the driver's body was still inside, with blood pooling into a dark red, congealed pool.

Biting his lip and holding his breath, the captain clearly removed the dashcam.

"We have obtained the dashcam footage."

He already had a bad feeling; this scene was definitely not caused by a brown bear or a person.

"Notify the headquarters' mobile unit and the supernatural countermeasures department that I suspect this case is related to supernatural existence."

"Yes."

"Retreat first, establish a cordon, we'll wait—"

"careful!"

Plop.

A sound like chopping meat came from one side, almost simultaneously followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

One of his colleagues was pinned down by a black figure that appeared out of nowhere, relentlessly tearing out his heart and lungs. Organs and blood splattered everywhere, and his shrill screams echoed through the jungle.

Gunshots rang out, and the officers, disregarding their teammates below, frantically emptied their magazines at the dark figure. However, given the haste and the weak power of their pistols, it was wishful thinking to expect them to cause any damage.

The monster let out a low growl, leaped into the treetops, and disappeared.

The attacked police officer had his internal organs ripped out and was only twitching slightly.

"Kishimoto! Don't run away!"

Only then did the captain notice that another patrolman seemed to have collapsed, running away back the way he came without looking back.

Just as I was about to chase after him, even louder noises came through my headphones.

"Don't come over! Don't come over!"

"You drive! I'll drive the gun—"

Clang!
That was the sound of breaking glass and the voices of two police officers guarding the police car.

Then, there was silence from both of them.

That's it, their route of arrival has been cut off.

"excuse me!"

The captain gritted his teeth, suddenly opened the driver's side door of the car he had instinctively used as cover, ripped off the half-driver's body, and sat in it: "Ryuta, what are you standing there for! Get in the car!"

My colleague snapped out of his daze, hurriedly opened the passenger door, got in, gripped his gun tightly, and tried to change the magazine again and again with trembling hands. He finally succeeded after several attempts.

The captain prayed inwardly that the car would start. In the distance, the screams of the patrolmen who had just fled and hadn't gone far could be heard.

Time is running out.

A buzzing sound came from the engine.

It can still move!
The captain quickly shifted gears, reversed a few meters, and then plunged into the relatively sparse woods beside him, with no intention of returning the way he came.

The only hope now is to move forward, ever forward!
"Can you hear me?! Can you hear me? This is the Kyoto headquarters of the Extraordinary Measures Department. This is Yokoyama Masahiro. Follow our orders from now on."

"Speak!" the captain roared, as if seizing a lifeline.

"Delay as much time as possible. Ms. Muramasa is in Koka City, and she has already taken a helicopter to your location."

The captain suddenly saw a glimmer of hope. His despair subsided considerably.

If it were the legendary swordswoman, Ninth Generation Muramasa, who were to take action, she should be able to handle a monster of this caliber!
Clang.

A distinct noise came from the roof of the car.

That thing is up there!
The captain twisted the steering wheel hard, swinging it as much as possible in the narrow space, trying to throw the monster away.

Bang!
A twisted hand pierced through the roof of the car and appeared between the two men.

The officer in the passenger seat quickly aimed his gun at the opening and fired.

"go to hell!"

The gunshot nearly deafened the captain, causing his car to slow down slightly.

"Ho ho!"

The metal roof of the car was completely torn open. The monster roared and its black hand, despite the bullets, grabbed the officer's hands. Then it twisted violently, and the officer's hands twisted like a pretzel. Blood sprayed out like a spray, and bone pierced through the flesh.

The officer was in so much pain that he almost fainted and began convulsing on the spot.

Before he could even scream a few more times, the monster's other hand pierced his eyeballs and mouth, pulling his head out like a bowling ball, dragging a long spine as it disappeared into the passenger seat, leaving only his mangled body lying limply, blood gushing out.

"Ryuta! Damn it!"

zizi——

Bang!
The car was completely covered in blood, and the captain was almost covered in blood. He could hardly see the road ahead, and the hope that had been born not long ago was now covered in despair again.

He frantically turned the steering wheel and miraculously managed to shake the monster off.

He thought he heard—the sound of a helicopter!
Boom!
The car crashed into a tree with a loud bang and stalled completely.

The captain's nerves snapped, and he rolled his eyes and fainted.

"I never expected to encounter such a drama instead of finding a cemetery."

From the treetop, Renault glanced at the approaching helicopter, then, dressed in black and red samurai armor, pondered for a moment, drew his katana, and leaped down.

Clang!
"so hard."

Reno frowned as he felt the recoil from the blade.

Sensing the threat, the mindless monster took two steps back and let out a threatening growl.

"A little bit of wisdom, but not much. We just happen to have this much blood, so let's not waste it."

Without making a sound, he drew some of the blood from the car to replenish his energy, and then imbued the knife with that blood energy.

"die!"

Aiming at the monster's open chest, Renault sprayed a red mist from the spot, instantly appearing in front of the monster and plunging his knife into its shriveled heart.

"Crack!"

In an instant, the monster began to tremble and collapsed to the ground.

Renault understood that this thing was good in terms of hardness, speed, and attack power, but its weaknesses were equally formidable.

As long as you can attack the opponent's "open heart", you can instantly kill them.

This would pose a threat to civilians and ordinary police officers, but for some special armed groups with powerful firepower, as long as enough shots are fired, one of them will eventually hit the target.

Renault deliberately waited two extra seconds to make sure the helicopter was in sight before re-entering the dense forest.

"That's... a red-armored warrior?"

On the helicopter, the Talos squad, who had come with Muramasa, quickly captured the moment Reno dealt with the monster using their face armor.

Although Renault wasn't wearing red armor, but rather a black and red suit, someone started calling him that, and everyone else followed suit.

Muramasa Takii wasn't particularly surprised by his appearance.

In the player lobby, both the knight "Chi" and the samurai "Mori" said that based on the game's clues, they planned to go to Koga to seek an opportunity and prevent a possible disaster.

She came to Koga with the same purpose.

It was just an excuse given to the authorities; she used the pretext of searching Koga to see if there were any hidden dangers left by the fourth Muramasa.

That makes perfect sense. After all, the records left by Hosei describe the Fourth Muramasa causing havoc in Koga. There might be some potential threat behind it. It's not a problem to come and eliminate it since the demon sword was destroyed not long ago.

As the helicopter descended, Takii pulled out a dagger, her body instantly becoming lighter, and she leaped down.

The Talos squad followed behind, landing on the ground.

Taki put away his dagger and drew his demon-slaying sword from behind him. Silence fell over the surroundings.

It seems that only this one monster came after them, and it was killed by the red-armored warrior who suddenly appeared.

She approached the corpse and smelled that repulsive yet vaguely familiar scent.

It really is related to the demon sword.

"Scan complete. No suspicious activity found nearby."

"You, take the survivors and the monster corpses back."

The helicopter dropped a ladder, and a team member tied the unconscious detective to his back, carrying the body, and evacuated the scene.

The remaining people rushed to the original parking spot, only to find a mutilated corpse, its internal organs also emptied.

Looking at the direction in which the blood-red footprints spread, Taki's brows furrowed.

Those things have gone down the mountain.

“Ms. Muramasa, breaking news: those monsters…” Captain Talos looked at Taki, “…appeared in Koka city, numbering three to five, causing considerable casualties.”

In other words, the monsters that just appeared on this mountain are not all of them.

"Where did these things come from?" Taki wondered, pondering the contents of the game.

This monster is somewhat like a knife slave, but it has been mixed with something else, as if it has undergone some inexplicable mutation, becoming hardened, with its heart open and withered.
heart?

"The heart of forbearance?"

(End of this chapter)