The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

He gripped the demon-slaying sword in his right hand and charged swiftly toward the samurai demon.

Upon seeing Hikigaya Tsurugi, the Samurai Demon did not hesitate, raising his gunpowder gun and firing a shot at him.

However, Hachiman Hikigaya blocked the shot with the blade of his sword.

There are 3 seconds left until the next round.

After using the blade to block the bullet, the recoil from the blade almost caused the Demon Slayer Sword to slip from Hachiman Hikigaya's hand.

Hachiman Hikigaya, realizing what was happening, gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and continued charging towards the samurai spirit.

The musket attack was ineffective. The samurai spirit calmly put away his gun, gripped his sword with both hands, and stood in a defensive stance, waiting for Hachiman Hikigaya to arrive.

Another second has passed.

With no way to stop the evil spirit, Hachiman Hikigaya finally stood before it.

Without any hesitation, he swung his sword straight at the samurai demon's neck.

Just like their first encounter, the samurai demon deflected Hikigaya's demon-slaying sword and then followed up with a slash.

"careful!"

Seeing this strikingly similar scene, Yotsuya Miko, who was watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but exclaim.

However, this time, Hachiman Hikigaya, who was prepared, pushed off with his left foot and leaned his body to the right, narrowly avoiding the samurai demon's slash.

But this is still not over.

Exactly three seconds had passed when the samurai spirit's gunpowder gun was reloaded. After its cleave attack failed, the gunpowder gun slid out of the spirit's arm and into its hand.

The samurai demon then moved the gun barrel, preparing to blow Hachiman Hikigaya's head off as he fell to the ground.

At that moment, Hachiman Hikigaya finally activated the Spirit Stream Technique that he had been preparing in his left hand!

A massive stream of spiritual energy shot out from his left hand, directly destroying the gunpowder gun in the evil spirit's hand and then piercing its chest.

"it's over...."

Seeing that his spell had successfully hit its target, Hachiman Hikigaya finally felt a weight lifted from his heart.

If the Spirit Flow Technique had been activated even slightly later, he would have been the one to die...

But just then, Hachiman Hikigaya suddenly sensed something was wrong.

"No system notification sound!"

Thinking of this, Hachiman Hikigaya rolled away from his spot on the ground.

Sure enough, the instant he left his spot, a katana was thrust into the place where he had been standing.

"Why haven't they been killed yet?"

Standing up from the ground, Hachiman Hikigaya stared in shock at the samurai spirit before him, who had lost an arm and had a large hole in his chest but was still able to move.

Both being intermediate-level, he had easily dealt with the spider demon, but the samurai demon in front of him had withstood two of his spells!

"!!!"

Using his only remaining arm, the samurai spirit pulled the katana stuck in the ground and roared loudly at the red moon.

It brandished its katana and slashed across its own armor.

With a "whoosh..." sound, a ball of flame appeared in Hachiman Hikigaya's eyes.

"not good!"

Upon seeing the flickering flames on the katana, Hachiman Hikigaya's expression changed drastically, and he immediately turned around and lunged at Miko Yotsuya.

Silently watching Hachiman Hikigaya's actions, the samurai spirit casually tossed his katana behind him and then knelt on the ground.

"Ding! Successfully defeated the intermediate-level evil spirit, gaining 200 spirit coins."

The system notification sounded in Hachiman Hikigaya's mind, but Hachiman had no interest in checking it.

He concentrated all his spiritual energy in his legs, trying to move as fast as possible.

Upon reaching Yotsuya Miko, without offering any explanation, he simply scooped her up in his arms and leaped out of the gasoline rink.

"Pfft..."

The flames on the katana clung to the grease, instantly turning the oil ring into a sea of ​​fire.

Feeling the burning sensation in his body, Hachiman gritted his teeth and rushed out of the flames without letting go.

Once outside in the open space, Hikigaya Hachiman casually laid down the well-protected Yotsuya Miko, and she immediately started rolling around on the ground.

Seeing the flames spreading across Hachiman Hikigaya's body, Miko Yotsuya quickly scooped up some dirt from the ground and threw it at him in an attempt to extinguish the flames.

However, how could ignited gasoline be extinguished so easily?

After all that effort, Yotsuya Miko not only failed to extinguish the flames on Hikigaya's body, but also burned her own hands.

"That's right, incendiary materials!"

Looking at her burned hands, Miko Yotsuya suddenly realized what was happening.

Ignoring the flames on Hachiman Hikigaya's clothes, she reached out and pulled them off.

Noticing Yotsuya Miko's behavior, Hikigaya also realized what was happening and took off his school uniform jacket.

After some effort, the two finally managed to extinguish the flames.

Exhausted, the two slumped back to back on the ground.

Before they could even catch their breath, a sudden gust of cold wind swept across the playground.

Immediately afterward, a dark shadow flashed through their line of sight.

Before Hachiman Hikigaya could react, he was slapped away by the dark figure.

"Cough cough..."

Hachiman Hikigaya, who was sent flying, rolled several times on the ground before finally coming to a stop on the track.

He struggled to get up, but suddenly felt a weight on his back.

"Advanced evil spirit detected. Host, please be careful..."

Only then did the system in his mind belatedly remind him.

With difficulty, Hachiman Hikigaya raised his head and looked at the full appearance of the high-level evil spirit in front of him. Suddenly, a terrible thought flashed through his mind.

"This guy, did he not leave, but instead keep following me?"

Chapter 10 The Correct Way to Handle Combat Situations

"what!"

Before Hachiman Hikigaya could figure out how the high-level evil spirit had arrived, Miko Yotsuya's terrified scream reached his ears.

Shaking his slightly dizzy head, Hachiman Hikigaya used his demon-slaying sword to support himself as he stood up.

A black demon with a bird's head and a human body, large wings, was seen grabbing Yotsuya Miko and trying to put her in its mouth. Yotsuya Miko struggled to break free by hitting the demon's arm.

But the evil spirit's large hand remained completely still.

As the bird's beak drew ever closer, a sense of despair welled up in Yotsuya Miko's heart.

Thump thump thump....

A series of hurried footsteps suddenly came from the left. Hachiman Hikigaya, holding his demon-slaying sword, charged straight at the head of the high-level evil spirit.

Looking at the katana in the human's hand, a hint of human-like apprehension flashed in the eyes of the high-level evil spirit.

Earlier in the air, it had clearly seen how this human used this knife to kill two of its henchmen.

Therefore, the advanced evil spirit did not choose to continue putting Yotsuya Miko into its mouth. Instead, it grabbed Yotsuya Miko with one hand and used its huge wings to create a gale, blowing towards Hikigaya in an attempt to slow down his progress.

Hachiman Kohiki gathered his spiritual power in front of him, forming a cone shape, and continued rushing towards the high-level evil spirit.

Realizing that it was impossible for the bird-headed demon to take Yotsuya Miko into the sky before Hachiman Hikigaya arrived, it decisively gave up on flying. It stuck its sharp feathers into the ground, stirring up countless pebbles that hurtled towards Hachiman.

Sure enough, compared to wind alone, the obstacles mixed with rocks and dust greatly slowed down Hachiman's speed.

To avoid injuring his eyes, Hachiman Hikigaya had to protect his eyes with his hands and slow down as he charged toward the bird-headed man.

Seeing that Hachiman Hikigaya's speed had greatly decreased, the bird-headed demon felt that his threat had instantly diminished.

After all, no matter how powerful Hachiman Hikigaya's demon-slaying sword is, it poses no threat if it can't hit him.

As it flapped its wings, the bird-headed evil spirit summoned several small tornadoes that appeared around it, instantly transforming the sea of ​​fire left behind by the samurai evil spirit into a powerful fire tornado.

After taking a satisfied look at his work, the bird-headed evil spirit flapped its wings, and a fire tornado roared as it pounced on Hachiman Hikigaya.

"This is troublesome..."

Seeing the fire tornado in front of him, Hachiman Hikigaya's heart skipped a beat, and he involuntarily stopped running.

Fear of fire is not just an animal instinct; humans also feel fear when faced with such intense heat.

but!

He hesitated for less than half a second before Hachiman regained his speed, braving the fire tornadoes that scorched his skin as he broke through the obstruction set up by the bird-headed demon.

“Go to hell!!!”

The bird-headed evil spirit, which had already flapped its wings and flown more than two meters off the ground, suddenly heard Hachiman Hikigaya's angry roar.

It looked down and around, trying to find his location, but the sharp blade slid down from above.

Immediately afterwards, Hachiman Hikigaya, engulfed in flames, descended from the sky and severed the bird-headed demon's hand that was holding Miko Yotsuya with a single slash.

Yotsuya Miko fell to the ground along with the evil spirit's severed hand.

As she watched the ground getting closer and closer, she closed her eyes in fear.

However, the expected impact, dizziness, and pain did not occur.

A pair of strong arms caught her firmly!

Opening her eyes, Yotsuya Miko looked at Hikigaya, whose face was blackened by flames, and a complex emotion flashed in her eyes.

She had only met him once, yet he had saved her time and time again. How could she possibly repay his kindness?

However, just as Yotsuya Miko was lost in thought, Hikigaya Hachiman threw her out.