Swallow Return

The giant hungry ghost's two arms, though as thick as a hundred-year-old tree, sent four large creatures flying in one go: the faceless monster, the brown bear, the mantis woman, and the giant tortoise. It also suffered a considerable backlash, with pieces of rotten flesh falling to the ground like flying dust, and many fine cracks appearing on its bones.

And the knife in Lady Guidie's hand was certainly no ordinary item.

Two flashes of cold light touched the thick, hard white bone, producing a sharp, piercing metallic scraping sound.

Then the giant hungry ghost's arms were severed at the elbows and fell to the ground with a "bang".

Just like when a tree breaks and falls, it shakes the ground and stirs up countless dust particles.

Then the two thick arms were quickly severed and shattered.

These two leaps and slashes in mid-air were opportunities that the loyal minister had painstakingly created, and they had used all of Lady Guidie's strength.

Upon landing, she was panting heavily, her chest heaving, and she felt quite exhausted.

Fortunately, the attack was effective.

No matter how powerful someone is, losing both arms will still cause them immense suffering, right?

Lady Guicho and the bathhouse yokai had dealt with the "gaki clan" before and already had combat experience against them.

however--

"Hehehehe..."

The giant hungry ghost, its arms severed, showed no sign of defeat, only letting out a hoarse, shrill, and piercing laugh.

As the laughter echoed, the broken bones and rotting flesh on the ground suddenly transformed into specks of light, rising and gathering on the giant hungry ghost's severed elbow. In an instant, the two arms reformed, returning to their original state.

"what?"

Lady Guidie was instantly horrified.

Dozens of bathhouse monsters couldn't help but wail upon seeing this.

At the cost of four core combat members being injured, the enemy's arms were severed, and they immediately grew back?

Everyone already knows that a magic circle exists in Kyoto today, which can continuously revive the yokai that have signed contracts. However, such revival takes a certain amount of time, at least ten or twenty minutes, enough time to leave the battle site and go to the southeast suburbs to get reinforcements.

Could it be that the magic circle works differently on different monsters?

This giant hungry ghost leader, half-skeletal and half-rotten flesh, could instantly regenerate his severed limbs within the magic circle.

"Ha ha……"

The giant hungry ghost leader laughed again, stretching out his arms and repeatedly and carefully surveying the surroundings from all angles.

This guy's face was half bone and half rotting flesh, so he couldn't show any expression, but you could imagine he was very pleased with himself right now.

"I thought the Takeda family was just using some petty benefits to trick the monsters into signing contracts, but I didn't expect them to actually put up such a lot of capital. But it's still wishful thinking to think they can control me with just that."

The giant hungry ghost leader muttered something unrelated to himself, while simultaneously raising his hand to launch another attack.

The four main fighters of the bathhouse monster have been injured, but this has had no effect whatsoever.

But the remaining members still stepped forward without hesitation.

Some charged with swords and knives, others launched arrows and hidden weapons, or used magic to attack, or strengthened their teammates.

Under the cover of a cold wind, the giant hungry ghost leader's palm struck down more than a dozen bathhouse monsters instantly, like a stone hammer smashing down on a flock of chickens.

His own size made it difficult for him to dodge, and he was attacked by countless swords, arrows and spells.

Bone fragments and bits of flesh flew everywhere, leaving the half-skull, half-zombie body in a mangled state.

But the giant hungry ghost leader didn't care at all.

Anyway, he can recover at any time.

"Young Miss, you should retreat for now!"

A frog-shaped monster puffed out its cheeks and spewed out a powerful, corrosive water arrow in an attempt to stop the giant hungry ghost leader from getting close. It then immediately warned Lady Guidie loudly.

"Yes, Miss, you should go first!"

"Hungry Ghost Skeletons aren't good at chasing, you should retreat for now!"

Many little monsters echoed this sentiment.

This is the shared sentiment of all the yokai in the bathhouse.

That's quite true.

The giant hungry ghost leader was so enormous and possessed immense strength that it could inflict considerable damage simply by waving its arms to create a gust of yin wind and then striking with its palm. Now, it seemed to have mastered a method for rapidly regenerating its limbs, making it completely immune to any harm.

It's unwise to fight them head-on. Sixty or seventy bathhouse monsters might not be able to defeat one of them. Besides, even if they could, the opponent might be able to revive. It's better to take a roundabout approach.

No matter how powerful the opponent is, there is only one person... no, only one monster. There is no way they can intercept and surround him.

Lady Guidie was resolute and decisive, and immediately nodded, saying, "Don't worry about me, everyone split up and retreat! Don't fight this big guy recklessly!"

After saying this, to prevent the bathhouse spirit from getting attached, she turned and ran away without hesitation.

Although this was the shortest route to the military camp in the southeastern suburbs of Kyoto to fetch reinforcements, and bypassing it would take a lot of time, Lady Kicho knew that her own survival was the most important thing. Those who died, or the yokai who died, could no longer contribute to this fierce battle.

However, before she had taken more than a few steps, she suddenly felt a strong wind and surging air behind her, and a terrifyingly powerful force suddenly appeared.

Moreover, Lady Guidie felt that this power was somewhat familiar, as if she had encountered it not long ago.

But beyond the familiarity, it seems that new elements have emerged.

Chapter 169 Liu Yun's Rescue

The giant hungry ghost skeleton did not seem to possess any mysterious and amazing magical treasures or supernatural abilities like other powerful monsters.

He only needed to move his arms, which were two zhang long and as thick as a water vat, and swing them like an iron hammer, and that was enough.

The ensuing gusts of cold wind will make people sluggish and weak.

The hand, half bone and half rotting flesh, was wider than a door panel and nearly a foot thick. Wherever it went, it would swat away a swarm of mosquitoes at once, just like swatting mosquitoes.

It's not that you can't fight the bathhouse monsters.

On the contrary, they are known among the yokai of Kyoto for their bravery and fighting prowess.

However, when faced with an enemy of such a completely disparate scale, they are utterly unable to perform to their full potential.

This enormous skeletal leader of hungry ghosts was roughly ten times the height of an average person in modern Japan. Logically, its weight must have been several hundred times that of a normal male.

This gap is even greater than the gap between a heavyweight boxing champion and a Chihuahua.

Originally, there were sixty or seventy bathhouse monsters, but under the leadership of Lady Kicho—whom they called Miss Kicho—they were quite capable of putting up a fight.

However, this giant hungry ghost skeleton still has the ability to instantly heal its injuries and reattach its limbs!

Therefore, Lady Guidie made a decisive decision and ordered everyone to scatter and flee, without lingering in battle.

The Hungry Ghost Skeleton was already one of the most difficult monsters to deal with in Japan, and now it has the help of a sinister magic circle in the sky above Kyoto.

Lady Guidie believed that even a thousand elite soldiers would be no match for this terrifying monster.

By taking a roundabout approach and preserving our strength, we will never lose face.

however--

She had just turned around and taken a step when the unexpected happened.

That was a flash of light.

The blade flashed forward relentlessly.

Like a white rainbow piercing the sun, a comet striking the moon, or a dragon emerging from the water, or an eagle soaring through the sky.

From this swift and powerful momentum, one can sense the confidence and decisiveness of the person wielding the knife.

Despite the obvious crisis, Lady Guidie sensed this powerful aura and couldn't help but turn around to look.

Then she saw a figure she had only known for a short time, yet who had already become very familiar with her, wielding a sharp blade, slicing through the sky, flying from the west, aiming straight for the chest of the giant hungry ghost skeleton leader.

"It's Sasaki Ryūun..."

Lady Guidie subconsciously felt at ease.

For a moment, she even forgot to consider whether Sasaki Ryuun truly had the ability to defeat a powerful enemy.

"Ok?"

The giant hungry ghost skeleton leader uttered a hoarse, shrill word from its throat, which was made of bones and rotting flesh.

Just now, this guy ignored the simultaneous attack of dozens of bathhouse monsters and instead waved his hand to knock several of them away.

With the blessing of the magic array today, he has no need to worry about his injuries at all.

However, faced with the sudden attack from the west, the giant hungry ghost skeleton subconsciously felt threatened and dared not be careless. It hurriedly retracted its hands and crossed them in front of its chest to protect itself.

With a clang, the sound of metal rang out, and a thick, long arm made of white bone and rotting flesh was severed and fell to the ground.

This should be an experience the giant hungry ghost skeleton is already used to.

Just now, Lady Guicho, with the help of four bathhouse monsters, severed both of this guy's arms with her elbows, but it was still to no avail, and he recovered instantly.

So far, it's just that one arm is gone.

However, there seems to be a difference.

The previous time, the giant hungry ghost skeleton remained unmoved, quietly watching its arm reconnect under the effect of the magic circle.

But at this moment—

"Ah-ah-"

The creature suddenly let out a heart-wrenching scream.

Although his face, covered in bones and rotting flesh, showed no expression, it sounded extremely painful and angry.

The thick, long arm, made of bones and rotting flesh, fell heavily to the ground, raising a cloud of dust. Unlike before, it did not immediately turn into points of light and reassemble back at the broken end.

But -

Instead, it exploded with a "bang," turning into a dozen or so normal-sized ordinary skeletons, piled up haphazardly.

The ordinary skeletons were stunned for a moment, then scrambled to their feet, muttering to themselves in confusion, "I...I've appeared again?"

"Aren't you part of the leader anymore?"

"This is how it was hundreds of years ago..."

At the same time—