Shota is surrounded by monsters!

Having some knowledge of the subject, Senjougahara directly stated the name of the seal, saying, "We must find the direction of the Gate of Life to get out. But, with your intelligence..."

"Then hurry up and use your superior intelligence to find the right place..."

"No. The other side can also move and change the position of the life gate..."

Shota saw that the guys in front of him were about to recover, which would make it harder to deal with an all-around attack. However, the group behind him seemed to have been held back by the Iron-Faced Maid. Right now, everything above, in all directions was blocked.

Ah... so this is the only move they can use in the end?

Shota glanced down at the unpalatable marble-paved road. If he could, he really didn't want to use the most humiliating way the Taotie could escape.

Digging underground.

But there's nothing I can do.

"I'll just have to take a shower when I get back."

Shota opened his mouth and bit down on the marble, while his two front paws moved at the same time, preparing to start digging.

Actually, the Taotie digs holes very quickly.

"Ok?"

Just as Shota bit into the marble, ready to unleash his full power, he suddenly sensed a terrifying surge of demonic energy erupting from the east. As if echoing the sun, which was gradually shifting to the west, dark, heavy clouds instantly surged in from there.

"On summer nights, a hundred demons would gather at a ruined amusement park and begin a feast for their own monsters. Once a human got lost inside, they would never come out again."

Senjougahara, like the others in the countermeasures office, gazed at the suddenly darkening east and murmured, "This is the so-called Night Parade of One Hundred Demons. However, daytime is always the enemy of the yokai. Now, there is only one Grand Commander who can influence the weather during the day and lead the yokai on their journeys..."

"Nura: Rise of the Nura Clan, the leader of all yokai."

The short, thin old man at the head of the group carried a demon sword on his shoulder, a bamboo skewer dangling from his mouth, and walked forward with a nonchalant air. Behind him were not the Hundred Demons led by Nura Rikuo, but rather the high-ranking yokai officials who hadn't dispersed after the meeting, as well as some ancient yokai.

Only a bunch of old fogies could have such a powerful aura.

"Hey, Rea...maybe the sun really can be...destroyed."

A thought flashed through Shota's mind: if there were enough places where yokai gathered, and the quality of those places was also very high, then that place would surely become the most ideal city in the eyes of the yokai, right?

Chapter 52. Taotie and the Nura Clan

"Awoo."

Mashiro swallowed the soft pudding whole, savoring its delicate texture, completely different from any other beverage. Her eyes crinkled with a smile. Besides, the pudding would eventually dissolve, so she didn't need to worry about Shota disliking her for expelling foreign objects from her body.

But... why haven't they come back yet?

Mashiro checked the time; it had been almost an hour since Shota left, and 40 minutes since Rea left. This meant she had been inexplicably left alone at home. She had originally wanted to go with them, but remembering Shota's and Rea's instructions, she decided to stay home alone.

But I'm so lonely and bored.

After taking off her clothes, Mashiro transformed back into her slime form with a whoosh. She contained the remaining pudding inside her body and digested it as she walked towards Shota's room, which was also her own room.

But halfway there, she climbed back up, her attention drawn to the pudding box on the table.

Shota seems to really like eating pudding...

So she gave up the idea of ​​sleeping, transformed back into human form, walked to Rea's still-open laptop, carefully examined the katakana on the keyboard, and somewhat awkwardly opened the search page using the method Rea had taught her.

After a period of study, Mashiro finally recognized all the katakana characters, which is truly gratifying, as he is no longer illiterate.

She held up one finger and typed a few symbols on the keyboard, eventually piecing them together into a sentence.

How to turn slime into pudding

The first search result was a love story between a slime and a pudding. Upon seeing this title, Mashiro was so angry she almost smashed her computer. Fortunately, she stopped herself in the end.

After deleting those few words, Mashiro only searched for the keyword "Pudding Slime".

"How to catch a Pudding Slime" "I caught a Pudding Slime - Magic Baby"

"..."

Mashiro was stunned for a few seconds, almost got angry again, and finally could only leave the words "pudding".

This time, she finally saw a simple way to make pudding. If you put yourself in the water's place in the recipe, then it's perfect.

"This...this...do we have to cook it?"

"This...this...are we supposed to put it in the refrigerator?"

"Waaah—"

Mashiro looked at the methods described above, which were basically torture for her except for adding sugar, and couldn't help but let out a cry of anguish.

While Mashiro was fretting, on the other side, as the sky in the east suddenly darkened, Shota stopped digging in the ground, and his opponents also stopped attacking.

"Why are you here at this time?"

Shota was somewhat puzzled. Although he had told his master, the old man, after the meeting that he might cause some trouble, the other party's actions were clearly too swift. The demonic aura emanating from him had only appeared a few minutes ago. Logically, they shouldn't have acted so quickly, right?

"You know him?"

Senjougahara was clearly unaware of the relationship between Shota and the Nura Clan. After all, the two hadn't even met in a while.

“My master,” Shota replied casually, then said, “Alright, come down, it’s all over now.”

Now that those ancient relics have been alerted, these humans have absolutely no chance of winning.

Senjougahara silently climbed off Shota, while Rea glanced at him and then followed him down to the ground.

"Nura Clan..."

Upon seeing the Nura Clan's Night Parade of One Hundred Demons appear, all the exorcists warily looked in the direction they came from. This was the first meeting of this scale in decades—during the Edo period, the Nura Clan was at its zenith, and all exorcists could only retreat in their presence. But since Rikuo's father passed away, the Nura Clan had been keeping a low profile.

"them?"

Huang Quan, who caught up from behind, glanced at the group of leaders. They were all monsters she had heard of but never seen before. Their mere aura made her tremble; almost all of them were powerful monsters of the B or A rank.

One-eyed monster, giant centipede, bull demon...

"Half of the Nura Clan's top officers have arrived."

While monitoring Shota's movements with the Kubinuki, Iizuna Kiichi looked at the group of yokai that was approaching them and said, "What is their purpose? Taotie? Do they want to kill him or save him? What a coincidence that all the bigwigs are here."

"Let's ask first. If a conflict really breaks out, we have almost no chance of winning." Jinguji Ayame gestured for Iizuna Noriyuki to stay in her position and maintain the formation, and said, "I'll go alone."

As she spoke, she glanced at Huang Quan, who hadn't made a move yet. Huang Quan was taken aback by his roommate's slightly distrustful look, but he quickly understood.

However, she really had no choice; to attack a "monster" like the eldest daughter of the Sanhua family would go against some of her principles.

"It's quite lively. It's been a long time since I've been out for a stroll. The younger generation of humans have all grown up so much."

The two sides were still more than a hundred meters apart, but Nurarihyon's words were clearly heard by everyone present, followed by the exaggerated and bizarre laughter of the yokai.

"Gaga gaga gaga—"

"Let me think... how many decades has it been since I last participated in the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons?"

Ichimoku pulled his hand out of his sleeve, relit his pipe, and, feeling the vibrant energy of all the yokai around him, he more recklessly poured his own power into the Hyakki Yagyō (Night Parade of One Hundred Demons), saying, "I must say, this feeling is just too good. My blood is surging."

The bull demon remained silent, a knife tucked at his waist, closely following behind the short old man in front. His gaze, however, pierced through the human barrier, landing on the golden beast in the center of the arena.

"That's the true form of Taotie. It looks pretty cool." For these monsters, it was the first time they had seen the true form of this newly appointed high-ranking official.

"That kid, like Lu Sheng, still has a long way to go."

Seeing Shota trapped inside the trap, the old fox grumbled in dissatisfaction, wondering how he should train him when they got back. Being trapped like this was too embarrassing to talk about. Even though having another Taotie in the group would give him something to brag about to the old guys, if he, a Taotie, didn't have the strength to take on a thousand men, he would be the one who lost face.

"Nura: Rise of the Nura Clan, the leader of all yokai..."

Jinguji stood in front of Nurarihyon with two other people, and said in a questioning tone, "I wonder what brings you here."

"The monster trapped inside."

The slippery-tongued man picked his nose inelegantly and said, "What else is there?"

Despite being treated this way, Jinguji's excellent composure didn't cause her to show any unusual expression on her face. She calmly continued to ask, "Life? Death?"

"Hahahahahaha."

The monsters behind him suddenly burst into loud laughter. Ichimoku exhaled a puff of tobacco and said mockingly, "Since when did it become your place to decide life and death among the Nura Clan's high-ranking monsters?"

"Nura Clan..."

Jinguji was halfway through her sentence when she realized that the Nurarihyon in front of her had suddenly turned into a phantom and disappeared from her sight.

"Boy."

"Master."

Shota lowered his head slightly, trying to look at his godfather and master who had somehow appeared in front of him at the same time.

"Pretty capable, huh? You've taken away more than half of Tokyo's human combat power."

Nurarihyon practically ignored the barrier—no, the array had mysteriously disappeared before he even entered. Shota turned to look around and noticed that three exorcists still faintly carried Nurarihyon's shadow behind them, and judging from their appearance, they seemed to have been kicked hard.

"..."

Shota wasn't sure if it was a compliment or sarcasm.

"Ha, hehe." Nurarihyon originally wanted to tease Shota, but when he saw the two girls behind him, he patted his paw and said, "You have the style of my old self. Back then, for my wife, I turned Kyoto upside down and brought back a lord of yokai."

"...It's a misunderstanding!"

"Well, young people don't need to worry about these things."

"Roar, roar!"

Just as Shota was bantering with Nurarihyon, the yokai started yelling and preparing for battle. Nurarihyon then said to Shota, "Let's go back. It's no fun bullying these juniors."

"Hey, would you mind giving this old man a ride?"

"...Well, let's just forget about it."

Being ridden by a man? Absolutely impossible!

"Tch, what a lecherous brat."

As he spoke, he ignored the crowd blocking his way and began to walk leisurely step by step.

"Then let's go."

Shota turned to Rea and said something, but when he saw Senjougahara, he was confused.

After all, the world of yokai is about to begin. We can't let Senjougahara be dragged into this and treated as an outcast by those people, can we?

"Don't worry about my opinion." Senjougahara saw right through Shota's thoughts and said, "I don't care about other people's opinions either."