Having secured the Fox Bead, Su-ho imdiately opened up so distance.
Then he calmly waited for Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune to change.
“......”
But nothing further happened.
Silence.
Why?
Su-ho narrowed his eyes.
Because the Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune he knew was supposed to turn, upon death, into a deadly stone saturated with miasma called the “Killing Stone.”
The Killing Stone’s danger is notorious.
The Killing Stone becos an absolute nuisance with near totem-wide, large-area power... or so I rember.
Yet no change ca.
By the pacing he knew, it should have turned into the Killing Stone by now.
Even watching with Mana Perception showed no clear shift.
A little later, Su-ho realized why.
Right. Looks like the current Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune is an early–Great Upheaval model.
In his previous life, Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune was taken down mid–Great Upheaval season.
Back then, Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune was a 3★ monster.
Now it was only 2★, and because it was still the early season of the Great Upheaval, it apparently wouldn’t enter the Killing Stone phase.
Lucky, in a way.
Still, it’s a sha.
He’d planned to smash the Killing Stone and harvest its potent venom.
There were substitutes for deadly poison, though, so ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) he left off regretting it and moved on to the next step.
[ Guiyeong Spear is summoned. ]
Su-ho summoned the Guiyeong Spear and drove it into Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s body.
[ Guiyeong Spear reacts to Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s shadow. ]
[ Guiyeong Spear absorbs Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s shadow. ]
Busy or not, so things must be done.
A 2★ boss monster is rarer than you’d think.
Feeding even one of these to the Guiyeong Spear is ideal.
Afterward, Su-ho checked the Fox Bead’s details.
[ Fox Bead ]
– Rank: S
# An ancient spirit-gem carried by the evil spirit Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune.
# Contains the powerful yokai force of a fox spirit.
Nothing eye-popping in the description.
But if you et Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune, one of the Three Great Evil Spirits, you must secure the Fox Bead—its core item and source of power.
Su-ho knew exactly how to use it.
[ Guiyeong Spear has completely absorbed Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s shadow. ]
[ Guiyeong Spear is strengthened. ]
Presently, the Guiyeong Spear finished absorbing the fox’s shadow.
No evolution.
That’s fine.
It’s not a one- or two-day affair; it’ll evolve on its own in due ti.
He then used Eye of the Blacksmith and Mana Perception to examine Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s body, but right after harvesting the Fox Bead there didn’t seem to be anything else worth taking.
One last step remained, though.
Tucking away the Fox Bead, Su-ho set his hand on the fox’s blood-gushing corpse and invoked a skill.
[ Bloody Hand activates. ]
Shuaaa!
Vampiric absorption flowed through his palm.
The intake of blood was enormous.
Then—
[ Successfully copied the ability “Foxfire” from the target. ]
[ Great Blood Orb already contains five copied abilities. ]
[ To copy “Foxfire,” you must remove one previously copied ability. ]
[ Remove an existing copied ability? ]
A system prompt.
It was asking whether to copy Foxfire from the gumiho, Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune.
Seeing the prompt, Su-ho grinned.
Of all tis, you give this one now.
A pleasant thrill ran through him.
When you use Bloody Hand on a target you can drain, you can randomly copy one of its abilities.
Given Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune—an old gumiho—there should be shapeshifting arts and other offensive skills. The fact that a buff skill, Foxfire, popped right now? Exquisite.
Su-ho looked over the five skills stored in the Great Blood Orb.
The one to delete was obvious.
He chose Heatstorm.
[ “Heatstorm” has been removed. ]
[ “Foxfire” has been copied. ]
He’d obtained the original, not a copy, of Heatstorm via the Rune of the lting Furnace Dragon.
No reason to keep a duplicate anymore.
Right after Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune vanished completely—
[ A mountain lord has been slain. ]
[ You have received the mountain’s recognition. ]
A short notice.
At once, the scenery shifted, and he returned to the sa fog-choked, humid zone as before.
The stone cairns reappeared before his eyes.
Two remained.
Su-ho kicked down the nearer of the two.
Shrrrk!
As the cairn collapsed, a new path opened behind it.
Without hesitation, Su-ho stepped onto it.
Again the fog lifted and his view changed.
Like with Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune, he was in a quiet forest.
But that quiet peace shattered almost imdiately beneath soone’s screams.
“Kyaaaa!!”
“Please save us! Please! Please...!”
Won’s screams.
Shifting his gaze, he saw swordsn trying to abduct the won.
It wasn’t a simple kidnapping, though.
Only the won were alive; around them, the n—likely their companions—lay dead to a man.
Their outfits were the sort you’d only see in old Japanese period dramas.
Su-ho knew at once whose territory this was.
Swordsn who kill the n and abduct the won... Looks like this is his sector.
He imdiately raised the Guiyeong Spear and hurled it at the swordsn.
[ Throwing Spear activates. ]
[ Shadow Pierce activates. ]
[ Shadow Shackles activates. ]
[ Shadow Bleed activates. ]
Crunch!
High hit rate.
With a delicious rip of flesh, the swordsman with a temple punctured by the thrown spear was blown backward, unable to resist its force.
Naturally, the rest of the swordsn turned their eyes to Su-ho, and at the sight of their faces, he let out a small sound of admiration.
“Wow.”
He was impressed by their faces.
They weren’t human—they were ghosts.
Each wore samurai-like armor, and every one of them had yawning black holes where eyes should be. Just as described.
– Oni Warrior Lv.221
– Oni Warrior Lv.224
– Oni Warrior Lv.223
...
Their levels were even higher than Hakun Konmō Kyūbi no Kitsune’s.
For these small fry to outlevel the fox most likely ant the previous mountain—hers—had just been cleared, and the effect rolled over.
No matter.
High level alone didn’t make System monsters dangerous.
Su-ho tapped the ground lightly.
[ Blessing activates. ]
[ Holy Enchant activates. ]
[ Mana Perception activates. ]
[ Endurance activates. ]
[ Enhancent activates. ]
[ Eye of the Blacksmith activates. ]
Skill effects poured down.
Drawing his blood-sword, Su-ho strode toward them at an easy pace.
“Ts.”
“Ts-tts.”
Sensing his hostility, the Oni Warriors clicked out strange sounds and advanced.
Not all of them ca.
Shrewdly, one seized the two barely surviving won as hostages.
Su-ho clicked his tongue.
“Like master, like minions. What a coward’s play.”
“Ts-tts!”
“Tsts-tts!”
Maybe that line was the spark.
The Oni Warriors charged him like mad.
A ferocious flurry of slashes.
Their movent was, surprisingly, excellent. But—
Slash! Slash! Slash! Boom!!
[ You have slain an Oni Warrior. ]
[ You have slain an Oni Warrior. ]
[ You have slain an Oni Warrior. ]
...
They might be swordsman-warriors—but so was Su-ho.
A man who’d gone to the end of the world on swordsmanship alone.
He wasn’t soone who’d lose to Oni Warriors, at best.
Under his blade, arms and necks alike were lopped without distinction, and the instant they were severed, white fire caught and burned them to ash.
Ghost-aspected enemies—perfectly countered by Holy Enchant—were burning themselves up.
After a few passes, when the Oni Warriors lay finished, the one holding hostages pressed his blade against a woman’s throat.
Su-ho kept walking toward him, expression flat.
The Oni Warrior cut one of the won.
“Kyaaa!”
The survivor scread.
Su-ho didn’t slow.
Only then did the Oni Warrior realize his choice had been pointless.
“Ts!”
The mont he realized the hostage ant nothing, the Oni chose to flee.
Also pointless.
Su-ho imdiately hurled his blood-sword and struck him.
Crunch— fwoosh!
Pierced by the Holy Enchant–wreathed blade, the Oni Warrior caught fire the instant he was run through.
When the last remaining one fell, Su-ho finally turned to the survivors.
The woman cut during the hostage farce hovered on the brink between life and death, her wound deep.
Su-ho laid two skills on her.
In an instant, the wound knit—and she rose as if by miracle.
“H-How...!”
“Th-Thank you...!!”
The two won stamred their shock and gratitude.
Su-ho, uninterested, went straight to the point.
“Where do I go to find Jutan-dongja?”
“Jutan-dongja?”
“The master of these Oni Warriors. Ah—do I have to say Shuten-doji for you to get it?”
Shuten-doji.
Literally “sake-drinking boy.” In Korea, he was better known as Jutan-dongja.
Shuten-doji was one of Japan’s Three Great Evil Spirits. He’d originally been human, but his deeds were so demonic he ca to be treated as a ghost.
Which is why, as a the, he went full oni.
At Su-ho’s question, the woman who hadn’t been cut finally caught on.
“Ah, Shuten-doji! But, um—why are you looking for Shuten-doji?”
“To kill him. I hear he kidnaps only young noblewon—either to make them serve him or to carve off their living flesh and eat it, yes?”
The reason these won were still alive was the sa.
At Su-ho’s words, the won wept and nodded.
“I’ll take revenge on your behalf. Just tell where. It’s my first ti here. By the way, is this Mount Ōe?”
“Yes, this is Mount Ōe. Then...”
At his request, they wiped their tears and pointed in one direction.
It led further into the mountain. After confirming, Su-ho nodded.
“Thank you. I’d help with the funeral if I could, but I’m pressed for ti.”
With that, he summoned Cheolma (Iron Horse) and set off the way they’d indicated.
Suuuaaa!
Cheolma sliced the wind and shot smoothly up the mountain.
A little later, Su-ho spotted a massive fortress built into the mountainside and knew at once it was Shuten-doji’s stronghold. However—
There’s quite a crowd.
A colossal fortress halfway up the mountain.
Inside, there were far more Oni Warriors than the reports he’d received in his previous life.
Not that they frightened him.
His strength already surpassed one-against-a-hundred.
Just... tedious.
He preferred to move efficiently.
But inside, besides oni, there would also be captives like the won from before.
So what?
It was still a fake world made for the System’s amusent.
Su-ho wasn’t an amateur who’d waste pity on illusions before him.
So he reached his conclusion quickly.
He drew a deep breath. And—
[ Mini Breath activates. ]
Fwooooooooooosh!!
Flas roared out.
It was the mont an unprecedented wildfire began on Mount Ōe.
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