The leaves rustled as the autumn wind blew past.
Under the illumination of the pale moonlight, the bloodstained Demon Hound finally couldn’t remain standing anymore as it fell onto the ground. When it suddenly opened its mouth with a furious expression, Lily was scared as she thought it had a change of mind.
However, it fiercely clenched its mouth to smack its teeth, directly snapping one of its fangs as it took flight and hit the wall before it dropped right beside the Demon Hound’s mouth.
Then it said, “My fang is extremely hard. Take it to the smith and have them ground it into powder, then blend it into the blade in the casting process. It can make your sword become more durable and sharp!”
Lily honestly didn’t know what she should say in situations like this, but one thing was for sure, with her own power, she wouldn’t be able to snap the Demon Hound’s fang at all.
“Alright, my life is almost at its end, you… should finish me and give me closure. Can you do it, woman?” While talking, the Demon Hound lowered its head to reveal its neck.
Lily currently had a complicated expression, so much so that she was a little reluctant to kill this Demon Hound. Though it might be a ferocious monster, it was still loyal to its master and didn’t hurt her in the slightest.
However, she knew, she was just a normal female samurai and not some kind of goddess. She didn’t have the power to reverse this situation. The only thing she could do was to let this Demon Hound die without suffering further pain…
It was a proud demon that escaped from Heiankyo and made it all the way to Kanto. And yet, it requested Lily to deliver the final blow.
The Demon Hound had already contained all of its Demon Fury, but its fur and muscles were still extremely tough. If Lily couldn’t kill it in one hit, that would be a great insult to the hound!
“Have a safe trip. You are Fujiwara Ayaka’s loyal hound, if I am fortunate enough to run into her one of these days, I will definitely convey your fidelity to her,” Lily gently whispered beside the Demon Hound’s ear.
Hearing that, the Demon Hound finally shut its eyes. A big teardrop unexpectedly leaked.
Lifting her weapon up high, it divided the moon in two like a thin line. Her tattered sleeves rolled down and exposed her delicate arms. And her breasts that were covered in beads of sweat jiggled along with her powerful movement, showcasing her womanly qualities in full display.1
Lily took on a graceful posture with a gentle look in her eyes. Her black hair also began to rise along with her surging aura and spread like a thin fabric to further cover half of the moon.
Her eyes suddenly shone with a brilliant red as the Demon Maiden Essence revolved around her whole body and concentrated into her arms and sword!
“Yaaaaaaah—!”
Lily brandished the sword with a loud yell.
A perfectly straight red line was formed as the sword fell.2
Half an hour later……
Ryumori Munesaki finally arrived at this canyon with a dozen or more samurai by following the traces left behind by the Demon Hound.
“This is…” Even an expert like Munesaki couldn’t help but gasp with shock.
The eight meters long body of the white Demon Hound was indeed lying atop a pool of blood without any sign of life, but its head was separated from its body.
And the thick neck was sliced so cleanly that it gave off a reflection like that of a mirror.
Munesaki grimly inspected the cut, then he lowered his head to look at the deep cut on the solid rock surface that extended all the way to the wall.
“The Demon Hound… has been killed by someone. Even its anima has been taken away,” Munesaki said with an ugly expression.
At the moment, Lily was already on her way back to Suruga with the Demon Hound’s metal-attribute anima and fang.
Lily believed Hojo’s men would follow the trail of the Demon Hound in pursuit of her, but she was afraid of the possibility that they would split into two groups to intercept her on the way back, that’s why she didn’t dare to go back on the same route. Instead, she was following a hidden trail that was roughly sketched on her map. As a girl with male consciousness, she still reaped some of the strong points of a man, and that’s a great sense of direction3. She managed to find this trail that leads back to Suruga after studying the map for a while. Although it hindered her speed a little, it was safer than going back through the main route.
If Dijon was pursuing her, then she reckoned they should have found the Demon Hound’s corpse by now. After all, the tracks left by the Demon Hound were so obvious, it was impossible for anyone to miss it. The Hojo couldn’t really say they ended up empty-handed since hound’s fur and fangs should still be worth some money. But with regards to their loss and expectations, this was far from what they were expecting to gain.
By the time they found that the Demon Hound was already dead, it would be too late by then to turn back and chase after Lily. And even if they split into two groups to intercept her on the way back to Suruga, it was impossible for them to cut off Lily’s path. After all, Lily didn’t even take that route at all.
The day was already getting dark and the mountain woods was surrounded by lush greenery all around. In front of her was a wide valley connected by a thick tree trunk, which served as a single-log bridge. Below the valley was a bottomless abyss covered by thick fog.
Lily spread out her map to compare and there was indeed a single-log bridge outlined in the map. After crossing this bridge, she would be able to leave Mouth Amegyo with just a little more distance and enter the boundary of Suruga.
Lily felt a burst of joy. As expected, choosing this pathway was the right decision!
Just at this time, a middle-aged samurai with a firm build jumped out from the thicket. His face was dark and resolute, with his back facing the single-log bridge.
That was none other than Matsuda Nagahide.
For a moment, Lily was stunned.
As it turned out, Dijon was not stupid either. He naturally knew there were two paths leading back to Suruga. Although Lily was just a newcomer and very unlikely to know about the pathway, he saw her as an extremely crafty woman. If she didn’t get caught by the dying Demon Hound, then it was very likely that she would really take the long way back to Suruga. However, since Dijon was unable to attend to other things at the same time, he sent Nagahide ahead to destroy the single-log bridge first while accounting for the fact that no one other than him or Munesaki would be able to stop Lily. Then, he would make a U-turn once he made it to the main road. And if he still didn’t encounter Lily on his way back, he would follow this pathway to chase after Lily. That way, he would be guaranteed to catch her!
However, Nagahide didn’t destroy the single-log bridge immediately. Rather, he chose to stand before the bridge in order to clear up everything with the Miss Kagami he ever so trusted.
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