nashuaworldcup Chapter 139 The Divine Hunting Squad Hunts Down the Divine Cocoon
Chapter 139 The Divine Hunting Squad Hunts Down the Divine Cocoon
Outside the capital region of the Sakura Kingdom, battlefield wreckage stretches to the horizon.
All signs of life, along with the soil itself, had been drained away.
Five figures traversed this dead land, their military boots making no sound as they pounded the sintered ground.
They are the last trump card of the Sakura Kingdom—the "Godhunter" squad.
Leading the way was the captain, "Immovable" Kenshin.
He was tall and wore traditional samurai armor. The S-rank legendary weapon "Demon Sword Muramasa" hanging at his waist was tightly wrapped in thick white cloth, with only the hilt showing.
His steps were steady, each step precise, his gaze fixed on the massive black silhouette on the horizon ahead.
Beside him stood the summoner Akashi. Akashi was handsome, his magnificent hunting robes spotless, a stark contrast to the surrounding ruins.
He tucked his hands into his sleeves, raised his chin slightly, and looked arrogant.
On the left flank of the group, a figure shrouded entirely in black blended seamlessly into the shadows—the thief "Shadow." Wherever he passed, even the flow of air remained unchanged.
On the right, the elderly Onmyoji Abe leaned on a cherry wood cane, walking with difficulty, stopping to catch his breath every few steps, his cloudy eyes filled with worry.
At the very end of the procession was a girl dressed as a shrine maiden.
She was Yukiko, a special "fox spirit possessed person". She gripped the hem of her clothes tightly with both hands, her body trembling uncontrollably, and three fox tails made of energy behind her appeared and disappeared, restless.
The closer you get, the heavier that ominous feeling becomes.
Finally, they stopped.
A hundred meters ahead, a huge black object stood on the scorched earth.
It is a hundred meters tall, and its surface is not smooth. It is covered with twisted, blood vessel-like protrusions, and it is pulsating slightly at an extremely slow frequency, like a living heart.
The surrounding air was distorted, and light could not be refracted normally.
"This is... Amaterasu Omikami's final form before her descent?" Summoner Akashi's tone held a hesitation he himself was unaware of.
No one answered him.
The Onmyoji Abe trembled as he pulled a blank talisman from his robes and held it out to the front.
The talisman, just exposed to the air a hundred meters away from the giant cocoon, curled up and charred in mid-air without any flames, finally turning into a handful of black ash that drifted down from Ampère's fingers.
Abe's face turned deathly pale instantly. He staggered back three steps before being caught by the "Shadow" behind him to prevent him from falling.
"Calamity..."
Abe's voice was hoarse and dry. "This is not a righteous god of Takamagahara; it is an extremely evil calamity! Its very existence is polluting this land!"
"Nonsense!"
Akashi turned around and scolded, "It's just that the energy is too vast, beyond the comprehension of an old fogey like you! How can mortals fathom the power of a god? This is precisely a manifestation of divine might!"
Kenshin did not participate in the argument.
The Muramasa sword at his waist was emitting a low hum, even through the thick shroud.
This demonic sword, renowned for its murderous intent, is now conveying a complex emotion intertwined with excitement and fear.
His heart was also filled with doubts.
Just then, a buzzing sound came from the miniature communicator on Kenshin's ear, followed by Yoshino's extremely calm voice.
"Godhunter Squad, this is Yoshino."
Abe rushed forward and shouted into his communicator, "Your Excellency! The plan has changed! There's a problem with the offering! This thing is definitely not Amaterasu Omikami! We must evacuate everyone immediately..."
"Abe," Yoshino's voice interrupted him, "Your duty is complete. Now, command is handed over to Captain Kenshin. You must not speak again."
"Your Excellency, you..."
Communication was unilaterally cut off.
In Kenshin's communicator, only Yoshino's voice remained.
"Kenshin, I don't care what that is. Now, I am ordering you in the name of the highest-ranking officer of the Joint Command."
In the underground command center, Yoshino stared at the five dots representing the "Godhunter" squad on the screen, his eyes filled with the ashes of a burnt-out team. He ignored the warning that had just been given and issued the final order.
"Destroy it at all costs."
The commands are simple, direct, and leave no room for ambiguity.
Kenshin remained silent for a moment, then replied with a single word: "Yes."
He stepped forward and placed his hand on the hilt of the knife.
The unexpected happened at that moment.
"ah--"
A suppressed scream came from the back of the line.
Yukiko suddenly raised her head, her originally clear pupils completely filled with an eerie red light.
She stared intently at the giant black cocoon in the distance, her face showing an expression that was a mixture of extreme pain and extreme longing.
The giant cocoon was like a black hole, frantically pulling at the fox spirit power within her body.
"Yukiko!" Kenshin shouted.
In response, the three fox tails behind Yukiko instantly swelled up, transforming into a torrent of crimson energy.
She was propelled by an invisible force, uncontrollably rushing towards the giant cocoon.
The ground beneath Kenshin's feet shattered with a deafening roar, and he vanished from the spot.
The next instant, he appeared in Yukiko's path of charge, without drawing his sword, but instead using the scabbard covered with thick cloth to block Yukiko's path horizontally.
He tried to stop her.
But it was too late.
The S-rank fox spirit power that was detonated within Yukiko collided with Kenshin's S-rank demon sword Muramasa in the most direct way.
The two completely different forces collided, causing space to collapse for a moment. A visible white shockwave silently spread outwards from the two of them.
The shockwave swept across the ground, carving a circular trench several meters deep into the scorched earth.
Akashi and Abe were thrown out by the blast wave, and managed to regain their footing in mid-air.
Only "Shadow" disappeared into an inconspicuous shadow on the ground just before the shockwave arrived, completely unharmed.
At the epicenter of the impact, Yukiko groaned, spitting out blood. The red light in her eyes faded, and her body slumped to the ground.
Kenshin stood still, his sword-wielding stance unchanged. The scabbard he used for parrying, along with the thick cloth wrapped around it, had turned to dust, revealing the hellish dark red blade of Muramasa.
He glanced down at the unconscious Yukiko in his arms, then looked up at the giant cocoon in front of him.
Click.
A soft sound, like an eggshell cracking, clearly reached everyone's ears in the deathly silence of the battlefield.
On that seemingly indestructible black cocoon, right where Kenshin's gaze fell, a spiderweb-like crack quietly appeared.
The spiderweb cracks on the black cocoon continued to widen, and large chunks of black material peeled off, falling onto the scorched earth and turning into black water.
A harsh, sticky sound squeezed out from the depths of the crack. The sound didn't travel through the air; instead, it exploded directly inside everyone's skulls.
The scraping sound of rusted metal mingled with the crackling of breaking bones, forcibly piecing together a harsh sentence.
"To become...my nourishment!"
As the syllable fell, the surrounding gravitational field shifted.
"Ahhh, my ears..."
Abe covered his ears tightly with both hands, dark red blood flowing out from between his fingers and dripping onto the withered cherry wood cane.
Kenshin placed the unconscious Yukiko at his feet and gripped the hilt of Muramasa's sword with both hands.
"Good timing!"
The dark red blade emitted a high-frequency hum, which caused his hand to split open, and blood dripped from the blade onto the ground.