Tanuki Rise of the Yokai Clan

The sharp blade met Tamazuki's steel-like body.

The ground trembled, and the tunnel was about to crumble once again.

However, Nurarihyon's expression became dignified. "Bring Rikuo away!" He thought Tamazuki was weak, yet the result was way out of his expectation. He knew he couldn't defeat him easily, so all he could do was buy time for his people to take Rikuo away.

Full-Metal.

It was a technique that he developed from the shape-shifting ability of Tanuki.

By using this technique, he turned his body into steel.

He also concentrated his "Fear" on the spot when Nurarihyon's struck him, increasing his defense even more.

Nurarihyon's ability might be cheating, and it made him impossible to be attacked no matter what, yet it had a great weakness. When he used his ability, it was impossible for him to attack, and he could only deactivate his ability when he was about to attack.

In other words, as long as one had a fast reaction, one could easily handle Nurarihyon.

Still, he didn't have much confidence in his dodging ability since luck had always worked in wonder, but the defense was different.

Defense is an absolute thing!

As long as Nurarihyon's blade was unable to penetrate his body, how could Nurarihyon defeat him?

When Nurarihyon was stunned, Tamazuki smashed his entire body like a bulldozer.

This attack was easy to dodge by Nurarihyon, but his body suddenly staggered, and he vomited black blood, yet he was still able to dodge Tamazuki's attack.

"Tch! How disgusting."

Tamazuki had a headache since Nurarihyon's ability was just too buggy.

Meanwhile, Nurarihyon also had a similar reaction. "Poison?"

Was it when he pierced my body?

Nurarihyon couldn't help but think.

Yet, Nurarihyon wasn't the only one, and many of the members of the Nura Clan, who had joined this expedition, also started to feel their entire body was hurt before they vomited black blood. Their vessels seemed to swell and move like caterpillars before they burst open, splattering dirty blood everywhere as they died.

Naturally, those who died were those who had never shown up in the story.

Those who appeared in the story could stand up, and all of them wanted to save Rikuo, who was affected by the poison, so their strength became stronger.

"When?" Nurarihyon asked gloomily.

"Is that important? Since all of you will die here."

Poison manipulation was one of his abilities, but he didn't get it from his tanuki lineage. Instead, he got it from his mother, who was a dog youkai. He wasn't sure how a dog youkai could manipulate poison, but it was all good since it was strong.

As for how he was able to spread his poison, it was from his leaves before.

His leaves were covered with poison, yet the weird thing, it only affected them now, which made him realize how unreasonable the protagonist was.

His poison was so powerful that it was enough to boil the blood and spray out the body of anyone who touched his leaves, yet, it didn't do much to the protagonist.

By now, he knew that except for direct attacks, the rest was useless.

So, once again, he let the world be shrouded by the leaves, but Nurarihyon wouldn't let him go.

Yet, in a close combat confrontation, Nurarihyon realized he wasn't Tamazuki's opponent. He might be good at assassinating but in real close combat? He wasn't Tamazuki's opponent, who had mastered many martial arts.

'Dammit!'

More importantly, the strength of Tamazuki was strong!

Each of their blows was enough to cause a tremble on Nurarihyon's old bones.

Frankly, Nurarihyon regretted everything now. If Tamazuki was weak, he might not think too much since he had killed so many weak youkais in his life, but the strong one was different. More importantly, he could tell that Tamazuki would be the heir of the Shikoku Youkai.

With this enmity, without a doubt, they would attack the Nura Clan without hesitation.

Yet, everything had been forged, and it was impossible to change.

As of now, what he needed to do was to weaken Shikoku Youkai by killing this young, powerful youkai in front of him!

Nurarihyon was about to use his ability again, but suddenly Tamazuki changed his direction and chased Rikuo on all four with a speed that he had never shown before.

"STOP HIM!"

Nurarihyon screamed, and everyone also quickly reacted, trying to stop Tamazuki, but they were all massacred by him.

"YOU WON'T GO PAST THROUGH ME!"

"WE WON'T LET YOU GO AFTER YOUNG MASTER!"

However, Tamazuki didn't meet the two minor characters, who were also guardians and fervent followers of Nura Rikuo. Instead, he went to the side, dodging them, and continued to chase after Rikuo.

The two might be powerful. One had unparalleled strength, and the other was a master of weapons, but their speed? It was impossible for them to chase after Tamazuki!

"STOP HIM! DON'T LET HIM GET CLOSE TO YOUNG MASTER!"

"DAMMIT!"

Everyone was panicked since it was their first time meeting this type of opponent.

Usually, in a fight of youkai, two opponents would face each other until the other was defeated. In other words, whether everything started with trickery, deceit, and conspiracy, in the end, it would end with a frontal battle, whether it was in a group or one by one.

Yet, Tamazuki didn't do that since he went after the most important and weak point of the Nura Clan without hesitation. Still, he really wanted to complain since even if all of them were affected by his poison, they didn't seem to be affected and moved so lively, chasing after him.

"Stand back!"

Tamazuki saw a youkai without a neck standing in front of him, but at that moment, he stopped his steps since he could see several ropes trying to tie him down.

This gave them time to take Rikuo away, which made him even more annoyed.

'If poison doesn't work, then how about this?'

"DIE, ALL OF YOU!"

Tamazuki took a heavy breath before he blew a literal sea of flames from his mouth.

"ARRRGGGHHHHH!!!"

"MY SKIN! MY SKIN!"

"I AM BURNING! SUPREME COMMANDER, HELP US!"

The intense flames burned everyone.

This was one of his abilities as a tanuki.

Flame manipulation.

He wasn't sure of the origin of this ability, but only a few had this ability, including his father.

The fire was burning everything.

The screams of those dying echoed on this tunnel, and those who could run, quickly ran away since this fire was going to burn them to death.

"DIE, YOU LITTLE SHIT!"

Nurarihyon screamed in anger as he brandished his katana. Yet, unlike before, his blade was easily caught by Tamazuki and broken into pieces with his fist.

"ARRRRGGGHHHHHH!!!"

Nurarihyon screamed, yet Tamazuki was still calm, which made him even more restless.

The two fought a bloody battle.

Everyone still alive on this expedition was no longer staying, and they ran as fast as they could.

Nurarihyon even transformed into his peak state. He became taller and had goldish-white hair on his bald elongated head. Yet, even so, he couldn't defeat Tamazuki.

Tamazuki was also all bloody since even if his defense was perfect, he was still young, and his potential hadn't been fully realized. More importantly, Nurarihyon wasn't weak.

Yet, suddenly...

"YOUNG MASTER!"

"TAMAZUKI-SAMA!"

Hearing those voices, Nurarihyon didn't hesitate to leave and escape, especially when his grandson had been evacuated, yet when he saw Tamazuki's eyes, he knew that the future of Nura Clan would be difficult as long as Tamazuki existed, but...

Nurarihyon gritted his teeth as he used his ability and dodged the stone which was thrown by Tamazuki before vanishing.

Even though Nurarihyon disappeared, Tamazuki didn't let his guard down.

"DON'T LET YOUR GUARD DOWN! NURARIHYON CAN APPEAR ANYTIME! WHEN YOU SEE HIM, SHOOT HIM WITHOUT MERCY! I WANT HIM DEAD!"

The mere presence and bloody figure of Tamazuki made them shudder, but they didn't dare to delay his order, and they stood in a place and watched the area without missing a single spot.

All of them worked in a group, and there was not a single blind spot, so the moment they saw Nurarihyon, they would shoot him to death with Thompson M1928 in their hands.

Tamazuki didn't say anything, and his expression was still cold, which caused no one to dare to say a single word. Finally, fifteen minutes later, when he was sure everything was alright, he said, "Let's go back."

Hearing those words, they nodded, but they didn't dare to relax, still vigilantly watching the surrounding area as they evacuated, but before they left, they left some of their human subordinates to save the children who were trapped in the tunnel.

With that battle, the relationship between the Nura Clan and the Shikoku Youkai could only become an enemy.

As for those children, when they woke up, they felt like everything was a dream.

Yet, Kana knew it wasn't a dream since an extra violet crescent moon mark appeared on her left shoulder. Still, she couldn't help but worry whether Tamazuki was alright or not.

As she prayed, Tamazuki, who had returned to Shikoku, started the meeting with everyone on how to deal with the Nura Clan.