Book 4: Chapter 73: Eldritch Intent

The ancient trees towered like menacing demons, their drab figures scarfed in coiling mist. From time to time, warriors garbed in dilapidated armors would emerge from beyond the shadows while brandishing their weapons.

“Strange…” Lily paused her movements. She ran for so long, yet numerous warriors and trees still thronged her surroundings. Rills of sweat condensed on her forehead, “I’m sure that I’ve already broken through the encirclement. Why do I feel like I’m running around in circles?”

Lily had mowed down dozens of ancient warriors that threatened her course of escape, but there seemed to be no end to them. Was the entire mountain haunted by an army of powerful samurai or something?

“Let’s try another direction.” Lily rerouted her path and attempted to descend the mountainside.

“Huh? The ground is shaking…” Just then, the earth started to shake while the trees swayed violently. As the tremors grew increasingly stronger, the world around Lily began a gradual rotation.

“Why are the ground and sky spinning?! Is this place really so magical?”

The encroaching samurai swayed along with the forest. As they closed in and surrounded Lily, fiendish ghost apparitions accompanied their lumbering figures.

A samurai cloaked in overlapping shadows approached and slashed at Lily. From Lily’s perspective, it seemed as if multiple swords were chopping towards her with greatly enhanced speed and range.

What kind of secret method is this? Are these samurai able to use illusions?

Lily dove into a roll to avoid the blow, but when she got up, her whole body felt limp and disorientated.

“No, this probably isn’t an illusion! Is there something wrong with my body?”

Lily’s chest heaved intensely and layers of fragrant sweat started to meander her smooth skin. The silhouettes of the various warriors in front of her started to blur and blend together, making it impossible to tell one from another.

How can I fight like this?

A sudden killing intent came from behind.

Lily felt the cold sensation tingling her neck and dodged to the side, barely avoiding a heavy sword that smashed into her previous spot.

Killing intent?!

“I see! Although these warriors have no souls, they still retain an iota of tenacious will. Their wills must have been strong for them to possess killing intent even in their current corpse-like states.”

No matter how hard Lily tried to focus, her vision continued to twirl and her movements became sluggish.

Using this opportunity, two ancient warriors ambushed her flank at the same time. One attempted to pierce her with a spear while the other swung a staff in a downward arc.

Lily paced backward in an effort to dodge but stumbled due to the weakness in her legs. At that precarious moment, her body reacted by itself. Instead of immediately rectifying her footing, Lily stored Yasutsuna inside the mirror and embraced the fall. As she fell, she twisted her body in such a way that allowed the tip of the spear to graze the underside of her waist. As the spear brushed by, she used it as support to lay her back directly on the shaft.

She then lifted her slender leg and kicked up.

Boom!

The wooden sandal blocked the incoming staff, causing the heavy impact to transmit through Lily’s flexible waist and suffuse the shaft of the spear below. The transferred force directly pressed the spearhead into the ground, stirring up waves of soil.

Lily performed a handstand on the spear and swapped the position of her hands to spin her waist. Using the greater muscle strength in her thighs, she split her legs and aimed roundhouse kicks at the heads of two ancient warriors, sending them flying.

The spear was left in place.

Lily’s body was so soft and weak that she could hardly stand up. She straightened the thick, three-meter-long spear that was stuck into the ground at an angle. Her slender fingers grasped the shaft of the spear in one hand while Yasutsuna reappeared in the other.

The unrelenting group of warriors encircled her again, one of them dishing out a strike with his greatsword. Lily clung to the spear and used it as a fulcrum to flip into the air upside down.

The greatsword slashed against the shaft of the spear, causing it to vibrate from the strong impact. Lily instinctively clamped her legs around the shaft before slashing outwards with her katana.

The samurai’s arm was cut off.

“So easy?” Lily had a hunch that her struggle in cutting down her previous enemies wasn’t only due to their tough skin and flesh, but also due to her lack of usual power. However, her peculiar posture and movement on the spear shaft somehow allowed her to maintain her usual prowess.

At this moment, Lily felt comfortable while hanging upside down in her somewhat suggestive pose. Why did she experience dizziness, weakness, and incoordination when enacting normal combat movements but felt fine in her current position?

Lily had little time to mull over this question. Right now, she would only stagger and fall after a few steps if she returned to the ground. It was better to use the spear as a pivot to deal with the siege of ancient warriors1!

Several warriors stabbed their long spears towards her simultaneously. Lily strengthened her grip on the shaft and stepped on one of the thrust spears to aid her upward movement away from the rest.

Lily then loosened her hand and clamped her thighs around the spear shaft, allowing her body to slide down. She brandished her katana with both hands while using the spear as an axis to swing and rotate.

Pfft—!

A shimmering blade light spiraled around the spear and butchered all the surrounding samurai.

Not long after she downed these few warriors, another one came and jabbed his sword at Lily. In response, she hugged the spear and swung around to avoid the blow with her legs spread open. When she swerved back around, she pinned the samurai’s head between her legs and flung him to the ground.

With a twist of her waist, Lily threw Yasutsuna into the air and planted her feet on the ground. She dislodged the spear from the soil and spun it above her head. Although she had never wielded a spear before, Lily seemed naturally good with it. The wind howled under the influence of the rapidly spinning spear before it was abruptly shot down, nailing the fallen samurai to the ground.

Several more warriors came over almost immediately. Lily drew the spear and directly hooked the falling Yasutsuna with the three-p.r.o.nged spearhead. Afterward, she flicked it around in an arc.

Swoosh—!

The approaching ancient samurai were beheaded.

Lily felt intoxicated, taken in by the delicate battle style she adopted. The technique complemented her dazed and dizzy state, allowing her to move freely in bizarre and unpredictable ways.

It resembled the Drunken Fist and Drunken Sword from her original world.

Unfortunately, her previous self in that world had such mediocre athletic abilities that it was impossible for him to replicate this feat.

Only… Is this really okay?

Although this was the best way to cope with her body which was under the dual influence of the cursed seal and spring wine, these poses were simply too coquettish and erotic. It seemed the s.e.xier the posture, the more polished her actions became.

This realization sparked shame in the deep recesses of Lily’s boy consciousness as she imagined the provocative movements she was performing time and time again. These shameful emotions somehow aggravated the operation of her aura which boosted her battle performance.

I guess there is no other way out of this situation…

In any case, the usage of suitable battle techniques to match relevant scenarios was the biggest difference between a talented samurai and an ordinary samurai. Lily didn’t follow the routines of a regular samurai— adaptability and courage were her biggest advantages in the face of danger.

Lily’s body grew increasingly hot and steamy. The only way to resist the attacks of these brutal warriors was to succ.u.mb to her lubricious urges and keep making more feminine poses.

“No matter how shameful or embarra.s.sing it is, I’ll do it! I have no other choice!”

Amidst the dangers of battle, Lily comprehended a new set of sword and spear techniques that seemed similar to that of Suzuhiko-hime’s Dance of the Bell Maiden.

Lily’s heart gained a new understanding of her realm, her domain, and her intent.

It had been a while since she created her first ultimate move in Kamakura. After that, she only trained her basic strength and hadn’t explored any new skills since then.

However, in this special state, Lily grasped a new understanding of life and death, strengthening the connection between her body and everything around her.

There was a flash of realization in her mind.

Lily picked up Yasutsuna using the spear and hurled it forward, causing it to pierce deeply into an enemy’s body. She increased her speed and followed the katana’s trajectory to the fallen samurai before pulling it out.

A dozen ancient warriors chased after Lily but she ignored them and kept her back towards the murder-hungry men.

“Sakura Blizzard · Winding Gaze2.”

Lily turned slightly, revealing a charming and leisurely smile. She waved Yasutsuna in a seemingly elegant and soothing manner, but in reality, a terrifying power suffusing with a kind of demonic delight swept out.

Bzzt—!

The blade of light flowed like a translucent crimson ribbon, its powerful spiritual energy containing hints of eldritch intent!

The crescent light seemed to carry the power and splendor of the moon while radiating an added flavor of profound charm.

Soon after the blade of light soared into the air, it diffused into a hundred beautiful sword lights that descended like drizzling rain. The tip of each one was extremely sharp but was trailed by an elegant, ribbon-like stream at the back— just like a woman’s full charm.

This winding slash…brimmed with unending beauty!

Swish! Swish! Swoosh! Fwoosh! Whoosh!

The scarlet shower of light was unstoppable. Dozens of ancient warriors were all pierced by the dazzling lights, raking serious damage among their ranks. The sword beams seemed to target the most powerful ones and showed no mercy in slicing and shattering their tough bodies apart!

“This…this attack…” Lily’s vision still spun, but she could clearly see the cascading rainbow-like blades.

“There are nearly a hundred swords, each containing the power of my normal attacks along with a bit of eldritch intent. This peculiar charm seems capable of unraveling strong and hard defenses. With the aid of the eldritch intent, I can easily penetrate the armors of those warriors by solely relying on my usual output of spirit energy!”

“Eldritch intent and the power of the moon. If I can properly combine these two, perhaps the power of this move will reach even greater heights.”

“Ah…” Lily wasn’t sure whether to feel happy or bitter. She sighed, “Winding Gaze…Lily, this is your new skill. Maybe it’s not what I want in my heart, but as long as it can kill the enemy, isn’t it fine? Hahahahaha…”

The coquettish laughter of the blade maiden echoed throughout the forest3 and the deserted island.

1. Robinxen: Author is intent on making her combat set based on the power of ero.
2. Robinxen: Why does this feel like it should be paired with a wink and a floating heart like in those combat idol anime? Something like “Heart Attack~” or “Full Barrage Style-Mayuyu” from AKB0048 comes to mind.
3. Robinxen: She’s lost the plot.