The Black Forest

I watched Yulong and the others from up in the tree. Once I understood that Yulong and the others were going to hunt the Red-Eyed Bear, I decided to observe them.

When Yulong saw the Red-Eyed Bear ahead, he suddenly stopped.

“Yulong, want to try?”

Asked that question, Yulong shook his head violently and refused.

“I only just started learning Dragon Qi Sword Art. A Red-Eyed Bear is impossible for me.”

I heard Yulong’s words. It was a strange thing to say. If it was a yōma on the level of a Red-Eyed Bear, he should have been able to defeat it with the Heavy Resonance Sword he had trained in before learning Dragon Qi Sword Art. In the end, he had probably started learning Dragon Qi Sword Art while his Heavy Resonance Sword was still half-baked too.

I wondered what level Yulong’s qi had reached. To train in Dragon Qi Sword Art, he should have needed to reach around the Tenth Tier, or he would not even be able to use dragon qi.

It seemed Daaren would fight the Red-Eyed Bear. Daaren stepped forward with his treasured sword and broke into a run. The moment he closed to within five meters of the Red-Eyed Bear, he swung the treasured sword and released the dragon qi blade of Dragon Wing.

The Red-Eyed Bear seemed to notice it was being attacked, but it only let out an intimidating roar and did not dodge. As a result, the dragon qi blade severed its long-furred neck, and the Red-Eyed Bear collapsed while spraying blood.

“Incredible. As expected of you.”

Yulong praised Daaren.

“This much is child’s play. More importantly…”

Daaren suddenly drew his treasured sword and activated Dragon Wing toward me.

“Damn it.”

When Yulong saw me kick off a tree branch and jump down to the ground, he grinned.

“Kou, so you were hiding there. Were you scared of us?”

I ignored Yulong and focused my attention on Daaren’s movements.

“Hey, don’t ignore me.”

What a noisy guy. Keeping my eyes on Daaren, I circulated Floating Yang Qi and Heavy Yin Qi inside my body. Daaren noticed that and looked at me as if appraising me.

“That is a stable qi flow. I cannot let my guard down.”

“Senior Brother Daaren, what are you saying? We are Taoist practitioners of the same Gyorei Cave.”

“Hmph. That is exactly what I dislike about you. You are just a brat, but you get on my nerves.”

The moment he said that, Daaren attacked with his treasured sword. I jumped backward to dodge and began fleeing with all my strength. Daaren and Yulong chased after me.

I used Lightness Skill and increased my speed. Yulong began falling behind, but Daaren followed with ease. While thinking that he was impressive, I considered what to do. If I fled at full speed, I felt I could shake off Daaren as well.

I was fleeing north. If I continued like this, I would reach the Black Forest northwest of Mount Gyorei. The Black Forest was a forest northwest of Mount Gyorei that spread from the middle layer of the demon realm to its outer edge. It had many trees thick with dark green leaves, and the entire forest was dim, which seemed to be why it was called the Black Forest.

The problem was that powerful yōma lived in the Black Forest. If I entered the Black Forest like this, I might encounter them.

“Die!”

Daaren released Dragon Wing from behind me. I jumped sideways and dodged it. Because of that, the distance between Daaren and me shrank. That attack probably had not been meant to finish me off, but to stop my feet. I had thought I could escape, but I had been naive.

Immediately after I entered the Black Forest while dodging the Dragon Wing strikes released from time to time, my Lone Awakening Eye caught the presence of a yōma. I felt my face twitch despite myself. That yōma was releasing demonic qi even more intense than a Thunder Bear.

I saw the figure of a tough-looking yōma a little distance away. It was a large black tiger called a Black Wind Tiger. Its body was about four meters long, and its fangs looked like transparent crystal. It was not a yōma normally encountered in the Black Forest, so it seemed to have drifted here from somewhere else.

Danger, danger—those words repeated in my head. I used Lightness Skill and ran up the trunk of a tree.

“You won’t escape just by climbing a tree.”

Daaren had not noticed the Black Wind Tiger yet. He had probably been focused on chasing me. But he would notice soon.

When the Black Wind Tiger roared, it began running toward us. Daaren, who noticed it, showed a surprised expression and pointed his treasured sword at the Black Wind Tiger.

“Shit, a trap!”

Daaren shouted. No, no, I had not set any trap. This was the result of coincidences piling up. It was true that I had lured them to a place where Red-Eyed Bears lived, but that was to shake off their tail.

The Black Wind Tiger attacked Daaren. Its sharp claws swung down to tear Daaren’s body apart. Daaren jumped backward to dodge them, then activated Dragon Wing toward the Black Wind Tiger as if in return.

The dragon qi blade hit the Black Wind Tiger and sliced open the surface of its body. That attack should have been a Dragon Wing that Daaren had activated with all his strength. However, it could not inflict a deep wound on the Black Wind Tiger.

This Dragon Wing used much more dragon qi compared to the one he had used during the mock battle with Kanru. The fact that even so, he could not inflict a deep wound told me that the Black Wind Tiger’s defensive power was quite high.

Daaren seemed to judge that close combat was disadvantageous. He began fighting by keeping his distance and making heavy use of Dragon Wing. Whenever the Black Wind Tiger tried to approach, he leaped away and tried to maintain his own range. Daaren was better than me at that kind of maneuvering.

Each time Dragon Wing activated and the dragon qi blade sliced the Black Wind Tiger, the Black Wind Tiger seemed to gradually weaken. When Daaren became certain of his victory, the Black Wind Tiger began a strange movement.

It began by gathering demonic qi in its mouth. The demonic qi gathered in its mouth flowed into its transparent fangs, and the four fangs shone white. The next moment, a roar burst from its large mouth, and that became transparent fangs that pierced Daaren’s right shoulder.

“Gah!”

Daaren’s movements stopped, and the Black Wind Tiger approached and slammed its large, sharp claws into him. Daaren’s body flew like a tennis ball, struck a tree, and dropped heavily to the ground.

Seeing that sight, I was stunned. Until just a moment ago, I had thought Daaren would win and had been thinking about what I would do when that happened.

After defeating Daaren, the Black Wind Tiger looked up at me in the tree. It was covered in blood, but its whole body was brimming with fighting spirit, and its will to fight had not weakened. I shuddered.