Chapter 6 - Haunted Mansion - 2

Yokai Name: Ao nyōbō

Average Level: Wanderer

Danger: F

Also known as ao onna, the blue woman, she is a yokai who likes to dwell in abandoned mansions. She is an ogreish spirit of misfortune and poverty. The Ao nyōbōs have an extreme fixation on makeup. Should you hit them in the face and ruin their makeup, it will activate their berserk status.

Berserk Status. It was the name of the yokai state of fury. The Sakabashira from before was an example of how even the wandering level yokai could increase their strength. But if you could resist the yokai's sudden boost, it would be easier to catch him by surprise as their rage would cloud them.

Souma was ready now. He had cultivated for half an hour, paying attention to any possible noise from the upper floor. As he had surmised, the three yokai who lived in the mansion had divided the territory. The Uwan occupied the space outside the building, the Sakabashira the ground floor, particularly the area near the inner garden, and finally, the Ao nyōbō occupied the upper floor.

So, Souma went up the wooden stairs that led to the upper floor. With every step he took, the wood would creak ominously as if it wanted to signal to the resident of the mansion the presence of an intruder. Considering that Souma had already created a lot of noise with the previous clashes, it was now a useless concern. It was impossible that the Ao nyōbō didn’t know of his presence. She had ignored Souma because he hadn’t yet crossed her territory.

A female figure sat in front of a large mirror covered with a layer of dust. The figure had long black hair tied in a red velvet ribbon. She wore an old and rumpled twelve-layered kimono that made the shape of this figure more imposing. In her hands, she held another mirror, only smaller in size, similar to the ones young women carried around to check their appearance.

Thanks to the light of the moon that had risen in the sky and had peeped through the doors open onto the terraces, Souma could see the face hidden behind this figure. A face covered with a heavy layer of makeup, so much that it was completely white. It also had large dark red lips and two slight pale pink circles around the cheeks. Yet, even though it looked human, there was also something grotesque about that face. Something even makeup couldn't hide.

'It is the Ao nyōbō. She didn’t notice me?' thought Souma in amazement. He had prepared to be ambushed as soon as he went upstairs. But, unexpectedly to his predictions, this hadn’t happened. Instead, the Ao nyōbō was sitting in her place, intent on adding more makeup to her face, oblivious to Souma's presence.

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Souma approached with his hands on the grip of the sword, ready to pull it out at the slightest hint of movement from the yokai. If the Ao nyōbō hadn't noticed him or didn't want to pay attention to him, it wasn't Souma's problem. Instead, it would only make his job easier. He would attack from behind and finish the fight before it even started.

But Souma's hopes didn’t come true. When Souma took another couple of more steps, almost at a distance to unleash his lai drawing technique, the Ao nyōbō stopped putting makeup on her face. She placed the mirror on the ground and, with a bend impossible for humans, turned her neck back. Her ash-white eyes, outlined by a heavy black makeup around the eye contour, looked at the intruder who had dared to set foot in her abode.

“It doesn't matter if you found me out. Intent of the Sword, Cutting Blade!" Souma shouted as he prepared to strike. He was just a few meters away from his target. Since he had already gotten this far, he might as well try to attack.

Souma pounced on the Ao nyōbō at full speed. The yokai, however, wasn’t unprepared and dodged the attack by leaping into the air. Despite the bulky kimono, she managed to jump up almost to touch the ceiling with her head. Then, using the force of gravity, she descended towards the young hunter who had dared to attack her.

Souma dodged to the side, performing a quick somersault to roll away from the yokai's landing area. The Ao nyōbō waved her twelve-layered kimono in frustration when she realized that the human had dodged her attack.

"Blinding Sphere, Sword Intent + Light Blade - Triple Slash!"

Souma decided not to waste time and immediately used a combination of attacks. The Ao nyōbō in front of him was strong. She was a middle third stage wanderer, meaning she had similar strength to him when he was in the Himawari Village. There was only a single phase that separated them. Therefore, since the cultivation gap was low, he couldn’t risk the Ao nyōbō going into a berserk state as it did with the Sakabashira.

Flash!

The sphere of light exploded, blinding the yokai as Souma placed the index finger of his left hand on the blade of the sword. Then, through the Mudra, he increased the layer of light on his weapon, more than he had released against the Sakabashira. At that point, he used one of his sword techniques.

As the name implied, Triple Slash was nothing more than a set of three sword cuts given at high speed. Using the momentum of the whole body, the three cuts were performed without pausing, with a continuous movement of the arms. It was a powerful technique, but it left the user unguarded and easily targeted by a counterattack. For this reason, Souma used his Blinding Sphere spell to cancel this eventuality. Instead, the Light Blade served to increase the cutting power, even more, causing elemental damage on the yokai's body.

Slash! Slash! Slash!

Souma performed a z movement, cutting the throat horizontally, the chest obliquely, and once again the yokai's stomach horizontally. The Ao nyōbō, with her hands halfway over her eyes to shield herself from the blinding light, felt a sensation of heat pervade her body as the pain appeared a few moments later.

"AAAAAHHHHHHH!" shouted the Ao nyōbō as she began to spit blood from her mouth, dripping onto her ash-white layer of makeup.

The yokai's eyes became deep red like blood as her breathing became hoarse and labored. Then, without anymore minding her outer appearance, she tore with her hands what remained of her twelve-layered kimono that had been torn to pieces by Souma's sword. All of this indicated that she was ready to enter her Berserk state despite her severe injuries.

But, Souma wouldn't allow the Ao nyōbō to power up without doing anything. So, he gripped the hilt of his sword firmly with his right hand, bringing it parallel to the ground behind his shoulder. After that, he hit with all the force he could generate.

Whoosh!

Souma's sword cut through the air with ease. The layer of light was still present and helped the weapon reduce friction in contact with the air. The tip of the sword then went to stick into the head of the Ao nyōbō.

With that, the yokai was finally defeated. It had already suffered serious injuries, and the blow to the head had done nothing but ended its agony. Souma took a quick breath. Although the fight was short-lived, he had consumed a lot of spirit power by using multiple techniques in combination. In any case, he had won, and the last yokai that haunted the mansion was dead. The mission could be defined as over.

Souma picked up the yokai core of the Ao nyōbō, leaving the yokai's corpse there. His duty was to clean the mansion from the yokai who lived inside; it wasn’t his job to clean up the aftermath of the battle. In any case, the cleanup crew would take care of taking the bodies of the yokai.

The cleanup crew was none other than mercenaries, usually old hunters, who worked for the Exchange Centers. Generally, exorcism missions were given by wealthy men who obviously wouldn’t appreciate returning to a residence that smelled of dead yokai stench. Therefore, they would require a special cleaning service. It was also a way to make sure the hunter had actually killed any threats, and no last-minute surprises popped up.

'Along the way, there is a small town. I can stop there to get the reward and then head to the oil-stealing mission village.' Souma reflected. So he went out of the mansion, illuminated by the light of the moon.

*

West Prefecture, Prosperous Lands Region, Tea Seed Oil Village

Souma had reached the site of his second mission after a brief stop at the Exchange Center in the nearest town. At the moment, he was talking to the village chief about a problem that was aggravating the village recently.

“Lately, our oil barrels are being targeted. We have suffered numerous thefts, but despite having placed guards to protect the warehouse, we haven’t been able to capture the culprit." The village chief who looked worried complained. For a small village like theirs, oil production represented the village's highest income. Receiving so many thefts would place the entire village in serious financial danger.

"I understand. It is indeed a serious problem. Do you have information about a possible culprit? Traces of footprints or an estimated place where to look? If they carry out their thefts every night or in any case within a few days, the culprit must be nearby. Therefore, there should be signs of their presence here." Souma asked as he tried to formulate hypotheses.

Being an investigation mission, this time, he had to go in blind, not knowing what he would find in front of him. There was also the likelihood that it wasn't a yokai but was instead the work of humans.

“We noticed tiny footprints, like those of a child. But more than sandals, they were footprints generated by clogs. Moreover, there were also traces of a stick. In fact, next to the footprints, there were signs of small but deep holes, as if someone had forced an object against the ground. The footprints go in the direction of the nearby woods, but no villager is a real fighter. We mainly live with the sale of oil. I didn’t want to risk the lives of my villagers, and so I requested help."

"You did well. For people not involved in combat, the woods can present a mortal danger. Aside from yokai, even simple animals can kill a person. Not to mention the possibility that there may be humans involved.

From what you tell me, it would seem to be more the work of a small yokai. I'll see what I can do, but I'm asking you to remove the guards around the warehouse tonight. I'll try to follow the culprit to their lair and see if they have other comrades. Is it okay for you?" Souma asked the village chief.

"Yes, yes. Sure, we can do it. We will trust you then, Sir Hunter." replied the village chief showing deep respect and esteem for Souma despite his young age. This was mainly due to the title of hunter that Souma carried.

For the small villages plagued by yokai, their only hope was these people that were called hunters. Although some despicable hunters took advantage of the situation, there were still many hunters with noble motives or who followed the rules and didn’t harm ordinary people. Hence, hunting was generally a well-regarded profession.

'While it is daylight, I will take the opportunity to take a tour of the village and the outer part of the woods. If my intuition is right, the culprit should be hiding in the heart of the woods. I hope they are alone so I can kill them in an ambush. After all, I didn't just come to investigate; I'm interested in the killing bonus.'