Chapter 126: Battling The Three Deadly Yokai Kings, Chasing After Ryujin

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The three ninjas released their Spiritual Auras in full force, getting ready for the intense fight ahead as the three Yokai Kings began to slowly move toward their chosen prey with predatory intent.

"I assume you can take care of the Inugami and the Skeleton," Riven muttered smoothly, not even blinking as the powerful shockwave from their auras ruffled his hair. He did not draw his weapon yet. Instead, his crimson eyes locked directly onto Ryujin, who remained safely entrenched behind the three mythical beasts. "I’ll handle the source."

Ryujin’s spectral ghost-like avatar laughed at his boldness, the sound echoing with mocking confidence.

"Kagehisa, show me if that divine inheritance of yours is worth the trouble I went through to purge your curse, will you?" Before anything else, Riven wanted to see exactly what the young ninja could do against that annoying spectral avatar and the beasts under its control.

Kagehisa’s arrogant smirk widened into a predatory grin. The sheer influx of leftover energy from the recently purged curse was making his skin tingle with untamed power. He was overflowing with a large quantity of it, ready to unleash everything into the world around him. "Watch and learn, Riven," he barked with rising excitement.

With a deafening crack of displaced air, Kagehisa launched himself forward at incredible speed. He did not use the ground at all. Instead he ran directly up the vertical, undulating body of the massive Mizuchi dragon. Masa and Mune blurred in his hands, leaving long trail lines of dark, condensed shadow that cleanly sheared through the beast’s supposedly impenetrable scales.

"SHYAAAAGGGHHH!"

The Mizuchi hissed in fury and slammed him hard with its giant tail, sending him crashing through the wooden floor and shattering it completely. He fell three floors below, and the dragon followed without hesitation.

As Kagehisa fell through the air, he spoke loudly so his retainers could hear. "Ren! Goki! Hinata! Secure the flanks! Don’t let a single one of these oversized pets breathe on our Master!" Kagehisa commanded from mid-air while unleashing a rapid wave of slashing attacks. The Mizuchi hissed and twisted to avoid the worst of them, counterattacking with its giant claws that tore through walls and support beams.

Kagehisa laughed wildly, leaping higher into the room above in a single powerful motion as the giant dragon broke through walls and ceiling to chase him without pause.

RUMBLE!

At the same time, Kagehisa’s three retainers answered the call without hesitation.

"Understood," Ren whispered. He vanished completely from sight, his absolute zero presence making him invisible even to the supernatural senses of the three-headed Inugami. A second later, dozens of razor-sharp shadow threads snapped taut around the wolf-spirit’s legs, slicing deep into its spectral tendons.

SLAAASH!

"GRYAR?!"

The Inugami let out an agonizing cry as it slammed heavily into the floor, but then it growled with pure fury and swung its massive claw, narrowly missing Ren who disappeared just in time.

Another set of threads appeared around its arms, attempting to slice them clean off, but they only reached the bone this time. Ren’s eyes widened slightly at the unexpected toughness.

"GREHAHAH...!"

The Inugami laughed with all three of its heads at once, pulling Ren back toward it with terrifying strength as it opened its jaws wide to devour him whole.

"Tsk!"

Ren cut his own threads without hesitation and threw dozens of explosive shuriken into the internal jaws of the Inugami’s heads, forcing it back with a series of sharp detonations.

The Yokai King was not so easily defeated, however. It quickly regrew new legs and stood back up once more, ready to continue the fight.

Riven could not quite size up their exact levels and ranks, but they were clearly linked to the summoner. They were surely immensely strong, yet unable to fully manifest their true power here without enough resources and a proper summoner supporting them.

At most they were at the peak of C Rank... bordering on B Rank! Even so, they were not something he or the people around him could not handle if they worked together and used everything they had at their disposal.

"OOOOHHHHH!"

And just as he thought that while walking steadily toward Ryujin, the gigantic skeleton known as the Gashadokuro roared with a ghostly voice. It released phantasmal, soul-burning flames toward Riven at the same time as its giant hands loomed over him like falling mountains.

Riven released his Ghostly and Spiritual Pressures combined, pushing the massive hands back just long enough for a red blur to appear and engage the threat.

"Let’s see if these old bones can handle a real workout!" Goki laughed boisterously. His fully blackened, metallic fists ignited with the explosive force of a volcanic eruption as he threw a devastating lunging punch straight into the Gashadokuro’s shin.

BOOOM!

"GAAAAAHHHA?!"

The Gashadokuro roared in pain and fury. Its glowing eyes, made of pure red flames, blazed with infernal rage as it chased Goki with its massive arms and attacked him from every angle continuously, shaking the ground and the ceiling while destroying large sections of the floor.

CRAAASH!

CRAAASH!

CRAAASH!

Goki laughed while running around and jumping with impressive dexterity. If there was one advantage he held over other ninjas, it was his hybridized combat style.

He had been raised as both a Shinobi and a Monk, becoming incredibly tough and capable in close-combat battles while still possessing a ninja’s agility and deadly assassination arts.

As he threw explosive kunai at the giant skeleton, the monster — unable to manifest its lower half — remained mostly a giant upper skeletal torso floating through the air while chasing after him relentlessly.

Riven finally had the time to reach Ryujin as all of this chaos unfolded. Label appeared behind him a moment later, teleported safely by Noir’s shadows. Meanwhile the wolf and Ren continued their battle against the Inugami, and Hinata assisted Goki in holding back the Gashadokuro.

"I have to say, your ninjas are really useful," Riven said with a calm smile as he stared at the spectral figure. "They’ll help me smooth out my lunch before I take them down myself."

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