Shota is surrounded by monsters!

"it is good."

Just a few minutes after they left, an unidentified guest arrived at Sanhua's house.

Shota poked his head out of the bushes, looked around, sniffed twice, and didn't find Rea.

Did they go to school?

Thinking of this, it was still a little uneasy, so it sneaked in while the maid wasn't paying attention. After exploring the Sanhua mansion, it finally found that she wasn't home.

So he went to school. Since he can still go to school, it means nothing's wrong. Was I just worrying?

Shota tapped his head, picked up a fresh fish he'd just snatched from the kitchen, and prepared to head back to class. If he ran, he figured he'd only be one class late at most.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Rea was descending the steep mountain path. Below lay the dry well. If she got there, she could wait there. Shota would definitely find her… She couldn't let Shota suffer any misfortune because of her…

"Huh, huh."

Her breathing became heavy. After running for so long, Rei felt like her feet were on fire. Now she didn't even have the strength to run anymore, and could only slowly move forward step by step.

"Where are you going, Rei?"

The voice behind her made Rei tremble. She turned around in disbelief and saw her father, the butler, and the two exorcist girls staring at her.

"Going for a forest bath? That's a bit of a walk."

Sanka Danichiro looked at his daughter, whose face still showed surprise, and said, "Is that so?"

"..."

Rei silently placed her hand on the rock beside her, not daring to answer her father's question.

“Come home with me. I know you must have been bewitched by a demon to become like this. These two are the best exorcists; they can definitely remove these influences.”

Sanka Danichiro took off his gloves and slowly walked towards Rea, saying, "I will protect you. Because you are the eldest daughter of the Sanka family, my most beloved daughter."

"don't want--"

Rea slapped away her father's hands, which were trying to touch her face.

"Why? Were you really affected by the demon?" Sankadan Ichiro sighed and said, "It's alright, you'll be fine when we get back."

"I was not affected by the monster."

Rea lowered her head, her body trembling slightly, and said, "Father, I am indeed your daughter. But that doesn't mean my body and soul must belong to you. Even just a little bit would be enough..."

"Please give me my freedom..."

"Freedom?" Sankadan Ichiro said as if he had heard something amusing, "Giving you the freedom to play with yokai? I'm protecting you, Rea..."

Before Rei could get home, he forcefully grabbed her hand and dragged her back.

"Wait, Father, please wait a moment."

Rea wanted to explain, but found that she was nothing in front of her tough father.

"Just this once...please give me this one chance to be free..."

"No! What nonsense are you talking about, Rei?"

Sanka Danichiro ignored his daughter.

"Can't you just listen to her, meow?"

Just then, at the foot of the mountain, a somewhat childish voice clearly reached the ears of everyone present.

Shota watched for about a minute. At the same time, he spotted Rea and the two exorcist girls who seemed to have an unusual connection with him, following behind Rea's father. He knew that once he appeared, an attack would await him.

But at times like this, who cares about escaping, winning, or the consequences? Taotie is lazy; even its father is too lazy to fight and be chased by humans.

This does not mean that Taotie has no bottom line.

To snatch food from a glutton's mouth, one must be prepared for anything. In Shota's eyes, Rea is his food source. Although Rea has only given him a bowl of instant noodles and sashimi before, it doesn't mean that's all he'll get in the future. To take Rea away is to cut off his food supply.

This is an unforgivable sin.

More importantly, Shota's humanity wouldn't allow him to watch the girl being dragged back crying. He wouldn't then act as if nothing had happened and go back to doing what he was doing, forgetting that he knew such an interesting rich girl.

"Shota-chan! Run!"

Upon hearing Shota's voice, Rea instinctively shouted something downwards, and at the same time...

"Chaotic Crimson Lotus!"

As Izayama Yomi drew his sword, a gigantic spirit beast with the body of a lion and the tail of a snake appeared out of thin air before everyone. Even the head of the Sanhua family was stunned when he suddenly saw such a terrifying thing.

Shota looked up at Rea, who was looking at him with a worried expression, and asked, "Rea, do you want to be a normal person, nya?"

"Run, Shota-chan!"

Although Rea heard Shota's words, after seeing Ranguren's terrifying appearance, she still believed that Shota could not possibly be its match.

At this moment, Yomi Isayama stepped on Ranguren's head and pounced on Shota at the foot of the mountain.

"This time, I will absolutely not let you go again! You monster!"

"I'll ask you one more time, meow: even if you're so poor that you can only afford bottled dry goods and cup noodles every day, and live a life of constant worrying about every penny, do you still want to be a normal person, meow?"

"Quick, go... don't worry about me!"

"Just tell me whether you want to or not, meow."

"...Of course...I want to..."

Rea watched as Shota was about to be swallowed by Ranguren, her legs went weak, and she collapsed to the ground, saying in a choked voice, "But... please... leave quickly, quickly..."

Just as Luan Honglian was only about a meter away from the unknown monster, Isayama Yomi, who was standing on the spirit beast's head, felt a sense of crisis. Without the slightest hesitation, she jumped off Luan Honglian's head.

As the ground beneath the miniature Taotie suddenly cracked open, a phantom of a Taotie the size of an ox appeared on its body. Just as the spirit beast Luan Honglian's teeth were about to bite the phantom, the miniature Taotie's body instantly grew larger, overlapping with the phantom...

"Bam—"

Luan Honglian was sent flying backwards!

"If you're leaving..."

Shota looked up at Rea above him and said in a deep, terrifying voice, "I have to take you with me."

"Why...why do this...I didn't ask you to do anything...You're being so unreasonable..."

"Because I am a monster."

The thick demonic aura emanating from Shota spread out completely, and his originally golden fur, wrapped in black energy, faintly revealed a dark gold color. The crimson look in his eyes grew stronger and stronger, and the breath he exhaled created gusts of wind.

"Monsters are inherently unreasonable."

As he spoke, he lunged directly at Rei.

"Your opponent is here! Roaring Bomb!"

Huang Quan, who had been leaping in mid-air, swung her treasured sword down at Shota. At the same time, Ran Honglian, who had been knocked away by Shota, crawled out unharmed, opened her mouth to gather her strength, and fired a yellow energy blast straight at Shota!

Chapter Twenty-Seven: Chaotic Battle

The exorcist girl descended from the sky, wielding her treasured sword and channeling spiritual power as she slashed down at the giant head of the Taotie. However, just when she thought that the Lion King sword in her hand would surely injure her opponent, the sword could only get stuck two centimeters away from the opponent's body—it was blocked by black demonic energy.

What kind of monster is this? The quality of its demonic energy is incredibly high...

Before he could concentrate all his spiritual power on the blade to increase its power, Huang Quan simply jumped to the side to temporarily move away from Taotie's front, because the incredibly powerful roaring bullet from the spirit beast's mouth, which had been waiting for a long time, was already smashing towards Taotie's front.

However, Taotie did not dodge or give way at all. It opened its huge mouth and swallowed the pale yellow roaring bullet in one gulp. After biting it down, a wisp of smoke came out of its mouth. Then, its gaze locked onto the chaotic red lotus that was rushing straight towards it. It opened its huge mouth again!

"boom!"

The Roaring Bomb, even larger than before and shrouded in black aura, flew past at an even faster speed!

"Bam—"

The immense force blasted a giant crater into the mountainside, and several people still standing on the mountain path were knocked to the ground by the impact. But the spirit beast Luan Honglian had already taken to the air and weathered the attack.

Its twelve densely packed pupils stared directly at the Taotie standing still, paused for a second, and then pounced on it again!

The Howling Bomb is useless... No, should I say the Howling Bomb cannot attack the opponent's front?

Huang Quan quickly analyzed her opponent's strengths and weaknesses. Having fought twice, she could roughly deduce some information about her opponent.

Non-human physical yokai—these types of yokai generally have long-standing lineages. Most new types of yokai are non-physical, also known as spirit yokai. These yokai should possess extremely strong physical attributes. Furthermore, the opponent's yokai aura is terrifyingly dense, indicating that their race is not ordinary. At the very least, they must be documented.

Aside from that, the only other ability the opponent displayed was the ability to absorb and expel. His stomach was like a black hole connected to another dimension, capable of endlessly absorbing anything, or expelling what he had just swallowed…

Suddenly, a name he dared not believe surfaced in Huang Quan's mind. If it was that demonic beast, then he absolutely could not possibly possess any power.

A weakened Qiongqi once wandered here and became a powerful demon lord, causing immense suffering. The Onmyoji (yin-yang masters) of that time paid a heavy price to defeat it. If the monster before us is truly on par with the Qiongqi…

"Ow!"

Watching the nameless monster engaged in a merciless close-quarters battle with the spirit beast Lion King, Huang Quan focused his gaze on the monster's head. Beneath its thick fur, two barely noticeable small horns could be seen.

"Kagura..."

Huang Quan's expression suddenly became much more serious, and he said, "Tell the people in the countermeasures office to hurry up."

Even if the opponent is in their infancy... Huang Quan doesn't have much of a chance of winning. All she can do is stall the monster in front of her.

The Taotie, a terrifying monster representing greed and gluttony, has appeared in Japan. Once it reaches its full potential, it could devour an entire city in an instant.

We must... seize this opportunity to eliminate him!

A faint blue light flashed across the Lion King's blade as Huang Quan gripped the sword with both hands and slashed at the young Taotie!

"Ow!"

The crimson lotus, about the size of a small truck, didn't gain the upper hand in close combat. Having been sealed away for many years, its demonic energy wasn't as powerful as it had been in its prime. In its beast-like bites, it rarely managed to break through its opponent's defenses, while its opponent could easily inflict damage on it!

Shota's forelimb claws lashed out at Ran Hongren's head, which was more than twice his size. As he knocked Ran Hongren's body to the side, Shota pounced on her with all four limbs, biting hard at her neck.

He had only intended to pick up Rea and then retreat, but the other party was relentlessly pestering him, making it impossible for him to get away. This damned spirit beast was using its size to block him. Moreover, it was blocking the way between him and Rea, and even if Shota wanted to use all his strength to suck it to death in one breath, he couldn't guarantee that Rea, who was standing there, wouldn't be harmed.

Do you really think I wouldn't dare kill you?

Shota's sharp teeth pierced directly into Ran Honglian's neck, the delicious taste of the spirit beast gradually stimulating its taste buds. The longer it used its true form, the more difficult it was to suppress the instinctive greed within it.

"Shota-chan! Watch out!"

However, before he could further maim the Crimson Lotus, the exorcist Isayama Yomi had already circled behind him, slashing at Shota's back with her treasured sword that cut through the breeze!

"when--"

After her tail, hardened like iron from the battle, blocked Isayama Yomi's blade, it was then forcefully slashed by the sword in her hand, leaving a thin wound...