They both watched as the two patrolling Yokais slowly disappeared from their vision before approaching the cave under Kenshin's invisibility spell.
Inside, the place was covered in soot and sticky vines, dripping with water.
This doesn't look like an entrance to a large secret, it's hidden well. Inside his mind, Kenshin couldn't help but praise whoever had the idea to use a cave entrance to hide the Tokyo Leylines.
Well, aside from the stench and the sticky surroundings, what truly caught his attention was the vile and suffocating energy permeating around them.
No doubt, it's the lingering energy of the Leylines—uncontrolled.
Yasaka felt herself turning a bit red, as the Leylines' energy is made of pure Ki, her Yokai blood makes her extremely sensitive to it, and being exposed to its pure suffocating energy made her feel uncomfortable, "We gotta get it fast."
"Right!" Nodded Kenshin. She's not the only one as Kenshin also feels like he's going to puke just by being exposed to the Leyline's thick and potent energy. They have to put it under her control, fast.
They ventured forward. Kenshin maintains his magical senses in a 360 passivity, to watch out for possible traps or sneak attacks.
Yasaka pointed her finger forward, "I'm detecting someone behind that pillar."
"Yeah, me too," Kenshin replied. His left hand is already preparing to cast a sleeping magic spell.
However before he could do so, Yasaka stopped him.
"Wait. There's no need for that. He's about to fall asleep." True to her words, when Kenshin focused on the man, he noticed his eyelids were about to flicker shut.
And so, they just snuck around the man, ignoring his loud snores, perhaps due to his elephant heritage as a Yokai.
After that, they went through a series of mazes atound the cave, with the lingering energy serving as their guide.
Though it was scattered and hence, hard to track. Not to mention, the suffocating feeling of the Leyline energy made their senses dull and go haywire.
It took them quite a while before arriving at a cave bubble, filled with beds and lamps.
"Must be where the Yokai guards live temporarily." Kenshin assumed, seeing that the candle was still melting despite not being lit, Kenshin quickly realized that some Yokai had just gotten out.
Or maybe they didn't go out at all, Kenshin's eyes widened in surprise as he quickly turned around and pulled Yasaka close to his chest, just in time as a huge tri-slash gashed on where she previously stood.
"Tsk tsk tsk. Didn't expect you'd react in time." A vile voice that sounds like it came from a generic Disney villain echoed inside the small cave bubble.
While Kenshin snapped his head to the ceiling of where he traced the source of the voice, Yasaka was blushing.
As much as Yasaka wanted to inhale more of Kenshin's scent and drown herself in it, their lives are more important, so she reluctantly seperated herself from Kenshin and stared at the same part of the ceiling where he was looking up at.
To their surprise, a figure slowly materialized, showing a man whose body is littered with purple scales and a long thick tail behind him. There aren't any signs of hair around his body, not even on his head.
"A Chameleon Yokai?" Murmured Kenshin in curiosity.
The Leyline Energy must've dulled my senses greatly for me to fail to detect him, whispered Kenshin under his breath as he clicked his tongue.
Yasaka then whispered to his side, "It's not that our senses dulled, even with the suffocating leyline energy, we could've detected him if we focused enough. It's just that from what I know, Chameleon Yokais are extremely rare because of their inherent ability to hide not only their physical appearance but even their life force, ultimately making them truly invisible."
"…I see." That didn't reassure him one bit though. Although Chameleons aren't dangerous in the wilderness but, their Yokai version is the dangerous one.
The Chameleon Yokai dropped down from the ceiling, his yellow eyes staring at them dangerously, "A human and sniff sniff, a Nine-tailed Fox? How wonderful~"
Joy filled the Yokai's face upon realization that he was facing a Nine-tailed Fox, who are generally considered to be royalty amongst Yokais.
He has never hunted a Nine-tailed fox before!
"I wonder…what's your purpose of being here~ is it for the Leylines? Or something else? I don't remember Master Fideus telling us that we'll have visitors. It's been days since he last called us, I'm curious about what happened…" An eerie grin appeared on the Chameleon's face as he eyed them suspiciously.
"We don't have time for you, lizard. Get out of our way." Kenshin stepped forward, putting Yasaka behind him for protection before threatening the Yokai.
Sure, the chameleon got tricks up his sleeve but the element of surprise is already gone.
"Heh, typical humans and their arrogance!" The Yokai sneered and his Ki flared to life.
The Chameleon yelled before slashing the air in front of him, "Take this!" three slashes made of his Ki, similar to the one that almost hit Yasaka earlier.
"Similar tricks don't work anymore." Reminded Kenshin as he dodged to the side.
The chameleon suddenly grinned and revealed, "That's a fluke! The real thing is its capability to follow my target!"
Idiot, Kenshin snorted. Maybe the attack would've been successful if he kept his mouth shut about his attacks.
Kenshin nodded his head in gratitude as a transparent shield materialized and protected him from the redirected slashes, "Thank you."
However, to his surprise, despite shielding from it, the slashes simply moved away and U-turned before continuing to follow him.
So it's not a one-time thing.
"Hehahahaha!~" The Chameleon grinned and just as the fingers kept flicking around, probably using it to easily manipulate the blades when suddenly, his eyes turned white as a heavy punch landed on the back of his head.
Bam!
He fell forward and landed heavily on the ground, revealing a large bump on the back of his head.
At the same time, Kenshin dispelled the slashes with a flick of his wrist.
It took him time to analyze its structures but nevertheless, it worked.
"That was a tough fight," Kenshin said while rotating his shoulder blades.
Yasaka rolled her eyes at him, "Yeah right, as if you had a hard time with that."
"Hey! Can I get at least a thank you for saving you earlier?" Kenshin accusedly pointed his finger at her.
Yasaka turned beet red upon realization shyly thanked him, "…Oh, right….Thanks…"
"You're welcome, my Queen." Kenshin grinned and courteously bowed his upper body.
"Oh, you~" Yasaka giggled.
———
After a few minutes of bantering and flirting to the point they got lost a few times, they finally arrived at a certain place where the energy became more potent and thick.
"This must be the place…" Kenshin murmured as he eyed the highly guarded metallic gates that were as tall as a three-story building.
As for the thickness? Not even a full-powered punch from him could form a small dent. Not only is the metal mixed with various other materials but there are also defensive runes that Kenshin was able to read their purpose as to enhance the durability and to self-mend.
Kenshin asked for the umpteenth time, "You sure your mother didn't give you any keys or something?"
She shook her head and replied, "No she didn't. I doubt that Peacock gave any keys to Mother."
"So either the gate doesn't require a key to open but something else or that Fideus was scamming everyone all along."
Yasaka shook her head and said, "Probably the former. No one would dare to scam the Yokai Royal Family."
"And I doubt we have the time to find it out so we'll brute force our way in," Kenshin remarked with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Can't you just—I don't know, decrypt it? I thought you were supposed to be the greatest human magician?" She teased.
"…Who told you that?" Kenshin confusedly asked.
"Hmph. You can trick those two students of yours but not me. This Alistair Abara you've been flaunting to them sounds more like you rather than another person." Yasaka smirked and crossed her arms, enjoying Kenshin's reaction after getting exposed.
In the end, Kenshin surrendered, "sigh…This is what happens when you love a certain person so much that you can see through their well-crafted lies. I blame myself for being so damn attractive and you fell so hard."
Yasaka suddenly turned extremely red and unknowingly released her voice in a loud volume, "Wha—!? NO! Who said about being in love with you!? I-I…"
"Who goes there!" A high-pitch voice called out to them from behind, followed by heavy footsteps that made the cave tremble.
"Heh…" Now it was Kenshin's turn to enjoy Yasaka's expression.
When the footstep finally stopped, Kenshin turned around to see which Yokai he would beat this time.
However, to his surprise, the Buffalo Yokai that patrolled outside was now in front of them, steam coming out of its nostrils.
"Eh? Where's the girl?" Kenshin and even Yasaka were confused. Where did the high-pitched voice that sounds like it belongs to a child go?
As if to give them an answer, the Buffalo Yokaia pointed his index finger at them and yelled in the familiar high-pitch voice, Intruders!"
"…" The two slowly turned their heads to each other—their eyes squinting and initiating a conversation.
'D-Did you hear that? You heard what I heard, right?' Kenshin asked with a double blink of his eyes.
Yasaka replied with a single blink, 'I definitely heard it. You didn't have to ask me twice,'
Finally, after confirmation, they burst into loud laughter that echoed across the cave.
"BUWAAAHAHAHAHAHA!" Kenshin fell to his knees and kept slamming the ground with his fist while Yasaka was covering her mouth.
"PFFFFTT! KHHFFFT! PFFT!"
The steam on the Buffalo's nostrils intensified as anger became prominent on his face, his dark eyes flashing red as he planted his hooves on the ground and started sliding his left hoof back and forth several times.
This scene looks similar to Bulls, or more specifically, to most animals belonging to the Bovine family.
"Oscar kill you two! How dare you make fun of Oscar!" The Buffalo fell on all fours and its ground scratching started to become heavier and faster.
However, his pawing wasn't the only thing that intensified as did Yasaka and Kenshin's laughs.
"BUWAHAHAHAHA! Y-You even refer to yourself in third-person! Stop stacking the nerfs please!"
With that being said by Kenshin, the joke just made them laugh even more, and they started walking away from each other.
The scene looks similar to when a group of friends made an extremely funny joke and started to make weird movements and even run away from one another.
"Oscar will make you all pay!" The joke and the loud laughs were the trigger as the Buffalo, now known as Oscar, charged at them, his speed surprising even Kenshin as he was the first target.
"Oh shit!" Kenshin quickly stretched both of his hands forward and immediately grabbed the two horns of Oscar.
The force of his momentum made Kenshin's feet skid on the ground, pushing him far from his original place.
Unfortunately for Oscar, all things have an end and so does his momentum.
When they came to a stop, Kenshin then delivered his knee to his face, smashing it.
"Aggh! My nose!" Oscar cried as he stood back up on his two legs and clutched his bleeding face.
Kenshin wasn't done. He flashed forward, appearing as a blur to Oscar's eyes before sticking his index and middle fingers to his forehead.
"Sleep. Thank you for making us laugh, Oscar…" Were the last few words he heard before Oscar fell on the ground, fast unconscious.
Before Kenshin could do more, Yasaka called out to him from a distance, "Hey Kenshin!"
Instantly appearing beside her, he saw her assessing the large metallic gate.
"Look at this," Yasaka said to him while pointing at the weird carved open palm on the metallic door.
"Looks like the key to the gate," Kenshin muttered while caressing the outline of the carved palm.
Kenshin quickly got an answer, "You don't happen to throw Fideus's body, do you?" he asked as he turned to her.
However, seeing her silent and looking away from him, he knew the answer to his question.
"Great…"
Looks like he must bring out his inner Alistair Abara's genius and Master Magician.
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[Don't hesitate to hand over some Power Stones if you liked this chapter! Highly appreciated!]
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[Next Chapter: Ch. 63 - Tokyo Leylines! [2]]