Despite the heat Masaki Taisho moved forward and helped Wasuren rise up from the muddy ground. He escorted him out of the training yard along with the other wolf wardens. They went back to their quarters where Wasuren sat cross-legged as he tried to calm down.
"You should go ahead Masaki Taisho." Wasuren said.
Masaki scoffed, "look at you acting all modest now after taking a beating."
The comment provoked a smile from Wasuren. "I will join you all later Masaki." Wasuren stated softly, "I simply need to rest a bit and I'll be strong enough to join the hunt again. Besides the faster we clear this mission the faster we return to Hinokagura."
"Fine." Masaki Taisho said and stood up. He led the rest of the wardens out and towards the the meeting point proposed to them by Senzo Aoshima.
The wardens met the Aoshima samurai at the outskirts of the village, there were about thirty Aoshima samurai present, only slighty less than the wolf wardens. The leader stepped forward, He had the narrow eyes of a mountain cat, always observing. They rarely blinked…, and when they settled on a man, it felt less like observation and more like measurement.
He stopped right in front of Masaki Taisho with a permanent scowl on his face as he spoke. "I am Tadayori, I will be leading you to the scene of the last attack. I hope you are as competent as you are presumed to be, if you are not, then it will your downfall and the the alliance would have been for nothing."
He stepped away from Masaki Taisho and gestures for them to follow.
As he led them through the village, they begun to notice the traces of destruction left by the beasts. The little renovations that had been done around the village, even blood stains in the grounds and walls, broken down stores. Soon they came to the edge of the village and what lay before them was absolute chaos. The first thing that drew their attention was the ground itself. The earth looked torn open. Craters yawned like wounds, their edges blackened. Blood had seeped into the cracks of the soil, drying into dark veins across the ground.
"This.. this is unreal." Some of the samurai muttered.
"It reminds me of our last fight in Hebimori, where we fought one of Yamata no orochi's descendants." Kiyoshi stated.
The comment provoked gasps from the Aoshima samurai present, even Tadayori raised an eyebrow. "Hmph." He scoffed. "You overestimate yourselves."
"You think us liars?" Kiyoshi asked.
"Let it be Kiyoshi." Masaki interrupted, "Tadayori, is this the end?"
Tadayori sighed. "No. Any deeper than this and we'll be going into beast territory. We have completely abandoned this part of the village for fear of being over run with beasts."
"What breed of beasts attacked?" Masaki asked.
"It was the Sarugami."
There was an evident tone shift at the mention of the Sarugami.
Tadayori turned to the wardens. "The Sarugami, for those who are unfamiliar are monkey-yokai, spirit beasts that take pleasure in chaos and destruction of people's homes. They are intelligent enough to use weapons and attack in packs like wolves."
"They are nothing like wolves!" Masaki retorted, "they are uncoordinated gluttons."
Tadayori rolled his eyes. "Let's keep moving."
They walked a distance and carcasses of dead Sarugami came into view.
"Ugh they stink." Some of the samurai complained.
Tadayori came to an abrupt halt as they came onto the entrance of a slightly dense forest. "This is as far as I can lead you to, you will take leadership from here, any deeper and we'll enter into their territory. Over the course of a few weeks, the terrain has transformed."
"Masaki frowned, "you're saying it didn't used to look like this?"
"Not exactly. You see this area was a minor farmland nothing significant, but when the Sarugami came, the farmland transformed itself to suit their nature as monkeys, and with the transformation came the excessive proliferation of the Sarugami. Even the appearance of an advanced tier."
"Have there been any abductions? These yokai are fond of that."
Tadayori nodded his head. "A few, but we managed to rescue them although there have been a lot of casualties. It is the reason we abandoned this part of the land. They have begun to take over, and we must put a stop to it before the whole of Aoshima is overrun."
Masaki stepped forward, head held high ready to lead his samurai. "Thank you Tadayori for taking us this far, we will handle it from here. Will you all be coming with us or will you stay back?"
"I will stay back with fifteen of mine, the rest will go with you as support."
Masaki nodded. "Okami no Banshi Tsudoi!"
"Ei Ei Oh!" The wolf wardens chanted in unison.
Masaki led his samurai cautiously through the forest. They carefully moved through the forest observing their surroundings and making sure to not draw attention to themselves.
As they walked deeper Masaki came to an abrupt halt and so did the wardens and the fifteen Aoshima samurai with him. His ears perked up, he felt the subtle shift of the energy in the forest.
"There's an energy in the air, it's dense almost tangible, can you feel it?" Masaki asked.
Kiyoshi's jaw tightened followed by a deep growl "I do, and it makes my skin crawl." He responded with his eyes darting around searching for the source. Several of the younger samurai looked confused, sensing nothing. Kiyoshi didn't bother explaining. If they had to ask, they were not yet ready.
A movement along the trees caught their attention, they noticed two Sarugami hanging on trees before them.
Masaki frowned. "We still have some distance to go, we don't want to provoke them this early. Kiyoshi I need one alive and the other dead.
Kiyoshi stood battle ready, hand on the hilt of his katana. "I'm ready Masaki Taisho. What shall I do?"
"You are swifter and less of a heavy hitter, you should be able to capture an intermediate tier Sarugami alive... I'll kill the other one."
Kiyoshi nodded and in the blink of an eye they moved. Kiyoshi moved along the trees with such swiftness, you'd mistake him for a beast. The Sarugami could feel someone coming at him from behind and turned. But before it could dodge or counter the attack, the tip of Kiyoshi's sword found its way to the
Sarugami's neck. "I know you understand me, if you screech you're dead, if you move you're dead."
The Sarugami gulped.
Meanwhile Masaki hopped from tree to tree until he came to the Sarugami. The Sarugami however was armed and ready. It pulled a rusty short sword from its side and bared it's fangs as it took a swing at Masaki. In a swift motion, Masaki dodged the strike, and caught the Sarugami's hand mid swing. The Sarugami was about to scream but Masaki's Warhammer struck its head abruptly, bashing it against the tree with disgust etched on his face.
The tree shook and leaves fell. From the corner of its eye the Sarugami that was under Kiyoshi's surveillance saw what happened, and a loud screech like that of an injured bat escaped the mouth of the Sarugami. Swiftly Kiyoshi swung and decapitated the beast. "SHIT!" Kiyoshi cussed as the screech echoed through the forest.