Decem 8th of the year 4831 AS
After confronting the two suspicious men, Touma and Shizu had to retreat due to a sudden swarm of gengiri and kengiri that had been attracted by the cursed bait that the suspicious men had in their possession.
Using it, the two men escaped while Shizu and Touma were busy with the sudden swarm of monsters. After fending off a few of the bolder monsters that attempted a preemptive attack, Shizu and Touma had rushed back to camp by fortifying themselves with magic to allow them to run at faster than normal speeds.
When they were almost to the camp, Touma noticed that the smell of curse bait still followed them and looked in Shizu's direction. In her hand was the sleeve of the shirt from one of the suspicious men. It had a stain on it as the discolored black specks were noticeable on the bright yellow and white design of the cloth.
"Lady Shizu, we must dispose of that cloth. It will attract the swarm to our location."
Stopping in her tracks, Shizu turned to explain to Touma.
"We can't. This is an important piece of evidence that we need to hold onto. Look! Do you recognize this pattern on the sleeve?"
Shizu lifted the cloth to Touma's sight and as he looked closer and saw the emblem of Kujyuri with the sword, axe, and hoe. What was also noticeable was the addition of another emblem of a hawk's claw.
Shizu and Touma both recognized this 2nd emblem to be from one of the noble families of Kujyuri that was in opposition to Ozen. Touma looked at Shizu, and she nodded in response to get her meaning across.
Touma, understanding the significance that this piece of cloth now held, was conflicted. If they tried to keep it, it would bring a swarm of monsters to them, but if they abandoned it the evidence would be lost in the belly of a monster.
They could attempt to clean off the stench of the curse bait, but the swarm of monsters were already enraged and riled up by the curse bait. A swarm was coming and Touma could not think of a win-win situation.
Breaking him from his inner conflict, Shizu commanded him.
"Touma! Are you with me?!"
Lifting his head, he saw the burning resolve in Shizu's eyes. He remembered just how infuriated she became at the two men who planned to assassinate her sister and understood that she wanted to bring justice upon them.
He too felt that this was the right course of action but worried if they would even survive, but he swallowed down his fear and returned Shizu's resolved gaze with one of his own.
Shizu and Touma gave each other a wry smile in understanding of the trials ahead. They ran the last leg of their journey and making their way to the center of the expedition camp, Shizu ordered the volunteers and soldiers to prepare for battle.
While the expedition could push a full retreat back to Shisayama, the effect that a swarm of gengiri and kengiri would have on the nearby forest ecosystem would be detrimental to Kujyuri as a whole. The evidence of the sleeve Shizu had in her possession was also a vital piece of evidence to bring down the faction opposing her family.
It would also reveal the scum and traitorous filth in their court, which would do Kujyuri some good as the council had become filled with schemers in Shizu's opinion. While she wanted to rush back to the village and then the capital she had to keep to her knightley duty to protect the people, which meant that the swarm was her first and foremost problem.
Shizu explained this to all the men under her and they all agreed, they could not back down from this fight as it felt as if the fate of Kujyuri was in their hands. They would not allow such scum to live in their beloved country or to allow any harm to come to their countrymen, but this increase in morale did little to improve the conditions they found themselves in.
As the expedition was preparing for battle, a sudden swarm of gengiri and Kengiri had attacked the camp. They charged the entrance of the camp without hesitation, which took the volunteers on guard by surprise due to their lack of combat experience.
This occurred only a couple hours after Shizu and Touma arrived back at the camp, so with little preparation the expedition had a fight on their hands. Touma, knowing that this was a dire situation, launched another red magic flare into the sky to inform Shisayama of their position, but it would take hours for even a small party to arrive.
The swarm of kengiri were making quick work of the camp as it was in chaos. The volunteers were more adept at hunting rather than combating monsters so their coordination was poor when it came to battles like these.
They did their best with hatchets and bows, but the difference in destructive power when compared to a kengiri was like comparing a pebble to a boulder.
20 Kengiri had made their way into the camp and with them was a swarm of a little over 100 gengiri. The entire swarm was upon them and they were hungry for human flesh.
Shizu was at the heart of the camp surrounded by gengiri on all sides. Touma was beside her and was firing off fireballs to repel the enemy.
With iron club and katana in hand, Shizu smashed and bashed the nearby gengiri with a flurry of attacks. Fighting gengiri was child's play for the duo and the veteran soldiers, but the volunteers were in a panic as their morale tanked when the Kengiri began slaughtering them.
The kengiri's claws slayed volunteers like a scythe through a wheat field, as with one swing 3 men were cut down and their lifeless bodies soon littered the camp grounds.
Shizu and Touma moved to intercept the offending Kengiri and they were successful in getting the surviving volunteers to evacuate on Kibusanshou, but the situation was not looking good for Shizu, Touma, and the soldiers.
The expedition was able to kill about half of the swarm of Kengiri and gengiri, but everyone was running low on stamina and began making mistakes.
A soldier had gotten separated from his assigned group and was surrounded by numerous approaching gengiri. The soldier was kicked up into a battle frenzy as fear of his impending death overtook him.
As the separated soldier attempted a charge to escape his encirclement, he was jumped from behind by two gengiri that pinned him to the ground. Lifting himself up, he shook off the offending gengiri on his back. He threw one over his shoulder and attempted the same for the others.
An anger welled up in his heart as he cursed his fate but the fires of his anger turned cold as fear overtook him next. The gengiri on his back had begun to bite into him in an attempt to eat his flesh. He screamed loudly in pain but it was then silenced by a juvenile gengiri that crawled up his body and had forced it way into his mouth.
The juvenile gengiri wiggled its way down the soldier's throat and was soon swallowed whole. In shock, the soldier could only gag as the monster went down his throat with surprising ease. But he soon felt a pain across his body.
His skin was pierced and torn away from numerous bites that the surrounding gengiri made. He attempted to reach out for a helping hand, but suddenly he felt a painful pressure from inside his chest. Soon, he felt a sudden pop and felt his insides begin to fall out of his stomach. When he looked down he saw the juvenile gengiri eating his intestines with great vigor and delight.
The soldier slumped forward and was now motionless as the light from his eyes began to disappear and go cold. His body was now covered in gengiri and in a few minutes he was gone. Not a tooth or bone left.
The sight caused some of the soldiers to retch as they witnessed their now fallen comrade being eaten piece by piece. The blood of their comrade poured onto the snowy ground, and it soon turned it to a dirty crimson red.
"Hold fast, stay in your groups and stand your ground!"
Shizu intoned a command to the faltering soldiers, but her attempt to reassure them was unsuccessful as they all still cowered in fear at the prospect of dying in a similar manner.
After the swarm had eaten their fill of the numerous bodies of volunteers and slain soldiers, the swarm of gengiri and Kengiri turned their sights on the remaining humans.
The soldiers flinch back and Shizu could only grimace as the swarm of monsters inched closer. The veteran soldiers were already exhausted by this expedition since it was rushed, and the ongoing battle had further drained their stamina and magic energy.
They have been battling through the night and the morning sun was already shining down on them. Understanding that they could no longer fight effectively, Shizu decided on a plan of action and looked to Touma.
"Launch a third flare and everyone else, get ready to retreat!"
"But my lady, we can still fight." Said a trembling soldier.
"I know, but I do not want all of us to die. I will be the distraction and will circle around to Shisayama. You will inform Shisayama of the swarm and we will mount a counterattack from the village. Use what little magic energy you have left to travel to Shisayama with all haste."
"NO SHIZU! It's too reckless, let me come with you." Argued Touma.
"You cannot come with me. You must lead the men back to the village. Only you can use detection magic to better navigate the forest to avoid any possible monster attacks. If you go with them, you all have a better chance of surviving the trip. Just be sure to tell Azi that I intend to come back."
Shizu then smiled and cracked a joke. "And this time I'm going to cuddle him with all my might to work off my stress. So tell him to be prepared."
She then began to laugh and grinned which helped lighten the mood.
Touma could only grit his teeth in frustration but could see that Shizu had no intention of dying. Believing in her past streak of successful reckless actions, he acquiesced. Turning to the remaining soldiers, he commanded.
"You men with me! We head for Shisayama!"
While still somewhat apprehensive, the surviving soldier nodded in affirmation as none had any energy left to give a shout of agreement. Touma nodded as well and began to move with the soldiers that began fortifying themselves with their magic energy.
Shizu ran off to the left side of the clearing which caused the swarm to divert their attention away from the fleeing humans. The scent of curse bait Shizu had on her was still noticeable to them, so they chose the more appetizing scent and moved to chase her.
As time went by, she kept running and avoiding the swarm as much as possible but after a couple hours they soon caught up to her. Shizu was in a difficult position as she was now currently surrounded by the swarm of monsters at her front and a sudden swarm that came from the forest at her rear.
She could not escape the encirclement as they numbered over 200 strong and 20 of them were Kengiri, she could retreat and make her way to Shisayama but the village would be caught unprepared for a fight with this many enemies at once. The garrison had at best 150 soldiers but the presence of Kengiri made the chances of success drop significantly.
Shizu gritted her teeth and for the next hour, she fought with all the magic and energy she had left in reserve, but by the time that was used up Shizu was on the ropes.
In a moment of fatigue, Shizu failed to raise her iron club in time as it was heavier than her usual weapon of choice. A slash from a kengiri traveled down onto her left arm and she screamed in pain as the grip on her iron club loosened.
Before she could catch her breath, another Kengiri had charged and rammed her with the front of its white colored head. Shizu coughed up blood that stained the Kengiri's white carapace and as she was knocked away, she flew over the encirclement of the monsters.
Her body flew through the air and rolled on the snowy ground until her body hit a tree that was a distance away from the monster swarm.
Laying on her side, she could feel that her eyelids were heavy but could still see the approaching gengiri. Suddenly, her ears twitched, and she thought about what first came to her mind.
'Azi!'
A rumbling could then be felt and heard from the forest behind Shizu. From between the trees the figure of a kibusanshou could be seen charging forward and on its back was the figure of a large man in armor and a small boy holding onto the large man's back.
The monsters stopped their approach as they braced for the new arrivals. They could feel an intimidating pressure coming from the large man and it was tinged with a sharp bloodlust that cut into their animalistic minds.
With what little strength she had left, she lifted herself onto her feet and leaned against the nearby tree. She positioned herself so she could get a better look of who was approaching and recognized them, with pain in her voice she called out to them.
"AZI!!!!!!"
In reaction, the small boy stood up on the saddle and scanned the surroundings. When he saw the bloody and battered sight of Shizu, his heart dropped and his anger flared as he saw the perpetrators behind her.
Azi patted Kajima's shoulder and directed his attention to the swarm of gengiri directly in front of Shizu.
"I'm going on ahead."
"Wait boy, you can't..."
Before Kajima could stop him, the veins on Azi's legs and arms glowed a bright blue-white as he leapt off the kibusanshou's back and began sprinting to Shizu's position.
A distance of 100 meters spanned between himself and the swarm, so to close the distance Azi sprinted while he focused and infused fire elemental energy into his legs which made his veins glow red.
With a loud boom, Azi steps propelled him forward with great speed and he ran past Kajima's mount. He continued his sprint pass Shizu and when he was a few paces away from the swarm he equipped the umbrella he had strapped over his back and swung it as if he was hitting a home run.
Through the swing, he infused his hands and the umbrella magic channels with fire elemental energy that began glowing numerous crimson red lines across the surface of the black metal.
This caused a burst of flame to emit from the weapon as Azi created a large slash of fire that propelled itself forward.
Everything in an angle of 180 degrees in front of him was burned and torched to black ash. The swarm was enveloped in fire that screamed hatred and the monster cried out as their lives were returned to the earth in the form of their ashes which fell to the ground.
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