"What on earth is that massive bull demon? My God..."
"Is this the kind of enemy a White-tier player is supposed to face?"
The audience in Tong Gu's livestream had skyrocketed to over a million viewers, thanks to various shared streams. The colossal foe appearing in his feed left viewers utterly stunned.
To put things into perspective, there were over 300 million "players" officially recognized by the Game of Fate in Dongxia, but the vast majority of them were individuals who had either lucked out or scraped through the Awakening Trials with E-tier evaluations.
These players had a single goal in each mission: survival. They avoided exploration, shied away from combat, and, if forced into battle by the plot, merely clung to the edges.
Globally, only about 0.1% of players ever surpassed the White-tier, ascending to Black Iron-tier and gaining the ability to wield energy. Consequently, most spectators were only familiar with the limited struggles of White-tier players.
But this towering bull demon, as large as a skyscraper, had entirely shattered their understanding of what a White-tier player might face.
The bull demon's appearance was just the beginning. The river reeked of decay under the night sky, its waves trembling as an unending tide of oni and demons emerged from the water, swarming ashore.
Nearby humans, who had been drawn to the collapsed bridge, were now screaming in terror at the sight of horrors straight out of macabre illustrations.
Tong Gu stood his ground, his blade poised defensively against the bull demon while he slowly retreated. Such a massive enemy, he reasoned, was better left to the Osaka team with their gravity guns.
He knew his priorities well: rack up as many points as possible, gather useful items, and achieve the highest evaluation!
"Move!"
With a firm grasp, Tong Gu pulled along Shimohira Reika and the bald old man, diving into a narrow alley. The tremors in the ground and faint roars of engines told him the powerful Osaka team had likely entered the fray.
In the alley, patrons emerged from an izakaya, drawn by the commotion. They stared curiously at the three leather-clad figures before their faces twisted in horror.
"Aah! Demons!"
"They're monsters!"
Dozens of grotesque oni had appeared at both ends of the alley, their gazes sweeping over the crowd before locking onto Tong Gu and his companions.
"The smell of prey..."
As if commanded, the oni lunged forward. Some, enticed by the scent of nearby humans, began feasting on them, severing heads with monstrous jaws. The once quiet izakaya alley transformed into a hellish slaughterhouse.
Tong Gu lowered his gaze. The scene bore a striking resemblance to the carnage wrought by the dregs in the Demon Slayer world. He waved a hand calmly toward the two "veterans" from the Tokyo team behind him.
"You two, hide somewhere safe."
Shimohira Reika hesitated, glancing at the man gripping his massive battle blade. The weapon extended two meters with sheer force, making her worry.
"What about you?"
Taking a deep breath, Tong Gu inhaled the metallic tang of blood mixed with the oni's foul stench. His heart pounded fiercely as the surrounding chaos etched itself into his mind.
"Me?"
"Of course, I'm staying to farm points."
Dragging the edge of his nano-blade, Tong Gu stepped deliberately toward the alley entrance, his figure steady and resolute.
Shimohira Reika hesitated further, but the bald man pulled her back, shaking his head.
"Let's go. We'll only hold him back."
---
"Is the Exploiter planning to take on all those monsters by himself?"
"That's impossible..."
In a sterile white room, Li Shu stood with arms crossed, reading the anxious comments flooding the chat feed. He couldn't help but worry about his daughter. If Tong Gu were to get hurt, would she be able to handle the emotional blow?
Quietly, Li Shu stretched out a hand, the white pendant on his wrist glowing faintly as it began to charge a mysterious energy.
"Li Shu."
A crisp, youthful voice interrupted him, causing him to pull his arm back. He instinctively retracted the ARM device on his wrist, only to realize his daughter hadn't even turned around. She remained focused on the livestream, her gaze unwavering.
Though fragile as glass, she was just as transparent.
She knew her father's protectiveness, just as she understood the strength of the man on the screen.
"He won't lose," she said with a bright smile, her eyes sparkling with starlight, brimming with all the beauty the world could offer.
---
Squelch!
Squelch, squelch!
The sound of blades slicing through flesh echoed incessantly from the speakers. The girl's smile grew even brighter.
Li Shu watched his daughter's unadorned yet radiant face, a stark contrast to the gore-filled screen behind her. Severed limbs and splattered blood created a scene that, centuries ago, would surely have been censored. Yet juxtaposed against his daughter's presence, it exuded a strange sanctity.
Tong Gu, oblivious to what his audience thought, found himself… captivated.
The sound of his blade cutting through flesh, the warmth of blood splashing out—it all seemed to awaken something deep within him. The oni's movements slowed in his perception.
Initially, he had relied on brute strength and the nano-blade's durability to overpower his foes. But gradually, their attacks became pitifully slow and obvious.
With a subtle shift of his stance, he found openings that allowed for swift and decisive kills.
So this… is swordsmanship.
[Under ???'s influence, your understanding of swordsmanship has deepened. Your Swordsmanship Specialization has advanced.]
[Current: Basic Swordsmanship Lv4]
The system notification jolted Tong Gu out of his trance. He had advanced his swordsmanship without even using the Specialization Enhancement Scroll?
What kind of state had he entered just now...?
"You..."
"You're from the Tokyo team?"
Three men clad in black combat suits stared blankly at Tong Gu, who stood alone at the alley's entrance.
The scene before them was overwhelming: the alley was littered with oni corpses, their blood and flesh painting the ground a dark red. Amid the carnage stood a tall man gripping a battle blade, silent and unmoving.
The brutal carnage left such a profound impact that even Hara Tetsuo—one of the Osaka team's strongest members, who had once earned a 100-point reward—was momentarily stunned.
Tong Gu held the nano-blade firmly in his hand, its edge gradually retracting until it disappeared entirely. This action seemed to relax Hara and his two companions, who had instinctively been gripping their own reinforced weapons.
"You know I'm with the Tokyo team. Have you already met my teammates?"
Hara Tetsuo, Hirabe Jiro, and Kimura Susumu were three Osaka teammates who worked together at the same CD store in real life. After earning a single 100-point reward, they'd begun to see most others as inferior to themselves.
To them, whether it was the triple 100-point achiever Tori Miki or the quadruple 100-point veteran Murotani Nobuo, everyone else was just ordinary. They believed that with enough time, they too could achieve such feats.
But this man from the Tokyo team... was different.
His strength. His presence. It was simply monstrous.
Hearing Tong Gu's question, Hara instinctively lowered his head and answered, "Yes, we encountered someone who introduced himself as Kato. He was being chased by a massive creature."
[You have received a side mission: Good Deeds Bring Good Rewards.]
[Mission Objective: Ensure Kato Masaru survives this mission.]
[Mission Reward: Minor increase to final mission evaluation.]
Tong Gu frowned. Based on the development of the CG film's storyline, Kato Masaru shouldn't have faced such grave danger. The Osaka team was supposed to eliminate nearly every powerful enemy except for Nurarihyon. So why was the system giving him this mission?
"Haha... what a stench... such an awful smell..."
A strange, singsong voice suddenly broke the tension. Two deliberate and unmasked footsteps echoed down the alley where Tong Gu had just emerged.
Hearing the sound, Tong Gu's expression shifted as he spun around. In that moment, he understood the earlier sense of wrongness in the black sphere's room and why the system had assigned him this mission.
Emerging from the alley were two towering figures, both over two meters tall and clad in traditional ronin attire. Each carried a katana.
Hannya.
Momotarou.
These two formidable yokai, who had not appeared in the CG film, now strode leisurely into view. Tong Gu instantly felt the malice of Game of Fate.
The enemies were at full strength, as depicted in the manga's unabridged storyline. His teammates, however, were the nerfed versions from the CG film, missing several crucial allies.
True to its name, this game was no more than a treacherous temptress, delighting in the cruelty of fate.
*********************************************
Read advanced chapters ahead of everyone else on my Patreon.
p@treon(.)com/GodDragcell