Chapter 50: The Ignorant Villagers

Just as the monster was about to bite Yae Sakura...

Even Serenade couldn't hold back from intervening this time.

Yae Sakura gritted her teeth, and the sword intent within her suddenly erupted!

"Sword Tempest!"

A countless tempest of sword slashes burst forth from Yae Sakura, directly destroying the tentacles on her body. The Honkai Beast itself couldn't help but close its mouth in pain and retreat.

Without the tentacles' support, Yae Sakura dropped from the air and landed in a half-squat, looking extremely weak.

Using up all her internal strength left Yae Sakura feeling slightly overextended.

However...

Yae Sakura didn't stop to rest. Instead, she planted the Void Blade in front of herself and promptly pulled out two Fire Spirits.

Aiming for the Honkai Beast's eyes, she fired two flame elemental bullets that hit before the beast could react.

Immediately following this, Yae Sakura retrieved the Fire Spirits, pulled out the Void Blade, and once again charged towards the Honkai Beast.

With a single slash, she severed the wolf-shaped Honkai Beast's head, completely finishing it off.

The headless Honkai Beast collapsed onto the ground, yet even in this state, it didn't immediately lose all signs of life.

Its headless body continued to convulse, and the tentacles on its back regenerated anew.

But... holding the Void Blade, Yae Sakura delivered several more swift blows before the Honkai Beast finally ceased all movement.

Only then did Yae Sakura finally exhale, sheathing the Void Blade and pressing a hand against her chest. The Honkai Beast's kick still lingered in her mind.

Yae Sakura felt a dull ache all over, but... It was all worth it, just to slay that Honkai Beast.

"Sakura, are you alright?"

Having dispatched the lupine Honkai Beast, Serenade and Kallen approached Yae Sakura. Noting the hand pressed against her stomach, they looked at her with concern.

"I'm fine. Didn't fail the mission... Did I, Sister Serenade? I won against that Honkai Beast!" Yae Sakura endured the pain, gazing at Serenade... A smile spread across her face. Last time, I lost to Honkai Beast, but this time... I finally defeated one.

"Bullshit! With a kick that heavy, it's not 'nothing' at all. Here... take this!" Serenade produced a healing potion and handed it to Yae Sakura.

"Thanks, Sister Serenade." Yae Sakura accepted the potion without hesitation and downed it in one gulp.

It was, indeed, excruciating...

Within minutes of swallowing the potion, Yae Sakura felt completely healed.

"Urgh..."

At that moment, the middle-aged man who had been hiding in the bushes nearby suddenly emerged.

With a thud, he knelt on the ground before Yae Sakura and Serenade.

The sight of this left Yae Sakura and the others visibly puzzled.

"Thank you... for saving me, miko-sama!" the man said, his voice filled with gratitude. "Thank you!"

"Rise! The monster has been vanquished, there's no need to fear. You may return home now!" Yae Sakura's expression returned to calmness as she spoke coldly, her gaze steady.

"Yes, miko-sama..."

After the middle-aged villager had left, Serenade finally turned her attention to the Honkai Beasts before her.

Outstretching her arms, she attempted to extract the Honkai Source from within them. But...

Despite her efforts, the Honkai Source remained stubbornly in place.

"Strange..." Serenade murmured, perplexed. Could it be... that this Honkai Beast wasn't infected by the Honkai Source? But then what else could it be...?

Or perhaps, has the Honkai Source already been completely absorbed by the Honkai Beast?

I can't wrap my head around this...

"What's wrong, Sister Serenade?" Yae Sakura asked, her eyes filled with confusion as she gazed at Serenade.

"It's nothing... Let's just bury this Honkai Beast," Serenade replied. If there's no Honkai Source within its body, then there's no need to worry about it. It's best to just put it in the ground.

"Alright," Yae Sakura agreed.

The three of them drew their weapons, beginning to dig a pit nearby to entomb the Honkai Beast.

Night descended, swallowing all sound in its dark embrace.

The moon hung low in the sky, a luminous orb of jade amidst the stars' resplendent tapestry. Their tranquil blue radiance wove an otherworldly dreamscape.

In the depths of the mountains beyond Yae Village, atop a lofty peak, a figure stood out against the night like an abyssal void.

Its face seemed masked by an eerie, deathly visage, hiding its features from view. Two eyes twinkled with an unsettling cold light in the darkness.

Its body was translucent, as if forged from black mist, ethereal and ghostly.

Heh heh heh...

It chuckled, a chilling sound that seemed to rise from endless depths, sending shivers down the spine.

Then... it transformed into a cloud of mist, drifting to the site where Yae Sakura and Serenade had buried the Honkai Beasts that day.

"The entity" gazed at the earth beneath its feet, extending a hand like a swirling, smoky substance...

Moments later, a jet-black crystal emerged from the ground, soaring into the entity's waiting grasp.

The entity reclaimed what Serenade had failed to retrieve... the Honkai beasts' energy. In its palm, the energy pulsated with a spectral glow, as mesmerizing as the night sky.

This was a corrupted crystal, its core tainted by the Herrscher. In this world, only its master could harness its power... or reclaim it.

"Almost there! It's nearly time, everything is about to begin..."

After uttering these words, the shadow's figure swiftly disappeared into the darkness, making the entire scene seem like a fleeting illusion.

Night enveloped the land in its ethereal stillness.

-

The next day.

Villagers of Yae Village ventured into the forest, determined to bring back their "missing" loved ones.

Yesterday had claimed numerous lives. Although Yae Sakura had vanquished the Honkai Beasts, the fallen villagers lay scattered far and wide. Time was of the essence, and with dusk approaching, only a handful of survivors had managed to return to the village with the grave news.

Today, the relatives of the deceased discovered their loved ones were not among them. They feared the worst, yet remained hopeful... clinging to the possibility that perhaps their kin hadn't perished but were merely "lost," or perhaps had hidden in the woods overnight, seeking refuge from the horrors?

Gripped by these thoughts, the villagers braved the treacherous forest.

Yet, their journey yielded only bitter fruit: a few freezing corpses and, in one instance, mere scattered limbs. No words were needed to paint the grim picture of their final moments.

The living could hardly bear witness to such tragic fate...

The villagers retrieved the deceased bodies and laid them side by side on the ground. They gathered around, gazing at the row of corpses and listening to the anguished sobs of their relatives. The scene was overwhelmingly somber.

The air was thick with grief.

They closed their eyes, mourning the dead and praying for them to find peace under the benevolent watch of the Divine.

"How could that monster appear again?"

"My friend was also killed by that creature..."

"It's undoubtedly the Fox God's wrath," the village matriarch, a hunchbacked woman in her fifties, said with an expression of fury as she gazed upon the corpses on the ground. "That spirit at the shrine is an interloper; the Fox God has been revered by our ancestors for generations."

"Only by appeasing the divine fury can our village once again know peace."

Some of the villagers present found her words reasonable. Why else would such a monster appear? they thought. It must be the Fox God's anger once more.

As for the fact that the monster had been slain by a shrine maiden, these ignorant souls had conveniently forgotten the incident.

"We must conduct the ritual anew and drive away that outsider," the old woman declared, her voice swelling with conviction. The supportive reactions from some of the villagers seemed to calm her.