The seven new yokai summoned by Ren Kuroda were all roughly B to B-rank in strength.
At present, his "Demon King's Pact" skill was still at the lowest S-rank tier, allowing him to summon only ten members of the Hundred Demons at a time. Otherwise, if Ren were to call forth the several thousand yokai of the Kito-in from the Nurarihyon world all at once, that would truly be something to behold.
Even so—despite the number being limited to ten—the moment the newly summoned Nurikabe and the others appeared, the expressions on Razan's side instantly grew grim.
Most of the summoned yokai possessed no ability to conceal their presence.
Dense, overwhelming yokai aura exploded outward the instant they were summoned, flooding the surrounding air.What had once been called yokai power in another world manifested here as raw mana density, so thick it seemed to pollute the atmosphere itself. Ordinary soldiers nearby felt a suffocating pressure, as if their very souls were being crushed.
This sensation wasn't imagination or nerves.
Only Razan, standing at the very front as the kingdom's strongest mage, truly understood what was happening.
Not a single one of those summoned monsters was much weaker than him.
Every yokai radiated an astonishing amount of mana.
At that moment, Razan was internally cursing at the top of his lungs.
On one hand, he was furiously cursing Taguchi Shogo and his two idiot companions for provoking such a completely unreasonable existence.On the other, he was silently condemning Fuken's intelligence failure, which had led him to make such a disastrous decision just now.
His earlier choice to move against Ren hadn't been merely because Ren had killed Taguchi right in front of him.
The truth was—after witnessing Ren's power as a "Transcender," Razan had been tempted.
Yes, losing Mizutani Nozomi and Taguchi Shogo meant losing two potential vessels.
But Ren had defeated all three Transcenders alone.
That meant Ren's strength far surpassed that of Tachibana Kyouya's group.
To make up for his losses, Razan had already decided—moments ago—to treat Ren as a new vessel, planning to use possession reincarnation on him.
What he never expected… was that Ren wasn't just slightly stronger than the three Transcenders.
This wasn't superiority.
This was utter domination.
Forget Ren himself—even the monsters he summoned alone were enough to wipe out a weaker kingdom entirely.
Razan stared at Ren, standing at the very center of the yokai formation, his expression a mixture of envy and fear.
Fear—because for the first time, even Razan wasn't sure whether the military might of the Kingdom of Falmus could truly keep this man here.
Envy—because Ren, a mere human, could command so many terrifying yokai simultaneously.
Such an exclusive skill was simply too powerful.
If he, Razan, possessed such an ability…Then conquering the entire northwestern continent would be nothing more than a matter of time.
"What a shame… I can only summon you guys for now," Ren said with a rueful smile."Clearly, we're not lacking manpower—but because my skill level is still too low, I'll have to trouble you all to fight as warriors worth a thousand."
On the other side was an endless sea of soldiers.
Yet on Ren's side—even counting himself—they numbered only eleven.
Ren would've loved to summon several thousand yokai and indulge himself as a true Lord of Monsters. Opportunities like this didn't come often, after all.
Spider Princess and the others were strong, yes—but with such small numbers, it just didn't quite capture the overwhelming presence a "Demon King" should have.
"Ren-sama need not worry at all!"Amanojaku immediately chimed in, delivering his usual shameless flattery."Though they may be numerous, they're nothing but trash. Only a few at the front are even remotely capable.Forget one against a thousand—one against ten thousand would still be easy! Ren-sama won't even need to lift a finger for us to secure victory!"
He shot the encircling Falmus soldiers a look of pure disdain.
Though there were many of them, Amanojaku could tell—their level was no different from the ordinary humans he used to scare for fun in the mountains.
Frankly speaking, under normal circumstances, he wouldn't even bother fighting such weaklings.
After all, he was now a proud B-rank great yokai. Picking on this kind of fodder was beneath his status.
With that thought, Amanojaku stomped his bare right foot against the ground.
Yokai power surged—and more than a dozen little oni minions were summoned at once.
In the past, Amanojaku had only four lackeys.Now that his strength had increased, his "presence" naturally followed.
These new underlings were each around C-rank.
Seeing Amanojaku summon reinforcements—and recalling Ren's earlier complaint about lacking numbers—the other yokai instantly caught on.
The Samurai Spirit swung his blade, summoning over a dozen earthbound spirits, each roughly equal in strength to Amanojaku's minions.
With a thunderous roar, Nekomata followed suit, calling forth dozens of single-tailed cat yokai.
But the most outrageous display came from Spider Princess, clad in her maid outfit.
She perfectly embodied the phrase "less talk, more killing."
Nekomata and the others—having come from the Nurarihyon world—had no real understanding of just how strong Spider Princess truly was.Aside from the Samurai Spirit and the Hand-Washing Demon, who had been summoned alongside her before, the others watched her with growing curiosity.
That curiosity turned to sheer horror the moment Spider Princess unleashed her terrifying yokai aura and extended her hand.
Everyone present—except Nurikabe—nearly lost their minds.
"Kin Summoning: Nest of Spiders."
Her yokai power exploded.
The ground split open, forming a circular black abyss.
From within came a chilling rustling sound—and then, one massive form after another began crawling out.
Gigantic spiders.
Hundreds of them.
And what shocked Nekomata and the others even more wasn't just the number—
Among those summoned kin were several spiders whose yokai power rivaled their own.
Now that Spider Princess's power had reached A-rank minus, her Kin Summoning skill had naturally evolved.
Among her summons were a few B-rank elites, while the majority stood firmly at C-rank.
Watching Spider Princess's minions alone rival their own strength—then feeling the terrifying aura she herself radiated—Nekomata and the others couldn't help but wonder:
Is this "Jorōgumo"… Ren-sama's partner?
Seeing everyone else show off their followers, Hook-Needle Woman and the Hand-Washing Demon could only sigh helplessly.
They lacked summoning abilities—wasting a perfect chance to shine in front of Ren.
Still, after all the reinforcements arrived, Ren's side—though still outnumbered—now possessed far more presence than before.
Earthbound spirits.Green-skinned little oni.Cat yokai.Towering spiders.
All of them gathered around Ren and his companions.
Hundreds of yokai assembled together, their combined aura instantly dominating the skies above Maris City.
It was broad daylight—yet the thick yokai miasma blotted out the sun, plunging the entire city into shadow.
From within that darkness, Falmus soldiers could faintly hear the whispers of countless monstrous beings.
"We can't delay any longer!" Razan barked."Order everyone to charge—attack immediately!"
Did they really think the Kingdom of Falmus had been kind enough to give the yokai time to summon reinforcements?
Of course not.
Though the kingdom's military was powerful, mobilization took time. While they appeared to be watching passively, they were actually waiting for more troops to arrive.
Now that nearly twenty thousand soldiers had gathered, Razan knew they couldn't afford to wait another second.
He had no idea what kind of monsters these were—nor why they could keep summoning weaker creatures endlessly.
If this continued, Falmus would truly have no chance of victory.
"Cavalry—charge!""Carve a path forward for the forces behind you!"
With things having escalated this far, there was no room left for negotiation.Fuken could only order the cavalry to strike first.
It was the correct decision.
The tangible yokai aura obscured vision so completely that Razan's side couldn't even gauge the enemy's true formation.
Using the cavalry—the most mobile and destructive force—to tear open the miasma and create an attack route was the best possible tactic.
Hundreds of elite, fully armored knights spurred their mounts forward in unison at Fuken's command.
Unfortunately for them—
Their enemy this time was not human.
The strategies that worked against men meant little against yokai.
As the cavalry raised their lances and prepared to charge into the shrouded battlefield, the horses beneath them suddenly neighed in terror.
From the ground, ghostly hands erupted—grabbing onto the horses' legs.
Fuken's eyes widened in horror.
A charging rider whose mount suddenly stumbles has only one fate.
Dust exploded into the air as countless horses were dragged down by earthbound spirits, sending knights flying.
Though the fallen riders wore heavy armor, it was no match for trampling hooves.
They died almost instantly.
Seeing this, Fuken shouted for a retreat—
But the earthbound spirits had no intention of letting the cavalry escape so easily.
They leapt onto the retreating horses, possessing them and violently throwing off their riders.
The knights tried to fight back.
But when their lances pierced the blue, translucent forms, the weapons passed straight through—
Doing absolutely nothing.
..
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