Chapter 029: Cutting Down the Whining Monsters One by One

The whimpering cries were filled with grief and sorrow; the woman in white seemed to have suffered an immense injustice, yearning for comfort. The plaintive sound pierced the icy air, burrowing straight into Su Cheng’s mind, clouding his thoughts and compelling him to walk toward the woman in white, whose back was turned to him.

As Su Cheng drew near, suddenly clarity returned; something felt amiss.

A spectral melody?

He recalled tales of lonely spirits haunting the woods at night, luring lost travelers with seductive ghostly sounds, leading them astray and devouring them in forsaken wilds. This woman in white was clearly no ordinary ghost.

At that moment, sensing the murderous aura radiating from Su Cheng, the woman in white abruptly twisted her head around. Her body remained motionless, but her head spun a full one hundred eighty degrees in a horrifying display.

Her face, smeared with a white powder, lacked eyes and nose, leaving only a blood-red mouth, dripping with crimson. Inside her mouth, rows of black teeth gleamed, feral and monstrous—a visage fit for a man-eating beast.

To Su Cheng’s astonishment, the whimpering cries did not emanate from the ghost’s gaping maw but from her slightly swollen belly.

The realization sent chills down his spine.

Smelling the scent of a living human, the woman in white suddenly grinned so wide her mouth reached her ears, as if preparing to swallow him whole.

Su Cheng had no time to draw his blade; instead, lightning-fast, he thrust his hand into her mouth, gripping her slippery tongue and yanking it out.

With a crack, he tore the blood-red tongue from her throat.

A look of excruciating agony twisted the ghost’s features as blood poured from her mouth. She lunged at Su Cheng, her blood-soaked hands clawing viciously toward his face.

Su Cheng leapt back, widening the gap between them. The moment she pounced, his blade flashed, slicing through the night.

A cold, gleaming arc cut across the darkness, severing the woman’s head cleanly, sending it rolling to the side.

Still, the whimpering cries grew louder and louder, echoing through the gloom.

Su Cheng noticed the ghost’s belly swelling further, as if something inside struggled to break free.

Soon, her stomach burst open from within, and a grotesque, hideous human head emerged.

The head glared at Su Cheng with venomous malice, its mouth ceaselessly emitting those chilling whimpers.

“A Whimpering Fiend?”

The creature within the ghost’s belly must have been one of her victims in life, now transformed into a demon, haunting others alongside her.

Suddenly, the hideous head hurtled toward Su Cheng.

As it flew, Su Cheng sprang upward, bringing his blade down in a powerful strike.

With a swift slash, the Whimpering Fiend was cleaved in two, dissolving into a mist of blood.

“This shopping street is teeming with monsters and demons. Breaking through won’t be easy.”

After slaying the fiend, Su Cheng vanished in a flash, appearing atop a wishing tree overlooking the bustling Nakamise shopping street, ablaze with ghostly lanterns.

His living aura was a beacon to the spirits prowling the street. If he approached, he would surely be detected. Most of these creatures were man-eaters; barging in would mean certain doom.

But if he chose a detour, he might not reach the main hall in time for the banquet and rejoin Yagami and the others.

As Su Cheng wrestled with indecision, the eerie whimpering echoed from all directions.

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“Not good, I've been discovered!”

Su Cheng’s expression darkened. When he slew the Whimpering Fiend, he had inadvertently been tainted with ghostly energy, drawing attention from the others.

In the darkness, countless fiends converged, drawn like hungry beasts to fresh prey.

“Out of my way.”

With a frigid slash, Su Cheng cut down a fiend blocking his path, splitting it in two.

He fought his way forward, each swing felling another fiend, carving a bloody path through the horde.

Yet more and more monsters gathered, and powerful spirits began to take notice.

The shadow of death loomed. If he were surrounded, his fate would be grim indeed.

“A three-star difficulty scenario is no easy feat. The game has barely begun and I’m already on the brink.”

Despite the dire situation, Su Cheng kept his composure. He had realized that to move about in Asakusa Temple, where demons and ghosts lurked everywhere, he must conceal his living aura. Even if he managed to reach the banquet, he would never blend in without it.

There must be a way to mask his human presence.

But for now, he needed to deal with the immediate crisis.

With a powerful leap, Su Cheng pounced like a stalking panther at a fiend, his blade slicing through the air.

A flash of steel, and the fiend was severed at the waist.

Before more monsters could close in, Su Cheng affixed a charm to a crossbow bolt, loaded it, and fired at a hulking spirit.

The bolt struck, igniting a burst of spiritual fire.

A hundred gathered fiends were instantly incinerated, the flames reducing them to ash.

The inferno spread, forming a wall of fire before Su Cheng, barring the monsters from advancing.

These spiritual flames were deadly; ordinary ghosts would be annihilated by them.

But the charm was costly, and Su Cheng had only a few left.

Seizing the moment, he slipped into the shadows, evading the monsters’ pursuit.

“That was close. Almost met my end just now.”

Su Cheng breathed a quiet sigh of relief; time was running out. If he couldn’t find a way to mask his aura and infiltrate the banquet, the game would end prematurely.

Just then, a slender, pale, icy hand reached from the darkness, touching his neck.

The cold sensation jolted Su Cheng, and he spun around to find a faceless female ghost standing silently behind him.

A Faceless Ghost?

Sweat broke out on Su Cheng’s brow. The fact that this ghost could silently approach was terrifying.

He was about to draw his blade when a sultry woman’s voice spoke from the ghost.

“Don’t attack. It’s me.”

The voice seemed strangely familiar.

“Sakamoto… sir?”

Su Cheng stared in disbelief as the faceless ghost peeled off her skin, revealing a man even more alluring than any woman.

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It was Saburo Sakamoto of the Yagami Squad.

“What are you doing?” Su Cheng noticed that when Sakamoto wore the ghost skin, his human aura was completely concealed, becoming just another faceless female ghost.

“This is a skin taken from a female ghost. Wear it and your living aura is masked, letting you blend into the Ghost King’s banquet.”

So that’s how it worked.

Su Cheng had heard of ghosts wearing human skin to disguise themselves as the living, but never imagined one could don ghost skin to masquerade as a specter. It was an eye-opener.

“You should find a ghost to switch clothes with too, but your murderous aura is too intense for an ordinary ghost,” Sakamoto said. The killing intent Su Cheng had accumulated from slaughtering hundreds of monsters was more than most spirits could bear, making it easy to slip up.

So, Sakamoto led Su Cheng around until they found a Slaughtering Ghost.

This ghost was a samurai from the Shogunate era, who had slain thousands of monsters, his aura of death so potent that even demons avoided him.

Born for killing, the Slaughtering Ghost would attack anyone, demon or human, who crossed his path.

Upon sensing Su Cheng, the ghost charged without hesitation, drawing a rusted katana and slashing at him in a flash.

“This one’s strong. Be careful,” Sakamoto said, idly playing with his nails, showing no intention of helping. Clearly, he wanted to see Su Cheng’s true ability, to judge if he was worthy as a teammate.

The Yagami Squad members were eccentric, but undeniably formidable.

Even the timid Kaori Inoue was a seasoned professional, easily outclassing ordinary players.

Su Cheng’s gaze sharpened, his expression turning solemn.

As the dark blade swung toward him, Su Cheng’s eyes flashed, and his own sword swept upward, clashing with the samurai’s katana.

Sparks flew as steel met steel.

The Slaughtering Ghost’s katana was knocked aside, leaving him wide open and vulnerable.

Sakamoto’s eyes flickered with surprise at the dazzling move.

Su Cheng’s D-rank swordsmanship, honed with considerable game points, was no mere ornament; with one strike, he forced the ghost into a fatal mistake.

Su Cheng stepped forward, plunging his blade into the ghost’s chest.

Black smoke poured from the wound, the ghost’s energy evaporating as a terrifying roar echoed in Su Cheng’s ears.

Unfazed, Su Cheng twisted the blade, splitting the ghost’s chest wide open, ending its existence in one clean motion.

Upon the ghost’s death, its lingering energy condensed into a grotesque mask.

Su Cheng placed the mask on his face and instantly transformed into the Slaughtering Ghost, his human aura utterly concealed.

Unless he revealed himself, even his teammates might not recognize him.

Wearing the mask, Su Cheng’s mind grew coldly rational, his thirst for slaughter intensifying.

“It seems the lingering aura of the Slaughtering Ghost is affecting me.”

After adjusting to his new identity, Su Cheng and Sakamoto strode toward the monster-filled shopping street.

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