My Gang of Swordsmen

Chapter 494: Chapter 171: One-on-One Against 18! Aoto’s New Breakthrough

This feeling, sharpened to an unprecedented degree under intense mental focus, is truly addictive.

Aoto stepped to the right, dodging the thrust of the young man in the middle, while simultaneously swinging his blade to block the Kasaya Slash from the middle-aged man on the left.

Then, his body and arms naturally inclined to the right, crashing into the short man on the right, causing the man’s Upward Strike to miss.

Someone groaned:

”Ugh! Ugh!”

It turned out that as Aoto crashed into the short man, he freed his left hand to draw the Wakizashi still hanging on the left side of his waist, and plunged it into the short man’s belly, twisting it vigorously a few times.

The short man, vomiting a large amount of fresh blood, staggered forward and collapsed.

In a flash of blade—after stabbing the short man, Aoto left the Wakizashi in his body, rotating his body on his left foot with the Ghost-Slaying, the returning blade of the Ghost-Slaying Divine Blade ”buzzed” as it swung towards the face of the young man in the middle.

The young man, brains cut out, fell to the ground without even managing to scream, his corpse stacking right on top of the just-fallen short man.

Without pause, Aoto’s offensive continued; in the blink of an eye, he lunged at the middle-aged man on the left, who hastily raised his blade to defend—just as the middle-aged man lifted his blade, only half of the flesh and skin on his waist remained connected, after spitting a few mouthfuls of blood, his head and arms drooped lifelessly, his feet supporting a body rapidly losing life force, staggered forward two steps before slowly collapsing to the ground.

”The seventh, the eighth, the ninth...”

Blood-soaked, Aoto slightly parted his lips and exhaled a murky breath, then quietly readying the Ghost-Slaying once more in front of him.

Like a wolf, his sharp eyes swept the faces of each remaining enemy along the blade’s edge.

No one dared to approach again...

The seven remaining enemies still standing surrounded Aoto in a semicircle formation.

Despite encircling Aoto, they still maintained a numerical advantage, but no one dared to approach again.

They looked at each other, neither advancing nor retreating.

There were a total of 18 of them; now half of their comrades had fallen by Aoto’s hand... Such enormous casualties cast a shadow named ”Fear” over their faces.

Those who were previously shouting ”Kill Aoto now, avenge our grievances” have now become much ”calmer,” not as agitated.

The battlefield situation turned strange instantly.

The remaining enemies were clearly intimidated by Aoto’s fierce strength, not daring to rashly approach him again.

But the thought of ”What if I manage to kill Aoto?” and the pride of ”not wanting to flee” kept them from retreating easily...

In this hesitant, eerie atmosphere... someone finally reached the fight.

”Mr. Tachibana!”

A thunderous shout exploded from the eastern entrance of the alley.

Upon hearing this shout, Aoto, who had been expressionless all along, had a faint smile appear on his face.

Finally, Nagakura caught up; even before entering the alley, he smelled a strong stench of blood.

No need for words or thoughts—Nagakura’s face sank, blade drawn, he charged into the alley!

After finding Aoto inside the alley, he unhesitatingly rushed towards the enemies still surrounding Aoto.

Nagakura’s first target was the nearest, a short and ugly man.

Raising his blade, emitting a sharp Qi Union sound, he swung the blade down—Nagakura’s movements were swift, powerful, full of momentum.

The short man instinctively raised his blade to defend.

At this point, an observant comrade beside him recognized the style of swordsmanship Nagakura used.

”Shindo Mononoke Stream...! Don’t take his blade!”

His warning came half a step too late...

As Nagakura’s blade clashed in midair with the short man’s blade, the short man could barely withstand it for less than a second before his blade was knocked down by Nagakura’s overwhelming force.

After disarming the short man, Nagakura’s blade continued its momentum, embedding deeply into his forehead.

Jigen Style, Shindo Mononoke Stream, these styles that emphasize ”Power,” should be avoided in direct blade clashes... this is one of the common knowledge in the Swordsmanship World.

Aoto always thought axes and clubs might suit Nagakura better.

Nagakura’s sudden arrival shattered the enemies’ last psychological defenses.

A single Aoto had already beaten them into disarray, and now another obviously skilled swordsman joined...

No longer daring to battle Aoto and Nagakura, these people began to retreat hastily toward the western entrance of the alley!

Seeing their attempt to escape, Aoto quickly shouted to Nagakura: ”Stop them! Don’t let them get away! Try to capture a few alive!”

If they escaped, without capturing a few alive for interrogation, Aoto’s fight just now would have been in vain.

Determined to capture at least one alive for information extraction—Aoto held such a resolve.

Nagakura silently nodded forcefully, joining Aoto in pursuing the fleeing enemies.

But at that moment—

Swish! Swish!

The sharp sounds of arrows piercing through the air sent a chill down Aoto’s spine.

”Dodge!” Aoto forcefully pushed Nagakura aside, shoving him, leaping with him behind a nearby trash heap.

In the next instant as the two dodged, two arrows sliced through the air, streaking past where Aoto and Nagakura had just stood.

*******

*******

In sword fighting novels like this, abundant blood and gore are indeed necessary... (Leopard Death.jpg)

The author is quite satisfied with this Chapter’s fight. Considering the quality of this Chapter, please vote for the book this month (Leopard’s Head Crying.jpg)