The karakuri ninjas that emerged were unlike any we had faced before.
One had arms sprouting in grotesque multiples, another had been remade into something closer to a carriage than a man. One bore the leaping legs of a grasshopper, another was bulked out like a hulking troll, while yet another had been reshaped into a four-legged beast.
They no longer even resembled human beings.
“This goes beyond monstrous….”
I can’t help but mutter.
“Kukuku! Why bother building karakuri from scratch when humans provide such a perfect foundation? Artificial intelligence will never surpass true intelligence. Yet that fool, Hiraga Genko, rejected this supreme idea outright! Bah—she is no genius. The true genius is me!”
In the next instant, the grasshopper-legged ninja slammed a foot against the floor, launching itself with incredible speed. It flipped midair, kicked the ceiling, accelerating even further.
“Behold—the speed-specialized Locust Ninja! In a confined space like this, it ricochets off floor and wall, each leap accelerating it further! By the time you notice, he has become a lethal weapon that is impossible to spot, let alone avoid!”
So not a grasshopper, but a locust huh. Not that it mattered much. What did matter was that, with each bounding strike, its speed truly did multiply.
“Kukuku… now then, who shall be the first to feed my creation?”
The locust-ninja lunged—not at me, but at Fana. From her blind spot, a gleaming strike scythed toward her at blinding speed.
“Hm, pointless.”
“—!?”
Fana slipped aside, dodging it with ease.
“Impossible! She avoided an attack at that speed!?”
“Just watch the wind currents. They tell me exactly where it’ll come from.”
“…Ku..kukuku! You are better than expected huh. Still, evasion alone won’t be enough. None can defeat my Locust Ninja that way!”
Perhaps realizing that a direct slash would be futile, the Locust Ninja shifted tactics. This time, it bounced through the air while hurling shuriken. From every direction, razor-sharp stars came streaking in at blistering speed.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Fana knocked aside each and every one of them with her sword.
“What—!?”
“Mm. Now it’s my turn.”
Fana’s figure blurred and vanished. With the wind at her back, she accelerated, catching up to the Locust Ninja as it ricocheted from wall to wall.
“You’re not that fast.”
Her blade flashed, cleaving clean through its elongated legs. Deprived of its leap, the Locust Ninja crashed helplessly into the wall.
“D-defeated…!? My Locust Ninja was defeated!? B-but—I still have four more, each one specially modified for battle!”
Ittosai shouted, his face distorted. But at that moment, the beast-type karakuri ninja had already been defeated by Lill.
“It wasn’t a big deal.”
“That’s impossible! E-even the lion ninja?!”
Meanwhile, Anje was taking on the giant troll-like ninja. The ninja boasted incredible power, but—
“Compared to Goritia, it is weak. Even I could beat it in a strength contest!”
In fact, it was overwhelmed by Anje’s power.
Karen faced off against the karakuri ninja, who seemed to be called a Thousand-Armed Ninja. She blocks attacks from its countless arms with her sword, slicing off each one.
“This will be some good training!”
They’ll likely be able to defeat both of them soon.
The final vehicle-type ninja seemed to have both strong armor and charging power, but my lightning attack easily disabled it.
“Im-impossible… My masterpieces are helpless against you guys!? Damn, I didn’t want to use this method, but… I have no choice!”
Ittosai shouted with a determined look on his face. He suddenly lifted up the tatami mat at his feet and attempted to hide beneath it.
『Master』
“I know.”
I realized what he was trying to do from that action.
“Infinite Freeze!”
“~~!!?”
I froze all the ninjas before that could happen.
“You tried to hide under the tatami by yourself and self-destruct them, didn’t you? I won’t fall for that.”
After all, it had already been proven that freezing it would prevent it from self-destructing.
This is translated by Yume Neiji. Kindly read at yumeineijiworks.wordpress.com.
Previous ⚜ Table of Contents ⚜ Next
Yume Neiji's Works 