25+ Advance chapters on Patreon
...
The Zombie Devil looked strange and unsettling. Its upper body was a human shape without a head or arms, a twisted face growing right on its chest. From its belly, fleshy intestines and organs stretched out, making up its lower half.
Right now, this creepy devil was eagerly sniffing the air, thick with the smell of fear.
"Wonderful. Human fear is the best food for us," it said, enjoying the moment.
The ritual these two humans had created was clever—it could turn fear into something real, a treat for the mind.
The Zombie Devil opened the mouth on its chest wide, pulling in the heavy fear floating around.
Next to it, the Bat Devil nodded. "A ritual that turns fear solid? That's new to me."
Suddenly, the Zombie Devil's face twitched. It felt its zombie minions dropping fast.
"Damn it! Devil hunters are in the mountains! They're killing my servants!"
The Bat Devil sniffed the air, its mouth curving into a dark grin. "I smell humans too. I'll grab them as a little extra for this meal."
In a flash, both devils disappeared, rushing off in different directions.
Only Oswald and his sister Dorothy stayed behind, smirking at the chaos.
......
"Monsters are everywhere!"
As Yuto and his group pushed deeper into the thick forest, the attacks grew heavier.
The Zombie Devil in this world was much stronger than the one from Chainsaw Man. Among the humans it had turned into zombies, there were plenty of curse users and onmyoji.
The curse users controlled curse energy, throwing attack after attack. The zombie onmyoji muttered chants, calling shikigami to crash into the group like living bombs.
The two types worked together smoothly, while waves of zombies surrounded them, boxing everyone in.
"Big Brother Yuto, I think it's time for my trump card," Yayoi said, frowning at the scene.
The zombies had bulging eyes like frogs, white pupils streaked with red veins. Their mouths stretched open too wide, showing uneven teeth dripping with stinking spit.
It was hard to imagine humans could turn into something so twisted.
"Roar!"
A few zombies let out sharp cries and leaped forward like animals.
But mid-air, Yomi Isayama swung her sword, cutting them clean in half. Blood sprayed out like a burst pipe, and organs slid from their split bodies, spilling onto the ground. The sliced corpses dropped in neat chunks.
Even with her quick moves, she couldn't keep up. As she stopped to breathe, a curse user zombie threw a fist wrapped in curse energy at her stomach.
"Black Flash!"
Yuto moved fast, punching the zombie back. Black and red sparks flashed around his fist, ripping the air. Nearby zombies blew apart like they'd been hit by a bomb, their limbs and guts raining down.
"Use it," Yuto said, nodding to Yayoi.
At the same time, he pulled a red food package from his inventory and tossed it into the zombie crowd.
"Go, Evil Sutra Monk!"
Yayoi grabbed a panda-shaped plushie from her bag and threw it out. Then she hopped onto Yuto's summoned Black Bird projection with Yomi and the others, flying up high.
These plushies were survivors of battles between evil spirits, trained like fighters in a pit. The strongest ones had powers like rule-based anomalies.
Yayoi picked them carefully, matching their skills to the fight.
The Evil Sutra Monk was one of her stronger Ghostemon. It was great for hitting lots of enemies at once.
It could chant sutras that forced anything—living or dead to move on, sending them straight to hell.
For small animals, it took 2-3 seconds. Medium ones, like foxes, less than 10 seconds. Bigger targets took longer—an adult human would be dragged down in about 30 seconds.
Even if it couldn't chant itself, it could make other things do it—dead animals, even phones, as long as they made noise.
"Namu amida butsu, tathagata, tadyatha..."
The panda plushie split open, leaking red blood that pooled on the ground. A monk in robes appeared, holding big prayer beads, his smile odd as he chanted. Behind him, black hands from hell reached out, grabbing at the zombies.
As the eerie chant echoed, the hands pulled the zombies into the dark one by one.
"Aaaaah!!"
The zombies seemed to sense their fate. They thrashed, trying to break free, but it didn't work. They sank into the ground like it was quicksand.
Soon, the area was empty, quiet for a moment.
Yuto summoned a Western longbow. Using "Broken Phantasm," he fired into the horde, where they burst open.
Boom, boom, boom!!
The explosions hit like a storm. The ground was covered with ripped heads and limbs. Blood and guts were everywhere, the smell choking the air.
"What happened here?"
The Zombie Devil arrived as fast as it could, but the bloody mess in front of it left it frozen.
"What in the—?!"
Before it could finish, a blood-red spear ripped through the air with a piercing shriek, slashing the silence like a blade. It struck with brutal precision, plunging into the creature's chest face with a sickening crunch, pinning it to the ground like a stake driven through a writhing beast. The earth shuddered beneath the impact, dust exploding outward as the spear's tip sank deep, anchoring the monster in place.
"Damn it!" The Zombie Devil's voice rasped, a mix of fury and agony. He tried to remove it but the weapon held fast, locked tight like a coffin nail, immovable as the creature's strength declined away in frantic bursts.
In the Fate world, there were four ways to stop the Gae Bolg:
Beat the user before they could throw it.
Have a skill to come back from death, like Berserker.
Build a defense stronger than the spear's magic.
Be lucky enough to change fate.
The Zombie Devil had none of these. It tugged at the spear for a moment, then died.
"Hm, no reward prompt?" Yuto pulled the spear back, letting the spirit particles fade.
He was confused. Usually, beating a devil for the first time gave him a Saint Quartz. But nothing came up.
Just then, a loud boom shook the forest nearby.
A huge, twisted creature stood up from the trees, its neck made of petals. It rammed into a bat-like monster flying above.
Boom!
The crash was big. The bat disappeared, then slammed into a ravine like a falling star, kicking up dust.
The ground shook hard, like an earthquake. Cracks spread out, rocks fell, and smoke filled the air. Trees snapped and broke apart.
Himeno, missing an arm, clenched her teeth as she watched the Bat Devil get smashed into the mountain by the Ghost Devil.
She didn't understand. "Why is this Bat Devil so strong? My Ghost Devil should handle weak devils like this easily."
Now, she'd lost an arm just to keep up with its wild attacks. Something wasn't right. With no time to figure it out, Himeno pressed on, determined to stay alive.
"Senior!" Michiko Tendo's face was pale, her legs shaky.
The Bat Devil had moved too fast. If Himeno hadn't stepped in, she'd be dead.
"Michiko, take Kobeni and go," Himeno said, struggling to stand. She glanced at her missing right arm and gave a weak smile.
Without special powers, devil hunters like them had to make deals with neutral devils, paying a price for help.
Himeno's deal with the Ghost Devil cost her right eye for an invisible hand. But against this oddly strong Bat Devil, that wasn't enough.
She'd just given up her right arm to summon the Ghost Devil itself, barely stopping the Bat Devil's surprise attack.
"But, Senior, you can't—" Michiko started, holding up Kobeni, who was trembling too much to move.
"No arguments. Go!" Himeno's voice was sharp. "This Bat Devil's too strange. You'll just slow me down. Leave."
"Fine, I get it," Michiko said, tears in her eyes as she bit her lip.
She knew Himeno was planning to die so they could escape. That was the hard truth of their work, teammates could be gone in a second.
As their footsteps faded, Himeno took a deep breath and faced the Bat Devil climbing out of the ravine. She forced a steady smile.
"Sorry, Dad and Sis. My letter won't make it to you."
"Come on, Bat Devil. Only one of us leaves here!" With a quick move, she gave up her other arm.
The Ghost Devil, shaped like a long-haired woman, stretched out countless pale arms from its belly, blocking the Bat Devil's fierce strike.
Slash! Slash!! Slash!!!
The fight got wilder, and the mountain around them broke apart like toy bricks.
Himeno's left leg as the Ghost Devil took its price.
"Haha, I'm finished," Himeno laughed faintly.
She gritted her teeth and started her last move.
The Ghost Devil's pale arm reached out, about to take her head. But a hand stopped it at the last second.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━━━━━━
patreon.com/DUKE3500 for advance chapters for all the novels i translate for 2$