CHAPTER 67: mount Oe

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We reached mount Oe late in the evening. We met a woman along the way by a river. She was washing the blood out of a dress.

I stayed in the carriage while the others asked about the Oni that lived on mount Oe. As it turned out. The Onis would abduct men and women from nearby villages and keep them as slaves. When the slaves could no longer satisfy them, they would drain their blood in gruesome ways and eat them.

I found this act weird, considering that the Oni's used to be human. but I guess that I'm not much better either.

The blood on the dress belonged to one of the woman's friends. She was exhausted and sick and could no longer work due to that. So, the Oni's decided to turn her into a meal instead. The dress was the last thing that was left from the friend of that woman. That's why she tried her best to get the blood out of I as best as she could.

I couldn't see it because I was in the carriage at that time but I could deduce from their conversation that all the humans that were kept as slaves had a deep scar running across their face so that the Oni's wouldn't have to keep track of them. since that scar showed that they were now their possessions no one would dare to shelter one of those humans in fear of that an Oni would come and bring them back to their castle while maybe taking some extra souvenirs.

We couldn't do much for the woman and could only hope that we would succeed in killing the Oni's to improve the living conditions of everyone who had to live in fear of them.

Now resting at the foot of the mountain, I could do nothing but wait until the morning would come.

The time seemed to move slower than usual as I waited for the golden rays of sunlight to illuminate the land.

When they finally woke up, we discussed our plans. We decided to wait until afternoon after we roughly calculated that it would only take four hours to reach the castle. Timing was crucial to make our scheme more believable.

Yorimitsu wore the helmet and Raiko carried the wine. We climbed the mountain while carefully avoiding the Oni's that guarded the mountain. This way I didn't have to waste energy on magic because I would probably need it once we reached the castle of Shuten Doji.

Eventually we reached the castle gates early in the evening. The sun was just staring to set. Yet the cold already felt like icy blades on the skin of the humans. the dark castle showed an uneasy resemblance to the ne that still haunted my dreams. It had the same eery vibe and towered just as high as that one while its shadow completely surrounded us.

I pulled my hood over my head and used my illusion magic. I could hold it much longer now, due to my continues practising and the power I gained in hell. so, if everything went according to plan, I wouldn't have a problem with that.

Yorimitsu knocked on the giant castle doors. The sound ravaged through the entire castle. After a few minutes, the doors were slowly opened. The one who stood in the entrance was Shuten Doji himself.

He looked like a tall muscular man with black hair and the ugliest face that I had ever seen. With two small horns on top of his and slightly yellow tusks. His skin was red, but in a slightly lighter shade then mine.

Tough the Oni did indeed share a lot of similarities with demons, I could tell that he was even close to being one.

Thus far, every demon that I had met, including myself was surrounded by a pressure that I suspected was an extension of their mind. Tough the pressure was unique to every demon, it was pretty easy to distinguish it from that of other beings, if they possessed that pressure in the first place.

The uses for the pressure that I had found up till now were, using it to break the mental barrier of other creatures so that I could read their thoughts and control them from the inside out. Or to simply suppress others. And I'm sure that it also has something to de with corrupting other creatures. But I haven't figured out how to do that and wasn't planning to figure that out any time soon.

While demons could hide their pressure by simply not extending their mind to infiltrate that of another, it was pretty hard to hide it from other demons. That was why I could sense the minotaur-like demon Theseus in the forest back then.

The Oni took one swift look at us before he spoke. "I didn't expect humans to climb this mountain and knock on my door."

Raiko showed a mischievous smile as he spoke according to the script that we had planned out.

"We are mountain priest that followed a sacred path laid by a holy monk. However, we got lost. If you give us a place to stay, we will share our whine with you."

The oni seemed to think for a moment. Eventually he decided that this group of humans was interesting enough and he didn't mind the wine either.

"Fine, come in. but I would like to hear about your stories."

I was giving everything I had not to burst out in laughter. Because the Oni just let the exact opposite of a priest in without doubting Raiko's words for even a second.