Despite the fact that we were circling the fighters in a wide arc while the Numa no Kuni warriors distracted them, some demon worshippers still rushed across, literally throwing their comrades who had been covering them a moment earlier and even exposing their backs to the blows of their enemies.
Most of them paid with their lives, but even so, five shinobi with decent reserves of chakra, glowing with a purple aura, managed to break out of the melee and, gaining considerable speed, met us halfway.
But I was already ready, concentrating a large amount of chakra in my left hand and transforming it into elemental energy.
"Chidori Eiso (Sharp Spear Chidori)!"
Slashing horizontally in front of me with a ten-meter blade of Raito's chakra condensed to the maximum, which made it extremely dangerous even for very resilient opponents, despite the increased cost, I cut three demon worshippers in two and cut the legs off the fourth at the root.
The borrowed power prevented them from dying immediately, and four new sources of painful screams and shrieks were added to the cacophony of battle, which I simply ignored, focusing my attention on the enemy.
The last of the five managed to react in time and sprawled on the ground, letting the blade pass over him and getting away with only a cut and singed hair.
Grumbling, I stopped holding back from the maximum speed of the kunoichi running behind me with the valuable cargo and, increasing the circulation of chakra throughout my body, lunged forward, unsheathing my sword and striking diagonally at the shinobi who had just begun to rise from the ground.
The latter demonstrated good reflexes and rolled to the side, waving away the kunai covered in flames.
Meeting the blow with a blade covered in writhing discharges, I calmly held the block and pressed forward slightly, asserting my superiority in strength, which allowed me to knock my enemy, who had barely managed to get to his feet, off balance and knock him to the ground with a powerful kick to the shin.
With a predatory grin, the man tried to roll away from me, but a quick downward thrust pinned him down like a butterfly pinned to a board. The blade entered his side with a crunch, and I jerked it to the side, almost cutting him in half.
A short cry filled with pain was cut short almost immediately, and I shook the blood off my blade and rushed forward, catching up with Miroku and his bodyguard a few seconds later.
"Morieu is almost in the middle of the hidden village," the high priestess said, looking back at me and pointing in the direction.
But she didn't need to guide me to the target — now that almost all of the demon's power was behind us and no longer interfering with my senses, I could clearly feel a huge source of vile chakra ahead, only slightly muffled, its volume commanding respect.
Recalling my brief encounter with the jinchuriki, who had used the full power of his bijuu, at the level of a one-tailed or two-tailed demon, I warned the girls, "We need him, but don't go in first — there may be strong guards near the demon — so follow at a distance and wait until I deal with them.
Due to the intensity of Morieu's "radiation," the sensors could not determine exactly, but considering his intelligence and not fully restored strength, which, moreover, had to be recently spent on the emergency raising of a large number of Yureiguns, I would definitely play it safe by leaving the strongest fighters nearby.
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