Chapter 427: Chapter 154: Holding the Line! Copying the Talent [Wind Sensor]_3

At this moment, a murmur of confusion came from ahead:

"Black fox mask, black face covering..."

The owner of this murmur... was the man with the birthmark face.

The birthmark face was one of the eight people blocking the corridor ahead.

Seeing Aoto and Mukiwa being surrounded from both sides, the birthmark face first frowned, his pupils flashing with a hint of reminiscence.

After a moment, his tightly knitted brows slowly relaxed:

"I remember now... you must be that pair of phantom thieves: Cat Monk and Fox Monk?"

After speaking, the birthmark face’s eyelids lowered, glancing at the hall next to him filled with plenty of fire oil, his tone turning extremely cold.

"Hmph, although I’m not clear why you two infamous troublemakers showed up here."

"But since you’ve already been into our ’warehouse’... we can’t let you off that easily!"

Swish—without hesitation, the birthmark face, not wasting any words on Aoto and his team, drew out the wakizashi at his waist.

The birthmark face’s iaijutsu seemed like a signal.

Upon receiving this "signal" made by birthmark face, his subordinates also drew their weapons one after another.

The sound of weapons being drawn one after another made the atmosphere in the corridor tense!

Mukiwa looked solemnly at the enemies blocking both ends of the corridor.

No way forward, no way back—only one fight remains!

With a heroic spirit on her brow, Mukiwa widened her stance, her right hand formed into a fist before her, her left hand clenched into a palm behind, preparing her stance.

At this time, she suddenly heard Aoto beside her quietly ask in a volume only the two of them could hear:

"...Can you handle the four people behind?"

Hearing this, Mukiwa was taken aback for a moment and then glanced at the four samurai blocking their retreat.

"If it’s just handling the four behind... no problem." Mukiwa nodded with determination.

Hearing Mukiwa’s simple yet powerful response, a slight smile appeared on Aoto’s face, hidden under the mask: "Then—I’ll leave my back to you."

"I will deal with the eight in front, you handle the four behind."

"...Mm." Mukiwa did not engage in any "haggling" with Aoto over this question.

She slightly turned her face, casting a look of trust towards Aoto.

She trusted herself to handle the four samurai behind.

She also trusted Aoto to deal with the eight in front.

"Then I’ll leave my back to you too."

With that, Mukiwa adjusted her stance.

Facing the enemies they were each responsible for, Aoto and Mukiwa stood back to back.

A broad back and a petite one pressed tightly together.

The corridor they were currently standing in was quite narrow.

Using a Tachi, a long weapon in such a narrow space, was at a disadvantage.

So Aoto did not draw his Orange Water but instead unsheathed the wakizashi he seldom used.

The wakizashi, the secondary weapon for samurai, was designed for use in narrow spaces.

The enemies started to move!

In this darkness, shadowy figures approached Aoto and Mukiwa like ink spreading.

Aoto sidestepped half a step - knowing this narrow environment was actually advantageous to the outnumbered himself and Mukiwa, as the enemies were afraid to advance rashly for fear of friendly fire.

Just as Aoto expected: although the enemies approached, they hesitated to initiate an attack.

Aoto raised his gaze, observing the positioning of the enemies in front of him.

A total of 3 enemies stood directly facing Aoto.

The enemy on the right was impatient, stepping too far forward. The front and left enemies had some distance, with the left enemy staying in the rear.

After a quick glance at the enemy’s positioning, Aoto launched an attack first!

He first took a step forward, swinging his wakizashi, cutting down the samurai on the right who stepped too far forward, knocking him to the ground.

Then turned to face the enemy in the center holding a Tachi.

Before formally engaging this enemy, Aoto realized this guy made a fatal mistake—he drew the wrong weapon, he shouldn’t be using a Tachi.

This person was tall, even taller than Aoto, nearly six feet tall, and having such height while using a long weapon like a Tachi in a narrow corridor...

Sure enough, he quickly suffered from the "drawbacks of using a long weapon in a narrow space."

"Waaaaaa—!" This guy let out a harsh Qi Union cry while raising to an upper rank, ready to strike Aoto.

However, just as he lifted his sword, there was a dull "thud," and the blade struck the ceiling, its tip getting stuck.

The sword hit the ceiling... such a good opportunity, Aoto wouldn’t let it pass.

Aoto dodged aside and as he passed this man, sweeping from the lower level to cut this man at the waist. Without looking at the man collapsed on the ground, Aoto lunged at the new opponent.

Outnumbered by birthmark face and his men... to Aoto, this was both a downside and advantage.

His "Lone Brave" ability had been activated long ago!

Wielding increased strength in one-against-many, Aoto swept through like a wolf among sheep, cutting down four enemies in a flash!

As Aoto felled the fourth enemy, suddenly, a wakizashi was thrust towards Aoto in a straight line—by that birthmark face!

Aoto confirmed the sword path of the wakizashi thrust towards him with the corner of his eye, ducking the fierce attack, but the once-missed birthmark face relentlessly lunged again, launching a new round of attacks on Aoto.

The martial art used by the birthmark face... Aoto happened to recognize.

He had once caught a thief using the same martial art on the street.

It was Kogusoku-jutsu!

Kogusoku-jutsu: an art combining empty-handed techniques and wakizashi spread during the Warring States Era.

Over three hundred years ago during the Warring States Era, to effectively counter armored soldiers, people developed a combat technique—

First, unarmed, they knocked the enemy to the ground, then drew the wakizashi to stab through the armor’s gaps, killing the enemy.

This combat technique was the prototype of Kogusoku-jutsu.

Being a martial art born on the battlefield, Kogusoku-jutsu has immense power, and once you’re taken down by an expert of it, you’re finished.

From the birthmark face’s actions, it was clear—his Kogusoku-jutsu was quite good.

Coordinating with the few remaining subordinates, one attacked left while the other attacked right, one attacked high while the other attacked low, launching a continuous fierce counterattack on Aoto.

Relying on decent Kogusoku-jutsu and the support of surrounding subordinates, the birthmark face successfully halted Aoto’s offensive—but only temporarily.

Aoto was currently in "Lone Brave" status, and the birthmark face and his men, whose abilities couldn’t surpass Aoto’s, their counterattack was doomed to be brief.

The birthmark face once again raised his wakizashi, lunging in a downward slashing posture, approaching like a wall toward Aoto.

His action was grandiose, but it revealed a flaw in his lower stance to Aoto’s eyes.

This time, Aoto neither defended nor dodged but directly kneeled and lunged at the lower stance of the birthmark face!

The inertia of the lunge caused the birthmark face significant trouble; although the wakizashi slashed down, it couldn’t stop its momentum.

Aoto stabbed the wakizashi into the right hand of the birthmark face holding the sword, causing him to release the wakizashi in pain while Aoto used his left hand to lift the birthmark face’s left foot with force upward.

Immediately, the birthmark face flipped head over heels above Aoto’s head, landing with a thud, head-first behind Aoto.

The birthmark face saw the floor, dyed gray by the darkness, rushing towards him. Soon, countless golden stars began dancing before his eyes, and a shattering pain quickly spread throughout his body.

Heavy on the ground, he attempted to get up, but he couldn’t even support his upper body before the intense dizziness overcame his senses—his eyes went black, and he completely passed out.

[Ding! Talent detected]

[Talent successfully copied: "Wind Sensor"]

[Talent description: Enhanced hearing, increased brain processing ability for "sound" information, the brain won’t struggle with handling excess information due to enhanced hearing]

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