Chapter 89: Genbu? I Thought That Was a Speed Bump.
The City of the Four Saint Beasts had just received the most destructive intruders in its history.
The castle's interior was built like a maze: winding corridors, dead ends, no signs. Theoretically, the way to defeat all four Saint Beasts was to keep climbing, find each staircase. In practice, finding each staircase was itself a complicated process.
Ross skipped the process entirely. Gold Pickaxe in hand, he cut a straight line through everything in his way. Dead end? Swing. Wall? Swing. Nothing survived a hit.
Through this completely unreasonable approach, the five of them quickly found a large door bearing a placard that read "Chamber of Genbu," the unmistakable staging area for a boss encounter.
The door, naturally, also took a swing.
The method was extreme enough that even the boss waiting inside showed a flicker of surprise.
"Heh heh heh heh. Perfect timing! Allow me, Genbu, the mightiest of the Four Saint Beasts, to give you a proper welcome!"
Torches flared to life abruptly, and the firelight illuminated the figure that had been waiting in the dark.
What it revealed was an enormous stone tortoise, its body apparently composed entirely of rock and mineral. Its limbs were long enough to allow it to stand upright on two legs. Its tail moved like a miniature Onix. Only its face retained just enough human structure in the features to read as a face.
In demon world common knowledge: the more human-looking something is, the more dangerous. The parallel that comes to mind is fantasy novels where monsters grow more powerful the closer they get to human form. Those with no human resemblance could still be strong, but only up to a point.
"This floor has the only staircase leading upward. If you want to pass..."
Genbu moved his Onix-like tail as he spoke. It came down on the floor with a boom, leaving a sizable dent.
"Then you'll have to defeat me first!"
Genbu considered this quite intimidating. The problem was that the invaders in front of him weren't reacting accordingly.
Specifically, two of them had expressions that could only be read as "that's it?"
Genbu was rather annoyed.
"Don't believe me? Come at me all at once! Genbu will flatten every one of you!"
For some reason, Genbu was maintaining a gentlemanly posture even through his trash talk.
"Kurama, want to go? Grass beats Rock, you know."
"That works for me. I've been curious about the actual quality of these Four Saint Beasts."
Kurama, long since accustomed to Ross producing inexplicable references, was genuinely a little curious about the Four Saint Beasts. Word had it they possessed some unusual Nen tools. He was interested in seeing them. Ideally more than just seeing.
"So you're coming to die one at a time? Perfect."
Seeing the least combat-looking person in the group volunteer first, Genbu finally smiled.
At the same time, his tail quietly slipped into the stone floor below, merging with it as though tail and ground had always been one continuous surface.
Ross had spotted it immediately. He was about to say something when his gaze dropped to his own right hand, still holding the Gold Pickaxe.
Hm.
Something had just occurred to him.
Genbu's submerged tail was slowly rising from the floor behind Kurama. The moment Kurama sensed it, it struck.
The tail launched from the surface in a flash. The rough but sharp tip came at Kurama with enough force to punch straight through him.
Kurama's reaction was immediate, an evasion at nearly the last possible moment, but the tail was just a fraction faster. It tore a real wound across his abdomen.
The combination of material and demon aura had broken through the outer defensive limit of Kurama's Ten.
"Ha! I can merge with any rock surface, and every part of my body can move freely inside it! Ambushing people with my tail is child's play!"
Whether he had simply never suffered from exposing his ability this carelessly or just wanted to show off, Genbu started narrating his own technique after landing the hit.
Kurama, one hand pressed to his injured side, heard the explanation. The shock on his face vanished. He had clearly just thought of something. He tilted his body slightly and his gaze met Ross's.
Kurama raised an eyebrow. Ross gave one nod.
An understanding passed between them without a word.
"Despair! The real show is just beginning!"
Genbu laughed and began sinking into the ground, genuinely merging his entire body with the rock floor.
At that moment, Kurama reached a hand behind his neck and drew it back through his long hair. When his hand came forward, it was holding a single fresh rose.
"A rose?"
"Is he giving flowers to a demon?"
The two delinquents, who had never actually seen Kurama use his abilities before, traded baffled commentary.
"In a manner of speaking... yes."
Kurama channeled his Nen into the rose.
Manipulation type aura: beginning the enhanced modification of the rose.
Petals multiplied far beyond what any single rose should contain and began drifting outward. Within seconds, the scent of roses had filled the entire Chamber of Genbu.
"Rose Whip!"
With a single sharp swing of the stem, the rose in Kurama's hand became a long thorned whip.
"...What a theatrical guy. He's even saying it in a foreign language."
Kuwabara made a face.
In a world where looks were the ultimate authority, however, watching Kurama do exactly this made it look like something from a painting. If Kuwabara had done the same thing...
Everyone present privately did the math. The mental image had the same energy as a sound effect that couldn't be typed.
Kurama, weapon ready, stood exactly where he was and waited.
Then he jumped back, suddenly, covering a large distance. At almost the same instant he left the ground, Genbu erupted from the stone floor like a dolphin, reaching for where Kurama had just been and finding nothing.
Kurama kept evading. He didn't counterattack. Genbu pressed with increasing frequency.
But gradually, Kurama's positioning started to look like a problem. He was letting himself get pushed closer and closer to the wall. Genbu, who had been unable to land a clean hit, felt a surge of anticipation.
Rock was Genbu's domain. A rock wall was just as accessible as the floor.
This time, Genbu shifted his movement path from the floor to the wall.
And at that moment, Kurama shouted.
"Right behind me! Now!"
Something flew just over Kurama's head as he ducked sharply. It hit the rock wall dead-on.
From inside the wall, Genbu watched a golden object growing rapidly larger in his field of vision. He paid it no attention, preparing to use the impact to cover his attack on the crouching Kurama.
The wall vanished. Eight cubic meters of it, gone in an instant, the void encompassing Genbu's torso precisely.
What vanished along with the wall was Genbu's overconfidence and his Life Core.
The Four Saint Beast Genbu: defeated.