Campione! - Volume 17 - Chapter 7.1

Chapter 7 - The Annulus of Devil King Extermination 

Part 1 

Carrying the monkey god of wind in her arms, Luo Cuilian flew.  

She was making use of unparalleled strength the whole time, suppressing the monkey god Hanuman, whose mighty strength was universally extolled in the Ramayana. Using a pubescent girl's right hand to grip Hanuman's white face, she injected the Divine Might of Vajrapani into her fingers continuously. It was causing Hanuman to groan.  "Guhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"  

In professional wrestling terms, this would look similar to the Iron Claw hold. However, the resemblance was merely superficial.  

Gripping Hanuman's head with adamantine strength, the five fingers were also exerting force on pressure points on the head, sealing the target's bodily motions.  

However,this monkey god of pure white was supposed to harbor more terrifying abilities in contrast to his intellectual appearance.  

—He will not remain subdued indefinitely. I must leave the battlefield as quickly as possible to reach a location to fight him at leisure.  

Reaching this conclusion, Luo Cuilian used clairvoyance to spot land a few dozen kilometers away before raising her flying speed all at once to fly in that direction.  

Tokyo Bay's vicinity was too cramped for the peerless Luo Cuilian's tastes. 

Furthermore, Pushpaka Vimana was also moving west along the ocean currently.  

Most importantly, the simple reason was that Luo Cuilian's flying speed was much faster than Liliana's flight magic.  

Hence, it took merely two or three minutes of flying over Tokyo Bay to reach the landing location directly. Then Luo Cuilian used this unusual speed to attack.  

Without slowing down at all, she landed directly. Crashing into the ground with horrifying divine speed, she smashed Hanuman's body violently into the concrete floor.  

The white monkey god with the body of steel crashed like a meteor impact.  

The direct result of Hanuman's impact on the ground was a large crater reaching almost twenty meters in diameter.  

Concrete chunks of varying sizes flew and scattered in the air. Some were stone chips the size of pebbles while others were as large as small automobiles in size.  

However, the war god of wind and steel was not so weak as to be injured by something of this level.  

After the crash landing, Hanuman's head was still in the firm grip of Luo 

Cuilian's right hand and fingers, but finally, he was able to chant words of power.  

"M-My father, O wind god Vayu!"  

The white monkey god's body turned into a gust of wind.  

Even someone like Luo Cuilian was not able to grasp a gaseous body all of a sudden.  

Hanuman had struggled free splendidly, turning into a gale to rush from the bottom of the crater to its edge, landing safely on the concrete floor.  

Whether the monkey's body or its beautiful white fur, neither was scratched the slightest.  

"Fufufu. As expected of the valorous war god Hanuman of ancient India. When confronted with impending death, your ability to freely control the traits of your immortality is legendary as rumored."  

Moreover, the laughing Luo Cuilian was completely unharmed as well.  

Even using Hanuman's body as a shield, when crashing into the ground with that level of speed and momentum, a safe landing was impossible under normal conditions.  

Logically speaking, she should have received injury and force commensurate with the rapid descent, dying on the spot.  

In spite of that, Luo Cuilian had not suffered any damage of that sort.  

She jumped lightly. Arriving in front of Hanuman with just a single effortless leap from the bottom of the crater, her motion had already surpassed the realm of lightness, as graceful as a celestial maiden unfettered by the restrictions of gravity.  

This time, Luo Cuilian was facing off against Hanuman on the ground.  

However, the wind god's son immediately hovered into the air using his own powers of flight.  

"Beautiful godslayer, Your Highness evidently knows my origins."  

Suddenly stopping at a point in the air—  

Hanuman took a seat, motionless. For the wind god's son, the intangible and invisible air was no different from furniture.  

While Hanuman was sitting in as though in a Zen mediation pose, a mandala appeared behind him.  

It was a circle ten times bigger than the 180cm tall Hanuman. His master's mandala depicted countless weapons whereas Hanuman's was that of a great monkey army—a thousand strong.  

The monkeys were all in armor, armed with blades and spears.  

"In that case, you ought to know that. Before becoming the crown prince's devotee, I used to serve Sugriva, ruler of the monkey race. Furthermore, I was the general commanding the army of monkeys."  

Next, the thousand monkeys depicted in the mandala came alive. Obtaining life and physical form, these monkey soldiers served Hanuman!  

In addition, their fur was white like their master's. Their similarity to the wind god's son extending into other areas, the thousand armed monkeys were riding on gales, flying into the air.  

Charging at Luo Cuilian from overhead, these monkey attacked with their respective weapons!  

"Naturally, it is clear beyond a doubt."  

In response, she shrugged haughtily as befitted the Ruler of the Martial Realm.  "Disposable pawns of this level—None shall harm a single hair of mine even if you gather a million of them!"  

From those beautiful lips came a great shout as intense as a lion's roar.  

In addition, her beautiful voice, so pleasant to the ears, was transformed into a shockwave of magical wind capable of smashing even steel. She had used her second authority of the [Dragon's Roar and Tiger's Howl].  

"Generals die on horseback, soldiers destroy enemy encampments. Rivers of blood across the land, white bones lie exposed. Trails linger from horses gone, names remain on record in vain—!"[7]  

She was singing a poem that lamented the tragedy of merciless battlefields.  

The ominous verses summoned magical wind of destruction, sweeping lightly across the army of a thousand monkeys. In the end, Hanuman's soldiers—Every single one of them was pulverized and scattered without exception.  

Losing their shapes as monkeys,the soldiers turned into tiny dust, scattering in the atmosphere.  

But in the next instant...  

Hanuman himself attacked from the air without warning.  

Descending upon Luo Cuilian rapidly from overhead, he unleashed a spinning kick using the momentum of his descent. Spinning vertically, with feet descending like a guillotine's blade, it was an absurd feat.  

An agile kicking attack only possible for apes to perform, this move was aimed at the demonic cult leader's delicate collarbone.  

However, unarmed combat was precisely Luo Cuilian's top field of expertise.  

She simply took a step back to dodge Hanuman's kick. Even so, the slight delay in her evasion resulted in a small tear on the chest of the Mandarin gown she was wearing.  

Descending on the ground again, Hanuman spoke to the frowning Luo Cuilian.  

"Seeing as they were defeated so easily, there was no point going out of my way to call forth soldiers. Haha! Oriental or occidental, past or present, all of those known as Rakshasa Kings were violent fellows without exception..."  

Despite offering praise, the white monkey god did not pause in his movements.  

Extending his right arm suddenly, he aimed a straight punch at Luo Cuilian's face. However, it was not a single strike. Within a blink of the eye, this feat of agility delivered five consecutive punches with the same right fist. A consummate skill as fast as lightning. Nevertheless, this was nothing new to the Ruler of the Martial Realm who remained unfazed.  

Using the back and palm of her left hand, she blocked all five strikes—At least, that was the intention.  

However, the final punch was not blocked. Instead, her left palm was deflected by the fist's force. Instantly, she dodged Hanuman's punch that was flying towards her face, successfully evading the attack.  

That being said...  

The fist had apparently brushed slightly past her.  

A faint laceration appeared on Luo Cuilian's cheek. Blood dripped down.  

"You must have exhausted yourself in the earlier fight against the crown prince. Also, there are signs, no matter how slight, that your martial arts are falling into disarray on their own due to the shortening of your limbs."  

Hanuman spoke in a courteous tone of voice.  

"Excuse my rudeness for saying this, but fighting me in this state must be quite an ordeal for you, isn't it?"  

"...I see."  

On the other hand, Luo Cuilian showed an expression of comprehension.  

"Your most prided weapon—is your own body, isn't that so?"  

Salvatore Doni had called Hanuman out on the same issue back in ancient Gaul.  

Swords and blades were not the Wind King's top weapons of mastery. Naturally, 

Luo Cuilian could not have known about that earlier scene. But through fighting Hanuman, whose identity was exposed, she came to learn even more of the truth than the Italian Campione.  

Punches and kicks. Unarmed combat skills using the entire body.  

The white monkey god's most prided weapon and trump card consisted of that.  

A most appropriate opponent for Luo Cuilian whose most powerful skill was the Twelve Divine Palm Strikes of the Phoenix. Hence, she was able to fight by bringing the full extent of her martial arts to the table.  

However, Luo Cuilian's rhythm was gradually disrupted by her body's non-ideal condition.  

Furthermore, the enemy was indestructible—a body of steel. In a contest of durability, Hanuman clearly held the advantage.  

Continuing to fight in this manner, the current balance would probably collapse in a matter of minutes.  

Even if she wanted to defeat the enemy by using a swift offensive, the opponent was a battle-hardened god of war after all. He would see through this type of tactic. Then was there any ingenious trick to escaping this predicament—?  

Tensing her young and beautiful face, Luo Cuilian stared sharply into Hanuman's highly intellectual simian face.