康隆 paid no mind to whatever Granny Moon had just muttered and strode off briskly.
Incidentally, the very fact that Granny Moon herself started walking briskly right along suggests the whole thing had been an act.
Before long, the party made its way into the cave.
The inside of the cave opened up into a fairly spacious chamber, and within it stood three Dan Lizards.
To put it in a single phrase, they were 'female centaur-lizards.'
Each was a woman in a loose kimono, wielding an iron club, with the lower body of a four-legged lizard beast.
The difference here was that on each woman's back rode a second woman, back to back, clutching a shamisen.
The two upper bodies were fused back-to-back, much like the old legend of Ryōmen Sukuna.
"Bwaaah... bibogubuuu."
The Dan Lizard let loose a stream of utterly incomprehensible noise.
真尼 wrinkled her nose in disgust.
"How disgusting. I just need to defeat this, right?"
"That's the idea."
"Princess, please step back. This old body will handle these."
With that, Granny Moon drew a Noh Mask from within her robes.
She raised the mask high and cried out!
"Nnnnngh!! Ri-crystal power, activaaaaate!! Costume change!!!!"
CLAP!
The instant Granny Moon put on the mask, it began to blaze with light!
WHOOOOSH...
A rainbow-colored radiance wrapped itself around her body, and somewhere in the midst of it her clothes vanished entirely, leaving her wrinkled naked form exposed!!
"UGH!!"
康隆 and 蒙波 both looked away on reflex.
(Ugh! It's been so long I actually forgot! Right, the old hag's transformation always comes with this!)
A Noh Master transforms by donning what is called a Noh Mask.
Originally these masks were meant to assist a beastfolk's natural shapeshifting, but by channeling ri-power through them, one could amplify that ability and grant tremendous combat prowess.
The defining trait of the technique was that by increasing the variety of masks, one could gain an equally wide variety of powers.
And as for what form Granny Moon's transformation took...
"Behold! Seira the Voluptuous Warrior, arrived upon the field!"
So declaring, Granny Moon struck a pose, clad in what could only be described as a high-cut bikini called a 'sling shot,' dressed up with an assortment of ornamental frills.
She was a warrior woman bearing an iron club and a Chakram, and the sight of her carried an outlandish sort of gravitas.
蒙波, upon witnessing this, went visibly pale with dismay.
"What a way to fight..."
"They say when Granny Moon goes to battle, fish float belly-up, geese flee the sky, flowers wilt, and the moon itself throws up. That's why for as long as anyone can remember, 'the old hag from the Usagi household' has been shorthand for someone you really don't want to mess with."
康隆 answered with an equally dismayed expression, then steeled himself and turned back to face the Dan Lizards.
"Anyway, let's just take them all down!"
SHING...
With that, 康隆 drew both swords from his hips and settled into his stance.
康隆 was that rare thing, a dual-blade swordsman, and this was the whole of his fighting style.
"First one!"
So saying, 康隆 lunged straight at one of the Dan Lizards!
蒙波, meanwhile, held a short sword in his right hand while his left dug into his robes and produced something that looked like a Rage Bead.
A Rage Bead was a small orb, about the size one could pinch between two fingers, packed with condensed spiritual power. Throwing it triggered various escape arts.
Ninja in particular relied on these to work a wide range of techniques.
He hurled one such Rage Bead at one of the Dan Lizards and shouted!
"Flame Technique!"
WHOOM!
In an instant the Dan Lizard was wreathed in fire!
蒙波 confirmed that the shamisen strings had burned through and snapped.
"First, let's shut down that shamisen..."
The Dan Lizard was said to be formed from the fusion of two women, one a musician and one a warrior.
That meant the front woman would come swinging with her club while the woman on her back unleashed a hymn-like attack through the shamisen, so it was essential to neutralize that threat first.
Timing it just as the burned shamisen went silent and useless, 蒙波 struck at the Dan Lizard with his short sword!
CLANG!
The blow was casually deflected by the iron club.
These things clearly weren't going to go down easily.
Granny Moon, meanwhile...
"Nnnnngh! Seira Chakram!"
WHRRRRRR...
She hurled the round bladed weapon known as a Chakram.
SNAP!
It sliced clean through the shamisen strings on the creature's back without the slightest resistance.
Then Granny Moon swung the iron club in her hand and struck the Dan Lizard!
CLANG!
A dull, heavy sound of club meeting club echoed through the cave, and it was Granny Moon who came out on top.
SKRRRT...
Even though it had braced its legs, the Dan Lizard was knocked back several steps.
The drag marks scored into the ground told the whole story of just how much force lay behind Granny Moon's club.
"Not much to it..."
Granny Moon handled the Dan Lizard as though thoroughly unimpressed.
Yet for all her words, her footwork betrayed not a moment's carelessness, the mark of a truly seasoned warrior.
康隆, meanwhile...
"This is such a pain!"
He was struggling.
The truth was, 康隆 alone had no means of ranged attack.
Which meant the shamisen woman on the creature's back was free to spam her spells at will.
"Ahhh♪"
The Dan Lizard broke into some kind of song, and a fireball materialized in midair, hurtling straight at 康隆!
"Chi!"
BANG!
康隆 caught it on the shoulder guard mounted on his right shoulder, snuffing the fireball out.
Incidentally, the reason Japanese armor featured such an oversized shoulder plate was precisely so it could absorb blows like this.
The proper term for it was Ōsode, but for simplicity's sake we'll just keep calling it a shoulder guard here.
In any case, having blocked the flame technique with his shoulder, 康隆 immediately found the Dan Lizard's iron club bearing down on him next!
CLANG!
康隆 caught the club's blow on his left blade.
"This does it!"
He thrust forward with his right blade, but then...
crackle... crackle...
(This is bad!)
Seeing the sparks fly, he read the charge in the air as lightning and threw himself back a step!
CRACKLE-BOOM!!
Lightning tore through the spot where he'd been standing an instant before, and 康隆 dodged it by the barest hair.
"This never ends..."
His irritation was building fast.
Granny Moon, meanwhile...
"I grew bored."
BOOOM!
With one sweep of her club across the Dan Lizard's torso, the woman's entire upper body simply vanished, leaving nothing but the lizard's lower half standing.
THUD...
The severed portion, from the shoulders up, dropped lifelessly to the ground.
It was a display of raw physical strength on a level that defied common sense, the fruit of years a seasoned Noh Master had poured into mastering her mask's power, and Granny Moon made that power plain for all to see.
"Didn't even need to transform for that one..."
Grumbling to herself, Granny Moon shuffled her way back over to 真尼's side.