Predator If It Bleeds 54

Hiroto had guessed right. The oni concentrated on the warriors and ignored the supposed peasant. Like him, it only enjoyed hunting dangerous game.
That had been a terrible mistake. Focusing on the source of the lightning, Hiroto raised his bow and brought it down as he drew. The instant his thumb touched his jaw he let fly. The oni was still invisible, but its angry roar told him that he had struck true. Yet Hiroto did not let up. He had once pierced a great northern bear six times and it had still retained the strength to charge him.

Surely a demon would be tougher. In the blink of an eye he launched another arrow, and then another. This time when the oni moved, he saw it. Light seemed to twist and reflect, like staring into a diamond, and for the first time, he saw it was truly shaped as a man. Another arrow went into its chest. The oni dropped from the tree. Hiroto could not see if it landed on its feet or its back. He would hope for the best and expect the worst.-pg.298 chpt.11


"That's its blood?" Nobuo gestured with his war club.

"Then we can track it!"

"Wait," Hiroto said as he knelt and picked up a broken arrow shaft. It was slick with the green slime.

"I coated these arrow heads in a concentrated poison made from the venom of a jellyfish some pearl divers introduced me to. Its sting causes weakness, paralysis, and usually death. I do not know what it will do to a demon, but we will give the poison a moment to work."

Samurai considered poison a cowardly and dishonorable way to kill, but Nobuo and Zensuke did not protest.-pg.299 chpt.11