A lonely moon hung high in the sky.
Moonlight spilled over the rugged mountain road as Uchiha Bing strolled alone along the winding mountain path.
Should his next stop be to find a trainer of the Stone Breathing or a trainer of the Flame Breathing?
Uchiha Bing was still deep in thought when suddenly a Kasugai Crow flew over.
“Emergency summons: multiple members have lost contact at Natagumo Mountain.
All nearby swordsmen are to immediately proceed as reinforcements.”
Natagumo Mountain?
That should be the presence of a Twelve Kizuki level.
Uchiha Bing immediately drew his nichirin blade to check it, confirming the blade was intact, and then immediately hurried along the mountain road toward Natagumo Mountain.
The night wind whistled past his ears.
While running, he switched back and forth between three Breathing Styles, ultimately choosing to use Water Breathing.
Among the three Breathing Styles, Water Breathing was the most gentle and enduring, allowing him to conserve stamina during long-distance running.
Unfortunately, the circulation of vital energy and blood differed across the three Breathing Styles.
Switching between them during combat easily caused a clash of energy, resulting in a physical stiffness lasting one or two seconds, meaning he could not switch casually without the help of teammates.
While running, he drew his nichirin blade and glanced at it against the moonlight.
His eyes were reflected on the blue blade—in those eyes, there was no fear, only excitement.
The Twelve Kizuki; he had yet to trade blows with a demon of this caliber, but he was already prepared.
In the distance, the black outline of Natagumo Mountain grew closer and closer on the horizon.
In the night sky, several more Kasugai Crows flew toward the same mountain from different directions, as the messenger crows of other members were also calling for reinforcements.
There would not be few people on Natagumo Mountain tonight; he did not know whether Tomioka Giyu would come, nor did he know if Tanjiro was already on that mountain.
He only knew one thing—having learned ten forms of Water Breathing, three forms of Thunder Breathing, and three forms of Wind Breathing, it was time to test the fruits of his cultivation.
Meanwhile, somewhere on Natagumo Mountain.
Countless threads were entangled around the Demon Slayer Corps Members, manipulating them to launch attacks against Tanjiro and the other two.
After dodging several blade flashes in succession, the Boar-headed Boy Inosuke was extremely annoyed.
“Are these people idiots?
Don’t they know fighting among members is a violation?”
Now you know members aren’t allowed to fight each other?
You really know how to put what you just learned into practice.
Tanjiro felt powerless to retort inwardly.
He carefully observed the movements of those Demon Slayer Corps Members and replied to Inosuke:
“Their movements aren’t right; they must be controlled.”
“Fine, then chop them down!”
Inosuke excitedly drew his nichirin blade.
“No, there are still people alive among them, and besides, we cannot harm the remains of our comrades.”
Tanjiro loudly stopped Inosuke’s action. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Inosuke was a child raised by wild boars in the mountains since he was little, and he lacked much of human common sense.
Although he had gradually gained intelligence recently, Tanjiro still found him quite a headache.
“Stop always denying me!”
Inosuke let out a roar, charging forward recklessly like a boar, and headbutted Tanjiro right in the stomach.
Murata, standing nearby, was currently locked in a blade deadlock with a Demon Slayer Corps Member.
Behind him, another Demon Slayer Corps Member wobbled to his feet and was about to raise a weapon to attack.
At the critical moment, Tanjiro and Inosuke arrived simultaneously from the side and directly brought him down.
There was a sweet scent from behind, a very strange odor.
Tanjiro’s nose twitched.
While pinning down the Demon Slayer Corps Member, he discovered the strange odor.
As that Demon Slayer Corps Member was about to crawl up to fight again, Tanjiro wielded his nichirin blade and severed the spider threads on his back.
The Demon Slayer Corps Member lost control, fell straight to the ground, and stopped moving.
“It’s spider threads!
They’re being controlled by spider threads, cut the threads!”
Tanjiro shouted loudly.
Inosuke moved at the sound, leaping into the air and waving his dual blades repeatedly to sever the threads hovering above the bodies of the surrounding members.
“I noticed it before you did.”
The Boar-headed Boy was still stubborn.
Tanjiro ignored Inosuke, looking around with doubt in his heart.
Where on earth was the enemy?
Suddenly, a pungent stench drifted past, and the Demon Slayer Corps Members whose threads had been cut earlier actually crawled back up one after another.
Tanjiro noticed all sorts of small white spiders on the ground.
As long as they crawled onto a person, they would spit out threads, and that person would be manipulated by the person behind the scenes.
Looking at it this way, just cutting the threads was useless.
“Then, killing these little spiders will do, right?”
Inosuke raised his dual blades and assumed an offensive stance.
“No, there are too many small spiders; we have to find the demon controlling them.”
Tanjiro’s expression was solemn as Inosuke continuously killed the approaching small spiders.
“It’s useless, Inosuke.
If you have the ability to locate the demon, help me out.
I’ve been smelling a strange odor since just now, and my nose can no longer function.”
“My name is Murata.”
“Murata and I will hold back these controlled people.
Inosuke, you go find—”
Tanjiro was speaking loudly when suddenly a shadow was cast down, interrupting his words.
He looked up to see a child in white clothes standing in the air, stepping on spider threads horizontally suspended high among the trees with the soles of his feet.
“Don’t interfere with the peaceful life of our family, or Mom will kill you when she sees you.”
“Mom?”
While Tanjiro was still wondering where a demon got a mom, Inosuke had already rushed out, springing up and swinging his blades several times in succession, but all of them struck empty air.
He didn’t jump high enough and fell straight down.
The little boy showed a look of disdain and turned to leave.
“Where are you going, you brat?
Come duel with me!”
Inosuke fell to the ground, did a flip, stood up, and loudly issued a duel invitation toward the little boy.
Tanjiro shook his head aside, “He probably isn’t the demon controlling the Demon Slayer Corps, so first—”
Tanjiro dodged the attack of a Demon Slayer Corps Member.
Inosuke said impatiently: “Got it, we just need to find the demon’s location, right.”
Inosuke stabbed his dual blades into the ground, held his hands horizontally, and pushed his extraordinary tactile senses to the limit.
“Beast Breathing – Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness.”
In an instant, he found the demon manipulating all of this behind the scenes.
“Found it, over there.”
Murata volunteered to stay behind to hold back the controlled Demon Slayer Corps Members, while Inosuke and Tanjiro headed straight for the demon manipulating the threads.
The closer they got to the destination, the more spider silk there was.
The closer they got to the demon, the thicker and harder the spider silk became.
Tanjiro and Inosuke encountered several heavily injured yet surviving Demon Slayer Corps Members who were forcibly manipulated to launch attacks against the two of them.
Meanwhile, deep in the forest.
The little boy stood in the shadows looking at “Mom”.
“Mom, you can win, right?
Aren’t you a bit slow?
If you don’t hurry up, I’ll go tell Dad.”
Hearing the little boy’s words, Mom was so frightened that she panicked a little.
“N-No problem, Rui, Mom can do it.
Mom will definitely protect you, so please don’t tell Dad, please don’t.”