Zenitsu's brief confidence died on the spot.
A mont ago, he had comforted himself with the thought that one or two demons would not be a problem as long as Tanjiro was here.
One or two.
Not thirteen.
He spun around like a panicked chicken, his face drained of blood, his limbs moving with no coordination at all.
"Are they gathering up to fight a boss or sothing?!" Zenitsu shrieked. "Is such a huge lineup really necessary?!"
His voice nearly cracked from the strain.
"Let's run! If we run now, we might still make it! Besides, maybe they aren't even coming for us. Maybe they're just passing by. Demons can go for walks too, right? Right?!"
He was still clinging to the last thread of hope.
Tanjiro cut it cleanly.
"They're most likely coming for ," he said, gripping Asuramaru with both hands. "But even if they weren't, I still couldn't step aside."
His gaze was firm beneath the moonlight.
"If we let them pass, how many more people would they hurt?"
Zenitsu opened his mouth, but no words ca out.
The ground began to tremble.
A dense rhythm of footsteps approached from the darkness ahead. Branches shook. Dry leaves scraped across the mountain path. The scent of blood thickened in the night air, heavy enough to cling to the back of the throat.
Then the first demon appeared.
It was a boy with crimson eyes, fangs bared in a vicious grin, and a pair of bat wings spread wide from his back. He glided through the air, low over the path, his shadow slicing across the moonlit ground.
Below him, three figures closed in at terrifying speed.
Behind them ca nine more demons, slower but no less hungry, their eyes glowing through the darkness like scattered coals.
Tanjiro's nose twitched.
"The four in front sll especially strong," he said. "They've eaten many people. They won't be weak."
His hands tightened around the sword.
"I'll hold them back."
The bat demon in the air saw the three of them and imdiately locked onto Tanjiro. The hanafuda earrings, the Demon Slayer uniform, the checkered haori—there was no mistaking him.
"We caught up!" the bat demon shouted, voice sharp and shrill. "That's the Demon Slayer that Lord Muzan ordered us to kill!"
"So the trip wasn't wasted!" roared a demon built like an ox, its body thick with muscle.
Beside it, a demon as thin as a bamboo pole licked its lips. "Kill him and bring back his head. That Lord will be pleased."
The last of the leading four was a white-haired female demon. Her smile was thin and greedy.
"If we kill him, Lord Muzan will surely reward us with more of his blood."
The nine demons behind them did not argue.
That alone made the situation worse.
These demons had gathered with a clear objective. They were not bickering over prey. They were not fighting one another over territory. Muzan had permitted them to work together, and the demons in this region had co for one reason only.
To hunt Tanjiro.
Zenitsu's face turned even paler.
"What do we do, Tanjiro?!"
Inosuke snorted beside him, already drawing his twin Nichirin swords.
"Quit whining. You're annoying."
Tanjiro had no better answer to give. He could only say, "Let's do our best together."
Zenitsu stared at him as if he had just been betrayed by the entire world.
"Do our best?! That's it?!"
The words had barely left his mouth when the bat demon in the air swooped down first.
Its wings glinted under the moonlight, thin and sharp like curved knives. With a rush of air, it tore straight toward the three of them.
"Move!"
Tanjiro shoved Zenitsu aside and dodged in the opposite direction.
Inosuke did not retreat.
He lowered his body and charged toward the demons with both swords raised.
"Pig Assault! Pig Assault!"
The demons barely spared him a glance.
Their true target was Tanjiro.
Only the ox-like demon stopped and brought three lesser demons with him, blocking Inosuke's path.
"Brat," the ox demon laughed, spreading its arms. "Can those little swords even cut through my skin?"
"Hah? Of course they can!"
Inosuke swung both swords without hesitation.
The twin Nichirin swords struck the demon's body.
Clang!
Clang!
Sparks flashed in the dark.
Inosuke's hands went numb from the impact.
"So hard..."
The ox demon threw its head back and laughed.
"You can't even break my defense! Die, brat!"
It raised both arms and lunged forward.
On the other side, Tanjiro retreated quickly. In only a few breaths, he had withdrawn into the nearby woods.
The forest worked to his advantage.
The bat demon's flight beca restricted between the trees. Its speed fell, and it was forced to lower its altitude to avoid crashing into branches.
Zenitsu, anwhile, was still slumped on the ground, trembling like a man awaiting execution.
Most of the demons ignored him and rushed into the forest after Tanjiro.
Only three weaker demons remained behind.
One of them, a scrawny thing with long fingers, glanced down at Zenitsu and laughed.
"Big brother, this guy's too pathetic. Is he really a Demon Slayer?"
The demon in the center grinned, its teeth crooked and wet.
"Who cares? I've never tasted Demon Slayer flesh before. Kill him quickly. I want to know how different it is from ordinary humans."
The demon on the side stepped forward, dragging a spiked club across the ground.
"Let do it. I want to eat his brains."
It lifted the club.
Zenitsu's eyes rolled back.
Then he fell backward, unconscious from terror.
...
In the forest, beneath the cold moon, Tanjiro moved lightly between the trees.
His footsteps barely touched the ground.
The bat demon flapped after him, weaving through branches with an ugly snarl. Its mouth opened wide, exposing rows of sharp fangs.
"Blood Demon Art: Sonic Resonance!"
Invisible waves burst from its mouth and spread through the forest.
The mont they struck Tanjiro, his hands trembled around Asuramaru. His bones seed to vibrate. His muscles twitched beyond his control, and even his breathing stuttered for a fraction of a second.
Inside the sword, Alex imdiately understood.
A bat's body.
A sound-based Blood Demon Art.
Most likely ultrasonic resonance.
"Put sothing between you and the sound," Alex said. "It should weaken the resonance."
"Understood."
Tanjiro ducked behind a thick tree trunk.
Sure enough, the pressure lessened at once.
His hands steadied. His breathing returned.
The bat demon lost sight of him and slowed, flapping forward while scanning the trees with its crimson eyes.
Tanjiro waited.
One breath.
Two breaths.
The instant the demon entered range, Tanjiro sprang out from behind the tree.
He pushed off the ground and shot forward, holding Asuramaru in one hand.
"Water Breathing, Third Form: Flowing Dance!"
His body flowed between the trees like water slipping around stone. The sword traced a clean arc through the night.
The bat demon twisted in midair, trying to dodge.
It was too late.
The sword cut through the base of its right wing.
Blood sprayed.
The bat demon scread and crashed to the ground, rolling through leaves and broken branches.
"Damn it..." It clutched the severed wing, face twisting in panic. "Why won't it heal?"
Tanjiro stepped forward to finish it.
But the bat demon opened its mouth again, preparing to release another sonic wave.
At the sa ti, the other demons caught up.
One after another, they erged from the trees and surrounded Tanjiro in a loose circle.
Inside Asuramaru, Alex quietly assessed them through his perception.
The three strongest demons here were roughly on the sa level as the female demon from the night before. They had likely awakened Blood Demon Arts.
Among demons below the Twelve Kizuki, they could be considered fairly strong.
As for the rest?
They were just weaklings who had not even mastered Blood Demon Arts, dragged along to make up the numbers.
In short, they had so strength.
But not enough.
Alex did not even need to use Demonization.
.....
[If you don't want to wait for the next update, read 50 chapters ahead on P@treon.]
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