Suddenly, the little boy's gaze turned cold. He flung a sheet of transparent webbing at a large tree, which crashed to one side, revealing a Demon Slayer Corps member standing behind it with his sword drawn.
Just as Tanjiro happily thought someone had come to rescue him, the next second, the man's head suddenly split into pieces. His entire body shattered into chunks and scattered across the ground.
The intense smell of blood rushed at him like a cloud of dust. Tanjiro felt a wave of nausea and retched at the ground.
"You didn't naively think he came to save you, did you?"
The little boy played with the spider threads in his hands again. After a moment, he said coldly, "No one can save you today." With that, he casually flicked a finger toward Tanjiro, and a piercing whistle tore through the forest.
Though Tanjiro could not see the threads, the approaching sound of something slicing through the air made goosebumps rise all over his body.
Tanjiro had personally witnessed the little boy's contempt for human life when he massacred that Corps member. He did not believe that flick of the boy's finger meant nothing. Whether there truly was an attack or not, he instinctively dove to the ground beside him.
He had barely dodged when, with a sharp crack, the tree as thick as an embrace was ripped cleanly in half.
Tanjiro stared at the tree, still shaken, cold sweat streaming down his back. He could not help feeling grateful that he had dodged in time. Otherwise, he would have been the one torn in two.
Tanjiro came back to his senses and gripped his sword hilt with both hands, warily watching the little boy across from him.
After the little boy attacked twice, Tanjiro realized he had