Immortal Art: Rakshasa Palm!

Immortal Art: Rakshasa Palm!

Huff... huff!

The Professor did her best to control her breathing. She had known this mission would be difficult, but she had never expected it to be this dangerous.

A team mission involving seven Reincarnators had nearly ended in a total wipe on the very first night.

Her left shoulder was bandaged, and there was a wound on her thigh as well. The man in the conical hat, Liu Qi, had also lost his earlier carefree bearing. His hat had been punched open, revealing his somewhat stiff-looking face.

The other pair was injured as well.

After their initial panic, they discovered that quite a few Man-eating Demons had gone after the other three. Only then had they fought while retreating and arrived at their current hiding place.

Calling it a hiding place was a stretch. It was merely a Wisteria Flower grove, where countless blossoms were in full bloom, creating a breathtaking sight beneath the night sky.

More importantly, Wisteria Flower was deadly poison to demons. Thus, after recovering from their injuries, the dozen or so Man-eating Demons pursuing them could only linger in the distance, not daring to approach.

The burly blond man relaxed when he saw this. His muscular body sagged slightly. After the woman beside him treated his wounds, the two walked over to the Professor and Liu Qi. He said coldly,

"Is there a Special Reincarnator among you?"

The woman had long green hair, its fluffy curls cascading behind her. She was tall and looked down at them with an imposing presence.

Her main target of observation was Liu Qi, the man wearing the conical hat. This man's combat ability was indeed extraordinary. Even if he was not Bing-level, he could not be far from it.

If she did not use that move, she might not necessarily be able to defeat that kind of Godspeed Draw.

For Reincarnators, if future growth potential was not considered, the strongest early-game path was undoubtedly the shooting path that relied on firearms.

Given the nature of Reincarnation Worlds, enemies eventually became almost impossible to deal with using conventional firearms. Immortality, regeneration, impenetrable defenses—firearms would eventually hit a bottleneck, but people would not.

Therefore, Close Combat was considered the strongest path by most people.

It possessed some of the highest damage among melee paths in the early stages, and it also had enormous room for growth in the mid and late stages. A single sword could break ten thousand techniques. Whether in Anime Worlds, film and television worlds, or Derivative Worlds based on novels, it was an exceptionally powerful path.

The Professor's eyes shifted as she looked at Liu Qi as well. However, Liu Qi snorted and shook his head.

"Why test this old man, you two young ladies? You've clearly both noticed that the fellow in that disgusting pink robe is the most abnormal existence in the team."

"The first Man-eating Demon to appear targeted him immediately. Even after its head was cut off and its true body emerged, it did not attack the Professor who had shot it. Instead, it kept targeting that fellow..."

"He is probably the strongest among us."

The Professor realized that Liu Qi was not as simple as he appeared. Though he wore a conical hat, he had seen the situation very clearly.

The green-haired woman's expression eased slightly as well.

"It seems there are no fools here, so I'll be direct. There's... something wrong with this mission world."

"Vincent and I have encountered this before. This so-called Demon Slayer Spinoff World P9971 must have undergone a major mutation. Its development has completely diverged from the original plot, which is why it has produced a mission of such abnormal difficulty."

The green-haired woman's codename was Elizabeth. Her expression was grim. She had only participated in one mission where the world's plot had undergone such large-scale changes, but of the sixteen Reincarnators in that mission world, only three had ultimately returned to the Space.

After pondering for a moment, the Professor spoke as well.

"Indeed. I also think the hint that this world had not been affected by Reincarnators may have misled our judgment. This is a Derivative World, so its course was never guaranteed to match that of the original Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba world."

"Besides... one of the Man-eating Demons mentioned Mount Fujikasane just now. If I'm not mistaken, this place is likely Mount Fujikasane—the site of the Final Selection in the original work."

Liu Qi and Elizabeth were both startled. Looking up at the dense Wisteria Flowers overhead, they had no choice but to believe that this really might be the place where the Demon Slayer Corps imprisoned Man-eating Demons as an entrance test for Demon Slayer Swordsmen.

And now, this place had clearly been destroyed. Monsters ran rampant, while only this small stretch remained of the Wisteria Flower forest surrounding Mount Fujikasane, utterly incapable of stopping the Man-eating Demons from escaping.

Vincent touched the bloody wound on his chest. He had come within a hair's breadth of being chopped in half by that Man-eating Demon that could slash through the air with blood like blades.

"Are those three still alive?"

The Professor was not sure either and could only say,

"Perhaps. We can look for them at dawn. This is not a world where we can act recklessly anymore."

You killed the Man-eating Demon Xiaohuo. Obtained 200 Dimensional Points.

Milestone: Demon Hunter progress updated. Current: 9/20.

Bai Cangshu had unknowingly reached the depths of the dense forest. He had finally killed the Man-eating Demon that could change direction so strangely in midair. Its Blood Demon Art was quite unusual; it seemed capable of finding leverage out of thin air.

By now, Bai Cangshu had several wounds on his body as well, though they were all shallow.

While wearing Mercenary Tao's Pink Robe, Bai Cangshu's Agility was as high as 16 points. Whether in neural reflexes or physical reaction speed, Bai Cangshu was extraordinarily fast.

The Man-eating Demon changed direction in midair, but Bai Cangshu always managed to dodge. In the end, he seized an opening and smashed its head apart with one punch.

"Xiaohuo. Not a bad name."

Though Bai Cangshu said this, his mind was actually highly focused. His Killing Intent Perception told him that a powerful killing intent was enveloping him.

Rumble...

The ground suddenly shook violently. Bai Cangshu's expression changed as he raised his right leg high and slammed it down.

Boom!

Amid the powerful impact, the enormous bluish-gray arm bursting from the earth paused. Bai Cangshu, meanwhile, was hurled into the air by an even greater force.

In an instant, Bai Cangshu rose above the forest and finally took in the entire surrounding terrain. This was a sprawling mountain range. Several sparse stretches of Wisteria Flower forest lay around the mountain's perimeter, but the interior had long since become a complete mess.

Below Bai Cangshu, that bluish-gray giant hand had fully emerged from the ground. It was actually a massive arm over several dozen meters long, its palm likely more than three meters across.

Its main body also raised its head and spotted Bai Cangshu in the air.

The Man-eating Demon narrowed its eyes in a smile. It was enormous, its body seemingly formed from bluestone. Rings of arms completely encircled its body, with only some of them thrust into the ground to attack.

Hand Demon!

It should have been merely one of the somewhat stronger Man-eating Demons on Mount Fujikasane, but what stood before Bai Cangshu now was on a completely different level from the Hand Demon Tanjiro had encountered in the original work.

Because it had wrapped its arms around its neck, its voice was muffled.

"Heh heh, are there still remnants of the Demon Slayer Corps?"

"Once I eat you, that lord will surely be a little happier!"

The powerful Hand Demon, which had devoured an unknown number of people by now, bore clear characters in its eyes—Lower Rank. Yet unlike the Lower Rank demons Bai Cangshu remembered, there was no number in its eyes.

Several enormous arms simultaneously reached up from the ground and grabbed at the sky, like giant pythons shooting upward.

Bai Cangshu's breathing rhythm shifted slightly, while his heart began pounding violently.

The muscles all over his body swelled, and his pupils turned completely white.

Bai Cangshu's upward momentum vanished. Using the force of his descent, he drew his right arm back like a taut bowstring. His right hand continuously rotated inward, and the terrifying force twisted even the swollen muscles in his right arm.

At the same time, Hamon began circulating at full power. Through breaths containing a special rhythm, the blood within Bai Cangshu's body began to vibrate. A faint aura dispersed from within him, while rings of ripples emerged from his right hand.

Immortal Art: Rakshasa Palm!