Starting from Demon Slayer, Achieving the Strongest Demonic Blade! Chapter 16

On the other side.

Isolated Zenitsu was running around this massive mansion like a headless fly with a mournful expression.

"Tanjiro... Tanjiro, where are you? Didn't you promise to protect me? How am I supposed to survive without you...

I'm so scared all by myself..."

He muttered this as he randomly opened a door, only to see a burly humanoid pig-headed monster with an eight-pack abs inside!

That pig head turned its head in coordination.

It scared Zenitsu so much that he nearly jumped up, screaming at the top of his lungs.

"There's a pig-headed monster!!!"

Yet the so-called pig-headed monster merely turned around and crossed past Zenitsu's side in a few flashes, leaving this place.

Leaving only Zenitsu behind on the spot, scared out of his wits, "Tanjiro... where are you?! I really can't do this without you!!!"

His whole body spasmed like an anime character in shock.

Fortunately, he quickly calmed down and continued walking forward along the corridor.

Yet he soon reached the end, and another doorway appeared before his eyes. After pondering for a moment, he resolutely pushed the door open anyway.

Immediately, he saw a boy inside the room clutching a drum, looking toward him in terror, his hand ready to strike the drum in his arms at any moment.

When he saw it was a human, he didn't make a move after all.

Yet before he could say anything, Zenitsu scampered over in a rush and cried out, "I finally found someone. Can you protect me..."

The boy: "Huh?"

In another room of the mansion.

Tanjiro and Kyogai remained in a stalemate, but Tanjiro had already figured out Kyogai's Blood Demon Art.

The drums on his body were the switches that controlled the room's rotation; the drums on his left shoulder controlled the room turning left, and the ones on his right shoulder did the same.

The one on his abdomen unleashed three wind-blade slashes, which could be completely anticipated.

As for the drums on both sides of his thighs, they controlled the room pitching forward and backward.

As long as one grasped the pattern, it wasn't so difficult to deal with anymore.

Chapter 21 Wouldn't That Be Wonderful?

Yet just as Tanjiro thought this, Lin Fan reminded him at this moment, "Don't be too careless. Have you forgotten that female demon from yesterday?"

Prompted by Lin Fan's reminder,

Tanjiro finally reacted: that female demon from last night had been scheming against him right up until the end.

Then this Lower Rank Six among the Twelve Kizuki would probably harbor even more profound intentions!

Perhaps everything right before his eyes was merely done on purpose to lower his guard.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help a lingering shudder of fear.

"It's a good thing you reminded me. You're a huge help."

"Stop talking nonsense. Next, I will enhance your power for you. Use your brain more!" Lin Fan retorted ungraciously, releasing his own demon power to comprehensively amplify him.

"Got it!"

Tanjiro gripped his blade with both hands and charged toward Kyogai in the corridor once more.

Yet halfway there, the room flipped forward.

With empty space beneath his feet, Tanjiro's body began to drop.

Meanwhile, Kyogai slapped the drum on his abdomen once again.

And unleashed a slash.

Three scratch marks hurtled straight toward him. Seeing this, Tanjiro twisted his body to the side while thrusting his blade into the floor to steady his descending body.

His mind was also pondering what to do.

Seeing that he still couldn't take Tanjiro down, Kyogai grew even more frenzied, "Why don't you bugs just quietly die?!"

He spread his arms wide.

"Rapid-Fire Drumming!"

Could he be even faster?

Just as this thought arose in Tanjiro's mind, Kyogai had already started drumming at high speed.

The entire room became like a front-loading washing machine. While it spun crazily, invisible slashes also assailed him within this narrow space.

Tanjiro dodged with extreme difficulty.

Yet right at this moment, he finally came up with a countermeasure in his mind.

In this situation, only that technique would do!

Seeing this, Lin Fan also increased the output of his demon power.

When the drumming slowed down, the room returned to peace.

The floor was littered with drum scores.

Tanjiro tapped lightly on the gaps between them, avoiding these drum scores, which also caused the previously frenzied Kyogai to calm down somewhat.

Taking advantage of this timing,

Tanjiro took a deep breath, gripped his sword with a single hand, and tensed the muscles in his legs, "Total Concentration, Water Breathing — Ninth Form: Water Splash, Turbulent!"

He tapped his feet lightly against the ground, kicking up splashes of water.

Connecting together, they actually covered the entire room. On top of these water splashes, Tanjiro moved as if walking on flat ground, and his speed received an enormous boost.

In the blink of an eye,

he had already closed in on Kyogai, then stated.

"Your Blood Demon Art is truly strong!"

Kyogai, who had always yearned for recognition, froze, and at that very moment,

his head was severed by a single slash from Tanjiro.

This left Lin Fan speechless, not knowing what to say.

If you called Tanjiro underhanded, he could walk right up to someone without them noticing and shout aloud, "I'm going to hack you to death."

If you called him innocent, he would hit right at the soft spot of someone's heart with his words, seizing the opportunity to deal a fatal blow...

Lin Fan was left completely numb.

Of course, someone else was even numb.

[Ding! Detected that Demon King Muzan Kibutsuji generated negative emotions. Reward: 1,000 emotion points!]

Lin Fan: "Thank you, Boss Muzan, for the tip of 1,000 emotion points! You're quite generous, Boss!"

Outside.

After Kyogai's head hit the ground, he gazed at Tanjiro's back and spoke abruptly.

"Is this humble one's Blood Demon Art really strong?"

"It's strong, but I cannot forgive you for taking human lives." Tanjiro turned his head and replied with a solemn expression.

"Is that so?"

Kyogai seemed to have finally obtained what he had desired all along—recognition from someone else.

He waited for death with such a sense of release.

However, as Tanjiro collected himself, the sound of a cat meowing rang in his ears once more. He looked down and saw, sure enough, it was that calico cat again.

"You're here again."

This time, with familiar ease, he took out the folding knife from his pack and stabbed it directly into Kyogai's body.

After absorbing enough blood, he put it right back.

"I'm counting on you this time, too."

The cat licked its paw, let out a meow, and vanished from his sight.

Until Kyogai completely dissipated,

the voice of the system finally rang in the mind of Lin Fan residing within the blade, [Ding! Detected that the man-eating demon Kyogai generated negative emotions. Obtained 1,000 emotion points!]

"This time gained 500 demon power, 30% of which will be distributed to the blade master as nourishment!"

As soon as the words fell,

Tanjiro dropped heavily to his knees, veins bulging on his forehead, yet his expression wore an look of extreme enjoyment.

At this moment, his limbs and bones, including his internal organs, were being comprehensively enhanced by the demon power!

This enhancement could be said to have directly raised his strength by several tiers, completely incomparable to before!

Tanjiro could barely hold back a shout of bliss, but once the enhancement ended, he sheathed his blade and offered a sincere expression of gratitude.

"Thank you very much, Ashura Maru. I've become even stronger now!"

Faced with the thanks, Lin Fan merely replied flatly, "Don't let joy cloud your judgment. Isn't your goal revenge?

If just this bit of strength shakes your determination to temper your own resolve, I won't be polite..."

"I won't give up my convictions!"

Tanjiro made a response akin to a pledge.

"You'd better."

With that final sentence, Lin Fan fell completely silent.

Yet at the next moment,

the window situated at the back of the room, which had returned to peace, was suddenly smashed open from the outside by brute force, and a figure lunged through it.

Twisting their body in mid-air, they delivered a kick straight toward Tanjiro's location.

This sudden turn of events caused Tanjiro's expression to shift slightly as he hurriedly raised both arms to block in front of him, getting struck by a kick from that figure.

However, propelled by Tanjiro's immense strength,

the attacker was sent flying backward through sheer force.

Feeling his slightly numb arm, Tanjiro asked in challenge.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking me?"

When that figure landed on the ground, they spread their arms wide, gripped two Nichirin Blades full of notches, and laughed heartily while wearing a wild boar mask.

"Hahahaha... This is the first time I've ever been pushed flying! The box you're carrying on your back is a demon, right?! Get out of my way! I'm going to hack him to death!"

"Listen to my explanation! The one in the box is my younger sister; she doesn't eat humans, so..." Tanjiro tried to explain with a nervous expression.

"Who cares about you?! You're yapping and chattering so annoyingly! Since you won't step aside, I'll just beat you until you do!"

Paying no heed, that person nevertheless thrust their blade into the floor beneath their feet before making a move, charging headfirst toward Tanjiro at extreme speed.

Tanjiro refused to show weakness either.

The two of them exchanged blows with fists and feet right inside this room.

Looking out from within the blade, Lin Fan saw that it was none other than Inosuke, one of the three quirky newcomers.

Now the squad was finally complete.

However, with things turning out this way, it looked like they were about to go see Ubuyashiki very soon. That was where he would truly take off...

All this groundwork was just to make the Demon Slayer Corps work for him.

When the time came, the Demon Slayer Corps would work for him, and Muzan would tip him—wouldn't that be wonderful!