"Wait! Can you please wait!" Zenitsu suddenly said, utterly serious.
Tanjiro and Inosuke looked at Zenitsu in confusion.
"Zenitsu, what's wrong?" Tanjiro asked with concern.
Zenitsu sat on the ground with his arms wrapped around his knees, tears streaming from the corners of his eyes.
"It's so scary! The closer we get, the scarier it feels!"
Seeing how cowardly Zenitsu was, Inosuke couldn't help mocking him. "Why's this guy sitting down? What a disgusting guy!"
At Inosuke's words, Zenitsu immediately shot back, "I don't want to hear that from you, boar-head! Can't you sense anything coming from that mountain in front of us?"
Just then, Lin Guang said, "The mountain ahead does look pretty frightening, but we're members of the Demon Slayer Corps. If there are demons here, we have to eliminate them."
"I'm sure Tanjiro and Inosuke feel the same. Besides, being this cowardly isn't manly at all. No girl will like you."
Zenitsu didn't take in a word of the first half of Lin Guang's speech, but that last sentence struck him right where it hurt.
Zenitsu sprang to his feet and said defiantly, "It's just climbing a mountain! Let's go!"
Suddenly, Tanjiro looked toward Mount Natagumo, his expression grave.
"What is this smell?"
Tanjiro ran toward Mount Natagumo. Seeing this, Lin Guang followed him. Inosuke also noticed something was wrong and caught up, while Zenitsu followed out of fear that they would leave him behind.
When they reached it, they found an injured Demon Slayer Corps member lying face down on the path at the forest entrance.
The injured Corps member saw Tanjiro, Lin Guang, and the others, and hope of survival appeared in his eyes. "Help me..."
Seeing that he belonged to the Demon Slayer Corps, Tanjiro hurried over.
"Are you all right? What happened?"
Just as Tanjiro reached out to help him up, the man suddenly flew toward the mountain as though something had grabbed him.
"Shave!"
Boom!
Lin Guang's foot stamped an imprint into the ground. In the next instant, he was already beside the Corps member.
His blade flashed, cutting through every thread controlling the Corps member.
Lin Guang caught the man and brought him to safety.
Tanjiro and Inosuke ran over and saw that Lin Guang had rescued the Corps member.
"Lin Guang!"
Lin Guang nodded, sheathed his white Nichirin Blade, and asked,
"Tell us what exactly happened here."
Naturally, Lin Guang knew about Mount Natagumo. He only asked so that Tanjiro and the others would understand what had happened there.
The injured Corps member said, "We received orders from a Kasugai Crow, and ten of us came here. But for some reason, the others started killing each other, as though someone was controlling them. I..."
After hearing the injured Corps member's account, Tanjiro reassured him.
"It's all right. Leave the rest to us."
Then Lin Guang entrusted the injured Corps member to Zenitsu.
"Zenitsu, I know you don't really want to go up the mountain, so I'll leave this injured man with you. Just wait at the foot of the mountain until we come back."
Zenitsu paused, then found Lin Guang handing the Corps member over to him.
Walking at the front, Lin Guang said quietly, "Based on what that man told us, our enemy is a demon that can control humans with threads. Of course, we don't know whether there are any other demons in there. This will be a tough fight. Are you ready?"
Inosuke thumped his chest. "No problem! I'll take the lead! You can all tremble in fear and follow along beside me!"
Tanjiro said with a determined gaze, "Lin Guang, let's go!"
Lin Guang smiled slightly, then charged into the forest and up the mountain, with Inosuke and Tanjiro close behind.
Zenitsu looked at the injured man beside him. He knew Lin Guang had left him behind for his own good, but for some reason, he felt a little uncomfortable.
Meanwhile, Lin Guang and the other two had entered Mount Natagumo.
Before they had walked very far, a mass of spider silk had somehow stuck to Inosuke.
"Huh? What's this?"
Tanjiro glanced at the transparent threads on Inosuke's hands, then at the surrounding trees, which were covered in spiderwebs.
"Spiderwebs."
Inosuke irritably shook the spider silk off his body.
"Spiderwebs everywhere! So annoying!"
Lin Guang glanced at the surrounding webs, then said, "That Corps member was being controlled by transparent threads like these. Some of these spiders might have been created by a demon's Blood Demon Art. Be careful."
Inosuke said dismissively, "Tch! Then we just have to kill all these spiders!"
"No," Tanjiro said. "There are too many. Just killing the little spiders won't help. We have to kill the demon controlling them."
Lin Guang nodded. "That's right. Let's go and see whether any other Corps members have survived."
With that, the three continued forward.
After a while, they spotted a Demon Slayer Corps member hiding behind some bushes and approached him.
Lin Guang tapped the man's shoulder. The highly strung Corps member immediately swung his sword backward, but Lin Guang reacted swiftly and caught his wrist.
"We're here to help you!"
Only after hearing a human voice did the Corps member's extreme tension ease a little.
"I'm Lin Guang, rank Mizunoto. These two hold the same rank as me. They're Tanjiro Kamado and Inosuke Hashibira," Lin Guang introduced them.
Upon hearing their rank, the Corps member said resentfully, "Mizunoto? Why didn't they send a Hashira? It doesn't matter how many Mizunoto come! There's no point!"
Hearing the man look down on them, Inosuke paid no attention to any rules and punched him straight in the face.
"Shut up! If anything's pointless, it's your very existence!"
"Inosuke, let him go," Lin Guang said.
Inosuke glanced at the Corps member, despising him even more, but still obeyed Lin Guang and released him.
Once Inosuke had let the Corps member go, Lin Guang continued, "We rescued a Corps member at the foot of the mountain, so we already know what's happening here."
"I see. Someone's already been rescued. Then we just have to hold out until a Hashira arrives." The man immediately sighed in relief.
Lin Guang looked at the Corps member and said, "You haven't told us your name yet."
"My name is Murata. My rank is..."
Before he could finish, a series of creaking sounds rang out.
In an instant, Lin Guang and the other two looked warily around them.
"Mr. Murata, do you know what that sound is?" Tanjiro asked.
"That's the sound. After we heard it, before we knew what was happening, the others started killing each other," Murata said, his face tense.
Gradually, a group of people wearing Demon Slayer Corps uniforms surrounded them.
Before you continue