The Spider Mother

At the foot of Mount Natagumo.

Zenitsu looked at the injured people resting beside him and felt a little dejected.

"Am I... hated? That guy who wants to fight me over Nezuko told me to stay here and look after the wounded, but if they'd tried to persuade me, I would've gone in with them."

Suddenly, Zenitsu remembered that Tanjiro had entered Mount Natagumo with the Wooden Box containing Nezuko on his back.

"Ah! That guy! He took Nezuko away!"

Zenitsu sprang to his feet and raced toward Mount Natagumo like a madman.

"Why did he take my precious Nezuko away?! Tanjiro is unbelievable! I've got it! That guy must be trying to steal my Nezuko! How heartless! I'll never forgive him!"

The resting wounded stared in bewilderment as Zenitsu suddenly charged into Mount Natagumo as though he had lost his mind.

Meanwhile, inside Mount Natagumo.

The people wearing Demon Slayer Corps uniforms swung their swords stiffly at Lin Guang and the others.

Lin Guang sidestepped one person's attack, then drew his white Nichirin Blade and slashed through the air behind the person's back.

Several transparent threads snapped, and the person collapsed to the ground, freed from their control.

"Tanjiro! Inosuke! These people are just like the one I saved! They're all being controlled by threads!" Lin Guang shouted to Tanjiro and Inosuke.

Hearing Lin Guang's warning, Tanjiro and Inosuke dodged the attacks and cut all the threads controlling the people, who crumpled to the ground once the control was broken.

But a moment later, they stood up again.

Seeing this, Tanjiro said, "Senior Lin Guang, a strange smell has been drifting over here for a while now. My nose isn't working. I can't find the demon."

Lin Guang shook his head. "I can't locate the demon either."

It was not that Lin Guang had no way to do it. It would simply expose the Ice-Ice Fruit's power and affect an enormous area. There was no need to reveal his abilities just to deal with a demon who was not one of the Twelve Kizuki.

Seeing that Lin Guang had no solution either, Tanjiro called out to Inosuke, "Inosuke! Do you have any ability that can locate the demon? If you do, please help me!"

"We'll help the people being controlled, so you can..."

Suddenly, Tanjiro saw a white-haired boy in a spiderweb-patterned kimono appear in the air.

"Don't disturb our family's peaceful life," the white-haired boy said. "Mother will kill people like you in no time."

When Lin Guang saw the boy, he knew he was Rui, Lower Rank Five of the Twelve Kizuki.

Lin Guang concealed himself, and the Frost Haori helped mask some of his presence.

"Ice Breathing! Fourth Form! Shadowless Ice Thorn! Shave!"

With a boom, Lin Guang vanished. A cold glint flashed, and he was already beside Rui, thrusting his blade forward.

Rui only noticed the sudden attack when Lin Guang drew close. His reaction was a beat too slow, but he still twisted aside and avoided the lethal thrust.

Seeing that his Nichirin Blade had only sliced Rui's clothes, Lin Guang felt a little disappointed.

Rui merely frowned at Lin Guang, then left.

Inosuke had wanted to slash at Rui too, but his senses far surpassed those of ordinary people. Even though Lin Guang had deliberately suppressed his presence with help from the Frost Haori, Inosuke still picked up on a hint of his intentions and held back rather than alert their target.

Watching Rui leave, Inosuke felt a little disappointed too.

"What did that guy even come out here for?"

"He's not the demon controlling the threads. Inosuke, find the one controlling them first," Lin Guang said.

Inosuke dodged an attack from one of the controlled people and severed the threads controlling him with a single slash.

Then Inosuke said, "Got it!"

He planted both his swords in the ground and spread his arms out to either side.

"Beast Breathing! Seventh Form! Spatial Awareness!"

The muscles across Inosuke's body kept twitching, and he soon pinpointed the demon's location.

"Found it!"

"Where?" Lin Guang asked.

"Oh! I can sense a really fierce, powerful presence over there!" Inosuke said, pointing in one direction.

Seeing that Inosuke had located the demon, Tanjiro could not help praising him. "Really? That's amazing, Inosuke!"

Tanjiro's praise left Inosuke feeling a little lightheaded.

But a sudden flash of steel snapped him out of it, and he hurriedly dodged the attack.

"Damn it! We can't move forward unless we do something about these guys!"

Just then, Lin Guang said, "Only one person needs to stay here. The people being controlled make simple movements. You just have to watch out for the threads."

After knocking one person back, Tanjiro said, "Inosuke and Mr. Murata, go with Senior Lin Guang. I'll stay..."

Murata suddenly seemed to unleash a burst of inner strength as he blocked several of the controlled demons.

"Leave this to me! Hurry and go!"

Inosuke could not understand what Murata was doing. "You pissed yourself. What are you talking about?"

Even the good-natured Murata grew angry at Inosuke's words.

"Who pissed himself?! You damn boar! I'm not talking to you! Shut up!"

"You may have seen an embarrassing side of me, but I'm still a swordsman of the Demon Slayer Corps! I'll find a way to handle this place!"

"Then we're leaving it to you." With those words, Lin Guang ran in the direction Inosuke had pointed out.

"Thank you so much! Let's go, Inosuke!" Tanjiro thanked him too, then pulled Inosuke along and followed Lin Guang.

As the three of them ventured deeper, the threads around them grew more numerous.

"Damn it! What the hell are these annoying threads?" Inosuke kept flailing his arms, shaking off the threads around him.

Just then, more people blocked Lin Guang and the others' path.

"No! Don't come any closer! Someone bring a Higher Rank swordsman! Otherwise, I'll kill everyone! Please!" A female Corps member stood wrapped in threads, speaking through her tears, her eyes filled with terror.

At the sight, Lin Guang frowned slightly and said softly, "Can I leave this to you two?"

Tanjiro gave a small nod and replied quietly, "No problem, Senior Lin Guang."

Then Lin Guang disappeared into the shadows.

When the controlled girl saw Lin Guang vanish, she assumed he had gone to find a Higher Rank swordsman and felt somewhat relieved.

Meanwhile, deep within Mount Natagumo, a voluptuous female demon sat on a rock, her white hair cascading down her back like a waterfall and spreading across the stone.

"Oh? Have you gone to fetch reinforcements? But can you really defeat them? The closer you get to me, the thicker and tougher the threads become, and the stronger the puppets grow."

Suddenly, a child's voice rang out.

"Mother."

Hearing that voice, the female demon felt no joy, only intense fear.

The voice belonged to Rui, Lower Rank Five, whom they had briefly encountered earlier.

"You can win, can't you?"