The light at the mine entrance dimmed in an instant, as though swallowed whole by a colossal beast.
Thick darkness rushed at her, mingled with rust, earth, and the faintest hint of decay.
The Sapphire Star drew a deep breath. Wreathed in Velkhana Frost, the Fatalis Demolisher in her hand gave off a faint ice-blue glow, barely illuminating a few yards of damp rock wall ahead and the uneven mine passage beneath her feet.
The air was as thick as congealed grease. Only the faint crunch of her boots on loose stones echoed through the dead silence.
"Scoutflies!"
She murmured to herself. The Scoutfly cage at her waist hummed, its opening sprang free, and a small swarm of softly glowing green Scoutflies drifted out like stardust.
They circled the Sapphire Star several times, seemingly adjusting to this unfamiliar environment, then began gathering and drifting toward a point deeper in the mine, as though drawn by an invisible force.
The Sapphire Star stepped forward without hesitation. The Scoutflies' faint glow became her only living guide in this dark realm of death.
Her hunter's senses were fully alert. Her ears caught the slightest drip of water and whisper of wind, while her nose distinguished every change in the air-rust, dampness, sulfur... and an extremely faint trace mixed into the earthy smell...
The sickly-sweet reek of rotting plants? It was faint and fleeting, but it made her brow furrow slightly.
Only the depths of the New World's Rotten Vale carried a similar smell.
The mine passage wound downward, its forks forming a maze.
The Scoutflies briefly circled at several junctions, but always chose a deeper, damper route where the air felt even heavier. The Sapphire Star followed closely, her ice-blue blade light sweeping across the rock walls to reveal tools left behind by miners, scattered ore fragments, and...
The wreckage of wooden mine carts, brutally torn apart and twisted by tremendous force. Jagged splinters bristled along the breaks, as though some enormous claw or sheer brute strength had ripped them open.
The attacker was pretty strong.
The Sapphire Star used the tip of her hunting knife to move aside a broken cart plank. Beneath it lay a mud-covered miner's cap.
She crouched, pinched a little powder from its brim that reflected a strange dark-green sheen in the ice-blue light, and held it beneath her nose.
The sickly-sweet smell of decay was stronger now, with a hint of... ore dust?
"This stuff... some kind of secretion mixed with powdered ore?"
She analyzed it under her breath, carefully scraped the powder into a small leather pouch, and put it away.
The deeper she went, the more the Scoutflies' glow seemed to become... agitated?
They no longer flew steadily ahead. Instead, their light flickered irregularly, and their paths took on hesitant spirals, as though something invisible were interfering with them.
The sickly-sweet smell of decay in the air grew clearer too, spreading silently through the darkness like rotting vines.
Click...
An extremely faint sound, like a pebble rolling loose, came from a dark crevice overhead.
The Sapphire Star never broke stride or even raised her head, but her hunting knife flashed upward like lightning!
Clang!
A sharp ring! A fist-sized falling rock with jagged edges was knocked cleanly aside, slammed into the nearby rock wall, and shattered.
Throwing rocks at people? Who did they think they were, Red King?
But that was only the beginning.
Whoosh-!
Without warning, a sinister gust reeking of sulfur and sickly-sweet decay blasted out of a narrow fork ahead! Fine, gritty ore dust rode the wind, pelting her head-on!
"Whoa! Someone's getting desperate. That's cheating! A dust attack?"
The Sapphire Star's gaze sharpened. She instantly held her breath and slid a step sideways like a phantom, avoiding the gust's direct impact.
At the same time, the Velkhana Frost coiled around her right arm and scabbard surged!
Iai!
With a clear ring, piercing ice-blue energy spread instantly as though alive, and a crimson flash of her blade formed a spinning barrier of ice crystals before her! The foul-smelling dust struck the barrier and was immediately frozen and slowed by the extreme cold. Like gnats hitting an invisible wall, it pattered down, coating the ground in a thin layer of gray-green frost.
Once the dust cleared, the Sapphire Star dismissed the frost barrier, and her ice-blue blade light illuminated the way ahead again.
Deep within the fork that had released the sinister gust, several fresh scrapes seemed to remain on the rock wall, slick with mucus. Strands of dark-green fibrous material, resembling moss or plant roots, clung to their edges.
"Hmph. Hiding in the shadows? Child's play!"
She snorted. The Scoutflies seemed to have pinpointed the source of the gust as well. Their glow steadied again, and they sped toward that fork.
Just then, something changed!
Rumble-!
A deep crash suddenly sounded farther down the main passage!
It was followed by the grating screech of rocks grinding and splitting! The entire mine seemed to shudder, and a shower of dust and loose stones rained from overhead!
"You can cause cave-ins too?"
The Sapphire Star's pupils contracted slightly, but her movements were even faster!
She burst forward, her ice-blue blade light leaving an afterimage in the darkness! The Scoutflies scattered for a moment as though startled, then stubbornly regrouped and pointed toward the source of the tremor!
Not far ahead, a section of poorly supported tunnel ceiling had indeed collapsed! Huge rocks mixed with earth and broken timber supports blocked most of the path, leaving only a gap barely wide enough for one person to squeeze through sideways. Dust filled the air, making her throat itch.
The Sapphire Star rushed up to the collapse. Her ice-blue blade light swept across it, and the cold instantly froze the drifting dust, clearing her view a little.
She looked at the narrow gap, then at the Scoutflies anxiously trying to squeeze through and fly deeper inside.
Trying to block the way with rocks?
"This little cave-in doesn't even compare to a Diablos's burrowing charge." She thrust her Long Sword like a battering ram into the gaps between several crucial boulders!
"Open up-for me!"
With a low shout, tremendous fighting spirit erupted together with the power of extreme cold!
Crack! Rumble-!
Instantly frozen and embrittled, the boulders groaned under the strain as immense force pried them apart, then shattered and crumbled! A gap wide enough for two people to walk abreast was forcibly torn through the obstructing rubble! Cold mist spread, and thick white frost coated the rocks along the opening.
The Sapphire Star withdrew her scabbard and gently blew away the ice fragments clinging to it.
The Scoutflies flashed red rapidly, scrambling into the deeper darkness, where the sickly-sweet smell of decay had grown almost nauseating.
"Found you, little mouse," she murmured. Her red-gold eyes shone startlingly bright in the darkness as she stepped through the opening.
A short while earlier-
Deep within the ore vein, a twisted shadow huddled in a rock crevice barely lit by the faint glow of scarlet ore.
The cold touch of the rock wall offered a little false reassurance, but the hunger churning in her stomach, gnawing like venomous snakes, was all too real.
She stared fixedly at the sliver of daylight spilling in from the mine entrance. Her sharp nails unconsciously scraped the stone, producing a faint, teeth-grating sound.
"Damn it... those humans have wised up..." A suppressed whisper came from the shadows, thick with irritation.
Ever since discovering Sunshine Mountain and its ore vein, she had believed she had found a shortcut to earning favor with that supreme lord.
Each time, she could only slip into the depths of the mine at the moment the sun sank completely below the horizon and the mountain's shadow swallowed the last trace of daylight, gliding along the cold, damp walls like a true wraith.
Those first days had been a feast-
Lone miners were lambs to the slaughter in the darkness. The taste of fear mingled with the scent of fresh flesh and blood was the comfort she craved most. After every successful hunt, she licked her claws in the dark and imagined that her lord might spare her a glance of approval for it...
But the good times did not last. The Demon Slayer Corps reacted with alarming speed.
Those sword-wielding warriors gathered swiftly like jackals scenting blood, taking turns on guard day and night.
Torches, lanterns, and even some strange glowing ores lit the key passages and miners' camp as brightly as day, banishing every shadow she could hide in.
What drove her even crazier was that the miners crowded into crude shelters exposed to direct sunlight during the day, huddling together like frightened Mosswine. They only dared to hammer away in groups in the open pit at noon, when the sun was strongest. She could not catch anyone alone! Even through rock and shadow, the faint "sunlight" aura emitted by Scarlet Crimson Ore made her skin sting, keeping her from venturing too close.
"Hungry... so hungry... won't some kind swordsman let me take a little bite~?" The shadow curled up even tighter in pain, her shriveled stomach crying out silently. She had not tasted fresh flesh and blood for several days.
Her last successful attack had been four days earlier, when she had used her special ability to create falling rocks and lure an unlucky night-patrol swordsman away from his companions before dragging him into a dark side passage.
That meager bit of flesh and blood had barely been a mouthful! Tormented by both fear and hunger, she felt as though she were being roasted over a fire.
Just as hunger was about to crush her reason, making her consider risking an attack on someone alone at the edge of the open-pit mine at dusk-
Thud!
A heavy crash sounded far away near the mine entrance, accompanied by tumbling stones! Immediately afterward, a bone-piercingly cold presence bearing an overwhelming sense of oppression flooded the entire passage like a cold front from the far north!
The shadow huddled in the crevice abruptly stiffened.
An earthquake? A demon's body shouldn't fear falling rocks, right? Or were those swordsmen playing with explosives?
This presence... no! It wasn't those Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen! Their presence was scorching, full of fury and resolve, like burning firewood.
But the presence spreading through the mine now... was pure, soul-freezing cold!
It was... the scent of an apex predator! More domineering, more ancient than even those terrifying beings called "Hashira," whose presence she had sensed from afar! It carried a crushing weight that seemed capable of grinding everything to dust!
Terrified, she moved one eye to the edge of the crevice with agonizing slowness. Through gaps in the ore and the remaining shadows, she fearfully peered outside.
At the tunnel entrance, a tall figure was walking in, carrying something.
The watcher's pupils instantly shrank to pinpoints!
What kind of weapon was that?! It was far longer than even the pickaxe used by the strongest miner! Ice-blue all over, viciously shaped, with a blade broad and thick enough to serve as a door! Visible ice-blue cold continually spilled from its edge. Wherever it passed, even the air condensed into tiny ice crystals, and a layer of white frost swiftly spread across the ground.
The woman was not wearing a Demon Slayer Corps uniform either, but strange full-body armor gleaming with a cold, ice-blue metallic sheen. It was covered in the unusual scales of some enormous creature, with ferocious decorations on the shoulders and breastplate. She looked like a moving steel fortress radiating lethal cold!
"A Hashira... is she a Hashira?! No... that's not right!"
The watcher's heart pounded madly, almost ready to burst.
She had encountered the presence of Hashira before-blazing hot like flames, or still as a deep pool concealing turbulent currents... none were remotely like the woman before her!
This woman's presence... was cold and heavy, bearing an almost tangible, blood-soaked menace honed through countless life-and-death battles!
Every step seemed to land on the watcher's soul, chilling her entire body until even her blood nearly froze.
Especially those red-gold eyes shining in the darkness-they were so sharp they seemed capable of piercing rock. When they swept across the passage, the watcher felt as though their gaze would tear apart the very shadows she hid in, leaving nowhere to conceal herself!
I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead! How did I attract a monster like this?!
Overwhelming terror instantly drowned out her hunger, leaving only one thought screaming wildly in her mind.
Run! I have to run! Now! Right now! If she finds me, I'm dead! But my lord... my lord will... no, this monster will tear me apart first!
She dared not look even once more. Like a startled sandworm, she scrambled backward through the narrow crevice on all fours, digging her nails into the stone as she desperately tried to worm into deeper, more winding, darker cracks. All she wanted was to get away from that terrifying source of cold.
Delaying the forging work, earning praise and rewards-all of it went straight out of her mind.
She only wanted to disappear, to vanish completely from the sight of this walking natural disaster radiating lethal frost!
Yet the hunger that burrowed into her very bones clung like a parasite. As soon as her overwhelming fear ebbed a little, it began savaging her reason again.
After days without fresh flesh and blood, her strength was fading, and her thoughts had become confused and obsessive.
The pressure that tall figure exuded was terrifying, certainly, but... but she was alone!
And her back was turned to the narrow side passage where the watcher hid. She seemed to be examining the main tunnel's structure! A mad thought sprouted and spread like a poisonous vine through the watcher's crumbling mind:
An opening! The only lone target in days! She might be terrifyingly strong, but a sneak attack... a sneak attack might work! Just like with that night-patrol swordsman! Use a Blood Demon Art to create falling rocks and distract her, then launch a lethal strike from the shadows!
Just bite through her neck and drain her blood... that flesh and blood, brimming with power, would not only fill her stomach, but might even make her strength soar! Her lord would surely be delighted!
Fueled by hunger, fear and greed twisted together.
"Do it... I have to do it... this is the best chance I'll get..." She licked her cracked lips, a desperate viciousness flashing in her eyes. She gathered the strength remaining within her, silently activating her Blood Demon Art!
She gathered the strength remaining within her, silently activating her Blood Demon Art! Her target-a section of ceiling above the intruder's head, eroded by Scarlet Crimson Ore and already structurally loose!
Crash! Clatter-
A huge rock dropped on cue, trailing rubble and dust, aimed squarely at the back of the tall figure's head! The thunderous noise echoed through the tunnel!
It was her usual trick: use falling rocks to draw attention or create confusion first.
But the anticipated sound of a skull shattering never came.
The watcher in the shadows stared in shock as the figure casually knocked the falling rock away with a single swing.
"How is that possible?! Are you the demon, or am I???"
The shock of her failed ambush froze her thoughts. That reaction speed... was not human!
Fear seized her again, but hunger and desperate madness drove her to gather her strength once more.
"No! I can't let her go any deeper! I have to drive her out, or... eat her!"
The watcher fixed her sights on the depths of a narrow fork ahead.
She had already laid a trap there using her Blood Demon Art-a mass of ore dust mixed with her special secretions, laden with sulfur and the sickly-sweet stench of decay, compressed into the rock cracks and waiting for the right moment to erupt!
Whoosh-!
Without warning, a sinister gust carrying a powerful stench and acrid dust blasted out of that fork!
This was one of her killing moves. The dust not only obscured vision, but also paralyzed the nerves and corroded flesh when inhaled!
"A dust attack?" She heard a hint of understanding in that cold voice.
Then a sight that nearly scared her soul out of her body unfolded!
With a clear ring, the lethal dust was instantly frozen and slowed by extreme cold.
The dust cleared, and ice-blue blade light illuminated the way ahead again.
That made no sense! What kind of normal person's attack could block dust?!
Even more despairingly, those bizarre little glowing insects seemed to have pinpointed her direction too, and were speeding toward her hiding place!
It's over! I've been exposed!
The watcher squeezed out the last of her strength and played her final card-cause a cave-in and completely seal the path!
Rumble-
A heavy crash erupted, accompanied by the grating screech of rocks grinding and splitting!
The entire mine shook violently, and dust filled the air! Not far ahead, a small section of tunnel ceiling indeed collapsed! Huge rocks mixed with earth and shattered supports blocked most of the main passage, leaving only a narrow gap!
The watcher huddled in the shadows, panting heavily, her strength almost exhausted.
She stared fixedly at the dust-shrouded collapse, secretly gloating:
Even a Hashira would be squashed dead under that, right? Soon she'd be enjoying a lovely meal~
Amid the dust, ice-blue blade light swept across the rubble. The cold instantly froze the drifting particles, clearing the view.
The tall figure stood before the collapse, looking at the narrow gap, then at the glowing insects anxiously trying to slip through it and fly toward the watcher...
Wait, what?? For the first time, the watcher wondered whether she was actually the human and the woman opposite her was the demon...
Then the watcher witnessed something that plunged her even deeper into despair.
The woman's lips curved into a look of utter contempt, as though mocking the childish cave-in.
"Open-for me!"
A low shout cracked like thunder! Tremendous fighting spirit erupted together with the power of extreme cold!
Crack! Rumble-!
Instantly frozen and embrittled, the boulders groaned under the strain, then shattered and crumbled as tremendous force pried them apart! A huge gap wide enough for two people to walk abreast was forcibly torn through the obstructing rubble.
Like fireflies that had discovered their prey, the little glowing insects flashed red rapidly and swarmed through the opening, rushing straight toward her!
"Found you, little mouse."
Aaah! I'm not a little mouse! I'm just an innocent little demon passing through!
Run! I have to run! Even if it takes the last of my strength!
Throwing caution aside, she burst into a cloud of dense black mist and fled wildly, spreading toward the more tangled forks and shadows deeper in the mine.
She did not even dare look back. All she wanted was to get as far as possible from that terrifying presence radiating icy cold.
Before you continue