Deep in the mountains of Okutama Town.
A demon whose strength approached that of a Lower Rank was fleeing desperately from a Swordsman pursuing him.
"Damn it! These Demon Slayer Corps bastards just won't leave me alone!"
He had been a demon for thirty or forty years.
He had eaten plenty of people, making his body stronger than that of an ordinary Kinoe Swordsman.
His command of his Blood Demon Art was fairly good, too.
He could exercise simple control over the movement of nearby earth and rocks.
This allowed him to achieve something like swimming underground.
Or he could use minerals to reinforce his defenses, and even form various sharp pieces of metal to throw at his prey from a distance.
In terms of raw strength alone, he was indeed considerably inferior to a Lower Rank demon.
But his Blood Demon Art let him attack, defend, and even escape. It could be said to have no real weaknesses.
That had allowed him to live quite comfortably over the past few decades.
Even when he encountered Demon Slayer Corps Swordsmen who came to slay him.
He could defeat them easily.
And if he did encounter someone he could not beat, they would have a hard time stopping him as long as he was determined to escape.
But for some reason.
The average strength of Demon Slayer Corps Swordsmen seemed to have risen considerably over the past two years.
At least, as far as the demon knew.
The number of times he had been [outmatched and made a strategic retreat] over these two years exceeded the total for the previous ten.
Either two or three fairly strong Swordsmen were operating together.
Or he ran into formidable opponents at Kinoe level, or even close to the level of the Nine Hashira.
However.