Sasuke vanished without a trace.
As though he had never appeared at all.
All he left behind was a deathly silent forest clearing and unconscious Demon Slayer Corps members strewn across the ground.
Tanjiro stood where he was, unable to collect himself for a long time.
He stared in the direction Sasuke had vanished, his heart filled with shock.
Cut the threads?
The source?
He had heard every word Sasuke said, but he could not understand any of it.
All he knew was that the powerful boy had easily resolved a crisis that would have meant certain death, in a way he had never heard of or seen before.
Then, alone, he had walked deeper into unknown danger.
"That bastard!"
An angry roar broke the silence.
It was Inosuke.
His entire body trembled, not with fear, but with the overwhelming fury of being humiliated.
Small fry?
That guy actually said he was there to deal with small fry?
Unforgivable!
Absolutely unforgivable!
"Inosuke, let's first..."
Coming to his senses, Tanjiro was about to suggest moving their injured comrades somewhere safe first.
But Inosuke gave him no chance to finish.
"Shut up, Gonpachiro!"
Inosuke thrust his two saw-toothed blades toward the other side of the forest.
"I can feel it! There's someone even stronger on this mountain!"
"I'm gonna cut that guy's head off before he does!"
"You guys can just stay here and deal with this 'small fry'!"
He deliberately imitated Sasuke's tone, his words brimming with resentment and arrogance.
With that, like a real wild boar, he plunged headlong into the darkness on the other side without a care.
"Headlong rush! Headlong rush!"
His rough shouts were soon swallowed by the dense woods.
"Inosuke!"
Tanjiro called out anxiously, but no answer came from the forest.
In the blink of an