The enormous "Father" Spider Demon turned to ash.
The forest briefly fell silent again.
Tanjiro coughed violently, bracing himself against a tree trunk to keep from falling.
His chest felt as though a boulder had struck it, and every breath brought a burning pain.
"Hey, Montaro!"
Nearby, Inosuke propped himself up with his two broken Nichirin Blades and staggered to his feet.
From beneath his boar mask came uncontainable anger and humiliation.
"I'll take care of that bastard!"
Naturally, Inosuke meant Sasuke, who had just appeared.
To him, being crushed by a single punch from the "Father" demon was nowhere near as humiliating as being saved so effortlessly by Sasuke.
Sasuke ignored his shouting.
He drew his Wakizashi and slowly wiped nonexistent blood from the blade with his sleeve.
His breathing was steady.
There was not even the slightest irregularity.
To him, that fight had not even counted as a warm-up.
There were other demons on this mountain.
I wonder how that cowardly senior fellow disciple is doing.
Sasuke turned his gaze toward another part of the forest.
He was about to set off.
Suddenly.
Sasuke stopped moving.
The two tomoe in his scarlet right eye abruptly contracted.
Almost at the same instant, Tanjiro's expression changed too.
He froze in place, his nose twitching frantically, as though trying to distinguish the terrifying information that had suddenly appeared in the air.
The thick, rank stench of the "Father" Spider Demon was rapidly dissipating.
No, it wasn't dissipating.
A stinging sensation, like a branding iron pressed against his skin, left Tanjiro barely able to breathe.
He sensed it.
This scent...
It was stronger and purer than that of any demon he had encountered before.
That was a difference in rank.
An overwhelming disparity in their levels of existence.
"Cough... cough, cough..."
Inosuke