Alarmist Talk

"B-bullshit!" Rokuya's imposing presence cowed Tanaka for a moment, but greed immediately overcame his fear. He kicked Rokuya in the lower abdomen and forcibly broke free.

"Stop trying to scare me! You just want all the credit for yourself! I'm a Kanoto swordsman, a master of Water Breathing!" Tanaka roared, turning and charging madly toward the fence. "Watch me drag every last one of you demons out and hack you to pieces! Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"

Tanaka leaped high, spinning in midair and trailing a blue current of sword energy as he slashed viciously at a huge shadow beside the fence.

Idiot! Rokuya cursed inwardly, immediately tossing his fire starter to the ground as his right hand snapped to the sword hilt on his back.

It was already too late.

"Heeheehee... Hahahaha..."

An extremely shrill, eerie laugh, like fingernails scraping glass, suddenly rang out from the darkness in every direction. It echoed endlessly through the cavern, making their eardrums ache.

"I told you, big brother. As long as we keep these meat pigs around instead of killing them all, a few little rats carrying scraps of iron will always follow the scent right to our door."

"That's right, that's right! Swordsmen's meat is so much chewier than these ordinary people's!"

As that hair-raising conversation rang out, pairs of crimson eyes suddenly lit up on the stalactites overhead, on the pitch-black rock walls all around, and even in the gaps in the fences!

Ten pairs, twenty pairs, thirty pairs...

The densely packed red lights glittered like stars in the night sky. There were nearly fifty demons in all!

In the faint firelight, the demons' outlines gradually emerged. Some clung to the walls like spiders, some had sharp fangs, and others were covered in pustules. This was no hideout for a handful of ordinary demons. It was the lair of a huge pack led by a powerful demon!

The slash Tanaka had unleashed in midair struck the shadow hard.

Clang!

An earsplitting metallic clash rang out. Not only did Tanaka's Nichirin Blade fail to cut through his opponent's body, it was as though he had struck an indestructible steel plate. A chip instantly broke off the blade!

The tremendous recoil instantly tore the webbing between the thumbs and forefingers of both Tanaka's hands, sending blood spurting.

"What?!" Tanaka's eyes widened in horror.

In the darkness, the enormous shadow slowly rose to its feet. It was a grotesque Abnormal Demon standing over three meters tall, its body covered in blue-green scales and sharp bone spurs. Its muscles bulged like granite, a single horn grew from its forehead, and nauseating green slime dribbled from the corners of its mouth.

Although there was no writing engraved in its eyes and it was not a Lower Rank, that terrifying oppressive presence definitely belonged to a top-tier Special Ability Demon that had eaten dozens of people!

"Too weak. Far too weak." The Abnormal Demon extended its long crimson tongue and licked its lips, then abruptly swung its enormous, fanlike palm.

Thud!

A dull impact sounded. Tanaka's body flew like a baseball hit for a home run, his chest instantly caving in with the clearly audible sound of ribs breaking. Screaming, he tumbled through the air more than a dozen times before slamming into the ground over ten meters from Rokuya's feet, dragging a long bloody streak across the ground.

"Cough, cough... Urgh!" Tanaka violently vomited blood mixed with fragments of his internal organs. His Nichirin Blade had long since flown who knew where. His right arm was twisted at an extremely unnatural angle, clearly crippled beyond use.

"Impossible... This is impossible... How can there be so many?! How can they be so strong?!" Looking at the dozens of demons crawling out of the surrounding darkness like a tide, Tanaka broke down completely.

The tide of greed receded, leaving only extreme terror that sank deep into his bones. A large patch of his crotch instantly grew wet, and the foul stench of urine spread.

"H-help... I don't want to die... I don't want to die!" Scrambling and crawling, Tanaka braced himself against the ground with his only remaining hand, his left. Like a stray dog with a broken spine, he desperately crawled toward the cavern entrance.

As he crawled, he shouted in terror at Rokuya, who was still standing where he was. "Rookie! What are you spacing out for?! Cover my retreat! Use that lousy iron slab of yours to hold them off! I'll go get a Hashira! Hurry up and stop them!"

Rokuya stood where he was without so much as glancing at the worthless wretch writhing on the ground. His gaze remained fixed on the three-meter-tall Abnormal Demon and the scum behind it that were drooling over the villagers.

Dozens of demons completely blocked the way out, forming a fan-shaped encirclement around Rokuya and the villagers behind the fences.

The villagers behind the fences erupted in piercing screams. Children bawled in terror, and the elderly closed their eyes in despair. Even a lord from the Demon Slayer Corps had been taken down in a single blow. These unarmed meat pigs were destined to become food for these monsters today.

"O gods... If there truly are gods in this world, please send down divine punishment and kill these monsters!" the mother holding her baby screamed in despair, bloody tears even spilling from the corners of her eyes.

The Abnormal Demon lumbered toward Rokuya with heavy, thunderous footsteps. It regarded the relatively slender, silver-haired boy with mockery.

"One got away, but that's all right. There's still one here." The Abnormal Demon grinned viciously, cracking its enormous, bone-spurred hands together. "Boy, you look so soft and tender. You must taste delicious. Don't be afraid. I'll start with your toes and slowly chew you to pieces, one bite at a time..."

The surrounding demons also let out shrill, mocking laughter, as though they could already see the sumptuous feast.

Meanwhile, Tanaka had scrambled all the way to the edge of the cavern entrance. Wild joy filled him. As long as he escaped through this opening, he could survive! As for that arrogant rookie and those civilians, they were all bait to buy him time to escape!

"I'm alive! I'm ali-"

Squelch!

Tanaka's wild laughter abruptly stopped. An extremely fast, four-legged demon with limbs as sharp as a mantis's had, at some point, hung itself upside down on the rock wall at the entrance. Its two sharp forelegs pierced both of Tanaka's shoulders in an instant, as easily as slicing tofu, pinning his entire body in midair!

"Aaaaaah!" A scream like a pig being slaughtered resounded through the cavern. Tanaka struggled desperately like a fish hanging from a meat hook, blood streaming down his thighs.

The four-legged demon greedily inhaled the fragrance of blood and let out a strange, taunting cry at Rokuya.

Inside the cavern, only despair spread.

The faint flame on the ground was about to go out.

Rokuya lowered his head slightly, the silver hair over his forehead falling to conceal his eyes.

He stood there without moving.

"Scared senseless? Can't even draw your sword anymore?" the Abnormal Demon sneered. It abruptly raised its enormous fist and smashed it viciously toward Rokuya's head with a howling rush of wind!