The blade in Lin Yoriichi's hand cut into Muzan Kibutsuji's body.
But his words cut into Muzan Kibutsuji's heart.
The fear Muzan Kibutsuji had hidden for hundreds of years appeared in reality once more!
All five of his brains collectively stopped thinking in terror, leaving everything to instinct.
"Hmm, ngh, aaaaaah-"
Feeling the second slash land in the exact same place as it had three hundred years ago, Muzan Kibutsuji instinctively let out a scream.
The scream was deafening, even shaking the snow off the eaves and surrounding branches. It was loud enough to ring throughout Mount Kumotori!
At the center of the sound, Lin Yoriichi felt an invisible impact pierce straight through his eardrums, and his head began to spin.
Affected by the sound, he had no choice but to stop his blade and instinctively covered his ears.
Though he knew this was hardly the time, Lin Yoriichi still desperately wanted to quip:
He's the Demon King, for crying out loud. Why does he scream like Beast Senpai...?
The scream interrupted Lin Yoriichi's attack and restored some of Muzan Kibutsuji's clarity.
But he had no time to compare his current injuries with those from back then. All he knew was that he had to flee immediately!
Split! I have to split right now!
Splitting is the only way to escape this guy!
Pop, pop, pop-
A series of strange noises came from inside Muzan Kibutsuji's body.
Before Lin Yoriichi's eyes, Muzan Kibutsuji instantly shriveled like a deflated balloon.
Countless chunks of flesh bearing tiny tendrils and jointed limbs crawled out from beneath Muzan Kibutsuji's clothes, scattering in every direction at astonishing speed.
Then Muzan Kibutsuji's "skin" actually swelled up again.
Finally, it burst with a bang, releasing a great cloud of bloody mist and minced flesh that obscured the surrounding space.
Faced with such a grotesque, disgusting sight, Lin Yoriichi instead breathed a sigh of relief.
This time, he really had scared Muzan Kibutsuji into fleeing.
Lin Yoriichi did not let his guard down immediately. He kept his blade raised, occasionally slashing at the fleeing chunks of flesh.
Only when the last bit of flesh vanished from his Transparent World vision, leaving nothing but the suit and dress hat behind, did Lin Yoriichi relax completely.
At that moment, his mind brimmed with the urge to snark:
With just a 10% Restoration Rate, I scared a Demon King into blowing himself up and running away.
He even abandoned his clothes!
Just how terrified of Yoriichi Tsugikuni is this Muzan Kibutsuji?
No wonder Muzan Kibutsuji hid for so many years in the original story, only daring to come out again after outliving Yoriichi Tsugikuni.
If my Restoration Rate reaches 100%, won't Muzan Kibutsuji treat me like his new master?
Then I'll ask Muzan Kibutsuji what he thinks life is.
He'll probably rush to answer:
"A treasure! I really do treasure it!"
Even as he snarked, Lin Yoriichi did not neglect the other things he needed to handle.
Thanks to his Restoration Rate, his current body was not as frail as he had imagined.
Even after taking Muzan Kibutsuji's scream head-on, he had already recovered.
The Kamado family, however, had all been knocked unconscious by the impact of the sound.
Kie Kamado in particular had fainted the moment the sound rang out, collapsing crookedly onto the floor.
Lin Yoriichi went over, helped her up, and settled her beside her family.
As he settled the Kamado family, Lin Yoriichi indeed found no sign of Tanjiro Kamado.
According to the original plot, he should still have been resting at Grandpa Saburo's home.
At that thought, an idea involuntarily arose in Lin Yoriichi's mind:
Because I transmigrated here, the Kamado family has already escaped their original fate.
Under these circumstances, will Tanjiro still join the Demon Slayer Corps?
As he pondered, Lin Yoriichi did not forget to close the door to keep the Kamado family from getting cold.
Judging by his medical knowledge, the family should not have been in any serious danger, but they probably would not wake up anytime soon.
It was not that Lin Yoriichi had never considered taking the Kamado family to the Butterfly Mansion.
The awkward part was that, although he knew the Butterfly Mansion existed as a transmigrator, he had no idea how to get there.
Besides, he could not transport the entire unconscious Kamado family by himself.
Fortunately, with such a commotion here, Giyu Tomioka, who had already been nearby in the original story, should come immediately.
When the time came, having him summon the Kakushi, who handled logistics, would ensure these matters were dealt with more reliably than Lin Yoriichi could manage himself.
Just then, Lin Yoriichi heard footsteps outside.
The darkness gradually receded, and a faint light had already appeared in the sky.
Under these conditions, those man-eating demons should have already ceased their activities.
But Giyu Tomioka did not lower his guard. Instead, he picked up speed.
Despite being some distance away, Giyu Tomioka had still heard the scream loud enough to ring throughout Mount Kumotori.
His heart tightened the moment he heard it.
Only those demons could cause a noise like that!
The swordsman, with his handsome, refined features and two-toned haori, raced toward the summit of Mount Kumotori like a gust of wind.
Yet when he arrived, a measure of surprise appeared on his somewhat wooden face.
"What... happened here?"
All the snow on the surrounding branches had vanished, with the wooden house at Mount Kumotori's summit at the center.
In front of the wooden house, great quantities of blood lay scattered, staining the snow on the ground red.
Giyu Tomioka could even vaguely make out a suit amid the bloodstains, along with a few scattered scraps of flesh slowly wriggling.
"This much blood shouldn't be human."
"And if it were human... those pieces of flesh couldn't still be moving."
Giyu Tomioka was not good at filling in the blanks.
But looking at the scene before him and recalling the scream he had just heard, he could not help imagining-
A demon had come here, then let out a scream loud enough to ring throughout Mount Kumotori.
Then it had exploded with a bang!
In the end, all it left was blood and minced flesh covering the ground.
It had not even had time to bother with its clothes...
Giyu Tomioka instinctively shook his head, as though trying to shake this excessively absurd notion out of his mind.
Based on his understanding of demons, they would never do such a thing.
Unless there was someone here who could intimidate a demon, and that demon was also an utter coward.
Dismissing those thoughts, Giyu Tomioka approached the wooden house.
If that demon really had "exploded" for some reason, there were bound to be human survivors inside the house.
Giyu Tomioka reached out, but just as he was about to knock, he suddenly remembered Shinobu Kocho's advice:
He could not simply demand that the people inside come out. He needed to master the art of communication.
For example, he should knock and tell them they no longer needed to hide inside, holding their breath in fear.
He should also tell them that he already had a general idea of what they had experienced, to put them at ease.
So, as Giyu Tomioka knocked, he said:
"Stop hiding in there without a sound. I know you're home!"
Before you continue