The moonlight, like a clear spring, spilled through the woods, illuminating the grove as clearly as daytime.
Obanai Iguro's agile figure darted swiftly through the forest, occasionally dodging behind tree trunks.
Following closely behind were pebbles flying towards them, like cold raindrops, mercilessly hitting the ground and tree trunks with a "bang, bang" sound.
"Whoosh--"
"Whoosh--"
"Whoosh--"
"Whoosh--"
Another round of pebbles rained down, but Obanai Iguro, with his exceptional speed and keen intuition, quickly found a sturdy tree for cover, clinging tightly to the trunk to avoid the deadly attack.
"Call--"
Exhaling Obanai air, and listening to the sound of pebbles hitting the tree trunk beside her, Obanai stood behind the tree trunk, trying her best to regulate her breathing and remain calm.
Are all the Lower Rank Moons this strong? Just throwing stones at me from a distance has made me look so pathetic.
Or is this ghost's specialty simply attacking from a distance?
The white snake coiled around her neck twisted its body, stretching forward before turning its head to meet Obanai's gaze.
Hiss
Looking at the white snake flicking its tongue, Obanai spoke, her voice filled with confusion.
" Kaburamaru, what do you think we should do?"
Obanai well aware of her current situation; she currently only has about three paths ahead of her.
The first option is to rush up and fight Lower Rank Three.
But judging from the battle just now, if Lower Rank Three were skilled in ranged attacks, things would be different.
If Lower Rank Three is skilled in close combat, then he feels it's best to run away first.
The second rule is to ignore everyone else and just run.
This way, he would have a high chance of escaping, and his rational mind told him that this was the best path for him.
Originally, when Takeuchi say before he died that this demon was Lower Rank Three, Obanai was planning to choose this path.
However, Shimada's words made him hesitate. Shimada actually intended to stay behind and let him run first. This sincere treatment made Obanai feel unable to bring himself to make such a selfish choice.
Although Obanai considers herself to be a scumbag for disregarding the lives of her people in order to survive.
But when someone treats you with such sincerity, you find it hard to bring yourself to do such a thing.
After eliminating the two options above, only the third option remains—to stall for time until dawn.
"Crunch"
A faint creaking sound came from the tree trunk behind him, as if reminding him that it was about to give way.
Bane quickly made a judgment and, taking advantage of a lull in the new round of stone attacks, swiftly moved behind another tree to continue thinking of a countermeasure.
If he tries to stall until dawn, he can no longer move around as frequently as before to dodge attacks. This method is too physically demanding, and it's only early in the night; he simply can't hold out until dawn using this method.
We need to change our tactics, focusing on hiding behind tree trunks for cover...
far away.
Lower Rank Three threw several pebbles in succession, but each time he failed to hit Obanai Iguro, which made him feel irritated.
"What a slippery mouse!"
Lower Rank Three cursed under his breath, his eyes darting around as if he were considering a solution. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and a smug smile spread across his lips.
"If I can't catch you, can't I catch that Demon Slayer I just injured!"
He muttered to himself, his voice filled with confidence.
Lower Rank Three nimbly circled the forest, carefully searching for the hiding place of the wounded Demon Slayer.
Suddenly, he stopped spinning and stared straight at a tree. He sensed a faint presence coming from there, and his heart leaped with joy.
A sinister smile spread across his face.
"Found it!"
Behind the tree.
Obanai stood quietly, her gaze unfocused, staring blankly ahead.
He was clearing his mind to avoid fatigue from excessive concentration during the long battle.
However, after a moment, the unusual silence around him made Obanai realize something was wrong, and his gaze instantly sharpened.
Why hasn't this ghost thrown any pebbles in so long?
Is it sneaking up on me?
My ears twitched slightly, but I didn't hear any footsteps nearby.
Then, it slightly twisted its body and carefully moved its head behind the tree.
The scene behind the tree came into view, Obanai's pupils couldn't help but contract. She quickly rushed out from behind the tree and charged towards Lower Rank Three, whom she had just been trying to avoid at all costs.
" Serpent Breathing "
" First Form: The Winding Serpent Slash "
A cold voice came from behind, but Lower Rank Three, who was only a few meters away from the tree where Shimada was hiding, was not angry at being interrupted.
In those pupils etched with the characters Lower Rank Three" three," a hint of satisfaction and cunning gleamed.
"The slippery little mouse has finally come out!"
Lower Rank Three quickly turned around and hurled the pebbles he had been holding for a while at Obanai's figure.
Oops!
Too close! There wasn't enough time to dodge!
The pebble magnified rapidly in her eyes. Obanai gritted her teeth and quickly changed her sword form; the First Form was not suitable for blocking this kind of attack.
" Third Form Coil Choke "
The Nichirin Blade swiftly drew streaks of sword light in the air, forming a dense net of swords.
In an instant.
The clanging sounds rang out continuously as the Nichirin Blade clashed violently with the stones.
Occasionally, tiny sparks can be seen flying into the air.
That was caused by the high-speed collision between the Nichirin Blade and the stone.
After the Sword Net event, Obanai's brows were tightly furrowed.
Unlike the last time when he fought against the rain of pebbles alongside Shimada, this time the distance between him and Lower Rank Three was far greater than before.
Each time he swung his sword to deflect the stones, his hand holding the Nichirin Blade trembled slightly.
Suddenly, a pebble pierced through the sword net and flew towards Obanai.
Obanai reacted quickly, slightly turning her body to dodge the pebble attack.
However, even though it was only a slight deflection, it still affected the net of swords that he had swung in front of him.
Then, it seemed to have a chain reaction, with pebbles constantly shooting through the dense sword net towards Obanai. In order to maintain the existence of the sword net and prevent more pebbles from hitting her, Obanai had to dodge the pebbles with minimal movement.
Finally, the pebbles thrown by Lower Rank Three came to an end.
Although the pebbles only lingered for a moment, Obanai already had no fewer than ten wounds of varying sizes on her body.
Fortunately, most of them were just scratches and did not have a significant impact on combat effectiveness.
He didn't care about his own wounds.
Obanai quickly realized it.
This moment.
This is my best chance tonight.
There was no better chance to kill Lower Rank Three than this moment.
Despite being out of breath from struggling to fend off the rain of pebbles with his sword.
But Obanai didn't stop to rest; her body immediately tensed up.
"Suck--"
" Serpent Breathing "
" Fourth Form: Twin-Headed Reptile "