"Is that so? I understand." Yuichiro stretched out his arm, grasping Shinichi's plan from Eizo in the air and immediately understood what Shinichi intended to do.
Soon, the Demon Slayer Corps members who received the order began to quickly converge towards Yuichiro's direction.
Meanwhile, Shinichi was rapidly charging towards the direction where the demons had gathered.
His blue-green figure moved freely through the lush forest, while the demonized Maru-ni likewise flashed like lightning around Shinichi's vicinity.
Screech!
The deerskin boots came to an abrupt halt on the ground covered with dead leaves, leaving two long marks while also picking up a fair amount of dirt.
Shinichi pressed his hand on the Nichirin Blade at his waist, looking at the eerie and abrupt wooden cabin before him.
The surroundings were completely silent, with cold moonlight spilling onto the cabin and the surrounding clearing, adding to the horrifying atmosphere.
The wooden cabin looked as if it had been abandoned for many years, covered in moss and cracks.
Shinichi lifted his foot, approaching the cabin step by step.
At the same time, beneath the ground, in the distant bushes, behind the walls of the abandoned cabin, pair after pair of bloodthirsty eyes opened and low growls began to brew in their throats.
As he drew closer to the cabin, the murderous atmosphere in the air grew increasingly thick, almost visible to the naked eye.
But Shinichi continued walking forward without changing his expression, until he was less than ten meters away from the cabin.
Crack! Boom!
Accompanied by the crisp sound of splintering wood, a large, pitch-black massive figure burst out of the cabin, stirring up a surging gust that made Shinichi's hair and haori flutter constantly.
Whoosh!
When that huge, elongated figure stopped moving, Shinichi could finally see clearly what it was in the moonlight.
Thick, emerald-green vines twisted and intertwined with each other.
Though they were plants, the undulating vines seemed to breathe like animals, emanating a chilling bloody scent.
Countless vines tangled together, forming a terrifying vine giant snake.
Atop the vine giant snake's head stood a petite figure, with thin vines emerging from behind it, connecting to the vine giant snake below.
The two characters in its blood-red eyes were particularly conspicuous.
"Lower Moon Five? Let me count, One, Two, Four, Six have all been killed, it seems only Three and Five among the Lower Moons haven't been killed yet, right?"
Faced with the Lower Moon Five - Mukago, Shinichi not only remained calm but even had the leisure to count off the Lower Moon ranks that had been eliminated.
"Shut up! You despicable Demon Slayer! You've come here on your own, so don't expect any mercy. Judging by your appearance, you don't seem to be a nobody. Are you a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps?" Mukago didn't want to listen to Shinichi's chatter either.
She only cared about whether Shinichi was a Hashira or not.
If this strong looking guy before her wasn't even a Hashira, how terrifying must the Demon Slayer Corps be?
"Oh? Do you evil demons fear Hashiras too? If that's the case, why don't you just obediently stretch out your neck and let me give you a quick death? Forest Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps - Shinichi Moriki, at your service."
Swish!
As Shinichi finished speaking, his red and green Nichirin long sword pointed directly at Mukago's face.
Shinichi's answer put Mukago at ease.
"A Hashira? Forest Hashira? Never heard of it. But as long as you're a Hashira, that's enough. Die!" Mukago's expression hardened, baring her fangs.
Her originally pretty and cute face instantly transformed into a ferocious demon.
It was only at this moment that everyone realized, even though Mukago looked cute, she was essentially still a man-eating demon and one of the extremely powerful demons at that.
BOOM!
With Mukago's angry shout, the vine giant snake beneath its feet immediately sprang into action.
The massive vine tail, as thick as several people's embraces, came crashing down towards Shinichi.
"Hehe." Shinichi chuckled lightly, his left foot slightly exerting force as he quickly dodged to the right.
While easily avoiding the snake tail, he reversed his grip on the Nichirin Blade with one hand, and a blue-green light instantly flashed along the blade.
"Forest Breathing, First Form: Iron Birch Slash!"
Slash!
Boom!
A large mass of twisted vines was instantly cut off, and thick green fluid immediately splattered out.
Mukago's pupils contracted.
"This level of power?!"
She decisively extended a red claw, viciously stabbing into the head of the vine giant snake beneath her feet.
"Blood Demon Art: Swelling Vine Ascension!"
Crack!
The severed part of the vine giant snake began to writhe rapidly, with vines suddenly swelling and quickly mutating.
In no time, not only was the wound healed, but two deformed and terrifying claws had even grown out.
"There's a new form?" Shinichi looked at the vine giant snake that was opening its mouth wide and silently roaring at him, a bit surprised.
It seemed Lower Moon Five had some tricks up her sleeve.
Rumble!!
The vine giant snake charged towards Shinichi once again.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Meanwhile, Yuichiro, who was leading more than a dozen Demon Slayer Corps members forward rapidly, suddenly stopped in his tracks.
A blood-soaked Demon Slayer was supporting another who appeared to be severely injured, stumbling towards them.
"Ah! It's Izumo and Kotetsu!" Behind Yuichiro, a corps member recognized the two, but their injured state clearly shocked the team members.
Izumo, who was anxiously supporting his comrade, showed a mix of surprise and joy upon seeing Yuichiro and his group.
He quickly raised one hand to wave at everyone and shouted.
"Ma-Maple Hashira! And everyone, thank goodness! Please save Kotetsu, we were tricked by demons..."
Yuichiro looked at the two blood-soaked individuals, his eyebrows involuntarily furrowing.
Something felt off, but before he could say anything, corps members behind him had already rushed forward to help.
"We, we just met a female hunter on the mountain, thought she was a normal human, but, but unexpectedly, she, she turned out to be a shape-shifting demon! Kotetsu was severely injured by her. Quick, save him first!"
Izumo weakly fell to his knees, explaining with effort.
Two other Demon Slayers quickly caught the severely injured and unconscious Kotetsu, while also taking out medical kits to help bandage Izumo's wounds.
"A shape-shifting demon? Were you bewitched? Are there such demons?" The Demon Slayer helping to bandage Izumo's wounds asked curiously.
"Yes, exactly like a human, couldn't tell the difference at all, me and Kotetsu were both fooled." Izumo said through gritted teeth due to the pain from his wounds.
"Then what about that demon?"
Izumo looked up, seeing it was the 'Maple Hashira' Yuichiro asking him, and a glimmer of joy flashed in his eyes.
"That demon, after severely injuring Kotetsu, I fought with it and finally cut off its head. But, Maple Hashira, I don't think that demon died, because its body turned into gray mist and.... and, I saw characters in the demon's eyes!"
Yuichiro was slightly taken aback.
Characters? Was it one of the Twelve Demon Moons?
Realizing something was wrong, Yuichiro quickly asked, "What characters?"
"Lower Six!"
Swish!
A sudden change occurred.
Izumo's originally brown eyes suddenly changed color, becoming vertical pupils with gray irises and golden 'Lower Six' characters inscribed in it.
And a sharp, cold light flashed like lightning straight towards Yuichiro's face.
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