On the other front, Inosuke was having his own party.
He quickly discovered the bad news: in brute strength, Father Spider had the upper hand. The first few head-on clashes made that completely clear.
So he changed his strategy. If a direct approach proved impossible, he would tear him apart piece by piece.
He moved. Fast. Unpredictable. Bouncing from angle to angle like a rabid animal, always giving him a moving target.
CLANG!
The blades of his swords bit into Father Spider's fist once again, causing more blood to splatter in every direction.
But the wounds closed up instantly.
But Inosuke stayed completely fired up. He used the force of the impact to propel himself backward with a flip. His feet touched the ground and he bounced right back, like a rubber ball with fangs, attacking from the left flank.
"ANNOYING!"
Roaring with an unspeakable rage, Father Spider twisted his entire torso and unleashed a brutal punch at that constantly moving silhouette.
But Inosuke was smoke.
The fist swung wide. And there was the opening.
SLASH!
One clean slash and the arm separated from the demon, falling to the ground.
The monster howled and tried to swat Inosuke with his remaining arm, but he had already jumped ten feet backward and stood out of reach, his swords dripping blood.
"ROAAAR!"
Inosuke braced himself.
He planted his feet, gripped his hilts, and bent his knees, ready for whatever came next.
After that roar, the logical move was for the monster to pull some trick out of his sleeve, something unexpected.
Instead, Father Spider spun around and bolted toward the depths of the forest, looking only straight ahead!
"...Huh?"
Inosuke stood completely dumbfounded.
He ran away?
But indignation quickly washed over him.
"HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!!"
If there was one thing he hated more than losing, it was an enemy stealing his victory. "Who the fuck gave you permission to run off?! GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT!!"
He shot after him instantly, tearing his way through the trees.
Two silhouettes tore through the forest at top speed.
Father Spider was a tank: he plowed through everything in his path, surprisingly fast for his size. But Inosuke moved like he was born there, literally dodging branches and jumping over roots while keeping the exact same distance.
After several hundred yards, the trees opened up into a small clearing.
Father Spider stopped dead in his tracks. He turned around.
Inosuke slammed the brakes too, stopping at the other end and taking an attack stance.
"Ready to die?"
"..."
Father Spider maintained absolute silence.
Instead, he slowly leaned forward and pressed both hands against the ground.
Then came a sound like tearing fabric.
The skin on his back split right down the middle, revealing a molt. Something new pushed from the inside, struggling to get out, tearing open the old flesh.
And within seconds, a completely new body emerged from the crack.
The previous skin collapsed to the ground like a wet rag and disintegrated, withering away into dust.
The creature standing up was a completely different demon.
Over ten feet tall. Hypertrophied muscles that gleamed with a dark blue hue, every fiber standing out under taut skin like cables. Steam billowed from his body in thick waves.
But Inosuke didn't have time to process what he was seeing.
Swish
Because the very next second, Father Spider disappeared.
No... He didn't disappear. He was just too fast for his eyes to follow.
Inosuke's pupils contracted and his instinct screamed a single command. He threw himself to the side.
BOOM
The ground where he had been standing an instant before exploded under a fist the size of his torso, opening a two-foot crater that kicked up a cloud of dirt and rocks.
And before he could recover, a second punch was already on top of him.
Knowing he couldn't dodge it, Inosuke crossed both swords in front of his body and tensed his muscles.
CLANG!
The force was monstrous!
His feet left the ground and he was sent flying backward like a ragdoll, completely out of control, with no air in his lungs. His body smashed through a thick branch, then another, before crashing into the ground over thirty feet away from the point of impact.
A sharp pain exploded in his left ribs and snaked down his back. Something had cracked, and his Constant Concentration Breathing was on the verge of fizzling out.
But he clenched his jaw, barely held his breath, and struggled to his feet.
Father Spider approached unhurriedly, making the ground tremble slightly with every step.
"Cut." Extending a finger, he pointed at his own neck. "Try it."
"DON'T UNDERESTIMATE ME!!" The ferocity in Inosuke's eyes flared up.
Pushing through the excruciating pain in his ribs, he charged again.
This time it was in a straight line, no detours, with both swords raised high, unleashing a full-strength slash at the demon's neck.
"Beast Breathing, Second Fang: Rip and Tear!"
Blood splattered and the blades sank into the neck. But... they only penetrated less than a third of the way before getting caught by the muscles, stopped dead in their tracks.
"..."
Father Spider looked down at the swords buried in his neck, then stared at the boar head just inches away, and a mocking glint lit up his eyes.
And without a word, he threw a straight punch right at Inosuke's chest.
Puff
Without hesitating, Inosuke kicked him in the chest with both feet, yanked his swords out, and jumped backward, dodging the blow by a hair.
But the moment he touched the ground, his legs gave out. The searing burning in his ribs threw his breathing out of whack, and his Constant Concentration fluctuated once again.
Panting heavily, he locked eyes on the thing in front of him.
... He couldn't cut him.
Strength, speed, defense... aside from agility, that demon crushed him in everything.
Go look for help?
An image of Marcus controlling everything flashed in his mind... He could definitely handle this...
...
WHAT THE HELL AM I THINKING?!!
He shook his head violently.
Since when did the Great Inosuke need someone else to fight for him? That wasn't his thought. That belonged to someone weak, and he wasn't weak.
The wild flame roared in his chest once more, more furious than before, fueled by his own shame.
"FIGHT!" He got back into his stance, teeth gritted beneath the mask. "Even if I die, the Great Inosuke will NEVER ask for help!"
And he charged again. But this time he didn't swing his swords blindly.
When Father Spider threw the punch, Inosuke didn't back down: he leaped upward, really high, letting the fist pass right under his feet. At the peak of his jump, he twisted his body and propelled himself, grazing the edge of the extended arm to land right behind the demon.
He spun around and, using his right-hand sword, delivered a slash to the left side of the neck. The jagged blade sank into the flesh a few inches, but the muscles stopped it dead.
Father Spider howled in pain and threw a backhand punch behind him.
But Inosuke was no longer there.
In the split second between the slash and the counterattack, he had taken another leap, this time forward, climbing straight onto the demon's back.
He clamped his legs around his waist like iron tongs, holding on tight, while the right sword remained buried in the left side of his neck. With his free hand, he placed the second blade on the opposite side and sank it into the flesh as well.
Now he had both swords buried on either side of the neck, like the open jaws of a trap.
"Since I can't cut you...!" He roared, glued to his back. "Then I'm going to SAW you!!"
And without waiting, he started moving both arms frantically back and forth, like someone sawing a log, striking sparks of blood with every swing...
Father Spider, whose intelligence had been largely stripped away by Rui, had the initial impulse to counterattack backward. But with that massive body, reaching his own back was impossible. Even scratching himself was a chore.
He could only attack the one thing within his reach: Inosuke's legs gripping his waist.
One punch.
Crack
The bone in his left leg fractured.
Inosuke didn't let go.
Second punch.
Crack
The right one gave out too.
Both legs were rendered useless, hanging like dead weight. But Inosuke gritted his teeth and kept sawing with the exact same ferocity, without easing up for a single second.
He no longer had calves. It didn't matter. His thighs still responded, and with them, he clung to that waist.
Finally, Father Spider realized the danger.
Feeling that the blades had already started cutting into his spine, the last flash of lucidity in that brain mutilated by Rui sparked to life.
He jumped with all the strength in his legs, dropping flat on his back against the ground, with all his weight focused on crushing the boar riding him.
Inosuke saw it coming, but he didn't let go.
"Then we die together!"
BAM!
The impact shook the ground. Inosuke spit blood and felt something else break inside his chest.
The demon's weight drove him into the dirt like a heavy slab.
But he smiled.
With an effort that tore a grunt out of him, he pushed off the massive body crushing him. The pain was coming from everywhere at once: his ribs, his shattered legs, every single fiber screaming at him to stay still.
But hearing the soft hiss of the demon crumbling into ash...
The corners of his lips stretched upward.
"...I won."
And then, his consciousness sank completely into darkness.
_____
INOSUKE JUST PROVED WHY HE IS THE KING OF THE MOUNTAIN!
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