Chapter 34: Chapter 34: Scattering and Fleeing
A scream was followed by more cries of agony.
The spider demon, using its flexible body, darted around the crowd. Wherever it passed, people were slashing wildly, often missing the spider demon and instead injuring their own teammates.
Chaos ensued.
No matter how loudly Kimura shouted, it was to no avail.
With the spider demon causing havoc inside and the three-headed demon closing in from the outside (we'll call it the three-headed demon for now, though we initially thought of calling it the meatball demon, but that seemed too crude), the team members on the outer circle, holding their swords, looked inward and then outward. Finally, before the three-headed demon arrived, someone couldn't take it anymore.
Screaming in despair, they ran towards the path they had come from, heading towards the mountainside.
The tragic scenes of the night had already pushed many to the brink of collapse. Now, with someone starting to flee, the whole team became like beads on a broken string.
The great collapse began.
First, those on the outer circle screamed and scattered, running away from the demons. Then, the injured and uninjured in the inner circle also began to flee for their lives.
In the blink of an eye, the large team was reduced to only Kimura, Emiko, and a few severely injured members who couldn't move, left in place.
Kimura grabbed a few fleeing team members, begging them to stay and not run away, but no one listened to him anymore.
Kimura despaired and broke down, wildly swinging his Nichirin sword at the spider demon, but team members around him continued to have their necks twisted by the spider demon.
The spider demon seemed to be toying with him.
The three-headed demon was about to reach them, and Emiko knew the situation was hopeless. She quickly grabbed Kimura's arm and shouted, "Kimura, stop chasing, we need to go."
"Ah, Emiko, let me go! I can't leave them behind," Kimura cried, his eyes red and filled with tears, staring fiercely at the spider demon lying on the ground.
The spider demon's eerie smile was full of mockery and ridicule.
"You can't save them. Come with me quickly, if we stay any longer, we won't make it out alive."
Emiko picked up a package left by an unknown team member and dragged the nearly crazed Kimura, escaping towards the mountain top away from the two demons.
An injured female team member lay on the ground, reaching out a hand towards Kimura, crying out for help.
The spider demon climbed onto her back, facing the fleeing Kimura, grinned, and twisted her neck.
The three-headed demon reached the scene, picked up a corpse from the ground as a weapon, and swung it at the spider demon.
Using its agile body, the spider demon moved swiftly around the three-headed demon, dodging attacks while taking the opportunity to harass and taunt.
The three-headed demon roared in fury, and the two demons became entangled.
On the other side, the mention of "why did you come back to take the Demon Slayer Corps' assessment" from Nae made Hatsune recall the day his sister was taken away. In his loss of control, he scared Nae, leading to an awkwardness between them.
Nae wanted to say something to ease the awkwardness, but thinking of Hatsune's eyes just now made her shiver.
They didn't know how long it had been when suddenly, a shrill scream broke the silence, coming from the other side of the mountain.
The sudden scream startled Nae, making her tremble and instinctively look back, but behind her was only a dark wall.
Hatsune stared coldly at a certain spot, thinking that it had begun, and the scream was likely caused by the jumping demon from earlier.
As the sound faded, Nae slowly turned back.
Each scream likely represented a person's death, their last shout left in this world.
After the scream, it was quiet for a while, and then another scream rang out. The two screams seemed to open Pandora's box, releasing all the demons.
The screams were like waves, one after another, spreading across the entire Fujikasane Mountain.
At first, Nae could still sit still, but gradually, the sounds grew more frequent and intense, each one tugging at her heart, making her tremble.
Unknowingly, Nae stood up from the stone platform, looking sideways at the stone wall, her fearful gaze seeming to penetrate it, seeing the horrific scene on the other side.
Hatsune turned to see Nae's pale face, feeling a pang of discomfort in his heart.
He thought of the girl named Aoi Kanzaki at the Butterfly Mansion, who couldn't bear the fear of death. Even though she passed the assessment and became a full-fledged member of the Demon Slayer Corps, she didn't have the courage to perform tasks like the other members.
Girls are indeed not suited for joining the Demon Slayer Corps, partly due to physical strength and partly due to psychological resilience.
When all the screams finally stopped, Nae sat back down beside Hatsune.
"Did a lot of people die?"
"Maybe. Before they came, they were already prepared."
"If they were prepared, why did they still scream so miserably?"
Hatsune had no answer.
"Did that group die?" She was naturally referring to Kimura's team.
"No, with so many people, the demons couldn't have killed them all in such a short time. Judging by the sounds, they should have scattered and fled."
Hearing this, Nae nodded in relief.
As they talked, they heard hurried footsteps from the nearby woods, accompanied by anxious and uneasy voices of a man and a woman. Besides these sounds, there were also tree branches breaking and beast-like growls.
It wasn't hard to imagine what was happening. The team that had collapsed on the other side of the mountain had some members being chased by demons, resulting in them being pursued all the way here.
"Akino, you go on, don't worry about me. I... I can't run anymore, they're catching up."
A girl's panting voice, tinged with tears, came from the woods.
"No, Yuka, I won't leave you. Just hold on a bit longer, maybe someone will come to help us soon."
The boy's voice was equally desperate, but when he mentioned "won't leave you," it carried a firm resolve.
Facing such life-and-death decisions, staying together showed deep affection and loyalty.
If they encountered someone with ill intentions, they might push their teammate towards the demon to buy themselves time to escape.
Supporting each other, the two fled, but the girl accidentally stepped into a pit, her foot striking a rock. She stumbled, and they both fell to the ground.
At that moment, the demon chasing them caught up, leaping from a branch towards them.
"Love Breathing, Second Form: Love Pangs."
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