บท 41: Chapter 41: Battle with the Spider Demon
Yuka has been captured?
"Aren't you two together? How… how did Yuka get captured?" Akino rushed to Nae, questioning her.
"We… we were fine, but on our way back, a monster resembling a spider suddenly appeared from nowhere. It… it grabbed Yuka from behind and dragged her away. I tried to chase after it, but… but it was too fast. I… I…"
Yes! It must be that spider demon, the same one that attacked our group before, causing us to scatter. It even led that large blob demon to us.
Thinking of this, Akino's heart sank.
Nae, on the verge of tears, was spinning in circles in distress.
"Hatsune, please save Yuka."
Seeing Nae's anxious expression, Hatsune sighed, thinking to himself that he had guessed right.
He looked up at the starry sky. With his strength, if he stayed until dawn, he would definitely pass the Demon Slayer Corps exam. But if he did that, something would feel missing.
His ultimate goal for participating in the exam was to join the Demon Slayer Corps, but he also wanted to test the results of his training.
With the exam period almost over, he had slain seven or eight demons, all in one strike, which was too easy and no fun at all. The only demon that excited him was the leaping one, but it hadn't appeared since their first encounter.
Alright, since it's the last day of the exam, why not go all out? Surely it won't cost him his life.
Hatsune jumped off the stone platform and quickly walked up to Nae. "Which direction did they go?"
Nae sobbed, pointing to a spot in the woods.
"You two stay here, I'll go find her."
"I… I'll go with you," Nae insisted.
With Yuka captured by a demon, she couldn't stay here idly.
"I'm coming too," Akino added.
Hatsune glanced at the two of them. "Fine, but you must stick close to me and not wander off. If we get separated, you know what that means."
They both nodded vigorously.
The three of them quickly plunged into the woods, chasing in the direction Yuka was dragged.
"Help! Help me…"
The spider demon was known for snapping necks. Since Yuka hadn't called for help until now, Akino feared she was already dead. But hearing her scream from ahead gave them hope.
They followed Yuka's cries.
The spider demon, dragging Yuka through the dense forest, couldn't move fast. Yuka's body couldn't withstand such a rough journey. If they didn't rescue her soon, she might die from the dragging alone.
"You two stay together and watch each other's backs. Do not split up under any circumstances. If you encounter a demon, fight if you can; if not, stay put and wait for me. Understand?"
Hatsune's sudden release of intense energy felt like a cold wind, making the two shiver.
"We understand."
After cautioning them, Hatsune quickened his pace. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the dark forest, leaving the two in awe.
The two months of training on Falling Dragon Mountain had paid off.
With the aid of his breathing technique and temperature sensitivity, even in the pitch-black forest, it felt like normal daylight.
Following Yuka's intermittent cries for help, Hatsune soon reached a slope near the mountain top.
On the slope stood a large tree. The spider demon, not expecting to be chased so quickly, was dragging Yuka up the tree.
Hatsune guessed this was its nest, though the tree looked strange to him.
Unlike other trees, lush and full of leaves, this one was bare, its black branches hanging ominously in the moonlight.
There was no time to ponder; Hatsune seized the moment, leaping from a protruding rock and slashing at the spider demon on the tree trunk.
"Ice Breathing, Third Form: Shattering Shower."
A flash of white light shot out, several thumb-thick ice spikes targeting the spider demon's right legs and hands.
Sensing danger, the spider demon shrieked, dropping Yuka and fleeing to the tree's upper branches.
The ice spikes hit the trunk, producing a series of dull thuds.
Hatsune took this chance, rushing to the tree's base and catching Yuka. Looking up, he gasped at the sight revealed by the moonlight.
Corpses!
Human bodies hung from the tree branches like drying meat.
Seeing its food taken, the spider demon shrieked in fury, scrambling down the tree towards Hatsune and Yuka.
Hatsune gently laid Yuka against a stone and faced the approaching demon.
An unnamed fury ignited within him, boiling his blood, and causing the scars on his skin to throb as if gnawed by ants.
In that moment, he envisioned his sister's face, wondering if she too had been hung like dried meat.
The spider demon's habit of hanging bodies was to prevent other demons from stealing them, but it ignited Hatsune's rage.
Truly enraged, a white mist of cold air enveloped Hatsune, dropping the temperature around him to freezing. The ground beneath his feet frosted over.
The spider demon moved quickly, writhing its flexible body in a serpentine manner to confuse its prey.
Hatsune's stillness misled the demon into thinking this prey was as easy to kill as the others.
Just a few meters away, the spider demon lunged at Hatsune.
Its screeching implied anger, eager to snap his neck.
But Hatsune moved too, assuming a drawing stance with his right leg forward.
"Ice Breathing, Fusion Technique: Phantom Snowfall."
Simultaneously attacking, Hatsune seemed to pass through the spider demon like a snowstorm.
The demon's screech turned into a wail as it fell, covered in countless snowy slashes that froze, unable to heal as usual.
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