"The air seems to have grown much heavier."
In fact, around five hundred meters from the summit, there were no longer any traces of other Demons.
Demons are similar to wild beasts in some ways.
For example, territoriality.
Powerful Demons consciously mark out their own hunting grounds.
If other Demons enter its hunting grounds to hunt humans, it will be considered a provocation, and in serious cases, it will lead to a fight to the death.
The number of Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen is far less than that of Demons, but they have still been able to fight Demons for a thousand years. A major reason for this is that communication and harmony are not common among Demons, but the swordsmen highly value unity.
Kurozawa's Pupil Power is quite good; during the day, he can see insects crawling on trees hundreds of meters away, but he still cannot see at night. At night, his Pupil Power is significantly affected.
At this moment, from a hundred meters away, he looked up and only vaguely saw a dark, humanoid shadow.
"Hand Demon."
Standing on the summit, the Hand Demon that walked out of the cave was currently maintaining a human form.
And at the same time that Kurozawa saw the Hand Demon, his visual perception also detected a gaze.
It was a gaze filled with a large amount of negative emotions: malice, hatred, brutality. Kurozawa and the Hand Demon looked at each other, simultaneously discovering each other's presence.
With a light laugh, the earth and stone beneath Kurozawa's feet suddenly cracked in a spiderweb pattern.
The next second, his figure had vanished from its original spot, like a blue streak, rushing straight towards the summit.
Even on a slope of nearly sixty degrees, it took less than ten seconds for Kurozawa to cross the hundred-meter distance and arrive in front of the Hand Demon.
However, what appeared in his sight at this moment was not the ferocious Hand Demon.
A small boy wearing a large, gray upper garment, with his head lowered, body crouched, and head buried in his arms, stood quietly here. Judging by his thin body, he might only be seven or eight years old.
Kurozawa knew that many Demons maintain a human form when not in combat. He didn't want to waste words and intended to attack directly.
There wouldn't be such a young child on Mount Fujikasane; his identity could be confirmed without even thinking.
But at this time, a weak voice filled with hope sounded in his ear.
"Uncle, can... can you take me home?"
"I got separated from my brother... I'm so cold, it's so dark around here, I'm so scared..."
"Hehe, will you help me find my brother, okay?"
Initially, the little boy's voice was pitiful, but as he spoke, it became eerie, mixed with giggles and malevolent hatred.
At the same time, a small hand reached out towards Kurozawa, seemingly hoping that Kurozawa would take this hand and help him find his separated brother.
Kurozawa did not take that hand.
He just smiled gently. The moonlight shone behind him, as if a layer of pure holy light surrounded him. He said softly, "Sorry, I can't take you home."
"However, sending you to heaven is something I can do."
A sky-blue sword shadow appeared, and Kurozawa directly slashed at its lowered head.
For Demons constantly steeped in chaotic desires, death is a good release. Too many Demons have long forgotten their memories of being human, but some lingering obsessions from those memories will always plague them. In the instant of death, they can regain that trace of memory.
*Clang!* The sound of metal clashing rang out. That seemingly thin little hand forcefully grabbed the Nichirin Blade.
Crimson blood dripped from the Nichirin Blade's edge.
The head buried in its arms suddenly lifted. Blood-red eyes mixed with crazed, malevolent emotions stared intently at Kurozawa.
"Hehe, I remember you, the one wearing the fox mask."
Surprisingly, beneath that malevolent, hateful gaze, the Hand Demon was still a powerful Demon that maintained its sanity.
The moment it lifted its head, one after another greenish-black arm, like dark flowers slowly blooming, surged out from beneath it, vying for space.
Within a few breaths, the Hand Demon's body transformed into a monster formed by intertwined arms.
And the hand grabbing Kurozawa's Nichirin Blade also rapidly deformed and expanded. Muscles like bedrock and serpentine blue veins protruded.
"Excuse me, what did your master do to you that you can remember it for so long?" Kurozawa replied inwardly.
He flicked his wrist, and the Nichirin Blade vibrated, tearing through large amounts of flesh and extracting itself from the Hand Demon's grasp.
*Boom!* An arm like a giant python suddenly shot out from underground, grabbing at Kurozawa's legs.
But the moment he felt the ground shake, Kurozawa had already leaped up. At the same time, he stepped on the huge arm surging from underground, and with a flying slash, he went straight for the Hand Demon's neck, which was protected by numerous arms.
Water Breathing - First Form: Surface Slash! A sky-blue blade light appeared on the Nichirin Blade and slashed at the protecting arms.
*Clang!* The sound of steel clashing rang out again. Kurozawa felt a violent vibration in his tiger's mouth, as if he had slashed against steel.
Opposite him, the Nichirin Blade had only cut halfway into the Hand Demon's arm.
*Whoosh!* A violent gust of wind came from behind. Kurozawa stepped on the Hand Demon's huge head, the enormous force causing the Hand Demon to pause slightly backward.
Using the force of the recoil, Kurozawa did a backflip to dodge the arm grabbing from behind, landing steadily on the ground a dozen meters away.
Only then did Kurozawa have the energy to observe the Hand Demon's appearance at this moment.
Its appearance was extremely bizarre and terrifying, and it was unusually tall. The ground trembled slightly when it moved.
Four meters tall and four meters wide, like a mountain of greenish-black flesh.
And this mountain of flesh was formed by dozens of arms tightly intertwined. On its back, between its ribs, and at its feet, there were protruding arms, the palms at the tips slightly open, like venomous snakes ready to bite at any moment.
At the top of the mountain of flesh was a head the size of a millstone, embedded with blood-red eyes. Several thick arms protected its neck and the lower half of its face.
The arm that had burst from the ground just now was clearly one of the arms hidden at the base of the mountain of flesh that had gone underground and then erupted from beneath Kurozawa's feet.
"No, your voice is very young. You're not the one who captured me."
"Hehe, that's fine. Even if you're not, you have a close relationship with him, don't you? Killing you will make him very painful."
"And I just love watching others suffer and despair!"
The Hand Demon's body was huge, but in contrast, its voice was sharp and piercing, sounding like a cat scratching glass at midnight, making one nauseous.
When it spoke, its tone was light and playful, but the Hand Demon's blood-red eyes were filled with hatred, twisted and terrifying.
As the last sentence left its mouth, ten arms emerged from the Hand Demon's body, all opening their palms and reaching for Kurozawa.
As they grabbed, these arms were rapidly becoming thicker, quickly reaching a size that could completely enclose a person with one hand.
"Holding grudges is not good. Today, I'll help you find release."
Kurozawa took a deep breath, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
Water Breathing: Total Concentration! Immediately, white, python-like breaths appeared, surging into Kurozawa's nose and mouth.
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