Chapter 42: News from the Mountain

Makomo found it hard to believe. The demon named Kyogai had a Blood Demon Art that was incredibly tricky. The drums on its shoulders and thighs could flip the room in all directions—front, back, left, and right. The entire room's six surfaces could shift, turning the ceiling into the floor or the floor into a wall. But when the room flipped, others would maintain their previous posture.

If a swordsman hadn't trained for such a situation, they would lose their balance and fall instantly. Combined with its long-range attacks, Kyogai was far more dangerous than any demon they had encountered on Mount Fujikasane.

"It ended too easily. It shouldn't have been this simple. When we first met, if I hadn't been unfamiliar with the flipping space and struggled to adjust my movements, its head should have been cut off then. Its ability is truly disgusting," Li Mo said.

"When I was trying to reach it, the room kept changing. The distance I had closed was erased, and I had to start over. But it was constrained by its own rigid thinking. In its mind, its definition of a 'room' was too narrow."

Demons were once humans. Even though they might lose their memories during the transformation, their personalities remained the same. Kyogai, based on its human mindset, had limited its Blood Demon Art to this mansion. Or perhaps... for someone from the Taisho era, using a Blood Demon Art to this extent was already impressive.

If it were a modern person, who knows what kind of tricks they could come up with?

"Let's go back to the abandoned temple to rest. Staying here feels too eerie," Li Mo suggested to Makomo.

Night had just fallen, and the two had rested in the afternoon. But when the sun set, the ingrained habit of resting at night still lingered in people's minds. It would probably take until the electric age for people's sleep schedules to change.

Humans were like that. In modern times, they wouldn't sleep until late at night. After the so-called "anti-addiction" measures ended, Li Mo had fallen into a cycle of revenge bedtime procrastination. But in this world, he had adopted the habit of early to bed and early to rise.

"What about this place?"

"Leave it to the Kakushi to handle. Along the way, I saw some victims' bodies."

The Demon Slayers were only responsible for killing demons. Helping the victims and cleaning up afterward was the job of the Kakushi. In fact, if one became a Hashira, they would have dedicated Kakushi to gather information for them.

—Everything was done to improve the efficiency of demon slaying.

Leaving the mansion, they returned to the abandoned temple on the mountain. It looked shabby and much more简陋 than the demon's mansion, but Li Mo felt it was more like a place where humans could live. The mansion lacked any human warmth.

...

The next morning, they returned to the town. They had already met with the Kakushi last night to complete the handover. Li Mo and Makomo's ranks within the Demon Slayer Corps had improved. With the Kasugai Crow's testimony, killing a former Lower Moon was enough to elevate them from the lowest rank of "Mizunoto." However, the arrival of the support team brought bad news.

"Kyoji, are you okay?"

Kyoji Kuzuri was a local of the town. Last night, he had been chasing a female demon near the town. It should have been an easy task since the demon's strength was on par with those on Mount Fujikasane. Yet, Kyoji and his teammate were now lying in hospital beds.

"I'm fine. The Kakushi said I just need to rest for a while. But my teammate is seriously injured and had to be rushed to another location."

"What happened?" Li Mo pulled up a chair and sat in front of Kyoji. He felt there was more to the story.

As it turned out, the story was long. The demon they were chasing was good at hiding but not particularly strong. However, a second demon had appeared in the town—a tall one with a Blood Demon Art that allowed it to transform its hands. Dealing with it was troublesome, but Kyoji and his teammate managed to defeat it, though they were injured and lost their fighting ability.

"So, the demon you were chasing escaped?"

"Yes, it left the area. But we know the direction it fled. It should be heading toward Natagumo Mountain."

The sudden mention of a place name confused Li Mo. He wasn't a local, so how would he know where that was? Kyoji quickly realized this and explained that Natagumo Mountain was a well-known mountain in the area, completely different from the mountain range they had been to last night.

It was said to be nearby, but it was actually quite far—at least a day or two of travel. The reason it was famous was that many people had died there.

"Could it be a demon's doing?" Li Mo asked.

"Maybe, maybe not. In the deep mountains, wild animals attacking people and bodies going missing isn't unusual. The only odd thing is that in recent years, there have been a lot of strange spider webs on that mountain," Kyoji explained.

"Wait, what did you say?"

"Huh? I said spider webs."

Natagumo, spider. These two keywords together pointed to Natagumo Mountain. Could it really be such a coincidence? With this in mind, Li Mo began asking for more details about the situation.

Kyoji didn't know why Li Mo was so interested, but he still seriously provided the information.

Natagumo Mountain had spiders appearing about ten years ago, but people didn't pay much attention. Spiders in the wild were normal. It was only in recent years that the number of spiders there had increased. Additionally, there had been incidents of wild animals attacking people in that area decades ago, so people didn't think much of the disappearances.

But to Li Mo, this was different.

He pondered for a while and proposed to Kyoji that he would take over the mission.

"Are you really going to take Kyoji's mission? The Demon Slayer Corps doesn't discourage this, but... is there a reason you have to go? That Natagumo Mountain—I remember you were looking for it earlier. Why are you so eager to go there?"

When Li Mo shared his thoughts with Makomo, she responded this way.

After a moment of thought, Li Mo replied, "I just feel like there's a demon there, possibly a Kizuki-level demon."

Was he just making this up? Makomo didn't think her junior brother was that kind of person, but a Kizuki? A former Lower Moon was already troublesome enough. How strong would a real Kizuki be?

"Do you want me to go with you?"

"My idea is to go alone and check it out."

After some consideration, Makomo said, "Be careful."

"I will," Li Mo replied.