Chapter 218: Returning at long last

**Unadapted.**

A boy named Li Mo was feeling somewhat unaccustomed to school life. Sitting in his seat, his mind wasn't paying attention to what the teacher at the podium was saying. Instead, he was preoccupied with figuring out how to improve the "Spell of Thororm."

During activities in the Service Club, he occasionally teased Yukinoshita, but his thoughts often drifted far away, lost in the vastness of the sky. It was so obvious that even Yukinoshita pointed out how off he seemed.

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**Bedroom.**

Li Mo sat on his bed. The system panel opened before him. The words "Enterable" were glaringly obvious. His schedule needed to change.

At first, Li Mo thought it would be easy. Not knowing the flow of time, overthinking would only lead to unnecessary worry. But in reality? He wasn't as rational as he thought. In Fuyuki City, he could plan three steps ahead, using more information than others to change and control situations. The entire process reflected rationality. He could calmly assess and handle anything.

But now... it was different.

In the Demon Slayer world, he had spent three years. He trained for a year and was active as a swordsman for two years. How much demon blood had stained his hands during that time? He couldn't remember. He only remembered the death toll of his comrades, the swordsmen of the Demon Slayer Corps.

In the past, because opportunities weren't right in front of him, he could temporarily set them aside, moving forward step by step, seeking strength. "I'm not as rational as I thought," Li Mo muttered to himself.

He turned off his phone and stored it in the system inventory. In the Taisho era, there was no place to charge it, making it useless. He had shown it to Matou Shinji in Fuyuki City, telling him that the future would be the era of the internet. After the rise of computers, the next wave would be smartphones. Could Matou Shinji ride that wave? Li Mo didn't know. He hoped that if Shinji couldn't succeed in manufacturing phones, he could focus on mobile applications. For example, social media—Japan's popular Line app was actually a product of a Korean company. Thinking about the relationship between Japan and Korea felt subtly ironic.

Returning to the present, the answer seemed clear now. Li Mo clicked "Enter," and the world began to change.

Having stepped into the extraordinary, Li Mo once again experienced what it meant to "cross worlds." In the past, he hadn't been able to truly feel it. The experience was simply a moment of darkness, followed by a drastic change in surroundings. His actions and state remained unchanged from before the crossing. But now, it was different. Li Mo could feel the "absence." This was the second time he had felt this way. The first was when he returned from Fuyuki City.

—The process of crossing worlds wasn't instantaneous. Between worlds, something must have happened. But he couldn't remember, and even his physical state wasn't interrupted. During the crossing, his entire body seemed to be suspended in time. What could it be? He would find out in the future.

Li Mo set the question aside. Since he began studying magecraft, he felt himself becoming more like a scholar, always wanting to inquire about everything. Even if he knew the questions might not be answered, or that he might only hear the questions himself, he maintained the habit. Facing the unknown, asking questions was a good habit.

Like now, Li Mo found himself in an unfamiliar place and wanted to ask someone where he was. What time was it now? It would be best to find a member of the Demon Slayer Corps. Li Mo began recalling the information he knew about the Demon Slayer Corps, wondering how much of it still applied.

He gathered his thoughts and looked around. Was it a bit too quiet? The place he stood was filled with filthy water, surrounded by dilapidated huts. It looked like a slum, the kind of place demons loved. Because when people went missing here, no one cared. Humans were inherently indifferent. Li Mo had been to many such places. His impression of slums was: dirty, chaotic, and poor. And noisy. But now, it was eerily quiet. So quiet it was uncomfortable.

Li Mo expanded his senses. Everything around him appeared in his mind: the murky puddles on the ground, the black stains, the cracked walls, the yellowed straw. A scene of utter desolation. But that wasn't the key. The key was breathing. He heard suppressed breathing, as if the person was trying to lower their presence. But... the rapid heartbeat betrayed them. They were nervous. Had something happened?

Li Mo shifted his feet slightly, preparing to ask what was going on. He stopped. Because he heard something else. The sound of fighting? No, the sound of a blade cutting through flesh. The sound was faint, meaning it was far away. Otherwise, he wouldn't have missed it. A blade cutting through flesh... that sound was all too familiar. In this world, the most likely scenario was—someone was fighting a demon. Of course, there was also the possibility of humans killing each other. That didn't stop Li Mo from going to investigate.

With a light tap of his toes, Li Mo used his superhuman physique and perfect control to leap onto the roof of a nearby hut. When he landed, the sound was as light as a leaf falling. He paused, sensing the source of the sound. The intermittent noise was moving, growing fainter. It seemed to be getting farther away. But it was still within his hearing range.

A gentle breeze blew, coming from the direction of the sound. Li Mo moved against the wind, his body enhanced by magecraft, his physical abilities already elevated to inhuman levels. Since becoming transcendent, magecraft had become even more effective on him. As Medea explained, this body could now receive greater enhancements. He moved quickly. On the rooftops, he was like a ghost. If anyone were watching, they would see afterimages—a result of his speed surpassing human vision.

With each light step, the wind whistled past his ears. Li Mo could feel the friction of the air against his skin, as if he were moving through liquid. The wind struck his skin, and without the protection of magecraft, it would have hurt. In just a few breaths, Li Mo had covered a great distance. His superhuman vision already caught sight of the source of the fighting.

It was a battle between a human and a "human." One wielded a katana, dressed in black tight-fitting clothes, though the thin fabric was already torn. His opponent was a humanoid monster, with horns, claw-like hands, and pale skin. "How lucky I am," Li Mo thought. A member of the Demon Slayer Corps and a demon. It seemed the Demon Slayer member was at a disadvantage, possibly in mortal danger. This was good. Li Mo had arrived late many times before, only to find corpses and demons feasting. He leapt down from the rooftop.