Chapter 15

"Icy Breath! Second Form! Flying Star Icy Blade!" Xander roared. A gust of icy wind surged as a white blade carved a gray-blue arc through the air, instantly slicing off the left arm and shoulder of the Swamp demon.

"Aah!" the demon howled, retreating into the black water and distancing himself from Xander.

Tanjiro also noticed the Swamp demon's attack, but before he could react, he saw Xander's decapitate it with a single strike.

"So fast!" he whispered, amazed.

Looking at the Swamp demon, Xander nodded with satisfaction:

"It seems the potion from the wooden chest is truly effective. My speed, strength, and stamina have increased significantly. I sliced off the Swamp demon's left arm with little effort. Perhaps this demons is just too weak."

Holding his severed left arm, the Swamp demons snarled viciously at Xander and Tanjiro:

"You scoundrels! Don't interfere! The freshness of the women is fading! She's sixteen years old; if she's not eaten soon, the taste will get worse and worse."

At that moment, a one-horned Swamp Phantom appeared behind Tanjiro.

"Another me, calm down! It doesn't matter if such a night happens! I have eaten many sixteen-year-old girls in this city! Whichever I get—plump, tasty—I am satisfied!"

"It's all well for you, but not for me! Not for me! I want more!" roared the two-horned Swamp demon, addressing the one-horned one.

While the Swamp demons argued amongst themselves, Kazumi gathered courage and confronted them:

"Monsters! Return the girl you stole from me two days ago!"

At that moment, a three-horned Swamp demon appeared on the tiled roof, emitting a dreadful screech.

"This type annoys me!" Xamder frowned, tired of the unpleasant noise.

He gripped the Sun Blade, reflecting the image of the three-horned demon in its blade.

"Icy Breath! Fifth Form! Demon Murderous Icy Mirror!" shouted Lin Guang

In the blink of an eye, the three-horned Phantom's head flew off and turned to ash.

Xander looked around for a message from the System, but there was none.

"No treasure chest appeared! Could it be because of their trinity? Let's try cutting down another one," Xander pondered, but then the hot-tempered two-horned Swamp demon came right into his hand… or rather, his blade.

"You scoundrel! You killed another one of me!" roared the Swamp demon.

Xander smiled as he looked at the irate demon.

The next second, the white blade flashed, and the head of the two-horned demon was also severed.

"You're always making noise; I'll have to silence you," said Xander , watching the demon turn to ash.

The System was silent.

"It seems that's how it must be. We need to kill them all to get the treasure chest," Xander said, smiling as he looked at the remaining one-horned Phantom.

The One-Horned demon , seeing how Xander had killed two of its kin with a single stroke, realized he couldn't handle him and tried to flee.

He wanted to return to the black water but discovered that his Blood Phantom Art—Black Swamp—had frozen.

"How can this be?! — he whispered in horror.

— Oh? Trying to run away? — Xander , stepping closer to the One-Horned demon, smiled, with icy fire gleaming in his eyes.

The One-Horned Phantom could no longer remain calm: — You... what are you planning?

Xander grabbed the demon by the neck with one hand and pulled him out of the black water.

Then he threw the demon to the ground, pointed his blade at him, and said: — Now can you answer Mr Kazumi's questions?

Kazumi, seeing this, shouted at the One-Horned demon:

— Lizzy! Give me back Lizzy!

The One-Horned demon smirked:

— Lizzy? Who are you talking about?

The demon opened his cloak, revealing rows of hairpins.

— If the girl's hairpin is among these, she has been devoured.

Kazumi, spotting a red ribbon among the One-Horned demon's collection, couldn't help but shed a tear.

Tanjiro, standing aside, was amazed to see how quickly Xander had killed the Two-Horned and Three-Horned demons and captured the One-Horned demons.

At that moment, Tanjiro realized a simple truth:

— To get what you want, you have to be strong. I must become stronger.

Tanjiro gripped his blade tighter and approached Xander.

— You reek of rancid oil, you make me sick! How many people have you killed? — hissed Tanjiro.

— Those women, if they continued living, would have become ugly and not tasty, so I ate them. You should thank us, demons, — the One-Horned Phantom replied calmly, as if he had done something good.

Tanjiro couldn't take it any longer. He swung his blade and struck the One-Horned demon's mouth.

— Enough! — said Tanjiro in a thunderous voice.