MHGA Chapter 14 – The "Nonexistent" Kazuma Is Still Dealing Damage!!!

"Listen up, you weak little girls! Just relying on me, the great Kazuma Satou, isn't going to be enough to protect all of you in here."

After taking down the attacking demon, Kazuma stood within the smoke, addressing the girls of the Eternal Bliss Cult.

"You were all probably tricked into coming here by that guy—Doma, right? By now, you should've seen his real face behind that fake smile. The Infinity Castle is crawling with demons just like him."

Kazuma stepped onto a raised platform and thrust a fist into the air.

"So! You all need to learn how to protect yourselves! The faster, the better! You'll even need to be able to kill demons if it comes to it!!"

Hearing Kazuma say that, Tamayo—whose head was being held by another girl—couldn't help but speak up.

"Kazuma, with all due respect, members of the Demon Slayer Corps have undergone rigorous training just to fight demons. Asking these girls to reach that level in such a short time is…"

Even with only a head left, Tamayo still looked a little frightening. But the girls understood she meant well—and what she said was what they were all thinking.

"No time for that kind of thinking now! We seriously prepped for exactly this possibility, dammit!!"

Kazuma shouted passionately. "That's why we came to rescue Shinobu in the first place!"

"Wait… don't tell me—you planned all this?" Tamayo blinked in surprise. She thought for a moment. "You came specifically for Shinobu because of…"

She recalled the moment Kazuma killed the demon earlier.

"…Her wisteria poison?"

"Ding ding ding! Correct!"

Kazuma flashed her a thumbs-up—then suddenly produced several large bottles of blood.

"This wisteria poison! It's enough to take down a whole wave of demons! Our recovery potions come with crazy blood regeneration, y'know!"

As he boasted, back in the main room where others were fighting Doma, Shinobu felt a strange chill.

Though it didn't hinder her battle performance…

"Watch closely!"

Kazuma took out a mountain of Smoke Bombs and handed them to the girls.

Next, he pulled out some rubber bands—then ripped up two wooden planks from the floor, and began working with them using his [Crafting] skill.

In just two minutes, Kazuma had created several slingshots.

"Listen up! I'm not going to deal with any more demons from this point on!" he told the girls firmly.

Then, he tossed over a pile of small throwing knives—still in the package—that he'd bought from Felynes.

"These are Smoke Bombs, these are slingshots, these are throwing knives, and this—" he pointed at the blood bottles, "—this is poison that can kill demons."

"Don't be fooled by appearances. I'm a diehard believer in total gender equality!"

Kazuma declared boldly to the girls:

"From now on, you'll be killing the demons yourselves! I'm leaving soon. And before I go…"

"I'll severely punish anyone who doesn't pull their weight!"

His fingers began to squirm in an oddly rhythmic way—like sea anemone tentacles deep under the ocean…

Terrifying the girls just a little.

Kazuma continued:

"Don't try to guess what the punishment is! Don't worry—I'll make sure the person never forgets this day!!"

"Eeep—!"

Under the horrifying pressure of "Tentacle Sadist Kazuma," the girls rapidly organized themselves.

Smoke Bombs to hide.

Slingshots to fire poison-tipped knives that could pierce demon skin.

And blood imbued with lethal poison.

With all the necessary components to kill demons in place—

the girls, driven by despair and rage, successfully killed their first demon.

"Someone will come find you before you run out of supplies," Kazuma said as he once again picked up Tamayo's head.

"If you spot any Demon Slayer Corps members—oh, dressed like this—"

He showed them a rough sketch.

"You can approach them. Got that? But listen—if you die, it's not my responsibility! I won't feel a shred of guilt!!"

With that final declaration, Kazuma sprinted off with Tamayo's head in hand, headed back to rejoin the battle.

"…Kazuma," Tamayo sighed, exasperated. "You really don't have to use such… bizarre methods to motivate people."

"SHUT UP!! I just gave up my chance to rack up affection points with a bunch of cute girls to save lives!!"

Kazuma shouted tearfully as he dashed forward.

"Damn it! I'll make these demons pay!!!"

............

Meanwhile, back in the room, Doma was still under intense pressure from all directions.

The pressure was immense.

During the earlier battle, Doma had directly engaged Inosuke and Kanao—and confirmed that both had combat abilities on par with the Hashira.

Worse yet…

The enemy team all seemed to have strange regeneration abilities.

Doma's usual strategy was to use his Blood Demon Art to seal his opponents' lungs and wait for them to die.

But now—even if their lungs were destroyed, they'd get back up within moments and resume attacking.

The most dangerous moment came when he blocked one of Kanao's strikes—

only to have Shinobu, who'd hidden behind her haori, stab him through the right eye.

He almost lost vision—

and nearly had his head sliced off from the right by Giyu Tomioka.

Though he retaliated and severed Giyu's left hand and Shinobu's ankle, the very next moment—

new limbs regrew immediately.

"Go, my little bug! Bite him!"

Kairo Retsu shouted as he attacked fiercely.

While landing heavy physical blows, he was also using his Insect Glaive to direct a large Kinsect toward Doma.

Doma felt a sharp sting as it drained a bit of his blood.

Then, a red light appeared on the strange glaive…

But the one Doma feared most was still—

Kazuma.

Even now, Doma couldn't sense Kazuma's presence!

Was he holding back, waiting for the perfect opportunity?

Was he seeking the one chance to deliver a decisive killing blow?

Because of Kazuma's unpredictability, Doma had no choice but to use continuous large-scale Blood Demon Arts to attack the surrounding area.

As for whether Kazuma had actually left…

Doma couldn't believe that.

In his experience, Demon Slayers—these so-called "Hunters"—rarely ever ran from demons.

"Achoo!!"

Just then, having just said goodbye to the girls, Kazuma sneezed loudly while running back to the battle.

"Who's thinking about me now? Don't tell me it's Doma?"

"…But I've been out of that room for so long…"