Chapter 294

"I wonder if it tastes... any different from an ordinary person."

It licked its lips, slime dripping down from them.

They stared at the Scythe Demon walking toward the two of them.

Despair filled both their eyes.

Just as the Scythe Demon raised the scythe in its hands, about to split the two of them in two.

The surrounding temperature suddenly dropped.

A wave of cold air appeared around the Scythe Demon.

Layer upon layer of frost formed on the sharp scythe it swung down toward the two, its speed growing slower and slower, until it finally stopped.

The frost on the scythe had spread to its arms, completely freezing the two arms holding the scythe.

"Wh-what?!"

The Scythe Demon saw this scene and couldn't help but widen its eyes, its face full of shock.

The tall, thin male squad member and the female squad member, who had already fallen into despair and prepared to meet their deaths, stared blankly at the Scythe Demon before them, its arms and legs all frozen by frost.

Ice?

It's July right now.

Tap, tap, tap.

The sound of footsteps rang out from outside the dim alley.

In the silent night, it sounded especially clear.

The two humans and the demon turned their heads to look over there.

A calm voice sounded in the ears of the two already heavily wounded Demon Slayer Corps comrades.

"Demon Slayer Corps members, and you can't even kill a fellow like this?"

"Th-this kind of fellow?"

The tall, thin male squad member and the female squad member were both stunned.

Just at that moment.

The Scythe Demon, as if sensing some kind of danger, shrank its vertical pupils, and the pair of grotesque arms beneath its armpits—muscles tangled together like tree roots—suddenly shot out in that direction.

Its speed was terrifyingly fast.

Before the two Demon Slayer Corps members could even react to what was happening.

Those sharp claws gleaming with cold light had already thrust toward that tall, straight figure, intending to rip him open from belly to gut.

"Taking the initiative to strike at me, are you... commendable courage."

"It's just that, you're far too weak."

Accompanied by the young man's voice, laced with mockery and ridicule.

A single finger reached out from the darkness.

Hum!

Accompanied by a ring of ice-blue ripples spreading out from the fingertip.

The pair of demon arms thrusting rapidly forward instantly stopped in midair.

Then, starting from the sharp, keen fingertips, ice began to form.

The freezing spread along the long demon arms toward the Scythe Demon's entire body.

The Scythe Demon, in its horror.

Immediately chopped off that pair of demon arms, which had gathered most of its strength, from its shoulders.

The instant it severed that pair of demon arms.

The demon arms sealed in ice shattered with a crack.

Countless crystalline ice fragments drifted down from the air.

The two Demon Slayer Corps members stared at the scene before them, expressions blank, hearts茫然.

Wh-what exactly happened?

The dark clouds in the sky parted, and faint moonlight spilled down.

The tall, straight figure standing in the dark alley was also revealed in full.

It was a young man dressed in black, his build tall and slender, his features handsome.

His long black hair was bound behind his head; his right hand held a silver-blue gourd, and his left hand extended toward them with one index finger raised, wisps of white mist and cold air still curling from the fingertip.

He smiled at the Scythe Demon, who had lost a pair of demon arms, whose aura had greatly weakened, and who now stared at him with a face full of terror, and said:

"How would you like to die?"

4. Shinobu Kocho's Curiosity

Fear!

The instant it met the gaze of the young man before it, a terror beyond words, immense and indescribable, descended upon the Scythe Demon's heart.

"Die... am I going to die?"

"Is this what death feels like?"

Its pupils stared at that person, trembling violently; its whole body shook without cease, every cell on it shuddering, unable to move even if it wished.

The two Demon Slayer Corps members stared dumbly at the Scythe Demon, trembling all over in terror, and at the... human? before them.

At this moment, the two of them were unsure whether the fellow before them, who could make even an ability-wielding demon feel such terror, was truly human.

There were no demon features on his body, nor any scent of a demon.

But a human could not possibly possess the power to control freezing.

What... exactly was he?

Luo En, holding the Endless Wine Gourd, took a sip and glanced at the scythe-wielding ghost.

"So terrified you can't even speak? Fine, I'll choose for you."

Then he snapped his fingers.

A white-mist-like wave of extreme cold appeared all around the scythe-wielding ghost.

Before the scythe-wielding ghost could react, the cold air instantly froze into ice, forming a crystalline, vertical ice coffin!

The despairing scythe-wielding ghost was completely frozen within it.

Its life force was nearly extinguished, but the ghost's cells still struggled desperately.

"Still not dead from this... Not much strength, but its vitality is decent."

Muttering to himself, Luo En hung the Endless Wine Gourd at his waist, and under the gaze of the two Demon Slayer Corps members, bent down to pick up the slender Nichirin Blade of the female member on the ground, weighing it slightly.

"So this is a Nichirin Blade... Nothing special about its sharpness or hardness, just useful for killing ghosts..."

Luo En looked at the blade in his hand, examined it for a moment, and seemed a bit disdainful.

"It's far inferior to the few famous swords I had before."

Under the stunned gazes of the two Demon Slayer Corps members.

He gripped that slender Nichirin Blade.

He swung it casually toward the ice coffin several meters away.

A wisp of sword-light flashed and vanished in the dim air.

A perfectly smooth, straight cut-line immediately appeared on the ice coffin.

The upper half of the ice, freezing the scythe-wielding ghost's head, slid down along the flawless cut-line.

The scythe-wielding ghost, wearing an expression full of despair, completely turned to ash and vanished from the world.

"Ghosts, huh... What a bunch of weaklings who like to bully the weak and fear the strong."

A hint of contempt appeared on Luo En's face.

The two Demon Slayer Corps members collapsed on the ground behind him were already utterly dumbfounded.

The blade clearly hadn't reached it from a distance, so why was that ghost slain?!

And what was that flash of light just now?!

Luo En turned to look at the two collapsed on the ground, casually tossing the Nichirin Blade in his hand beside the female member.

Then he crossed his arms, bent over to look down at them, and said: "Considering I saved your lives, you need to answer one question for me."

"Do you know a guy named Tanjiro?"

…………

"You don't know?"