Chapter 17: The Strange Pot

This day, Zero was resting in a teahouse, drinking some tea by the way, and preparing to continue his journey.

"I should be able to reach the Demon Slayer Corps headquarters at this time tomorrow night, and then I will help the lord with the second treatment!" Zero thought to himself. Just as he was about to get up to pay the bill and leave the teahouse, the conversation between two people on the side caught his attention.

If it were just an ordinary conversation, it wouldn't have caught Zero's attention. The main thing was that the content of the conversation was about some missing people, which aroused Zero's interest.

"Sigh, have you heard? In the village next door, there are more than a dozen people missing. You know about this, right?" The person who said this was a man wearing glasses who looked quite refined.

"I've also heard about it. It is said that they all disappeared inexplicably at home! This is really strange! How can they disappear at home?" The person talking to the bespectacled man was a samurai with a small ponytail.

"If you ask me, they must have encountered something unclean, that's why they disappeared for no reason!"

"That's not necessarily true. I heard that when they disappeared, they all had common characteristics!"

"What characteristics? Tell me about it!"

"It is said that when they disappeared, a strange pot appeared in their homes! You say that if it were one or two, it would be fine, but if such pots appear one after another, don't you say this is strange?!"

"It's really strange! It's impossible that everyone in that village likes to buy pots!"

"Of course it's impossible. And, I heard that those pots in their homes would turn into ashes and disappear when exposed to sunlight! This is too strange!"

"Alright, alright, they must be spreading rumors randomly. How can a pot disappear when exposed to sunlight?!"

"Also, forget it, forget it, don't talk about these, let's continue drinking tea, the tea in this teahouse tastes quite good..."

Hearing their conversation, Zero fell into deep thought. He felt that things were not that simple!

And it would turn into ashes when exposed to sunlight, except for evil demons, he couldn't think of anything else.

If there was, there was only one possibility! That is, that pot must also be made by an evil demon using the so-called Blood Demon Art.

"Hehe, interesting! It seems that the time to go back needs to be postponed. Let's go and see the situation first!" Thinking of these, he put the tea money on the table and got up to leave the teahouse.

Coming to a relatively quiet little forest, he summoned his messenger crow Xue and gave it some instructions...

"Xue, you do as I just said, go and investigate the situation first and then come back to report to me. See if things are as I just said. I'll wait for you here!"

"Yes, Master!"

Sending off the messenger crow Xue, Zero also began to organize his equipment, waiting for the messenger crow Xue to come back and report the situation to him.

He took out the 【Quantum Dual Guns】, the 【Dark Alloy Cross Floating Cannon】, and the 【Dark Alloy Gatling】, and put in energy crystals to prepare them, just in case.

Finally, he took out the 【Dark Alloy Type IV】, added red energy crystals to Type I and Type II, and added snow-white energy crystals to Type III and Type IV to prepare them.

He always felt that this evil demon might not be that simple, and even made a bold guess: this evil demon is very likely an Upper Moon demon.

Therefore, there can be no negligence. Although he didn't know what level of Upper Moon demon this evil demon was, it is always good to be careful and prepare for everything.

Night fell, and the messenger crow Xue also flew back and reported the situation it had investigated to Zero one by one.

"Master, according to the situation I investigated, there really was a strange pot in the homes of those missing people, just as you said!"

"Not only that, it is said that those pots appeared at night, and they were all picked up and brought home on the way home by the villagers."

"In addition, several Demon Slayer Corps swordsmen who went to check the situation before have also lost contact!"

The messenger crow Xue reported the situation it knew truthfully, which made Zero fall into deep thought...

Then he asked his messenger crow: "How many swordsmen have lost contact? What level are they?"

"Master, there are five people in total. One is a Kinoe-level swordsman, and the other four swordsmen are at the Kanoe and Tsuchinoto levels."

"One Kinoe-level swordsman, several Kanoe and Tsuchinoto-level swordsmen... With such a lineup, let alone those evil demons who know Blood Demon Art, even ordinary Lower Moon demons can achieve beheading by cooperating with each other! Even if they encounter a stronger Lower Moon demon, delaying time is temporarily no problem!"

The intelligence brought by the messenger crow Xue had confirmed Zero's guess, which meant that the evil demon he was about to face was 100% an Upper Moon demon!

"It seems I have to go there in person. Xue, you lead the way! I will go and meet this evil demon in person to see if it is as I guessed!?"

"Yes, Master."

Putting the Dark Alloy weapons into the nano-space, he headed to the scene under the guidance of the messenger crow Xue.

After two hours of travel, Zero had arrived at his destination.

Now this village is a bit too quiet, but thinking about it, since people have been missing every day, it must be panic.

They must be trying every means to protect their own safety, so that the next one to disappear won't be themselves.

"In this situation, asking door-to-door is estimated to be unworkable, so I can only search by myself!" Thinking of these, he said to the messenger crow Xue on his shoulder: "Xue, you check the situation around in the sky, and come back to tell me immediately if you find any movement!"

"Yes!"

When the messenger crow went to investigate the situation, Zero was not idle, turning on the 【Analysis Glasses】 to scan and look for clues.

After several hours of searching, it can be said that he had searched more than half of the village, even in the grass or in the fields, he had scanned and searched, but still found nothing.

"Is my guess wrong? Forget it, let's look for it again. If it's still like this, I can only make other plans tomorrow!"

However, just as he was about to take the next step, the 【Analysis Glasses】 sent a red warning.

【Warning! Warning! There is abnormal movement one kilometer behind the right side of this place!】

"!!!"

Looking at the indicator point on the 【Analysis Glasses】, one is a skull-shaped red dot, and the other is a humanoid blue dot.

The humanoid blue dot is his own location, and the skull-shaped red dot is the location of the dangerous indicator point.

Looking at the prompt of the 【Analysis Glasses】, Zero didn't say a word and rushed over immediately.

In less than a minute, Zero had rushed to the location of the destination. This is a forest, but he found that there was nothing around here except trees, only a broken piece of clothing and a pool of blood left not far away.

He stepped forward and squatted down to check the blood, dipped a little with his finger, twisted it, and found that it was still warm.

"Still a step late... If I were faster, maybe this little brat wouldn't have to die..."

However, just as Zero was somewhat blaming himself, a pot appeared silently behind him at some point!

A small hand stretched out from the pot, preparing to drag Zero into the pot, but was sensed by Zero.

Thousands of years of fighting made Zero's own perception of danger far beyond others, and he immediately reacted.

Supporting the ground with one hand, half of his body was almost close to the ground, and then his right leg kicked out behind him, kicking the pot away.

The pot hit the tree trunk, but it didn't shatter, but landed steadily on the ground.

Seeing this, Zero quickly got up and pulled away a short distance, his movements done in one go.

Looking at the pot that had been kicked away not far away, Zero felt that it was not that simple.

"It's really amazing that you can find me! Hehehehe~ Your reaction is really fast! It seems that you are also a member of the Demon Slayer Corps! Hehehehe~" A voice came from the pot, and gradually, a deformed figure appeared from inside.

Zero looked at this figure and only felt disgusted, which could only be described as a "deformed monster."

The whole body was white, with yellow eyeballs, green lips, and purple fins on the top of the head.

The mouth was in the position of the eyes, the eyes were in the position of the forehead and mouth, and several small arms grew from the head and body.

The eye on the forehead was engraved with the character "Upper Moon," and the eye on the mouth was engraved with the character "Five."

Even the exotic beasts and monsters in the starry sky looked better than this, at least they had hands, feet, and bodies, or the void insect mother was better looking than the guy in front of him.

"Hehehehe~ You demon slayer feel so different! Different from the five demon slayers I killed a few days ago! You wouldn't be a Pillar, would you? Hehehehe~"

Taking advantage of the evil demon who was chattering and talking to himself, Zero immediately used the 【Analysis Glasses】 to analyze the evil demon's data.

【Analyzing... Analysis successful】

【Name: Gyokko (Pot Demon)】

【Identity: Twelve Kizuki Upper Moon Five】

【Superior: Demon King—Kibutsuji Muzan】

【Age: 155 years old】

【Weapon: Pot】

【Blood Demon Art: Thousand Needle Fish Kill, Blood Hell Bowl, Octopus Pot Hell, Ten Thousand Gliding Sticky Fish, Array Kill Fish Scales, God's Hand.】

【Normal body form: The body is connected to the pot, able to move freely through the pot, and can also summon various different aquatic creatures from the pot to fight! But these creatures must rely on the pots made by Gyokko with Blood Demon Art to maintain existence, while his main body is hidden in the depths of the pot.】

【Complete form: After molting in the pot, the final form after escaping, and possesses the "God's Hand" that can turn everything touched by the fist into fish.】

【Note: Gyokko's normal form attacks carry toxins!】

【Suggestion: Use the missile launched by adding snow-colored energy crystals to freeze it so that it cannot move, and use the Dark Alloy Type IV with red energy crystals to behead it!】

After spending a few seconds reading the data information, and by the way, analyzing the attack form of the Blood Demon Art using the 【Analysis Glasses】.

Zero also came up with a corresponding strategy, which was also thanks to Gyokko's chattering personality, otherwise he might not have had the time to analyze it.

But Zero felt that using the 【Dark Alloy Missile Launcher】 was somewhat inappropriate. If this forest were set on fire, it would be bad. After all, extinguishing the fire was a bit troublesome.

"Hehehehe~ How is it? Scared silly by my appearance? Just standing there motionless! That's right, after all, I am an Upper Moon demon, and you demon slayers can only be made into art by me!"

"Ah~ right, right, speaking of art, I want to show you my latest artwork that I just finished!"

Slap! Slap! Slap!

I saw several hands on Gyokko's body clapping three times, and another pot suddenly appeared out of thin air beside him. From the pot appeared five demon slayer swordsmen's bodies twisted into a ball.

Their bodies and limbs were grafted onto the bodies of other swordsmen, fixed with Nichirin swords, and blood was flowing.

Some swordsmen's pupils were scattered, some were desperate, but there was no fear, only anger!

Seeing this, a burst of anger ignited in Zero's heart. He already knew who these people were! It was the five swordsmen who came to investigate the situation here!

And just at this moment, a very blurry yet familiar scene memory suddenly appeared in Zero's mind.

The memory was very blurry, only vaguely seeing the sea of fire, the fleeing people, the sound of gunfire and wailing, and the crying of babies!

"This is... what memory is this? Why can't I remember where I've seen it? So uncomfortable... so sad... but... why am I more... angry!?"

Zero put one hand on his forehead, but he just couldn't remember when he had seen this memory...

"Then, please enjoy my latest artwork, "The Last Wailing of the Demon Slayer"!" Gyokko turned the Nichirin sword inserted in the swordsmen's bodies, and the swordsmen who had not completely died wailed painfully. One can imagine what kind of pain they were suffering!

"Hehehehe~ How is it? How is my latest artwork? As long as you turn the Nichirin sword inserted in their bodies, you can listen to the most beautiful wailing. This is really..."

Clap clap clap clap!

Before Gyokko could finish speaking, Zero started to laugh and applaud him, as if he were an audience, but this smile looked very evil and full of anger!

"Gyokko, your artwork is really good! Hehehehe..."

"You... you understand my art?" Gyokko asked somewhat incredulously.

"Of course... because your pot is the... ugliest one I've ever seen!!!!"

Bang! Bang!

Zero instantly took out the 【Quantum Dual Guns】 from his nano-space and fired two shots, one hit Gyokko's body, and the other hit the pot containing the swordsmen's bodies.

Gyokko hadn't had time to react before being hit in the arm. The quantum bullets fired by the 【Quantum Dual Guns】 with energy crystals shattered Gyokko's arm function, and the regeneration speed slowed down a bit.

Seeing this, Gyokko immediately hid in the pot, disappeared in place, and appeared in the tree.

The pot shattered, and the bodies of the five swordsmen fell, but none of them were complete.

"Sorry, I'm late! Let you suffer!"

"Pillar Zero... please... must... kill him... I believe... the Demon Slayer Corps... will definitely be able to... last forever..."

"I will, rest in peace!"

Getting Zero's answer, the swordsmen who hadn't completely died smiled, closed their eyes, and had already lost their life breath...

Looking at these people, Zero had already decided to make Gyokko suffer!

Although the anger in his heart could not be calmed down, he was still very calm.

"Haa~"

Taking a deep breath, forcing the anger in his heart to calm down a bit, his gaze turned to the pot on a tree.

"Ah ah ah! You damn guy, actually broke my pot! Unforgivable!!!" Gyokko climbed out of the pot and roared at Zero to express the anger in his heart.

"Gyokko... you'd better think about how to beg for mercy next!"

Buzz buzz buzz...

I saw the space around Zero fluctuate, and twenty 【Destroyer Micro-Drones】 flew out.

But it wasn't over yet, and eight 【Dark Alloy Cross Floating Cannons】 appeared around him.

"Upper Moon Five Gyokko? Hehehehe... get ready to bear my anger!!!" ===== CHAPTER 18 =====