Chapter 72: Tanjiro, Inosuke VS Spider Demon Father

Butterfly Sisters

(I accidentally deleted this chapter yesterday, so I have to rewrite it...)

Seeing that those swordsmen had broken free from her control, the Spider Demon Mother used her spider silk threads to manipulate a headless demon puppet to go and stop Tanjiro and Inosuke.

Unexpectedly, Tanjiro and Inosuke cooperated and joined forces to eliminate the headless demon puppet.

Afterward, Inosuke exerted force and threw Tanjiro into mid-air.

In mid-air, Tanjiro saw the Spider Demon Mother and immediately launched a sword technique.

Water Breathing, First Form...

"I'm going to be killed... my head is going to be cut off! Think of a way... think of a way quickly!"

The Spider Demon Mother looked at Tanjiro coming toward her in mid-air, her face filled with fear.

However, this fear was soon replaced by another thought.

She felt that if she died, she could be liberated, and she wouldn't have to continue enduring fear!

As if she had given up resistance, she stretched out her hands, preparing to welcome death.

Tanjiro, in mid-air, smelled the scent of fear and pain emanating from the Spider Demon Mother, to the point that she was seeking death.

He immediately rotated the hilt of his blade and changed his move.

Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After the Drought!

The attack fell from mid-air, and the blade flashed past.

The Spider Demon Mother, whose neck had been cut, not only felt no pain but instead had a feeling as if she were being gently patted by rain and warmly illuminated by the sun.

The Fifth Form was a merciful sword form used only when the opponent was willing to be beheaded.

A sweet smile appeared on the Spider Demon Mother's face.

She hadn't expected she could die so peacefully.

Her head fell to the ground, and when she met Tanjiro's gaze, there was no disgust toward her.

There was only gentleness and pity.

Those eyes... seemed as if they could see through everything.

This reminded the Spider Demon Mother that when she was still human, someone had once cast the same gentle gaze upon her.

A girl's figure appeared in her mind, but she had forgotten who she was...

Just as the Spider Demon Mother's head was about to disappear, she reminded Tanjiro: "There is a Twelve Kizuki here, be careful..."

As soon as she finished speaking, her head, streaming with tears, had already turned into ashes, leaving only a white garment on the spot, proving she had just existed.

"Twelve Kizuki!?" Tanjiro hadn't expected that a Twelve Kizuki actually existed on Mount Natagumo!

He still remembered what Tamayo had said in Asakusa: researching medicine to turn demons back into humans required the blood of the Twelve Kizuki.

The blood of the Twelve Kizuki was relatively close to Muzan Kibutsuji's blood.

Although he had heard that Zero had already collected a lot of blood, including that of Lower Moon demons, Upper Moon demons, and Muzan Kibutsuji.

But now, since a Twelve Kizuki existed here, although he didn't know what level it was?

Then he should also contribute his meager strength to see if he could collect the Twelve Kizuki's blood again?

This could also speed up Tamayo's research!

He had collected Kyogai's blood at the House of Drums before, but he had already been stripped of his Twelve Kizuki status and could only be considered the former Lower Moon Six.

Having figured out what to do next, he prepared to get up and search for the Twelve Kizuki.

"Ah! Right, Inosuke..." Tanjiro remembered Inosuke.

Inosuke had been injured while fighting the headless demon puppet, so he had to go back and check on him immediately.

Returning to Inosuke.

Inosuke stood with his hands on his hips and shouted: "Did you defeat her?"

"Defeated! Inosuke, are you okay?" Tanjiro looked at the wounds on Inosuke's body and asked with concern.

"Don't be so meticulous about me! I'm telling you, what you can do, I can do too! And I'll do it better than you!"

Inosuke patted his chest, not caring at all about the blood flowing from his wounds.

Tanjiro took out a piece of gauze and replied while bandaging Inosuke's wounds: "I know, I know, don't move, let me bandage your wounds!"

"Stop it! I don't need it!"

After some bickering, the two continued forward.

Regarding Tanjiro's behavior just now, Inosuke felt an indescribable warmth in his heart, but there was always an inexplicable irritability.

Arriving at the edge of a stream, Tanjiro asked: "Inosuke, when we were fighting earlier, did you hear thunder?"

"The demon knows!"

"I want to go to the other side to check the situation."

"Go wherever you want!"

"Mm, I know, so Inosuke, you should go down the mountain!" Tanjiro pointed to a path down the mountain on the side: "Go down the mountain this way."

"... Why should I go down the mountain! Are you trying to die!"

"But aren't your injuries quite serious, Inosuke?"

"I'm not injured!"

"Uh uh!?"

Rustle, rustle~

While the two were arguing, a sound came from the opposite bank of the stream.

Looking closely, it was a spider demon woman.

Seeing the two of them, the spider demon woman immediately turned and left.

Inosuke didn't care what danger lay ahead and took the lead in chasing after her!

Seeing Inosuke chasing her, the spider demon woman shouted: "Father!"

Inosuke: "Who is your father!?"

Boom!

A huge black figure descended from the sky, landed in the middle of the stream, and blocked their path!

Inosuke, who hadn't chased very far, had no choice but to stop.

Seeing the demon in front of them, a sense of oppression fell upon them both.

This was a demon with a human body and a spider demon face!

He was muscular, shirtless, and at least two meters tall!

He was the one the spider demon woman had just called Father, the Spider Demon Father.

"Don't... approach... my family!!"

He threw a punch, the powerful force shattering the stepping stones in the middle of the stream and splashing waves.

Facing the suddenly attacking Spider Demon Father, Tanjiro decided to strike first!

Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!

He swung his Nichirin blade to cut at the Spider Demon Father's arm! Unexpectedly, he only managed to cut one-third of the demon's strong arm before he couldn't cut any further!

Immediately after, the Spider Demon Father swung his other arm at Tanjiro's body!

At this critical moment, Inosuke swung his dual blades and cut into it, saving Tanjiro's life!

"Damn it! Why is this guy's arm so hard!? I can't cut it off at all!"

Swish! Swish!

The Spider Demon Father swung his arms and threw them both away!

Then, the moment Tanjiro landed, he rushed over!

The powerful force knocked Tanjiro back to the shore again.

"Take this!"

Inosuke took advantage of the Spider Demon Father's lack of reaction and launched an attack from behind him!

Unexpectedly, the Spider Demon Father just swung his arm behind him and knocked him flying, submerging him in the stream.

"Damn it! Just swinging his arms has such strong power! I can't solve this with brute force alone!"

Roar!

The Spider Demon Father roared and chased after Inosuke again.

Seeing this, Inosuke could only temporarily give up the attack and run in the direction behind him!

Tanjiro on the shore followed their pace, spotted an opportunity, and launched a sword technique at a thick tree trunk!

Water Breathing, Second Form, Modified: Horizontal Water Wheel!

Boom!

The tree trunk was split, falling just right onto the Spider Demon Father behind Inosuke, temporarily suppressing him so he couldn't move!

"What's going on? What happened?" Inosuke looked at the situation behind him, confused.

"Inosuke, are you okay?!"

Inosuke looked at Tanjiro and found him standing on the broken tree stump.

"Did this guy do it? He's really amazing! Damn it..."

But at this moment, Inosuke felt the aura on Tanjiro's body change.

As if he was about to unleash some powerful move!

"While the demon is still pinned down, looking at it this way, I can cut off his neck!"

Total Concentration, Water Breathing...

Whoosh~

He swung his Nichirin blade and rushed toward the Spider Demon Father pinned under the tree trunk in the stream.

Tenth Form: Constant Flux!

This was the final and strongest sword technique of Water Breathing; the more it rotated, the stronger its power would be.

Roar!

However, at this moment, the Spider Demon Father also erupted with unprecedented power, lifting the tree trunk that was pinning him down.

Tanjiro couldn't react in time, and his Nichirin blade struck the tree trunk.

Crack!

The Spider Demon Father grabbed the tree trunk, swept it across, and knocked Tanjiro flying into mid-air, toward another mountain peak!

"Kenjiro, danger!"

"Damn it! In, Inosuke, don't die before I get back! That guy is a Twelve Kizuki! Whatever you do, don't die!"

Tanjiro's voice, as he was knocked flying, echoed in the surroundings, and Inosuke felt as if his heart were being squeezed.

Thump! Thump!

The Spider Demon Father took heavy steps, arrived in front of Inosuke, raised his arm, and attacked again!

"Oh no!"

On the other side, Zero moved forward in a straight line.

During the search, he saved some injured swordsmen along the way.

He bandaged their wounds, settled them down, and then handed them over to the "Kakushi".

"Inosuke, whatever you do, don't die..."

The echoing sound from the forest made Zero somewhat suspicious.

Although the sound wasn't very clear, it still sounded somewhat familiar.

"This voice is... Tanjiro? Listening to the direction, it should be over there..."

Immediately, he carried his Nichirin scythe and rushed toward the direction of the sound.

When he arrived at a dense forest location and was about to continue forward, he saw Inosuke, wearing the wild boar head mask, fighting a huge, pitch-black demon.

It was just that the situation didn't seem very good; Inosuke was covered in wounds, blood was everywhere on his body, and there were even several fractures in his joints.

Even the two notched blades in his hands were broken, and they were stuck in the Spider Demon Father's throat.

At this moment, the Spider Demon Father was gripping Inosuke's head tightly, his arm exerting force, preparing to kill him.

Pfft!!

A scarlet cold light flashed, and the Spider Demon Father's arm was severed.

He roared in pain and retreated repeatedly! Blood flowed from the severed arm.

The wound seemed to be scorched, unable to regenerate!

After being saved, Inosuke landed on the ground, gasping for air.

Blood flowed down the boar mask and dripped onto the ground.

In that short moment just now, he felt he was going to die, and a woman's figure appeared in his mind.

【You must live on well! Inosuke!】

"That person... who is she?"

He didn't understand why such a scene would appear in his memory?

However, he felt sadness and despair from that woman, as well as... family affection!

"Hey, little Inosuke doll, are you okay?"

Seeing someone call his name, Inosuke lifted his head and saw someone with a pair of black and white wings behind him, his long white hair fluttering in the wind.

He was holding a Nichirin scythe in his left hand, and the blade was emitting a red glow.

"This person... cough, cough... who is he? So strong... cough, cough... why... do I feel... a very dangerous aura from him..."

Inosuke's body trembled instinctively; this was his reaction from living in the forest for many years.

"He can still move, it seems he's fine for now! Next, leave it to me!"

"Ahhhhh!!" The Spider Demon Father roared and rushed over with his remaining arm.

Zero just stood in front of Inosuke, and the moment the Spider Demon Father's attack was about to land, he quickly rotated his Nichirin scythe.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

In the blink of an eye, the Spider Demon Father was sliced into several pieces, scattered on the ground, and slowly turned into ashes.

"So amazing!!!" Inosuke couldn't help but shout.

He climbed up, looked at Zero, and shouted: "Hey, Black and White Bird Wings, I want to duel with you!"

!?

Black and White Bird Wings!?

What does that mean?

Zero was speechless, turned around, and just stared quietly at Inosuke, who had a look like a pervert.

Meeting those scarlet eyes, Inosuke felt as if he had seen a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood, and his body trembled even more violently!

Resisting the fear in his heart, he shouted: "I, I... I want to du... duel with you! You, you... defeated the Twelve Kizuki, then I de... defeat you... then I am... the, the... strongest!"

"Twelve Kizuki? What are you talking about? This guy is so weak, he's no Twelve Kizuki! He's not even as good as a slightly higher-level demon~"

Although he said that, Zero found it quite funny seeing Inosuke's legs shaking non-stop!

This little doll is quite interesting~

"Ha?!! I, I... I of course know he's not a Twelve Kizuki! It's, it's... it's Kenjiro who told me..."

He shook his head, too lazy to pay attention to him, and prepared to turn and leave.

But how could Inosuke let him go so easily? As long as he defeated Zero, he could prove he was stronger than Zero!

Regardless of his injuries, he followed behind him.

Zero was somewhat impatient, thinking whether he should knock him out and throw him aside for the "Kakushi" to deal with.

As luck would have it, he happened to run into Giyu Tomioka.

"Zero."

"Giyu? You're just in time, I'll leave this wild boar to you~"

Giyu Tomioka glanced at Inosuke and replied: "Mm."

Afterward, Zero continued forward without looking back.

"Hey! Bird Wings, don't run! Duel with me!"

As a result, before he had run a few steps, his vision blurred, and he saw his feet off the ground.

Giyu Tomioka didn't know where he had taken out a long rope, and in an instant, he had tied him up and hung him on a tree.

He clapped his hands and left without looking back.

"Wh, wh... what happened? Why am I tied up? This guy is also so strong!"

Watching Giyu Tomioka's figure gradually move away, he shouted: "Hey! Haori-split-in-two, stop right there! Hurry up and let me down!!"

"A guy who can't even tell his own injuries shouldn't participate in battle."

"Ha?!! I can't hear you! Your voice is so small, and you're walking so fast! I told you to stop and untie the rope! Hey!!"

Unfortunately, Giyu Tomioka had already left along Zero's direction and couldn't hear him at all.

"You stop, hey! Hey!! Hey!!!"