Chapter 24: Water Demon
Tanjiro raced toward the area where the demonic aura grew stronger, quickly reaching a narrow alley.
This wasn't the same alley where Kazumi's fiancée had disappeared, but a different one entirely.
Tanjiro stopped in the middle of the alley, while Hakuya stood firmly against the wall behind him.
"Right here!" Tanjiro thought to himself, his body instinctively tensing as he gripped his sword's hilt. He unsheathed his Nichirin blade in one swift motion.
Hakuya remained silent on the wall, making no move to intervene.
Tanjiro glanced around, seeing nothing unusual in the shadows. Just as he was about to ask Hakuya for guidance, his senior's earlier advice echoed in his mind. He abandoned the impulse and decided to think it through himself.
"The scent! Just follow the scent!" Tanjiro muttered under his breath, closing his eyes and relying solely on his extraordinary sense of smell.
"Right here! Underground!"
Tanjiro's eyes snapped open as he plunged his Nichirin blade into the ground beneath his feet.
Instantly, black water erupted everywhere, as if he'd punctured some unholy reservoir.
A puddle of dark liquid materialized, and the edge of a woman's kimono emerged from its surface.
Tanjiro's face went pale. He reached down to pull her out.
The moment he touched her, he confirmed it was indeed a woman. He tried to lift her, but something below was dragging her down with unnatural strength.
Biting his Nichirin blade between his teeth, Tanjiro plunged both hands into the black water and wrapped them around her body.
With a powerful leap, he jumped high into the air, finally wrenching her free from the demonic puddle.
Gravity pulled him back down to the ground.
The woman in Tanjiro's arms was unconscious. Within the black water, a pale hand surfaced, clutching torn pieces of her kimono—the very fabric Tanjiro had ripped during his rescue.
From the dark water, a demon emerged wearing a tight mesh garment, its eyes glowing red. Three twisted horns protruded from its forehead.
"A demon with Blood Demon Art!" Tanjiro's heart raced as he stared at the creature, only half its body visible above the water's surface. He never expected to encounter one on his very first mission!
The partially submerged demon gnashed its teeth furiously at Tanjiro. The arm he'd injured during the rescue began regenerating before his eyes.
At that moment, Kazumi arrived, breathless. Seeing the half-emerged demon, shock flooded his face. "Is that... is that really a demon?" he whispered.
Suddenly, the demon submerged itself completely. With its disappearance, the puddle of black water vanished without a trace, as if it had never existed.
"Kazumi-san, please take care of this girl! Hakuya-senpai and I will destroy this demon and restore peace to your town!" Tanjiro sheathed his blade momentarily and turned to the stunned man.
Kazumi took the unconscious woman from Tanjiro's arms, still in a daze.
At that moment, Hakuya spoke from his position on the wall. "Tanjiro, I'm leaving this demon to you alone."
Tanjiro looked up at his senior, confused. "Hakuya-senpai, you're not going to fight?"
Hakuya smiled faintly. "If I intervene, you'll only be a spectator. Consider this a test of your abilities."
Having witnessed Hakuya's overwhelming strength at Mount Fujikasane during Final Selection, Tanjiro knew exactly how powerful his senior was.
He couldn't grow stronger under Hakuya's constant protection.
Understanding this truth, Tanjiro said nothing more and focused his attention entirely on the battlefield.
Now Tanjiro could fight without hesitation, knowing that with Hakuya watching, his life wouldn't be in real danger.
To avoid interfering, Kazumi quickly moved to the side of the alley.
Tanjiro stared intently at his surroundings, mentally analyzing the demon's Blood Demon Art. Just as frustration began to build from not being able to see his enemy, he remembered his greatest advantage: his nose. His absolute sensitivity to scent!
Immediately, Tanjiro began tracking the demon's movements through smell alone.
"Here it comes! Behind me!"
In an instant, Tanjiro moved, spinning and attacking toward his rear.
"Water Breathing, Fifth Form—"
Just as Tanjiro was about to complete his strike, three pools of black water suddenly appeared on the ground. Three identical demons emerged, each with a different number of horns on their foreheads.
"Three of them!"
Tanjiro was completely caught off guard, and his attack faltered. For a moment, he glanced at Hakuya, silently asking for help in light of this unexpected development.
Seeing Tanjiro look at him, Hakuya shook his head, indicating he wouldn't intervene.
Understanding his senior's response, Tanjiro abandoned any thought of assistance. He bent his knees and launched himself into the air with explosive force.
"Calm down! If Hakuya-senpai isn't stepping in, it means I can handle this!" Tanjiro told himself.
"Water Breathing, Eighth Form: Waterfall Basin!"
At this critical moment, Tanjiro changed his technique mid-attack. A powerful surge of water materialized along his blade, sending a cascading torrent toward his enemies.
The Waterfall Basin technique sliced through the arms of all three demons in succession.
"Damn it! Because I changed my form mid-strike, I didn't hit any vital points!" Tanjiro felt frustrated that he hadn't managed to behead any of them.
The severed arms fell to the ground, only to be swallowed by the black water pooling beneath them. The three demons temporarily submerged themselves as well.
"Two of those three demons are clones of the original body," Hakuya spoke calmly to Tanjiro. "Splitting into clones significantly weakens the demon's individual strength. Apart from their numerical advantage, they can't pose much of a threat to you."
"Clones? That's why all three scents are identical!" After hearing Hakuya's explanation, Tanjiro felt more confident in his earlier observation.
"He's going after Kazumi-san!" Sensing a violent surge in the demon's aura, Tanjiro immediately shouted, "Kazumi-san, get out of the way!"
Tanjiro rushed toward Kazumi's position and launched another attack.
"Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel!"
Tanjiro flipped in mid-air, his blade spinning in a fluid circular motion as he slashed at the newly emerged demon.
Perhaps due to the demon's quick reflexes and tough hide, Tanjiro's strike didn't cut cleanly through. His blade only embedded itself two or three inches into the demon's shoulder.
In the chaos, Kazumi nearly fell as he scrambled away, but managed to press himself against the alley wall just in time.
Tanjiro immediately yanked his Nichirin blade free and leaped back to shield Kazumi, keeping his eyes locked on the demon's movements.
"You annoying brat, get out of my way! If you delay me any longer, this woman will lose her freshness! She's sixteen now—if I don't devour her soon, her flavor will start to deteriorate!" the demon shrieked at Tanjiro in frustration.
At that moment, another clone emerged behind Tanjiro. This one spoke in a calmer tone. "Hey, settle down! It's fine to go one night without feeding! I've already devoured many sixteen-year-old girls in this town! Every one of them was tender and delicious—I'm completely satisfied!"
"You might be satisfied, but I'm not! No! I want more!" the aggressive clone screamed at its counterpart.
While the demon argued with its own clones, Kazumi mustered his courage and shouted, "You monster! Give me back Satoko! You stole her from me!"
At that moment, a third clone emerged from the tiled eaves above, making an extremely harsh grinding sound with its teeth.
Hakuya, still perched on the wall, suddenly grimaced. He muttered in exasperation, "That noise is unbearable."
A cold flash of steel cut through the darkness, and the teeth-grinding clone's head was severed by Hakuya's blade in one clean motion—Water Breathing, Eleventh Form: Flowing Water's Shadow.
The severed head tumbled down and landed directly in front of Kazumi, making him jump back in shock.
The decapitated body and head began disintegrating into ash. Watching the crumbling remains, Kazumi gasped. "It's disappearing! What kind of creature is this?"
Tanjiro hadn't expected Hakuya to suddenly eliminate one of the clones. He glanced at his senior, silently questioning why he'd suddenly intervened.
"That irritating grinding noise was getting on my nerves, so I sent it to hell," Hakuya said matter-of-factly to Tanjiro.
Hearing this, Tanjiro understood his senior's temperament well. Hakuya harbored no ill will toward Nezuko, but showed cold, ruthless efficiency when dealing with other demons.
Truth be told, Tanjiro had also found the high-pitched grinding sound rather grating.
"You bastard! You killed it!" the most aggressive clone screamed furiously at Hakuya standing on the wall.
"Enough shouting," Hakuya replied in an icy tone. "You have three seconds to answer my question. Have you already devoured the missing people, or are they imprisoned somewhere?"
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