Jon continued walking forward, his senses on high alert. The air was thick with tension, and he could feel the weight of the unknown pressing down on him. He suddenly stopped in his tracks, his eyes narrowing as he tried to discern the source of the disturbance.
"What's going on? There's something moving ahead, but there's no trace of evil or even life!" Jon muttered to himself, his voice barely above a whisper.
He sensed something was off and gripped his chain tightly as he continued forward, his steps cautious and measured. The atmosphere grew heavier, and the shadows seemed to dance around him, taunting him with their elusive movements.
Suddenly, the movement of the mysterious object sped up, and it was heading straight towards him. Jon's heart raced as he prepared for the inevitable confrontation.
In no time, a tall and burly figure charged towards him, its form obscured by the darkness. The figure had both hands transformed into blades, and more importantly, it had no head. The spider silk connected to its body proved that it was a puppet of the Spider-Girl.
"Tsk! No wonder it has no life force. This thing has no penance points and can't even fill any requirement of the system!" Jon said with disgust, his voice dripping with disdain.
Boom!
Without hesitation, he pulled out a large high-tech weapon and fired it directly at the puppet without even enchanting it. He knew that the creature wasn't a demon, so it didn't have the same insane regenerative abilities. As long as he blasted it to pieces, the Spider-Girl wouldn't be able to control it anymore.
A blue beam shot out, and the puppet exploded, shattering into pieces. The sound echoed through the darkness, a testament to Jon's power and determination.
At the same time, the Spider-Girl, sensing that she could no longer control her puppet, froze in place. Her previously enraged expression turned to one of terror. To destroy her weapon so easily, he must be a powerful demon hunter. She was no match for him, but if she couldn't defeat him, she would face unimaginable punishment.
"What should I do... What should I do..." The Spider-Girl felt a sense of despair, her voice trembling with fear.
"Found you!" A voice came from a distance, cold and unyielding. A man wearing a leather jacket and heavy chains slowly approached, his eyes locked onto the Spider-Girl.
Upon seeing him, the Spider-Girl's face turned even more terrified. She quickly said, "Wait... wait a moment, don't kill me. I was forced to do this. Someone forced me to become like this."
"My power isn't even mine, and this appearance isn't mine either!" Tears welled up in the Spider-Girl's eyes as she shouted, her voice cracking with emotion.
As she spoke, her appearance changed. Her once pale hair turned pitch black, and her white clothes transformed into a patterned kimono. Her entire figure shrank, and she now looked like an ordinary girl.
Jon knew that the Twelve Demon Moon that resided here was called Rui, a child in appearance. However, this Twelve Demon Moon had a twisted mind. No one knew how long he had lived, but he enjoyed playing and pretending to have a family.
So, Rui would often find other demons, perform a second transformation on them to make them look similar to himself, and have them play the roles of his parents and siblings. He would pretend to be weak and have his "family" protecting him. But if anyone in the family didn't play along with its wishes, Rui would use its spider silk to slice them into pieces or expose them to sunlight. In more extreme cases, it would even strip them of their thoughts.
As a result, in this so-called family, all the members were terrified of the youngest, Rui.
And this Spider-Girl was clearly one of the victims. Her assigned role by Rui was that of the mother.
"I know you were forced into this, but unfortunately, you are a demon who ate many humans already, so..." Jon's voice trailed off, his heart heavy with the weight of the situation.
Slice!
However, before Jon could finish, the Spider-Girl's face suddenly froze.
Spider silk, woven into a web, pierced through the Spider-Girl's body. Then, her body fell apart into chunks of flesh on the ground.
Jon's expression darkened, and he immediately realized that Rui, hidden in the shadows, had attacked. Evidently, the Spider-Girl's words had angered Rui, prompting him to punish her.
Jon quickly focused his senses to track Rui, only to find it fleeing in the opposite direction.
"Tsk! Is this demon just like that Muzan?" Jon mocked. Both used fear to control their subordinates but were cowards when facing opponents. No wonder so many fans said Muzan's favorite subordinate was Rui – they were cut from the same cloth!
As Jon was about to give chase, he heard the Spider-Girl's voice.
"Kill... kill me, please!" The Spider-Girl begged.
At this point, the Spider-Girl's flesh was scattered all over the ground, but it was still visibly healing. Her skull had already regrown a mouth, and she was pleading for Jon to grant her a swift end.
In the Spider Demon family, besides Rui and the Spider-Girl playing the role of the mother, there were also the Spider Father, Spider Sister, and Spider Brother – a family of five in total.
This Spider Mother was originally the youngest in the family but was forced by Rui to play the role of the "mother." She had no standing in the family and lived in constant fear due to her timid nature, her actions always going against Rui's wishes, and the frequent violence from the demon "father."
Today, Rui had sliced her into pieces with its spider silk, signaling its intention to abandon her. Even if she survived now, death would be inevitable later.
"Rest in peace." Jon said indifferently. With a flick of his hand, the hellfire ignited on the girl's remains.
"Thank you... I'm finally... free..." The Spider-Girl struggled to say, as she was choking on her tears.
"Be… careful! He is one of the Twelve Demon Moons...!" With her last ounce of strength, the Spider-Girl warned before being reduced to ashes.
[Ding! Side quest updated: Eliminate at least ten ordinary demons. Current progress: 7/10]
[Ding! Soul Sacrifice function used successfully. Soul exchange completed, gaining 100 penalty points]
***
"So, there's a one of the Twelve Demon Moons at the Mountain!" Kagaya Ubuyashiki's voice was filled with concern as he held a crow in his arms, listening to the information it relayed.
Inside the mansion, Kagaya continued, "With that person there, we don't need to worry too much. However... besides the Twelve Demon Moon, there's also a poison-using demon there. Many innocent people have already fallen victim!"
He took a deep breath and said, "No matter what, since someone is helping us with the demon-slaying work, we must do our part in the follow-up tasks. The one capable of curing the poisoned victims is the Flower Pillar, Kanae Kocho. Let her take a team from the Hidden Division there."
***
"Human-faced spider?" Jon looked at the monster before him with a smirk.
In front of him was a wooden house suspended in the air by spider webs. Between the trees in front of the house was a massive spider web.
On the web was a spider as large as a human, and even more terrifying was the fact that it had a grotesque human face.
"HahgHagh...!" The human-faced spider let out a creepy laugh. "You're the first one to remain so calm after seeing my appearance!"
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