Currently, in the demon faction, their nearly twenty contractors are divided into three groups. Old Wood took a few seemingly familiar and closer contractors and went off to do something unknown. Another group, the Drunkard's group, was teleported to another location. The remaining group consisted of about ten contractors led by Old King who came to Mount Natagumo.
In terms of overall strength, the Drunkard's group is the strongest, while Old King's group has mixed abilities. Despite having the most people, they still need to rely on the storyline to complete their tasks.
"Hahaha, the members of the Demon Slayer Corps here are too easy to kill!"
Soon, these contractors saw their mission progress skyrocket and felt that coming here was indeed the right decision.
"Hey… are you the ones stealing our prey? You always leave us the corpses; we don't get to have enough fun!"
A massive spider with a human face descended from a branch, facing the five or six contractors present.
"Is it Spider Brother? What should we do?" asked Dragon River, a contractor with a gun at his waist.
Someone beside him said, "There are so many of us, why should we be afraid of it?!"
Old King stopped him, saying, "We're here to complete our mission, not to cause trouble for ourselves."
"Since we're all demons, it's better to work together against the Demon Slayer Corps, right?"
Dragon River said to Spider Brother.
"Do you also want to become my family? But it seems you have too many people…"
Before Spider Brother could respond, a voice came from above.
Everyone looked up and saw a white-haired demon standing in mid-air. Under the moonlight, they could see that he was standing on a spider thread. It was Lower Rank Five, Rui.
Muzan Kibutsuji did not allow his demons to gather together, usually distributing them in groups of two or three. However, Rui was an exception. Before becoming a demon, Rui was physically weak, much like Muzan Kibutsuji himself before he became a demon. This made Muzan more tolerant of Rui than even the Upper-Rank demons.
These contractors suspected that the subsequent purging of the lower-rank demons might have been because Muzan Kibutsuji vented his anger over his adoptive son's death on the other Lower Rank demons.
By comparison, they realized that Lower Rank Five Rui seemed to be overrated. His strength was more than just fifth among the Lower Ranks, but his obsession with family meant he didn't care about rankings. Muzan allowed him to operate in Mount Natagumo without participating in internal demon conflicts and often gave his blood to his family, weakening himself.
If there was room for negotiation, Old King's group of contractors wouldn't easily clash with Rui.
"We're not here to become family…"
Old King laughed.
Rui looked coldly at Old King and calmly said, "Are you here to find your grave?"
"Damn it! He wants to clash with us!"
Dragon River silently drew the pistol from his waist.
Old King had a sudden idea and said to Rui, "That's not the case. It's just that a powerful Demon Slayer swordsman is hunting us over there, and some of the other Lower Rank demons have already suffered. We were forced to relocate and, passing by here, couldn't hold back our anger when we saw members of the Demon Slayer Corps."
"…"
Rui couldn't understand how the demon in front of him could make running away sound so dignified.
"Hurry up and leave!"
Rui said, then disappeared with Spider Brother. In his view, fighting among demons was meaningless. They could hurt each other, but killing was very difficult!
What Rui didn't know was that although these people had become demons, their regenerative abilities weren't as exaggerated. Similarly, sunlight wasn't as deadly to them!
Even if regenerative abilities were strong, exceeding their limit in attacks would be useless. One punch and they'd turn to ash, leaving no blood, nothing to regenerate.
"Brother King, should we leave?" the young contractor asked as he saw Rui disappear.
"Why leave? By tomorrow, he'll be dead. Let's just bluff our way through…," Old King said, glaring.
"Should we continue then?"
"Of course! We're about to complete the second main mission!"
...
At this time, Tanjiro and his group could also see the dense trees of Mount Natagumo from a distance.
"Wait! Please wait! I'm so scared… I'm terrified just getting close to the destination!"
Zenitsu sat on the ground in fear as they approached Mount Natagumo.
"Hey, why did you suddenly sit on the ground? Gross…"
Inosuke complained.
"I'm not gross! This is normal; you guys are the weird ones!"
In Zenitsu's eyes, being scared of danger was normal, and the others were the abnormal ones.
"Wait! Stop arguing!"
Tanjiro saw a Demon Slayer Corps member struggling to crawl out from the entrance to the mountain, calling for help. Before he could help, the member was suddenly pulled back into the mountain by some force.
Tanjiro quickly chased after him, and Inosuke followed, not wanting to lag behind. Zenitsu was left hugging his legs, trembling in fear.
"Why are there so many spider webs? It's so annoying!"
Inosuke was irritated by the numerous spider webs in the forest.
"Inosuke…"
"What's wrong?"
"The twisted aura emanating from this mountain gives me chills. It's great to have you with me, Inosuke! Thank you..."
Tanjiro looked at Inosuke with gentle, water-like eyes and thanked him.
Having been raised by wild boars from a young age and only recently coming into contact with the outside world, meeting Tanjiro, the little angel, was more than Inosuke could handle!
"Brother Tanjiro, am I not worthy of it??"
Toko smiles innocently but her eyes are cold.
Seeing the same smile as Red's, Tanjiro couldn't help but break into a cold sweat and smiled wryly, "Didn't I tell you to stay outside, Toko-chan? It's very dangerous here; I don't have the strength of Red-senpai to protect you."
"That's true, but it's not necessarily safer outside. It's better to stick with you guys who have combat skills," Toko said earnestly.
After hearing this, Tanjiro felt that it made sense. It was indeed safer to stay with them. Besides, Toko was not without the ability to fight back.
Soon, the three of them unexpectedly encountered Murata. Hearing that Tanjiro and the others were only Mizunoto rank members, Murata became incoherent, telling them to find a Hashira.
It wasn't until Inosuke simply punched him that he calmed down and told Tanjiro and the others that after entering, some members suddenly started killing each other, and some were attacked and killed by demons.
Zenitsu suddenly remembered that Nezuko was still on Tanjiro's back. He immediately stood up and rushed into the mountain, shouting.
"He rushed in because of a girl; this guy's lecherousness surpasses his cowardice."
Two contractors, having completed enough of their second main mission, were assigned to watch the cowardly Zenitsu outside.
"He's also a member of the protagonist team! If we could kill him, imagine the rewards."
One of the contractors looked at Zenitsu's back and thought delightfully.
"If you want to try, go ahead. This guy may look stupid on the surface, but once he loses consciousness, he'll kill you with one sword stroke before you even react." the other contractor said calmly.
"Maybe we should attack him before he falls asleep?"
Hearing his companion's words, the relatively calm contractor didn't even bother to reply. Zenitsu's strength after falling asleep came from what? His relentless training, to the point where his muscle memory could execute sword skills even when unconscious!
Moreover, he was a member of the protagonist team. If it were that simple, daring to attack him would result in an instinctive reaction that could decapitate you in seconds.
"It's too scary! There are demons outside too! Luckily, I noticed early!" Zenitsu's hearing was incredibly sharp. As soon as the two contractors appeared, he sensed them.
Pretending not to notice, he quickly rushed to join Tanjiro and the others. Seeing no demons chasing him, Zenitsu felt he was indeed very clever!
At this moment, Tanjiro and Inosuke were struggling to fight against their fellow Demon Slayer Corps members who were being controlled. Because they were being manipulated, the controller disregarded human physiology, twisting bones and swinging swords in ways that made it difficult for Tanjiro and the others to handle.
Tanjiro knocked the Nichirin Blade out of the hands of a controlled Demon Slayer Corps member and threw it to Toko. Toko caught the blade and could handle one of the controlled members. The demon controlling them had no combat experience and merely used various bizarre angles of sword swings to wear Tanjiro down.
Toko always remembered Lin Jiu's teachings; in situations where Tanjiro didn't want to kill, he would first disarm the opponent, throwing their weapon far away to make them lose their threat!
"Beast Breathing, Seventh Form: Spatial Awareness!"
Having grown up in the deep mountains, Inosuke had an extremely keen sense of touch. When he concentrated, he could even feel the slightest vibrations in the air.
With this sense honed through his unique breathing technique, he could locate targets even without direct contact.
Indeed, the protagonist team members all had monstrous senses! Tanjiro's extraordinary sense of smell, Zenitsu's discerning hearing, and Inosuke's radar-like touch. This Demon Slayer team was just missing one member to complete a five-sense demon-hunting squad.