End Countdown: 5:32:13
Looking at the end timer, Mo Wu felt a little helpless.
At this rate, by the time the main mission ended, he probably wouldn't even finish the side mission.
How annoying…
That's right—at this moment, Mo Wu had absolutely no intention of giving up such an easy chance to earn Dream Points.
He was actually starting to feel there weren't enough demons left for him to kill.
Even though he had been slaughtering his way through the mountain, the number of demons he encountered had instead become smaller. The earlier scenes of swarms of weak demons rushing him were gone.
Relying on Demon Sense to track them, he often found that before he could locate a demon, one of two things had already happened—either the demon caught his scent somehow and immediately fled, or someone else had gotten there first and killed it.
Sigh…
Mo Wu's face was full of frustration.
If only the level of Demon Sense were a little higher.
"Big bro, big bro, what are you worrying about?"
A blond head suddenly popped up at Mo Wu's side. Tugging at the white shirt tied around Mo Wu's waist, Zenitsu looked at his furrowed brows with a curious expression.
"You shouldn't have followed me…"
Looking at Zenitsu, Mo Wu's face filled with speechless disbelief. He was about to go hunt the Hand Demon.
Bringing this guy along would just mean dragging around a giant burden.
Well… although Zenitsu could probably go into autopilot and carry himself through, he'd still be lacking something if he had to face the Hand Demon.
Forget it. Better scare him off. The other demons in the forest probably wouldn't be able to do much to him anyway. After all, this was a man who could clear the Final Selection by sleeping through it.
With that thought, Mo Wu deliberately put on a sinister smile and let out an eerie laugh.
"Next, I'm going to use you as bait to lure demons over so I can cut them down. Heh heh heh."
"Ah?"
Zenitsu shuddered violently. His blond hair stood straight on end as he stared at Mo Wu in disbelief.
"...Me?... Bait?"
Gulp.
Swallowing hard, Zenitsu forcibly suppressed the urge to run. He had always trusted his instincts, so…
"All right. Then let me be the bait. I'll take it as repaying you for saving my life, big bro."
Looking at the boy standing there with his eyes shut, loudly declaring his resolve, the sinister smile vanished from Mo Wu's face, replaced by utter helplessness.
Slash!
A scorching blade swept past Zenitsu's ear, cutting off several strands of hair.
"I…"
Frozen in terror, Zenitsu collapsed onto the ground and stared blankly at the headless demon corpse beside him.
Looking at the boy sitting there in shock, Mo Wu reached out and ruffled his blond hair, then sheathed his blade and turned back toward the forest.
"If you still dare to follow me after that, then keep following."
Cold sweat poured from Zenitsu's forehead, but he stood up anyway.
He had seen it.
He had seen the passion in Mo Wu's eyes.
A man like that could never be evil.
"Big bro, wait for me!"
With one slash, Mo Wu severed another demon's head. He gave his blade a small shake. At this point, he was almost numb from all the killing.
Mission Objective: Kill fifty demons (49/50)
"How exactly are you attracting so many demons?"
Mo Wu exhaled a stream of hot air. He had used Sun Breathing so much that his body now felt restless and overheated. Even he hadn't expected bringing Zenitsu along would produce such an unexpected bonus.
In just thirty minutes—only thirty minutes—Zenitsu had lured thirteen demons straight to him.
Walking behind him and cheering him on, Zenitsu blinked in confusion at the question. Then he scratched his head and muttered softly,
"M-maybe… I just smell really good?"
Seeing the idiot look in Mo Wu's eyes, Zenitsu gave an awkward laugh and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Big bro, you've killed at least twenty by now, right? That's amazing!"
"I've killed forty-nine."
Sliding the blade back into its sheath, Mo Wu wiped the sweat from his forehead and answered casually, not bothering to look at Zenitsu, who had frozen in total shock.
He twitched his nose again, continuing to search for the Hand Demon's trail.
That demon was cunning.
For some reason, it kept changing locations every few minutes.
That was also why Mo Wu still hadn't found it. The scent trail was too chaotic. His nose was practically overflowing with foul blood-stink by now, enough to make him feel sick.
As for Zenitsu?
"Big bro must be joking, right? Forty-nine demons… wouldn't that mean one more and he'd already have what it takes to become a Hashira?"
"He's definitely joking. Definitely."
But when Zenitsu remembered the sight of Mo Wu cutting down demons one by one with a single stroke, he found himself believing him anyway.
After all, his big bro's demon-killing efficiency was absurd.
He was practically a natural-born demon-slaying machine.
He'd killed this many and still wasn't even breathing hard.
I need to hold onto this thigh no matter what.
A determined look appeared on Zenitsu's face as he straightened up and hurried after Mo Wu.
The forest at night was deathly silent.
For some unknown reason, no demons approached the two of them over the next stretch of time.
But that only made Zenitsu even more nervous. His hand on the Nichirin Blade trembled faintly, and he kept glancing around more and more often.
"Hm?"
Mo Wu's ears twitched slightly.
From somewhere not far ahead, he heard a violent series of impacts, along with… a rotten stench even more disgusting than the blood-reek from before.
The Hand Demon?
Mo Wu steadied himself, then kicked off with both feet and burst into a sprint.
Behind him, Zenitsu trembled again, but his legs moved just as quickly. In no time at all, he had caught up to Mo Wu.
"So it's here?"
Looking at the grotesque mass ahead—a giant lump of flesh formed from countless enormous arms—even remembering it from the anime made Mo Wu's skin crawl. Now that he was facing it in person, goosebumps erupted all over his body, and he felt thoroughly disgusted.
"B-big bro, wait up! Why are you running so fast?"
Panting heavily, Zenitsu barely managed to catch up.
Big bro runs way too fast… wait…
Why does the air smell rotten?
His nose twitched, confusion filling his eyes.
Thud… thud…
The sound of something massive colliding echoed from ahead. Peering past Mo Wu's back, Zenitsu's face instantly turned deathly pale.
"W-what… what is that thing?!"
"Why would something like that appear in the Final Selection?!"
His trembling voice rang out from behind Mo Wu.
"Weren't they supposed to only have demons that ate two or three people? That thing must have eaten dozens!"
"Hoho, the little brat has a sharp eye."
"You'll make a fine appetizer. When I eat you later, I'll make it quick. Heh heh heh."
The Hand Demon turned slightly, withdrawing the arm it had been about to swing. Looking back at the two who had suddenly appeared behind it, it spoke in a deep, deranged voice from the giant mouth hidden beneath layers of arms.
The moment that familiar, unsettling voice rang out, Mo Wu's heart skipped a beat.
That voice carried even more pressure than the Hand Demon's grotesque appearance.
"Big bro, let's go first. As long as the green hills remain, there'll be wood to burn later."
Zenitsu sounded anxious, but Mo Wu shook his head and pointed toward a blue-clad figure collapsed beside a tree.
"You go take him away. I'll kill the demon."
"Ah?"
Only then did Zenitsu finally understand what Mo Wu intended. Though still worried, when he saw Mo Wu leap straight forward without hesitation, Zenitsu gritted his teeth and dashed toward the fallen figure by the tree.
"Hoho, instead of running, you're choosing to come closer to me?"
"Then I'll eat you first, right in front of Urokodaki's disciple."
"Hehehehehe…"
The Hand Demon gathered several of its arms into a dense ball of flesh, then launched them like cannon fire straight at Mo Wu as he soared through the air.
"First Form: Dance."
Mo Wu drew in a breath of cold air.
But the long blade in his hand swung like a blazing sun.