Due to the presence of multiple demons distributed throughout Infinity Mountain Villa, Kanae and the others decided to split up after discussion.
Among them, considering that the cinema hall very likely hid that Lower Rank Two who had previously escaped in Tokyo—a demon with a rather troublesome mind-type Blood Demon Art—
this location would be handled by both Hashira Kanae and Kyojuro together, striving to slay this demon as safely as possible.
As for Iguro Obanai, he would lead a portion of the swordsmen to the mansion museum on the northernmost side of the villa.
Among the remaining swordsmen, Tanjiro—who already possessed the strength to slay Lower Rank demons—would independently lead a portion of the swordsmen to the botanical garden on the left side of the villa.
Zenitsu and Genya would together lead the last remaining swordsmen to the haunted house maze located on the right side of the villa.
A total of four locations with four groups of people. Whichever group resolved their assigned section first would immediately depart for the next location to support their remaining companions.
As a precaution, before departing, Kyojuro specifically sent his Kasugai crow back to the headquarters to report the villa's situation to Ubuyashiki and request reinforcements.
For some reason, tonight, he felt an indescribable unease in his heart...
"..."
Night fell, the bright moon hung high, yet Infinity Mountain Villa remained brightly lit.
Due to the cinema hall being open, most of the visitors still lingering in the villa had gone there, making the visitor count in other areas of the villa seem much lower instead.
Among these, the mansion museum located in the northern part of the villa was especially so.
According to the promotional brochure's introduction, this mansion was once the residence of the villa's former owner.
After purchasing this villa and renovating it, that foreign company had specifically preserved most of the facilities within this mansion.
They renovated and decorated its interior rooms one by one, filled them with cultural artifacts, and transformed it into a mansion museum—quite an ingenious idea.
Unfortunately, as a purely cultural attraction, this place normally didn't attract too many visitors.
Therefore, when Iguro led a squad of swordsmen to this location, apart from a few security guards and staff members on patrol duty, they saw no other humans.
[This is perfect.]
Stepping through the main entrance into this museum shaped like an ancient mansion, Iguro thought to himself.
[If there were many people, they would only get in the way during the fight later.]
Inside the vast mansion, corridors extended in all directions, with rooms following one after another.
Each room was lit with dim yellow electric lights, and everywhere one could see ancient cultural artifacts displayed in glass cabinets, with wooden plaques thoughtfully carved with the origins and stories of these artifacts.
The entire museum was quite quiet, and no battle aura could be sensed.
If not for the fact that they had swordsmen go missing here just a few hours ago, probably no one would have thought that this seemingly clean and tidy place would actually hide a demon.
"Maintain distance, don't stray too far from me."
"Yes!"
Using that hoarse voice to instruct the four swordsmen behind him, Iguro placed his hand on the hilt of his blade at his waist and carefully searched along the corridor, one room at a time.
Speaking of which, how long had he been a Demon Slayer?
For some reason, Iguro suddenly thought of this question.
Thinking carefully, ever since he was rescued from that filthy family by Kyojuro's father and that senior at the age of four, it should have been twenty years by now, right?
Twenty years...
Among all the current Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Iguro was undoubtedly the one who had lived in the Corps the longest.
So long that sometimes he would even subconsciously believe he was born in the Demon Slayer Corps.
Unfortunately, he was not.
As a Hashira standing at the pinnacle of Demon Slayers, Iguro had an unspeakable origin.
The family he was born into was an evil family colluding with demons, and his body flowed with filthy blood.
If not for those two seniors rescuing him back then, he would probably have long been offered as a sacrifice by his own clansmen to that Serpent Demon who had coexisted with his family for over three hundred years.
How could there possibly be a today for him?
Therefore, Iguro had always worked very hard.
Especially after that powerful senior was also killed by demons over a decade ago, he had been working very hard ever since.
He was a man of sin. Both to atone for his sins and to avenge his savior, he had to give his all to slay all demons in this world—this was the sole value of his existence.
Creak—
With the sound of a door frame sliding, Iguro pushed open another room's door.
In the instant the door opened, a sweet, cloying incense fragrance immediately wafted out from the room.
Unlike the previous rooms, this room contained only a single small incense burner.
This incense burner sat quietly on the display stand in the center of the room, exquisitely carved and delicately translucent. Wisps of faint red smoke drifted out from it, slowly diffusing throughout this not-large room.
[Something's not right...]
Out of some instinct, Iguro keenly sensed the abnormality of this incense burner.
"Don't come in yet. Stand at the door and watch both sides of the corridor."
"Yes!"
Subconsciously raising his hand to cover his nose, reducing his inhalation of the incense permeating the room, he immediately drew his Nichirin Blade from his waist and carefully walked toward the incense burner in the center of the room.
Looking around, the small room was very empty. Apart from the incense burner before him, there were no extra furnishings, nor any place to hide.
Outside the window was pitch black. The ceiling was normal, the floor was normal, the surrounding walls were also very normal... Everything was so normal it was unbelievable.
Even the incense burner before him and that sweet, cloying incense permeating the air were incredibly normal.
As a Hashira of the Demon Slayer Corps, Iguro's control over his own body's condition naturally far exceeded ordinary people.
He was very certain that from the moment he inhaled this incense until now, his body showed no changes.
There were no signs of poisoning whatsoever, nor any feeling of dizziness.
Apart from smelling somewhat sweet, this fragrance seemed to have no problems?
[Could I be overthinking? Is this really just an ordinary room with an incense burner?]
Outside the room, the swordsmen were still nervously watching the corridor on both sides.
Just as Iguro was about to step forward to carefully examine that incense burner, an accident suddenly occurred.
Hum!
In just an instant, Iguro felt the space around him completely change!
The incense burner before him disappeared, the swordsmen behind him disappeared, the sweet, cloying scent permeating the air disappeared, and the small room he was in also disappeared!
Without any warning, in just that one moment, Iguro completely vanished from where he stood, then suddenly appeared in a cold, dark, old mansion permeated with traces of decay.
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This story has ended in chapter 315, you can read on patreon.com/dzeref887 for faster access or wait until August to read on WebNovel until the story ends.