[Where... is this?]
[An illusion? Or spatial teleportation?]
The air was permeated with a cold, bloody atmosphere.
"Ugh..."
"Nngh... it hurts..."
Before Iguro could even react to what had just happened, several painful groans suddenly rang out beside his ears.
In the pitch-black darkness where one couldn't see their own hand, several severely injured Demon Slayers could be seen lying sprawled in every corner of this bizarre mansion, continuously letting out cries of agony.
And they were precisely the Demon Slayers who had disappeared in that museum during the day, as Kanae had mentioned!
[Could it be...!]
The instant he recognized the faces of these companions, Iguro's pupils contracted sharply.
Meanwhile, in the real museum.
Almost at the exact same moment Iguro vanished, Ubume's figure likewise appeared without warning in that room filled with incense.
"Haha! Ahahaha! A Hashira? I actually caught a Hashira?!"
Letting out that melodious yet ferocious laughter, giving the swordsmen standing outside the door no time to react, Ubume immediately revealed her sharp claws and pounced forward to launch an assault on them!
"Ugh!"
"Damn it! It's Lower Rank One! She's Lower Rank One!"
"Retreat quickly!"
Those eagle-sharp claws easily shredded through these swordsmen's clothes and skin, tearing the muscles and blood vessels beneath into pieces.
With an attack style that could only be described as savage and bloody, Ubume tore these several swordsmen into pieces in just a few breaths!
On this corridor outside the room, blood splattered everywhere. Looking out, the ground was covered with broken human remains—the scene was extremely gruesome!
Her kimono was stained red with blood over half its surface, and that exquisite, beautiful face was also splattered with blood.
After dealing with the swordsmen at the door, Ubume—now bathed in blood—turned and walked into the room, raising those fingertips still dripping with blood to gently press upon that incense burner.
"Miss Mitsuba..."
Her face filled with a joyful smile, she contacted Mitsuba through mental communication.
"I've completed my mission... Yes, I caught a Hashira... That's right, he's already trapped inside my Blood Demon Art... Just like those Demon Slayers from before, he will never, ever... get out."
This was Ubume's Blood Demon Art.
Through the fragrance released by that incense burner, she could teleport anyone who inhaled the incense into that illusory alternate space manifested from the mansion she lived in during her childhood.
It was a completely sealed alternate-space mansion with no exits whatsoever.
The only way to escape from within was for someone from the outside to destroy that incense burner in her hands.
Otherwise, no matter how strong those trapped within were, there was absolutely no path to survival!
"..."
"You two be careful, make sure to stay behind us."
"D-don't worry! I'll definitely stand firmly at the very back! I won't go forward!"
At the same moment, in the haunted house maze on the right side of the villa, Zenitsu and Genya were following behind two squads of senior swordsmen, searching everywhere within this pitch-black haunted house.
Each person in the group held a flashlight borrowed from the staff, slowly advancing along the walkways of this haunted house maze.
Among them, the swordsmen walked at the front, while Genya and Zenitsu walked at the rear.
"Genya, d-do you think we'll really encounter a ghost?"
Practically pressing his entire body against Genya's back, Zenitsu's legs trembled violently, his whole body shaking nonstop.
"Aren't we here to kill demons?"
Holding his flashlight to repeatedly observe the surroundings of the walkway, Genya let out a deep sigh upon hearing this.
He just couldn't understand—how could there be a Demon Slayer this cowardly in this world?
With you like this, how could your master feel at ease letting you come out?
"So scary... if only Tanjiro were here..."
"Don't rely on Tanjiro for everything. We also have to hurry up and get stronger."
"But, but... Hiyaa!!"
"Zenitsu! What are you screaming about now?!"
Finally reaching his limit, just as Genya was about to roar in anger, he saw Zenitsu suddenly turn his head to look at the pitch-black rear of the walkway, screaming:
"I heard it! It's behind us! A sound suddenly appeared behind us! It's a demon's voice! It's a gh—ugh!"
"What?!"
After a heart-wrenching scream, Zenitsu suddenly rolled his eyes back and collapsed straight to the ground, unconscious—clearly scared into fainting directly.
"Hey! Zenitsu! Damn it!"
Within the narrow, pitch-black walkway, several flashlight beams flashed about. The group saw the figure of a male demon rushing rapidly toward them from the far end of the walkway, simultaneously shouting:
"Blood Demon Art: Gravity Change!"
Without a doubt, he was the demon hiding within this haunted house maze.
Lower Rank Three: Rokuro.
"It's a Lower Rank demon! Everyone draw your blades! Watch your positioning!"
"..."
On the other side, in the botanical garden on the left side of the villa, Tanjiro had also led a squad of swordsmen here.
This entire botanical garden was constructed using steel frames and glass structures, with excellent lighting.
During the day, it could make the entire botanical garden bright, but at night, it was completely pitch black.
One could casually look up and see the night sky overhead.
"Everyone be careful, I can already smell the scent of a demon. It must be hiding nearby!"
Leading the squad of swordsmen slowly through the wide variety of plants in the garden, Tanjiro held his hand on his Nichirin Blade at his waist, seriously instructing.
Thanks to his extraordinary sense of smell, he had detected it from the moment he entered.
Throughout this entire botanical garden, faint traces of demonic aura were emanating everywhere.
There was definitely a demon hiding here—he just hadn't yet discovered exactly where this demon was hiding...
[Hm?]
His footsteps halted. Tanjiro suddenly sensed that the demonic aura coming from a certain direction behind him had suddenly grown much thicker!
At the same instant, a pair of eyes suddenly opened on the bark of that tropical tree not far behind everyone!
Immediately after, one of this tree's branches rapidly extended, instantly piercing through a swordsman's chest from behind!
"Ugh!"
"Watch out for that tree! The demon is hiding inside it!"
Reacting at the first moment, Tanjiro immediately drew his blade and rushed toward that tropical tree!
But in the very next second, he felt a sudden gust of cold wind coming from behind him!
His brain had no time to think. Tanjiro almost instinctively turned and swung his blade, forcing back this figure attempting to sneak attack him!
"Oh my, I missed. What a pity..."
This was a male figure. With a leap, he nimbly jumped to a distant branch and crouched down, revealing the characters engraved in his eyes.
Lower Rank Four: Wakuraba.
"Stop dawdling, Wakuraba! Hurry up and kill all these Demon Slayers! Ubume has already completed her mission over there. I don't want to be the last one and get punished by My Lady!"
At the same time, from within that tropical tree on the other side, a female figure also slowly walked out, shouting anxiously.
She was Lower Rank Six: Mukago.
[There are actually two Lower Rank demons here?!]
...
(You guys, always bullying Iguro meow~ So evil meow~)