Outside the gate.
Giyu was already waiting there early. He still had that extremely expressionless face, but today when he saw Yamada walk out, a very obvious look of respect immediately appeared in his eyes, and he even bowed slightly in greeting.
"Yamada-san." Giyu took the rare initiative to speak.
"Morning, Giyu." Yamada waved his hand casually.
"No need to be so stiff. With that look of deep-seated hatred on your face, anyone who doesn't know better would think I owe you money."
Not long after, Shinobu also walked over from the path.
Today, she no longer wore that fake, gentle smile. Although she still carried some of her past coldness when facing Giyu, when her gaze met Yamada's, a very obvious softness and reproach flashed in those deep purple eyes.
"You've even brought your sword, what are you planning to do? Master's orders didn't mention for you, the 'Special Executive Officer,' to make an appearance." Shinobu walked up to Yamada, hands on her hips, her tone willful.
After abandoning her inevitable death ending, Shinobu seemed to have shed a thousand-pound burden. Not only was there more confidence in her speech, but even the vitality about her had become extremely vivid.
"I'm about to get rusty staying in the Butterfly Mansion. I'll follow you guys to stretch my limbs."
Yamada naturally reached out and flicked her forehead. "Besides, the demons on that mountain are excellent prey. How could I let them go?"
"Ugh!"
Shinobu covered her forehead and gave him an annoyed look, but surprisingly she didn't get angry, only muttering softly, "Violent maniac... Suit yourself."
Giyu, who was on the side and lacked any social awareness, chimed in, "Since Yamada-san is coming along, this mission is bound to be foolproof."
The three of them didn't stay any longer and immediately used their movement techniques to advance rapidly toward Mount Natagumo.
Near evening, a dark mountain range shrouded in extremely thick yin energy and the scent of blood appeared in their field of vision.
Mount Natagumo.
The entire mountain was covered by an extremely eerie layer of white spider webs, and the air was filled with a sickening stench of rot.
"Such a strong scent of blood and this oppressive aura... there's definitely one of the Twelve Kizuki inside." Giyu gripped his hilt, his gaze becoming extremely solemn.
"Be careful, these spider silks have extremely weak toxins, do not—"
Shinobu was about to give a warning, but she found that Yamada had already directly ignored those dense spider web barriers and walked grandly into the depths of the dim forest.
"Hey! Listen to others!" Shinobu was exasperated.
Just as they stepped into the forest.
"Help... someone save me!"
From the bushes not far away, an extremely tragic wail suddenly came.
A regular swordsman wearing the Demon Slayer Corps uniform was standing in an extremely distorted, anti-human posture. His limbs were being pulled out of thin air like a marionette, and he was holding a nichirin blade, face full of tears as he hacked wildly toward Yamada and the others.
"My body is out of control! Run! Don't come near me!" The swordsman shouted in despair.
"It's some kind of extremely tough invisible spider silk controlling them!"
Giyu, who followed, immediately saw through the trick and was about to draw his sword to use Water Breathing to cut the spider silk in the void. But Yamada's movements were countless times faster than his.
Buzz!
His pitch-black eyes instantly turned blood-red, and the Three-Tomoe Sharingan emitted an extremely cold pressure in the dim forest.
Under the extreme insight of the Sharingan, those slender spider silks that were almost completely invisible to ordinary people were clearly visible to Yamada.
"Insignificant tricks."
Yamada didn't even draw his Kusanagi Sword, he just slowly raised his right hand. The violent lightning-attribute Chakra inside his body instantly gathered at his fingertips.
Zzzzt—
Accompanied by a sharp current sound, a dozen senbon condensed from high-density lightning instantly formed at Yamada's fingertips.
Lightning Release: Chidori Senbon!
Swoosh! Swoosh...
Yamada waved his hand casually, and those dozen lightning senbon shot out instantly.
Snap! Snap...
Those lightning senbon not only instantly cut all the tough spider silks connected to that swordsman, but also followed the trajectory of the silk to instantly electrocute dozens of small spiders hidden in the treetops acting as "signal relay stations" into ash.
Thud!
The swordsman who lost control fell heavily to the ground. Although the fall was hard, he was saved.
"This... what kind of extremely terrifying hidden weapon technique is this?!" Giyu held his half-drawn nichirin blade, frozen in place again.
He didn't even see how Yamada had locked onto those transparent spider silks.
"Let's go, don't waste time here."
The lightning at Yamada's fingertips dissipated, and those blood-red Sharingan looked toward the deepest part of the forest.
"I'm in a hurry to harvest the head of a Lower Moon."
"I'll leave the small fry on the outskirts to you two, I'm going to go kill the boss of this mountain."
Yamada casually tossed those words back, completely ignoring Shinobu's instruction behind him to "not run off alone."
The pale blue Chakra beneath his feet erupted, and his entire body instantly transformed into a streak of incredibly swift lightning. With a few leaps between thick tree trunks, he completely vanished from the sight of Giyu and Shinobu.
In this world, as long as he had the all-purpose energy system of Chakra as support, his mobility in complex terrain was even more terrifying than the most agile of demons.