HLnovel Chapter 549: SFDI - 549
Chapter 549: SFDI - 549
In the evening, Drake and his group sat around the hearth discussing their next course of action.
"I’ve inquired. A holeless bear has appeared here and has already eaten several hunters! But I went to the scene, and there was no smell of wild animals. It seems that what’s eating people isn’t a bear but a demon."
Drake spoke out the information he had gathered.
The so-called holeless bear was a term used by local hunters, referring to bears that hadn’t been able to find hibernation caves.
These bears would need more food to get through the cold winter, and hunting in winter would be particularly difficult. Therefore, these bears would violate their nature and actively attack humans or even enter human villages to hunt.
But Drake had checked the scene of the attack, and the paw prints didn’t belong to bears. There was also the smell of a demon at the scene.
The girl Yae, who witnessed the holeless bear attacking the hunter, was even evasive in her words. It seemed that what had turned into a demon was her family member.
However, that girl didn’t seem to want to protect that demon. She always carried a hunting rifle, and seemed to want to settle things herself.
No matter how worthy of praise it was to kill one’s relatives for the sake of righteousness, it was definitely a tragedy for the person involved. So Drake very considerately decided to solve that demon first.
The next day, Drake and Tanjiro entered the vast mountains. Of course, Drake also used this opportunity to train Tanjiro’s other abilities.
"Listen carefully, Tanjiro. Your sense of smell is particularly sensitive. This is a talent given by heaven, and it’s also an advantage you can rely on."
Tanjiro nodded, and began to try to distinguish the surrounding smells.
Drake knew that Tanjiro would later even be able to smell the enemy’s emotions or even the line of openings, which was an exaggerated thing.
In the Swordsmith Village arc of the original plot, Tanjiro felt like his soul was leaving his body and saw the Sanzu River when he experienced a true hell training.
But at the moment of near death, he actually smelled the target and movements of his opponent’s attack. This couldn’t help but make people think of the conditions for reaching the Transparent World.
Perhaps Tanjiro later entered the supreme realm because of this.
Drake began to consider imitating that method to help Tanjiro master that ability earlier. But of course not right away. Tanjiro had to have a certain foundation first.
But even so, Tanjiro, who was trying to distinguish the smells, felt a chill all over his body, and looked at Drake, who was sizing him up, with a look of horror.
Drake slapped Tanjiro on the head and said, "Focus a little. Demons can appear at any time."
Tanjiro scratched his head, and had to suppress that ominous premonition and focus on finding the demon’s trail.
Soon, Tanjiro followed the bloody smell and found a pool of blood, with a broken calf and pieces of clothing next to it.
In this weather, the blood hadn’t disappeared, indicating that the demon had eaten a person here not long ago.
Judging from the broken hunting rifle on the side, this should have been a hunter who wanted to hunt a holeless bear, but unfortunately his opponent wasn’t a wild animal but something even more terrifying.
With a rustle, a ball of snow fell from a branch. Tanjiro subconsciously drew the sword at his waist and blocked upwards.
But the thing that jumped down from the tree was too strong, directly pressing Tanjiro down on the snow.
The demon pressing on him reminded Tanjiro of the crazed Nezuko, but this demon who had already eaten people was obviously much more hideous.
Horns growing on its forehead, protruding canine teeth, deformed muscles on its face, and blood still remaining at the corners of its mouth, it truly made Tanjiro feel what kind of creature a demon was.
With a drooling mouth making a roar, the demon was about to bite Tanjiro.
Tanjiro held the hilt of his sword with one hand, and used the other hand to push the back of the blade, blocking the demon’s sharp claws. The stench made his mind go blank.
Instinctively, Tanjiro chose the attack method that impressed him the most, and he headbutted.
Inheriting his mother’s hard head that could stun even a wild boar, Tanjiro headbutted the demon’s head, making it tilt back.
Looking at its pale eyes, it seemed to have been stunned directly.
But Tanjiro calmed down, raised his foot, and kicked the demon pressing on him over.
Then Tanjiro quickly got up, holding his sword with both hands, warily looking at the demon.
That demon also shook its head and stood up, confronting Tanjiro.
Drake nodded on the side. To be honest, Tanjiro’s performance wasn’t good. Not only did he fail to discover the demon early, but he also failed to remain calm after being attacked.
But don’t forget that this was Tanjiro’s first battle. To be able to perform like this was already very difficult.
The confrontation only lasted for a few seconds, and then Tanjiro and the demon charged towards each other almost simultaneously.
"Hinokami Kagura: Raging Sun!"
The long sword that Tanjiro was holding burned with flames, and the blade wrapped in flames directly slashed towards the demon.
This demon was obviously just transformed not long ago. Not only had it not mastered any Blood Demon Arts, but it also retained many human instincts in its body.
So facing Tanjiro’s slash, it didn’t continue forward, but instead took a step back.
But it didn’t know that the Raging Sun was a move that created the illusion of the blade becoming shorter through the subtle swaying of the blade tip.
So the demon’s step back wasn’t enough at all. Tanjiro’s slash still cut off the demon’s wrist that was grabbing at him.
Having succeeded with one strike, Tanjiro immediately took a step forward, holding his sword with both hands and thrusting forward.
"Hinokami Kagura: Solar Heat Haze!"
A ring of flames spread out, and Tanjiro’s blade directly pierced through the demon’s chest.
Just as Tanjiro was about to twist his wrist, taking the opportunity to dissect the demon’s body, the flames on his blade went out.
Tanjiro suddenly opened his mouth wide, his face flushed red, which was the body’s reaction to suffocation.
Having only unleashed two moves, the Sun Breathing made Tanjiro overwhelmed, and this was his limit now.
That demon had been slashed twice in a row, which really startled it. But then it saw that Tanjiro’s face was full of pain, looking like he couldn’t move.
Just as it reached out to grab Tanjiro, Drake moved, kicking it flying.
Sighing, Drake slapped Tanjiro in the abdomen. Only then was Tanjiro able to recover his breathing ability.
Panting heavily, Tanjiro said with a ashamed face, "I’m sorry, I troubled you again, Mr. Drake!"
But Drake sighed and said, "Why did you use Solar Heat Haze? If you had used Dance, you should have killed him by now!
You shouldn’t have forgotten that only by cutting off the head can you kill a demon, right?"
There were very few thrusting techniques among the sword forms of breathing techniques, because thrusting did very little damage to demons. The few thrusting techniques that existed weren’t used to kill demons.
For example, the Water Breathing Ninth Form: Splashing Water Flow, Turbulent was always used to gain a combat advantage because it had the fastest speed.
And the Sun Breathing’s Solar Heat Haze was to pierce one of Muzan’s hearts, but it had no effect on ordinary demons.
As for Shinobu Kocho’s Insect Breathing, it was a special sword form formed out of complete helplessness, and it had to be combined with wisteria poison to have a killing effect on demons.
Drake understood why Tanjiro did this. He hadn’t completely made up his mind to kill demons yet.
Even if the opponent was a demon, the decision to deprive them of their life wasn’t something that could be made so easily.
Drake didn’t want to criticize Tanjiro for this. After all, cherishing life was never wrong. If he could do it without hesitation, then it wouldn’t be like Tanjiro.
But what Drake wanted Tanjiro to understand was that in addition to cherishing the other party’s life, he also had to cherish the lives of the victims... and his own life.
In other words, when fighting, focus on one thing, and that was the demon... beheading!
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