Tanjiro was perplexed by the sudden action, but he quickly understood why Inosuke had done it when he smelled the familiar stench coming from just below him.
Turning around in mid-air, Tanjiro saw a white-haired, white-clothed woman on the ground below, looking up at him in terror.
This is the demon controlling the spiders!
"Water Breathing, First Form..."
Seeing that she was about to be killed, the demon mother's face showed terror, but this expression quickly disappeared, replaced by one of relief and joy. She opened her arms to embrace the sky, seemingly welcoming her death.
Tanjiro was startled and changed his technique mid-air.
"Water Breathing, Fifth Form: Blessed Rain After the Drought."
The Nichirin Sword gently sliced through the demon mother's neck without causing any pain, like a warm light shining upon her, soothing and majestic.
The demon mother's head fell gracefully to the ground.
In her final moments, she recalled scenes with her so-called family.
Her father's baseless anger, the children's heartless mockery—no matter what she did, she could never please them. Now, she no longer had to tiptoe around to please them.
This wasn't family; a real family should be harmonious and warm. This was just the delusion of that child.
Tanjiro watched the demon mother's head slowly turn to ash. There was no hatred in his heart, only infinite compassion and pity.
On the western path of Natagumo Mountain, Hatsune and Nae were walking at a leisurely pace.
The atmosphere in the forest was stifling and oppressive. Under the faint moonlight, they could see spider webs everywhere, with numerous white spiders scurrying across them.
Nae, like most girls, had an innate fear of furry bugs and spiders. She clutched Hatsune's sleeve, cautiously following beside him.
Soon, they reached a clearing and were shocked by what they saw: huge white cocoon-like objects hanging from the trees, initially resembling some kind of animal eggs.
"What...what are these? Eggs? What kind of animal lays eggs this big?" Nae asked in horror.
At first, Hatsune also thought they were eggs, but then he used his thermal sensing ability to investigate what was inside. The results startled him.
From the thermal images, he could tell that there were human bodies inside—undoubtedly members of the Demon Slayer Corps.
The lowest rank in the Demon Slayer Corps is Mizunoto, and there were at least ten cocoons hanging above them, indicating that the demon they were facing was very powerful.
Hatsune felt uneasy. Their strength was only at the Mizunoto level. Could they really defeat the enemy hiding here?
Thinking of the enemy, Hatsune didn't detect any unusual temperatures nearby indicating an ambush.
After hesitating for a moment, he decided to press on. "Let's go."
They couldn't back down now, having accepted the mission. How could they retreat without even seeing the demon?
"Be careful; something feels off here."
"Got it."
Using the faint moonlight, they cautiously moved forward. Not long after, they heard a cry and the sound of a man and a woman talking.
Man: "Can't cut it?"
Woman: "You think you can cut my threads? My threads are soft and tough. Someone as weak as you could never cut through them!"
The man was Murata, who had been with Tanjiro earlier. He had stayed behind to look after the injured members but was suddenly confronted by a strange white-haired girl.
It was clear from her appearance that she wasn't part of the Demon Slayer Corps and had a sinister aura, indicating she was a demon.
To protect the injured, Murata had provoked the white-haired girl to draw her away from the camp. Despite his attempts to evade and hide, she eventually caught up with him.
The white-haired girl shot countless threads from her palms, wrapping them together to form a white cloth that encircled Murata as it moved swiftly.
Murata tried to cut the white cloth with his Nichirin Sword, but the threads were too tough, and their combined strength made it impossible to slice through.
As he struggled, more white cloths wrapped around him, turning him into a white cocoon.
Inside the cocoon, Murata desperately poked at the walls with his sword. The thin air made him dizzy, and he knew he would suffocate if he didn't escape soon.
Outside, the white-haired girl gloated, "It's useless. You can't break my threads. I've mixed acid into them. Soon, you'll be nothing but a puddle of blood, hehe."
As soon as she finished speaking, green liquid began seeping into the cocoon, corroding his clothes.
Murata panicked and continued to stab at the cocoon walls.
Hatsune and Nae, passing by, saw this scene.
Seeing the white cocoon, Nae recalled the hanging cocoons they had passed earlier. She realized they must contain Demon Slayer Corps members and noticed Hatsune's expression confirmed it.
Knowing this, Nae couldn't understand why Hatsune hadn't saved them.
"Did you know there were people inside those cocoons?" Nae asked cautiously, fearing the answer.
"Yes."
The answer was expected yet still shocking.
"Why didn't you save them?"
It was the first time Nae had questioned Hatsune. She had always thought he was cold but not heartless. But today...
Hatsune turned and looked at Nae coldly. "They're already dead. What good would it do to cut them down? Dig a hole and bury them?"
"How can you say something so heartless?"
"You've known what I'm like since day one. Instead of worrying about others, you should worry about yourself."
Nae was hurt and couldn't respond.
Their argument caught the attention of the white-haired girl.
She laughed, "More fools coming to die?"
With human emotions and the ability to shoot threads from her palms, she was similar to Tamayo and Yushiro but not a member of the Twelve Kizuki.
Ignoring Nae, Hatsune drew his Nichirin Sword and approached the white-haired girl.
"If I kill you all, Rui won't blame me."
The girl crossed her arms, and as Hatsune approached, she swung her arms, shooting two threads like snakes from her palms.
She expected Hatsune to be as easily captured as Murata, but he vanished just as the threads were about to hit.
"Ice Breathing, Fifth Form: Swift Ice Pierce."
A bone-chilling cold hit the girl. By the time she realized the danger, Hatsune's sword had pierced her throat, stopping only when the guard hit her skin.