LIMITLESS PATH: TENMA ASCENSION

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--- Chapter 44 ---

Three figures flashed from one tree to another. They scattered poisonous powder and rice wine everywhere, dancing like shadows in the flickering flame.

"Faster, faster..." Eri mumbled while dodging several red tentacles coming at her. Her lithe figure moved like a breeze, crisscrossing the tentacles with faint green light.

The green light comes from Eri's daggers, which reflect the moonlight faintly.

Eri slashed the tentacles into bits and vanished in the scattered leaves and tree bark. Although the blood monsters still launch attacks at her randomly, they can't hit her.

She's just too fast.

Eri was also mindful of her surroundings. Tenma has honed Eri's spatial awareness from the start of her training, allowing her to grasp information quickly through dynamic vision.

Of course, Eri's reflex and instinct are top notch too.

Meanwhile, Kanao destroyed everything on her path with graceful yet deadly movement. Her twin katana danced wildly and created cyclones that wiped blood monsters like they were a bunch of dummies.

She kicked a tree's branch and twirled in the air as the bloody tentacles came to pierce her. "Bloom..."

"Camellia."

Shing!

Over ten blood monsters and their tentacles turned into tiny particles, dead completely.

After all, Kanao's twin katana was Nichirin Blade.

Even then, Shinobu finished her part faster than Eri and Kanao. She's watching them silently and counts the distance of effect that would happen if she ignited all the rice wine.

"Ten... No, fifteen meters." Shinobu mumbled.

"The wind is moving west, but it wasn't too strong."

"Thankfully, I brought enough storm-proof lighter. The resin should be enough to keep burning in this blood-filled area."

Although blood is liquid, Shinobu didn't believe it could resist the lighter the Demon Slayer Corp developed. Not to mention, demons are inherently weak to the sun. While the fire is inferior to the sun, it still has a significant weakening effect against demons.

Suddenly, Shinobu felt a sense of threat.

A bright red arrow traveled in the darkness and approached Shinobu's back at breakneck speed.

Shinobu's survival instinct flared, so she swung her sword and slashed the red arrow in half. She glanced at the split red arrow that pierced the 40 centimeters thick tree and the other trees nearby. She couldn't help but swallow her saliva.

"What the fuck!" Shinobu cursed loudly.

"Eri, Kanao, hide between the trees! There is a sharpshooter demon nearby!"

Kanao and Eri's eyes widened in shock. They hurriedly stopped spreading the wisteria poison and rice wine and hid in the shadows of surrounding trees.

How come there was a demon archer here?

A Sharpshooter-type Demon is a demon who can launch a long-ranged projectile or attack. Although rare, since most Blood Demon Art has close combat ability, the possibility of the sharpshooter demon giving birth is never zero.

Shinobu was sure she had surveyed the area around Ebisu Town and found no high ground that others could exploit in this operation.

The nearest high ground is the hill they used to oversee Ebisu Town not too long ago. And that's 2,7 miles away from Ebisu Town, which was too far to snipe them.

Even if the sharpshooter demon could shoot them, the power shouldn't be exaggerated. After all, the arrow would lose momentum with such distance.

Shinobu stared at the distance calmly and observed the red arrow's origin, counting the distance, wind resistance, and angle.

"West, three, no four hundred meters away from us." Shinobu's eyes flashed with surprise. "But how did this demon find us?"

Kanao and Eri also have the same question in their minds. Three of them are stealth-type fighters with a 'very' thin presence due to their chosen Breathing Style.

"There is only one answer. This demon can find and lock onto our locations." Shinobu and two others narrowed their eyes.

"Spider Silk..." Shinobu stared at the red arrow again and discovered an 'extremely' thin silk attached to it. It was so thin that Shinobu's eyes barely could see it.

"Damn it, it's the spider archer!"

Hearing the "spider archer" coming from Shinobu's mouth, Kanao and Eri's eyes widened in surprise. They hurriedly adjusted their breathing and hid even deeper into the darkness.

"Nao-chan, what should we do?" asked Eri.

Kanao and Eri were close to each other. The distance between them is only a few meters away.

Kanao frowned and replied calmly, "Spider archer is a high-level demon. It has Blood Demon Art that condensed blood matter into solid objects, mainly bows and arrows, but that doesn't stop them from being a dangerous close combat demon."

"Our best bet is to get close to the archer demon and kill it in one swift attack."

"However, we are currently surrounded by blood monsters. We couldn't afford to get out of this place..."

"But that makes our position passive. I don't want to tank those arrows because they are annoying!" Eri couldn't help but complain.

Kanao agreed with Eri. Their hands were full of blood monsters, and they couldn't fight this spider archer.

Shinobu closed her eyes and sighed, "What should I do..."

"Someone is coming!" Tenma, who was fighting the baby moth, suddenly shouted at them. "Keep fighting the blood minions, and that person will deal with the spider archer!"

"It's someone from the Demon Slayer Corps."

"Someone from the demon slayer corps?" Shinobu looked ahead with confusion.

Although Tenma had reassured them, Shinobu was still confused by the sudden appearance of this person. According to her intel, there shouldn't be any demon slayers beside her in this area.

Then, Shinobu connected the dots. "Wait, the monitoring Kasugai Crow should have spread the news about general-level demons to the nearby demon slayer."

"There is no other explanation."

"Go!" Shinobu shouted at Kanao and Eri.

Kanao and Eri nodded and spread the wisteria flower poison and rice wine all over the forest.

Of course, they were nervous about the spider archer but heard a loud metal clashing noise not far away.

CLANK!

"DEMON-SAN, KILLING IS NOT GOOD, YOU SHOULD GET PUNISHED FOR YOUR SIN!" A loud and energetic voice echoed, causing Shinobu's lips to twitch in disbelief.

Shinobu clearly recognized this voice, "That damned girl..."

"It's you, Mitsuri."

A beautiful girl faced the spider archer demon and pointed her flexible katana at it. She has braided pink sakura hair that turned green at the end, a curvy build, and a stubborn yet firm expression.

"Fight!"

Tenma swung white night skillfully, deflecting the black whips with spear intent. He grasped the air and pushed the baby moth with tremendous strength, causing the demon to groan in pain.

Even then, Tenma actually still paid attention to Shinobu and others. He was surprised to find an outsider joining their raid, especially this girl.

Tenma knew about the Demon Slayer World's general plot, and this bright-haired girl was one of the few characters he liked in the past, possessing a charming appearance and personality.

In fact, Tenma still remembers the supposed to be a blind date for this girl was known to be the biggest fumble of a man in history!

BOOOOOOOM!!

A large area of the forest suddenly engulfed in purple flame. Shinobu, Kanao, and Eri have successfully set fire to the blood monsters and weakened them greatly.

"Good." Tenma couldn't help but smile.

ROAR!

The baby moth roared in pain because the blood monsters connected to it and the fire also weakened its ability to gather blood particles.

"HUMAN! DIEEEE!!" The baby moth shouted with a demonic, baby-like cry. "BLOOD DEMON ART - THOUSAND BLOOD RAIN ARROWS!"

SWOOOSH!

Tenma's eyes narrowed as the baby moth spewed a condensed blood energy to the sky.

"Uh, oh. That doesn't look good."

Tenma breathed in, adjusting his breathing and form. He placed white night on his shoulder and gathered momentum on his foot, which caused the ground to crack slightly.

Crack!

"Spear Breathing..." He kicked the ground heavily, leaping to the sky.

"8th Form."

"Gin Ou-Kami!"