Chapter 30 It’s not the mask that’s wrong (Ch 30)

What what what!
What is this!!!
Sakoma Iori was running in front, and behind her, a demon that was almost as tall as the surrounding trees was slowly chasing her.
It was a huge ghost that definitely shouldn’t be here.
He has a body that is much larger than other ghosts, and every part of his body is covered by his hands.
Countless hands on his body were like armor for defense, making it impossible to harm the body covered by the hands.
Especially the neck, which is a vital part, was covered and entangled by hands. Ordinary swordsmen had no way to break that vital part!
“Why did this happen to me?”
Iori ran, complaining wildly in his mind.
When he woke up, the sun was already setting. He didn’t know when the damn brat left. He was even considerate enough to erase his footprints before leaving, leaving Iori with no use for his observation skills.
What?…Do you hate me so much?
Knowing that Takeo had already left, Iori couldn’t help but complain in his heart.
In fact, she didn’t necessarily want to pester Takeo, she just happened to meet him on the way here, and they happened to fight against a very powerful ghost with blood magic together and saved the child.
And by chance…
That red-haired brat looks a lot like Iori’s brother.
That’s all.
Okay, Iori lied. The reason why she was clinging to Takeo was not as simple as fighting side by side with him, but because she saw the shadow of her younger brother in Takeo.
But there was no way Iori could tell this.
That brat has a very poisonous tongue. If I tell this to others, I don’t know how he will ridicule me.
So Iori hid the truth in his heart, just thinking about spending more time with the brat, and then leaving when Iori felt he was annoying.
But what’s incredible is that even though the two of them always quarreled during the days they were together, Iori couldn’t hate him.
It is obvious that he is nothing like his younger brother in terms of personality. He is sharp-tongued and precocious. He looks young but sometimes speaks like an uncle.
She is not at all like the gentle “sister” who pesters her younger brother every day.
But Iori just couldn’t feel any disgust towards him.
Maybe it’s because he is too young.
Iori sometimes wonders.
Because he is young, he can tolerate everything. Also because he wants to join the Demon Slayer Corps at a young age, Iori always feels that there may be some sad story behind this little demon.
This is probably the reason.
Iori wanted to live in peace with the brat, but the brat didn’t appreciate it at all.
He ate so many of her rice crackers, but when he woke up he just turned around and left without any hesitation. Did he know that those were the only rice crackers left on Iori?
We still have to stay in the mountains for five days, and we have already run out of food. I don’t know if we can find food in the mountains…
Iori continued with his final selection, harboring resentment towards Takeo.
However, after nightfall, Iori’s nightmare came.
She met the hand ghost behind her, and then the hand ghost started chasing her.
Before chasing her, he said something like ‘Isn’t this my cute little fox’. Although afterwards, the hand ghost said something like ‘…What? So you are just a passerby wearing a mask’, but that guy set his eyes on Iori and chased after her no matter how she ran.
The hand demon was very strong and fast. Iori tried to cut it with a knife but failed to cause any damage.
So Iori decisively chose to escape.
But just like a cat teasing its prey, the ghost chased her at a very close distance and it seemed that it would be thrown off at any time, but in fact the distance between them never widened.
“Why is there such a powerful ghost here! Is this a test?! This is not a test at all!!”
In order to vent the fear in his heart, Iori kept muttering to himself.
The hand ghost is a ghost who has not mastered blood ghost arts, but this guy’s strength and body are much stronger than the woman ghost that Iori had encountered before!
So what if he didn’t master the blood magic? Just relying on his extremely strong hands, he was enough to be the king of this mountain!
There was such a powerful ghost on Mount Fuji. Iori felt that something must have gone wrong.
I even thought darkly that maybe some people wanted to kill the team members who came for the assessment, so they released such a powerful ghost here.
But no matter how Iori complained and muttered, she couldn’t escape the pursuit of the hand ghost.
And that ghost seemed to be tired of playing.
“Ah, I’m tired of running around, so the game is over! Little fox!!”
Several hands flew out from the hand ghost, and those hands deformed and stretched at an incredible speed, grabbing towards Iori at a rapid speed!
Can’t see clearly, can’t avoid, and can’t cut it!
In just a moment, Iori determined that she could not cut off these hands with strong defensive power, and based on the speed of the hand ghost’s attacks, she could not dodge at all.
But…can’t give up!
When fighting with the woman ghost, Iori remembered the words of his trainer grandfather. The things he remembered in the battle between life and death were even more impressive, so now Iori will not give up easily.
No matter what, even if you just swing the knife once, there may be an unexpected turn of events!
Time slowed down, and at the critical moment Iori vaguely saw the hand ghost’s movements.
The water flows and the body feels light.
Iori swung the knife in his hand instantly! The flowing water shuttled between the flying arms of the hand ghost!
The third form of water breathing – flowing dance!
“Um?”
Iori’s figure danced in the water light, and he actually escaped from the hand ghost’s hand, leaving a deep wound that could be seen to the bone on the hand ghost’s outstretched arm.
This made the hand ghost utter a sound of surprise, but then he laughed out loud:
“Hehe, I thought you were just a fake fox who found a mask… But your moves are the same as my cute little foxes. I’m so lucky. I haven’t seen someone using such moves with a mask for a long time. This is really… really…”
His hands danced excitedly, scratching his skin non-stop, and then he laughed heartily: “It’s so joyful!!!”
“…”
Fox mask…
The corner of Iori’s mouth twitched.
Damn that little brat, he was right, this mask is really unlucky!
Crow’s Mouth!!
If I throw away the mask at this time, will the ghost let me go…
A similar thought flashed through his mind for only a moment, and Iori strengthened his belief.
Instead of throwing away the mask, she protected it even tighter.
You cannot beg for mercy from the ghost, and you cannot admit defeat in front of the ghost. Even if this mask summons evil ghosts that you cannot deal with, you must never discard the mask.
Because it’s not the mask that’s wrong, nor the person who once wore the mask.
The one who is wrong is the evil ghost in front of him who has eaten countless people!
Iori is not wrong, and the person wearing the mask is not wrong either. Since they are not wrong… there is no need to throw it away, and there is no need to admit defeat!
Try it, try it… While this ghost is too excited to attack, try to see if you can cut off his neck!
There is only one chance to strike.
In just a short moment, countless thoughts emerged in Iori’s mind, and among these countless thoughts, he decided what he was going to do.
The power from the breath infuses my feet, and water flows around the tip of the knife.
In the next blink of an eye, Iori’s body suddenly rushed out!
Water Breathing Type 1 –
He passed through countless hands, jumped into the air, aimed at the hand ghost’s neck, and the horizontal slash turned into water ripples and cut the hand ghost’s neck!
——Water Surface Slash!
Click!
The blade cut into the ghost’s hand on his neck! Blood flew out!
Hit it!!
Iori was delighted, but then the joy turned into fear.
Although she hit the target and the blade penetrated it, her knife could not move forward even an inch.
I can’t cut through it… The hand on the hand ghost’s neck is too hard, I can’t cut through it at all.
There were even cracks on the knife.
“Hehehe, you actually bumped into me?”
The hand ghost laughed mockingly, and then countless hands grabbed Iori’s body and began to squeeze it slowly and hard.
“Aaaaaaa——!!!!”
The pain all over his body made Iori scream in agony.
The bones made a sound, the internal organs were squeezed violently, and the air in the lungs rushed out under this pressure and could not come in.
I can’t breathe…
I’m…I’m going to die…
Iori’s consciousness began to blur and he was in extreme pain. He felt that death was approaching step by step.
She closed her eyes.