The Dust Demon, once again injured, vanished back into the wall.
This troublesome technique of practically merging with the wall was giving Takeo a real headache.
He swung his blade and slashed at the wall a few more times, but after hitting nothing, he finally gave up.
"Not much strength, but sure knows how to hide."
Now that he had figured out the Dust Demon's nature, Takeo sneered at it with scorn.
But this time, whether it was out of fear of Takeo's strength or for some other reason, the Dust Demon didn't respond at all.
Frowning slightly, Takeo turned to look at Sakoma Iori.
Iori shook her head at him, indicating that she hadn't found any trace of the Dust Demon yet.
Seeing this, Takeo looked again in the direction where Yoshizuru Asato had fled.
After such a delay, there was no telling how far Asato had gotten. But if the Dust Demon could keep moving at this speed through the walls, it might not be long before he caught up to him.
Fortunately, the Dust Demon didn't seem to be pursuing Yoshizuru Asato anymore.
After a long silence, the Dust Demon suddenly burst out laughing triumphantly:
"Heh heh… hahahaha, you're strong—stronger than the ones who came yesterday… but even so, it's useless if you can't find me! This cave, this entire underground area, was built by me! As long as I'm here, I'm invincible! None of you can kill me!!"
"You sure talk big. If you're really that powerful, then why aren't you one of the Twelve Kizuki yet?"
Takeo continued to mock him, while exchanging glances with Sakoma Iori.
Iori quickly caught on to what Takeo meant. As Takeo spoke with the Dust Demon, her eyes stayed fixed on the rock wall, carefully searching for any sign of the demon.
The Dust Demon was small in stature and seemed mentally immature. With just a few words, Takeo had already provoked him into a rage.
"If it weren't for my bad luck! If it weren't for the fact that I can't eat anymore right now! I'd already be one of the Twelve Kizuki! All of you would've died here!"
"Oh, so you're saying you're just not good enough. Hmm, hmm, understandable."
Takeo replied in a calm tone.
But it was precisely that calmness that made it all the more infuriating.
But this time, the Dust Demon didn't respond with angry shouting. Instead, his voice grew low and heavy as he spoke:
"I've decided… I'm going to let you live, and then… I'll eat you piece by piece right in front of your loved ones' eyes! I'll make you regret saying those things to me!!"
"tsk tsk, big mouth for someone without the strength to back it up. Sure, come at me. I'm standing right here—go ahead, I'm waiting."
Takeo's mocking tone and expression were completely unrestrained—almost exaggerated.
Yet the Dust Demon still didn't show himself.
This guy might've seemed aggressive and arrogant on the surface, but deep down, he was clearly a coward.
"Takeo! He ran!!"
Not long after Takeo's taunt, Iori suddenly shouted to him.
And that confirmed Takeo's suspicion about the cowardly demon. All that anger from before had just been bluster and bravado.
Once he realized that Takeo had the strength to kill him, he didn't even bother to show his face. After throwing out a few harsh words, he simply turned and fled!
Takeo looked once again in the direction Yoshizuru Asato had escaped and asked Iori:
"Which way did he run?"
"That way!" Iori pointed toward one of the passageways deeper inside the cave.
It was in the exact opposite direction from where Asato had fled.
Why that way?
The doubt flashed briefly through Takeo's mind, but he didn't dwell on it. He and Iori moved together in that direction.
On the way, while there was still time, Takeo voiced his question to Iori:
"How did you spot him?"
"Color," Iori replied. "The color of the rock walls is mostly the same, but when that demon passed by, the area looked slightly lighter—kind of like the difference between stone and dust. To me, it was obvious."
Color...?
Takeo glanced instinctively at the rock wall beside him.
To him, there didn't seem to be any visible difference in color on the surface of the wall...
Oh, right, it must be that thing—what those clickbait posts used to talk about, some sort of innate talent related to color perception.
Takeo recalled reading something in his past life on one of those clickbait marketing accounts.
They said some people are naturally able to distinguish far more colors than others—thousands, even tens of thousands of shades.
Maybe Iori was one of those people.
That would explain why she was always able to spot things others couldn't.
As Takeo pondered this, he heard Iori speak again:
"Also, I suspect that demon was lying when he said he created this entire cave himself."
"Hm? Why do you think that?"
"Because the color of the rock walls where Senior Asato escaped is different from the ones in the main chamber. And that Dust Demon… it seems like he can only phase through the walls in the main chamber and the ones around here."
Iori shared the key detail she had observed.
She hadn't been completely sure before, but now that she saw the Dust Demon hadn't fled in any other direction and had specifically chosen this path to escape, she felt confident in her deduction.
The Dust Demon had indeed constructed an underground maze, but that maze hadn't been built from scratch by him.
Most of the cave system likely already existed.
The Dust Demon had simply modified it for his own use, embedding his Blood Demon Art into it—allowing him to move freely within.
But he could only travel through areas he had modified. In places untouched by his alterations, he was powerless.
"So that means… his real lair is actually this way?"
Seeing that he and Iori were heading deeper and deeper into the cave, Takeo asked her.
"That, I don't know…" Iori answered instinctively—then suddenly came to a stop.
"What is it?"
Seeing her stop, Takeo had no choice but to stop as well.
He looked at her in confusion, only to see Iori's brows tightly furrowed as she looked back and forth down the path ahead. After a long pause, she said:
"…It split."
"What?"
"Up ahead, at the fork—his trail split. There are traces of him on both sides."
Iori pointed forward as she spoke.
Ahead of them were two passageways leading in different directions, one to the left and one to the right.
In Iori's eyes, the Dust Demon's trail appeared on both paths, and she couldn't immediately tell which one he had actually taken.
"Let's pick one side to investigate first."
Takeo made the call.
He looked toward the cave on the left, intending to start there.
But Iori had a different opinion. "No—we can't. What if he escaped through the other side?"
"So you're suggesting we split up?" Takeo's eyes were filled with disapproval. "That's too dangerous."
"Takeo, are you underestimating me? I've already mastered nine forms of Water Breathing—nine! I might not be able to beat that demon, but I can definitely spot him and hold him off for a while!"
Iori patted her chest proudly.
Since returning, spurred on by Takeo's example, she had put serious effort into her training.
And she had actually managed to master every form of Water Breathing except the Tenth Form in a short amount of time—her strength was now worlds apart from what it had been before.
That much had already been evident when the two of them fought off the Dust Demon's attacks together earlier.
Takeo knew Iori's strength had improved quite a bit compared to before, but even so, he still couldn't feel at ease.
He opened his mouth slightly, about to object, but Iori wasn't in the mood to keep arguing. She pushed him forward, shoving him toward one of the tunnel entrances, and said:
"Alright, alright—just trust me. Besides, I'm not that unlucky. It's not like I'll actually run into that demon."
"What if you do?"
"If I do, I'll do everything I can to hold him off until you get there!"
Iori declared with absolute confidence.
She patted her chest and straightened her back, head held high as she said, "Anyway, just trust me. I won't let that demon get away!"
She promised him with such determination.
_________
Support and read 12 chapters ahead of WN at:
Patreon: HornyFBI
o(*￣▽￣*)ブ