Without making Tanjiro and the others wait long, four figures soon appeared before them. Without a word, they swung their Nichirin blades at the three with stiff movements.
But these Demon Slayer Corps' members' movements were stiff and slow, easily dodged by Murata, Tanjiro, and Inosuke.
"Hahaha, these people are idiots. Didn't they know fighting among members is forbidden?" Seeing these people attack, Inosuke mocked, remembering the Demon Slayer Corps' rules Tanjiro had mentioned.
"No, their movements are strange. They're being manipulated!" Hearing Inosuke's words, Tanjiro looked serious. The obvious unnatural movements were noticed by Tanjiro.
"Alright, let me cut them all down!" Hearing this, Inosuke drew his sword, stopping thinking, preparing to treat these manipulated beings as enemies.
"No! They're still alive! There are living people among them! And we can't harm the remains of our comrades!" Worried Inosuke might do something rash, Tanjiro loudly stopped him.
"Don't just always contradict me!" Hearing Tanjiro constantly arguing, Inosuke angrily headbutted Tanjiro's stomach, but still obediently followed Tanjiro's instructions.
Then, the two joined forces to subdue the Demon Slayer Corps' members who attacked first. After taking down the controlled people, Tanjiro finally noticed something strange. They were being controlled by special threads.
"It's threads! They're being manipulated by threads! Cut the threads!" Realizing this, Tanjiro loudly told Inosuke and Murata.
Hearing this, Inosuke jumped at the other three, quickly cutting the threads controlling their backs, completely freeing them.
'Where is the enemy, the Demon manipulating them?' Seeing the other three freed by Inosuke, Tanjiro looked around, trying to find the enemy's location. But the surrounding forest was dense... he couldn't possibly find it.
However, he did roughly determine the direction due to the extremely strong irritating smell from the Demon.
As he was thinking, two small white spiders landed on Tanjiro's arm. His arm was then controlled by threads.
But Tanjiro reacted quickly, quickly cutting the spider thread's connection.
But at that moment, the threads he and Inosuke had cut were reconnected by the spiders.
"Damn it! Just cutting the threads isn't enough. The spiders reconnect the controlling threads, so... ugh." He wanted to continue speaking, but the irritating smell assaulted him again.
Because his sense of smell was far stronger than ordinary people's, this irritating smell made him suffer more than others.
"So, that means we just have to kill all the spiders, right?" Inosuke wasn't bothered by the smell and ferociously wanted to kill all the spiders.
"No, that won't work. The spiders are small and probably numerous. We have to find the controlling Demon." Hearing this, Tanjiro quickly argued.
"It looks like you're having some difficulty, Tanjiro." Just as Tanjiro finished speaking, Takeru appeared beside them with Rikka.
"Who are you?" Seeing Takeru and Rikka's eerie way of appearing, what shocked Tanjiro even more was that Takeru directly knew his name. Yet he had no memory of Takeru.
"Enemies?" Compared to Tanjiro's shock, Inosuke warily looked at Takeru and Rikka, ready to attack at the slightest sign of something wrong.
"Wait, Inosuke. They probably aren't enemies," Seeing Inosuke's actions, Tanjiro quickly spoke.
"Takeru, it seems a powerful being is coming this way." While Tanjiro and Inosuke were on guard, Rikka quickly spoke.
"A powerful being?" Hearing Rikka's words, Tanjiro looked around in confusion.
The next moment, Rui, stepping on threads, appeared above Takeru and the others.
"Don't disturb our family's peaceful life!" Appearing, Rui looked expressionlessly down at Takeru and the others below.
'Floating in the air... no, standing on threads. He said 'our family'...' Seeing Rui's strange way of appearing, Tanjiro became even more wary.
"You people, Mother can kill you soon." Although a bit surprised by the two extra people, Rui, being very arrogant, still didn't care about the added Takeru and Rikka.
"Mother?" Hearing Rui's words, Tanjiro was confused but quickly realized. Rui's 'Mother' probably referred to the one manipulating these threads.
At this moment, Inosuke stepped on a controlled Demon Slayer Corps' member and jumped towards Rui. But due to the height, his Nichirin Blade was still twenty centimeters short.
Rui calmly looked at Inosuke, not planning to move. In his mind, as a son, Mother had a duty to protect him. It wasn't about power, but identity. So, he then prepared to leave just like that.
"Lower Rank Five, Rui. Since you're out, are you planning to leave just like that? Speaking of which, Kibutsuji Muzan is really falling. Even someone like you, who longs for family play, can become a [Twelve Kizuki]. It's really laughable." Just as Rui was about to leave, Takeru opened his mouth to mock.
Hearing Takeru mention Rui's identity and Muzan, Tanjiro was stunned. His eyes became extremely hateful.
"Do you want to die that badly?" Hearing Takeru's words, Rui's eyes became extremely fierce. The two things Takeru had mentioned were his taboos.
One was, naturally, Kibutsuji Muzan. The other was him mocking his family play.
"With you, a Lower Rank Demon immersed in family play, you can't kill me." Hearing his words, Takeru continued to mock.
"You're dead!" Seeing Takeru mock him again, Rui's eyes grew even fiercer. Threads appeared on his hands, and he swung them directly at Takeru.
"Be careful!" Seeing Rui's attacking actions, Tanjiro instinctively called out.
Although he didn't know who Takeru was or why he knew so much, now was not the time for questions. More important than those questions was Takeru's safety.
But what happened next directly stunned Tanjiro. Facing Rui's thread attack, Takeru didn't dodge at all. He let the fierce threads whip against his body.
"Slap, slap..." A few collision sounds rang out. The powerful threads landed on Takeru's body, not only leaving no marks, but even his clothes weren't the least bit messed up.
"Is this your attack? Or are you tickling me?" With a mocking smile, Takeru continued to provoke Rui.
"You bastard..." Seeing Takeru's gaze, Rui's anger continued to rise.
But before he could finish, a sudden wave of enormous gravity hit him. Caught off guard, he fell from the threads.
Fortunately, his movements were agile, so he barely adjusted his posture upon landing, avoiding falling flat on his face.
Then, he quickly stood up, but felt the enormous gravity making it hard to even straighten his back.
"What did... you do?" Without thinking, the reason his body felt so heavy was definitely Takeru's doing.
"I just didn't like the way a useless Lower Rank Demon acted so high and mighty." Hearing his words, Takeru shrugged.
"What's wrong with it?" Seeing Rui's change, Tanjiro was confused.
Tanjiro hadn't seen Takeru do anything, but seeing Rui's uncomfortable expression, it wasn't fake. In this situation, he knew that only the mysteriously appearing Takeru could have done something to him.
"Damn it. This time, I won't go easy on you." Looking at Takeru, Rui's hands bled, turning his threads blood red. His entire body radiated a powerful malice, forming a special pressure.
Amidst this pressure, Tanjiro and Inosuke were momentarily too scared to move.
Murata was long since hiding behind, trembling. Even the 'Mother' watching through the spiders saw Rui's anger and trembled constantly.
'So this is a Lower Rank Demon? Totally incomparable to the Hand Demon or the Arrow Demon!' Looking at the aura Rui was exuding, Tanjiro gritted his teeth, unwilling to yield to this power.