"That Demon's Blood Demon Art must have only been partially revealed before I directly finished it off with the sun. It probably died never imagining I could create a vortex and expose the water's surface."
If the Water Demon could speak from the afterlife, it would surely curse Kurozawa for fighting unfairly.
It saw Kurozawa preparing to use a powerful move and was fully prepared to receive his attack.
Who would have thought Kurozawa would immediately plan to let the sun teach it a lesson? He was utterly ruthless.
"Potential Points and Power of Despair four times that of a normal Demon. It seems the stronger the creature, the more Potential Points and Power of Despair it provides."
"However... this gain isn't as much as accumulating it through quantity."
In Kurozawa's opinion, the difficulty and danger of killing four normal Demons were much lower than encountering the Water Demon.
Even if four normal Demons attacked together, those without mutations or special abilities couldn't pose any threat to Kurozawa.
This result meant that fighting powerful Demons yielded a return that wasn't proportional to the effort.
Massacring the weak and preying on the timid was the fastest and best way to obtain Potential Points and Power of Despair.
Kurozawa shook the water droplets off himself, took some clothes from Hanada Shizuka, and put his mask back on.
Beneath the Fortune-Dispelling Fox Mask, his expression shifted slightly.
"Why does this gray panel feel like it wants me to develop into a Man-Eating Demon?"
"Too bad. I, Kurozawa, am kind and pure. Gray Panel, you won't get your way."
Kurozawa named his gray panel "Gray Panel."
Kurozawa didn't use the Potential Points he gained this time immediately; he saved them for now.
He planned to use the Potential Points to strengthen his weaknesses when fighting tricky Demons, to turn the tide.
Kurozawa still hadn't discovered any use for the 7 points of Power of Despair belonging to the Immortal Man-Eating Demon.
Perhaps this number needed to increase several times before its miraculous effects would truly be revealed.
"Senior Disciple, did you just use Constant Flux?"
Hanada Shizuka tugged at Kurozawa's sleeve.
"Yeah, wasn't it cool?" Kurozawa used his Breathing Technique, and a faint warmth enveloped his body.
He was drying himself; being wet was uncomfortable.
"I wish I could use Constant Flux too. It's a shame I only know six Sword Forms right now."
"I feel like I'm not helping at all. It's always Senior Disciple who's fighting."
Hanada Shizuka's face fell, and she looked unhappy.
She seemed to guess that the Demon in the water just now had caused Kurozawa some trouble, otherwise he wouldn't have used a powerful Sword Form like Constant Flux, which consumed a lot of stamina.
Hanada Shizuka didn't want to be protected anymore; she wanted to fight alongside Kurozawa.
"I understand. Then next, Junior Disciple, you should also try fighting the Demons yourself," Kurozawa twisted his neck, pondered for a moment, then said to Hanada Shizuka.
"Everyone takes it one step at a time. When I was your age, I was also just watching from afar as Master fought the Demons, under his protection."
"It's okay to be weak now, and it's okay to be weak later. The key is to have a heart that desires to become stronger and refuses to submit to fate. That's enough."
In Hanada Shizuka, Kurozawa seemed to see his past self. He understood his Junior Disciple's feelings.
Perhaps she was moved by seeing him fight alone and acted on impulse, or perhaps she had this idea for a long time and only now expressed it. But no matter what, Kurozawa would help her.
She hadn't called him "Senior Disciple" so many times for nothing.
A few minutes later, Kurozawa's clothes were completely dry again thanks to his Breathing Technique and the sunlight, and the two set off again.
From then on, Kurozawa actively tracked the activity of the Demons, searching for their locations one by one.
With his vision perception ability, if any Demon dared to even glance at Kurozawa, it was finished.
When they encountered weak Demons, Kurozawa would stand nearby and watch, letting Hanada Shizuka handle them.
At first, when facing the ferocious, terrifying, roaring Demons, Hanada Shizuka's mind would often go blank, and she would even forget to use her Sword Forms.
But with Kurozawa looking out for her, she always managed to deal with the Demons without serious danger.
Over time, as Hanada Shizuka became familiar with the Demons' rhythm, she no longer feared the ecological niche suppression that Demons held as human predators. She slowly began to counterattack, and the Sword Forms she knew how to use were finally successfully unleashed.
At this moment, Hanada Shizuka was fighting a normal Demon.
Half of the Demon's face was hidden by its hair, with only a pair of blood-red eyes peering out from the gaps in the strands, revealing an intense thirst for blood.
Just being stared at by such eyes would make many people feel unimaginable pressure.
But at this time, Hanada Shizuka had gradually overcome this psychological pressure.
The moment the Demon pounced, Hanada Shizuka crouched low, rushing under the Demon and getting behind it.
Their figures crossed, and Hanada Shizuka immediately took a deep breath.
A white, serpentine breath emerged and circulated between her mouth and nose, temporarily boosting her overall physical abilities.
Her body, which had just crossed paths, instantly turned back. The Nichirin Blade drew a perfectly round arc of light, like a cool moon.
Water Breathing, Second Form: Water Wheel! The cool, moon-like blade light swept past the Demon's neck before returning to its sheath.
Watching the Demon turn to ash and dissipate, Hanada Shizuka let out a long breath, then her eyes darted around and she smiled proudly, making a peace sign beside her cheek.
"Yay!"
"I killed a demon too."
Silly child, if you couldn't even kill this demon, you should just dig a hole and bury yourself.
Kurozawa only thought that to himself.
The poor thing Hanada Shizuka killed, a normal person with some courage and a Nichirin Blade would likely have been able to handle it.
"Well done, you can already use Sword Forms in actual combat. This is just the beginning, keep up the good work."
Wearing a warm smile, Kurozawa encouraged Hanada Shizuka.
Immediately after, he looked up at the sky.
Since entering Mount Fujikasane, up until now, over twenty Demons had died by Kurozawa's hand.
The strongest among them was the Water Demon with both a mutated form and special abilities; the other Demons were all weak.
Currently, the Potential Points Kurozawa had accumulated reached 150 points, and Power of Despair was 20 points.
These gave him ample confidence.
And in the sky above, the previously high-hanging orange fireball had disappeared into the night sky at some point, and a perfectly round, pearl-like full moon peeked out from the clouds.
The entire Mount Fujikasane was coated in a layer of fragmented silver light, mysterious and tranquil. Faint, low roars echoed from various parts of the mountain, full of danger.
At the same time, from various narrow and hidden paths, swordsmen with expressions ranging from nervous to confident successively entered Mount Fujikasane.
Please vote
-----------
Machine Translation by: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Read 777+ original & fanfic translations in English, Español, Português, Deutsch, Français, or Русский at: https:// randomtranslator.com/
Join our Discord: https:// discord.gg/NSWvfN7vua
-----------