Demon Slayer: I Level Up Alone

Chapter 31

Akito lay on the ground, gasping for air. Although his body's self-healing ability had reached its peak, the internal injuries caused by the stone demon's punch had not healed, and he had just used the unfamiliar second form of the Light Breathing technique.

His physical condition worsened.

Not to mention that switching between the two breathing techniques while slaying the rock demon placed a heavy burden on his body.

"My body hurts so much... I'm so tired... I just want to close my eyes and sleep..."

Akito widened his eyes, gritting his teeth, forcing himself not to cry out.

But the piercing pain continued to assault him, and Akito dared not think of leaving this place because, according to what that vine demon said, there was another Twelve Kizuki stronger than them here.

Akito wasn't sure if it was an Upper Moon or a Lower Moon, but given his current physical condition, he estimated that even a Lower Moon would be too much for him to handle.

He wanted to descend the mountain to recuperate before returning to slay the evil demon, but every time he tried to move, the agonizing pain surged, rendering him immobile.

"That Twelve Kizuki hasn't arrived yet; I can't just sit here and wait... that's not my style..."

Akito was a bit worried about the demon's arrival because he felt that the gaze in the forest was currently scanning him.

"Poof."

Akito slowly propped himself up but suffered another internal injury, causing a surge of accumulated blood to spray from his throat.

"Crunch, slurp."

Akito took out a few healing pills, chewed them, and swallowed them.

In an instant, the overwhelming medicinal power washed over every injury in his body.

"Mmhm~"

The immense sourness made him involuntarily let out a soft groan.

Then came the itch!

An itch to the extreme!

Akito felt as if countless ants were crawling inside his body; he knew this was his flesh and blood repairing.

Just like when a wound scabs over.

This was a good thing, but Akito could hardly stand it!

"Damn it! It itches so much!"

At that moment, Akito couldn't care less about his image and frantically pounded the ground.

Trying to use the pain to alleviate the itch within!

"Thud, thud."

The ground was forcefully smashed into a pit by Akito's immense strength.

At that moment,

Akito noticed a thick miasma in the air.

A dark green gas rushed in, and wherever it passed, the trees visibly rotted at an alarming speed.

"Not good... this miasma is toxic!"

Akito endured the itch in his body and quickly reacted, jumping onto a tree trunk to avoid the dark green gas.

"Oh? You can still react this quickly; you must be a Hashira in the Demon Slayer Corps!"

As the dark green gas slowly dissipated, a figure emerged.

"This is troublesome..."

The newcomer was indeed a demon, and not just any demon!

Lower Moon Three, Wakuraba!

With three cross-shaped scars on his face and golden earrings in his ears, more importantly, there were large words engraved in his eyes:

Lower Moon Three!

"I have been watching you since the moment you entered this forest. I originally thought you were just an ordinary Demon Slayer swordsman, but unexpectedly, you killed four of my subordinates and a bunch of ordinary demons. Tell me, how am I supposed to kill you now..."

The lower moon three, Wakuraba, said with a smile.

"And I found that the energy in your flesh and blood seems to be quite abundant, even higher than that of an average person. You must be the legendary rare blood, right..."

"I didn't expect that the probability of finding a rare blood among a hundred people would appear right in front of me, and in a heavily injured state at that..."

"Don't you think I'm very lucky..."

Wakuraba revealed a greedy gaze, staring intently at Akito, as if he wanted to devour him immediately.

"Slurp~"

"Your flesh must be delicious..."

Akito watched Wakuraba warily from a distance, his Nichirin Blade already drawn again. As long as the demon in front of him moved, he would retaliate.

Right now, he just wanted to buy a little more time, every second counted.

This was a struggle against time.

Seeing Akito like this, Wakuraba was not in a hurry, as if toying with his prey, wearing a sickly smile on his face.

"Drag it out... the longer you drag it out... the deeper the poison will invade..."

Wakuraba knew Akito was heavily injured, but he was unsure if Akito still had the strength to fight back. He realized that this demon hunter liked to hide his true power when he watched him battle the Vine Demon in the shadows.

Years of cautiousness led Wakuraba to think of using his Blood Demon Art to slowly kill Akito.

"Wait... there's poison in the air..."

Akito noticed something unusual about his body.

Green spots appeared on his skin, and his self-healing ability was restricted; the poison was invading his body!

Akito hurriedly tore his clothes and covered his nose.

"Oh... have you finally noticed? Demon Hunter."

Wakuraba laughed loudly as he watched Akito.

Akito weakly bent his knee; even covering his nose had no effect. The poison was gas, perfectly blending with the air.

Like a virus, it would infect cells and contaminate the oxygen during breathing.

"Hahaha, I forgot to tell you, this entire forest is covered by my Blood Demon Art's withering poison mist. From the moment you stepped into the forest, you have been continuously inhaling the poison in the air!"

"Now you can feel my beloved poison continuously destroying your body, right? Hahaha."

"I had been wondering why it took you so long to enter the forest; normally, just inhaling a breath of air here would gradually cause green spots to appear on your body, eventually turning you into a puddle of toxic water. This poison, ah, even that esteemed person praised it back then..."

Wakuraba recalled a certain figure and couldn't help but show a look of fear.

"So that's how it is... no wonder there's always a strange smell in this forest..."

Akito now understood why there was a smell when he first entered this forest; the entire area was shrouded in this demon's Blood Demon Art.

One could say this was indeed the Twelve Kizuki, with such a vast and deadly range of Blood Demon Art.

However, Akito's expression of panic faded, and when Wakuraba wasn't looking, a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.

"Bang!"

Akito collapsed weakly to the ground. Wakuraba saw that his face was already covered in green spots and guessed that the poison had reached his heart.

This demon hunter was beyond saving!

"Wow, can't hold on any longer, huh?" Wakuraba said with a smile.

Then, his figure suddenly appeared before Akito, kicking him away!

"Such speed!"

Akito was astonished that this demon's speed was so fast, instantly closing the distance from so far away.

It should be noted that Akito was very confident in his own speed.

"Cough cough..."

"You were a ninja before becoming a demon, weren't you..."

Akito's face showed a painful expression as he spoke with difficulty.

"I didn't expect that you, a human, could see through my movements and deduce my previous identity..."

Wakuraba said in a haunting tone.

Akito understood that in the anime from his previous life, among the Twelve Kizuki, aside from Enmu, the rest were all eliminated as soon as they appeared by some perverted boss who liked to cross-dress.

There was no introduction about Wakuraba; he only knew from Wakuraba's fleeing movements and deduced the escape route at first glance that this Wakuraba was not simple.

The way of the ninja is meticulous, with their own thoughts, and even gives rise to the idea of betraying their boss.

Courage, caution, and wisdom can also be timid!

This is the sickly figure of Wakuraba before me.

"You are quite good, but that's all!"

After saying this, he walked towards Akito.

"An opportunity has come!"

Akito thought to himself, then turned around and took out the remaining antidote…

"Thanks to Ritoruho not eating the antidote..."

Wakuraba did not know what Akito was doing at that moment, thinking he was already too weak to move. He did not expect that the Akito who had been lying on the ground suddenly got up and attacked him.

"Total concentration, Light breathing, first form: Pronated Shadow Slash!"

Akito's speed was fast, like a beam of light attacking Wakuraba.

"Impossible!"

"Blood Demon Technique: Blood Shuriken!"

"Clang!"

Wakuraba's reaction speed was incredibly fast, and a blood-red shuriken blocked Akito's lethal strike.

Although it was blocked, his body was indeed sent flying a few meters away by the powerful force.

As the dust settled, a disheveled silhouette appeared.

"How is this possible? How could you not be poisoned!"

Wakuraba shouted.

At this moment, Akito's body no longer had any green spots; the moment the antidote was taken, the poison was completely neutralised.

Moreover, his body had already recovered quite a bit.

"What a pity..."

Seeing that his attack had been blocked, Akito realized it would be difficult to have such a good opportunity to kill this demon again.

"I was still too anxious; I should have waited for him to get a little closer..."

Regretting now was useless for Akito; he could only brace himself.

Wakuraba, who looked disheveled, saw that not only was Akito not poisoned, but his body was also nearly restored.

His mind was in disarray.

His eyes were wide open, staring at Akito.

This man gave him a very strange feeling; clearly, he had been gravely poisoned just a second ago, yet the next moment he was almost able to kill him as if nothing had happened.

And the power of that previous strike was so immense that Wakuraba suspected Akito had just been acting, intending to ambush him.

"Despicable human!"

Wakuraba gritted his teeth and said.

"Heh, same to you. You poisoned me and I feigned being poisoned to deceive you; aren't we just fifty steps laughing at a hundred steps..."

Akito shrugged helplessly.

"What a joke! If it weren't for my antidote, I would have been dead long ago..."

"By the way, the effect of this antidote is quite impressive; I originally thought..."

"Truly a product of the system... guaranteed quality..."

Akito thought to himself, then turned around and spent a hundred thousand in the Everything Mall to buy five antidotes.

"Great, now I have some assurance!"

...

"Go to hell!"

Wakuraba shouted as the blood-red shuriken was thrown from his hand.

"Bang!"

A huge sound echoed.

The objects hit by the shuriken were all cut in half, and Akito easily dodged and jumped to the other side.

Before he could react, another blood-red shuriken came flying at him, one after another, a total of five.

Each one was laced with deadly poison, and the cut surfaces of the trees were continuously emitting green smoke.

"Your attack are quite poisonous!" Akito said to Wakuraba.

"Hmph!"

Wakuraba did not respond but instead gestured with his fingers, causing the shurikens he had thrown to return to him.

Rows of trees fell, and Akito found it increasingly difficult to dodge. Just as he landed, another shuriken came flying at him.

"This won't do; I can't keep this up. My stamina is being drained too much, and my injuries haven't healed..."

Akito was panting heavily, dodging in mid-air. Although he appeared relaxed, only he knew that every dodge strained his wounds.

Akito's speed was slowing, and several times he nearly got cut in half, with his clothes becoming tattered from the shuriken attacks.

Wakuraba seemed to notice Akito's abnormality, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"This human's speed has slowed; I wasn't wrong; his injuries really haven't healed..."

Time passed, and the originally dense forest became barren due to the battle between Akito and Wakuraba.

"Now's the time! Human, die!"

Wakuraba saw a flaw in Akito and summoned a shuriken, leaping out to attack him.

Akito instinctively tried to block.

Seeing Akito's reaction, Wakuraba revealed a cunning smile and said, "You've fallen for it, human!"

Wakuraba vanished before him, and suddenly a shuriken appeared behind him, transforming into Wakuraba as he attacked Akito's back.

"Rip!"

A sharp pain struck, and Akito was injured.

Although he dodged the fatal blow at the last moment, he was still hurt.

The intense pain surged, and Akito quickly took out a detox pill and a healing pill and swallowed them.

But before Akito had time to recover,

Wakuraba launched another attack.

It was the same move again.

This time, however, shurikens came from all directions, and Akito couldn't tell which one was his true body, which was deadly.

"No, if this continues, I will be killed by him..."

"Is there no choice but to use that move..."

Akito gently wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth.

Another round of attacks began, but Akito focused intently on the approaching figure of Wakuraba!

The shurikens surrounding him moved at the same speed as Wakuraba, and they were about to hit Akito. Wakuraba smiled, but it quickly faded...

"Total concentration, Light breathing, Second Form: Gigantic Sun Sleeping Angel!"

A blinding light erupted!

Akito lightly jumped, dodging the shuriken attack.

Wakuraba let out a miserable scream as his body was sliced into several pieces by his own shurikens.

"Ahhh... my eyes!"

Wakuraba cried out in agony, his tightly closed eyes unable to see.

"What have you done to me!"

The intense light caused Wakuraba to temporarily go blind.

"Ha... ha..."

Akito gasped for breath, but his face was filled with joy.

"It seems this move can be used as a powerful weapon in the future..."

At this moment, Wakuraba had lost the will to fight; his inability to see made him want to escape.

He didn't care about his body piecing back together, his head growing arms and legs, and quickly hid in the grass.

"Don't even think about running!"

Seeing this, Akito quickly chased after him; this was a great opportunity to kill him.

Akito was fast, and Wakuraba, unable to see, ran very slowly.

In an instant, he was caught by Akito.

"Please let me go... I promise I won't harm anyone again, you have to believe me..."

Wakuraba, with his eyes closed, began to plead for mercy.

"Do you think that's possible... obediently become the source of my power!"

"Light breathing, First Form: Pronated Shadow Slash!"

"No!"

Screams echoed throughout the forest.

Akito also fell to the ground, unconscious...

***

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