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Chapter 24

"What's wrong, Tanjiro?"

"What is this smell...?"
He suddenly runs off.

"Whoa, Tanjiro! Wait up!"
I'm first to go after him, completely forgetting about Zenitsu.

Inosuke comes after, and we all stop when we see someone on the ground, blood pooling by his side.

I run up to him.
"What happened?!"

He barely lifts his head, and all it took was just a touch to make me drop down and flinch.
What. The Hell. Was. That.

I have no clue what I saw, but it felt utterly terrifying, almost burning.

"H-Help me... Please, help me..."
He mumbled, crying out of pure horror.

"Look at his uniform! He's one of us!"
They all rush over, the boy now suddenly pulled up into the air and back into the forest.

He screamed, but was unable to get away.
"They were attached to me too! Please, don't let me die here!"

I get up, still shaken.
"This mountain... It's full of evil. I can feel it."

"What are you talking about?"
Inosuke grumbled, crossing his arms.

"We have to see if others are there! We have to save them!"
Without listening to another word, I rush into the forest. Damn it! What sort of monster rules this mountain?!

The footsteps behind me told me the boys had come along too. I stop running at one point, carefully walking around, seeing nothing but the movement of tiny insects scattering with our approach.

"I feel sick even being here."
I can't shake off this mild anger that's beginning to boil inside me.

"Y/N, what happened earlier? You-"

I flinch as something cold and almost sticky touches my hands, looking down to see the shimmering strings I ran into.

"What is this?"
I hold it up to look closer, Inosuke ripping it from my hands to look as well.

Looking closer, I could see the familiar patterns formed by the strings.
"Spider webs. There's so many of them, too."

"This place is full of 'em as far as the eye can see! What a fucking pain!"
He tried shaking off the webs, though he just caught more in his attempt.

"If you wave your hands like that they won't come off, y'know."
I grab his wrists and peel off the webs, ignoring whatever curses he spewed.

"Do you think you can clear them out for us?"
Tanjiro asked me, his hand on my shoulder to get my attention.

"I think so. But... I don't wanna hurt any spiders..."
I get quieter near the end of the sentence.

"Seriously?! That's a pathetic excuse! Just say you can't do it and let me handle it!"
Inosuke yelled, getting into his earthbending stance.

"What would you know?! I'm not gonna kill for no good reason! A bloodthirsty demon is one thing, an innocent creature is another! I won't slay the innocent!"
I'm close to backhanding him, Tanjiro holding me back.