Chapter Four: Mount Sagiri, Finally!
『ＲＹＯＮ 』
Enjoy~~~
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Three weeks had passed since Rin left the city of Akasaka. Three weeks were enough to erase any lingering softness he had gained from his pampered life as a cherished child.
The road to Mount Sagiri was no stroll, nor was it a straight line drawn on Google Maps. It was a labyrinth of dense forests, abandoned villages reeking of fear, and rugged mountains that tested the patience of grown men, let alone a ten-year-old boy.
Rin was walking along a narrow dirt path, surrounded by giant pine trees that blocked the pale moonlight. The backpack on his shoulders felt heavier than when he started, and his straw sandals (Waraji) had worn out for the third time, forcing him to weave a new pair using a skill he learned from the System.
[Skill Acquired: Craftsmanship (Level 3) – Increases the quality of handmade tools]
"What a useful skill..." Rin muttered sarcastically as he tightened his sandal straps. "If I fail at killing demons, I can always open a traditional shoe shop."
He sighed and looked at the primitive map he had drawn based on information gathered from villagers and travelers.
"Mount Sagiri... it must be close. The air is getting thinner, and the fog is thickening."
The System was helpful, but it wasn't entirely magical. There was no navigation arrow pointing the way; he had to rely on his senses, sharpened by danger.
During his journey, Rin avoided villages at night. He slept high in the trees, tying himself to branches so he wouldn't fall, keeping his eyes half-open.
He had seen things... things that made his stomach churn. Remains of travelers, shattered carriages stained with dried blood. The world outside the city walls was a brutal wilderness ruled by one law: the strong literally eat the weak.
(I don't know why, but I remembered "Attack on Titan" while writing about "Walls")
Suddenly, Rin stopped.
The birds stopped singing. The wind died down.
A heavy silence fell—the kind of silence that precedes a storm.
Sniff... Sniff...
His nose, which wasn't as superhumanly sensitive as Tanjiro's but had been trained for years, picked up a scent.
An oily, rotten smell, like decaying meat left in the sun for days.
[Warning: Hostile enemy in the immediate vicinity!]
[Distance: 20 meters... 15 meters...]
Rin didn't waste time wondering. He immediately dove to the side.
Whoosh!
Something lunged from the darkness with the speed of a bullet, shattering the trunk of the tree Rin had been leaning against a split second before. Wood splinters flew like shrapnel.
Rin rolled across the ground and sprang into a combat stance, drawing his new wooden sword carved from the toughest oak he could find.
Thinking about it now, maybe I should have brought a real sword.
"Who's there?" he shouted in a steady voice.
From the shadows, a creature emerged. It wasn't as massive as the demon he had seen in the city. This demon was terrifyingly thin, its limbs unnaturally long, and its skin a pale, bluish hue. It crawled on all fours like a spider, its yellow eyes glowing with ravenous hunger.
"Hehe... a child..." the demon whispered, its voice sounding like nails scratching on glass. "A lost little child... and his flesh looks full of energy. Are you a special child (Marechi)? Your scent... is so sweet."
Rin felt a shiver run down his spine. This demon was different. It was faster and stronger.
Dammit, Rin thought, his mind analyzing the situation rapidly. It's the speed type. My physical strength might match it, but my speed?
[Enemy: Leaping Demon (Rank C+)]
[Strength: Speed and Ambush Attacks]
The demon didn't wait. It lunged again, its long claws aimed at Rin's throat.
The speed was breathtaking.
But Rin was no ordinary child.
[Skill Activation: Hyper-Focus (Level 5)]
The world slowed down in Rin's eyes for a moment. He saw the trajectory of the claw.
Rin leaned back with the flexibility of a gymnast, letting the claw pass just centimeters above his nose.
In the same heartbeat, he exploited the demon's momentum.
He grabbed the demon's extended arm and used its own rush against it.
"Judo: Shoulder Throw!"
With all his 35 points of strength (more than three grown men), Rin hurled the demon over his shoulder.
BOOM!
The demon slammed into the hard ground with enough force to send dirt flying, and the sound of breaking bones was clearly audible.
"Hah!" Rin exhaled, stepping back. "How do you like that?"
But the smile quickly faded.
The demon, which should have been paralyzed by spinal fractures, began to laugh.
With sickening "cracking" sounds, its bones began to knit back together in seconds. The demon stood up as if nothing had happened, brushing the dust off its shoulder.
"That hurt... a little," the demon said with a wide grin that revealed needle-sharp teeth. "You're strong for a midget. But... can you kill me with a stick?"
Rin realized the terrifying truth he had been trying to ignore.
He could beat them in hand-to-hand combat. He could break their bones. He could crush them.
But he couldn't kill them.
Without sunlight or a Nichirin sword, he was just a durable punching bag trying to delay his inevitable death.
To hell with this world and its laws, Rin cursed internally.
The demon attacked again, more viciously this time.
A deadly dance began in the forest. Rin dodged and parried with his wooden sword (which was starting to crack), delivering kicks and punches that shattered the demon's bones, only for the demon to heal and attack again.
Ten minutes later, Rin was panting heavily. Sweat covered his face, and a long gash was bleeding on his left arm where the demon had managed to scratch him.
His stamina was running out. And the demon did not tire.
"Are you tired, little one?" the demon mocked, licking Rin's blood from its claws. "Your blood... is so delicious! I'll enjoy eating you slowly!"
Rin looked at the sky. Dawn was still far off. At least two hours.
I won't last two hours, he admitted bitterly to himself. If I keep defending, I'll make one mistake, and it will be my last.
He needed a plan. A "strategic," cunning plan.
He looked around. The trees were dense. The slope behind him was steep.
He remembered something he read in the System about the terrain.
[Area: Forest of Dense Mist – Characterized by steep slopes leading to a fast-flowing river below]
"Hey, ugly!" Rin suddenly shouted, and began running away.
"Running? Futile!" the demon screamed and gave chase, moving faster than Rin.
Rin was sprinting toward the edge of the cliff. He could hear the demon's breath right behind his ear.
"Now!"
Right at the edge, Rin suddenly spun around and dug his feet into the ground.
The demon was startled by his sudden stop but couldn't halt its momentum. It lunged forward to grab Rin.
Rin opened his arms as if to embrace it, but at the last second, he dropped onto his back, kicking his legs upward.
"Sacrifice Technique!"
He planted his feet into the lunging demon's stomach and used all his leg strength to launch it over him, toward the abyss.
The demon flew through the air, its eyes wide with shock.
"Wha—?!"
The demon disappeared into the darkness below the cliff.
Rin waited. One second... two seconds...
SPLASH!
The sound of a massive impact in the roaring water far below.
Rin sat on the edge of the cliff, panting like a punctured lung.
"Demons don't die from drowning... or falling," he muttered, pressing on his arm wound to stop the bleeding. "But the river will sweep it miles away. By the time it climbs back up, the sun will have risen."
He looked at his trembling hand. It wasn't shaking from fear, but from rage.
"I am powerless. Despite all this training, all I could do was run."
He gripped the dirt in his hand.
"I need a sword. I need Breathing Techniques. I need the power that kills demons."
He stood up slowly, ignoring the pain in his body.
"Mount Sagiri... I must reach it."
...
As the sun rose, the terrain changed.
The dense forests gave way to rugged mountain slopes. The air became so cold and crisp that it hurt his lungs. A thick white fog covered everything, making visibility nearly impossible beyond a few meters.
Rin walked like a ghost. His clothes were torn, his face smeared with mud and dried blood, but his eyes burned with a frightening determination.
Every step was a challenge. The air here was very thin.
"Is this the mountain?" he asked himself, coughing. "Just breathing here is a workout."
Suddenly, the fog cleared slightly, revealing a small, humble wooden hut nestled at the foot of the mountain.
There was no fence, no guards. Just a simple hut, with gray smoke rising peacefully from the chimney.
Rin stopped. His heart began to pound fiercely.
"This is the place."
He approached cautiously. He didn't want to seem like a threat, but he didn't want to look like a beggar either.
When he reached ten meters from the hut, he stopped.
"I know you're there," Rin said in a raspy voice, addressing the closed door. "The scent... is different. The scent of someone who has lived with death and conquered it."
The door opened with an eerie silence.
A man stepped out.
He wore a blue kimono with a cloud and wave pattern and a sky-blue haori (jacket). His white hair peeked out from under his head covering.
But what took Rin's breath away was his face.
Or rather, what covered his face.
A red Tengu mask (a goblin with a long nose) with a fierce, stern expression.
Urokodaki Sakonji. The former Water Hashira.
The man didn't say a word. He just stood there, looking at Rin. But Rin felt as if an invisible mountain was pressing down on his shoulders. The man's aura was terrifying. Calm as the surface of a lake, yet hiding lethal currents beneath.
"You are no ordinary child," Urokodaki finally said. His voice was deep, gravelly, and carried the weight of many years.
He didn't ask "Who are you?" or "What do you want?". He had already passed judgment.
Of course I'm not an ordinary child; just reaching this place is a difficult test!
Rin immediately dropped to his knees, placing his forehead on the ground in a deep, respectful Dogeza bow.
"My name is Yukihara Rin. I have come from Akasaka city."
He raised his head to look directly into the eye holes of the Tengu mask.
"I fought a demon last night. I broke its bones, I threw it off a mountain, but it didn't die. I stood powerless because I have neither the weapon nor the technique."
Rin clenched his fists.
"I have a mother and a little sister. If a demon attacks them now, I would be unable to protect them. I don't want to be powerless anymore. Please... teach me the Breathing Technique. Teach me how to kill them."
Urokodaki remained silent for a long time, the wind fluttering his clothes. He seemed to be sniffing the air.
"Interesting..." Urokodaki said slowly. "You do indeed smell of a demon's blood. Furthermore, your body is very strong for a child... I like your resolve, but..."
Urokodaki took one step toward Rin.
"Demon Slayers do not seek power only for revenge, nor to protect a single individual. We are the sword that protects all of humanity. If your family dies, will you continue to fight? Or will your sword break?"
The question was a test. A test of the psyche.
Rin thought of the ideal answer a "Shonen" hero might say: "I will protect everyone!".
But he decided to be honest. Lying to a man who smells emotions was useless.
"I don't know," Rin answered with painful honesty. "My family is my world right now. I can't imagine the world without them. But I know one thing, sir. If I don't take up the sword now, their death is 100% certain if we meet a demon. But if I carry it, I have a chance. And I am betting everything on that chance."
Urokodaki stared at him for a long time. He saw the honesty, he saw the desperation, and he also saw the extraordinary physical strength of a ten-year-old who reached this place alive.
Urokodaki turned his back to him.
"Follow me."
He said it and began walking at an incredible speed toward the mountain, not toward the hut.
"Your test hasn't started yet. If you can climb the mountain and descend before sunrise tomorrow... I will consider training you."
Rin stood up, and despite his pain, despite his exhaustion, he broke into a savage smile.
System, he whispered internally.
[New Quest: The Master's Trial]
[Objective: Survive Mount Sagiri]
"I'm coming, old man," Rin said, and took off running after the former Water Hashira, toward the training hell that would forge him into a legend.
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Chapter Four Ends.
Reminder: The narrative and writing style will improve from chapter nine!