Chapter 276: Arad
Muzan, who had been diced into hundreds of pieces by Liam, managed to escape back to the Infinity Castle with Nakime's help. He immediately formed a flesh cocoon to heal himself. The attack just now had left a deep impression on him. Fortunately, that man did not use the Sun Breathing. And based on his observations, while his opponent was strong, he had clearly struggled against the Upper Moons. Therefore, against Muzan himself, wouldn't he be instantly killed? The advantage was his!
While he was still regenerating inside the cocoon, a group of Demon Slayer Corps members discovered the irregularity. They drew their Nichirin Blades and swarmed the flesh cocoon.
At that same moment, Muzan emerged. His body had changed; dark markings now covered his skin, and grotesque, fanged mouths had appeared on his arms. The approaching slayers were instantly shredded into fragments by blurry shadows. As a rain of blood and gore fell from the sky, the shadows around Muzan finally came to a stop. They were whips, grown from his own body—thin, long, and possessing astonishing attack power.
Muzan tasted a piece of flesh that fell on him. "Nakime. Bring that man before me."
"As you command."
A room materialized in front of Muzan, and Liam's figure appeared within it. Because Liam was teleported, the Hashira nearby immediately began to track his new position.
Crimson flesh whips lashed toward Liam, their attacks as sharp and unpredictable as crackling lightning. But in Liam's eyes, these attacks were far too slow. He swung his blade, cutting every whip apart.
Muzan paid it no mind, simply growing more whips and launching another assault. Liam stood his ground, not moving from his spot, simply swinging his blade to parry. No matter how fierce Muzan's attacks became, they could not inflict a single wound on him.
What is going on? Muzan stared at Liam's movements. The man's swordsmanship was truly brilliant. Facing his assault, Liam's blade seemed to have eyes of its own, precisely predicting and intercepting every single strike.
The Love Hashira and Serpent Hashira, who were now close enough to see the fight, were just about to move in when the space around them warped again. The Serpent Hashira was teleported to a distant location, and the Love Hashira's position was also shifted. Nakime was plucking her biwa strings again, manipulating the space of the Infinity Castle. Liam, who had been locked in combat with Muzan, was also moved.
In that instant, however, Liam sensed Nakime's location.
The castle shifted again. Massive wooden rooms condensed into a solid wall to block his path. But Liam's figure merely flickered, evading the structure, and appeared directly in front of Nakime, his blade already in her body.
High-temperature flames coated the sword. Before the fire and his high-speed slashes, Nakime was instantly slain.
When the system notification for the experience gain flashed in Liam's mind, the world around them immediately destabilized. The space began to collapse, and the countless rooms of the Infinity Castle began to rise, breaking through the ground. With a thunderous, rolling crash, a mountain range of splintered wooden buildings erupted onto the surface.
The demons, the Demon Slayers, Muzan, and Liam were all ejected from the castle and back onto the surface world.
In the dead of night, Muzan's back sprouted a mass of blood-whips, attacking everyone around him. The surrounding Hashira, seeing him, immediately charged, but the power gap between them and Muzan was still too great.
Liam appeared in an instant in front of Muzan, his flame-wreathed blade decapitating him. But the moment the head was severed—in the blink of an eye—a new head grew from Muzan's body. Even the burning wound simply shed itself like a snake's skin, and a new head regenerated on the fresh wound.
"If you want to kill me, this level of strength is far too little!"
A crowd of regular Demon Slayer swordsmen roared and charged, forming a wall in front of the repelled and wounded Hashira. Just as they were about to be annihilated by the blood-whips, Liam swung his blade again, severing all of them. The Flame Hashira also arrived, his spiked flail smashing toward Muzan, who easily dodged it.
As Muzan dodged, Liam's figure was already there, splitting him from head to toe. The burning flames flashed across the wound, but the next second, the burned flesh peeled away like a molt. The two halves of his body rejoined, and this regeneration speed shocked everyone present. The other demons used this opportunity to attack the Demon Slayers, and the entire battlefield descended into chaos.
Within Liam's Transparent World, he saw it: Muzan's body contained seven hearts and five brains, all of them constantly moving their positions. What a bizarre anatomy. So that's how he can regenerate so quickly from decapitation.
At that moment, Muzan's body mutated again. Not only did his arms sprout more grotesque bone spurs, but his legs also grew sharp, snapping maws. He now looked like a deformed creature composed of countless mouths, teeth, and flesh. Not just his back and arms, but his legs too could now produce blood-whips.
A doubled number of whips lashed out, trying to corner Liam. The surrounding Demon Slayers held their breath, and the Hashira tried to provide support. But Liam simply continued to swing his blade, cutting down every whip that came at him. Even when Muzan regenerated them at high speed, they were just as easily cut down.
"Muzan. Is this all you have?"
Watching Liam steadily advance on him, Muzan felt the cold chill of his life being threatened. He couldn't let this continue. If this kept up, he would be the one to die!
He had to escape! As long as he could escape and just hide for a few dozen or a hundred years, victory would be his! No matter how strong this "Liam" was, he was, in the end, a human. He would eventually die of old age. Outlasting his opponent was, in itself, a form of killing them!
With that, Muzan prepared to use his ultimate escape, his entire body swelling as he prepared to split into 1,800 pieces of flesh and scatter in all directions. Even Yoriichi Tsugikuni had only managed to destroy just over a thousand pieces back then. There was no way Liam could destroy them all in an instant, right?
What's happening? Why can't I move?!
Muzan was horrified to find his body completely frozen.
Liam spread his hands. A pale blue, rippling sword qi appeared behind him, and from it, hundreds of swords flew forth. They fanned out across the entire battlefield, completely encasing Muzan and all the other demons. The Demon Slayers who had been trapped inside the perimeter were gently pushed to safety by a gust of wind.
Then, with his Nichirin Blade in hand, Liam unleashed a torrential storm of slashes on the trapped Muzan. Every piece of flesh, every particle of bone, was struck by his attacks. His blade, coated in high-temperature flames, carried an area-of-effect burn.
A moment later, a notification of experience gained flashed in Liam's mind from the Sword Soul template.
Muzan had been annihilated. The swords returned to the Selfless Sword Domain behind Liam. At the instant of Muzan's death, every demon he had created violently perished. Only Nezuko, Tamayo, and Yushiro remained unharmed.
Liam sheathed his sword. Everyone else looked at him as if they were gazing upon a god.
"What just happened, Mr. Liam?"
"That was so cool! You have to teach me that!"
"Thank goodness... I thought I was going to die this time."
The Demon Slayers erupted in cheers, a joyous celebration beginning. Thanks to Tamayo's medical skills, Muichiro Tokito's severed hand was even successfully reattached. However, because it had been severed for some time, the reattached hand, while functional, was about thirty percent weaker than it had been. It was like breaking a finger playing basketball; even after it heals, the joint's range of motion is never quite the same, let alone reattaching an entire hand.
The celebration ended, and Liam received a new notification from his system.
[Ding! New world coordinates detected. Proceed to destination?]
After bidding farewell to everyone, Liam first returned to the DanMachi world. He found that time there had been paused, frozen at the exact moment he left. Only when he returned did the flow of time resume.
Looks like in the future, I'm going to be a planeswalker, traveling between different worlds.
With this thought, Liam activated the system's portal once more, heading toward an unknown world. From the world of Demon Slayer, he had gained experience from killing demons. More importantly, he had obtained the complete versions of all the breathing styles, which gave him new insights into his own swordsmanship.
Where am I this time?
Liam returned his Nichirin Blade to his Selfless Sword Domain and looked around at this new, unfamiliar world. Once again, he was in a green forest. In the distance, he heard a cry for help.
"Help! Help me!"
It was a sweet, feminine voice, laced with terror.
Liam walked toward the source of the sound. After a short walk, he saw a glowing white magic circle on the ground. Sitting in the center of the circle was a beautiful girl with silver hair and red eyes. She wore a green top, a red-and-white skirt, and high boots. Surrounding the magic circle was a large group of Goblins.
This world... could it be?
Liam's breath hitched. If he had truly arrived in that world, this was wonderful news. It seemed the system allowed him to perfectly understand the local language.
Liam casually picked up a tree branch and infused it with his Selfless Sword Aura. In the past, infusing a normal object would cause it to disintegrate after a single attack. But now, with his enhanced level and mastery, even a mundane object could wield astonishing power in his hands.
"Let her go!"
The twenty-or-so Goblins turned, brandishing their wooden clubs and stone axes, and charged him.
"ROAR!"
The monsters shrieked as they closed in. Liam, however, simply used the tree branch to perform his Secret Sword Art. A devastating storm of sword qi erupted, and the approaching Goblins were all reduced to minced meat. At the same time, his Sword Soul template registered the influx of experience points. Each Goblin provided him with 0.01 percent.
The girl's eyes filled with tears of relief. Her lips were dry and chapped, and her lovely voice was hoarse.
"I've been trapped here for a day and a night... Thank you so much, kind warrior. My name is Seria."
Seria?
It couldn't be that much of a coincidence, could it?
Liam suppressed his excitement. "My name is Liam Moon. As you can see, I am a Sword Soul."
He decided to test it. He showed Seria his pale, un-restrained Demon Hand.
"Oh? This is my first time seeing a Sword Soul not wearing a restraint."
Seria, seemingly letting her guard down, dispelled the magic circle on the ground. She walked over to him, curiously sizing him up, then looked at him shyly. "Thank you so much. Do you have any water? I haven't had anything to drink all day."
The girl lowered her head in embarrassment, unconsciously licking her lips.
"Ah? No problem."
Liam had made some preparations before this trip, and they were coming in handy.
Seria took the cup from Liam and eagerly drank several gulps, finally quenching her thirst. She then immediately realized this was the man's personal cup, and her face turned bright red.
"I'm so sorry, that was very rude of me."
Liam waved it off. "Let's go. I'm a traveler, and I happened to get lost nearby, otherwise I wouldn't have run into you. Can you tell me about this place?"
Seria nodded quickly. "Of course! This is Grand Flores. We should hurry back to the teleportation array and return to Elvengarde."
Following Seria's lead, the two passed through the portal and arrived at Elvengarde.
It was all so familiar. This... this was where the dream began.