*Asura's POV*

It had been mere minutes when I went to sleep. I remembered that even as I was awoken by a Smell of utter disgust and sounds of scraping.

 

I had taught myself to not let my sense get to me, I could force myself to sleep even in environments that were less than easy on the senses but this was an immediate kick to my sense of smell.

 

The sound of Scraping metal only added to the fact by fucking with my sense of hearing too, though that wasn't as pronounced as my sense of smell.

 

As I looked around I knew I wasn't the only one who had noticed as everyone else was up as well and looking around and in Zenitsu's case putting their head against the ground to gauge where the sound was coming from.

 

"Monitsu do you hear anything?" Inosuke asked nonchalantly.

 

'He probably thinks it's some idiot that's taken up to disturbing everyone's sleep. I hope to god that's true.' I thought as a wave of realization was washing over me.

 

"Shh." Zenitsu hushed as he tried to focus.

 

*Dumm* *Dhummm*

 

Zenitsu's head raised up and slammed at the ground again, he was too focussed to have noticed and hit his head.

 

"Ah. Dammit." He cursed rubbing his face.

 

" They're very near. I think a bit over a dozen in the south." Zenitsu answered finally with a wavering voice.

 

Zenitsu had his moments of heroism, but it was still hard work to get him out of his shell of self-deprecation and fear sometimes.

 

Whatever it was that was coming was certainly big and it certainly knew where they were and for once my mind agreed that this was something to be feared.

 

This wasn't some drunk guard being rowdy.

 

"Tanjiro take Inosuke and Zenitsu and get to the Blacksmith. Now!" I all but shouted pulling everyone from their daze.

 

"Haku. With me. Take the bow." I said as we all separated.

 

The first order of Business was to find what the fuck was actually happening and the next was to secure the Blacksmith.

 

It didn't take long to find our way up one of the outpost towers.

 

"See that no one hinders the others on the way to the Blacksmith. Cover for them." I ordered Haku as we had found the outpost already empty.

 

Everyone else seemed to be on the ground.

 

It didn't take long to see the reason of why they had done so. There were a couple dozen if not more of the most Bloated demons I had seen till now, moving towards the camp, approaching unhindered.

 

'What the fuck are they doing? Letting them approach through the walls and tear them down?' I thought stunned before I realized that none of them had any range weapons to even effectively protect from the walls.

 

More than that they seemed ready to buckle in fear which was alarming more than dreadful. It wasn't as if those demons approaching were Lower Moons or something.

 

There was absolutely no way for all of them to be so afraid to lose their wits.

 

"Hey what's that purple mist?" Haku said, pointing towards the cluster of demons that had just entered.

 

'I don't see anything? Wait, what the hell is that?'

 

I could see the barest hint of mist coming off from the demons. But I still could in no way distinguish the color of it in the Night.

 

'Oi System, what's that around the demons?' I asked not really expecting an answer. I had definitely gotten the system with the processing power of a Floppy Disk and the work ethic of a Sloth.

 

[The system does not appreciate the querie being made with such words. Please phrase the questions properly.]

 

'Oi, you Masochistic, Electrolyte Dri-'

 

[The system apologizes and asks the Host to keep their mouth shut. We've detected a faint trace of Fear Aura from the creatures. Current effect on the host:

 

0.67/100]

 

I watched the number before it raised to 0.68 and then stopped for a few moments before rising again.

 

'What Happens when it reaches 100?' I asked, thanking the gods that the Demons were slow as tortoises to make up for their size.

 

[To any normal Human they'll have their Blood Stop pumping after a certain threshold, too more Formidable ones they'll have themselves freeze in place before they're finished off unceremoniously by the Demons.]

 

The system replied methodically.

 

'What about me?'

 

[It'll instantaneously trigger one of your transformations and at the current level you'll have 30 seconds of control over your transformed body before you'll die from an exploded heart.]

 

'...... I can't even say which one is worse.'

 

[....... Host, think about the 30 seconds. More than enough time to get your affairs in order. Maybe think about that women you saw in that Rocking Boa-]

 

'Ok ok fucking stop.' I panicked.

 

The one time the system isn't a lazy ass it's suddenly a pervert. I couldn't say for certain but I heard the distant chuckle of a very happy monkey.

 

"Haku. Nock and Loose. Get as many of them as you can." I said as the groups of Corps members were mere feet away from the Demons and still not out of their daze.

 

"Try to keep an eye on the others," I said before leaning against the battlements and getting two somewhat rusty knives from my Inventory.

 

Haku didn't even bat an eye at the display. It was a bit of a relief since he had probably noticed the odd happenings with the Inventory already and the others had ideas as well.

 

"What're you going to do without a blade?" Haku asked even as he took the bow and drew the bowstring back as he took aim.

 

"One piece of advice. Don't look. It'll be messy." I said as I took a deep breath and got my claws out.

 

'This'll be a bitch on the KI.' I thought as I poured it into the Claws. They grew longer and thicker to the point they became heavy and I could even feel the weight.

 

[KI: 16/19]

 

The prompt appeared immediately and my heart sunk at three points drop in an instant.

 

'I gotta do this fast.' I gave a single thought before jumping from the Tower and straight behind a Demon, bringing down both of the knives in a vertical slash across its neck while midair.

 

Its head wobbled to the floor before my feet touched the ground.

 

[Fear Aura: 1.6/100]

 

I immediately dropped the now ruined pieces of metal that were rusty knives and moved to the next demon.

 

From the corner of my eye, I could already see Kenji had killed one of them and the others were getting out of their stupor now.

 

*Skrug*

 

With a sickening crunch, an arrow burst through one of the demon's head leaving behind a charred piece of flesh that still had Blue flames dancing on it. Stopping it from growing back.

 

'I probably should allow Haku to get more than 6 Feet from me.' I thought, impressed at the force behind the arrow and the aim.

 

Not wasting time I immediately began towards the next demon. This one moved its Club of polished Metal down towards me, almost so slow that I feared the demon didn't want to attack at all.

 

I simply sidestepped and the Club fell to the ground, leaving a crater. With a single wide arc, I ran across the length of the demon's hand, leaving a mangled but quickly healing hand.

 

It didn't get to heal enough though as I brought my claw down and separated its wrist from its weapon.

 

It brought its other hand towards me, hoping to squeeze my head to a pulp but I was faster as I moved sideways and buried its hands with metal shrapnel from the inventory.

 

"Food. Play." The demon said with a heavy tongue but its words were barely out of its mouth before I once again gave a solid kick to its knee making it kneel from the broken knee.

 

'Crimson Severance.'

 

I brought down both of my hands from opposite sides and the demon's head flew into the air.

 

"Don't just stand there! Fucking fight!" Kenji shouted at the others who slowly gripped their weapons and began retaliating.

 

This would be an unexpected situation but not a disadvantageous one.

—------------------------------------------------

Author's Note: Travelling is a bitch, and being at someone else's place for the first time is confusing like where the fuck is the bathroom? But I got to sleep on a bed so yay!

Been sleeping adequate lately but am a bit tired, might get some extra couple of hours on Sunday if I can hopefully.

Also we were on Trending 3 on Scribble Hub, I could go on a tirade about how I never expected this when I first began writing this fic but I'm too sleepy to do that now [Maybe some other day?] so just a thank you to all of you for reading my work, I hope to provide the best I can for your enjoyment.

If you wish to read ahead you can on my Patreon.

Remember sleeping is important, hope everyone has a nice Day/Night and I'm gonna go hog a corner of the bed because a mattress feels heavenly to my back.