They won the Holy Grail War, but this turned out to be the Virtual Tree Universe.

Chapter 9: The water column is filled with water.

The last guest that Dan Lei mentioned was none other than Tomioka Giyu, who rushed over after hearing about the ghost attacking people.

This is what he saw at that moment.

A figure dressed in elaborate attire (comparing the clothes of ordinary people in the Immortal Ship era to those of the Taisho era) uses an unknown power to levitate a girl in the air, with flames erupting from his hands as if he were about to roast her in front of another boy. At the same time, there is a strong ghostly aura surrounding the three of them.

So, which of these three is the ghost?
Giyu Tomioka said he didn't need to think much about this question; he would run at full speed while making a drawing motion as if drawing a sword, and then swing the sword the moment he burst out of the jungle.

Water Breathing First Form: Water Surface Slash

The knife, wrapped in water, transformed into a water blade and slashed directly at Dan Lei's neck.

Dan Lei had actually spotted Tomioka Giyu when he was still several hundred meters away, but he didn't do anything at the time. He just turned around and looked at him with a schadenfreude as he rushed out of the woods.

With a clang, Giyu Tomioka's horizontal slash was deflected by a long katana that appeared out of nowhere. The immense force forced Giyu Tomioka to perform a backflip in mid-air to create distance and take three steps back to dissipate the impact.

Seeing the suddenly appearing blue-haired swordsman, Giyu Tomioka asked with an unusually serious expression.

"Who are you? Why are you protecting this ghost?"

Sasaki Kojiro remained silent in response to Tomioka Giyu's question, but slowly walked to Dan Lei's side and stood guard to show his attitude.

Dan Lei shook his hand, extinguishing the flame, and looked at Tomioka Giyuu, asking bluntly...

"That's the question I should be asking you: Why did you attack me? Did you also want to stop me from killing this ghost?"

It was only then that Giyu Tomioka realized that the aura of the demon was coming from the "girl" who was trapped in the air by unknown means. The aura of the man in front of him was very strange, but it was very different from the demon. It was not like a human either, but more like a large beast.

As for the man's bodyguard, Yoshiyuki Tomioka said that even when they were face to face, he still couldn't sense any presence from the man, as if he didn't exist.

The fact that this person has no eyes for words proves that he is not a special kind of demon like the Upper or Lower Moon.

If it were a human being, it would remind Giyu Tomioka of a legendary martial arts realm: the unity of man and nature.

Of course, Sasaki Kojiro's martial arts level is very high. Although he is a fictional character, he is a swordsmanship genius recognized by the human restraint force.

However, the fact that Giyu Tomioka could not sense any aura even when he was face to face with him was not due to the so-called state of oneness with heaven and man.

【Presence Concealment D】A skill inherent to the Assassin class. It might be useless against master-level warriors, but it's more than enough to affect Giyu Tomioka at this moment.

With such a person protecting Danlei, Tomioka Giyuu dared not act rashly, so he spoke again.

"Swordsman, the guy you're protecting isn't human. He can levitate people and his hands can produce fire. This is Blood Demon Art used by a demon. Don't be fooled!"

However, despite all that Giyu Tomioka had said, Kojiro Sasaki still didn't bother to reply, since whether Danlei was human or not was a topic that didn't need to be discussed.

So, here it was Danlei who answered Tomioka Giyuu's question.
"Seriously, looks like we've run into a local vampire hunter. Sure enough, there aren't many vampire hunters who are easy to talk to."

In short, calm down. I'm a living person, a sorcerer. My ability to manipulate fire, water, and lightning is merely a skill taught by my sect.

As Dan Lei spoke, he used his magic to condense a fireball, a water ball, and a lightning ball around his body, each with almost no power, making Tanjiro look like he was seeing a god.

However, Giyu Tomioka didn't believe Danrui's words at all. He said that with so many tricks up his sleeve, this demon was definitely not an ordinary demon. It might even be able to mind control humans, which was how the expert guarding it came to be. That's why the expert remained silent. It's safe to say that Danrui had no idea what Giyu Tomioka was thinking. Otherwise, he would definitely have exclaimed, "You're really smart! Do you have to have water in your brain to become the Water Pillar?"

However, feeling that further communication was useless, Tomioka Giyuu prepared to take action again. He believed that as long as he killed the demon, the master being controlled would naturally break free of the control.

Suddenly, foam swirled around him, and his figure vanished instantly, leaving only a few splashes of water to prove that someone had just been there.

【Water Breathing Ninth Form: Water Flow and Spray】

By minimizing the landing time and area during the movement, one can move freely and unrestricted. This is the most mobile move in Water Breathing.

Giyu Tomioka, who was leaping at high speed across the snow, was naturally still aiming for Danlei.

However, just as he entered within ten meters of Dan Lei, Sasaki Kojiro reappeared in front of him and once again sent Tomioka Giyu flying with a single sword strike.

Moreover, Yoshiyuki Tomioka's repeated attacks on Dan Lei had already made Kojiro Sasaki see him as a threat. He charged straight at the knocked-back Yoshiyuki Tomioka, preparing to kill him with a single blow.

Fortunately, Dan Lei spoke up immediately when Sasaki Kojiro showed signs of aggression.
“Sasaki, don’t kill him. We need to establish contact with the local indigenous people.”

Dan Lei spoke in time; Sasaki Kojiro's knife stopped just above Tomioka Giyu's right shoulder blade. If it had been 0.1 seconds later, Tomioka Giyu would have been cut in two.

Looking at Giyu Tomioka, who had narrowly escaped death, Dan Lei spoke again.
"Alright, now that you know the difference in strength between the two sides, can we have a proper talk?"

Let me introduce myself. My name is Dan Lei, and I just arrived in this country today.

The reason I came to this country is because I heard there are monsters here that resemble vampires and Dead Apostles, so I came specifically to see them.

My organization is called the Sea Patrol Knights. Please take care of me in the future.

"By the way, from what you just said, you're here to kill demons, and your target is this demon-turned girl next to me?"

Here, Danlei's impersonation of the Sea Patrol Ranger is just a casual arrangement, because it sounds more believable and Tanjiro's overpowered nose won't easily detect the lie. After all, there's no way a real Sea Patrol Ranger in this world would jump out and say he's an imposter.

However, at this moment, Giyu Tomioka was completely oblivious to what a sea patrol knight was.

He only knew that he was no match for the swordsman in front of him, and after hearing Dan Lei say that he was a foreigner, he began to carefully examine Dan Lei.

Then Giyu Tomioka realized that he had indeed been reckless, because although Dan Lei's clothes were gorgeous, they were clearly not local styles.

Moreover, their appearance doesn't resemble that of a local; it's more like that of people from mainland China.

Realizing he might have misunderstood, Giyu Tomioka, though still wary, rose and bowed in apology.

"Sorry, I mistook you for a ghost because I saw that you could use fire."

As for my goal, I am indeed hunting down the ghost that killed the charcoal seller's family on the mountain not long ago.

After saying that, Giyu Tomioka looked at Nezuko, who was still struggling in the air, and his meaning was clear: he believed that this was the murderer.

(End of this chapter)