I'm in an American comic book, and all my teammates are main characters and bosses.

Chapter 20: The Villain's Sudden Emergence – A Form of Last-Die Struggle

There's nowhere to gain leverage in mid-air, so people avoid large jumps in actual combat. If a large jump attack fails to inflict effective damage, the user becomes an easy target for the enemy to focus fire on!

Just like now, nine hollow whips quickly grew on his back. Under Muzan Kibutsuji's excited gaze, the whips filled with the curse of death shot towards Sekiro, who had nowhere to dodge, with an air explosion!

However, at that very moment, to Muzan Kibutsuji's utter bewilderment, Wolf simply flipped over and severed the grappling hook. In mid-air, he abruptly stopped, deploying his parachute to deflect the whip's attack. The next instant, his left arm shot out, and the grappling hook assembly in his system space rapidly replaced it. With a soft thud, the massive grappling hook pierced Muzan Kibutsuji's heart, then with a powerful yank, the unbalanced Muzan was slammed into Wolf's blade!

Previously, this was something wolves would never have dared to imagine—using grappling hooks as consumables.

However, after realizing that the system space could instantly switch items, Wolf more or less understood its usefulness. Like now, in order to get a good rating in his first mission, he immediately used his newbie starting funds to buy ten sets of grappling hooks from the system shop, ten hooks per set. His goal was to maximize the efficiency of his grappling hooks and mobility in battle!

He forcibly pulled Muzan Kibutsuji towards himself. Even before Muzan Kibutsuji touched the wolf, the wolf could clearly see the panic and fear on his face—which further lowered the wolf's opinion of Muzan Kibutsuji.

For Wolf, aside from his prince, the mission is the most important thing. His task is to perfectly execute every mission he receives. But on top of that, Wolf also constantly hones his skills in the process.

As for Muzan Kibutsuji... he has enough strength, but his will is too weak. Let alone being compared to a hero like Isshin who remains unfazed even in the face of death, he is far inferior to even Genichiro.

Thinking this, the wolf's wedge-shaped weapon left a dull arc in the air—*swoosh!*

A flash of silver light appeared, and a streak of blood burst from Muzan Kibutsuji's chest. Feeling the excruciating pain, Muzan Kibutsuji was first filled with fear, but then a look of bewilderment appeared in his eyes, followed by an undisguised ecstasy!

The divine snow has been extinguished!

Out of the corner of his eye, Wolf caught a glimpse of Kusabimaru, who had returned to his simple attire, and a hint of surprise flickered in his eyes.

Wolf knew that Divine Snowfall had a time limit. Thinking back, when he slew the demon named Hantengu, he had indeed only focused on the lethality of Divine Snowfall against such vengeful spirits, without paying attention to its duration… mainly because at the time of the slaying, only the weakest, the Cowardly Demon, remained of Hantengu, who died with a single strike. After sheathing his sword, Divine Snowfall naturally extinguished.

It now appears that the duration of the Divine Snowfall varies from world to world. Whether this is related to the composition of the world's air or the concentration of divine power within the Divine Snowfall remains to be seen and will require further attention.

Thinking to himself, Wolf's expression remained expressionless. Looking at the excited Muzan Kibutsuji before him, he saw Wolf extend his left arm, and a black fire bottle appeared on his prosthetic arm. Then, with a loud boom, the fire bottle erupted with bluish-purple flames.

The flame had no heat whatsoever, and an ordinary person would not be affected even if they touched it. However, when the flame landed on Muzan Kibutsuji, Muzan immediately let out an extremely painful scream.

"Ughhhhhh!!!"

The all-pervasive, pure flames of lapis lazuli, upon contact with Muzan Kibutsuji, spread like wildfire to dry tinder, instantly engulfing his entire body at an astonishing speed. It didn't just penetrate his skin; it seeped deep inside. As he screamed in agony, even his eyes were spitting fire!

But at that very moment, driven by an overwhelming will to survive, Muzan Kibutsuji's body suddenly began to expand at an astonishing rate. Starting from the inside, massive amounts of proliferating flesh enveloped Muzan Kibutsuji's entire body, forcibly pushing the burned parts out of his body through internal proliferation.

Muzan Kibutsuji, who was originally still recognizable as a human, was transformed into a giant baby over three meters tall in an instant.

The infant demon form—sunlight is Muzan Kibutsuji's fatal weakness that he has never been able to overcome. For this reason, Muzan Kibutsuji has been creating lower-level demons for the past thousand years, with the sole purpose of finding the legendary blue spider lily as soon as possible, so that he can achieve his final evolution and become a perfect creature without any blind spots.

After failing to find the Blue Spider Lily for a long time, Muzan Kibutsuji began to search for other ways to overcome his only fatal flaw. This was true of studying modern medicine, and it was also true of developing the Demon Infant form!

A massive amount of flesh and blood continuously proliferates from within his body, taking the form of an infant Muzan Kibutsuji surrounded by death in the womb. Although intended to protect against sunlight, the power of Muzan Kibutsuji in his infant form also surges with the proliferation of fresh flesh and blood. He can easily break not only ordinary weapons, but even the chain-axe and meteor hammer wielded by Gyomei Himejima in the original story!

Seeing this, Wolf was not panicked. Instead, he gripped the wedge-shaped weapon tightly and swung his sword. In the instant he swung his sword, the sharp blade swept across the glassy flames of the flamethrower and enveloped them—Prosthetic Arm Derivative: Fang Slash!

The sharp blade, wreathed in shimmering, pure flames, cleaved the massive body of the ghost infant in two from its abdomen amidst a blazing flash of light. But within the cleavage, the wolf's eyes narrowed slightly.

Just like last time, there was no tangible sensation of flesh being slashed. Looking closely, it became clear that the moment he released his demon infant form, Muzan Kibutsuji decisively broke free from the demon infant's body. This was because the flames were all-pervasive; even in demon infant form, if he didn't escape the flames in time, they would ignite Muzan Kibutsuji's entire body along with the demon infant's flesh!

Another deadly grappling hook suddenly rang out—like a nightmare, the moment Muzan Kibutsuji heard the sound, an extreme fear erupted from behind him. Without even turning around, Muzan's body began to swell once more before Wolf's eyes. However, this time the swelling wasn't the previous internal growth of flesh and blood; it was a literal expansion, and then, an explosion!

Wolf slashed with his sword, but before the blade could even touch Muzan Kibutsuji's body, Muzan's body exploded into countless pieces of flesh with a loud bang!

Seeing this, Wolf immediately changed his move without hesitation, combining the exquisite techniques of the Kui Ninja's Giant Ninja Thrust, the Ashina Style's Ashina Cross Slash, and the ultimate technique Flying Boat, and after Wolf's development, he created Flying Boat Whirlpool Cloud!

In an instant, the surging sword blade stirred the surrounding air, and with each swing of the blade, visible storm-like white streaks erupted around the wolf. Accompanied by the Fang Slash, the piercing sword light and blazing blue-green flames almost instantly captured the attention of everyone in sight.

Almost instantly, the walls surrounding the Infinity Castle were torn to shreds by the sword wind, scattering debris everywhere. Within this chaos, Muzan Kibutsuji could clearly feel his own body being annihilated at an alarming rate. First, the sword wind sliced ​​through his flesh, then the blazing flames ignited the remaining fragments. This annihilation wasn't a series of isolated attacks; rather, it was as if a wall was relentlessly pursuing him, destroying everything it touched!

"I can't die! I can't die!! I haven't finished evolving yet! Just one step away, just one step away!!!"

A raging roar echoed in his mind, and an intense will to survive erupted within Muzan Kibutsuji. Fueled by this ever-growing desire, Muzan felt an invisible force burst forth within him. Then, amidst the already flying bits of flesh, larger chunks exploded again, their speed increasing dramatically. Just before his body was completely annihilated, a portion of Muzan's flesh managed to splatter to the other side of the door.

Immediately afterwards, the door that had been slammed shut was cleaved in two by the blade, but apart from the broken pieces of wood, nothing else of any use was left.

Looking at the empty corridor before him, the wolf's eyes didn't show much emotion; instead, he narrowed them with a serious expression.

Although the exchange was brief, Wolf was already fairly certain of the abilities of this guy named Kibutsuji Muzan and the speed of his body's regeneration. If his senses hadn't been malfunctioning, Kibutsuji Muzan should have died in the flying vortex cloud, so why… that inexplicably erupting power…

"World Virus"

During the team voice chat, Ron's voice came through Wolf's ear, his voice filled with a hint of keen interest as he said, "This is my first time encountering the World Virus. It seems that the World Virus has the ability to push the host beyond its limits in critical situations... Hmm, it's a sample worth considering."

Upon hearing Ron's voice, Wolf nodded thoughtfully—if the power that Muzan Kibutsuji later unleashed originated from the World Virus, then there's no problem.

To this, the wolf simply said in a deep voice, "I failed."

"Don't be like that, I'd make a mistake too," Ron said casually.

"No one knows when such an unexpected situation will occur, especially since it is closely related to the World Virus. Moreover, this is also an opportunity. Intelligence shows that the World Virus on Muzan Kibutsuji is of a low level and there is no possibility of additional mutations. This is a good opportunity to learn more about it."

"I've taken control of Nakime's side. The Infinity Castle is now completely sealed off, both inside and out. He can't escape."

"……OK."

Upon hearing Ron's words, a cold glint flashed in the wolf's eyes.

He then expressionlessly sheathed the scimitar back to his waist and slowly untied the katana from his back, holding it in his hand along with its scabbard.

The Mortal Blade is not a divine weapon, but a special ritual blade. Ordinary people, even just drawing the blade, will have all their life force drained the moment the dark red edge is drawn. Furthermore, it requires immense mental stress to use—therefore, except against truly formidable enemies, Wolf rarely uses the Mortal Blade in combat.

But now...

His eyes were filled with indifference—whether that thing called the World Virus could be used a second time or not, the wolf wouldn't give Muzan Kibutsuji a chance to use it.

The next moment, a portal appeared before the wolf. Without the slightest hesitation, the wolf stepped through it.

Appearing directly on the other side of the Infinity Castle, Muzan Kibutsuji showed no joy at escaping. On the contrary, after his flesh was reassembled, Muzan Kibutsuji now appeared sickly weak.

When Muzan first encountered Yoriichi Tsugikuni, he managed to escape after some effort, managing to burrow into pieces about the size of a human head. Now, however, he first self-destructed, then exploded again on top of that, his flesh shattered. Even after passing through the portal, he only managed to escape the ninja's fatal attack, leaving behind only finger-sized chunks of flesh.

Humanity needs a large number of humans.

He looked up at the "blood packs" that had been prepared beforehand. Seeing Muzan Kibutsuji's expression, he realized something was wrong, and immediately several soldiers, their faces filled with panic, pointed their muskets at Muzan Kibutsuji.

Seeing this, Muzan Kibutsuji narrowed his eyes slightly—not those from Shinjuku, but those from the Imperial Palace? Perfect, these pampered nobles have more nourishing blood!

Thinking this, Muzan Kibutsuji's body transformed into a blur as he pounced forward. In an instant, accompanied by the splattering sound of flesh and blood tearing apart, all the pre-prepared "blood packs" in the area were consumed, and Muzan Kibutsuji's body began to recover at an astonishing speed. The weakness that was previously visible to the naked eye had almost instantly recovered to more than 40%.

Not enough, not enough!

Kibutsuji Muzan gritted his teeth—but these people were simply not enough to make up for his losses!

But just as Muzan Kibutsuji was about to summon Nakime to open the doors to the other blood pack rooms, a large door opened, revealing a wolf with its hand on the long sword at its waist.

Why is he here?!

Muzan Kibutsuji's eyes were filled with terror, then he quickly realized that Nakime had betrayed him. Anger and fear simultaneously gripped Muzan's heart, but this intertwined emotion of fear and anger didn't last long. For in the next instant, Wolf drew his long sword—

Mortal Blade: Dragon Flash!

Even though there were still more than ten meters between him and the door, in just an instant, a black and red blood-red light filled Muzan Kibutsuji's entire field of vision!

The vast, black and red blood-red sword light transformed into a long rainbow, and in the instant it engulfed Muzan Kibutsuji, it continued its momentum, slashing out a sword mark nearly a hundred meters long!

(End of this chapter)