7: How much completion % are you worth?

"One, two, three…" Jonghyuk slowly drew the Nichirin Blade from his back, counting softly under his breath.

The demon that had just tossed a human head at him had already devoured four or five people, and its hands had mutated into sharp claws.

Seeing the large fool standing there, facing a group of demons without fleeing, instead standing still and counting, a sinister grin spread across its face.

"Counting the number of diners, are you? Let me see how much meat you've got!"

Its legs had already undergone a grotesque transformation, bending oddly like a rabbit's legs. As soon as it finished speaking, its powerful thighs straightened abruptly, launching its body like a shadow towards Jonghyuk.

Over the years, Jonghyuk had not only trained his body but also engaged in plenty of combat training. He had even used specialized equipment to train his dynamic vision daily, all in preparation for dealing with the high-speed attacks so common in anime worlds.

Without blinking, he tracked the demon's movement with perfect clarity. As the demon leaped, Jonghyuk swiftly drew his Nichirin Blade, raising it high with both hands.

A chilling aura suddenly radiated from him.

Whoosh! Splurt!

A piercing whistle echoed, followed by a muffled sound.

A massive flash of the blade swept across in front of Jonghyuk.

The demon's expression froze in shock, its pupils trembling. It only realized something was wrong when it felt its body lighten.

As it twisted in midair to look, it saw its lower half already flying past the towering figure and landing in the bushes.

'I.. I've been cut in half?'

A strong hand instantly grabbed the demon by its hair, lifting its upper body into the air.

The demon finally caught a glimpse of the tall figure's expression. Far from being terrified, Jonghyuk's eyes gleamed with something terrifying—greed.

"Heh~ I'm counting... how much my task completion rate will increase!"

The sharp whistle of the blade filled the air again. The demon only felt a gust of wind hit its face, barely managing to raise its mutated claws to shield its neck.

Slash!

Both the claws and the neck were severed in a single strike, and the demon's consciousness quickly faded.

[Side Mission 1: Complete the final trial of the Demon Slayer Swordsman.]

[Task Status: Survive for seven days on Fujikasane Mountain (1/7).]

[Trial Mission 2: Kill at least one demon (Completion Rate: 120%).]

Jonghyuk frowned.

This demon was clearly stronger than the one in the temple, yet the completion rate only increased by 20%. It seemed that the first 100% was a fixed completion rate, and any additional progress would depend on the strength and number of demons he defeated.

As these thoughts passed through his mind, Jonghyuk dragged the over two-meter-long Nichirin Blade with one hand, turning to face the demons lurking on the trees and standing in the forest.

"Heh," A sinister smile spread across his face.

With his towering height and long legs, Jonghyuk's movements were massive, like a beast charging into battle.

The demons that had been brought to Fujikasane Mountain were mostly used to encountering young swordsmen coming to participate in the trial. They had never faced such a fierce opponent before. Seeing one of their own get decapitated in a single encounter, some of the demons began to feel fear and turned to flee.

However, there were still some demons whose minds had been clouded by the "scent of humans."

With ferocious cries, they lunged forward.

Whoosh!

A massive gust of wind howled through the air.

Slash! Slash!

The sound of a large blade cutting through flesh echoed repeatedly.

[Completion Rate: 130%]

[Completion Rate: 140%]

[Completion Rate: 155%]

A demon, barely a meter tall and resembling a monkey, crouched on a treetop.

It watched as the tall human below unleashed a terrifying storm of blade strikes, slicing through seven or eight greedy demons and mercilessly beheading them.

The demon's throat bobbed twice as it involuntarily shrank back behind the tree.

Haa!

It accidentally made eye contact with the human below who was frantically slashing through demons.

The greed and bloodlust in those eyes shocked it, causing its face to turn pale. It couldn't remember the last time it had felt this emotion called fear.

The monkey-like demon used all its limbs to push off, suddenly leaping from one tree branch to another, continuing to jump away.

This kind of human was not prey for demons of its level.

Whoosh!

The dull sound of wind cutting through the air echoed again.

The monkey demon felt a sharp pain in its chest as a tremendous force pinned it to the trunk of a tree ahead.

Seeing Jonghyuk throw the Nichirin blade, a demon hiding in the shadows excitedly lunged forward.

After throwing the Nichirin blade, Jonghyuk's movements became even more fluid. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a demon with sharp teeth leaping toward him from the side. With a slight movement of his right arm, he smashed his fist into the demon's chest. The demon's movements halted as a large hand gripped its neck.

Jonghyuk, holding the smaller demon in one hand, walked towards his Nichirin blade. No matter how much the demon struggled, it couldn't break free from that terrifying strength.

"H.. How—"

Slash! Slash!

[Trial Task 2: Kill at least one demon (Completion Rate: 220%)]

...

Jonghyuk slowly sheathed the Nichirin blade on his back. The completion rate given by these demons was far lower than he had expected.

'It seems that just dealing with these "small fry" wouldn't be enough to earn a higher rating in the trial.'

...

The massive Hand Demon had long lost track of how long it had been in this forest—twenty years, thirty years, forty years, perhaps even longer.

Over the years, its only pleasure had been slaughtering those masked brats whenever a trial began.

At other times, it had no interest in interacting with its weaker kin or bothering to hunt down the occasional human.

But today, the commotion at the edge of the forest had caught its attention. It seemed that quite a few demons had headed toward the entrance.

'Another trial starting today?'

What puzzled it was that the human scent wasn't particularly strong.

''Ahhhhhhh!''

A scream suddenly echoed from a nearby part of the forest, not far from where the Hand Demon resided.

Annoyed, the Hand Demon revealed its enormous form from the dark, foggy woods. Although it didn't care much for staking out territory, it found it somewhat irritating that those weaklings were hunting so close to it.

"Ugh!"

The screaming continued, and the Hand Demon's massive body caused quite a disturbance as it moved through the forest. Like a giant beast, it snapped every tree in its path, heading directly toward the source of the screams.

As it got closer, it began to catch a faint whiff of human scent.

"Tch, only this many left? Looks like I won't find those cute little foxes this time."

The Hand Demon swatted down a massive, leafy tree in front of it, its enormous and bloated body emerging onto a clearing. It was evident that this so-called "clearing" had been forcefully carved out by slashing down trees all around.

"Hand Demon-sama, please save—"

Smack

The Hand Demon's pupils contracted. It suddenly realized that this wasn't the feeding frenzy of multiple demons it had expected.

The screams it had heard earlier were likely all from the devoured demons!

Jonghyuk casually sliced through the demon he was holding and finally turned his attention to the "latecomer," the Hand Demon.

The other's massive size and completely mutated appearance unmistakably signified that this demon was far stronger than any of the others in the mountain.

The Hand Demon glanced at the slowly dissipating remains of the demon, trying to estimate how many other demons Jonghyuk had already slain and how much strength he had left.

But Jonghyuk simply lifted his over two-meter-long Nichirin blade with one hand, pointed it at the Hand Demon, and wiped the sweat from his temple with his left hand.

"So? Hand Demon 'Sama', let us see—how much completion percentage are you worth!"

__________