Kuon receives payment for her services to the village, and Haku shows that he has a head for maths, being able to do mental arithmetic on fairly large numbers easily. A group of men has been injured after encountering some creatures called gigiri, and Kuon treats them with her herbs. Ukon decides to go out with some village warriors to hunt these gigiri, and asks Kuon to join, as they may have need of her healing skills. She agrees on the condition that Haku join as well. As before Haku is quickly exhausted by the trek up the mountains and meets a court scholar riding in their cart named Maroro. Haku learns from Maroro that the gigiri are sort of like the insect-like monster he encountered previously.
They lay a trap of rotting meat and a large number of the gigiri are drawn to it, and Maroro casts a magical spell that sends fire that kills many of them, while Ukon and the rest of the village warriors finish off the rest. A much larger gigiri, called a boro-gigiri appears, evidently the same sort of creature that Haku encountered before, and it manages to kill a few of the village warriors even as more gigiri appear. Kuon gives Haku a metal fan that he is able to use as a weapon, while Ukon orders the rest of the warriors to retreat while he, Kuon, and Haku execute a plan to use the same cursed slime (tatari) in the cavern to consume this boro-gigiri the way it did the other one previously.