With a crisp click, Tōru Azuma returned Fudōmaru to his waist.
He watched the Cursed Spirit before him dissolve and fade away, his eyes flickering thoughtfully as he remained silent.
About an hour had passed since they arrived at the abandoned hospital.
They had made their way from the inpatient wing to the general facilities wing, then through the outer courtyard, and finally to the outpatient wing.
Just now, he had exorcised the last Cursed Spirit.
Utahime Iori, who had been following beside him, nodded with undisguised approval.
“Not bad.
I didn’t expect this abandoned hospital to have so many Cursed Spirits.
There were dozens of Grade 4s alone, and more than a dozen Grade 3s.
Good thing we didn’t run into a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit this time, or it would’ve taken a lot more effort.”
Halfway through, her tone became a little strange.
“Still, some of those Cursed Spirits really are sneaky.
They hide in the weirdest places, even inside cabinets, then jump out the second you get close just to scare you.
Seriously, that’s just awful.”
“Good thing my reflexes were fast.
I took that one out with a single punch.”
Hearing that, Tōru Azuma smiled.
He remembered exactly what had happened.
While he was exorcising the Cursed Spirits in the inpatient wing, he had sensed multiple presences inside one room.
Once he entered, he had immediately started dealing with the Cursed Spirits he could see without thinking much of it.
Utahime Iori had happened to enter the room at the same time and walked past a wardrobe.
Within the range of his perception, the Cursed Spirit inside the wardrobe had overlapped with the others in the room, so he had failed to notice it and naturally hadn’t warned her.
Unexpectedly, the moment Utahime passed by, the Cursed Spirit suddenly sprang out.
She had stumbled back several steps in fright, and only after realizing it was merely a Grade 4 Cursed Spirit did she reinforce her body with Cursed Energy and destroy it with a single punch.
She might look proud of herself now, but he still remembered how panicked she had been at the time…
“What are you laughing at?
Was I wrong?”
Apparently sensing there was something behind his smile, Utahime Iori frowned.
“Of course not.
Your reactions really were fast, senpai.
If you hadn’t happened to be right there, I probably would’ve had to go through some extra trouble.”
“Hmph, as long as you know.
Me stepping in might affect your evaluation a little, but that Cursed Spirit attacked me first, so I had no choice but to defend myself.”
“Besides, you’ve already exorcised this many Cursed Spirits, and you handled the entire process almost perfectly.
It shouldn’t be a problem.”
As she spoke, she glanced at the phone in her hand.
Seeing that it still wasn’t too late, a hint of anticipation appeared in her eyes.
“Now that the last Cursed Spirit is gone, our mission should be finished.
Once we record the situation here and notify the assistant manager to come over, we can leave.”
Then, sounding rather interested, she added, “Maybe we can grab something to eat on the way back.
I heard there’s a crepe shop in Shibuya that’s really good.
Want to go try it together?”
It wasn’t because he was worried that eating sweets right after exercising would make him gain weight or anything like that.
He had noticed something more important.
“There’s still something we need to deal with before we leave.
Senpai, haven’t you noticed something strange?”
The girl, who had been looking forward to getting crepes, froze.
“Strange…?
What’s strange?
Didn’t we already confirm that there aren’t any traces of Cursed Spirits left?
We should’ve taken care of everything, right?”
Seeing her confusion, Tōru Azuma explained.
“Think about it, senpai.
There seems to be a pattern to how these Cursed Spirits were distributed.
Most of the Grade 4s and ungraded ones were in the inpatient wing and general facilities wing, while almost all of the Grade 3s were inside this outpatient building, right?”
When he pointed it out, Utahime Iori, who hadn’t thought much of it before, paused as a thoughtful look entered her eyes.
“And did you notice?
The Grade 3 Cursed Spirits were concentrated around the top floor and the third floor.
There was only one on the second floor, and not a single one on the first.”
By this point, even someone slow on the uptake would have understood.
“So…
they were instinctively avoiding something?”
“Yes.
I suspect there’s something on the first floor of the outpatient wing, or more likely underground.
There may be a stronger Cursed Spirit down there, which is why the others instinctively stayed away from that direction.”
After hearing his theory, Utahime immediately pulled out the information the assistant manager had given them earlier.
After flipping through it for a while, she found something that supported his suspicion.
“You’re right…
The previous assistant managers only recorded clearing out the other areas.
It looks like they’ve never gone into the basement because there was almost no Cursed Energy response down there.”
Then she offered another possibility.
“So if there really is a Cursed Spirit down there that knows how to hide itself, it has to be at least Grade 2.
Only a Cursed Spirit at that level would have basic intelligence and be able to use an environment like this hospital to conceal its presence.”
Tōru Azuma nodded.
That lined up with what they already knew.
A Grade 2 Cursed Spirit had appeared in this abandoned hospital before, so another one being born here wouldn’t be particularly surprising.
The only difference was that this one had learned to hide itself.
“So, should we notify Jujutsu High and suspend the mission for now?”
He had expected someone with Utahime’s personality to choose the safer option, but to his surprise, she rejected the idea.
“I don’t think we should.
Jujutsu High knows a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit appeared here before, yet they still sent us on this mission.
They probably accounted for the possibility of something like this happening.
In that case, exorcising it should be the best choice.”
Tōru Azuma agreed without much hesitation.
This wasn’t his first time facing a Grade 2 Cursed Spirit.
Even if one really was lurking in the basement, it wasn’t beyond his ability to deal with. Get faster updates on g.com.
Besides, his judgment might simply be wrong.
After briefly tidying up the area, the two left the fourth floor and headed down to the first.
Once they checked the hospital floor plan, they followed the corridor toward the underground passage and eventually arrived in front of a heavy iron door covered in rust and corrosion.
Tōru Azuma gave Utahime a look, signaling her to stay alert.
A thin layer of blue Cursed Energy flared around his body, and he drove his foot hard into the door, sending the heavy iron slab flying.
A deafening crash echoed through the empty basement.
After bursting through the doorway, however, he didn’t immediately search for traces of the Cursed Spirit.
Instead, he quickly swept his gaze across both sides of the entrance.
After the earlier ambush, both of them knew better than to lower their guard in an environment like this.
Strangely, despite the tremendous noise, the basement remained pitch-black and silent.
Nothing leaped out from behind the door or from any of the corners.
Utahime Iori relaxed slightly.
“Looks like there isn’t a Cursed Spirit down here after all.
Maybe we were overthinking…”
Before she could finish, a violent surge of Cursed Energy suddenly descended from directly above them.
Only then did she realize that the Cursed Spirit hadn’t been hiding somewhere inside the basement.
It had been clinging to the ceiling.
The attack came so suddenly that she didn’t even have time to reinforce her body and dodge.
Tōru Azuma grabbed her and pulled her into his arms before lunging to the side, narrowly avoiding the attack that had clearly been prepared in advance.
With a thunderous crash and fragments of stone scattering everywhere, the two retreated toward the wall and turned their attention to the Cursed Spirit that had attacked them.
Only then did they see its full appearance.
It was a massive humanoid monster, its entire body wrapped in bloodstained bandages.
Its limbs were unnaturally twisted and elongated, while the nails on its hands and feet looked exceptionally sharp.
At that moment, it was forcefully pulling both hands out of the floor.
Looking at the deep holes its claws had left behind, Tōru Azuma knew that if he hadn’t reacted quickly enough, the attack might have pierced straight through both of them and left them unable to fight.
And because its carefully prepared ambush had missed, the Cursed Spirit hadn’t been able to immediately follow up with another attack.
“Senpai, are you okay?
You’re not hurt, are you?”
Keeping his eyes on the Cursed Spirit as it slowly turned toward them, he quietly checked on Utahime Iori.
The girl in his arms seemed to only now realize what had just happened.
Her face reddened as she hurriedly pulled herself free, speaking in a flustered voice.
“I…
I’m fine…”
Tōru Azuma realized that what he had just done was a little awkward, but now wasn’t the time to say anything about it.
He simply drew Fudōmaru and fixed his gaze on the Cursed Spirit as it slowly turned around.
Unlike the other Cursed Spirits, this one was unnervingly quiet.
It hadn’t made a single roar during its attack, nor did it make any sound now.
It simply stood there in silence.
Its eyes were covered by bloodstained bandages, making it seem as though it couldn’t see at all.
Yet its grotesque mouth, packed with jagged teeth, curled into a sinister grin.
Tōru Azuma vaguely sensed that something was wrong, but at this point, all he could do was prepare for battle.
Just then, the Cursed Spirit suddenly straightened its body, plunged both claws into its own chest, and violently tore outward.
In an instant, thick black fog erupted from the gaping wound in its chest and surged toward the two of them.