Kurourushi, a Special Grade Cursed Spirit.
Released by Kenjaku from Cursed Spirit Manipulation to participate as a player in the Culling Game.
At least, that’s how it was supposed to be.
Kinoshita looked down at the dormant Kurourushi inside the massive crater beneath his feet, a benevolent smile appearing on his face.
True, the Binding Vow he had just formed with Kenjaku prevented Kinoshita from directly killing Kurourushi—and even if he chopped the sleeping cursed spirit to pieces, it wouldn’t pose much of a threat; a cursed spirit could regenerate in the blink of an eye.
Therefore, Kinoshita quickly found an alternative solution.
If you didn’t know much about cockroaches, you might think they are creatures capable of burrowing out from deep underground.
But if you actually understood them, you’d know:
A cockroach’s legs are typical cursorial legs—long, slender, and covered in bristles, primarily designed for rapid running and climbing.
The so-called cockroaches that “burst from the soil” have actually just buried themselves in a very thin layer of dirt; they only need to break free from that thin crust to move freely.
Their bodies are flat, a structure meant for squeezing into crevices, not for excavating tunnels through densely packed earth.
Of course, Kurourushi was no lowly insect.
As a cursed spirit, it could literally just chew its way out of the dirt if it had to.
Therefore, this was merely a stalling tactic for Kinoshita.
If he just let this guy wander out and hurt people, there would probably be a massive number of civilian casualties, right?
Regardless, he’d just have to bury Kurourushi as deep as possible.
Recalling the Divine Dogs that were happily bouncing around on the flattened ground to compact the soil, Kinoshita formed a hand sign, replicating Nue’s cursed technique onto his own body.
“If I want to establish connections with other colonies, I’ll need to get 100 points, right?”
Kinoshita flapped his wings, muttering to himself as he soared high into the sky.
After carefully reviewing the rules, Kinoshita looked up and called out to the empty air.
“Kogane.”
Poof!
“To add a rule allowing teleportation between colonies—is that possible?”
The little white cursed spirit, looking like a flying intercom, flapped its wings in the air but remained silent.
“Points are required.”
“Meaning it is possible, right?”
“Points are required.”
Understanding the little bug’s implication, Kinoshita opened his eyes and flapped his wings.
With a sonic boom from his high-speed acceleration, he left a trail of crackling lightning across the sky.
“Help… help!!”
“Hahahaha!!! Run all you want!”
On the streets of Sendai, a young man wearing a security guard uniform was sprinting desperately.
Behind him was a sorcerer dragging a bizarrely long blade—another player.
“Dammit, dammit, dammit! First, I see a dead guy come back to life, then I almost get crushed by a giant, and now there’s a psychopathic killer! What the hell is this place?!!!”
The man in the security uniform was none other than Mamoru Ito, the very first person Kinoshita had encountered.
But the overturned crates, metal racks, and even the thrown bricks were effortlessly deflected by his pursuer.
“Ah~ I’m getting a little bored of this game. Even in the modern era, monkeys are still monkeys… Whenever they run into something beyond their comprehension, they just shriek and run away…”
The man with the long blade lashed out with a kick, sending Mamoru flying into a wall.
Then, dragging his sword, he walked step-by-step toward the cornered guard.
“Cough… I… I’m warning you… this… this is illegal!”
“Hah?”
Mamoru slumped on the ground, gasping heavily for air.
Taking a hit like that had practically drained all his strength.
“What the hell are you talking about, you bastard?”
The man scratched his face with one hand while raising the long blade at Mamoru with the other.
“Hah. Monkeys like you who hide behind sorcerers… You’ve been saved by sorcerers time and time again, yet you don’t know the first thing about gratitude. That’s why I absolutely despise you.”
The blade’s edge was aimed squarely at Mamoru’s head.
Mamoru wanted to struggle, but he didn’t have a shred of energy left.
“My cursed technique strengthens the hardness and durability of my blade by absorbing the negative energy of others. Do you know? For a monkey like you, being stabbed to death while drowning in absolute despair provides the absolute best nourishment for my technique.”
Mamoru gritted his teeth.
Through his recent experiences, he had roughly pieced together what was going on.
Though he didn’t entirely understand what a “sorcerer” did, it sounded like they were a group of superhumans meant to protect humanity.
“People like you! How many humans have you killed?! You’re probably worse than a cursed spirit!”
Mamoru roared the words, causing a look of deep displeasure to flash across the man’s face.
“I originally just wanted the points… but you’ve really pissed me off!”
“Now I’m going to chop off your arms and legs and let you die in agonizing pain!!!”
Seeing the man raise his sword, Mamoru instinctively threw up his hands and squeezed his eyes shut.
“A monkey like you should just be happy to become my nourishment!!!”
Following the man’s roar, Mamoru felt as if his ears had been deafened; he couldn’t hear any normal sounds.
The anticipated wounds never materialized.
Mamoru slowly opened his eyes, only to find that the man from just a second ago had completely vanished.
Standing in his place was a man wreathed in crackling lightning, sporting a pair of orange avian wings.
Poof!
“Five points have been added.”
Along with a mysterious, abruptly appearing creature speaking human language.
“Oh, it’s you.”
Kinoshita turned around and looked at Mamoru.
Suddenly remembering something, he reached into the black shadows of his pocket.
“Here. The ten thousand yen I borrowed from you earlier.”
He raised his hand and subconsciously accepted the returned money.
After handing the money over, Kinoshita kicked the hilt of the sword lying on the ground over to the wall.
“Kogane, is this guy a player?”
“Yes.”
“Ah…”
Kinoshita turned back and carefully inspected Mamoru.
This guy clearly wasn’t an incarnated ancient sorcerer; he was most likely just some poor sap Kenjaku had roped into this mess.
Not only that, he was a sorcerer who hadn’t even properly realized his own cursed technique yet.
For someone like him, if he didn’t get killed right at the start, he probably wouldn’t end up killing anyone else later on either.
Thinking about what was destined to happen next, Kinoshita pondered for a brief moment.
“If you can, you’d better figure out your own ‘thing’ quickly, Ito.”
Leaving behind that cryptic piece of advice, Kinoshita lightly tapped the ground and flapped his wings.
Amidst the rush of wind and the crackle of electricity, Mamoru finally pushed himself off the ground.
Only then did he take in the scene before him.
The man who had been ruthlessly hunting him down had been reduced to nothing more than a scorch mark of lightning on the floor.
There wasn’t even a trace of cooked flesh to trigger Mamoru’s gag reflex; the pursuer had been completely vaporized by the man’s sheer landing impact.
At that realization, Mamoru felt a violent lurch in his stomach, and he immediately threw up.
“Kogane, how many points do I have right now?”
Accompanied by the hum of electric arcs and rushing wind, the white cursed spirit flew at almost the exact same speed as Kinoshita.
“Your current score is 45 points.”
“At this rate…”
I should be able to freely enter and exit the colony by tomorrow, right?
Just as this thought surfaced—Kinoshita caught sight of another person floating in the sky.
To be precise, it was a woman floating amidst a churning sea of clouds.
Although she only appeared for a split second, she was definitely there.
Takako Uro?
Kinoshita abruptly halted his flight, sniffing the “scent” in the air.
Amidst the crisp, cool scent of the “sky,” there was the distinct smell of a “human.”
“Hey.”
As Kinoshita stopped, the space in the direction he was gazing began to distort.
Immediately after, a cold, clear female voice rang out.
“You noticed me, didn’t you? What method did you use?”
I guess it makes sense for the stronger sorcerers of different Era’s to have RCT, didn’t make much sense to me that any talented modern sorcerer is able to it but the strongest of an era aren’t.