Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
At this moment Ryuji felt the surrounding sensation of weightlessness, his heart tensed to the extreme.
Because after he forced his eyes open, he saw the scenery below.
The green waters and mountains were indeed very beautiful, but Ryuji had no time to appreciate the view.
Right now he was plummeting downward at high speed from the sky!
“That goddamn goddess!”
After roaring once in mid-air, he instinctively crossed both hands upward, forming the posture of a bird flapping its wings to fly.
The Ten Shadows Technique—this golden finger’s ability had already been completely engraved into Ryuji’s mind during his freefall.
Using shadows as a medium, then arranging both hands into the shape of the shikigami one wished to summon from the Ten Shadows Technique, just like playing hand-shadow games as a child.
Finally, calling out the name of the shikigami one wished to summon counted as success.
“Nue!”
Swoosh!
And after Ryuji called out the name of that shikigami, sure enough a rapid figure charged straight toward him.
It was a giant owl wearing a pure white mask.
This was the shikigami Ryuji had summoned.
If he could get it to grab his arm and act as a hang glider for a slow descent, then Ryuji would be able to survive safely.
But…
“Kree!”
Judging from the momentum of this guy’s cry and the speed at which it was charging, it seemed the visitor came with ill intent…
“Tch!”
Of course Ryuji knew this as well.
A sorcerer who possessed the Ten Shadows Technique who wished to use a summoned shikigami still had to “tame” it first.
But at this moment Ryuji could not care about that many things.
He had to make use of the other party first.
“Get over here! You beast!”
Roaring, Ryuji stretched his arm toward that giant orange-red owl.
“Kree!”
Rip!
In the end, Ryuji’s entire hand was pierced through and clamped tightly by the other party’s sharp claws.
Blood scattered through the air, but this was exactly what he wanted.
Enduring some pain to cling to the other party’s body—if luck was good he could keep entangled like this all the way until they reached the ground.
If luck was bad…
Zzzzt—
Just as Ryuji was thinking about what to do next, purple electricity surged across the Nue’s body.
Looking at this, a drop of cold sweat rolled down Ryuji’s temple.
That was the Nue’s ability—it could generate electric shocks.
At this moment Ryuji had no foothold in the air that would allow him to run, and on top of that his hand was still tightly clamped by the other party.
Even if he wanted to run he could not.
I’m going to die…
This thought suddenly popped into Ryuji’s mind.
He found it somewhat absurd and laughable.
What “lucky one among over a billion people”?
In the end it only let him die a dozen or so minutes later, and what’s more, he would be electrocuted to death by his own summoned creature?
He refused to accept it.
He did not want to accept it.
After dying once, he understood more clearly than ever before the beauty of staying alive, and wanted even more to keep living.
The idea of calmly going to one’s death was something Ryuji had never possessed.
Because once dead, there was nothing left.
Even if later generations boasted about how amazing he was, so what?
Once he was dead he would no longer be able to feel anything.
No…
“I absolutely must live!”
A desperate conviction ignited in Ryuji’s heart.
On his lowered left fist, energy resembling blue flames surged.
Cursed Energy—energy converted from humanity’s negative emotions.
At this moment Ryuji’s Cursed Energy surged greatly because of fear and indignation.
In the end he concentrated all the Cursed Energy inside his body onto his uninjured left fist.
“Behave yourself!”
Bang!
Immediately afterward Ryuji directly smashed the fist wrapped in Cursed Energy onto the Nue’s mask.
“Kree!”
This not only caused the other party to let out a mournful cry, the purple electricity it had been charging was also forced to stop.
“Not enough!”
Bang bang bang!
After landing one successful strike, Ryuji did not choose to stop and continue stalemating with the other party in mid-air.
He had decided.
If he wanted to survive at this high altitude, he had to completely tame the other party and make this shikigami into his own possession.
Therefore he showed no mercy as he poured fists wrapped in Cursed Energy onto the other party’s body.
“Kree!”
Finally, the Nue was the first to be unable to hold on.
It released its sharp claws, intending to simply let Ryuji fall to his death.
But this instead gave Ryuji an opportunity.
Because his right hand was now freed from the other party’s grip, meaning he could form hand signs with both hands again.
Slap!
Thus in mid-air Ryuji brought both hands together with a clear sound, formed a hand sign resembling a dog’s head, and shouted loudly:
“Divine Dogs!”
The Divine Dogs were the only shikigami among the Ten Shadows Technique that could be directly commanded and used without needing to be tamed.
At this moment it was summoned by Ryuji onto the Nue’s back.
“Awooo!”
The large white dog, after making its appearance, immediately bit straight toward the Nue’s throat.
Because the Nue itself had already been heavily wounded by Ryuji earlier, at this moment it simply had no extra strength to throw the Divine Dogs off.
Rip!
Whoosh!
After seeing the Nue’s neck bitten to pieces by the Divine Dogs and then turn into shadow and disappear, Ryuji knew that this taming had succeeded.
Thus he immediately recalled the Divine Dogs, then once again formed the hand sign for summoning the Nue.
“Nue.”
Swoosh!
This time the Nue that appeared in mid-air did not rapidly charge at Ryuji or attack him with its sharp claws.
Instead it carefully gripped Ryuji’s uninjured left arm and began slowly descending.
During the descent, Ryuji looked at his right arm that had been pierced with several bloody holes.
Fortunately, at the moment of life-and-death crisis he had learned how to roughly use Cursed Energy for self-defense.
Otherwise he probably would have died long ago…
Then he looked at the place where he currently was.
An endless green plain, and in the distance there was something like a huge city.
“As long as there are people, it’ll be fine…”
Ryuji sighed a little weakly.
Who would have thought that the very first thing after transmigrating would be fighting a life-or-death battle, and against the shikigami he himself had summoned at that…
After landing he would first recover some stamina, then head to that futuristic-looking city to find someone and seek a bit of help.
That should be no problem.
While still in mid-air, Ryuji also noticed that the animals in this place looked a little strange.
They were actually all composed of mechanical parts.
What was this supposed to be?
Could it be that Wuthering Waves was some kind of wholesome, family-friendly cyber-ascension sci-fi game after humanity’s technology had achieved major development?
Tch, that goddess hadn’t even told him the general setting of this world.
Ryuji spat at that goddess in his heart.
But recalling how that fellow had silently thrown him high into the sky and almost made him fall to his death, not giving him a world-view primer was a minor matter compared to the former.
“Forget it, take it one step at a ti—”
Hum—
Just as Ryuji was about to land, he saw something.
Not far from him, a portal-like thing had actually appeared out of thin air?
And from inside it emerged a black-haired, golden-eyed woman hanging from a hang glider with one hand?
But after locking eyes with her for a moment, Ryuji discovered that the other party’s pupils suddenly contracted slightly, as if there was something ominous beside him.
“Watch out!”
Hum hum hum!
Bang!
In the end, the only thing Ryuji could hear beside his ear was the roaring sound of a motorcycle engine.