Curse Returns: What did the human-shaped wishing machine do wrong this time?

"Oh? Then I'll call you Xiaomei!"

Alluka tilted her head slightly, trying to get closer to this new acquaintance with a hint of coquetry.

"It's time to eat."

The white-haired boy turned away indifferently, his lips moving slightly, his warm breath turning into a thin, cold mist the moment it left his lips.

He hesitated for a few seconds, then did not respond to the rich young master who had been rescued from a pile of corpses.

In the center of the temple's main hall, Sugawara Kazukazu and his men built a small fire with dry branches.

The flames illuminated a corner of the darkness, dispelling some of the winter chill.

"Give."

Seeing Rime and Alluka approaching one after the other, Captain Sugawara Kazuka handed each of them a baked flatbread.

These biscuits were very dry, and although they had been baked, they were still somewhat difficult to swallow, but no one present complained.

In the firelight, Rimei lowered her eyes and ate the food in her hand one bite at a time.

Unlike the others who were older and were conscripted into this unit, he awakened a spell called "Ice Condensation Spell" some time ago when his family moved.

Just then, Sugawara Ichiwa happened to pass through the village and heard that children with special abilities could be sold for a lot of money, so his parents sold him to Sugawara Ichiwa.

Those with magical abilities are different from other soldiers. Sugawara Kazukazu once privately approached him and said that after this mission was over, he would recommend Rime to work for the main family.

But Rime wasn't very happy.

Still a child, yet he had seen far too many corpses along the way, most of which were the bodies of his companions. How long could these people possibly live?

While eating his biscuit, Rime noticed a gaze on him. He looked up and saw Alluka giving him a childlike and gentle smile with her eyes crinkled.

He paused for a moment, then lowered his head.

The fire was still crackling, and the white-haired boy without a surname sat there blankly for a long time, unable to describe his feelings.

In the latter half of the night, a cold wind blew in through the hole in the doorway, and Alluka was fast asleep not far from the fire.

The mournful howls made the moonlit night seem even more somber.

A huge dark shadow gradually approached their resting place.

A rustling sound came from inside the hall, and everyone who heard the noise got up.

Alluka, who had no fighting ability, was grabbed and held in Rime's hand. The black-haired boy rubbed his sleepy eyes, looking somewhat dazed.

The next second, a huge monster burst through the door.

The monster had countless holes in its purplish-black skin, and its four thick arms held several white human bones with mottled bloodstains. Its nostrils flared violently, as if it were searching for living people.

Having found their way, the monster's sharp claws lunged towards the crowd.

"Blood...flesh..."

It coveted these delicious humans before it, wanting to devour them whole.

A nauseating stench spread through the space with its movements, and the Sugawara soldiers hurriedly grabbed their weapons and began throwing them at the monster.

Curses were prevalent during the Heian period.

They were already very familiar with this kind of scenario.

The thing in front of you is a curse generated by the negative emotions of ordinary people.

Besides the spellcaster's spell power, only weapons imbued with spell power can remove curses.

However, very few members of their team could use magical powers.

Alluka hid behind Rime, staring blankly as a group of people rushed forward with samurai swords. In an instant, their bodies were pierced through one after another by a giant, bluish-black hand.

Those uncles had been joking and laughing with him just a few hours earlier.

"Go hide behind the cabinet and don't come out no matter what sound you hear."

"Xiaomei, I..."

Before Alluka could finish speaking, Rime hurriedly pushed him to the back of the main hall.

Rimei's slender fingers flicked, and with a flick of her sleeve, she formed a hand seal, gathering a shard of ice in her palm before slashing it at the monster.

The icicle struck the cursed, bluish-purple skin, sending up a puff of white smoke.

The cursed creature slowed its movements slightly, but without stopping, it opened its bloody maw, grabbed the nearest man, and threw him into its mouth.

"Crunch, crunch."

The chilling chewing sounds were particularly jarring in the darkness.

The headless corpse was cursed and thrown on the ground, a large pool of viscous blood slowly flowing towards Sugawara Kazukazu.

He stood there for a few seconds, then became absolutely furious.

"Damn it!"

Unlike others, he was a true member of the Sugawara family and a mid-level sorcerer within the family.

He was assigned to this mission even though his father's family wasn't the ruling branch of the clan. However, he couldn't bear to see his subordinates being cursed and eaten in front of him.

He gripped the cursed implement tightly and charged towards the curse like an arrow.

His magical artifact was made by the family's artifact maker, and its effect is "bleeding". Once a small wound is opened by this artifact, it will bleed continuously without the healing of a reversal sorcerer.

This cursed artifact might have some effect on sorcerers, but it's rather useless for cursing.

Sugawara Kazuka's veins bulged under his skin, but his blade couldn't penetrate the cursed skin.

He and the cursed power scattered in all directions blasted the blue bricks of the temple's main hall into a ring of sinkholes.

As he was once again knocked down by the curse, crashing into a pillar and spitting out a mouthful of blood, Sugawara Kazuka released his own spell in the instant that Rime attacked with her spell.

The spells of a sorcerer take several forms. His spells liberate him from his own constraints and can greatly improve his physical fitness, but each use will deplete his future lifespan and health.

Sugawara Hajime doesn't usually like to use his own techniques, but in this situation, if he doesn't, they will all die here.

The family's sorcerer team will be able to catch up with them in three days; perhaps they really are just cannon fodder.

Having freed himself, his physical fitness improved by more than one level, though it was somewhat different from what he had expected.

The power of the curse before him far surpassed that of any opponent he had fought before.

Time passed second by second, and Sugawara Kazuka's body could no longer take it. His chest deflated like a balloon, and his consciousness began to wander.

As he crushed the cursed head with all his might, large amounts of purplish-black blood splattered from the air onto his and Rime's bodies.

It was like a strange rain of blood.

Sugawara Kazuka's body fell from a great height and landed in the center of a pile of rubble.

His body was so exhausted that he looked like a dying man nearing the end of his life, and even his breath carried a faint smell of blood.

He grasped Rime's hand, his fingers trembling.

"I'm sorry, I may not be able to take you to the Sugawara residence."

He was having some difficulty breathing, and his throat was burning.

If there were a Reversal Mage here, his body might still be saved, but Reversal Mages are extremely rare, and their grunt squad doesn't deserve to have one.

Rime looked at Sugawara Kazuka and didn't know what to say.

Everything happened so suddenly that he didn't have time to react.

Seeing that Sugawara Kazuwa's breathing was somewhat weak, Alluka ran a few steps and knelt down in front of him, asking softly:

"Sugawara Kazukazu, may I hold your hand?"

The moment he spoke, a thick, cold aura enveloped Sugawara Kazukazu's head.

Rime looked up uncomfortably.

The child with the pure eyes was no longer as gentle as before; now he seemed like a sinister and eerie monster.