Curse Returns: Eight Extraordinary Skills? I lack nothing.

“I’ll wait outside.” Yuuto nodded, his tone flat, as if stating a matter of course. “You can handle this level perfectly well. I won’t intervene unless all four of you are incapacitated. I’ll watch from a distance and intervene immediately if anything happens. That’s all.”

His gaze swept across the four faces, his deep black eyes holding no superfluous instructions or concern, only a calm, understated trust.

Itarō grinned: "Don't worry, Yuuto-san, this isn't our first mission."

Kugizaki twirled the hammer in his hand: "That's right, don't underestimate us."

Shunping closed the book in his hand and nodded.

Fushiguro Megumi didn't say anything, but simply opened the car door and was the first to get out.

Yuuto leaned back in the driver's seat, watching the four people walk towards the abandoned building. He didn't follow, nor did he say anything more. He just needed to wait here and intervene when necessary.

His role in this mission, from the very beginning, was simply that of a "guardian."

An insurance policy to ensure they don't actually die here.

As for the fight, that's a matter for the four of them.

The interior of the abandoned building looks worse than the exterior.

The moment Huzhang stepped across the threshold, he felt the air suddenly change.

It was still the same Tokyo, the same sky, but the moment he stepped into the building, everything around him became dull.

It's as if someone cut this building out of the real world and immersed it in a pot of thick black ink.

The air was filled with a damp, rotten smell, like a basement that hadn't been cleaned in years, or the lingering odor of something that had died and decayed inside.

The floor beneath your feet wasn't ordinary flooring, but a layer of grayish-black, moss-like material that made a subtle, unsettling sound when you stepped on it.

“The density of cursed energy is not low.” Fukuguro Megumi stood in the center of the hall, his eyes quickly scanning the surrounding environment. “But the distribution is uneven. It’s weakest on the first floor and gets stronger as you go up.”

Shunping closed his eyes, slightly raised his right hand, and pressed his palm lightly in mid-air. His perception was the strongest among the four, allowing him to detect fluctuations in magical power that ordinary people couldn't detect at all. A few seconds later, he opened his eyes.

“Three cursed spirits,” he said. “There’s one on the first floor, two on the second floor, and one on the third floor, but the cursed power reaction on the third floor is the strongest and the strangest. It doesn’t seem like a naturally generated cursed spirit; it’s more like a mutant that has been catalyzed by something.”

Kugizaki frowned: "A catalyzed mutant? In a place like this?"

“It’s possible that the resentment that has accumulated in this area over a long period of time is too concentrated,” Shunping said. “It’s not uncommon, but we need to be careful.”

Tiger Staff patted the short sword at his waist. It was a level one cursed weapon called the Demon Slayer, with a long and sleek blade that felt heavy in his hand.

As long as you hit the cursed spirit with it, you can cause real damage.

This was given to him by Yuto, and after several months of practice, Itadori is now proficient in using the sword.

"How should it be allocated?" Kugizaki asked.

The four people exchanged glances.

They are already very familiar with this problem.

Their experience of fighting side by side dozens of times meant they didn't need much verbal communication.

Everyone knows their place in the team and trusts that others will do their jobs well in their respective positions.

“The weakest one is on the first floor, I’ll handle it,” Itajō said first. “I don’t have any spell power perception, so the spell spirits on the first floor are perfect for me to practice on. You guys go to the second floor, and after you’re done, we’ll meet at the stairwell and go up to the third floor together.”

Kugizaki nodded: "Okay. One for me and one for Junpei on the second floor?"

“No.” Shunpei shook his head. “The cursed spirits on the second floor are located in different places, but one of them has a significantly stronger cursed power reaction than the other. I suggest Kugizaki and Fushiguro deal with the stronger one, and I’ll deal with the weaker one. My spells are more efficient at dealing with single targets.”

"Okay." Itadori confirmed one last time, "I'll clear the first floor, Kugizaki and Keisei will be the main force on the second floor, and Junpei will clear the other one on the second floor. We'll meet on the third floor after that. Call me anytime if there are any problems."

"Did you hear me when I called?" Kugizaki glanced at him sideways.

"My ears are perfectly fine," Itachi grinned.

The four of them wasted no more time. Kugizaki and Fushiguro Megumi headed towards the stairs on the left, with Junpei following behind them. After taking a couple of steps, he stopped and glanced back at Itadori.

“Yujin,” he said.

"Ok?"

“Although the one on the first floor is the weakest, its spell power fluctuations are quite unstable,” Shunping said. “It might not be an ordinary level-two spell spirit, so be careful.”

Itadori nodded, his smile fading. "Understood."

Junpei turned around and followed Kugizaki and Fushiguro Megumi.

The three figures disappeared into the shadows of the stairwell, their footsteps gradually rising until they were swallowed up by a low humming sound from the depths of the building.

Huzhang stood alone at the entrance of the first-floor corridor and took a deep breath.

He gripped the hilt of the knife at his waist and walked deeper into the corridor.

Chapter Three: The Opponent on the First Floor

The corridor was unusually long.

After taking about twenty steps, Huzhang noticed a problem.

His footsteps echoed, but the echoes were delayed longer than he had expected.

This means that the actual length of the corridor may be longer than it appears to him, or that something is distorting the space.

He slowed his pace, his gaze sweeping over the walls on both sides.

There were mottled water stains on the walls, and occasionally a few wide cracks could be seen. These cracks were irregular in direction; some were vertical, some were diagonal, and some—

He stopped in his tracks.

The cracks followed a pattern. The wider cracks all pointed in the same direction—towards the end of the corridor. It was as if something was pushing outwards from the end of the corridor, tearing the wall apart from the inside.

Urajiro's mind was racing, but his body reacted faster than his brain.

The instant the door opened, he rolled to the right.

A dark shadow swept past where he had just been standing, carrying a strong stench of decay, and crashed heavily into the wall behind him with a dull thud.

As Huzhang half-squatted on the ground and raised his head, he finally saw the attacker's full appearance.

It was the shape of a person—no, something in the shape of a human.

It has limbs, a torso, and a head, but all the proportions are wrong.

The arms were too long, almost touching the ground; the torso was too short, making the whole body look like a rubber man compressed horizontally.

The skull was a complete sphere, with no facial features on its surface, only a huge, dark crack that ran from the top down to the chin.

The crack was slowly opening and closing, as if it were breathing.

Level 2 Cursed Spirit.

Huzhang made a quick judgment.

He had seen various types of cursed spirit specimens in Yu Ren's training ground. Although this type of cursed spirit looked frightening, its cursed power structure was loose and its attack methods were simple, making it a relatively weak type among the second level.

But Shunping is right.

The cursed spirit's cursed power fluctuations were quite unstable. Occasionally, a dark red light would flash across its body surface, as if something was stirring within its core.

The crack on the humanoid cursed spirit's head suddenly widened.

A sharp sound, like fingernails scratching a blackboard, burst from the crack.

Sonic attack.

This is a common trick used by many low-level cursed spirits, using high-frequency sound waves to disrupt the target's sense of balance. Itachi felt a buzzing in his ears, the world in front of him shook briefly, and double images appeared at the edge of his vision.

But he is not the same person he was a few months ago.

During Yuuto's training, Itajō underwent countless anti-interference training sessions specifically designed to counter such sonic attacks.

Instead of covering his ears with his hands, he gritted his teeth, focused his attention on the soles of his feet and his core muscles, and forcibly stabilized his body's balance.

The double image in his vision disappeared in a fraction of a second, and his eyes refocused, locking onto the cursed spirit that was about to rush towards him while he was off balance.

Just in time.

Instead of retreating, Huzhang took a step forward.

He did not draw his sword.

To deal with a cursed spirit of this level, he wanted to try using his fists and feet to see if he could effectively suppress it.

His right fist twisted out from his waist, carrying the weight of his entire body and the momentum of rotation, and slammed heavily into the side of the cursed spirit's spherical head.

The moment Tiger Staff's fist touched the cursed spirit's body, a slight tingling sensation spread from his knuckles throughout his entire hand.

That was the power of the curse resisting his attack. Attacks without the power of the curse can only cause physical impact to the cursed spirit, but cannot truly harm its essence.

But the physical impact itself is enough.

The cursed spirit was sent flying by Tiger Staff's punch, crashing into the corridor wall and leaving a spiderweb-like dent.

Its body slid off the wall with a sound like crumpled plastic. The crack on its spherical head twisted at a strange angle, from which a black, tar-like liquid seeped.

Before the cursed spirit could catch its breath, Tiger Staff's second punch followed.

The punch landed in the same spot.

The humanoid cursed spirit's head finally succumbed to the continuous impacts. The edges of the cracks began to crumble, and pieces of black, asphalt-like fragments peeled off from the head, falling to the ground and dissipating into black smoke.

The cursed spirit let out a final hiss, then its entire body went limp as if its support had been removed, turning into a pool of black ash that slowly evaporated from the ground.

Chapter 139 Mission 2

Huzhang straightened up and shook his numb right hand.

The one on the first floor is solved.

He looked down at the dissipating black residue on the ground, his brow furrowing slightly. This cursed spirit was more powerful than he had anticipated.

—No, that's not right. It's not that it's weak, but that it never had a chance to unleash its true power.

After that sonic attack, it should have had other tricks up its sleeve, but Tiger Stick smashed its head with two consecutive punches, giving it no chance to make a move.

This is what Yuuto has always emphasized as the "first-mover advantage." In battles between spirits, whoever gains control of the rhythm first has a significant advantage.

Itadori let out a breath, tightened the dagger at his waist, and turned to walk towards the stairs.

It's time to meet up with Kugizaki and the others.

The moment Kugizaki stepped onto the second-floor platform, the stench of decay in the air suddenly intensified several times over.