Curse Returns: Eight Extraordinary Skills? I lack nothing.

The second floor was dimmer than the first floor, and the walls on both sides of the corridor were covered with a grayish-white, mold-like substance that faintly glowed in the darkness.

The light didn't seem to be coming from a source; it was more like the wall itself slowly radiating a faint fluorescence.

“One on the left, one on the right.” Shunping’s voice came from behind her. “The one on the left has a stronger magical reaction, probably at level one.”

“I’ll take the one for the semi-first-class,” Kugizaki said without hesitation.

Fushiguro Megumi stepped out from behind her and stood beside her: "I'll cooperate with you."

Shunping nodded and turned to walk down the right-hand corridor. His footsteps were almost silent, and his figure was quickly swallowed up by the darkness at the end of the corridor.

Kugizaki and Fushiguro Megumi exchanged a glance and walked towards the left corridor.

The left corridor was narrower than the main corridor, only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Every few steps along the walls on both sides was a door, most of them half-open, the dark doorways like countless half-open eyes, watching their every step.

Megumi Fushiguro walked half a step behind Kugizaki, her hands forming a short hand seal in front of her.

"Jade Dog".

Two beams of white light leaped from his shadow, condensing in the air into two pure white canine-shaped spirits. The two jade dogs were positioned on either side of the corridor, their bodies lowered, ears perked up, and noses twitching slightly, sensing the traces of magical energy in the air.

The Jade Dog is the shikigami that Fushiguro Megumi uses most often and trusts most. They have no physical form, are not harmed by ordinary physical attacks, and have extremely strong perception abilities, making them useful for both reconnaissance and combat.

In many previous missions, Tamaki was the best partner for Kugizaki and Fushiguro Megumi.

At the end of the corridor was a double iron door, covered in rust, with a gap about ten centimeters wide between the two panels. The intense aura of cursed power emanated from behind this door.

Kugizaki stopped three steps away from the door, pulled three nails from her tool bag with her right hand, and gripped her hammer tightly with her left.

Fukuro Megumi stood behind her, and with a slight twitch of her fingers, the two jade dogs silently circled to both sides of the iron gate, ready to encircle it.

Kugizaki took a deep breath and kicked open the iron gate.

The room was large, much larger than it appeared from the outside. The ceiling was very high, so high that the upper part was completely shrouded in darkness, and the top was not visible. The floor was scattered with the remains of various pieces of furniture.

In the very center of the room stood a cursed spirit.

It is about two meters tall and has a robust build, resembling a sumo wrestler magnified several times.

Its skin is dark red, covered with bumps of all sizes, each of which beats slowly, like the heart of some living creature.

Its head is flat, without a nose or ears, only a pair of huge, cloudy white eyes, and a mouth that splits horizontally to the base of its ears.

There were no teeth in its mouth, but rather concentric folds, like whirlpools, with a dark yellow light emanating from the depths of these folds.

Quasi-Level One Cursed Spirit.

Kugizaki's pupils contracted slightly.

The difference between near-Level 1 and Level 2 is not as simple as just being "a little stronger." Level 2 cursed spirits rely more on instinct and brute force, with a single attack pattern, making them easy to target. However, near-Level 1 cursed spirits have begun to possess a certain level of intelligence and tactical awareness. Their cursed power is denser and more solid, making it easier for them to generate dangerous spells.

"Kugizaki." Fushiguro Megumi's voice came from behind her, her tone calm. "I'll hold them off, you find an opportunity to attack."

"clear."

Fushiguro Megumi drew an arc in the air with her finger, and the two Jade Dogs activated simultaneously.

The large white dog lunged at the spirit's legs from the left, while the black jade dog circled around to the spirit's back from the right, aiming for the back of its neck.

But the cursed spirit's reaction speed far exceeded expectations.

At the very instant the jade dog pounced, its body suddenly spun half a circle, its massive right arm sweeping out, swatting away the white jade dog attacking from the left. The white jade dog vanished in mid-air as a ball of white light.

It wasn't destroyed, but rather the impact it received exceeded the threshold of the cursed power required to maintain its form, forcing it to return to Fushiguro Megumi's shadow.

At the same time, the cursed spirit's left arm was not idle. With a flick of its thick left arm, it precisely grabbed the neck of the black jade dog that had circled behind it. Its five fingers tightened, and the black jade dog let out a low growl, its body beginning to twist and deform.

Fushiguro Megumi frowned slightly, her fingers rapidly changing hand seals. The black jade dog that had been captured voluntarily released its form, transforming into a black shadow that slipped through the cursed spirit's fingers, reforming itself at Fushiguro Megumi's feet.

“This is a bit tricky,” Fushiguro said in a low voice.

Kugizaki didn't wait for his next sentence.

Before the cursed spirit could retract her arm, she had already struck. The iron hammer in her right hand rose high and slammed down on the head of the nail held in her left hand.

"resonance!"

The moment the hammer and nail collided, a shockwave visible to the naked eye spread outwards from the point of impact.

The cursed power wrapped around the iron nail transformed into a thin thread, passing through the air and precisely connecting to the cursed spirit's right shoulder joint.

The cursed spirit's body jolted violently, and the movement of its right arm became noticeably sluggish.

Without pausing, Kugisaki struck again with the second and third hammer blows. The threads of cursed energy on the two iron nails connected to the cursed spirit's left knee and lower abdomen, respectively.

With each strike of the hammer, the cursed spirit's body would tremble violently, as if something were exploding inside it.

This is the terrifying aspect of the Chuling Incantation - Resonance.

It doesn't require a direct attack on the spirit's body; as long as a magical connection is established between the nail and the target, the effect of attacking the nail will be directly transferred to the target. It's virtually impossible to defend against.

But a near-level one cursed spirit won't be defeated so easily.

Those cloudy white eyes were fixed on Kugizaki. Suddenly, the cursed spirit's body swelled up, and the bumps on its skin throbbed violently. Then—dark red liquid gushed out from the tips of the bumps.

Fushiguro Megumi reacted extremely quickly. "Nue!" He clasped his hands together, and a giant owl-shaped shikigami emerged from the shadow behind him, its broad wings spreading out in front of the two to form a shield. The dark red liquid struck the Nue's wings, hissing and corroding, but failed to penetrate.

"Thanks," Kugizaki said.

"Hurry." Fushiguro Megumi gritted his teeth. Maintaining the Nue form required a lot of magical power, and he couldn't hold on for long.

Kugisaki knew time was of the essence. She took a deep breath and pulled out the last nail from her toolbox—this nail was longer than the previous ones, and its head was engraved with a ring of fine runes. It was a special cursed nail that Yuuto had obtained for her from the cursed tool store, specifically for dealing with high-level cursed spirits.

She bit the cursed nail between her teeth, gripped the hammer tightly with both hands, and her cursed power surged wildly within her body, flowing along her arms and into the hammerhead.

An orange-red light shone from the hammerhead.

"—Get it!"

Kugisaki poured all his magical power into this strike, slamming the hammer heavily onto the head of the cursed nail. The nail shot out like a bullet under the immense impact, trailing a bright orange-red tail, and precisely embedded itself in the center of the cursed spirit's chest.

The cursed spirit froze completely.

Its body began to crack from the chest outwards, and dark red cracks spread to its limbs like a spider web.

Its mouth opened to its widest extent, emitting a silent roar—the frequency of which was beyond the range of human hearing, but Kugizaki could feel the tremor, as if something was vibrating inside her bones.

Then, the cursed spirit's body shattered with a roar, turning into countless dark red fragments that burned and dissipated in the air before finally returning to nothingness.

Kugizaki was panting heavily, his forehead covered in sweat.

Her right hand was trembling slightly—that hammer blow had almost exhausted all her magical power.

Fukuro Megumi dismissed the Nue, walked to her side, and handed her a handkerchief.

"Wipe it off," he said.

Kugizaki took the handkerchief, wiped his face haphazardly a couple of times, and then stuffed the handkerchief back into his hand.

"I wonder how things are going in Shunping," she said.

Fushiguro glanced towards the right corridor.

"It should be soon."

Chapter Five: Shunpyeong's Battle

Compared to the intense fighting sounds coming from Kugizaki's side, the corridor on the right was eerily quiet.

Shunping walked down the dark corridor, his steps as light as a falling leaf. His breathing was steady and long, and his heartbeat showed no signs of quickening.

He stopped in front of a room in the middle of the corridor.

The door was ajar, and a dark green, viscous light shone through the crack. It didn't seem to emanate from any source; rather, it appeared as if the air itself was glowing.

Or rather, it was the glowing power of the incantation permeating the air.

Shunping reached out and gently pushed open the door.

The scene in the room made him squint slightly.

This is an empty room of about 20 square meters. The paint on the walls has completely peeled off, revealing the gray-black cement underneath.

In the center of the room, on the floor, there was a pool of dark green, swamp-like liquid, about two meters square.

The liquid was slowly bubbling, and each time a bubble burst, it released a small cloud of grayish-white mist.

And that cursed spirit stood right in the center of that pool of liquid.

It looks like a giant praying mantis, about 1.2 meters long, covered with a dark green chitinous exoskeleton.

Its head is triangular, with two compound eyes protruding from the sides of its head, reflecting the dark green light in the room.

Its forelimbs are two sickle-shaped blades, the blades gleaming with a cold, eerie light.

The mantis spirit sensed Shunping's arrival, its triangular head slowly turning, its two compound eyes aimed at him.

Shunping calmly met its gaze.

Level 2 Cursed Spirit. Its curse power structure is much more stable than the one on the first floor, clearly indicating that it has undergone a longer period of sedimentation.

It must be very fast; the attack range of its two sickle-like forelimbs is about two meters.

And that pool of green liquid...

It could be its lair, or it could be part of its techniques.

The Mantis Curse came to life.

Its speed is astonishing.

Almost in the blink of an eye, it had already covered nearly five meters in the room, and the scythe on its right arm was aimed straight at Shunping's neck.

Shunping did not retreat.

Just a second before the scythe touched his skin, he tilted his body slightly to the left, less than ten centimeters away. The scythe grazed his ear, shaving off a few strands of his black hair.

At the same time, Shunping raised his right hand, his index and middle fingers together, and his fingertips precisely touched the center of the mantis curse spirit's triangular forehead.

A beam of pale blue light burst forth from his fingertips.

"The Sea of ​​Annihilation".

Shunping's voice was very soft, as soft as a sigh.

But the effect is by no means mild.

A pale blue light flowed from Shunping's fingertips into the head of the mantis spirit, then exploded within its body. That light was neither flame nor lightning, but something far more primal.