"Is this where the Cursed Spirits are abnormally concentrated?"
From a black sedan, Eichi and Zen'in Shuji looked out at the campus shrouded in darkness.
"Yes, Young Master Eichi. According to the Window's observation, there are at least thirty low-level Cursed Spirits gathered inside, and their numbers are still increasing."
"Has the cause been found out?"
It wasn't strange for Cursed Spirits to gather, but having so many appear all at once was unusual.
After all, Cursed Spirits also had compatibility issues. When too many gathered together, they usually fought or devoured one another.
"The cause is still under investigation."
"Is that so? Never mind, you can investigate slowly. I'll deal with the Cursed Spirits inside first."
With that, Eichi and Artoria got out of the car.
In the car behind them, Satoru and Suguru also followed.
Initially, the mission had been assigned only to Eichi and Artoria.
However, once Suguru and Satoru heard that Eichi planned to test something new during this Cursed Spirit exorcism, they enthusiastically tagged along.
After exiting the cars, the group followed Eichi into the campus.
"Eichi, what's this new weapon you said you were going to experiment with?" Satoru asked curiously.
Since childhood, Eichi had always brought out interesting things.
"It's these."
As soon as he finished speaking, Eichi's shadow churned.
Pistols, submachine guns, rifles, machine guns, rocket launchers...
"These are the new products from the research institute professors, aren't they?" Suguru immediately guessed their origin.
"Exactly."
Eichi finally pulled everything out. His shadow held a small armory, and only he knew how heavy it truly was.
He was still using his Reverse Cursed Technique.
Bending down, Eichi picked up two submachine guns, checking the magazines and the gun bodies.
"Eichi, how about a little competition?" Satoru asked.
"A competition of what?"
"A competition to see who exorcises more Cursed Spirits."
Satoru picked up two pistols and struck a cool pose.
"I'm not joining. I plan to check if there are any Cursed Spirits worth taming," Suguru replied flatly.
"Aww, how boring."
"I still need to collect data for the lab. You can compete by yourself."
"No way, Eichi, you too…"
One second, Satoru was posing like a cowboy, the next he was slumped over in dejection.
orz.jpg
Outside the campus, Zen'in Shuji had already deployed the curtain.
The group began their operation.
Tat-tat-tat-tat-tat!
A Grade 3 Curse with a fish-like head, a lizard-like body, and eight human hands for feet crawled along the wall, closing in on Eichi.
Seeing this, Eichi immediately opened fire.
The bullets landed behind the Cursed Spirit, perfectly illustrating the essence of "Cursed Spirit outline shooting."
Eichi frowned.
He reloaded and switched to burst fire mode.
If long-range shots weren't accurate, then he'd close the distance. There was no way he could miss at point-blank range.
The lizard Cursed Spirit leaped from the wall and roared as it charged.
Thirty meters, twenty meters, ten meters.
Tat-tat-tat, tat-tat-tat.
When the distance shrank to less than ten meters, Eichi decisively opened fire.
This time, the bullets tore into the Cursed Spirit's body.
It screamed in pain, staggering toward him erratically.
Eichi didn't care. A Grade 3 Curse probably couldn't even break through his defense now.
After emptying two magazines, the Cursed Spirit dispersed into residual cursed energy.
Having found his rhythm, Eichi eagerly searched for the next target.
On the other side, Satoru, who had taken off his sunglasses, was also having a blast.
"Show time!"
Holding two pistols, he charged into the midst of several Cursed Spirits.
Standing on one leg, he spun rapidly as bullets fired from every angle.
It looked like random shooting, but most of the bullets hit their marks, and his accuracy improved with every shot.
When both pistols ran out of ammo, all the surrounding Cursed Spirits dissipated.
"That's quite interesting. Suguru, want to try… Wait, you're cheating! Weren't you going to catch Cursed Spirits?"
Eichi turned at Satoru's protest and couldn't help twitching his lips at Suguru's appearance.
Well, well, he really didn't expect the one who looked the most honest to be the sneakiest.
Suguru, standing behind them, had put on Satoru's sunglasses and was holding a massive Gatling gun. A blade of grass from the roadside hung from his mouth.
"You even picked up a blade of grass, Suguru. Were you trying to smoke a cigar?" Eichi teased.
"Satoru, it's fine to shoot them half to death before I tame them."
That actually made too much sense, and Eichi was speechless.
The next moment, a rain of bullets poured down.
Da da da da da!
Watching the Cursed Spirits get torn apart, Eichi silently recited the "Gatling Bodhisattva Sutra" in his heart, then casually tossed a few grenades toward the half-dead ones.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
"The power has increased quite a bit."
Watching the Cursed Spirits turn to ash, Eichi sighed at the research institute's speed of progress.
Mahoraga had also played a role in that.
Cursed Spirits could heal themselves, which made it difficult to accurately test weapon effectiveness. That was why research on firearms against Cursed Spirits had progressed so slowly.
One time, when the institute lacked Cursed Spirits for testing, Eichi had an idea and let Mahoraga serve as the test subject.
He later shared Mahoraga's feedback with the old professors.
At that moment, their eyes lit up.
Through repeated experiments, their views on Mahoraga completely changed.
It was perfect, an ideal experimental subject.
It couldn't be permanently damaged, and it provided detailed feedback on every attack.
That day, the professors tested every weapon the institute had developed on Mahoraga, and based on its feedback, they scrapped more than half of their ongoing research projects.
Many hypotheses were directly disproven, which dramatically shortened their development time.
Eichi swore, if the research institute hadn't been under his own investment, neither he nor Mahoraga would have made it out alive.
"Roar!"
A loud roar came from the teaching building.
A fleshy orb covered in mouths emerged from within.
"A Grade 2 Cursed Spirit. This one's worth taming."
Suguru, reloading the Gatling's ammo belt, finally spotted a target that caught his interest.
"Leave this one to me!"
But before he could finish reloading, Satoru was already sprinting forward with two rocket launchers.
"Wait."
Holding a rocket launcher in each hand, Satoru closed in on the Grade 2 Cursed Spirit and pulled both triggers.
At nearly point-blank range, there was no chance of missing.
Boom! Boom!
Satoru instantly teleported several meters back, striking the pose of a man who never looks back at explosions.
Behind him, the Cursed Spirit burned in flames and turned to ash.
Suguru: ???
No way. I just had my eyes on that one, and you blew it up?
Suguru's fist clenched tightly.
(To be continued.)