"Hey, anything on your side?"
Maki held the Thousand Machine Umbrella and lightly swept it forward, knocking over a discarded iron barrel that could have hidden a Cursed Spirit.
Clang.
The iron barrel rolled across the ground. There was no Cursed Spirit inside.
"Nothing here either."
Panda, not far away, waved at Maki.
"Seriously, have Cursed Spirits learned to play hide-and-seek now?"
Maki rested the Thousand Machine Umbrella on her shoulder, her expression irritated.
For the past few days, Maki, Toge, and Panda had been carrying out Cursed Spirit exorcism missions.
Following the mission requirements, they had been moving continuously for three full days.
During these three days, they searched four locations reported by the Windows to have Cursed Spirits.
The result was nothing.
If those people were not experienced Windows who had worked for many years,
Maki would have suspected they studied journalism and wrote reports based on vague clues.
"Tuna mayonnaise!"
Toge's voice suddenly came from the distance.
Panda reacted first and quickly ran toward Toge.
"What is this?"
Panda dropped to all fours and sniffed the slime on the ground.
"It looks very similar to the slime we found before."
After careful observation, Panda came to a conclusion.
"So that Cursed Spirit ran off again?"
Maki felt a bit helpless.
Their gazes followed the slime trail forward, only to find that it eventually led into a sewer.
"So it's hiding in the sewer?"
Maki's mouth twitched.
Although she had already seen all kinds of ugly Cursed Spirits,
the combination of a filthy, foul-smelling sewer and an ugly Cursed Spirit raised the disgust to another level.
She guessed that only Satoru, whose Limitless automatically filtered things, could happily play hide-and-seek with Cursed Spirits in a sewer.
"Panda, you go down and take a look."
"Huh? Why me?"
"This is when humanity's good partner should step up, right?"
"But I can't fit."
Panda walked to the manhole cover, comparing its size with his own waist.
"Mustard leaf."
Toge stepped forward and patted Panda's shoulder, signaling him not to worry.
At this moment, Toge felt that as a man, he should step forward.
"I'll go down with you."
Maki pulled a katana from the Thousand Machine Umbrella, holding a sword in one hand and a spear in the other.
She was not the type to let her companions face danger alone just because of dirt or discomfort.
She had only been joking with Panda earlier, and Panda did not dislike such jokes.
Because it showed that his companions treated him as a living being they respected and liked.
"Bonito flakes."
Toge shook his head in refusal.
Then he pointed at his mouth.
Inside the sewer, Toge's Cursed Speech would not spread the same way as in an open space.
Its destructive power would increase, but there was also the risk of accidentally harming allies.
So Toge decided to go down alone first to check the situation.
"Take these, and be careful."
Panda took out several cursed tools from his body and handed them to Toge.
Toge nodded, then pulled down his collar and prepared to enter the sewer.
The moment he entered, a nauseating stench rushed straight into his nose.
Toge immediately covered his mouth and nose tightly.
Turning on his flashlight, what he saw was a dried-up waterway filled with rotting garbage.
Soon, a patch of still-wet slime caught Toge's attention.
Toge cautiously followed the direction of the slime.
Drip, drop, drip, drop.
The strange footsteps grew clearer and clearer.
Toge knew that the distance between him and the enemy was closing.
Drip, drop, drip, drop.
The sound of footsteps became more distinct, and Toge formed an initial judgment about the enemy.
The slime appearing along the ground, combined with the squelching sound of wet feet stepping forward,
suggested that this Cursed Spirit had slippery skin.
Its feet were likely similar to amphibious creatures such as frogs, otherwise they would not sound so wet.
Furthermore, since it could enter the sewer, its size should not be large.
Sewer openings were designed based on human size.
Even Panda, whose body was not much larger than a human, could get stuck, let alone anything bigger.
So this Cursed Spirit should be close to human size.
For some reason, the image of a kappa appeared in Toge's mind.
Drip, drop, drip, drop.
The sound grew closer, and the slime on the ground became fresher, showing no signs of drying.
Toge knew that once he turned this corner, he would face the enemy directly.
In just a few seconds, Toge simulated several combat strategies in his mind.
No matter what kind of enemy he encountered, he was prepared to respond.
Drip, drop, drip, drop, splat.
The familiar footsteps, but now there was an additional sound.
'That sound, it's like a shoulder brushing against a wall while walking.'
From this new sound, Toge obtained another piece of information. The enemy should be slightly shorter than him.
Bipedal, possibly aquatic, and shorter than him.
Toge steadied himself, then suddenly accelerated and turned the final corner.
In the next instant, more than a dozen eerie eyes stared at him simultaneously.
That chilling gaze made Toge's hair stand on end.
It was a hunched humanoid creature that seemed to have no spine.
Its lower body still resembled a human.
But its upper body had undergone a drastic transformation.
Its head was smooth, with sickly pale skin.
Slime continuously seeped from its body, occasionally dripping onto the ground.
Tentacles like those of an octopus grew from its jaw.
Its upper body was soft like an octopus, and its hands and fingers had all turned into tentacles.
Its torso and tentacles were covered in eyes that emitted a dark green glow.
Even though Toge had seen many grotesque Cursed Spirits before, this twisted existence, which had reached a new level, still made his mind struggle to process it.
Suddenly, a sharp pain struck his brain, and his gaze involuntarily dropped to the ground.
'I was attacked?'
Toge immediately realized.
Just now, while observing and analyzing the Cursed Spirit, it had used an unknown attack on him.
Drip, drop, drip, drop, drip, drop.
The familiar footsteps sounded again, now rapidly approaching him.
"Blow away!"
Because of the sudden attack, Toge had no time to assess the strength of the enemy, so he did not dare to directly use "Die," the most destructive Cursed Speech.
"Blow away" was already a powerful command in his arsenal, suitable both for probing and emergency situations.
If the enemy was weak, it would cause significant damage. If the enemy was strong and caused backlash,
then the force would at least repel the enemy, making it a very practical choice.
Splat.
Under the effect of Cursed Speech, the enemy charging toward Toge was instantly blasted away, crashing heavily into the sewer wall.
At this moment, Toge reached a conclusion.
'The enemy isn't strong.'
Because he barely suffered any backlash.
His throat felt slightly uncomfortable, but it was not even enough to require medicine.
"Explode."
The command echoed through the sewer.
The upper body of the enemy, which had just begun to move again, instantly burst apart.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)