The moment after firing the flare into the sky, Ryu casually tossed the flare gun aside, his mind becoming incredibly focused.
Imagine!
The image that appeared in his mind was of two rows of tightly interlocking teeth being smoothly unzipped, revealing a cold, metallic glint within the dark and vast space inside. Something shot out like a flying fish breaking the surface of the sea—
His right hand pulled out from his inner pocket. In that instant, space and matter seemed to be imbued with "elasticity," the concepts of large and small completely subverted. A black-coated M4A1 assault rifle, hidden in the night, appeared in a manner that defied all logic, smoothly shouldered by Ryu.
He disengaged the safety, chambered a round, and aimed. The red line of the laser sight shot out like a flatlined ECG, the conspicuous red dot flashing across the monster's silhouette.
The entire process didn't even take two seconds, and the subsequent three-round burst was just as swift. In a flash, his calm and steady hands orchestrated a bloody drama.
Three flowers of blood and shredded flesh bloomed. Ryu's eyes narrowed slightly. He strode forward, firing continuously as the bullets repeatedly struck their target. The pained roars gradually grew weak and feeble.
By the time Ryu moved past Ruri and the other girl on the ground, shielding them behind him, the "beast" was already lying motionless on the ground like a mountain of flesh.
"Lord Ryu!" Ruri was both overjoyed and shocked. That Ryu had come to save her was naturally touching, but this gun…
Chika's thoughts were still a mess. From her perspective, from the sudden flash of light to the incessant gunfire to her escape from danger, no more than ten seconds had passed. She clearly hadn't yet connected the sharpshooting god before her with her usually cool-faced childhood friend.
"Ryu-chan, y-you know how to shoot?"
"Learned it in Hawaii."
Without turning his head, the young man waved a hand behind him. "Get back."
"O-Okay!"
"Yes!"
At a time like this, not even Chika dared to be a smart aleck. She subconsciously followed Ryu's command. The two of them scrambled inelegantly on all fours for a bit before getting to their feet and running to a safe distance.
Ryu's gaze never left the "corpse." Judging by its torso, it should have been a wild boar, a rare sight these days. Its size was comparable to a young adult black bear, a creature with virtually no natural predators in the wild.
However, no beast on land could possibly survive a sustained burst from an automatic rifle!
With this density of fire, even with a hunting license, he would be warned by the Hunter's Association and animal protection organizations for "suspected sadistic slaughter."
If it were just a wild boar, there would indeed be nothing to worry about… Ryu's gaze finally settled on the "pig's head," his furrowed brow difficult to smooth.
Although he wasn't a professional hunter, he still had some common knowledge. A wild boar might have long bristles on its neck, but they would never form a full circle like a lion's mane, much less be as fluffy as a ronin samurai's hair!
The head of this "wild boar" was the only thing on its entire body that looked jarringly out of place, as if it had been stitched on!
Could it be Sukuna? This isn't how the "plot" goes… Then again, this isn't a singular worldview, after all. Perhaps there are some minor differences.
But no matter what, tonight's events should end here. He wasn't going to check out the sacred sword in the shrine anymore!
How unfortunate!
He had already decided to retreat, even arranged for a helicopter, so why did something have to happen right at this moment!
Fujiwara Chika… isn't that woman supposed to have good luck? How could she pick a haunted place like this at random!
Could it be that my Unfortunate Constitution is affecting those around me?
Ryu shook his head, calmly observing the target as he slowly backed away and carefully estimated the distance. "About fifteen meters… a little too close."
He took two more steps back, then glanced over his shoulder to confirm the two girls were also within a safe range. Ryu nodded.
His hand reached into his pocket again—
Open! Retrieve!
—and he pulled out a high-explosive grenade.
He pulled the pin, released the safety lever, and gave it a light toss. It traced a graceful arc, landed on the boar's corpse, and even bounced once.
BOOM!!!
A blast of heat engulfed a four to five-meter radius, and the entire corpse was covered in scorching crimson lotus flames!
Ryu didn't stop moving!
Immediately after, a series of piercing reports rang out as steel rounds continuously shot from the muzzle, mercilessly blasting into the completely unresponsive corpse.
When the mag was empty, he reloaded!
Switching the rifle to full-auto, Ryu became a ruthless fire support platform, like an arms dealer clearing out expired inventory, and unleashed a torrent of bullets calculated by "weight" onto the target.
He magically produced one magazine after another from the inner pockets of his clothes, swapping them out with fluid motions after emptying them, maintaining a nearly uninterrupted stream of fire. Holding the shooting stance for a long time without any sign of strain, he looked completely at ease, which further demonstrated his extraordinary physique.
Soon, a thick layer of gleaming brass shell casings carpeted the ground at his feet. The flames on the wild boar had long been extinguished, but its form seemed to have "grown" a size larger, its body embedded with an astounding number of bullets.
—Nearby, Ruri and Chika were in a state of complete numbness.
"A grenade? A machine gun?"
Chika's eyes widened as she covered her ears, feeling that far too many worldview-shattering things had happened tonight.
"Where did you get—no, how could you—that's not right… Hiss!"
She wanted to retort, but after opening her mouth, her face flushed red, not knowing where to begin. She finally let out a long breath and managed to muster her energy.
"Where on earth are you pulling all this stuff from?!"
There's no way that suit could hide a grenade and that many magazines!
Are you Doraemon?!
—He was pretty close, actually.
One of Ryu's permanent talents, [The Collector], came with its own independent space similar to a 4D pocket. While it lacked the countless reality-bending gadgets of the big blue-headed one, in terms of pure storage functionality, it was quite similar.
However, just like his [Unfortunate Constitution], there was a small gap between its depiction in anime and its performance in reality:
Ryu wasn't a Qi Refiner who had awakened his spiritual sense. For him, just opening the storage space was extremely difficult!
At first, he was completely helpless, only able to trigger it based on his emotional state and sheer luck. It was only through disciplines like meditation, yoga, and Zen that he gradually found the knack for "concentrating his spiritual energy."
To simplify the process of "opening the door," he used a "zipper" as a psychological trigger, successfully developed through thousands of training sessions, which greatly increased the speed at which he could retrieve items. (Incidentally, he got the idea for this trigger from "Sticky Fingers.")
For the current him, as long as there was a "pocket" he could stick his hand into, he could quickly unzip it and take out what he wanted.
But the problem of "opening the door" was just one aspect; the difficulties Ryu had encountered were far from over!
For example, because he couldn't see inside with his naked eye, it was very difficult to lock onto a target, and he often couldn't retrieve the specific item he wanted.
If an item was too heavy or too large, it would easily get knocked askew and mess up the order of everything else, forcing him to dump a large pile of things out just to reorganize them.
He tried an experiment storing a living creature, but the chicken he put inside just flapped around chaotically. Ryu's spiritual energy was completely unable to track the moving target, and he had to wait for it to slowly suffocate to death…
In short, it was a tale full of tears. His fluid movements today were entirely the result of years of persistent research!
This experience also made him realize that the storage pouches and spatial rings in fantasy novels, each acting as if equipped with artificial intelligence and becoming an extension of one's will after a simple biometric verification (like a drop of blood), were as convenient as a game inventory—that was just straight-up cheating!
"That should be enough, right~"
Ryu looked at the wild boar's corpse, which had been reduced to a pile of mangled flesh. Though he said this, his brow remained tightly furrowed, and he inwardly regretted not having stored a flamethrower in his space.
That's right, the kind the US military used on Iwo Jima!
That thing has a special attack bonus against "Japanese devils"!
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