Monster? Cursed Spirit!

Tokyo, a subway station somewhere.

Toho Tetsu opened his eyes.

He looked at the dreary underground space before him, the crowds coming and going, and the faintly visible tracks in the distance. It took him two or three seconds to confirm where he was, and then he fell into confusion and bewilderment.

He remembered that he had just finished a day of work, gone home for dinner and a shower, and was chatting nonsense with an online friend he had only recently met but gotten along with remarkably well.

Why had he suddenly appeared in an unfamiliar place in the blink of an eye? Had he been so tired that he had fallen asleep and entered a dream?

"Is this a subway station? This dream feels a little too real..."

But before he could finish speaking, he sensed that something was wrong. His voice had become somewhat childish, as if he had returned to his high school days. When he lowered his head and looked at his palms, the doubts in his heart only deepened.

"Why have I gotten so much smaller? And... why do I feel like I'm stronger?"

That was right. Unlike his usual exhausted state after work, he did not feel tired at all right now. In fact, he felt power coursing through his entire body, as though he could enter the Olympics the very next second.

That strange sensation made him increasingly uneasy. He could not help looking around, preparing to ask a passerby for answers.

As it happened, an old-looking yet completely empty train slowly pulled up before the platform.

Just as he was about to stop the person in front of him, the train doors twisted and deformed at an extremely strange angle, as though something inside was crashing outward against them.

The bizarre sight left the passersby frozen in place.

"Boom!"

The next second, the train doors spun through the air with a deafening roar, knocking down several unlucky passersby. Someone shouted.

"Bomb! Run!"

The crowd instantly scattered in all directions. Only Toho Tetsu remained standing there blankly, staring toward the ruined train doors.

Because there, a humanoid monster exuding eerie black mist stepped out of the carriage.

It wore a tattered suit and carried an enormous briefcase. Its head was formed from several screaming, wailing human faces, which squirmed and let out shrill cries.

"So crowded... so suffocating..."

Strangely enough, the people nearby did not seem to notice it at all. They simply cried and screamed as they fled farther away from the carriage.

Suddenly, the creature seemed to notice his gaze. Its distorted head, made of several faces mashed together, turned straight toward him. The eyes on every face stared at him, while the mouths on every face let out strange, delighted cries.

"Found you!"

Hearing the floor crack, Toho Tetsu instinctively dodged to the side. A foul, murky gust slammed past him, making every hair on his body stand on end.

That was followed by a tremendous crash and several screams.

When he turned around, the monster was pulling its somewhat deformed body off a pillar. The twisted bodies scattered across the ground and the dark red fluid spreading outward all proved just how terrifying the force of that impact had been.

"...Didn't catch him?"

Muttering in a confused and puzzled tone, the monster slowly turned its head and searched everywhere for its prey. Yet it found nothing within its field of view, causing it to furiously pound the nearby pillar and roar.

"Come out! Come out!"

Toho Tetsu hid behind a pillar, panting heavily as he recalled what had just happened. He swallowed hard and watched the monster smashing things around through the corner of his eye.

"What was that? What the hell is going on?"

Though he did not know why he had been targeted, the constant sounds of shattering and crashing made him realize one thing: if he stayed here, that monster would find him sooner or later.

"Look around, Toho Tetsu. Look around..."

He forcibly calmed himself and began observing the surrounding space.

This was a relatively old and cramped subway station. Six load-bearing pillars stood across the platform, supporting the underground space. He was currently hiding behind the leftmost pillar, while the monster had gotten off the train between the two middle pillars.

Beside the pillars was an open area with several vending machines and benches for resting. At the far end of that open space was the corridor leading out.

Judging from the monster's speed when it charged earlier, if he left the pillar and ran directly toward the corridor, the monster would definitely catch him before he got there.

So what he had to do now was create a diversion, first draw the monster's attention elsewhere, and then...

Just as he was formulating a plan, a roar suddenly sounded beside him, freezing his blood solid.

"You're here!"

At some point, the monster had come right up beside him. The briefcase in its hand smashed down viciously at his position, kicking up a huge spray of broken stone and flying dust.

Toho Tetsu scrambled up from the ground and rushed out of the dust cloud. That earlier instinct had saved his life again. Otherwise, it would not have been just the pillar getting smashed apart.

But just as he tried to repeat the trick and hide behind another pillar, a dull pressure came from behind his head. He abruptly crouched down, narrowly avoiding the enormous briefcase as it swept over his head.

"Your scent, I remember it... Don't think you can run!"

The monster's roar came from behind him along with heavy stomping, forcing him to reconsider his earlier plan.

Hiding and luring the monster into changing directions to create space for escape did not seem viable anymore. It had shown the ability to attack at range. Even if he drew it to the other side, it could still use that long-range briefcase attack to stop him from leaving.

And... what the monster said about remembering his scent did not sound like an empty threat.

Then there was only one thing he could do.

"Don't run!"

As the monster closed in and threw another punch, Toho Tetsu sharply turned and circled around the pillar, narrowly dodging the attack.

That was right—circling the pillar like the King of Qin.

It was the only method he could think of to avoid the monster's attacks. The monster had demonstrated explosive straight-line speed, long-range attacks, and immense strength. Correspondingly, its agility had to be weaker.

Otherwise, during that first charge, all it would have needed was a slight turn to take his life.

The method worked.

Once he began using the pillars as cover to circle and evade, the fight entered a stalemate.

Every blow from the monster brought a heavy, muffled impact. The briefcase it casually threw could even knock vending machines straight to the ground.

But thanks to the angles and constant repositioning, Toho Tetsu's worst injuries were only two glancing hits from the monster's fists, leaving a few bruises and a burning pain.

That only made the monster even angrier. Its roars grew louder and louder, even reaching someone observing the situation from the stairway at the end of the corridor.

"That sounds terrifying. It must be a really troublesome cursed spirit."

A plain-looking man wearing glasses and a standard office worker's suit timidly stuck his head out, staring at the dust-filled area in the distance.

"After all, I'm just an Assistant Supervisor with practically no combat ability. I can only handle logistics and support, so there's nothing I can do except hide here."

As though convincing himself, he muttered under his breath while pulling out his phone and making a call. He spoke anxiously once it connected.

"This is Assistant Supervisor Nakamura Rei. A cursed spirit rampage has occurred at Minowa Station on the Hibiya Line. Based on estimates, it is at least Grade 2. A Curtain has already been erected at the scene. Requesting immediate support, requesting immediate support!"

The response from the other end of the call made his heart sink.

"What? Why is it that kind of place again? This is already the sixth attack in a remote area within ten minutes. Nearly all Sorcerers with combat capability have already been deployed."

"How could... Wait, could these attacks have been planned by Curse Users?"

"We don't know yet. What is the situation at the scene? Are there many civilian casualties?"

Hearing the question from the other end, Nakamura Rei stuck his head out to look at the situation inside the subway station again, then immediately ducked back behind the corner.

"There are several civilian casualties. It seems someone is fighting the cursed spirit, but their identity is unknown. Their strength does not seem particularly high either. They are currently keeping it occupied!"

The person on the other end clicked their tongue.

"Damn it, that makes things difficult... I'll do my best to contact anyone nearby with combat ability. Keep observing the situation!"

"Yes!"

After hanging up, Nakamura Rei tremblingly pulled out a handkerchief and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. Looking at the cursed spirit and human tangled in battle not far away, he muttered inwardly.

"Hold on a little longer... Just hold on. Reinforcements will be here soon!"

And what about Toho Tetsu, who had been entrusted with such high hopes?

"Damn it... Doesn't this thing ever get tired? Its speed hasn't even changed?"

Slightly out of breath, Toho Tetsu moved behind a pillar that was still relatively intact. Hearing the muffled crash coming from where he had been standing moments ago, he could not help complaining in despair.

The reason he had adopted the King of Qin circling-the-pillar tactic was to see whether the monster's stamina would decline after attacking continuously, allowing him to seize the opportunity to escape.

But for some reason, the monster seemed to possess endless strength, constantly wrecking and destroying the surroundings.

Of the six pillars he had originally used to maneuver around, three had already been forcibly smashed apart, greatly shrinking the space he could use to evade and maneuver.

The monster seemed to notice this as well, and its furious voice carried a hint of cruel laughter.

"Ha ha... you... can't run anymore!"

Hearing the monster's voice, he gritted his teeth and turned his gaze toward the tracks. Once the remaining pillars were destroyed, he might have no choice but to fake a jump and lure the monster down there, then give everything he had to escape.

As for whether the monster would follow him to the surface and attack others... he could not worry about that now.

But at that moment, hurried footsteps suddenly came from the end of the corridor, which had been quiet for a long time. They were followed by an anxious female voice.

"Whoever's inside, hold on a little longer! Keep that cursed spirit occupied!"

Hearing those words, Toho Tetsu, whose nerves had been stretched taut, froze for a moment.

"Cursed... spirit?"