Instant Kill

Facing the fully drawn pitch-black giant bow, the air around it seemed to have been completely sucked dry.

The black cursed energy on the [Piercing Ox Horn Bow] was so dense it seemed to darken the air, and even the sewage that had been flowing sluggishly across the ground began to tremble violently.

The fur all over the two curse users' bodies stood on end as they instinctively sensed a needle-prick chill of death from the massive bow.

Every muscle in their bodies tensed, while the powerful survival instincts honed through combat experience blared frantic warnings.

But neither of them retreated.

First, they could not figure out Lu Ping's cursed technique and could not determine whether it was one of those rumored hawk-eye abilities that increased shooting accuracy. If it was, retreating would only turn them into targets.

Second, they trusted their captain's intelligence more—this brat had no shikigami to use. He was putting up a front because he could not win in a head-on fight.

The two exchanged a glance, gritted their teeth, and charged straight at the bow with all their strength.

"You think you can kill me with that piece of junk?" The scythe-wielding curse user laughed angrily, his long scythe slicing through the air at his side with a piercing shriek.

"Plenty of people have wanted to kill me. Every time I go out, I casually slaughter a few ordinary people and disguise it as the work of cursed spirits. It's ridiculously easy. Those idiots at Jujutsu High are busy dealing with cursed spirits—they have no time to investigate me!"

As he roared arrogantly, he kept his eyes fixed on the arrowhead Lu Ping had aimed at him.

Twng.

Lu Ping's fingers suddenly released the string.

At that instant, the fist-fighting curse user beside him, who had maintained his charge and had not been targeted by the bow, felt his eyelids twitch wildly.

An indescribable shiver shot straight to the top of his head.

Lu Ping had changed targets.

The instant the shadow arrow shot forth, he flicked his wrist, and the pitch-black giant bow tilted slightly.

Without warning, that dazzling black streak locked onto the fist-fighting curse user who was rapidly closing in.

Without a physical bowstring holding it in place, the bowstring formed from cursed energy could actually remain in position for an instant after being released, without elastic deformation!

Yet in a life-or-death battle, one instant was enough to decide victory or defeat.

From the very beginning, Lu Ping had never intended to kill the scythe wielder first.

The fist-fighting curse user had battled Lu Ping the longest, and his repeated use of [Mountain-Piercing Quake] had placed an enormous burden on both his body and cursed energy.

At this moment, his old strength had faded before new strength could arise—the point at which he was at his weakest!

The scythe-wielding curse user, on the other hand, excelled at using shadows. Although his cheek had been grazed by rubble earlier, leaving him even more disheveled, his explosive power was relatively weaker. Still, he was agile and excelled at drawn-out battles.

More importantly, Lu Ping had already planted a cursed energy mark in the scythe-wielding curse user's shadow, one that could resonate with the [Piercing Ox Horn Bow].

To detect and remove such a mark, one needed to have landed [Black Flash] at the very least, bringing them closer to the [Cursed Technique Core] than ordinary people.

Although a Grade 2 Sorcerer could possibly land a Black Flash, it was highly unlikely for one to do so.

The Grade 2 Curse User before him clearly had not reached that level.

Kill the weaker one first, and the remaining one would be a sure thing.

"Watch out!"

In midair, the shared vision of the [Fivefold Eyes] instantly detected the change in the arrow's trajectory.

The scythe-wielding curse user reacted quickly. With an angry roar, he swung his long scythe fiercely, raising a vast curtain of thick shadows in an attempt to completely block Lu Ping's sight.

At the same time, the two curse users split left and right, turning into two afterimages as they lunged at Lu Ping.

Behind the curtain of shadows, Lu Ping's expression did not change in the slightest.

He parted his lips and uttered three icy words.

"First arrow."

The moment his words fell, a muffled thunderclap exploded through the tunnel.

The air froze completely at that moment.

The shadow arrow tore directly through the black curtain, moving too quickly for the naked eye to catch.

The fist-fighting curse user, who was charging at full speed from the side, did not even have time to assume a defensive stance before an unparalleled force struck him head-on.

Crack.

It was the crisp sound of every bone in his ribcage shattering.

He felt as though a ten-thousand-pound iron hammer had first smashed into his chest, followed immediately by a hundred-ton truck barreling at full speed crushing through his torso.

Bang!!

A mangled, bloodied figure shot backward like a cannonball and slammed heavily into the concrete wall behind him.

The violent impact drove his body onward, smashing through three thick concrete partition walls before he finally came to a crashing stop amid the rubble.

As the dust settled, nothing but dead silence remained amid the broken stones and debris.

He had completely lost all signs of life.

"Bastard!!"

Seeing his companion instantly killed, the scythe-wielding curse user's eyes filled with blood, his gaze splitting with rage.

A beastlike roar erupted from his throat. He kicked off the muddy water and leaped into the air, using his descent to bring the huge scythe down at Lu Ping's head.

However, the shockwave generated by the Piercing Ox Bow's shot burst outward.

Before the huge scythe could touch a single hair on Lu Ping's head, the scythe-wielding curse user felt a tightness in his chest. It was as though he had slammed into an invisible wall of air, and his downward slash was forcibly weakened by more than half in midair.

The stimulation of standing at death's edge did not make this experienced curse user lose his mind completely.

He forcibly suppressed the fear in his heart, used the recoil to land, and stared fixedly at Lu Ping.

He calmly searched for an opening.

"This guy is a shikigami user. Everything he can do now relies on that bow. Drawing it fully takes time to charge, and after fighting continuously, his cursed energy should be nearly depleted as a Grade 2 Sorcerer."

The scythe-wielding curse user calculated rapidly in his mind.

As long as he could get close and entangle his opponent, forcing him to be unable to draw his bow and thoroughly disrupting his offensive rhythm, he still had a chance of winning.

With that thought, the scythe-wielding curse user quietly moved forward to close the distance while sneering as he questioned Lu Ping.

"Brat, didn't you keep saying you'd kill me within three moves? Why did you suddenly play dirty and attack someone else instead? Did you make the Binding Vow of [Those Who Cannot Be Shot or Targeted], exchanging it for [Damage Bonus Against Untargeted Targets], so you could catch us off guard?"

He used his words to distract Lu Ping while quietly drawing nearer.

Once he entered the range of his technique, he kept his left hand hanging at his side and concealed behind his back, his five fingers silently shifting through hand seals.

Rustle.

In the muddy water behind Lu Ping, an inconspicuous mass of shadow slowly writhed and spread outward without a sound.

It formed into a sharp black scythe, silently aiming at Lu Ping's unguarded back.

Lu Ping looked at the enemy before him and slowly shook his head.

"You seem to have misunderstood something."

The youth's voice remained calm as he lowered the [Piercing Ox Horn Bow] slightly in his hand.

"Against trash like you, I don't need to use a trump card like a Binding Vow."

He raised his eyes, his icy gaze seeming to pierce through the curse user before him and fall upon the empty space farther behind.

"I said within three moves," Lu Ping said flatly.

"I will definitely kill all three of you."