Kurourushi

"Blood, the taste of iron. I like it!"

A hoarse voice emerged from the inhuman creature's mouth. The corpse in its hands was a mangled mass of flesh and blood, its features no longer recognizable.

Noticing Hajime Kashimo's gaze, Kurourushi tilted its head, puzzled by his anger.

Suddenly, the feelers beside its mouth rose. As though struck by a revelation, it looked at the flesh in its hands, then offered the corpse to Hajime Kashimo.

"You, eat too."

"You have a death wish!"

Lightning abruptly erupted across his body. Kurourushi's behavior had only further inflamed Hajime Kashimo's fury.

Violent lightning swept past, leaving the smell of scorching in the air. The figure wreathed in electricity appeared before Kurourushi in an instant.

Without the slightest hesitation, he brought the cursed tool in his hand crashing down on the inhuman creature below.

Cursed energy surged. Countless tiny black shapes gathered before Kurourushi, forming a barrier of millions upon millions of cockroaches that withstood Hajime Kashimo's fierce strike.

Was that the end of it?

Of course not.

Hailed as the strongest god of thunder, Hajime Kashimo would not have his attack neutralized so easily.

Hajime Kashimo's unique electrical cursed energy surged. Though the endless sea of cockroaches blocked his electrified staff, the electricity dancing along it kept traveling toward the source of the swarm.

"Kak, kak, kak."

A strange laugh escaped the cockroach-like cursed spirit's mouth. Kurourushi had, of course, noticed the violent current racing toward it.

It had no intention of experiencing the strongest thunder god's electric shock firsthand. It twisted, and countless cockroaches formed from cursed energy enveloped its body, spread their wings, and carried it into the air.

Hajime Kashimo would not let it escape so easily. He released his cursed energy, and a violent current instantly cleared away the surrounding cockroaches.

Planting a foot on the edge of the stands, Hajime Kashimo was about to launch himself after Kurourushi when the surface beneath his foot began to sink.

Dense masses of cockroaches crawled from the edge of the stands onto Hajime Kashimo's ankle. At some point, the vast stadium had become completely covered in cockroaches, transforming into a black ocean.

Waves rose across the black ocean. Hajime Kashimo, the one thing that did not belong, was like a lone boat on its surface, rocking endlessly amid the surging swells.

Under normal circumstances, Kurourushi's cursed energy alone could never have generated a cockroach swarm of this scale.

But one must not forget that this Kurourushi had devoured Dhruv Lakdawalla's remains.

Only with the support of Dhruv Lakdawalla's cursed energy had it managed to create a cockroach ocean that covered the entire vast stadium.

Kurourushi hovered in midair, admiring its handiwork with keen interest.

This was its first time controlling so many cockroaches. Watching Hajime Kashimo struggle in the swarm filled Kurourushi with unprecedented delight.

This feels wonderful! Just as I thought, we cursed spirits are the true humans.

All four arms rose together. Towering black waves surged from every direction, like a giant beast opening its abyssal maw, swallowing every trace of light within the stadium. Only a single opening of light remained at the very top, where Kurourushi stood.

Like an elegant conductor, Kurourushi abruptly lowered its four raised hands. The waves slammed together, and the final sliver of light vanished.

Hajime Kashimo's figure was completely engulfed by the waves of cockroaches. At last, the turbulent black ocean grew calm.

Had Lu Yun and Hajime Kashimo's journey come to an end?

Obviously not.

The reason he had offered no forceful resistance was that Hajime Kashimo did not want to waste his cursed energy on this useless filth.

Going straight for the caster was the best way to counter an ability like this.

But now that cockroaches completely enveloped his body, he could no longer conserve his cursed energy, however much he wanted to.

An unnatural bulge suddenly appeared in the center of the black ocean. The surrounding cockroaches constantly climbed onto it, trying to press it down, but nothing could stop its ascent.

The bulge rose higher and higher. With cockroaches clinging to it, it resembled a black pillar holding up the heavens, rising out of the ocean into the clouds until it reached Kurourushi's side.

Boom!

Electrical cursed energy erupted, violent currents scattering outward to reveal the truth behind the bulge.

The supposed bulge was merely a spherical defensive perimeter formed by Hajime Kashimo swinging his cursed tool.

Unlike an amateur like Lu Yun, Hajime Kashimo had perfected his staff techniques four hundred years ago. The defensive perimeter he created was utterly impenetrable.

Ever since the black waves engulfed him, he had been using this method to repel the cockroach ocean's assault.

But Hajime Kashimo knew that endlessly defending was no solution. Sooner or later, the infinite cockroach army would exhaust both his stamina and his cursed energy.

So while fending off the cockroaches, he had pushed off the swarm beneath his feet, constantly driving upward.

Supported by the cockroaches, Hajime Kashimo successfully reached Kurourushi's side.

Staring at the humanoid cockroach before him, Hajime Kashimo grinned viciously.

"Hey, you damned bastard. I'm back from hell."

Giving Kurourushi no chance to speak, Hajime Kashimo, whose patience had long since run out, swung his staff with all his might. He sent Kurourushi flying as it desperately tried to escape his reach.

He had only one thought now: to torture this disgusting cursed spirit to death.

The electrified cursed tool and the cursed spirit's black body smashed through several walls together, plunging straight into a residential building.

Still in midair, Hajime Kashimo pulled with his right hand. The electrical charges linking him and his cursed tool attracted one another, activating the returning electric strike once more.

This time, however, Hajime Kashimo did not pull the staff back to himself. Instead, he pulled himself toward the staff.

Kurourushi tumbled several times and had only just managed to steady itself when a large foot wreathed in lightning flashed toward its cockroach face.

The flying kick caved in that nauseating face, and the tremendous impact sent its body hurtling away again.

Boom!

Breaking through yet another wall, the cockroach cursed spirit flew all the way out of the residential building under Hajime Kashimo's forceful encouragement, landing heavily in a wheat field.

"Why? I just like the taste of iron."

Kurourushi struggled to prop up its battered body. Purple blood flowed from its wounds, and two of its four arms hung limply.

Hajime Kashimo followed close behind and stopped before it. Hearing its words, he laughed in fury.

"You ate people, and you still have the nerve to ask why?"

Two oddly shaped insects flew toward him from either side, their bodies heavy, as though carrying something.

"Watch out, Thunder God! Those bugs are poisonous!"

Lu Yun, inside his body, noticed what was happening. Remembering how Yuta Okkotsu had been caught off guard by this move in the original story, he hurriedly called out a warning.

"It doesn't matter. Forget it."

A petty little trick like this was nowhere near enough to stop Hajime Kashimo.