Hair and Fragrance

Following the treasure map's guidance, Shinji soon arrived at a dried-up well in the village.

The well had suddenly stopped producing water one year and had long since been abandoned. Even its opening had been blocked with a large rock, presumably to keep anyone from accidentally falling in.

According to the treasure map, what Shinji was looking for lay below.

Without hesitation, he moved the large rock aside, lit a torch, and leaped straight into the well.

As he fell, Shinji flicked his wrist, and a sharp kunai appeared in his hand. He spread his legs and braced his feet against the walls on either side, using the friction to slow his descent while driving the kunai into a gap between the stones.

Almost in the blink of an eye, he reached the bottom of the well and successfully stopped just above the dirt.

"Judging by what I'm sensing, this should be the place..."

Shinji first searched his surroundings carefully. Finding nothing, he began digging downward with his kunai.

Strangely, even after digging several meters down, he still found nothing.

"Huh? That's strange."

Shinji stopped digging and took out the [Cursed Treasure Map], puzzled. He wanted to check whether he had missed any information.

But the instant he took it out, something changed!

The pitch-black scroll suddenly crumbled to ash, which quickly seeped into the dirt beneath Shinji's feet.

Then, as though it had come alive, the dirt rapidly fused and reshaped itself into an old-fashioned black treasure chest.

"So that's how it works."

Seeing this astonishing sight, Shinji fell into thought.

He had wondered before just what he could dig up with a treasure map obtained from the system.

Had the so-called "treasure" always been at those coordinates?

What if someone else happened to find it?

Besides, if it was merely something mundane from this world, like gold, silver, or jewels, that would make it rather underwhelming.

But after witnessing this, his interest was rekindled!

He still had no idea what was inside the chest, but at least he had something to look forward to.

The so-called "buried treasure" wasn't actually something hidden here. Only after he reached these coordinates could he activate the treasure map in his hands.

In other words, the treasure map itself was the real treasure. It simply needed to be "unlocked."

Anyone else standing in the same spot would still find nothing.

And after what he had just witnessed, Shinji was more inclined to believe that whatever was inside couldn't possibly be mundane. Otherwise, those special effects would have been wasted.

Even as these thoughts ran through his mind, his hands didn't slow down. He decisively opened the chest.

But there was one thing he had been overlooking all along. No, rather, he had instinctively chosen to overlook it.

The treasure map's name began with [Cursed]!

Boom!!!

Hidan, who had made his way near the abandoned well, was suddenly given quite a fright!

Immediately afterward, he saw a somewhat bedraggled figure shoot out of the dried-up well, with a huge mass of black stuff thrashing wildly as it chased him.

"What the fuck is that thing?!"

"Who am I supposed to ask? Get over here and help already!"

Shinji dodged as he led it toward Hidan.

Only then did Hidan finally get a clear look at what that dense black mass actually was...

It was... hair?!

Hidan desperately wanted to shout, "Stay away from me!"

But from what he knew of that bastard Shinji, the guy would absolutely drag him into this mess.

And what made it even worse was...

He couldn't outrun that bastard!

There was no helping it.

Left with no choice, Hidan braced himself and joined the fight. He first pulled out his pitch-black spear, then put it away again in frustration and switched to a kunai as well.

A weapon like a spear was naturally excellent for killing people. One thrust, one hole.

But could you use it to cut hair?

As Hidan struggled to hack through all the long black hair around him, he thought through gritted teeth, Once we get back, I'm definitely getting myself a more destructive weapon.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

The kunai in Shinji's hand flashed rapidly, forming an airtight defense against the hair's attacks.

Every severed strand immediately lost its vitality, fell to the ground, and vanished. It was deeply eerie.

The two fought as they retreated. Although the hair seemed endless, its strength was limited and its attacks repetitive. So far, they hadn't seen it use any other means of attack.

For the time being, they could still hold their own.

After they had retreated roughly fifty meters, the wildly flailing black hair suddenly pulled taut. It stopped pursuing them and slowly withdrew, soon retreating entirely into the well.

"Looks like this thing has a limited attack range, too. Fifty meters plus the depth of the well... so its maximum reach is around ninety to a hundred meters?"

Shinji was analyzing the situation and considering his options when Hidan loudly demanded beside him, "What the hell was that thing just now?"

"I don't know either." Shinji shook his head honestly.

Hidan didn't believe him. "Don't tell me you snuck out in the middle of the night to admire the moon. I saw it just now-that thing chased you out of the well! Do you think I'm an idiot?!"

Shinji looked surprised after hearing that. "Not bad. You've actually gotten smarter. Did all the water in your head finally drain out?"

"You bastard! I'll fucking kill you!"

Hidan rolled up his sleeves, ready to fight Shinji to the death. But Shinji still had important business to attend to, so he changed the subject.

"I really don't know what that thing is. I only came here to retrieve something I hid in the well a long time ago. Who would've thought that instead of finding it, I'd dig up that freakish thing?"

"What did you hide in the well?" Hidan asked, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Some of my old savings. That was all before I joined the Jashin Cult."

Seeing that Shinji had no intention of elaborating, Hidan couldn't be bothered to ask any more questions.

But a moment later, Hidan sniffed and took on a strange expression. "Do you smell something? It smells amazing!"

"Something's wrong."

There was nothing wrong with Shinji's nose, so he naturally smelled the fragrance too.

Even before coming to this world, he had never smelled anything so fragrant.

That fragrance was impossible to describe in words, as though it contained every beautiful thing imaginable, drawing him closer and closer...

Gradually, a trace of intoxication appeared on Shinji's face.

But immediately afterward, he sensed an overwhelming danger. With his last shred of clarity, he drove the kunai in his hand into his thigh!

Shunk!

Blood flowed from the wound, and Shinji successfully used the doubled pain to break free of that strange state.

When he looked again, the sight before him sent a chill down his spine!