Changes in the World

"Get back!"

Shinji quickly grabbed Hidan and pulled him back to put some distance between them and the well, then slapped him twice without a word to snap him out of it!

In that brief moment of distraction, the two of them had somehow walked several meters forward without even realizing it.

Hidan had barely come to his senses when the sight before him shocked him, leaving him no time to settle the score!

Who knew what sort of magic that strange fragrance possessed? It had actually drawn over all the nearby farm animals.

Then the two of them watched as the bizarre black hair suddenly emerged from the well again, swiftly and precisely coiling tight around every chicken, duck, pig, and dog it had lured over.

Freed from the fragrance's influence, the animals all began struggling in terror.

But it was too late. Their struggles accomplished nothing, and soon they stopped moving altogether.

Only after a little while did those strange, long black strands slowly withdraw again.

And perhaps it was his imagination, but Shinji felt that the black hair had become even glossier and tougher than before.

The unfortunate livestock looked as though they had been sucked dry, reduced to shriveled corpses. Their deaths were gruesome!

The sight left both Shinji and Hidan utterly stunned!

"By the Evil God, this freaky thing actually eats?" Hidan nearly started swearing.

Shinji's expression grew serious as well. He realized that the freaky thing he had unearthed while treasure hunting might be a menace.

And besides...

"Smell that? That strange fragrance from earlier is back."

Hidan paused, then rubbed the side of his face Shinji had slapped. In disbelief, he said, "That fragrance is used to lure prey? What the hell is this thing?"

Remembering how he had nearly fallen for it himself, Hidan's expression soured.

If that freaky thing really caught him, there was no telling whether he would ultimately manage to break free.

If the worst happened, wouldn't it be "eating" him for a very long time?

Just thinking about it was terrifying!

"Let's get out of here while this freaky thing is still confined to this area," Hidan suggested.

Had his opponent been a person-no, even a god-Hidan wouldn't have been afraid.

But faced with something this freaky, he really had no desire to fight it to the bitter end.

There was absolutely no need!

Shinji agreed with Hidan, but...

At some point, numerous shadowy figures had appeared nearby in the darkness.

They were all villagers lured over by the peculiar fragrance wafting from the well, and they had clearly lost their senses!

If he and Hidan simply left, probably not a single person in the village would survive.

Shinji didn't consider himself a good person, and he rarely meddled in other people's business.

But walking away from a mess he had caused himself, leaving a bunch of poor, struggling villagers to suffer for it-his conscience simply wouldn't let him do that.

Wouldn't that make him a complete bastard?

Besides, he wasn't willing to leave just like that!

Sure, his treasure hunt seemed to have unearthed a "monster," but who could say that this so-called "monster" wasn't a "treasure"?

And even taking a step back, hadn't killing monsters (tailed beasts) for equipment drops (jinchūriki) been a thing since ancient times?

Shinji simply couldn't let it go without giving it a try!

So he asked calmly, "Scared?"

Oh, now you've done it!

Hidan immediately stiffened his neck and shot back, "Huh? Me, scared? Whoever's scared is the other's grandson!"

"Fine, then you go first. I'll deal with the people around us."

"Why should I?!"

Hidan immediately bristled!

Then, when he saw the strange look Shinji gave him,

He quickly changed his tune. "I mean, these people could serve as bait and draw that monster's attention for us." Shinji shook his head. "No. Didn't you notice earlier? That freaky thing clearly changed a little after feeding."

"Even its previous strength and numbers were already more than we could comfortably handle. If we let it eat all these people, are you sure we'll still be able to beat it?"

Hidan had to admit that made sense, but he refused to say so. He could only snort. "Then why don't you go first while I deal with the villagers?"

"I'm confident I can deal with all of them as quickly as possible and keep them from getting in the way. Can you?"

"Why couldn't I? I'll just slaughter them all and sacrifice them to Lord Jashin!"

Shinji glanced at him as though he were an idiot. "By the time you finish killing them one by one, it'll be far too late. All this talk-you're really just scared, aren't you?"

"Bastard! The great Hidan doesn't even know how to spell fear! Keep your eyes wide open and watch me hack that freaky thing to pieces!"

Furious, Hidan pulled two kunai from inside his clothes and marched toward the dried-up well, swearing all the way.

Meanwhile, Shinji was thinking... You're fucking illiterate. Forget "fear"-I doubt you know how to write many other words either!

Once he finished his silent snark, Shinji got down to business.

He casually drew a kunai, slit his wrist, and flung his arm forward!

A large amount of blood floated before him, then quickly gathered into a sphere.

Pop!

Pop!

Shinji formed his right hand into the shape of a pistol and fired a few compressed blood bullets at the ground by his feet, adjusting their power.

Only then did a smile tug at his lips.

"Compared to getting eaten, a mild concussion shouldn't be much of a problem."

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...!

Activated by Shinji's cursed energy, a string of compressed blood bullets shot out of the blood sphere in front of him.

Quite a few "bullets" missed, but most struck the villagers squarely in the head.

Almost every villager who was hit rolled their eyes back and collapsed unconscious.

No matter how magical the fragrance from the well was, it couldn't make unconscious people immediately get back up.

That wouldn't be luring them anymore. It would be outright control!

Clearly, the freaky thing in the well wasn't that powerful.

And so, as though he were playing a shooter, Shinji quickly "picked off" all the "zombies," keeping them from breaching the "safe zone."

It was all about speed and efficiency!

Meanwhile, what was that clever little fellow Hidan doing?

While the freaky thing in the well hadn't emerged, he had actually hauled over a large rock from nearby and set it directly over the opening.

Going down there was out of the question. He would never go down there as long as he lived!

Hidan thought, I'll just "seal" this freaky thing down there. Problem solved.

"Done!"

Hidan dusted off his hands, looking immensely proud of himself, like some kind of genius.

But why did his foot feel a little itchy?

He looked down. The bizarre black hair had already slipped through a gap and "grabbed" his ankle!