Cursed Object-Perfect Perfume

Those eerie strands of black hair seemed terrified of fire, or perhaps they were simply extremely flammable.

They thrashed like demons gone wild, trying to extinguish the flames engulfing them, but with a blaze this fierce, the harder they struggled, the faster they burned!

"Cough, cough... Did you kill that damn thing?"

Having escaped the flames, Hidan looked utterly bedraggled. His whole body was charred black, and even his hair and eyebrows had burned away.

The good news was that he hadn't been eaten.

As for that bastard Shinji burning him along with the enemy, he didn't actually see anything wrong with it. After all, that was the greatest advantage of [Immortality]: there was no need to worry about friendly fire. You could even kill your ally along with the enemy!

Had their positions been reversed, Hidan would have killed Shinji along with the enemy without a moment's hesitation.

"Not sure yet, but after a fire like that, the damn thing's either dead or crippled. Wait up here. I'm going down to check. If anything happens, do what I just did and set it on fire. Don't worry about me."

Shinji planned to go down and inspect the situation, finishing the thing off if necessary. If there was any loot, all the better.

Hidan was the backup he had left outside, ensuring nothing could go wrong.

"Suit yourself. I certainly won't hold back." Hidan lay sprawled on the ground without a shred of dignity, gulping down air.

Shinji also trusted that Hidan wouldn't hesitate if given a chance to get back at him, so he felt quite reassured.

Besides, his earlier act of fleeing first, then descending like a savior to rescue Hidan, had actually raised their bond points by another 50, bringing the total to 251.

He was only halfway short of the 500 points needed for the next stage.

That was undoubtedly another piece of good news!

Lighting a torch, Shinji jumped back into the well without another word. Scorch marks covered everything inside.

When he reached the bottom, the desperate final counterattack he had been guarding against never came, nor was there any sign of the black hair.

Only a palm-sized glass bottle lay quietly on the ground, completely intact.

Shinji immediately perked up. He was certain there had been nothing in the well when he first came down.

In other words, this glass bottle was most likely either the item from the treasure chest or something dropped after that ghastly thing died.

Either possibility meant it was definitely no ordinary object.

Shinji immediately picked it up with great care. The instant he touched it, the bizarre system that had nearly gotten him killed stirred again.

[Obtained Cursed Object-Perfect Perfume]

"It's actually a Cursed Object?!"

Somewhat surprised, Shinji immediately began examining it.

Cursed Object: [Perfect Perfume]

Origin: A perfect perfume distilled from the extracted body scents of ninety-nine young women.

Ability 1: Emits a fragrance that most flesh-and-blood creatures cannot resist.

Ability 2: Generates large quantities of black hair, which can digest and absorb living flesh to strengthen itself.

Ability 3: Regeneration

Weakness: Fire

PS: How do you think those body scents were preserved?

Shinji's eyes widened. He had never expected the ghastly thing he and Hidan had fought for so long to be the bottle of [Perfect Perfume] now in his hand.

If he had chosen to leave earlier rather than fight to the bitter end...

Then clearly, this Cursed Object would never have been his.

But that description of the Cursed Object...

Hopefully, it wasn't what I'm thinking.

Even if it was, he would still use it when necessary. There was nothing more to say about that.

Silently putting it away, Shinji checked the place once more. Once he confirmed there was nothing else, he left.

"Looks like good news?"

After Shinji climbed back up,

Hidan asked, seemingly relieved. He really didn't want to face that ghastly thing again, the one that kept coming no matter how much he attacked it.

Shinji's expression relaxed as well. He nodded. "It's completely dealt with. Burned away without even a scrap left."

"Good... But what the hell was that thing? How come I've never seen or even heard of anything like it?"

Perhaps because he had just been rescued, Hidan's tone wasn't nearly as hostile as before.

Of course, it might also have been because he was exhausted...

After all, he was the one who had spent ages fighting that thing, the one who had been caught and nearly eaten, and even the one who had been burned!

After all that, no matter how hostile he was, he probably lacked the strength to show it.

As for Hidan's question, Shinji actually had an answer now.

But he had no way to explain any of it, so in the end, he could only shake his head and indicate that he really didn't know.

Hidan rolled his eyes at that, but couldn't be bothered to ask any more questions.

"Can you still walk?"

"What do you think?"

"Then keep lying there. I'm going back to sleep."

"Bastard! Akagi Shinji, you're not human! You have no heart!"

"Good, plenty of energy! Keep it up!"

Shinji yawned and walked away.

The fire had burned all the poultry carcasses around the dry well to ashes. It had come quickly and gone just as quickly, dying out as soon as the black hair was consumed.

As a result, it hadn't spread to the surrounding villagers or houses, which undoubtedly saved a lot of trouble.

"Hey! You're seriously just leaving? ×&%￥#@..."

After cursing for a good while, Hidan finally stopped, panting, perhaps worn out by his own tirade.

Then a streak of red suddenly flashed before his eyes, swiftly binding him. Before he could snap out of his daze, it yanked him away with a whoosh!

Hidan looked up. Who else could it have been but that bastard Shinji?

"Hey, can't you be gentler?! And do you really have to do this so rough-mmph, mmph!"

The "rope" Shinji had formed with Blood Manipulation immediately wrapped layer upon layer around Hidan's foul mouth, sealing it shut.

"Finally, some peace and quiet. Phew."

Shinji smiled in satisfaction, then walked forward, pulling the "rope" behind him.

Bound up, Hidan was dragged the entire way, constantly making muffled noises in an attempt to curse. But clearly, almost nobody could understand that particular language...

When they returned, they found that the old man was gone.

Shinji didn't care. Whether the man had fled because he didn't trust him or had left for some other reason, it had nothing to do with him.

A little while later, startled cries began ringing out across the village!

Clearly, the unlucky people who had been lured over by the fragrance and knocked unconscious by Shinji had all woken up.

They had been sleeping perfectly soundly, only to wake up and discover they were outside with pounding headaches. Add the charred scene before their eyes, and they were lucky if the fright didn't make them ill.

As for each household's "missing" livestock, there was even less hope of finding them. Most likely, they would simply have to accept their bad luck!

And so, in the middle of the night, a bout of mass sleepwalking suddenly sent the whole village into an uproar.