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As soon as he heard that sound, Asakura immediately felt a chill surge through his heart.
Sure enough, possession-type oddities aren't that easy to get rid of, are they?
Or perhaps, what he had just dealt with was merely a clone or a derivative? Is that why the Nameless Magic Book judged the mission as unfulfilled?
"Miss Kagamihara, listen to me… Don't worry about anything now. Although the road might be difficult, run down the mountain immediately! Don't worry, for a considerable period, you will be 'safe'."
"Eh? But Asakura-kun, you're still buried…"
"Don't worry about me. No matter the situation, I have a way to deal with it. Get out of here now!"
Asakura comforted her in a low voice.
The girl didn't respond, but just bit her cherry lips tightly, kneeling in front of Asakura and speeding up her digging.
"Idiot…"
Asakura called out impatiently.
"I know!"
The girl said with her head down, her cherry-colored long hair hanging in front of Asakura, not caring that it was covered in dirt.
"You know?"
Asakura was stunned. He had thought the girl seemed silly and surely hadn't noticed anything.
Could it be that this child was the type who was wise but appeared foolish?
"No one knows better than me that I'm an idiot! Nadeshiko sometimes says that to me too!"
"So that's what you meant by 'you know'!"
"Asakura-kun must be afraid of a secondary disaster hurting me, so he wants to sacrifice himself like a hero in a movie, right? But it's okay, it seems quiet now, and there are no aftershocks on the mountain road. If I put in a little more effort…"
"Now is not the time to be a 'put in more effort' knight!"
Asakura struggled desperately to pull his hand out of the mud: "In short, absolutely do not look back—"
Because just as he was speaking, the physiologically unsettling monster had already emerged from the smoke and dust, gradually approaching the girl from behind.
However, due to the angle, Asakura could only see some vague edges and couldn't confirm its exact location, otherwise he could have directly burned it to ashes with [Candle].
But it didn't matter, as long as the Magic [Scale] on the girl remained, the Yamanokemono could not harm her.
And once the Yamanokemono attacked the girl, it would immediately expose its exact location. At that time, even if Asakura still couldn't see it, the Magic would most likely be able to capture its presence.
Although this would expose his supernatural powers, judging from the girl's reaction, he might be able to easily trick her into… ah, no, trick her over.
However, just like telling yourself not to let your mind wander, which instead makes you think more, many times if a person is suddenly told not to look back, they will instinctively do so.
At least, Kagamihara Nadeshiko was like that.
"Eh?"
The girl, who hadn't reacted, foolishly turned her head and met the gaze of the monster's narrow, distorted, probably eye-like part on its chest.
"Ah…"
Kagamihara Nadeshiko let out a small sound, neither a whimper nor a cry.
The next moment, her body seemed to be drained of strength, and she softly collapsed.
[Candle]!"
Asakura's hand finally broke free from the mud. He instantly pinpointed the Yamanokemono's location, and the monster immediately burst into flames.
But unlike last time, this time the monster didn't scream in pain, but let out a chilling, shrill cackle.
Its narrow, distorted eyes stared at Asakura with a bone-chilling, malicious gaze until its entire body was burned to ashes.
"Miss Kagamihara, are you alright?"
Once one hand was freed, the remaining part was naturally not as tightly buried.
In addition, Asakura's body wasn't truly buried; the mud and rocks were actually separated from his body by the invisible Magic [Scale], with no substantive contact.
Friends who are often buried alive would definitely know that in this situation, compared to being normally buried alive, Asakura was like his body had been oiled, making it much easier to climb out.
However, after climbing out, he found that the girl still seemed not to have recovered.
Asakura turned the girl, who was prostrate on the ground, over, wanting to see if she had fainted. He saw a painful expression on the girl's face, her mouth constantly twitching, like a deflating balloon, making soft, gasping sounds.
But if one listened carefully, they would find that Kagamihara Nadeshiko was not simply gasping from pain, but was making a strange, rhythmic sound.
'Deng… sou… mie ci…'
Asakura was stunned.
Was this a curse from the Yamanokemono?
But how could that be?
Asakura had already probed and confirmed in the previous battle that the Magic's priority was far higher than that of an oddity like the Yamanokemono. Given that, the Yamanokemono's curse should not be able to pass through [Scale] and affect the girl!
But the facts were before his eyes, and he couldn't pretend not to see them.
According to the ghost stories, if this continued, the girl would be assimilated by the Yamanokemono and also turn into that kind of inhuman monster.
[Snake]!"
Asakura immediately transformed the girl into a large Snake, just as he had dealt with Nukumizu Kazuhiko when he was cursed. Then he immediately dispelled the Magic and transformed her back, using the Magic's effect to override the curse and refresh the girl's state.
But Kagamihara Nadeshiko's state only improved for a moment, and soon the cursed condition reappeared.
Something was wrong.
The cursed state should have been overridden by the Magic, just like with the cursed camera back then.
But now the girl was still bothered by the continuous curse. Could it be that there was something in the outside world that could continuously apply the curse's influence? But [Scale] should be able to block that kind of poisonous radio wave-like stuff…
Could the source of the curse be within her body, had she been possessed by the Yamanokemono?
No, considering that the Yamanokemono was able to successfully curse Kagamihara Nadeshiko even with [Scale] covering her, perhaps the characteristic of this type of curse is that it can ignore [Scale]'s isolation property?
Looking at the suffering girl, Asakura's thoughts were a bit chaotic.
If he turned her into a Snake, it seemed to stop the curse's effect and delay the time for the girl to be assimilated by the Yamanokemono. But this was only a temporary solution and not a permanent cure. And as he had told Nukumizu Kazuhiko back then, if she stayed a Snake for too long, a person's mind would quickly be corrupted by the animal instincts of a Snake. At that time, even if Kagamihara Nadeshiko could safely change back, she would probably become a strange person who likes to eat frogs, stays at home in bed during winter, and can walk on her belly…
"No, there's still a way…"
Asakura took a deep breath, "Perhaps now is the time to take a small gamble."
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