Akuto watched this scene with cold eyes.
At this point, Miko could only be said to be able to move within her fear, but as for overcoming it, that was likely still a long way off.
Only by letting her fight, and letting her discover that Cursed Spirits are actually no big deal, could she begin to overcome her fear.
"If I die, you'll die too, right?"
Miko was still trying to find a way to escape.
She was highly intelligent, but right now, she was single-mindedly focused on avoiding the situation.
"You're mistaken. I'm the strongest."
"Nothing in this world can kill me. If you die, I'll just find another body."
"I don't need a piece of trash who causes me trouble every day."
"If you can't survive, you'll just become its food."
With that, Akuto went invisible, refusing to speak no matter how Miko called out to him.
Miko's heart hammered like a drum as she watched the Cursed Spirit crawl on the ground using its hands and feet, moving with hair-raising speed.
Something flashed in the corner of Miko's eye. She turned her head immediately, but saw only darkness.
"Kill you... delicious..."
A strange clicking sound came from the Cursed Spirit within the darkness.
The next moment, Miko, unable to find the spirit anywhere, suddenly froze.
Goosebumps suddenly crept up from the soles of her feet, all the way to the top of her head.
At this moment, her biological instincts were screaming warnings.
Miko hesitated for a second before suddenly throwing herself to the side.
In that second, two drops of slime landed on her shoulder.
Immediately following them were the Cursed Spirit's sharp claws.
Rip!
"It hurts... it hurts so much..."
A chunk of flesh was torn from Miko's right arm. The Cursed Spirit sniffed it with intoxication before stuffing it into its mouth and swallowing it whole.
The flesh and blood seemed to re-ignite the spirit's desire. It looked at Miko greedily and charged once more.
This time, Miko saw its movements clearly, but her body was too stiff to dodge.
Rip!
Another tooth-grinding sound echoed as a large chunk of flesh was torn from her left thigh.
Thud, thud, thud...
Screams and dull thuds continuously rang out from the abandoned building in the dark of night.
Passing pedestrians tightened their coats and hurried away.
Inside the building, Akuto opened his eyes helplessly.
Miko had fainted, likely due to excessive blood loss.
The floor of the building was covered in bright red blood, reeking of iron, and the Cursed Spirit's face was covered in Miko's flesh and blood.
When Akuto appeared, the terrifying aura he emitted caused the Cursed Spirit to begin trembling in fear.
"Ah... what a useless piece of trash."
Akuto walked up to the Cursed Spirit and held its shoulder.
"Wait a moment, I'm thinking."
"Should I just let her die? Or maybe gouge out her eyes and give them to someone else; at least that would solve the problem."
During those ten-plus minutes, Miko hadn't fought back at all.
Moreover, she had a 100% hit rate for the enemy's skills.
Even a child could have dodged once or twice.
Her combat intelligence was a flat zero.
Her physical coordination was zero.
She was playing like a total bot.
Tapping on his phone a few times, Akuto used the Reverse Cursed Technique to heal all the wounds on Miko's body.
"Oi, wake up. No sleeping allowed here."
The unconscious Miko woke up very reluctantly.
"From now on, I really won't help you. If you faint again, I'll kill you myself."
"A word of advice: your body knows how to fight better than you do. Trust your body."
After Akuto spoke coldly, he returned control of the body to Miko.
Miko's body trembled.
She could feel that Akuto seemed to be serious.
The Cursed Spirit, sensing that the terrifying aura had vanished, allowed its greed to reclaim the upper hand.
"Roar!"
With a roar, the Cursed Spirit charged again.
Miko tried to sidestep, but she was still too slow.
Rip!
Her chest was torn open again, and intense pain continuously assaulted Miko's nerves.
At this moment, countless emotions were intertwining in Miko's mind.
Fear, confusion, helplessness, despair, anger, and resentment.
"It's all of you..."
Watching the Cursed Spirit attack again, Miko gave up on actively controlling her body.
Purely out of instinct, Miko took a step back and sidestepped.
The Cursed Spirit's claws whistled past her face. Under the influence of adrenaline, Miko could even clearly hear the sound of the claws slicing through the air.
It was like slow motion.
"You monsters... you ruined my life..."
"Why do you have to exist! Why are you haunting me!"
"Why!"
For the first time, Miko abandoned her fear, because fear was useless.
This was a life-and-death war.
Her beastly instincts were triggered, and Miko exploded with the final ferocity of a cornered animal, roaring like a young beast.
All the anger, resentment, and despair she had felt since she first started seeing Cursed Spirits erupted all at once.
"Why do you have to haunt me!"
"Go die!"
All her emotions condensed into a single punch. Miko clearly saw a burst of blue flames on her fist... No!
That wasn't fire. That was what Akuto called... Cursed Energy!
Boom!!
With a loud bang, Miko's punch, carrying Cursed Energy, slammed into the Cursed Spirit.
The Cursed Spirit flew backward like a cannonball, crashing heavily into the wall and creating spiderweb-like cracks.
"AAAAAHHH!!"
"Kill... kill!"
The Cursed Spirit howled in pain, then vanished into the darkness once more.
Miko was unexpectedly calm at this moment.
She listened quietly to the movements around her.
Whoosh!
The Cursed Spirit flashed past behind her, but Miko didn't frantically adjust her position; instead, she continued to wait quietly.
The next moment, the Cursed Spirit suddenly charged from a completely unexpected position—overhead.
Miko pushed off the ground with one foot and retreated. Her body was as light as a goose feather, moving back a meter in an instant.
Crack!
The floor was smashed through by the Cursed Spirit. Taking advantage of the gap before the spirit could pull its claws out, Miko wrapped Cursed Energy around her fair leg and delivered a whip kick!
Boom!
The Cursed Spirit was sent flying backward once again.
Miko distributed her Cursed Energy evenly across every corner of her body, then jumped suddenly.
Her body shot out like a bullet, jumping four or five meters high in the blink of an eye.
"Ah? AAAAAHHH!!"
Miko lost her center of gravity in the air and fell down flailing.
"Can't even stay cool for three seconds."
Akuto closed his eyes in exasperation.
Bang!
Miko fell into a pile of construction debris. When she emerged, she was covered in blood, looking like a total mess.
Moreover, her wounds were filled with construction fragments.
Ignoring the pain, Miko knew very well that she had to finish off that Cursed Spirit.
By now, the Cursed Spirit's form had become very faint, almost invisible.
Miko tried again, taking a starting stance and then pushing off hard with her front leg.
Her figure shot forward again, turning into an afterimage, and appeared behind the Cursed Spirit in the next instant.
"Die!"
Miko punched the Cursed Spirit right in the center of its back.
Poof!
Miko's small pink fist pierced through the Cursed Spirit's body.
"Urgh... aah..."
The Cursed Spirit slowly dissipated, turning into mist and vanishing completely.
"Lord Akuto, I feel like I'm about to die..."
Miko's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Akuto took over the body and performed the Reverse Cursed Spirit Technique, fully healing the wounds before returning the body to Miko.
"Not bad. Remember that feeling just now—triggering Cursed Energy from your emotions."
"But... there's still a problem."
----
Read 30+ Chapter in advance.
Ko-fi(.)com(slash)averagebooklover(/)