"Fall back!"
Shinji Akagi quickly grabbed Hidan and pulled him backward, widening the distance between them. Without hesitation, he then slapped Hidan twice across the face to snap him out of it.
In that brief moment of distraction just now, the two of them had unknowingly stepped several meters closer to the well.
Hidan had barely recovered from the slap—before the scene in front of them stunned him.
That strange fragrance seemed to possess some mysterious power. It had attracted all the nearby livestock.
Then the two of them watched as those eerie black hairs suddenly surged out of the well once again. In the blink of an eye, they shot forward and wrapped tightly around the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs that had been lured over.
Without the scent constantly stimulating them, the animals immediately began struggling in terror.
But it was already too late.
Their resistance was completely useless. Soon, all movement ceased.
After a while, the strange black hair slowly retracted again.
And perhaps it was just his imagination, but Shinji felt that the hair now looked even glossier and more resilient than before.
As for the unfortunate livestock, they had been completely drained. Their bodies shriveled into horrifying mummified husks.
The sight left both Shinji and Hidan deeply shocked.
"By the name of Jashin… that thing actually feeds?" Hidan nearly swore out loud.
Shinji's expression also turned serious as he realized the creature he had unearthed while treasure hunting might be a genuine menace.
And then—
"Do you smell that? That strange fragrance just appeared again."
Hidan froze for a moment before touching the side of his face Shinji had slapped earlier. With disbelief, he said:
"So that smell… it's used to lure prey? What the hell is that thing?"
Thinking about how he had nearly fallen under its influence earlier made Hidan's expression sour.
If that monster had actually wrapped him up, it was hard to say whether he could have escaped in the end.
And in the worst-case scenario…
He might have been 'eaten' for a very long time.
Just imagining it was terrifying enough.
"While that thing can only move within this area, we should leave quickly," Hidan suggested.
If the opponent were a person—or even a god—Hidan wouldn't have been afraid.
But facing something like this…
He had absolutely no interest in fighting it to the death.
There was simply no need.
Shinji agreed with Hidan's reasoning.
However…
In the darkness of the night, numerous faint silhouettes had appeared nearby without them noticing.
They were villagers—drawn here by the strange fragrance from the well.
And judging from their expressions, they had clearly lost their rationality.
If Shinji and Hidan simply left now, the entire village would likely be wiped out.
Shinji never considered himself a good person, and he rarely meddled in other people's business.
But this disaster had been caused by him.
If he simply walked away now, abandoning a group of already miserable villagers to their deaths…
He couldn't get past that in his own heart.
That would be downright shameless.
Besides—
He wasn't willing to leave just like that.
Sure, he had dug up a monster instead of treasure.
But who could say that this "monster" wasn't also the treasure?
And besides…
Wasn't it practically tradition to defeat monsters (like Tailed Beasts) and obtain rewards (like Jinchūriki)?
If he didn't at least try, Shinji would feel deeply dissatisfied.
So he calmly asked:
"Scared?"
Hidan immediately bristled.
"What?! Me, scared? Whoever's scared is a damn coward!"
"Alright then. You go first. I'll deal with the people around here."
"Why should I?!"
Hidan instantly exploded.
But after seeing the strange look Shinji gave him, he quickly corrected himself.
"I mean—those people can act as bait. Let them attract the monster's attention for us."
Shinji shook his head.
"No. Didn't you notice? After feeding, that thing clearly changed."
"Just the strength and number of those hairs earlier were already hard enough to deal with. If it eats all these villagers too, are you sure we'll still be able to handle it?"
Hidan paused.
It did make sense.
But he refused to admit it and just snorted.
"Then why don't you go first while I handle the villagers?"
"I'm confident I can deal with all of them quickly and stop them from interfering. Can you?"
"What's so hard about that? Worst case, I'll just kill them all and offer them as sacrifices to Lord Jashin!"
Shinji glanced at him like he was looking at an idiot.
"By the time you finish killing them one by one, it'll already be too late. You're talking so much because you're scared."
"Bastard! Lord Hidan doesn't even know how to spell the word 'fear'! Just watch how I tear that monster into pieces!"
Enraged, Hidan pulled two kunai from his clothes and stomped toward the abandoned well while cursing loudly.
Meanwhile, Shinji was thinking:
You're illiterate. Forget the word 'fear'—you probably can't write many words at all.
After finishing his internal jab, Shinji got to work.
He casually took out a kunai and sliced open his wrist before flicking his arm forward.
A large amount of blood floated into the air before him, rapidly gathering into a spherical mass.
Pop! Pop!
Shinji formed his right hand into the shape of a pistol and fired several compressed blood bullets into the ground at his feet, adjusting the power.
Only then did a faint smile appear on his lips.
"Compared to being eaten alive… a mild concussion shouldn't be too bad, right?"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
Activated by Shinji's cursed energy, a stream of compressed blood bullets shot out from the floating sphere before him.
Some of the shots missed, but most struck the villagers directly 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 immediately revive someone who had already lost consciousness.
That would be full control, not mere temptation.
Clearly, the thing inside the well didn't possess that level of power.
Just like that, Shinji rapidly picked off all the "zombies" like he was playing a shooting game, preventing them from crossing the "safe zone."
Fast.
Efficient.
Meanwhile, what was the clever little genius Hidan doing?
This guy had taken advantage of the moment when the creature inside the well hadn't emerged yet.
He dragged over the large stone nearby and slammed it directly over the well's opening.
There was absolutely no way he was going down there.
Not in this lifetime.
Hidan thought to himself:
If I just seal this monster down there, isn't that problem solved?
"All done!"
He clapped the dust off his hands with a proud expression, looking extremely pleased with himself.
But then…
Why did his foot feel a little itchy?
When he looked down—
That eerie black hair had already slipped through a small gap in the stone.
And it had wrapped itself tightly around his ankle.