Once Shin finished clearing the surrounding area, he received a text from Ijichi instructing him to head into the station with one goal: eliminate all curses. Feeling restless, Shin dashed downward, brute-forcing his way through endless hordes of curses. After clearing the first area, Shin noticed a presence that felt different, not in terms of curse energy, but in aura. Smiling and hungry for action, Shin yelled in the source's direction, "Hey! Fucker! I know you're behind that pillar waiting for me just because I don't have CE. Get out into the open!"
The curse stepped out in front of Shin while gnawing at a human corpse, blood dripping from its fangs. Though its appearance was average, its vibe was different. 'This one has a lot of experience fighting.' Feeling the room's oppressive silence, Shin quickly acted first, striking the ground and launching small projectiles at the curse. The curse simply sidestepped out of the projectile's path. 'The best way to deal with these types is to create false openings. Hopefully, this one is too arrogant to see it.'
Shin turned and ran, showcasing panic and fear. Listening in, Shin could tell the beast took the bait as its weighted steps echoed out in a hurry. 'I see the restroom. If I can get it and block the door, it should be enough to blind itself in ignorance.' Limping inside hastily, Shin shut the door, locked it, and hid behind a wall. Not long after, the door was broken in, and the beast walked in, not with caution, but with a swaggering intimidation.
Listening closely, Shin waited patiently to catch the beast off guard. When the chance arrived, Shin turned and struck, but to his surprise, it was blocked by an extra limb extending from the beast's back. Jumping back, Shin noticed the beast had another set of eyes and arms that were in hiding. 'Surprise attack is no longer an option now. It's on its guard, plus, the back is a problem.' The beast charged at Shin, who successfully blocked it as they both crashed through the walls into the open area of the station.
Now facing off, both readied themselves before suddenly charging at each other. The beast started throwing fast, accurate punches, causing Shin to defend, but he was able to counter while doing so. The beast, noticing it was losing, quickly shifted its position further away before getting low. Confused, Shin prepared himself for what was coming. Suddenly, the beast opened its mouth and started firing heavy, sharp, and fast projectiles.
With no cover around, Shin took a gamble and started blocking and dodging the attacks. Once the firing stopped, Shin noticed the beast's sluggish movement and wasted no time, running forward and jabbing his staff into the beast's mouth. When the staff penetrated through the beast's throat, it started moving erratically while making choking noises. Shin shifted his legs and remained stationed, strengthening his core and legs. 'It's stuck.'
Suddenly, the staff's color changed as it ingested the beast's curse energy from within. Finally, the beast lost its coloring, went limp, and dropped to the floor. Pulling the staff out, Shin closed his eyes, focusing on gauging how many more curses were left running around. 'There are more than 30, plus I can hear a child crying.' Shin hurried towards the crying child, exterminating all the curses along the way.
Once he found the child, he noticed something strange: she was surrounded by a group of people sitting in a big circle, looking up at the ceiling in a daze. 'What the fuck is this?' Not wanting to waste time, Shin approached the girl and asked if she was hurt. When the girl turned and ran towards Shin crying, he noticed something was off. 'The sound of her running is lighter than what she appears. It's as if she's hollow within.'
Once the girl was within arm's length, her body shifted and morphed abnormally, her face distorting into something inhuman. At the same time, the people sitting down also morphed abnormally, increasing in size like balloons. 'Shit.' Shin quickly kicked the child away before jumping backward from the group before they popped. Clearing the dusty air, what was left of the group was tiny bits and pieces of meat. 'Disgusting.'
Suddenly, Shin heard more crying, sounding like children, but the source was coming toward him. 'The running is heavy, a bit too heavy for an average child.' The sources came out, and to Shin's surprise, it was a group of kids no older than ten, all entangled by a twitchy curse. When they saw Shin, they ran towards him, asking for help with desperation. Biting his lips, Shin swiped the group of kids away before they could explode because of the curse spirits.
Anger rose inside Shin, but he tried not to emotionally connect with the children, knowing they were already dead the moment the curses attached. 'Calm down, Shin. You are inside a curse barrier filled with monsters. Close your heart and don't pity those who don't pity you.' Walking around cautiously, Shin sensed nothing on the current floor but heard movements beneath him. Stopping by an empty store, he then returned downward to the next floor.
Upon reaching it, Shin saw curses running around, eating, fighting, and idling. To speed up the extermination, Shin clapped his hands with extra force. All the curses turned their attention toward him and came running. Running into the horde, each stab, strike, and jab did more damage as the staff started chomping on the curses. 'This guy must be excited by the taste of curses.' While cleaning out the area, Shin encountered hired rogue sorcerers, who were at most grade 3 to 4.
None of them could do much against Shin. Realizing Shin had cleared the floor above, they quickly relied on their Domain Expansion, but it did very little. Once they exhausted themselves, they were easy pickings. Shin gained not just experience but also useful tools such as cursed tools, weapons, and some talismans. Unable to carry all of them with just his hands, he looted a massive traveling bag from a corpse. After gathering what he deemed useful, Shin looked for a map to find the stairs or elevator to go deeper.
While walking, Shin heard Yuji's voice from above ground outside. "NANAMI! GOJO HAS BEEN SEALED!" Hearing those words, Shin thought he heard wrong, but Yuji's repetition solidified the worst situation. 'Fuck, do I continue downward or regroup? I got this bag full of goods, so I better head back.' With full force, Shin sprinted back, making it up and outside in less than a minute. Looking around, Yuji's repetition of calling for Nanami led Shin to head upward to a nearby building. Upon regrouping with Yuji, Nanami, Megumi, and Ino, Shin listened to Yuji and Nanami and received a new task.