""OOOHHHHHHH—!!!""
In the end, after a brief period of paralysis, the cursed spirits began moving again, letting out terrifying roars as they pounced one after another toward the boy standing in front of Riezel.
"You... uhh, schoolmate? You should step back for now!"
Seeing the approaching cursed spirits, the pink-haired boy hurriedly exchanged a few words with Riezel before breaking into a run and charging toward them.
As he moved, however, his movements did not resemble those of a seasoned supernatural combatant in the slightest. Instead, he looked more like an ordinary person.
Of course, 'ordinary person' referred only to his movements and had nothing to do with his physical ability.
Like a sprinter, the boy's charge toward the enemy looked exactly like running, with his arms swinging naturally and his body leaning forward. Unlike the people Riezel had encountered so far, whose charges resembled flashes or glides, this boy's movements were surprisingly down-to-earth.
However, Riezel had to admit that his physical ability was somewhat astonishing. With nothing more than a single burst of acceleration, he covered nearly ten meters in less than a second.
"HAAHH!"
Shouting, the boy suddenly threw a punch.
In Riezel's eyes, even the motion of his punch did not resemble that of a trained combatant, but rather that of a gangster getting into a street fight.
Even so, the force behind it was extraordinarily powerful.
*BANG!*
Amid the dull impact, the cursed spirit, struck by the boy's fist, flew away like a cannonball and crashed into a building's wall, smashing it to pieces.
At the same time, the remaining cursed spirits immediately surrounded the boy. Some swung their blade-like arms, while others spat out their tongues, launching attacks from every direction using all kinds of methods.
Facing such an assault, the boy once again displayed overwhelming physical ability. Sometimes he turned sideways, sometimes he leaped high into the air, sometimes he crouched down and slid across the ground, and sometimes he simply rolled along the ground.
Like a gymnast, he dodged the various attacks with almost acrobatic movements before drawing a weapon from his body and gripping it tightly.
It was a wide-edged dagger with a hole in its blade. Hair grew around the point where the handle met the blade, with a small amount of bandaging wrapped around it.
Overall, it was a rather decent-looking weapon.
Of course, it was not an ordinary weapon, as Riezel could sense a trace of cursed energy coming from it.
'Is that a cursed tool?'
Riezel immediately began watching with interest.
Physical attacks were useless against cursed spirits, which were entities formed from cursed energy.
Yes, the two punches the boy had thrown earlier were certainly powerful, but they were still ordinary physical attacks and contained no cursed energy.
Hence, the two cursed spirits that had been sent flying by the boy's punches had already staggered back to their feet and were once again approaching them.
If the boy continued fighting like that, relying solely on his extraordinary physical abilities and using only physical attacks, he would eventually lose.
But the moment he gripped the cursed tool, the situation changed.
*SWISH!*
In the blink of an eye, the boy dashed forward and performed a slashing strike as he passed by one of the cursed spirits—the cursed tool in his hand easily tore the cursed spirit's body open, killing it on the spot.
*SWISH!**SWISH!**SWISH!*
Without faltering, the boy continued displaying his remarkable hand-to-hand combat skills, his expression remaining calm as he moved swiftly through the battlefield, repeatedly swinging the dagger in his hand.
Sometimes he severed a cursed spirit's arm, while other times he hacked its head off, fighting in a simple yet highly efficient manner.
Watching everything from the sidelines, Riezel genuinely felt that his eyes had been opened.
'Not gonna lie, while his movements are totally amateurish, his combat skills are actually pretty practical.'
'Well, this is basically a combat style that relies on his insane physical abilities to make up for everything else, right?'
'It's not bad, I guess? At the very least, he's way stronger than those half-baked guys who seriously train in martial arts or hand-to-hand combat.'
It was extremely rare for Riezel to give such an evaluation.
At the very least, this boy was far stronger than the protagonists Riezel had encountered before, such as Bell Cranel and Kamado Tanjiro.
Even if Ainz had failed to remember the password to his main account and continued using the name Momon as an adventurer, swinging a pair of greatswords around, he probably would not have been as strong as this boy.
'Hm? More people are coming?'
Riezel continued watching the fight, but not long afterward, he suddenly sensed something and turned his head toward the rear.
Two figures were running over, arriving somewhat late.
"Divine Dog!"
As soon as a cold-faced black-haired boy arrived, he immediately formed a hand sign.
In that instant, the white dog running ahead let out a loud bark and sprang forward, while his shadow also began to writhe, summoning another black dog that barked just as fiercely before the two dogs followed one another as they pounced toward the cursed spirits.
"Tch..."
Another girl with short brown hair that reached past her ears clicked her tongue in annoyance, seemingly without caring about her appearance, then pulled out a hammer and several nails.
She quickly tossed the nails into the air, and as a surge of cursed energy enveloped them like flames, the girl then struck the nails with her hammer, sending them flying like sharp projectiles toward several cursed spirits.
Meanwhile, the two dogs, one black and one white, pounced onto the cursed spirits one after another, opening their mouths filled with sharp teeth and biting down. Every bite tore away a large chunk of flesh from the cursed spirits' bodies.
At the same time, their sharp claws pierced through the cursed spirits one after another, driving deep into their bodies. They continued burrowing into the flesh as if they were alive, causing the cursed spirits to shriek repeatedly in agony.
"Fushiguro! Kugisaki!"
Seeing the cold-faced black-haired boy and the girl with short brown hair arrive, the energetic pink-haired boy, who had been running back and forth among the cursed spirits while swinging his dagger, immediately smiled.
Unfortunately, none of his companions gave him a friendly response.
"You idiot! Did you suddenly run ahead because you were in such a hurry to get yourself killed?!"
As soon as the girl approached, she swung her fist at the boy's head, looking extremely irritated.
"Think about your own situation first, you moron!"
Like the girl, the black-haired, cold-faced boy also cursed at him.
"What the heck?! I was trying to save people too!"
Hearing his companions' responses, the energetic boy looked extremely dissatisfied.
"Save people? Don't get yourself killed first!"
"After the mission, I'm telling Teacher Gojo. I'll have him lecture you."
"Ahh, that's such a pain in the ass..."
Just like that, the two boys and one girl of the same age argued with one another as though no one else were around, yet their movements did not slow down in the slightest.
One continued running around and swinging his dagger, another formed hand signs and commanded the two dogs, while the last scattered nails infused with cursed energy before using her hammer to launch them one after another, clearing out the surrounding cursed spirits.
Watching the scene, Riezel was once again speechless, yet he could not help chuckling.
'Looks like this is another really lively protagonist group.'
Just like the three-person group led by Tanjiro in the world of Demon Slayer, they were lively yet hardworking.
In the end, Riezel released his hand from the hilt of the sword at his waist and crossed his arms, leisurely watching the trio's battle like an uninvolved bystander.
If this had not been such a situation, and if they had not been facing a group of monsters formed from negative emotions, it could practically have been written into a chapter of youthful memories.
A while later, all the attacking cursed spirits were eliminated by the three boys and the girl.
Only then did the three arrive in front of Riezel.
Seeing Riezel standing there with his arms crossed, calmly watching everything unfold, the three of them reacted in completely different ways.
"Yo, you okay?"
Standing right in front of Riezel, the pink-haired boy who had charged over first raised a hand and greeted Riezel.
"I'm Yuji Itadori, and these two are my teammates, Megumi Fushiguro and Nobara Kugisaki."
Even though the name Megumi Fushiguro sounded like it belonged to a girl, he was actually the cold-faced, black-haired boy.
Meanwhile, the name Nobara Kugisaki sounded quite wild, and the person herself was equally wild. At this moment, she was standing there with an extremely displeased expression, looking just like a delinquent girl.
Neither Megumi nor Nobara looked like people who were easy to get along with.
Yuji, on the other hand, was an energetic boy who would definitely have plenty of friends if he were in school.
Just as Yuji was about to approach Riezel, two hands suddenly grabbed him by the shoulders from both sides.
"Don't just walk up to him."
"Are you seriously trying to get yourself killed?!"
Megumi and Nobara each grabbed one of Yuji's shoulders—one gave him a low warning, while the other shouted at him roughly.
"What?"
Yuji was naturally confused, having no idea what had suddenly gotten into his two companions.
Megumi and Nobara then spoke one after another.
"Take a good look." Megumi stared intently at Riezel, his expression turning stern. "He isn't on the missing persons list. I didn't see his picture."
"Even though I can't sense any cursed energy from him, how could some ordinary guy stay this calm after seeing cursed spirits?" Nobara also spoke with a stern expression. "And you idiot, didn't you notice the sword at his waist?"
After his companions pointed it out, Yuji also realized that something was wrong.
In fact, they had come here because of a mission.
Originally, this place had been a juvenile detention center, a facility used to provide corrective education for juvenile offenders with behavioral problems. Because the appearance of a cursed womb had been detected here, Yuji and the other two had been called over.
A cursed womb was, in other words, a cursed spirit that was still in the process of being born.
And the cursed womb that had appeared inside the Juvenile Detention Center was believed to have the potential to give birth to a special grade cursed spirit, which was why Yuji and the others had been sent here to deal with it.
However, by the time Yuji and the others arrived, the Juvenile Detention Center had already fallen.
Not only had the cursed womb appeared to have hatched, but a cursed spirit suspected to be special grade had transformed the area into its domain, dragging some of the people who had failed to evacuate in time into this alternate space and causing them to go missing.
Thankfully, the list of missing persons had already been confirmed and delivered to Yuji and the others. Yuji had not memorized it, but Megumi had already memorized not only the information of everyone on the list but also their appearances.
Combined with Riezel's excessively calm behavior and the sword at his waist, his abnormal behavior and the fact that he was not on the missing persons list immediately made Megumi and Nobara wary.
Only Yuji had failed to notice anything and foolishly tried to approach Riezel, making it impossible for his companions not to scold him.
"So, who are you?" Nobara questioned Riezel in an unfriendly tone. "Don't tell me you're one of the staff here. Nope, there aren't any employees here who are this handsome and fair-skinned."
"Are you a jujutsu sorcerer too?" Megumi asked in a serious tone. "Or... are you a curse user?"
A curse user was not a profession distinct from that of a jujutsu sorcerer, because a curse user was also a jujutsu sorcerer. They were simply classified separately because they used cursed techniques to commit crimes and engage in activities that harmed others, society, and the order of jujutsu society.
In other words, the difference between jujutsu sorcerers and curse users was that one was an officially sanctioned profession, while the other operated in the underground world.
Needless to say, there was no fundamental difference between the two, as both were specific groups of people capable of refining cursed energy and using cursed techniques.
Megumi was wondering whether Riezel might be a curse user.
If Riezel was a curse user, then could the abnormal situation at the Juvenile Detention Center have been caused by him?
Megumi and Nobara simultaneously thought of this possibility, and the vigilance in their gazes toward Riezel grew increasingly intense. Even Yuji wisely wiped the smile from his face and no longer behaved so casually.
Of course, he was doing so because he had sensed that the atmosphere was wrong.
As for what a curse user was?
He had absolutely no idea.
Under such circumstances, Riezel raised his eyes and looked at the two boys and the girl staring at him with expressions ranging from confusion to vigilance before shrugging.
"Don't look at me like that. I'm neither a jujutsu sorcerer nor a curse user, and I have absolutely nothing to do with what happened here."
"I just accidentally wandered in here."
"Can you really believe me if I put it that way?"
Believe him?
Megumi and Nobara exchanged a glance and were about to speak, but before they could, Yuji spoke first.
"Oh, I see. You just wandered in here by accident!"
He slapped his palm with one hand, looking as though he had suddenly understood everything.
"Don't believe him!"
Nobara shouted in exasperation.
"..."
Megumi remained silent, though the corner of his mouth twitched repeatedly.
In the end, the serious atmosphere had completely disappeared in an instant because of Yuji's interruption.
"I know you don't believe me..." Riezel stayed there calmly and continued, "But right now, I'm not the one you should be worrying about, am I?"
What did that mean?
Yuji and the other two were slightly stunned.
Until...
""!!!""
An overwhelming presence suddenly appeared without warning, causing all three of them to freeze in place.
More importantly, the presence was drawing closer and closer, or rather, it had been extremely close to them from the very beginning, leaving their entire bodies unable to move.
Their heartbeats accelerated.
Their blood began to boil.
It was not because of excitement, but because of the instinctive pounding of their hearts and the fear that came with it.
At this moment, whether it was Yuji, Megumi, or Nobara, all three understood something in an instant: an extremely terrifying existence was standing directly behind them.
Realizing that, the same roar of disbelief immediately appeared in all three of their minds.
'WHEN?!'
They had not sensed anything at all.
They had not been prepared in the slightest.
Even the two dogs that had been beside them, happily chewing on the flesh of cursed spirits until just moments ago, did not dare make a single sound as their entire bodies had gone rigid, frozen in place like frogs staring into the eyes of a snake, not daring to move even an inch.
At this very moment, the air froze, and time itself seemed to have stopped.
While the three-person group had gone pale, only Riezel remained calm.
Looking at the existence that had suddenly appeared behind Yuji and the others like a ghost, Riezel tilted his head and spoke.
"Are you laughing?"
"Are you having fun?"
"What the hell are you so happy about?"
Riezel's three questions, each filled with utter disbelief and displeasure, plunged the entire scene into deathly silence.
===
[A bonus chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]
[Support and get early access to upcoming chapters at: patreon.com/VALRRR]