A single figure stood in the dimly lit chamber.
No, to be precise, it was a mummy.
Its clothes were tattered and decayed. Its muscles had long since withered away, leaving its skin clinging tightly to its bones, making it look more like a skeleton than a person. A sinister aura radiated from its body, though it wasn't quite the aura of death—it carried something else, something unnatural.
"Judging by its aura, it's around a C-rank," Kaizen murmured, his eyes flickering with calculation.
Machi moved her fingers.
Swish!
A thread of aura shot out, wrapping tightly around the mummy's limbs. In an instant, it was bound, its arms and legs pinned together in a rigid state.
"Ho...!"
A guttural sound escaped from the mummy's throat.
Then, without warning, a dense cloud of smoke spewed from its mouth. The smoke slithered through the air, moving as if it were alive.
Machi instinctively leaped back.
Kaizen reacted swiftly. "Natsu!"
A burst of flames erupted from Natsu's fists as he launched a fierce strike at the approaching smoke. The fire engulfed the swirling mass, causing it to wail in an eerie, high-pitched shriek before vanishing completely.
Machi flicked her fingers again, sending another thread of aura straight for the mummy's head. But something was off.
"Its defense is surprisingly strong," Kaizen noted, watching as the attack failed to leave even a scratch.
Machi frowned. Though her threads were mainly designed for stitching, they weren't weak by any means. At her skill level, a direct attack should have done more damage.
"This thing's resilience might even surpass Uvogin's," Kaizen speculated. "And yet, its aura is only at a C-rank."
He smirked. "Nen is fair. If its defense is this absurd, then its offensive capabilities must be limited. That means we just need to find its weak point."
Kaizen turned to Machi. "I'll handle the smoke—you find its weak spot."
Machi nodded. Under her control, a thread transformed into a thin, sharp blade and began testing different areas of the mummy's body.
Eyes, mouth, ears, heart—
Suddenly—
Shnk!
The sound of something piercing flesh echoed in the chamber.
Machi's eyes lit up.
She struck again, this time with multiple threads at once. The mummy convulsed violently. Its head jerked back, mouth stretching wide open as a thick cloud of smoke burst out.
The chamber was quickly filling with the dense, cursed fog.
Kaizen's expression darkened. "Natsu!"
With a fiery explosion, Natsu expanded his flames, creating a protective barrier around Kaizen and Machi. The smoke, unable to penetrate, recoiled and scattered before being completely incinerated.
When the fire died down, the mummy was visibly weakened.
Then—crack!
The body crumbled to the ground, disintegrating into dust.
At that moment, Kaizen felt a faint tremor from the blade at his waist.
His eyes narrowed.
Ever since the incident in the Taris Kingdom, the Rotten Knife had fallen into a deep slumber. It had remained unresponsive for a long time. Kaizen wasn't concerned at first—he had witnessed the blade undergo an evolution before—but after such a prolonged silence, even he had started to grow impatient.
Now, at last, it was stirring.
A thin wisp of death energy drifted from the mummy's remains and was drawn toward the Rotten Knife. The energy seeped into the weapon, vanishing into its dark steel.
Then, with a deep thud, a hidden door in the chamber wall creaked open.
Machi glanced at Kaizen. "Do you want to rest?"
"No need." Kaizen shook his head. "Let's keep going."
They stepped through the doorway and entered another chamber. This time, there were two mummies instead of one.
The moment Kaizen and Machi entered, the creatures attacked without hesitation.
Unlike the last one, these mummies focused on offense rather than defense.
Kaizen didn't hesitate. "Natsu!"
Natsu stepped forward, his body erupting in flames. Before Kaizen had obtained Natsu, he had always relied on Raiken to tank hits. But with Natsu's superior defense, the tide of battle had shifted.
Kaizen gripped the handle of the Rotten Knife, focusing his senses. Through his aura, he detected something different about these mummies—an area on their bodies where the death energy was heavily concentrated.
"Natsu, aim for that spot!"
Natsu obeyed, taking a direct hit from one of the mummies but pushing through. He raised a flaming fist and struck the weak point.
Boom!
The mummy collapsed instantly. This time, no smoke appeared. Instead, the death energy was absorbed into the Rotten Knife.
Kaizen's eyes gleamed. "A fatal wound from their past life."
A realization dawned on him.
"These must be the corpses of those who once tried to attack the Kurta Clan. Their bodies have been reanimated and transformed."
Machi absorbed the information quickly. "So if we find their fatal wound, we can eliminate them efficiently."
"Exactly."
Machi nodded and adjusted her strategy. This time, when she attacked, she targeted the weak points directly.
With precision, her aura threads pierced the vital area.
The mummy stopped moving instantly.
Then, just like the first, it crumbled into dust.
The Rotten Knife absorbed more death energy. Kaizen could feel it—his weapon was getting closer to awakening.
Another door creaked open.
Kaizen and Machi stepped into the next chamber.
More mummies.
This time, their numbers had increased significantly.
"I'll restrain them with my threads. Your beast can focus on finding the weak points," Machi proposed.
Kaizen nodded. "Let's do it."
Their teamwork proved effective. In a matter of moments, the mummies were dealt with.
But as they crossed the next threshold, something changed.
Kaizen found himself in a completely new place.
The surroundings were barren and eerily silent.
Bones littered the ground as far as the eye could see.
And worst of all—Machi was nowhere to be seen.
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