"Ora ora ora!"
To restrict the Cursed Spirit's movements as much as possible, Panda rushed in front of it without regard for his own safety.
This was where a large number of tentacles were connected to its body.
Aside from the slender tentacles on its two arms, if any other tentacles moved, Panda would immediately attack the point where the tentacle connected to the body and disrupt its actions.
With its attacks repeatedly interrupted, the Lovecraftian Special Grade Cursed Spirit finally turned its gaze toward the strange creature it had previously ignored.
Countless dark green eyes suddenly rotated, and their chilling gazes all fixed on Panda.
Even the very manly Panda could not help but tremble all over, his heart filled with dread.
Being stared at by such terrifying, lifeless eyes in the dim cave was truly frightening for a Panda.
Just as Panda's attention was drawn by the Cursed Spirit's gaze, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit's right hand, which resembled a human's but had fingers made entirely of tentacles, attacked Panda.
Oh no, I can't dodge it!
Panda was greatly alarmed.
He crossed his arms in front of himself, and dark blue Cursed Energy surged from his body, wrapping around him like armor.
Bang.
Panda was sent flying by the Cursed Spirit's powerful attack and crashed heavily into the cave wall.
The immense impact left numerous cracks in the wall.
The Special Grade Cursed Spirit looked at the motionless Panda after knocking him away and nodded in satisfaction.
Then it advanced again toward Toge at the cave entrance.
"You won't succeed!"
However, the Special Grade Cursed Spirit had not taken many steps before Panda, who had just been sent flying, stood in front of it again.
Panda had exited Gorilla Mode and returned to his balanced Panda Mode.
His arms and back showed considerable damage from the previous attack.
Large clumps of cotton were spilling out from the torn areas.
His Cursed Energy had been heavily depleted, and his body was badly damaged.
Even so, Panda still blocked the Special Grade Cursed Spirit's path, standing in front of his companion.
Not far behind Panda, Toge, who saw this scene, no longer averted his gaze and began facing the Special Grade Cursed Spirit directly.
Toge knew that if he continued providing support while avoiding the Cursed Spirit's curses as before, Panda would not last much longer.
In order to better cover his companion and defeat this powerful enemy, Toge decided to stop avoiding the Cursed Spirit's curses.
On the other side, Maki was also continuously trying to attack.
Whoosh, whoosh.
Unlike the thick tentacles on the lower half of the Cursed Spirit's body, the tentacles on the human-like arms of its upper half were much more slender.
However, being slender did not mean they were less dangerous.
Maki kept dodging and cutting off the Cursed Spirit's tentacles by using her hearing to catch the sound of them slicing through the air.
After being sent flying by tentacles again and again, even with her strong physique, Maki now felt her body screaming in protest.
Think carefully, there has to be a way to beat this thing. Think, Maki!
Whoosh.
Pfft.
A small tentacle suddenly struck out.
Maki instinctively dodged.
However, her injured body could not keep up with her consciousness, and her uniform was torn where the tentacle grazed her.
A wound also appeared on her abdomen.
The wound quickly healed under Maki's strong recovery ability.
But Maki's gaze was fixed intently on the empty space in front of her lower abdomen.
More precisely, she was staring at the air there.
Just now, Maki seemed to have seen something she had never noticed before.
At that moment, Eichi's words from the past surfaced in Maki's mind.
"In ancient times, there were many Grandmasters who had honed their skills in swordsmanship, martial arts, and other disciplines to perfection.
Even if they could not observe Cursed Energy with their naked eyes, they could still perceive the presence of Cursed Spirits by sensing changes in their surroundings.
Their perception allowed them to grasp everything around them..."
Perceive everything around me, sense the presence of Cursed Spirits through changes in the environment...
Maki felt as if she had grasped something.
Whoosh.
Another tentacle attacked Maki.
Maki did not look at the tentacle, but at her surroundings.
The air moved.
Before the attack had even reached Maki, the air around her had already begun to change.
Maki instinctively dodged the attack, then carefully observed the changes around her.
In Maki's perception, everything around her seemed different.
Maki discovered that, in her perception, the air around her seemed to be made up of one plane after another.
These were different layers of air caused by changes in the surrounding temperature, density, and other factors.
Gradually, not just these layers, Maki found that everything around her was being captured by her five senses and then forming an image in her mind.
Behind me.
Before her eyes could even see it, her unique perception had already grasped the changes in her surroundings.
Maki instinctively swung her sword.
A severed tentacle fell in front of her.
More were coming, three this time.
Maki did not even turn her head this time. She simply relied on instinct to swing her sword and cut down the three tentacles.
"So that's it. Is this the world seen through Toji's eyes?"
Maki slowly reached out her hand, as if trying to grasp those peculiar "planes," and a wild grin spread across her lips.
"Ora ora ooh wa!"
Panda, who was continuously punching away tentacles, was ambushed by a tentacle from a tricky angle.
Panda's body was wrapped by the tentacle, lifted high into the air, and then smashed heavily toward the ground.
"Stop!"
Toge's Cursed Speech stopped the Cursed Spirit from slamming Panda down.
Then Toge gritted his teeth, endured the backlash of Cursed Speech, and fired the rocket launcher.
Boom.
The rocket launcher blew off most of the tentacle hanging in midair.
Panda also took the opportunity to break free.
Seeing the pained expression on Toge's face, Panda desperately wanted to run over to him immediately.
But he could not.
Because once he left, the Cursed Spirit's attacks would directly reach Toge.
Inumaki and I are almost at our limit. What about Maki? I haven't seen her for a while.
Panda wanted to look for Maki, but the Cursed Spirit's relentless attacks did not allow him to be distracted.
Should we retreat?
Panda began to think about it.
After fighting for so long, their disadvantage was already obvious. If they kept fighting, they would likely be defeated.
Panda did not want any of his companions to die.
Just as Panda was about to look for an opportunity to contact Maki and retreat with Toge, a cold flash appeared in front of him.
Pfft.
Thump, thump, thump.
The sword light flashed, and several thick tentacles were severed by Maki at the same time.
"Maki?"
Panda looked at Maki, who was standing in front of him, in surprise.
Maki's presence felt strange to him now. It was as if she was looking at him, yet also at the entire world.
"Leave the rest to me."
Maki said nothing more. Wielding her double-edged greatsword, she launched a fierce assault on the Cursed Spirit.
At this moment, Maki's silhouette changed in Panda's eyes.
Gradually, the figure of a man began to overlap with Maki.
The second Tyrant, one capable of rivaling Toji, the Heavenly Restriction, had awakened. Maki, the Fighting God, began to dominate this battlefield.
(To be continued.)
◇◇◇
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)