"Why do curses fight like women?"
Watching them go from using techniques at the start to tearing clothes, yanking hair, and trying to gouge each other's eyes out by the end, Takumi honestly didn't know whether to laugh or cry.
But then again, that kind of feral, animalistic fighting really was how curses fought.
They weren't human, and they didn't have any real combat techniques to speak of.
Seeing that the two of them were just going to keep going forever if this continued, Takumi finally stepped in.
"Spirit Binding Technique: Record of a Hundred Demons!"
The Record of a Hundred Demons in his hand flipped rapidly, finally stopping on a blank page.
In an instant, chains of cursed energy shot out from the empty page and bound the Hachishaku-sama, who was still locked in a vicious fight with the Slit-Mouthed Woman.
"Takumi!!!"
In a resentful, reluctant cry, the Hachishaku-sama was dragged into the page by the cursed chains.
On that once-blank sheet, the image of a tall, full-bodied Hachishaku-sama now appeared.
"I'll have a proper talk with you later about that whole little horse pulling a huge cart thing."
Takumi closed the page and looked toward the furious Slit-Mouthed Woman, who was still seething.
"What's wrong? Still not satisfied?"
"No! That bitch actually dared to hurt Master!"
"She wasn't trying to hurt me. She just wanted to fuck me."
"That's even more unforgivable!!!"
Looking at the Slit-Mouthed Woman, whose resentment spiked all over again, Takumi wisely shut up.
So in her mind, being slept with was worse than being killed.
Was that just his imagination?
With no better option, Takumi had the Slit-Mouthed Woman return to the Record of a Hundred Demons as well.
The moment she entered it, she rushed straight into the demon-space where the Hachishaku-sama was being held.
Round two started instantly.
"Urban legend versus urban legend. If it weren't for the boost from my essence, the Slit-Mouthed Woman probably wouldn't be a match for the Hachishaku-sama. But after filling her up last time, they're evenly matched now. Still, the Hachishaku-sama really does have a lot of tricks. No wonder she's been such a long-standing urban legend."
Memory alteration, clones, cursed-energy constructs, curses that killed, flight... the Hachishaku-sama's abilities really were all over the place.
By copying them through the Record of a Hundred Demons, Takumi had gained those same powers for himself.
That said, most of them were things he could already reproduce with magic and mana anyway.
What was truly valuable to Takumi was the Hachishaku-sama herself.
That outrageously stacked woman really got the blood pumping.
Looking at her inside the Record, already rolling around and clawing at the Slit-Mouthed Woman in a full-on catfight, Takumi decided that once he got home, he'd properly "empower" her too.
A body like that would be wasted otherwise.
"But for now, I should head to the nearby mountains first."
Takumi scooped Kobayashi up in his arms and started sprinting down the road.
Looking at Kobayashi, who was still sleeping like a log, he really had to admit she was lucky.
If he hadn't happened to be around tonight, she would have died without even leaving a body behind.
"And now I'm the one stuck carrying you all over the place."
"Kobayashi, Kobayashi... how exactly are you planning to compensate me?"
He gave her firm, perky ass a squeeze as he complained and headed toward the forest.
The closer he got, the more clearly he could sense a terrifying wave of magic power.
Maybe because the alcohol was starting to wear off a little, Kobayashi drowsily opened her eyes.
Her bleary gaze landed on Takumi, and she immediately burst out laughing.
"Hahahaha~ There's such a handsome boy carrying me!!!"
"Ahahaha! Where am I? In the mountains?"
"The air feels so good, hahaha!!"
Watching Kobayashi laugh her head off, Takumi looked completely helpless.
"You seem awfully happy. Do you even know where this is?"
"Hahaha! Nope~ Come here and gimme a kiss. I've been single for so long, and now I finally found a beautiful guy. Though you'd be even better if you were wearing a maid outfit. Maids are the best!!"
With that, Kobayashi suddenly planted a kiss on Takumi's cheek and shouted excitedly.
Takumi's face went completely blank.
She was drunk as hell.
At this point, he was pretty sure he could fuck her and Kobayashi still wouldn't have any idea what had happened.
That really would make this a full-on drunken pickup.
But right now, he wasn't just picking up a drunk woman.
He was about to pick up a dragon too.
With Kobayashi's carefree laughter ringing in his ears, Takumi crossed through the forest.
Then a small mountain covered in scales and dragon wings came into view.
A giant sword was stabbed through the green dragon's back, practically piercing straight through her abdomen.
Bright red blood kept pouring from the wound, and the dragon's aura was obviously weak.
"Whoa. That's one chunky dragon."
Takumi blurted it out instinctively, genuinely impressed.
Compared to her huge body, the dragon wings on her back looked tiny.
Hearing his voice, Tohru slowly opened her orange-gold dragon eyes.
"What do you mean chunky? I'm not fat!!!"
"Insolent human, you're being far too rude!"
Tohru's voice wasn't loud, mostly because she was far too weak to raise it.
But the instant her eyes met Takumi's, her pupils tightened.
That electric jolt of attraction ran through her heart, and the stern, cold look in her eyes softened slightly.
Considering that she was already close to death, Tohru didn't have the energy to get angry at some rude human anyway.
"Human, you do look pretty easy on the eyes. I won't hold your rudeness against you, so hurry up and leave. This isn't a place for humans to wander around."
Tohru spoke again, but the second Kobayashi saw her, she immediately cried out:
"Whoa! A dragon!"
"Yeah, yeah, it's a dragon. Don't wriggle around."
Looking at Kobayashi shifting around in his arms, Takumi tried to calm her down.
Then he walked right up to Tohru and casually rubbed her nose.
The touch was cool and a little soft, with just a hint of squish to it.
"This is my first time touching a dragon. You look like you're in pretty bad shape."
Takumi was so familiar with her that he even pinched it a little while chatting like it was nothing.
Looking at Takumi and Kobayashi, who showed absolutely no fear toward her, Tohru opened her dragon mouth in a mock threat.
"Roar!! I'm a dragon, you rude humans! Don't look down on me, or I'll eat you!"
A rush of hot breath blasted over the two of them.
"Hoo... don't breathe all over people. Though I guess it doesn't smell bad."
Takumi waved a hand in front of his face like he was brushing the dragon breath aside.
Tohru's roar also sobered Kobayashi up a little more.
"Heh! What a huge dragon!!"
She immediately ran over and pinched Tohru's nose too.
"..."
Seeing that she couldn't scare either of them at all, Tohru simply gave up.
"I'm about to die anyway. To think the last ones I'd meet would still be humans... how pathetic."
She shut her mouth and stared at the two of them helplessly.
That was what she said, but looking at how good-looking Takumi was, Tohru's mood had actually improved quite a bit.
Being able to see such a gorgeous human man before dying—her luck really wasn't bad.
It was better than dying silently in this forest without anyone ever knowing.
Come to think of it, she'd never even mated before. If she could do it once before dying,,, the more Tohru thought, the more her mind wandered off in a very suspicious direction.
And the way she looked at Takumi gradually started to change.
...
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.