Just as Towako Oka had said, and just as Takumi had sensed, the moment the fox god cursed spirit died, the seal on Sankogudani Shrine was broken.
And the malevolent god that had been sealed beneath the mountain was now completely freed as well.
"ROOOAR!!!"
A deep, hollow bellow rumbled out from the depths of the mountain range.
Right after that, an enormous creature slowly crawled out from within the mountain itself.
Its bloated, massive body looked like a giant lump of flesh molded entirely out of cursed energy.
Long, slender tentacles stretched out from it, snatching up cursed spirits from all over the surrounding mountains and stuffing them into its body at frightening speed.
"It's around the level of an Upper High-Class Demon, but it has almost no intelligence."
Takumi immediately saw through the essence of this malevolent god.
Towako Oka, who had originally been about to pass on, saw this scene and forced her lingering cursed power to resist the instinct to move on.
Staying behind by sheer force, she spoke in a faint voice.
"I'll try to lure that monster away. You all need to run!"
"You're actually a pretty good person."
Looking at Towako Oka still thinking about saving others even now, Takumi genuinely admired her.
If she weren't so old, and if her spirit didn't still look like an old woman, he might've even given her a chance and taken her in as one of his servants.
By now, Miko, Hana, and Yuria were all scared out of their minds too.
That gigantic monster, taller than the mountain itself and easily several hundred meters high, was enough to suffocate the heart just by looking at it.
"We should run, Takumi-senpai!"
Yuria grabbed Takumi's hand and reminded him in a trembling voice.
Miko and Hana said nothing, but they both looked at Takumi too.
"All right, stand still. It's just a slightly bigger bug. Why panic?"
The moment those words came out, the three girls and the one ghost all froze on the spot.
"A... bigger... bug? What are you talking about?"
Towako Oka stared at Takumi blankly, only to see him raise his right hand.
"Concept of the Moon—descend."
As Takumi spoke, a crescent moon suddenly appeared high in the sky.
The blazing sun overhead at noon dimmed by several shades.
Pure moonlight poured down, like a radiant river of stars spilling its brilliance over the world.
The shining moonlight gathered into an arrow. It looked as though it could pierce through the stars themselves, drawing the crescent moon as its bow, pulling the string taut, and releasing in an instant!
A soundless radiance carrying endless killing intent crashed to earth!!
That malevolent god, immense enough to be called a colossal monster, looked no larger than an ant before that moonlit arrow.
There was no earth-shattering roar, no apocalyptic destruction—only dazzling brilliance that returned everything to silence!!
After swallowing the malevolent god whole, the moonlit arrow scattered into countless motes of light and faded into the air.
And that terrifying cursed spirit, which could have endangered an entire city, turned to ash beneath the pure moonlight.
[Ding! Randomly Plundered Trait: Devour Spirits (Purple)]
[Devour Spirits (Purple): Can consume the souls and spirits of all things as sustenance, turning them into one's own power.]
"Now that's a good trait."
Takumi nodded in satisfaction. This was way better than the garbage one from before.
He was satisfied.
Everyone else, meanwhile, was stunned beyond words.
"Th-this... this... this..."
Towako Oka stammered out the same syllable for half the day before finally letting out a long sigh.
"What a terrifying younger generation~~~"
With that, she completely dissipated into heaven and earth.
As for Yuria, she dropped to her knees for Takumi all over again.
"Senpai! You're too—too—too amazing!! Please teach me! I want to learn that move too!!!"
Hearing that, Takumi gave her a solid flick on the forehead.
"You want to learn that? Dream on. But since you really do like it that much, you could take the Moon God route. Take a closer look at the Divine Envoy Piece inside your body. There's a skill tree you can choose from, kind of like an RPG."
After the flick, Takumi finally explained the skill tree system he had recently developed.
He had integrated the various techniques, spells, and authorities he possessed.
Those who fused with a Divine Envoy Piece—his Divine Envoys—could learn the various skills he had organized, as well as downgraded versions of divine authorities.
Of course, because of their own natural potential, there was always a limit to what they could actually learn.
Under normal circumstances, they could only really focus on one path.
And as his own strength continued to grow, this skill tree would also keep updating in real time.
At Takumi's reminder, Yuria immediately focused on sensing the Divine Envoy Piece.
The skill tree interface appeared before her at once.
As her thoughts swept across it, she quickly found the branch under [Authority of the Moon].
"The very first beginner skill, [Moonlight Empowerment], gathers moonlight to strengthen the body... that's so cool!!"
Yuria was instantly hooked by that flashy new skill.
But she didn't choose it right away. Instead, she went and looked through the other authority skill trees too.
There were five authority skill trees in total, each one feeling like a separate class advancement path.
The authority skill trees were like primary classes, while techniques and magic were more like secondary classes.
The sheer variety of skills left Yuria absolutely dumbfounded.
Hana and Miko were just as absorbed by the skill tree interface.
"Hana, you don't need to rush your choice. Everyone's talents are different. Since you have the [Life Energy (Purple)] trait, you're naturally suited to the Authority of Life. Once I hunt down the matching authority later, that's the route you should take."
After a short pause, Takumi gave Hana a reminder.
Someone like Yuria, whose talent was pretty average, could actually choose almost anything.
But someone like Hana had a much more defined specialty.
"I see~ Then I'll just learn some magic first. These all look amazing!"
Hana didn't get upset at all and happily continued browsing through the skill tree page.
After hearing that, Miko immediately asked, "Then what route suits me best?"
Rather than choosing for herself, Miko trusted Takumi's judgment more.
"Smart girl. Though you did just remind me of something—I need to add a function later that automatically checks talent and recommends which authority suits someone best."
Muttering that while rubbing his chin, Takumi pointed toward [Authority of the Moon].
"Your Spirit Commanding Technique can work really well with the branch skills under Authority of the Moon. Like this one, [Moonlight Prayer], which strengthens magic power or cursed power by absorbing moonlight. The cursed spirits under your control can use it too. Those cursed spirits are naturally Yin-aligned, so absorbing moonlight lets them improve with half the effort. Later on, if I can get my hands on the authority of some underworld god, you could change classes or dual-spec into that too."
Takumi laid out his recommendation, and the more Miko listened, the brighter her eyes became.
She had no idea where Takumi had gotten all this stuff she couldn't even begin to understand.
But if it was something her Master said, then it had to be right.
Miko immediately selected the skill tree under [Authority of Moonlight].
And as for learning and upgrading the relevant skills, that could either come from gaining experience through Takumi... or by learning them through her own talent.
...
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