"It's really strange."
On a tree in the small courtyard, Panda was holding his hand to his forehead, carefully surveying everything around him.
During the day, it was a little better.
Although the situation in the village was somewhat eerie, at least there was some Life Qi.
Once night fell, the entire village plunged into a deathly silence that made one's heart pound.
In the silent village, not a single light was lit.
Not a single insect chirped.
It was as if there truly wasn't a single living thing in this village.
No, there were still living things.
Panda looked at the big tree under his butt.
Blown by the wind, the branches swayed wildly, their tips casting eerie shadows on the ground.
Panda suddenly shivered, then gently climbed down the tree.
"Seriously, even Yaga Masamichi's warehouse has more Life Qi than this place."
Although Panda thought Yaga Masamichi's aesthetic was a bit strange, and some of the cursed tools in the warehouse were quite scary for a Panda.
But even that cursed tool warehouse, which had no living things, had more Life Qi than this silent village.
"How can you two sleep so soundly in a place like this?"
Panda scratched his head, looking enviously at the two Young Men inside the house who had fallen asleep immediately.
However, what Panda didn't notice was this:
Even in deep sleep, Maki's muscles remained tense.
Inumaki Toge's Cursed Energy also hadn't quieted down.
"Hmm?"
Panda looked back at the room.
He wasn't sure if it was an illusion just now, but Panda felt as if Inumaki Toge's Cursed Energy had fluctuated.
"Was he dreaming? Speaking of which, what does dreaming feel like?"
Panda, a cursed tool that couldn't dream, pondered this question while observing his surroundings.
"Perhaps it's similar to how I usually get along with my older brother and sister."
Panda thought of his older brother and sister within him.
Pat, pat.
A sudden sound caught Panda's attention.
Panda immediately curled up, rolled over, then grabbed a tree trunk and climbed to a high spot.
Pat, pat, pat... Footsteps kept appearing, getting closer and closer to the courtyard.
"What is that?"
Panda looked in the direction of the footsteps. In the pitch-black night, some indistinct figures were approaching the small courtyard where they were, moving in an eerie manner.
"It's too dark, I can't see clearly."
Panda frowned, not waiting for the unknown enemies to get close enough to be seen.
Panda chose to wake Maki and Inumaki Toge first.
"Wake up."
Those footsteps didn't sound like they could be made by humans.
"Hey, don't sleep, hey."
Panda began to vigorously shake his two companions, even directly using his hands to slap their faces.
"No, this is?"
Panda noticed Maki's tightly furrowed brows in her sleep.
The footsteps were getting closer, clearly heading towards the small courtyard.
At this moment, Panda couldn't care less and directly pulled out a flashlight.
Click.
The bright white light illuminated the starless night.
The careful Panda immediately noticed Maki's abnormality.
"Cursed? When?"
Maki's abnormally discolored skin, spreading from her right hand up her arm, caught Panda's attention.
Panda's gaze sharpened. He immediately picked up Maki, carried Inumaki Toge on his back, and moved them to a nearby warehouse that had only one door and a small, high window.
He placed the Thousand Machine Umbrella where Maki could easily reach it, then Panda took out his gauntlets and stood solemnly in front of the warehouse.
Judging from the sound, the enemy's speed was very fast.
In such a dark night with extremely poor visibility and unfamiliar terrain, Panda was not confident in taking the two of them to safety.
So, all he could do now was hold his ground, defeat the enemy, or wait for his companions to wake up.
Pat, pat.
The enemies had already arrived in the courtyard, their numerous eerie green eyes staring intently at Panda.
In the flashlight's beam, all Panda could see were countless wildly writhing tentacles.
"Hey, hey, is this a horror movie set?"
Panda felt that if he were a real Panda, he would be getting goosebumps right now.
Puff.
His right fist, imbued with Cursed Energy, forcefully struck the figure that rushed in front of him.
Slap.
The enemy was repelled, but Panda couldn't smile.
'The feel is very bad. The opponent's body is slippery and covered in disgusting slime. Close combat is not effective.'
The enemy attacked again.
"Ora ora ora!"
Panda used the boxing techniques taught by Yaga Masamichi to repel all the approaching enemies.
"Now I finally know what Maki and the others feel like when they spar with me."
Due to the large amount of cotton inside Panda's body,
the feeling of hitting him with a fist was not ideal.
After sparring with Panda a few times, Maki said that hitting cotton felt bad and then stopped sparring with Panda.
"No, Panda's feel isn't that bad."
Realizing that his fists weren't very effective, Panda began to use a cursed tool.
It was a cursed tool resembling a cleaver, the slayer demon.
Before Maki obtained the Thousand Machine Umbrella, Panda often helped Maki carry some spare cursed tools when they went on missions.
This habit still remained.
A cold light flashed, and the enemy who rushed in front of Panda was instantly cut in half at the waist.
Tentacles, appearing from nowhere, also whipped Panda's body.
Panda immediately blocked the blow with Cursed Energy.
"Effective."
Seeing an enemy cut in half, Panda nodded in satisfaction.
As long as it could cause effective damage.
The next second, a large number of writhing tentacles wrapped around Panda's body.
"Seriously, Panda isn't a magical girl, why does he have to fight these things?"
Swish, swish.
A large number of tentacles were cut off by Panda.
Pat, pat.
Dense sounds rang out again.
Panda knew that these footsteps meant new enemies were arriving.
"This can't go on."
The next second, Panda put away the slayer demon and took out a new cursed tool.
The dark muzzle of a gun was aimed in the direction of the sounds.
Da da da!
Panda dual-wielded rifles, firing with all his might at the surrounding enemies.
"Eichi was right, this thing is much more effective."
Originally, it would take several rounds to take down one enemy.
But with this, a whole group of them fell in a few seconds.
However, just as Panda turned to prepare to leave with his two companions,
a tentacle suddenly wrapped around Panda's leg.
"Oh no!"
An Octopus People, hiding under the corpses of its companions, suddenly pounced on Panda.
Panda immediately surged with Cursed Energy, preparing his defenses.
Swish.
A cold light flashed.
The Octopus People tightly wrapped around Panda was instantly split in half vertically.
"Saved."
Panda breathed a sigh of relief.
Although Panda could have dealt with that Octopus People on his own,
being tightly embraced and intimately touched by such a disgusting thing was simply unacceptable to think about, wasn't it?
Low physical damage, full mental damage.
"You're awake, Maki."
"Yes, sorry to keep you waiting."
Maki smiled as she rotated the umbrella disk.
The Thousand Machine Umbrella, transformed into a scythe, began to wildly harvest the lives of the enemies.
------------------------
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