Gojo said, "This is a cursed tool Slaughter Demon. It's a weapon infused with cursed energy, so it's effective against curses."
"With this, I'm covered for both close and mid-range combat."
"What about long-range?"
"You don't have any long-range attacks for now. You'll have to rely on your teammates for that."
After giving a few more instructions, Gojo watched as everyone headed into the dark, curse-filled building.
Nobara grumbled in frustration, "Ugh, this sucks. Why do we have to fight curses right after coming to Tokyo?"
Yuji replied, "Huh? Weren't you the one who came here to fight curses?"
"Let's just hurry up and split up. What do you think?"
"Huh? Why? Didn't Gojo-sensei say those curses are pretty strong?"
"He said that, but you can feel it, right? Those two curses aren't that tough. Let's just kill them quick and be done with it. Let's decide how we're splitting up."
"…"
Paimon hesitated. "Isn't that a bad idea?"
"Ugh, you guys are so annoying. If you don't want to split up, then fine—you all be one team, I'll go solo. You start from the bottom, I'll start from the top. Settled. Let's finish fast and go eat sushi in Ginza!"
Before anyone could object, she turned and headed straight upstairs.
"She's gone."
"I seriously don't know if she's confident or just straight-up arrogant."
Lumine chimed in, "I just checked—the two curses are level 18 and level 20. If she goes alone, she probably won't even be able to take down the weaker one."
"Level 18 and 20? Big Sis, why do you sound like you're playing a game?"
"Life is like a play, and a play is like life. Isn't life just one big game anyway?"
"Big Sis, your philosophy is so deep. I'm in awe."
Fushiguro asked, "You said that curse is level 20—what level are we then?"
"You're around level 18, Nobara's level 16, and Yuji's level 10."
Yuji's eyes widened. "Hey, hey! Why am I so weak!?"
Lumine explained, "Actually, you're already pretty strong. For someone who just started, having a level 10 is impressive."
"But I'm still the weakest in the group!"
Paimon added, "Well, you were just a regular guy not long ago. Work hard! Aim to shed that 'bottom of the pack' title soon."
Zephyr said, "Lumine was referring to your base level. But if you factor in the artifact boosts from your gear, your actual level's probably around 20."
"Level 20!?"
Yuji beamed. "So that means I'm stronger than Fushiguro now?"
"I said 'around,'" Zephyr replied. "In terms of actual cursed techniques, Fushiguro still has the edge. If you two fought, he'd probably wipe the floor with you."
"Him? Hmph. Still, since Big Sis said so, I'll take your word for it. But just watch—I will surpass Fushiguro someday. By the way, Big Sis, what's your level?"
"My base level is 16, but my real strength is closer to level 36."
"Wahoo! In that case, we can just cruise to victory!"
"You're dreaming. I'm just here for support. You'll have to handle the real fighting yourselves."
"Eh~ Big Sis, help us out~"
Paimon shivered and shouted, "No acting cute allowed if you're a guy!"
As the group chatted, the ground suddenly rippled beneath their feet.
"Watch out!"
A strange figure burst out from the floor.
"Die… Die…"
Yuji Itadori kicked off the wall and spun midair. A massive blade came crashing down from above.
"Strike it down—Tensa Zangetsu!"
With a single slash, he severed one of the curse's arms. The cursed spirit let out a strange screech and vanished into the ground.
"You okay?"
"I-I'm fine."
Paimon exclaimed, "Yuji! That big dramatic name you shouted—what was that!?"
"I… I don't know! It just came out of nowhere."
"Ahem… Anyway, I cut off one of its arms. Can we count this as clearing the mission?"
Zephyr frowned. "Don't you think something's off?"
"I didn't notice anything strange."
"It was way too weak. That thing was supposed to be a level 20 curse—how could you, a level 10, take off its arm in one swing?"
"Maybe Big Sis just misjudged it? Maybe it was actually only level 5?"
Fushiguro interjected, "Huh? Are you dumb? Out of all of us, even if the rest of us got it wrong, there's no way Lumine would misjudge."
"...Hmph."
Zephyr furrowed his brows. "Fushiguro, use your Divine Dogs. Help us track down that curse."
"Tch, so annoying… Divine Dogs."
"Follow it."
"Damn, it runs fast—it's already on the second floor."
"It's in that room."
Suddenly, Lumine called out, "Wait!"
"What is it, Big Sis?"
"Don't you think it's weird? That curse was so weak—it's like it wanted to get injured, like it wanted to lure us into this room."
"Big Sis, you're overthinking it. Curses aren't that smart."
Fushiguro corrected him, "Actually, you're wrong about that. Curses can be intelligent. Most special-grade curses have intelligence comparable to humans. And even lower-level curses, while usually mindless, sometimes show exceptions. I agree—something feels off. Everything's going too smoothly."
"Hah? You guys are being way too cautious. Just charge in and be done with it!" Yuji shouted, kicking the door open.
"This guy…"
Worried about him, Fushiguro quickly followed him in.
However, the moment they both stepped into the room, their bodies froze. Their faces twitched uncontrollably.
"This is… paralysis!?"
"Damn it! It really was a trap!"
Zephyr shook his head. "Fushiguro, you even suspected there might be a trap, and you still rushed in like that. Were you worried about Yuji?"
Paimon added, "Aww, such touching friendship."
Worried about Yuji!? Yeah, right! Not a chance!
Fushiguro Megumi's voice trembled with distortion, like an autotuned robot:
"S-Still...m-making...snarky...comments...hurry...up...and help...!"
"Diiie… Diiie!!"
Facing the shadowy figure, Zephyr remained calm and composed.
"Hmm, it's not electricity… seems like this is the curse's innate technique."
He calmly unleashed a Wind Vortex Blade, sending the curse flying.
"You two okay?"
"Huff… yeah, just barely…"
"Thanks, Big Sis." Their bodies could move again, though the paralysis hadn't fully worn off.
"In that case, I'll take care of this one."
Basic attack. Basic attack. Wind Vortex Blade.
Basic attack. Basic attack. Wind Vortex Blade.
In just one rotation, the level-20 elite curse was instantly wiped out.
It wasn't because his level was high—his gear bonuses were just ridiculously overpowered.
Just one level-20 five-star artifact gave him a power boost equivalent to an extra 20 levels.
So overall, he was effectively level 36. A level 36 one-shotting a level 20? Nothing strange about that.
"Tch… Still not good enough. If my artifacts were better, I wouldn't even need to basic attack—a single skill would've been enough."
He started missing his old man Leo—the absolute beast.
Whenever his master shouted, "Guoba, spit fire!"
Leo would unleash massive Pyro damage.
He once had Guoba burn down a level-90 Cryo Regisvine just like that.
Was Guoba's name for show? No way.
Of course, the Guoba build was just one of his many playstyles.
His true specialty—the one he mastered to perfection—was the Elemental Mastery build.
The playstyle was simple: Klee basic attack, Lisa basic attack, triggering Overload—BOOM, the damage exploded.
A level-90 Lisa with 1000 Elemental Mastery could even dish out 14,000 damage with Overload.
Others bragged about Vaporize-Nuke builds, pulling off insane 1.4 million damage.
Overload? A "whopping" 14,000.
Freakin' absurd.
"You guys able to move yet?"
"Yeah… almost back to normal."
"Alright, I'm heading upstairs. If Nobara's already done for, I won't be able to explain it to Gojo."
…
///END