Descent into Darkness
Seoul, South Korea - GMT +9 - 8:20 PM
The rain continued to pour relentlessly over Seoul, echoing the unease that gripped Sung Jin-Woo's heart. The minutes turned into an agonizing wait as he stood outside the dark barrier, concealing the cursed spirit's domain. A gnawing anxiety clawed at him, fueled by the realization that the two experienced sorcerers, Kento Nanami and Mei Mei, had yet to emerge.
Sung Jin-Woo fumbled with his smartphone, his fingers tapping anxiously on the screen. With each passing second, his concern deepened. He dialed the association's number, his voice cutting through the heavy rain. "Hello, this is Sung Jin-woo, reporting about the on-going mission in Seoul..." As he waited for the response, he was greeted by the voice of an official. He continued.
"Kento Nanami and Mei Mei, are yet to emerge after starting the mission an hour ago. I suspect things are not going the way they were intended, can I ask for permission to proceed in myself?" Jin-woo demanded, with his heart almost jumping out of his ribcage due to nervousness.
"Jin-Woo, your priority is to assess the situation and report back. Do not engage unless absolutely necessary. Remain where you are."
A tense silence followed as Jin-Woo listened to the response from the other end. The association's instructions replayed in his mind—remain outside, observe, and report. But the growing dread within him propelled him into action.
"I understand the protocol, but something feels wrong. I can't just stand here waiting. I need permission to enter the domain and assist them," Jin-Woo pleaded. But his words were said to the air, as absolute silence followed right after. Association has instead sent him a message about informing another sorcerer that 'might' be able to help with the situation.
'I do have... some weapons with me that association has provided me with. I could at least check what is happening, those two are grade one sorcerers, they are probably just... taking their time.' Jin-woo though.
A resolute decision was made in his mind, something was telling him to proceed. Taking a deep breath, Sung Jin-Woo stepped into the curtain. The atmosphere inside was thick with malevolence, an oppressive force that seemed to cling to his every step. His senses heightened, and he could feel the eerie pulse of cursed energy resonating within.
He entered the building, which was essentially a cursed spirit's domain, the dark cursed energy was traversing on the walls of the building as he walked further. The darkness within the cursed spirit's domain wrapped around Sung Jin-Woo like a suffocating shroud. Every step he took resonated with a foreboding energy, as if the very air itself conspired against his intrusion. The oppressive malevolence clung to him, a stark reminder of the dangers that lurked in the unseen corners.
The smartphone served as the only light that would guide him further. As Jin-Woo navigated the desolate corridors of the abandoned building, his senses remained on high alert. The distant echoes of his footsteps reverberated through the eerie silence, creating an unsettling symphony of isolation.
He has already brought out the sword that was provided by the association. It could compensate for his lack of cursed energy and power, with its sharpness that could cut even through the special grade curse. Although, it would take a lot from him, to approach the special grade curse.
On Jin-woo's mind right now were ominous thoughts about what could've held off Nanami and Mei for so long. Definitely a special grade, and by the looks of it, he manipulated the surroundings to look different. Probably the curse expanded his domain spatially and created the illusion of this building being larger than it actually is.
'Of course... only a special grade could've done this.' There were no noises of the fight. Only silence, soon, even his own steps were becoming more silent as he went in deeper. The concrete had water spilled all over it, indicating that pipes were broken somewhere. Jin-woo gripped his sword with both hands, preparing himself to strike at any moment.
Momentarily, his phone screen flickered. Signal was already lost and if the smartphone was to shut off now, it would've been disastrous. Chill ran down Jin-woo's spine as he began to move down the staircase. Jin-Woo's grip tightened on the cursed weapon as he scanned the surroundings. His instincts screamed a warning—a presence concealed within the darkness.
Behind him, suddenly, the corridor was blocked by a wall...'Shit!' The exit was blocked. The cursed spirit was aware of his presence in his domain. The being itself didn't plan to show up any time sooner, but it definitely locked all of his prey like this. Weird noises, of much smaller curses started resounding in the new room.
"What are the weak curses doing here? I thought curses were territorial creatures." Despite all the chaos in his mind, Jin-woo regained some of his senses and decided to act a bit smarter. His previous decision to enter was stupid enough, but now, there was no time to act stupid.
Smaller cursed spirits emerged from the shadows, their forms twisted and contorted. They writhed with an eerie energy, their malicious intent palpable. The smartphone's light revealed their ghastly features—a collective embodiment of the anguish and despair that permeated the cursed spirit's domain.
'Most curses are attracted to cursed objects, so there was probably some cursed object that was placed here before...the womb appeared.' It was making at least a little bit of sense. Otherwise, there was no chance a special grade curse would appear out of nowhere.
Jin-Woo's eyes narrowed as he faced the swarm of smaller curses. More and more of them were flocking on their positions, and the teenager was surprisingly well prepared for them. He was the first one to make a direct attack and succeeded in killing the little malevolent being. The sword cut through them like a knife through warm butter, splashing their colorful blood across the walls, before evaporating into nothingness.
The thrill was there, but nervousness prevailed. Jin-woo got disoriented in darkness and had to endure the bite of a curse that jumped on him. It was painful, it felt like a baby's bite, but painful nonetheless. He slapped it away, crushing its skull against the wall. This would continue for a long time, giving Jin-woo an understanding of something else, these small curses didn't want him to go in that direction...
... ... ...
"Nanami!" Mei Mei shouted at the man who deflected the rubble thrown by a humanoid like creature with just one eye. The cursed womb didn't just give birth to the cursed spirit, but the cursed spirit was intelligent as well. There were multiple dead bodies thrown around the large room... the sight of tortured corpses didn't make it hard to concentrate for two sorcerers.
Mei Mei wasn't ready for this kind of battle. She hasn't brought her main weapon to this battle, which were crows. Her innate technique would be at disadvantage in such an environment. Instead, she had to rely on the large axe and mostly followed the strikes of Nanami.
They were already getting hold of each other's moves and could build up multiple strikes, one after another, but that was when the cursed spirit showed its intelligence. It didn't have the cursed technique, yet... but it could still throw the cursed energy on a distance. Their combo's were useless if they weren't able to get close to the enemy.
"I hope that idiot didn't enter the domain!" Mei Mei screamed at Nanami, both preparing to make another charge. "These types of curses should be reserved for special grades...I came very limited in my equipment." Although this type of curse was not the most powerful... it had something that differentiated it from others.
'This curse is an evolved one, definitely ate some type of cursed item...' Nanami concluded that someone must have planted the cursed object that could've given the birth to this type of spirit. When they entered there were a bunch of fly-head curses, this humanoid form much resembles them.
"Mei-san, I'll take care of this spirit, if you please step aside." For the woman this felt more like a joke, but she complied and moved away from the fight. With her out of the way, Nanami sped up without a second thought. His acceleration was on point, catching the cursed spirit of guard when he avoided another blast of cursed energy.
The grade one sorcerer threw the blunt weapon at the spirit's head, it was avoided, but gave an opening to get even closer.
... ... ...
'Nanamin and Mei are in trouble? I thought they'd be able to handle this by themselves, but maybe I was wrong? No, that's unlikely.' A white haired male reassured himself while staring outside of the Cafe.
Gojo Satoru was sure of his assessment about the two grade one sorcerers. Mei Mei and Nanami were a combination to behold. Mei Mei's crow technique alone can deliver devastating results to the enemy, paired with Nanami's innate technique that can create a weak spot out of nothing... they should be invisible.
But higher-ups wouldn't have called if it wasn't an emergency situation. 'I'll check it out after I finish this one.' He thought and looked at the desert in front of him.
... ... ...
GMT +9 - 8:35 PM
Fifteen minutes have passed after entering the construction site and the more Jin-woo tried to exercise the cursed spirits, the more kept flocking in. It was physically exhausting to swing the sword every five seconds. There should be something that attracts so many curses, on lower levels of this building, must be an object that emits cursed energy.
Jin-woo dashed off. His new objective was to find the cursed object, hopefully, Nanami and Mei were handling their mission well.
After going down another staircase, Jin-woo felt the flow of cursed energy, also the aggravated bug-flies became more apparent. They were protecting something on this floor. The small curses were an easy thing to handle even for him, but the chance of stronger ones appearing here was big.
'And I wasn't wrong...' In front of Jin-woo, a small but definitely stronger curse crawled out of the wall. 'Grade three or two?' He could handle this kind with the weapon, if he gets lucky enough to hit, but yeah, this was going to be a lot more troublesome.
Jin-woo's lack of speed and agility was easily monopolized by the cursed spirit. The teenager's sprint wasn't enough to startle the spirit, as it jumped onto him right away. The grading system was not the best way to assess strength, but if Jin-woo was to say grade two cursed spirits can be easily handled with a shotgun...if it had bullets with cursed energy.
The real deal was the grade one cursed spirits, which he hasn't seen many. He couldn't imagine what the special grade cursed spirits would feel like. Thankfully, at the moment he had a grade one double edged sword...
*Swish*
The sword slashed the cursed spirit's approaching hand, though Jin-woo aimed for the head, he wasn't quick enough to slice it off. The hand was easily cut off and this served as a warning to the curse, which by now seemed a lot more scared.