Chapter 892: Terrifying Cursed Energy

Earlier, Riezel and Satoru had already entered the school building and arrived inside a place that resembled a Japanese temple with a very old-fashioned design.

Its interior, including the floor, walls, and ceiling, was all made of old wood. However, the area itself was quite spacious, large enough for someone to move around and fight without much restriction.

’Perhaps that’s why he brought me here?’

Just as that thought crossed Riezel’s mind, Satoru suddenly made an unreasonable declaration before throwing a stuffed doll resembling a boxer, complete with boxing gloves on both hands, at him.

Faced with the rapidly growing boxing glove in his field of vision, Riezel did not dodge. He simply stood where he was until the glove was almost about to hit him, then raised his hand and slapped it away.

*BANG!*

Despite having started later, Riezel struck the stuffed doll first. The impact made its body look as though it had been flattened before it was sent flying.

But the next moment, the stuffed doll that had been sent flying like a ball began darting back and forth at an astonishing speed.

It first slammed heavily into the wall, its body becoming flattened from the impact. Immediately afterward, it bounced back like a spring and crashed into another wall, only to be sent flying again.

Just like that, this repeated over and over, with the stuffed doll continuously accelerating as it flew around Riezel.

*WHOOSH!**WHOOSH!**WHOOSH!**WHOOSH!*

Because of its highly elastic body, the stuffed doll accelerated every time it bounced away.

After several dozen accelerations, its figure had become completely invisible. All that could vaguely be seen was a streak flying around Riezel, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, sometimes upward, and sometimes downward. Its movement paths intertwined into a dense web that completely sealed off the space around Riezel.

"HAAH!"

At the same time, the flattened stuffed doll continued bouncing around the room while making strange battle cries and throwing punches without stopping. Countless afterimages of its fists appeared as its attacks enveloped Riezel from every direction.

’It can do this, too?’

Riezel was genuinely surprised, but he was nowhere near too slow to react.

He shifted his footing, and his body finally began to move.

With the surrounding space completely sealed off, the room he could move through was extremely limited.

Yet even within that limited space, Riezel moved like a phantom, shifting and weaving through the attacks. Relying on the smallest possible movements, he avoided countless punches coming from every direction, causing one attack after another to miss.

*BANG!*

Every so often, Riezel would seize an opportunity and suddenly throw a punch, striking the stuffed doll just as it flew past him and sending it crashing away.

However, this not only failed to do much to the stuffed doll, but instead caused it to accelerate even further. It bounced around faster and faster, making the shadows of its fists grow increasingly dense.

’Is it immune to physical attacks?’

Riezel narrowed his eyes.

From his understanding, the stuffed doll was neither a cursed spirit, a cursed tool, nor a cursed object. Rather, it was a kind of artificially created cursed corpse, a doll that had a curse residing inside it.

At Tokyo Jujutsu High, there was someone very skilled at creating such cursed corpses, and that person had even succeeded in creating cursed corpses possessing life and intelligence, allowing such beings to enroll and operate at the school as jujutsu sorcerers.

Because of that, Riezel was not particularly surprised that the stuffed doll could move and fight. He merely found the combat style of this cursed doll rather unusual.

Because it was a stuffed doll, pure blunt force could only inflict limited damage on a cursed corpse. Even with Riezel’s current STR stat, he could not deal a fatal blow to such a soft opponent with his fists alone.

Moreover, there was also a curse residing inside its body, which might have been another reason for its increased resistance to physical attacks. After all, it was common knowledge that cursed spirits were capable of ignoring physical attacks. Even if cursed corpses were not quite that extreme, eliminating one through pure blunt force was probably still rather difficult.

If he wanted to quickly deal with an opponent possessing such characteristics, using a blade would undoubtedly be the best choice, as Riezel could kill it instantly.

But...

’But this is a test, right?’

While dodging the attacks, Riezel glanced at Satoru, who had retreated to the corner.

At this moment, that bastard teacher gave Riezel an innocent look, as though this had nothing to do with him. It was almost as if he were not the same person who had just angrily shouted that Riezel should get beaten to death by the stuffed doll.

Riezel genuinely felt like punching that bastard in the face.

"Huft..."

After taking a deep breath, Riezel’s expression gradually became calm.

He more or less understood what the person who had sent out this cursed corpse was trying to accomplish. He had probably already learned from Satoru that Riezel had learned how to extract cursed energy, so they wanted to see how well he could use it.

Pure blunt force had limited effectiveness against a cursed corpse, but the situation would be different if cursed energy were added.

After all, an attack infused with cursed energy would inevitably have an effect on curses, and there was a curse residing inside the cursed corpse.

’Let’s give it a try.’

Riezel began extracting cursed energy, and the process was extremely easy and completed remarkably quickly, causing cursed energy to surge from his body in a short amount of time.

*Whistle~*

Seeing the cursed energy surrounding Riezel, Satoru could not help but whistle.

’He only just learned how to extract cursed energy, yet he’s already able to use it this skillfully? He really might be a crazy genius.’

Of course, that was also because Riezel was already familiar with the sensation of converting his mind into magical energy, and his control over magical energy had long since reached a highly refined level.

Now, he was merely extracting the negative aspect of his mind into cursed energy and then using cursed energy in the same way he controlled magical energy.

Naturally, the result was equally refined.

After a night of experimentation and adaptation, Riezel had also discovered the advantages of cursed energy.

Unlike magical energy, cursed energy could be extremely useful even without being used to activate cursed techniques. As long as he infused his attacks with cursed energy, not only would those attacks become effective against curses, but their power would also increase significantly.

Furthermore, cursed energy could be used to strengthen the body, increasing physical ability and even enhancing the five senses. The degree of enhancement was also extraordinarily high.

How high was it?

At least, based on Riezel’s own perception, as long as one possessed enough cursed energy—enough of it—jujutsu sorcerers could raise their own strength by one or even several levels simply by using cursed energy to strengthen their bodies.

What kind of concept was that?

Simply put, the concept was that even if Riezel used an overpowered enchant-type magic like Ariel, the increase it provided might not even compare to the effect produced by strengthening his body with a massive amount of cursed energy!

Upon understanding that, Riezel was genuinely surprised.

Although it required a huge amount of cursed energy as a prerequisite, the degree of enhancement was truly astonishing.

Of course, that might also have something to do with the fact that cursed energy was a power extracted from negative emotions.

Because it was extracted from negative emotions, cursed energy and cursed techniques were naturally highly offensive and destructive.

Magical energy, on the other hand, was actually a relatively gentle form of energy. As a result, although magic also possessed offensive and destructive capabilities, it placed much greater emphasis on functionality, which was most clearly demonstrated by Tier Magic.

Buffs, debuffs, defense, detection, teleportation, creation—Tier Magic covered almost everything, with all kinds of effects available.

There was even magic capable of stopping time, making its functionality extraordinarily powerful while its offensive capabilities were comparatively less prominent.

If not for Riezel’s MAG being capable of increasing the power of magic, as well as development abilities such as Mage and Magic Chant, along with various skills and mystical artifacts that provided further enhancements, then honestly, the attack power of the highest-ranking 10th-Tier Magic would only be so-so. Super-Tier Magic Fallen Down was even merely equivalent to a Tactical-Class Magic, while also having such a long casting time.

If that were the case, Riezel would have stopped using it long ago.

Yet the emergence of cursed energy and cursed techniques allowed him to see another possibility.

Given the nature of cursed energy and cursed techniques, combining them with close-quarters blade combat was undoubtedly extremely suitable.

It was the same in the original story.

Almost every jujutsu sorcerer engaged in hand-to-hand combat while using their jujutsu, making their close-combat ability extremely strong. After all, not using cursed energy to strengthen the body for close combat would be a waste.

Unlike function-oriented magic, jujutsu, also known as jujutsu sorcery, could be completely integrated into a close-combat system, increasing his close-combat ability.

Because of his various development abilities, skills, and mystical artifact items, Riezel’s ability with magic had always been stronger than his close-combat ability.

However, if he integrated the jujutsu sorcery system into close combat, then his ability in close combat would inevitably surpass his ability with magic and would have a tremendous impact on his overall strength.

After all, in a one-on-one battle, close combat was still the most effective and direct approach. In most situations, bringing out magic could actually be considered excessive firepower, making it unsuitable for one-on-one combat.

At least, this was the case for Riezel, whose close-combat ability was already far from weak.

So...

’If I’m gonna do it, I’m gonna do it right.’

In the next moment, the cursed energy surging throughout Riezel’s body suddenly exploded outward.

In an instant, an astonishing force coursed through every part of his body. Cursed energy filled his entire body, causing his physical abilities to increase dramatically in an instant. Even his five senses became extraordinarily sharp, giving him a sense of omnipotence, as though he could even place the heavens and earth beneath his feet.

"!!!"

Sensing the terrifying cursed energy erupting from Riezel’s body, the smile immediately disappeared from Satoru’s face.

"Crap!"

Satoru pulled off the black eyepatch covering his eyes without the slightest hesitation.

"HAAH!"

At the same time, the cursed corpse, seemingly unaware of what kind of monster it had awakened, shouted as it threw a punch toward Riezel’s eyes.

Riezel slowly raised his head, and one hand instinctively rose with it, preparing to throw a punch, but at that exact moment...

"ENOUGH!"

Amid a furious roar, a burly figure rushed out and slammed the cursed corpse to the ground, pinning it down.

*SWISH!*

Satoru’s figure also appeared beside Riezel as though he had teleported there. One hand pressed down on Riezel’s shoulder while the other grabbed his raised fist, forcibly stopping him.

*SWISH!*

*SWISH!*

*SWISH!*

Following close behind were a series of unfamiliar figures.

Some were men, some women, some students, some teachers, and others were active jujutsu sorcerers. One after another, they appeared around Riezel, some holding down his shoulders while others restrained his body, keeping him under control.

For a moment, the entire temple became lively, yet at the same time, it also became exceptionally tense and eerily silent.

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[A bonus Chapter for reaching 400 Power Stones]

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