Chapter 49: Blood is the Color of Loyalty
The two cars were parked on the side of the road, and Yukinoshita Haruno stepped out of the vehicle.
Standing on the edge of the precarious road, looking at the devastation caused by the massive landslide in the distance, she felt a sense of powerlessness in the face of natural disaster.
"What in the world is this?"
The once-wide mountain road was now swept away by thick, filthy mud. Trees and streetlights on both sides of the road were uprooted.
At the starting point of the slide, the mountain surface showed fresh earth and rocks, which had been stripped away and exposed to the air during the landslide.
Cracks crisscrossed the road surface. Everything in the path of the landslide and mudflow was mercilessly swallowed, leaving behind only devastation.
"Miss Yukinoshita, how far is the ancient tomb from here?"
Mei Mei had already taken her large axe off the car.
"It's still fourteen kilometers by mountain road."
As a developer, Yukinoshita Haruno had a complete map of the area.
"But Miss Mei, as you said, there are at least seven or eight more landslides ahead."
Mei Mei's Black Bird Manipulation was like having a full map view, allowing her to clearly see that in just fourteen kilometers of mountain road, there were at least seven or eight such landslides, completely blocking their way forward.
Moreover, large-scale terrain anomalies had altered the surrounding landscape, meaning the map might not be of much use.
This was highly strange; how could such a massive landslide be triggered without a major earthquake?
It genuinely seemed designed to obstruct their path.
"How about this, give us a reconnaissance map."
If the original road had been smooth and unobstructed, Mei Mei would have had no problem taking the ordinary people into the mountains with them.
But under these circumstances, continuing into the mountains made the ordinary people a liability.
Yukinoshita Haruno decisively produced the engineering map prepared beforehand. She first estimated and marked their current location, and finally marked the location of the ancient tomb.
She handed the map to Ui Ui, who took the paper and walked over to Mei Mei.
"I leave everything to you."
Yukinoshita Haruno was extremely solemn. As a joint development project with the wealthy Shinomiya family, her family was under immense pressure.
Unlike the deep-pocketed Shinomiya family, the Yukinoshita family had already invested 40% of their liquid capital into this project.
If the project failed, the Yukinoshita family would be severely crippled, but they could only pin their hopes on them.
After speaking, Yukinoshita Haruno and the Shinomiya staff departed.
Only the four of them remained in this area.
Mei Mei rested the massive axe on her shoulder and looked at Hikigaya Hachiman.
"What do we do now?"
Hikigaya Hachiman squeezed the still-damp mud. The residual Cursed Energy on it clearly indicated it was man-made.
"Give me the map."
Mei Mei looked at Ui Ui. Though Ui Ui was annoyed, he walked over and handed the map to Hachiman.
Hikigaya Hachiman took the map, looked at their marked position, and determined their location.
"Seven in total. That's fine."
"Seven what?"
Ui Ui was confused by Hikigaya Hachiman's words.
Hikigaya Hachiman didn't explain much, simply stating:
"The straight line, of course."
"Really? You don't mean you plan to go straight through the mountain range, do you?"
Another reason Mei Mei didn't want to bring Yukinoshita Haruno and the others was that the mountain forests were now virtually covered in Curses.
They had all been spontaneously attracted by the Cursed Energy, which had previously covered the mountains like a miasma.
They formed a terrifying barrier, isolating any life forms attempting to trespass into the area.
"The forest is full of Curses right now. We'd be exhausted just trying to fight our way through."
"It's not what you think."
Hikigaya Hachiman shook his head. He looked into the distance at the Shinomiya family's vehicles, which were quite far away from them now.
Hikigaya Hachiman calculated the distance, ensuring his attack would not affect them.
"The distance should be enough."
Following Hikigaya Hachiman's hand gesture, an enormous Curtain with a diameter of about fifteen kilometers completely enveloped the area against the sky.
The sheer scope of the barrier was terrifying.
And Ui Ui could determine that the barrier wasn't sacrificing defense for vast coverage; the visible density showed the Curtain's resilience.
But suddenly, Ui Ui, who was still looking up at the sky, instantly felt a prickling sensation on his scalp—the threat of death.
Looking back, Ui Ui's fear stemmed from Hikigaya Hachiman.
The eyes of that annoying man, and the Cursed Energy flowing around him, had turned blood-red, emitting an intensely terrifying pressure.
The coldness in his gaze was enough to cause a deep, soul-level freeze.
"Let's get a little reckless."
A crimson point of light flickered on Hikigaya Hachiman's fingertip, its glow surging.
Even newly formed, the intensely red orb of light, looking as if it was dripping blood, shone dazzlingly, thoroughly shrouding the surrounding darkness.
Zzzzzzz!!!
Countless savage, plasma-like electric currents covered the surface of the crimson orb, exerting an unbearable psychological pressure.
Suddenly, a nearly absurd thought arose in Ui Ui's mind.
'He's not actually planning to flatten those seven mountains with this technique, is he?'
How could that be possible? Currently, the most powerful single-target Cursed Technique in the Sorcery world was Satoru Gojo's "Purple."
Could Hikigaya Hachiman achieve that too?
Hikigaya Hachiman did it, and quite easily at that.
The Cursed Energy power attribute in this world, which originated from negative emotions, was quite interesting.
But when it came to mental distortion, who could possibly compare to Hikigaya Hachiman, who had endured the Imperial Crusade and later the Horus Heresy that burned the entire galaxy?
For him, no special technique was needed; simply releasing the regrets left in his heart was enough to give this world a small taste of the shock from Warhammer.
Terrifying energy condensed in his hand. As the light orb in Hikigaya Hachiman's hand finished condensing and taking shape, even space began to transmit sounds of fracturing.
The orb, carrying a terrifying, destructive might, was unleashed from Hikigaya Hachiman's fingertip.
Blood is the color of loyalty.
The intense burst of light, when released instantaneously, prevented Mei Mei from even opening her eyes.
The ground was illuminated as if a crimson sun had risen, and the scarlet light bathed the pitch-black night sky, making it transparent as if a blood-soaked hell had descended.
Before the destructive beam of death even arrived, the powerful shockwave had already completely shredded the trees like kindling, devastating the exposed, bare ground.
The originally towering, majestic mountains dissolved into nothingness like snow under a fierce sun, and the resulting storm howled like the shrieks of hellish ghosts.
The Curses wandering in the mountains mostly felt a flash of blood-red light covering them before they completely vanished.
The destructive force seemed endless, penetrating one peak after another until all seven mountains Hikigaya Hachiman intended were completely pierced.
When the lingering power dissipated, the entire terrain was completely changed, with a flat, straight path carved directly through the mountain range.
The mountains that obstructed the view had all disappeared, offering a straight, seven-kilometer path instead of the original fourteen kilometers of winding mountain road.
The narrowest part of this path was five hundred meters wide. The exposed rocks glowed with a red light, like solidified magma, and gave off a burnt smell.
Though they appeared hot, the temperature was actually tolerable for Sorcerers.
Hikigaya Hachiman said seven, and he hit seven, no more, no less.
Furthermore, to avoid destroying the ancient tomb, he completely held back, controlling the destructive power within the necessary range.
Ui Ui looked at the scene before him, which seemed like the descent of a god from ancient myths. His mouth was wide open, completely speechless.
"Let's go."
Hikigaya Hachiman didn't even seem to be breathing hard after launching the Cursed energy artillery attack.
"The shortest distance between two points is a straight line."
"As expected of my brother. Compared to you, I really still have a long way to go."
Todo Aoi smiled and immediately followed Hikigaya Hachiman's footsteps.
While Mei Mei was once again shocked by Hikigaya Hachiman's destructive power, in her mind, he had long ago surpassed Satoru Gojo and become a monster, so it wasn't impossible to accept.
She reached out and patted the still-stunned Ui Ui.
"That's why I told you not to underestimate him.
Let's go, Ui Ui."
The remnants of the mountain along the path were incredibly smooth, as if sliced by a sharp knife, and the residual Cursed Energy was enough to make the Sorcerers who stepped onto it tremble.
Hikigaya Hachiman realized he might have accidentally destroyed some of the structures the Yukinoshita company had previously built.
But it wasn't a big deal.
Simultaneously, his Cursed Technique artillery had exposed a section of the ancient tomb structure that was originally buried deep underground.
"Mei Mei, what are these symbols?"
Hikigaya Hachiman looked at an exposed stone tablet that seemed to be carved with some kind of bizarre characters.
"The artifact is very old, at least a thousand years old."
Mei Mei stepped forward, wiped away the dust with her hand, and quickly found traces in her memory.
"This is the family crest of the Fujiwara Clan."
Fearing Hikigaya Hachiman might not know, Mei Mei added an explanation.
"They were the family that persecuted Michizane Sugawara a thousand years ago."
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