The Exorcism Tale of Hachiman

It seems that as one's proficiency in spells increases, the power of various spells will gradually increase as well.

"That's a good point..."

Thinking of this, a smile appeared on Hachiman Hikigaya's face.

With his stealth ability activated, Hachiman Hikigaya summoned his Demon Slayer Sword and walked towards the horde of evil spirits that had become enraged by the previous attack.

"Roar!"

A low-level evil spirit with bloodshot eyes lunged at Hachiman Hikigaya.

The massive horde of evil spirits behind them roared and pounced on the human who dared to disturb their rest.

Spiritual energy gathered on the Demon-Slaying Blade, and Hachiman Hikigaya continuously unleashed sword energy to shred the evil spirits that approached him.

Now a master exorcist, Hachiman Hikigaya doesn't even need to hide from low-level evil spirits; simply standing still as a human cannon is enough!

With the evil spirit's enthusiastic cooperation, the number of phantom images in Takeda Saegusa's eyes decreased rapidly.

A few minutes later, as the last crazed evil spirit was sliced ​​in two by Hachiman Hikigaya, the alley fell silent once more.

"It's over..."

Looking at the empty alley, Takeda Saegusa breathed a sigh of relief, but at the same time felt extremely lost.

"it's over?"

Kawasaki Saki, who was well aware of her status as an ordinary person, remained silent and watched from the sidelines from the beginning.

Hearing Takeda Mie's words, she looked up at Hikigaya Hachiman, who was standing motionless in the alley with his demon-slaying sword in his hand, and had a feeling that things were not so simple.

"Wait a moment!"

He reached out and stopped Takeda Mie and Nibutō Yuria from walking past.

Is there something wrong with this?

Because she was with Hachiman Hikigaya, even though Saki Kawasaki was just an ordinary person, Mie Takeda treated her like a distinguished guest.

"That guy hasn't put his weapon away yet."

Although the two only interact during exorcisms.

However, Saki Kawasaki still thought she knew Hachiman Hikigaya quite well.

Given his aversion to trouble, if he had truly finished dealing with the matter, he would have immediately put away the demon-slaying sword to avoid being seen by passersby.

However, he did not do that now, and instead stood there as if on guard against something.

Under these circumstances, Kawasaki Saki would absolutely not allow Takeda Mie and the other person to go in and disturb him.

"You didn't put it away?"

Upon hearing Kawasaki Saki's words, Takeda Mie turned his head again to look at the alley.

However, she still couldn't see anything except for Hachiman Hikigaya.

"Perhaps I'm not strong enough?"

Instead of assuming the problem was related to Kawasaki Saki, Takeda Mie secretly guessed that it was probably because her own strength was insufficient to see the evil spirit that was currently confronting Hikigaya Hachiman.

"Spiritual vision! If I also had spiritual vision, I could clearly see everything happening in this alley right now..."

Takeda Saegusa glanced at his disciple, Nibutō Yuria, with a hint of melancholy, then sighed.

Because she lacked spiritual vision, even though she cultivated for a lifetime, her strength remained the same.

Her disciple Ling Shi, whom she now hopes to cultivate, is also incomplete, and his future development potential is extremely limited.

"Speaking of which, that little girl who came before should have full-fledged spiritual vision, right? If we introduce her to the exorcist..."

After witnessing Hachiman Hikigaya's strength, Takeda Saegi lost hope that the man had taken a liking to his disciple's potential.

After all, it is perhaps because of those strict selection criteria that exorcists, though few in number, are powerful enough.

Outside the alley, everyone was lost in thought. Inside the alley, Hachiman Hikigaya stared warily at the evil spirit floating in mid-air with a burlap sack over its head.

"Why does a mere Special-Grade Evil Spirit give me such a strong sense of crisis?"

Since meeting Yotsuya Miko, Hachiman Hikigaya has probably killed dozens of Special-Class or higher evil spirits.

Logically speaking, a super-class evil spirit should not pose any threat to him at all.

Hachiman Kohikaya felt that if he took action himself, a fierce battle would break out in the alley.

"If that's the case, then we should definitely take it down..."

Although he really wanted to turn around and leave, after glancing at Kawasaki Saki and the others behind him, Hachiman Hikigaya gave up on the idea.

Because the alley was unusually quiet, he could clearly hear what they were saying at the alley entrance.

That sorceress couldn't see the evil spirit in front of him!

This means that if he leaves it alone, other psychics like the sorceress who pass by will not be able to find the evil spirit even if they are attacked by it.

"I'm really stupid to risk my life for someone who might pass by in the future."

Hachiman Hikigaya chuckled to himself and opened the system shop, preparing to buy some useful items before disturbing the evil spirit before him.

Because it was daytime, the rewards for killing evil spirits were halved.

Fortunately, the number of evil spirits was large, so even with the number halved, Hachiman Hikigaya still gained nearly 3000 spirit coins. Combined with what he had gained before, his total number of spirit coins reached about 15,000.

"But the items that are useful to me right now all seem to cost five figures..."

As he fiddled with the item panel, Hachiman Hikigaya looked at his rather meager balance and gave a wry smile.

Looks like I've been living too comfortably lately...

After browsing for a few minutes, Hachiman Hikigaya finally found a suitable item for himself in the shop.

【Killing Stone (Fragment): All negative effects have been removed. After use, the item will fuse with the user's heart, greatly enhancing the user's physical abilities and self-healing capabilities.】

Price: 15000 Spirit Coins

This was the first time Hachiman Hikigaya had ever encountered an item that directly enhanced his own strength.

The fact that the system specifically noted there were no negative effects further solidified his decision to buy it.

Having decided to make the purchase, my spirit coins were once again almost depleted.

At the same time, a scarlet stone smaller than a fingernail appeared in Hachiman Hikigaya's palm.

"This is the Killing Stone?"

Hachiman Hikigaya carefully held the stone, worth 15000 spirit coins, between his fingers and examined it closely.

Perhaps because the system had already processed it, after looking at it for a long time, Hachiman Hikigaya thought it was pretty good, but it was no different from an ordinary stone at all.

"According to the instructions, you should just stick it directly to your chest, near your heart..."

Unfolding the instruction manual on the panel, Hachiman Hikigaya placed the Sesshoseki on his chest following the instructions.

Upon sensing his body temperature, the once incredibly hard Sesshoseki rapidly melted into a pool of blood, which flowed into Hachiman Hikigaya's body and eventually merged with his heart.

"Boom!"

His heart pounded violently, and Hachiman Hikigaya instantly felt a complete transformation, his body brimming with power.

"Such a strong life force..."

Just then, the evil spirit that had been asleep awoke.

Chapter 128 The Evil Spirit Transformed into a Tentacle Monster

Through a dirty burlap sack, Hachiman Hikigaya seemed to see a pair of scarlet eyes staring intently at him.

Why are the eyes scarlet?

Of course, that was just his own guess; after all, aren't all the monsters and ghosts on TV supposed to have red eyes?

"Such strong vitality..."

The awakened evil spirit spoke again.

Surprisingly, despite being only a Special-Class evil spirit, it spoke human language more fluently than the General-Class evil spirits that Hachiman Hikigaya had encountered.

"so what?"

For some unknown reason, Hachiman Hikigaya suddenly wanted to talk to the evil spirit in front of him.

And in fact, he did just that.

“You are weak, but you are indeed an exorcist.”

Raising his hand to scratch his head, which was covered by burlap, the burlap sack spirit spoke in a tone of established fact.

"You know what an exorcist is?"

Hachiman Hikigaya's heart skipped a beat, and his tone revealed a hint of barely perceptible joy.

"Of course, after all, I've always remembered the grudge that person once stabbed me."

At this point, the sack spirit's tone suddenly turned sinister.

"It's all because of you damned humans that you disrupted the master's plans, causing my strength to be greatly diminished. I can only hide in this place and rely on the lowest evil spirits to transfer life force to me to recover!"

"But all of that is in the past!"

At this point, the sack spirit's tone suddenly changed, and its emotions became agitated.

"An exorcist whose strength rivals that of a ghost king—if I consume you, not only will my injuries be fully healed, but I might even be able to reach godhood!"

The alleyway was gradually enveloped in shadow.

The three people at the alley entrance felt the scene before them suddenly distort, and then Hachiman Hikigaya disappeared before their eyes.

"Master, where did he go?"

Looking at the empty alley in front of her, Yuria Nibutō looked up and asked Mitsue Takeda.

"They must have been dragged into the ghost realm!"

Although not particularly strong, decades of experience allowed Takeda Saegusa to discern Hikigaya Hachiman's whereabouts.

"Will he be alright?"