Curse Returns, a gamble from the start, I awaken dual spells

A low growl rolled out from the depths of the woods.

Then, the fallen leaves on the ground suddenly bounced up from the soil, flipped over in the air, and then fell back down with a rustling sound.

Li Ren's eyes narrowed.

About forty meters away, an oak tree, as thick as a person's embrace, suddenly arched upwards by half a meter.

Tree roots were unearthed from the soil, covered with damp black earth and wriggling earthworms.

Then, something crawled out of the hole left by the tree roots.

First were two pale hands, their black fingernails filled with dirt.

Then there was a head made of a half-rotten giant burl, with several distorted human faces embedded in the bark texture, each wailing in a different voice.

In the center of his chest was a hollow cavity, inside which was embedded a constantly pulsating, heart-shaped, dark green core of light.

When Rito saw the head clearly, he unconsciously held his breath for a beat.

"Giggle giggle giggle..."

The cursed spirit let out a strange scream and then crawled out of the pit.

The next second, it moved.

"...So fast!"

Rin's pupils suddenly contracted.

He didn't have time to think; his body instinctively slid to the right.

The next instant, the giant claw grazed his body and slashed down from where he had just been standing.

boom!

Soil and fallen leaves exploded, creating a crater the size of a washbasin in the ground, and clumps of dirt splashed into his face.

The rational person did not back down.

Taking advantage of the moment when the cursed spirit's attack missed, he lunged forward, his right fist, imbued with azure cursed power, slamming solidly into the side of the cursed spirit's ribs.

"Surgery - Zero Coffin!"

Frost instantly exploded from the fist and spread half a foot along the cursed spirit's body.

After landing a punch, Rito quickly pulled his hand back, preparing to receive the second punch.

But the cursed spirit gave him no chance.

The frost melted rapidly, and the frozen grayish-white film peeled off the cursed spirit like a layer of dead skin, making a crisp, crackling sound as it hit the ground.

The new tissue exposed beneath the membrane was completely intact.

"Giggle giggle giggle..."

The cursed spirit turned its head, and two wisps of black smoke instantly locked onto him.

The giant claw swung horizontally.

Li Ren's expression changed, and he raised his arm to block.

boom!

It felt as if he had been hit head-on by a car; he was thrown into the air and crashed into the trunk of an oak tree five meters away.

The impact traveled up his spine, causing Rito to groan involuntarily, a metallic taste rising in his mouth.

Before he could even catch his breath, the cursed spirit had already turned around, and its three-meter-tall figure rapidly magnified in his field of vision.

"Damn it—it's super hot!"

A massive surge of heat erupted from his palm, striking the cursed spirit squarely in the chest.

Flames swirled with fallen leaves and exploded in the air, the immense impact causing the cursed spirit to involuntarily take a step back.

It lowered its head and looked at the flames burning on its chest.

Then he raised his left hand and gently patted it twice, as if brushing dust off his clothes.

The flames went out.

Nothing was left on his chest except for a patch of charred skin that disappeared quickly.

"...His recovery ability is even stronger than his attack power." Rito stood up, using his elbows to support himself against the tree trunk, his expression very serious.

At this moment, his arm was trembling; just that one block had made it almost impossible for him to lift his hand.

"The ice was peeled off, the flames were extinguished... Both attacks only worked on the surface of the body. The Zero Coffin spell was almost ineffective against this cursed spirit."

He gritted his teeth and got back into position.

The cursed spirit did not give him time to adjust.

It took a few steps and walked slowly towards the rational person.

The two plumes of black smoke swirled slowly in the empty eye sockets, while the light core on the chest flickered with each step, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.

Boom!

Without warning, Rito's heart skipped a beat.

It felt like an invisible hand had grabbed it from the inside of its chest and then twisted it hard.

As this sound rang out, the flow of magical power was interrupted for a moment.

In that instant, the cursed spirit suddenly accelerated.

Rito raised his arm to block, but this time the curse power couldn't keep up.

As the giant claw slashed down, he flew out like a kite with a broken string, his back breaking a tree trunk as thick as an arm before crashing heavily to the ground.

"Damn it, what's going on?" Rito's face turned red, and the veins on his arms bulged.

Boom!

He tried to stand up, supporting himself on the ground, but his heart skipped a beat when the sound rang out.

This time it hurt even more, like someone was slowly scraping the wall of my heart with a dull knife.

Rito sensed something was wrong and quickly checked his body.

There were no external injuries, the skin was intact, and there were no signs of broken ribs.

But that pain felt incredibly real.

Under the control of that strange voice, my heart is being led by a frequency that is not mine, and every beat is deviating from the normal rhythm.

Although not fatal, it can cause a slight delay in his control over his cursed power at crucial moments.

"No, we have to figure out how this cursed spirit attacks, otherwise we won't even know how we failed."

Rito clutched his chest and quickly retreated, each step making a soft crunching sound as he stepped on the fallen leaves.

Although it's unclear how the cursed spirit attacked, keeping your distance is always a good idea.

Seeing that the person had retreated, the cursed spirit did not pursue them.

It just stood there, tilting its head.

The light core on his chest, resembling a heart, was still pulsating slightly, steadily and calmly, like a machine that would never malfunction.

Rito stared intently at the cursed spirit and continued to back away.

Ten meters, eleven meters, and by the twelfth meter, the spasm in my heart finally stopped.

"The heartbeat is normal... It seems there's a range limitation, about ten meters."

He leaned against the tree trunk, panting heavily.

Ahead, the cursed spirit was still standing in the same spot, its eyes still fixed on him with two wisps of black smoke.

Boom!

The strange sound rang out again, but this time Rito was unaffected.

Guess it right!

But how do you defeat the cursed spirit?

Rito wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and stared at the monster that was quietly waiting in front of him.

The ice was peeled off, the flames were extinguished... Both attacks only took effect on the surface of the body; the Zero Coffin spell was almost ineffective against this cursed spirit.

Moreover, it can control the heart when it gets within ten meters, but it cannot cause real harm if it gets less than ten meters away.

Is this a level one cursed spirit?

It's not something that can be dealt with by brute force and a little cleverness.

But we have to win!

The cursed spirit didn't give him much time to think.

It moved again, its steps neither hurried nor slow, as if it were measuring the woodland.

With each step he took, the green light core on his chest would throb violently.

"This pattern..."

Li Ren stared at the light core, his pupils shrinking slightly.

"With each step the cursed spirit takes, the light core pulsates once."

"No, that's not how it works. The light core pulsates first, and then the spirit takes a step. Could it be that the light core is controlling it, rather than it driving the light core?"

"Is that light core its heart, or the core of its technique? Or are they the same thing?"

As he pondered, Rito's eyes gradually brightened.

Drive your body with the beating of your heart, and assimilate the enemy's heartbeat with the same frequency.

Isn't this some kind of surgical technique?

If the spirit can release the spell in this way.

what about me?

It was as if a bolt of lightning had struck Rito's mind; he tried hard to recall and grasp that flash of inspiration.

"Wasn't that cursed spirit's attack method also a form of spellcasting?"

"My technique, Zero Coffin, superficially only has two applications: freezing and heat explosion. But in essence, it involves the absorption and release of the target's thermal energy. If we were to use another method..."

At this moment, Rito stood still, his mind constantly analyzing the essence of Zero Coffin layer by layer.

The cursed spirit stopped in its tracks.

It stood exactly ten meters away, its giant claws slowly rising, the fingertips pointing in the direction of the person.

The next second, five black fingernails sprang from the tips of the claws, like five poisoned darts, and attacked Li Ren.

Without hesitation, Rito rolled to the left.

shhhhhh!

The fingernails dug into the ground, scraping against his back, and corroded the fallen leaves, leaving a patch of charred black that emitted white smoke.

He knelt on one knee, pressing his right hand on the ground to steady himself.

He raised his head and looked at the cursed spirit in front of him whose fingernails were growing back.

The dull pain in my arm is still there, and the area on my back where I hit the tree trunk is starting to feel numb.

But his mind suddenly quieted down.

"The essence of zero coffin lies in temperature, and the precise control of temperature."

"Unless it's as extreme as expanding a domain, the attack power of simple absorption and release will always have an upper limit."

"If that's the case, what about temperature differences?"

"I have always used zero coffins unilaterally before, and I have never tried to put two completely different directions together."

"What would happen if we tried a different approach?"

In the distance, the cursed spirit began to walk again.

This time, its speed increased significantly, the deep green light core on its chest throbbed faster and faster, and the two wisps of black smoke spun wildly in its eye sockets.

Rito slowly stood up, his right hand still trembling, and a trace of blood still clinging to the corner of his mouth.

Then, he closed his eyes.