Curse Returns: Eight Extraordinary Skills? I lack nothing.

The director continued, "Besides the staggering number of deaths, the skeletons didn't look like they died of natural causes; they had obvious signs of gnawing."

The county police chief took over: "We have already sealed off the area around the riverbank, claiming it's an industrial pollution investigation. But this can't be hidden for long, and we hope you can resolve this as soon as possible."

Yuuto nodded: "What about the cursed spirit? Do you have any information on it?"

The director immediately switched to the next picture, which was a blurry photo taken from a distant riverbank, showing a huge dark shadow floating on the water.

"After multiple observations and one close encounter, we have confirmed the existence of a giant water-type cursed spirit in the lower reaches of the Gose River."

“It is nearly 20 meters long and has a human face and a snake body. It is very similar to the mythical creature, the River Wave. Therefore, we have determined it to be a hypothetical cursed spirit.”

He paused here, his voice lowering: "We organized a campaign, but it failed."

Yuuto looked up at him in surprise: "What about the casualties? What level of assessment did you give of that cursed spirit?"

After a long silence, the director said awkwardly, "That cursed spirit was very strong. We lost our ability to fight as soon as we met it... but we were able to protect ourselves and the whole team successfully retreated without any casualties."

Yuuto looked puzzled.

What does it mean to be defeated and incapacitated upon first encounter, yet still manage to escape unscathed?

"Are you making fun of me?" Yuuto asked seriously.

The station chief and police officers shook their heads repeatedly, trying their best to explain: the cursed spirit was indeed powerful, and it was purely coincidental that they escaped without casualties.

Yu Ren didn't investigate further.

He decided to go and see the cursed spirit with his own eyes before making any further plans.

A cursed spirit is a cursed spirit. No matter what, if it is not of my kind, its heart must be destroyed.

However, if a local sorcery agency reports false information, thus delaying his time, then he should also be punished accordingly.

"Where are the bones? Take me to see them..."

A makeshift shed was set up on the riverbank, and hundreds of skeletons were laid out on the ground, a shocking sight.

The once seamless human skeleton is now shattered, with the skull, ribs, and limb bones all mixed together.

Miwa Kasumi followed Yuuto into the shed, her face instantly turning pale.

Her hand gripped the knife hilt tightly, her knuckles turning white, but she didn't look away, forcing herself to stare at the white bones.

This is the best way to motivate yourself to grow.

Yu Ren squatted down to examine it carefully, reaching out to flip over a rib. The cross-section was irregular, with fine tooth marks, and the surface showed signs of corrosion from strong acid.

He closed his eyes and used his spiritual perception to investigate.

Evil and rage—this is the aura emanating from the residual curse power on the bones, perfectly matching people's stereotypical impression of cursed spirits.

He then shifted his focus to the direction of the river.

The river water carried the same aura as the bones, but there was also a completely different kind of curse power.

Yuuto had never seen this kind of aura on a cursed spirit before; on the contrary, it was somewhat similar to the aura of a human.

Yuu opened his eyes, his brows furrowed slightly.

Two streams?

He didn't make a sound and stood up.

"Everyone go down and prepare. Set up the tent at noon. After the tent is set up, everyone leave. I can handle it all by myself."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

When the time came, the sorcerers from the local sorcery firm nailed the tent pegs in three different locations.

This body of water is the habitat of that water-type cursed spirit, which doesn't like to move around much.

If it weren't for the lack of strength, the agency would have already organized a second crackdown.

After the tent pegs were set up, the group stepped back a few paces, formed hand seals, and whispered incantations:

"Born of darkness, darker than black. All filth and defilement are cleansed."

A semi-transparent black barrier slowly descended from mid-air, like an inverted bowl, covering the entire body of water and the shore.

Outside the tent, large numbers of police officers had completely surrounded the area.

Their mission is not to stop the cursed spirits, but to prevent ordinary people from accidentally entering the battlefield.

Yuuto stood in front of the tent, turned to look at Miwa Kasumi: "There's something I need you to investigate for me."

"Okay." Miwa Kasumi agreed without even asking any questions.

Yuuto instructed, "After I go in, I will investigate the myths and legends of this area, as well as the local office's observation records for the past three months."

"The key is to see if this cursed spirit has actively harmed ordinary people. Don't rely on hearsay; someone must have seen it with their own eyes."

Miwa blinked, somewhat surprised.

She didn't understand why Yuuto wanted to investigate this; weren't cursed spirits simply exorcised?

But she didn't ask any more questions, and instead nodded and said, "I understand."

Yu Ren added, "I'll tell you what we found when I get out."

He had his reasons for making this arrangement.

A cursed spirit is a cursed spirit, and no matter what kind of cursed spirit it is, it cannot be allowed to roam freely.

Therefore, regardless of whether these piles of white bones were the work of this water-type cursed spirit, Yuuto still needs to deal with them.

However, among the various hypothetical spirits that have emerged during this period, it seems that some of them were born with positive emotions mixed in.

For example, Gasha was subdued by him using the Spirit Binding Technique.

After subduing it, he used the spirit-binding technique to investigate deeply and discovered that the reason why Gasha had some behaviors that should not belong to a cursed spirit was because people's imagination of this imaginary object was mixed with positive emotions, which made it different from ordinary cursed spirits.

Furthermore, his perception just now confirmed that its aura was different from other cursed spirits.

Yu Ren entered the tent, placed his right hand on the hilt of his sword, and slowly activated the Reverse Life Triple Technique. His hair turned white from the roots, becoming as white as jade, and his skin glowed with a faint, luminous white light.

After Yuuto entered, the surroundings remained completely quiet.

He wasn't in a hurry, and continued walking deeper into the area.

After reaching the appropriate position, Yuuto fully unleashed his ability to perceive and control the magical power of spirits.

Deep beneath the riverbed, the immense surge of magical power lay ahead.

He didn't move or hide; it was as if he was waiting for him.

Yuuto stepped forward, his feet treading on the water, each step creating a delicate ripple:

"Come out."

Chapter 82 River and Sea Possession

The soothing sound clearly reached underwater.

The river began to churn, and a huge, bluish-green figure slowly rose up.

It was a serpentine dragon-shaped cursed spirit, nearly twenty meters long.

His head was the strangest feature; it was not a beast's head, but an old human face.

Kawano Namikaze spoke to Yuuto in an extremely harsh voice:

"Sorcerer, are you here to kill me?"

Although the local sorcery agency had told Yuuto that this cursed spirit could speak human language and possessed intelligence, he was still slightly surprised to see it in person.

Are there already so many talking spirits?

Yu Ren was filled with thoughts, but instead of answering any of his questions, he prepared to take action.

He drew the Kikuichimonji with his right hand. Lightning magic imbued the sword; blue-white arcs of electricity crackled and leaped across the blade…

Outside the tent, Miwa Kasumi, accompanied by staff from a local sorcery agency, was researching information.

River Waves is a collective term, referring to the spirits that protect the rivers.

Legend has it that it can control the flow of the river, and when people worship it and treat it with respect, it will bring prosperity and blessings to the riverbanks.

Once offended or neglected, it may unleash a torrent of anger, venting its fury on the disrespectful.

Therefore, people living along the river often held sacrifices and ceremonies, offering tributes and praying devoutly...

In general, in mythology, this is a lawful and neutral creature, leaning towards goodness, but with obvious wildness and vengefulness.

She turned to the next page, which contained recent observation records from the local office.

As I read through each point, something seemed increasingly off.

This giant cursed spirit has never attacked human settlements on its own initiative, nor has anyone witnessed it harming humans.

The only change was that he became quite irritable during this period, and any human attempting to approach the waters would be driven away.

Miwa Kasumi bit the pen cap, her brows furrowed.

Recently, a large number of imaginary spirits have emerged around the world. They are born from humanity's collective imagination of myths and legends, rather than purely from negative emotions.

So, do cursed spirits exist that are dominated by positive emotions?

In other words, a cursed spirit can contain both positive and negative emotions, making it as complex as a human, rather than being composed of pure malice like most cursed spirits.

That's all the information I could find. Miwa Kasumi organized the data and prepared to hand it over to Yuuto when he came out.

Inside the tent, lightning flashed across the surface of the river.

Yuuto stood atop two levitation-capable spirits, hovering in mid-air for an extended period.

By utilizing the shaping ability of spirits and generals, they can be turned into leverage points.

Although they are constantly losing their lifespan and are considered disposable items, they are indeed useful.

Yuuto looked at the River Wave in front of him. After several tests, he could basically confirm that it possessed top-tier combat power.

However, there are differences even among the top-tier ones, let alone the top-tier Cursed Spirits.

According to the rating criteria, a human level one sorcerer must be able to exorcise a special-grade cursed spirit to be considered qualified.

As for creatures like the Four Calamities, Kokushibo from the Death Journey, and the cursed spirit that Naoya transformed into after his death, especially the Four Calamities and Naoya after they gained their domains, they are clearly beyond what can be summarized as Special Grade.