Chapter 345 308 – The Flatwoods Monster
Just as Haruno was about to say something in her angry big-sister mode, the sky suddenly darkened.
Takumi's brows furrowed slightly as he looked up.
A massive figure was silently descending from above, arriving near the street.
Takumi only had to glance at it for an instant to understand the full situation.
"So after I killed one of them last time, the Serpo have got their eyes on me now. They've been looking for me this whole time, and now they've sent another alien to come grab me. What a pain."
While Takumi was busy being speechless, Haruno and Shizuka also started noticing that something was wrong around them.
"Why did it suddenly get dark?"
Haruno looked around in confusion, only to find that the open street had somehow been sealed off by earthen walls.
Even the sky overhead had been blocked by gray walls, with not a single gap left open.
The two women looked around and realized they were like insects trapped inside a tiny box.
"Wh-what is going on!?"
Even as an adult, Shizuka looked completely at a loss.
She had never encountered anything this bizarre before.
Before Haruno and Shizuka could react further, a wave of weakness suddenly swept over their bodies.
"Cough, cough, cough!" ×2
"What's happening? Cough—why is my nose bleeding!?"
Both women reflexively clapped their hands over their noses, only to find warm blood streaming out nonstop.
They felt awful, as if even breathing had become painfully difficult.
Only then did they notice a black mist had begun drifting all around them.
It seemed to be because of that black mist that they were in such bad shape.
In an instant, the fear of death swallowed them whole.
"You two, get behind me."
Takumi finally spoke, reaching out and placing a hand on each of their shoulders.
"Restore."
Pure restorative power instantly reset their condition.
The moment they felt their bodies ease up, both women stared at Takumi in utter disbelief.
"H-How did you do that?!"
Haruno and Shizuka cried out in unison.
Takumi smoothly launched into his self-introduction. "Standing before you is a descendant of the Hero Village, the strongest sorcerer... and Kuoh Town's number one exorcist."
Hearing that whole chain of introductions, both women's heads buzzed.
The first thing out of Haruno's mouth wasn't shock at all—it was, "How are you so shamelessly full of yourself?"
"..."
Takumi shot Haruno a flat look, and she immediately shut her mouth.
"Hmph. How is that me bragging? Those are just my actual experiences and titles."
Takumi muttered the complaint, clearly displeased by her reaction.
Shizuka, meanwhile, stood there dazed for a moment before blurting out:
"You little brat, that exorcist side job of yours is actually real!?"
"I'm a very honest person."
Takumi winked at Shizuka and answered with complete seriousness.
Hearing that, Shizuka badly wanted to complain, but at that moment both she and Haruno had their attention stolen by the colossal shadow that had suddenly appeared before them.
It was a gigantic creature nearly four meters tall. Its humanoid form looked almost like a sumo wrestler.
But its body was orange and yellow, and it had a pair of enormous eyes.
More than a living creature, it looked like some giant carved wooden statue.
"Wh-what the hell is that thing!!!"
Haruno and Shizuka both screamed in terror.
Takumi turned to look and answered flatly, "That's the Flatwoods Monster. The Serpo sent it."
"The Flatwoods Monster? That unexplained creature from the records? Aliens really exist!?"
"And what do you mean, Serpo? Why would they send that monster after you!?"
Haruno and Shizuka kept shrieking, but both of them instinctively turned to Takumi.
Because from the moment this started, Takumi had stayed perfectly calm, as if he already knew everything.
And the power he'd just displayed had already given both women a sense of security.
At this life-or-death moment, even Shizuka—normally strong-willed and trained in hand-to-hand combat—quietly stood behind Takumi like a little woman seeking protection.
Takumi, meanwhile, looked at the Flatwoods Monster with genuine interest.
"It's supposedly an alien, but its condition is strangely similar to a cursed spirit. The energy fluctuations on it are extremely close to cursed energy, and it can even deploy a domain."
As Takumi murmured to himself, the Flatwoods Monster standing before them had already assumed a sumo-style combat stance.
Boom!!!
The moment its palms clapped together, a thunderous sonic crack exploded through the air.
At the same time, a wave of force blasted toward them, and its puppet-like mouth opened to belch black mist while it rumbled in a deep, heavy voice:
"I found you. Hand over Jinjin!!!"
"What the hell is wrong with you, fixating on my **!?"
The second the Flatwoods Monster uttered its first line, Takumi wanted to tear it limb from limb.
What kind of insane instructions had the Serpo given it? This was way too deranged.
The Flatwoods Monster, however, showed no change in expression whatsoever.
Its purpose for coming here was exactly that. What this human thought about it didn't matter in the slightest.
Behind Takumi, Haruno and Shizuka both wore extremely complicated expressions.
Haruno nudged Shizuka and whispered, "Shizu... is that thing some kind of treasure or what? Even aliens are after it?"
Shizuka was just as baffled. "How would I know? I'm only his teacher."
But as the two of them whispered, their eyes kept drifting toward Takumi's lower body.
Feeling their gazes, Takumi could only look speechless.
And in front of him, the Flatwoods Monster had already raised its hand.
That massive palm, as broad as a giant wooden gate, came crashing down. The gale created just from breaking the sound barrier was enough to blow apart every building within a hundred meters!
We're dead!
Just as Haruno and Shizuka fell into despair, that overwhelming strike suddenly stopped right in front of the little house.
Bzzzt!!!
Ripples spread through the air, as if some unseen force had blocked the attack.
Takumi, still standing there, didn't change expression in the slightest. He merely tapped the ground with the tip of his foot and vanished from sight.
Takumi moved at extreme speed, breaking the sound barrier in an instant.
Before the sonic cloud from the impact had even formed, he was already in motion, launching himself upward with enough force to shatter mountains, and then he drove a kick straight into the Flatwoods Monster's torso.
BOOM!!!
A roar so violent it felt like space itself might split apart exploded through the area!!
Wild winds tore through the street, and that tyrannical force instantly blasted the Flatwoods Monster clean into two pieces.
It died before it even realized what had happened.
Then Takumi lifted one hand, and a torrent of flame came surging out.
Whoosh! Whoosh!!
The wind swept everything clean, and fire scorched the entire ground.
Even the black mist lingering in the air was burned away in a single instant.
"So fast!"
That was the exact thought that flashed through both Haruno and Shizuka's minds.
From the moment the Flatwoods Monster appeared to the instant Takumi erased it, the entire sequence had happened so quickly that neither of them had even fully processed it.
...
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