After leaving the civilian outpost, Otonashi Chiya and Hayakawa Aki walked to the location specified in the request.
Along the way, he and Hayakawa Aki barely spoke.
Ding! Allocation complete, Vitality +3
Vitality: 15
Available attribute points: 0
Otonashi Chiya allocated all 3 of his available attribute points to "Vitality" to prepare for the upcoming battle with the Devil.
He immediately felt his life force become considerably more robust, but it was still far from enough; he estimated that even a casual use of Kamui's eye technique would instantly drain his body.
He could only say it was at least better than before.
When they reached their destination, Hayakawa Aki finally spoke, "We're here. Stay behind me and don't wander off."
Before them was a dilapidated, abandoned stone bridge, beneath which flowed a foul, dirty ditch. The water level was very shallow, filled with all sorts of trash, and there were no pedestrians around the stone bridge.
On the side of the stone bridge was a large, dark opening connected to the nearby mountain, its depth unknown.
"According to the information provided by the client, the Devil is hidden inside."
With that, Hayakawa Aki walked straight into the bridge tunnel. "I'll go ahead and scout; you keep an eye on what's behind us."
Otonashi Chiya said nothing, simply walking silently behind Hayakawa Aki.
It was evident that Hayakawa Aki already possessed the weapon of the Curse Devil, "Cas," which was strapped to his back.
If he remembered correctly, Hayakawa Aki was around twenty years old in the original timeline, so he should be around sixteen now.
Stabbing a target three times with the Curse Devil's designated weapon would instantly kill the target, but the cost… for example, in the original story, Hayakawa Aki had less than two years left to live before his snowball fight with Denji.
Although the Curse Devil's performance had always been subpar, it was mainly because the enemies it faced were too much of a counter to it, appearing only twice and encountering beings like Samurai Sword and Chainsaw Man, who couldn't truly be killed.
Otherwise, this instant-kill ability would be very powerful.
He just didn't know if Hayakawa Aki had contracted with other Devils at this point; the Devil Power of the Curse Devil, with its immense cost, certainly couldn't be used casually.
Besides that, the other tachi hanging from Hayakawa Aki's waist was likely just an ordinary sword.
Otonashi Chiya himself also had a tachi hanging from his waist; this was a very common weapon in Japan, which he had bought casually at the civilian outpost earlier.
"Wait."
Just then, Otonashi Chiya suddenly whispered.
Possessing the Mangekyo Sharingan, vision and perception far exceeding ordinary people were the most basic abilities. Even in this pitch-black bridge tunnel, he could see very clearly.
He saw the Devil lurking in the deepest part from afar, its shape very much like a crayfish, but many times larger than a normal crayfish.
It was vaguely discernible that this Devil was entirely crimson, at least two meters tall, and its length would only be greater.
Its entire body was covered in thick, pitted armor, riddled with sharp spikes. Its long, pointed head had six large, bloodshot eyes similar to human eyes, and several pairs of antennae, like thick whips, looked very lethal. And those enormous pincers could probably easily crush a person into a pulp.
Ding! host activated achievement "First Encounter with a Devil," gaining attribute points: 1!
Although Hayakawa Aki had a flashlight for illumination, its light was limited, and he still couldn't clearly see what was in the depths of the bridge tunnel.
So he asked, "What's wrong?"
"I see the Devil. It's the Crayfish Devil specified by the client."
Otonashi Chiya whispered.
The mission information provided by the client mentioned the Crayfish Devil, and "Crayfish" is another name for a small lobster, which basically matched the image of the Devil before them.
"Where?"
Hayakawa Aki was immediately surprised. How could he see so clearly in such an environment?
But at the same time, the Crayfish Devil had also discovered that two humans had intruded.
The Crayfish Devil immediately lunged at the two, its bizarre dozen or so human-like legs at the bottom moving incredibly fast.
Such a massive body would cause a considerable commotion with even a slight movement, especially in the incredibly quiet depths of the bridge tunnel.
"Here it comes!"
Otonashi Chiya shouted in a low voice.
Hayakawa Aki had already been mentally prepared. Such a small space made it difficult to dodge, so he could only meet it head-on!
He drew the tachi from his waist to block the Crayfish Devil's attack, but was immediately sent flying by its immense brute force.
"Heheheh—Foolish humans, I didn't expect you to deliver yourselves to my doorstep. I can feast again; the smell of humans is truly delicious~!"
The Crayfish Devil was not in a hurry to pursue, but instead cackled arrogantly.
Hayakawa Aki managed to steady himself, his originally clean clothes now largely soaked with dirty water. He immediately said to Otonashi Chiya, "It's hard to move freely in here. Let's lure it out."
If they couldn't dodge flexibly, clashing head-on with a Devil using brute force was almost suicidal, unless they used Devil Power.
Otonashi Chiya thought that, from the looks of it, Hayakawa Aki had only contracted with the Curse Devil at this point. The Fox Devil must have been a later development after he joined the Tokyo Public Security Bureau.
"You won't have a chance to get out. Die!"
The Crayfish Devil naturally wouldn't let the fat prey slip away. It used its whip-like tentacles to entangle Otonashi Chiya and Hayakawa Aki separately.
However, in the Mangekyo Sharingan of Otonashi Chiya, the Crayfish Devil's movements were completely in slow motion.
Or rather, the moment the tentacles showed any sign of attack, he had already perceived their complete trajectory.
This was somewhat similar to Hayakawa Aki's eye ability after contracting with the Future Devil in the original story, but the principles were actually completely different. The Future Devil's eye ability was to see two seconds into the future, while the Mangekyo Sharingan's principle was perception, which could also be understood as precognition.
Indeed, it was incredibly precise precognition. As soon as the opponent made a move, he could accurately perceive the entire, yet-to-happen, action trajectory.
Following this trajectory, Otonashi Chiya avoided all possibilities of being touched by the tentacles.
He simply shifted his foot, and the tentacles brushed past him, almost touching, yet not a single hair on him was touched.
On the other side, Hayakawa Aki quickly retreated, dodging the attack in time.
In such a dark environment, he couldn't see very clearly, and seeing Otonashi Chiya make no obvious dodging movements, he thought he was in danger.
"Otonashi!"
Hayakawa Aki called out worriedly, immediately picking up the flashlight that had fallen to the ground. Only then did he discover that Otonashi Chiya was completely unharmed!
Just then, he clearly saw Otonashi Chiya, tachi in hand, severing one of the Crayfish Devil's tentacles, the splashing blood in mid-air reflecting off his crimson blood pupils.
Only then did he realize that the young man before him was far from as simple as he had originally thought!