"I need you to take care of those around me; I'll handle the biggest one." Panda ran at full speed directly toward the largest Cursed Spirit. He could feel the strong, malevolent power of the cursed object embedded in its teeth, which meant it hadn't yet fused with that powerful object, so he had to prevent that.
"Go for its neck!" Panda's right claw grasped the neck of the enormous Cursed Spirit, preventing it from swallowing the purple finger and merging with its tremendous power.
However, this grown Cursed Spirit wasn't easy to restrain. Panda first dodged the annoying nearby monsters, then applied more pressure with his other hand on the neck of the Cursed Spirit, completely tearing off its head, stopping it from consuming the finger.
Crack!
"We need to suppress the cursed power of the finger before more cursed spirits try to eat it!"
He knew that if that Cursed Spirit ate one of the fingers, which belonged to a being called Ryomen Sukuna, it would become a Special Grade Cursed Spirit, and everyone within ten kilometers would die before any reinforcements could arrive.
When Maki approached, some Cursed Spirits rushed forward, but they were shredded by her spear as soon as they entered a dangerous zone that could have harmed her severely.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Dozens of Cursed Spirits approached the finger, which was easily a Special Grade Object. There were so many that Panda had to use his body to prevent it from being swallowed.
Panda was desperate, so he ignored the damage he could take.
Bang!
Upon receiving the impact, Panda spat a mouthful of blood, and his body, unable to absorb the blow, slammed into the wall at the side of the corridor. The wall cracked instantly, showing just how much damage he'd taken.
"There are too many of them." Maki didn't know where so many Cursed Spirits had come from; the number was alarming to the point where they could barely keep themselves safe.
Boom!
Panda, trying to protect the finger, was attacked by numerous enemies. One managed to take the power without directly merging with the purple finger.
The Cursed Spirit had absorbed more of the power, so with each passing second, it grew stronger.
"Damn it!" Panda gritted his teeth, blood dripping from his forehead, but he felt no pain at all. At this moment, the most important thing was to eliminate the cursed spirit; otherwise, it would be hard to escape alive once it became a special grade.
They were now entering a desperate fight.
At this rate, the Cursed Spirit would only grow stronger, and its power would reach a point where they couldn't counter it. Then, the situation would become a disaster.
"It looks like I have no choice but to use this trick..." Panda's muscles swelled to the point of a drastic transformation. This was one of his abilities—gorilla mode, which granted him a massive amount of brute strength, exactly what they needed at that moment.
In an instant, he used the strength of his fists to attack the cursed spirit that was drawing power from the uncontrolled purple finger.
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Maki appeared beside Panda, wanting to grab the finger and leave this unstable battlefield, which had been dangerous for a long time.
"Arghhhh!!!"
Both had clear wounds on their bodies. They weren't severe, but each injury added to the deterioration of their physical abilities, and their combat performance was slowly worsening.
That's the reality of this world—even the Sorcerers were slowly losing the battle against the Cursed Spirits as they kept increasing in number.
Just as they were being overwhelmed by the masses of cursed spirits, Toge appeared in the open field and, grabbing his special megaphone, yelled, "All cursed spirits within a twenty-meter radius, explode!"
Boom! Boom! Boom!
As if in a chain reaction, hundreds of cursed spirits simultaneously exploded into a thousand pieces.
Only then did Maki, bleeding from numerous wounds, grab the finger from among the collapsed structures.
"Is it over?"
"Either way, I need to put that cursed object in your hands under protection to safeguard it from spatial effects. I'm sure if we don't, the consequences will be disastrous." Panda knew that Maki's wounds were concerning, and more importantly, Toge was in bad shape after expending so much energy.
In this world, even the most powerful sorcerers die at the hands of cursed spirits, and considering how fragile people are, anyone in this world can die quickly and suddenly.
Boom!
But in the next moment, the ceiling collapsed, and a cursed spirit, even larger than the one they had just defeated, fell through. It aimed to bite Sukuna's finger, but seeing a bothersome figure first, it moved to eliminate it.
As a result, Maki took a direct hit.
Crack!
Maki almost fainted this time after receiving that blow. The first hit had left her severely injured, and this one was even stronger.
Panda also took a hit and was sent flying as if his body weighed nothing, but he wasn't as badly hurt as Maki. After hitting the ground, he quickly got up and stared in astonishment at the giant before him.
"Immob..." Toge spat blood after issuing the command to immobilize the cursed spirit.
He was at his limit; he couldn't understand how so many Cursed Spirits were hiding in a simple high school.
And just when everything seemed lost, in a split second, all the cursed spirits in the high school were exterminated.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Maki, Panda, and Toge were transported to an open space in an instant before they could react.
"Huh?" Maki's eyes widened in surprise, but once she realized who had arrived, she collapsed onto the open field.
"Gojo-sensei..."
The man standing in front of them, who didn't seem tired at all, was exactly who they had mentioned: Gojo Satoru, the most powerful sorcerer of the era.
He was quite tall, with white hair, round sunglasses, and dressed in what appeared to be a black school uniform. His calm expression remained unchanged as he took the finger from Maki's hand, who could barely stay conscious, and said, "I didn't expect this. You really encountered one of Sukuna's fingers."
"That doesn't explain the large number of cursed spirits."
"Hmm, I get it. It seems this place wasn't as peaceful as we thought. That would explain the immense human resentment that formed all these cursed spirits."
"There were hundreds, all quite powerful, but none attacked until that guy left."
"Was there someone else here?" Gojo Satoru asked while looking in a specific direction.
"I managed to see a Cursed Spirit fighting with someone wielding a sword, but I'm not sure what I really saw." Maki shared the information as soon as she remembered.
"Oh... I'm aware of that. Don't worry, my dear students. You took a beating today, but you survived, and that counts." Gojo Satoru smiled from ear to ear, clearly intrigued by the person who harbored an overwhelming power hidden within.