With a loud boom, the huge stone crashed onto the ground, and a torrent of black hair burst out once again.
Having already lost the initiative, Hidan could only scramble desperately to defend himself.
If he hadn't reacted decisively and slashed at his own ankle without worrying about injuring himself, he would probably have already ended up inside that monster's "stomach."
Even so, standing this close to the well left him in an extremely dangerous position.
Worse still, his most powerful ritual technique—Death Possession Blood (Shiji Hyōketsu)—was completely useless against this creature.
That fact left Hidan incredibly frustrated.
When he noticed from the corner of his eye that Shinji Akagi had already dealt with the surrounding villagers, he immediately shouted:
"How the hell do we deal with this thing?! It just keeps coming!"
At that moment, Shinji didn't rush to help Hidan. Instead, he began carefully observing and recalling everything that had happened.
"From the moment I opened the chest… to the sudden attack… to escaping the well… the black hair… the irresistible fragrance that draws in prey… and then feeding…"
"There can't be something without a solution. I must be missing something… what is it…"
"Hey! What are you spacing out for?! Get over here and help already! I can't hold out much longer!" Hidan shouted urgently.
In just this short span of time, he had already lost one of his kunai somewhere and was now left with only one.
If the creature hadn't seemed to operate purely on instinct—with rigid and repetitive attack patterns—Hidan might already have been drowned beneath that sea of black hair.
Even so, despite fighting with everything he had, defeat seemed inevitable.
Hidan simply couldn't harm the creature's main body.
Cutting off the attacking strands of black hair was completely meaningless.
Faced with Hidan's cries for help, Shinji ignored him entirely and instead shouted back:
"Hold on a little longer! I'm observing its weakness!"
"Shinji Akagi, you bastard! I'm going to remember this!" Hidan cursed loudly.
Seeing that Shinji truly had no intention of helping, he could only grit his teeth and continue slashing frantically.
Meanwhile, Shinji reorganized his thoughts after his concentration had been broken.
"Based on earlier observations, this strange creature doesn't seem to possess real intelligence. It's acting purely on instinct…"
"And there's another important detail. When it attacked us earlier, we didn't smell any fragrance at all. The scent only appeared after it withdrew back into the well."
"If it could use that scent anytime it wanted, there would be no reason for that. In fact, if it had released the fragrance from the beginning while attacking us, Hidan and I might have been caught immediately."
"So logically speaking, this creature likely has two behavior modes. One is a lure mode—releasing fragrance to attract prey into its hunting range. The other is a feeding mode—using the black hair to capture prey. From what we've seen so far, these two states probably can't occur simultaneously."
"But…"
"It's still not enough! Knowing this alone doesn't solve the problem. So what exactly is its weakness?"
Shinji took several deep breaths, forcing himself to calm down.
He stopped worrying about anything else. Even if Hidan got caught, the guy wouldn't die anytime soon—that gave Shinji more time to observe.
So he abandoned his previous line of thinking and started over from scratch.
"Go down… open the chest… get attacked…"
"Wait!"
"Why was I attacked in the first place?"
As Shinji replayed the moment in his mind, he suddenly realized a detail he had completely overlooked.
When the black hair first attacked…
Its target wasn't him.
It was the torch in his hand.
Yes—exactly!
Because he had been startled at the time, his only thought had been escaping the well, so he hadn't paid attention to that detail.
If he had been the first target, he would have been caught completely off guard and escaping wouldn't have been nearly so easy.
Thinking back now, the creature had extinguished the torch first before turning to chase him. That was why he had managed to escape with only minor difficulty.
After eliminating the ridiculous possibility that the monster simply had a personal grudge against torches, the most likely explanation was—
"Shinji, you bastard! If you don't come help—"
"Fire!"
"Huh? What?"
"Fire is probably this thing's weakness!"
"You sure about that?!"
"Trust me! Use Fire Release and burn it!"
"Fine! I'll burn—burn your whole family! I don't even know Fire Release!!!"
Hidan's furious roar left Shinji momentarily embarrassed.
"Damn… I got so excited I forgot about that."
Forget Fire Release.
The two of them were practically rookie-level trash when it came to ninja techniques.
Realizing this, Shinji suddenly turned and ran away.
"You bastard! You're just running now?! You… at least take me with you! Damn it!" Hidan shouted in disbelief before exploding into curses.
I may be a terrible person… but you're actually worse!
I'm done with this!
I'm going back to the Jashin Cult!
Thinking he had been abandoned, Hidan immediately began looking for a way to retreat instead of continuing the fight.
But escaping was easier said than done.
The black hair, still hungry, had no intention of letting its only prey escape.
Hidan soon realized something terrifying.
He was trapped.
Last time they had managed to retreat because both of them worked together and they were already far from the well.
But now he was alone—and he had foolishly run right up to the creature's lair.
How was he supposed to escape?
As panic set in, his movements became sloppy.
Hidan, who had been barely holding on before, suddenly made a critical mistake.
By the time he realized it, his legs were already wrapped tightly in black hair.
When he tried to cut it like before, the surrounding strands gave him no chance.
They surged forward all at once.
Even though Hidan swung his kunai desperately, the weapon's reach was far too short.
He was quickly overwhelmed.
The black hair wrapped around him layer upon layer until he was completely encased—like a cocoon.
Hidan could feel the strands trying to crawl into his mouth, nose, and ears.
In that moment, he finally understood why the livestock earlier had died in such horrific states.
For the first time, even Hidan wasn't confident whether his immortality could withstand this.
"This is all Shinji's fault! That bastard ran off at the crucial moment! If I survive this, I'm definitely going to kill him!"
Just as Hidan closed his eyes and mentally cursed someone a thousand times over…
He suddenly felt an intense heat—so hot it seemed ready to ignite his skin.
Shinji had returned.
Holding two wooden buckets, he splashed the liquid inside over the black hair.
Then he pulled a fire striker from his waist and threw it directly into the mass.
BOOM!
Flames erupted skyward instantly.
Shinji hadn't actually run away earlier.
After realizing neither of them knew Fire Release, he had rushed into the village to gather lamp oil and fuel.
It hadn't been easy to find, which was why it had taken him so long.
But fortunately, he had returned just before Hidan was completely devoured, carrying every bit of fuel he could find.
"Damn it… let's see if you survive this!"
As the black hair twisted and writhed within the raging flames before burning to ash, Shinji decisively poured the rest of the fuel straight down into the well.
Then he threw in the last fire striker.
Amid the towering flames, Shinji thought he heard the agonized wail of some monstrous thing.
And to him…
It sounded wonderfully satisfying.