Looking Forward to Another World

At this moment, Riezel felt the familiar sensation of traversing through space, followed by the equally familiar sensation of landing.

Before long, when his consciousness materialized and the solid feeling of his feet touching the ground clearly reached his senses, he suddenly felt his vision brighten, finally allowing him to see his surroundings clearly.

But…

‘Where the hell is this?’

Questioning this internally, the sight that entered Riezel’s eyes left him standing there in a daze.

He was currently in a rather strange space.

Why was it strange?

Because this place hardly looked like somewhere that actually existed.

Towering buildings surrounded him on all sides.

They were not skyscrapers, yet they were even taller than what could conventionally be called skyscrapers, resembling numerous dormitory buildings stacked on top of one another. Although they were extremely tall, they gave off an oddly unnatural feeling.

Countless pipes could be seen throughout the towering structures. Some were intertwined between the buildings, some crawled all over the walls, some were piled up in the corners, while others were stuck into various places like sharp weapons—everything about them looked abnormal.

But the strangest part was that there was no sky to be seen.

All Riezel could see above him was something resembling a ceiling, giving him the distinct impression that he had somehow entered a sewer, as the entire place was dark and damp.

He had abruptly appeared in such a place, standing in the middle of a relatively spacious area.

He looked almost like an unwelcome guest who had accidentally wandered into a demon city or even hell. If this scene had been used in a horror movie advertisement, the unsettling atmosphere would have been created almost instantly.

‘What kind of demonic place is this?’

Riezel frowned, a transparent gleam appearing in his eyes as he activated Transparent World.

To his surprise, however, Transparent World, which could normally amplify his senses without limit and even allow him to see through walls and barriers, was unable to see through the surrounding buildings this time.

Instead, his Transparent World detected a kind of power that resembled magical energy but was not quite the same, one that was closer to the mind yet filled with a distinctly dark quality.

It was…

‘Negative mind?’

Riezel’s brows furrowed even more deeply.

Within his perception, this strange space was filled everywhere with negative mind that resembled magical energy. Even the bizarre buildings and scenery around him were formed from this negative mind, which was why Transparent World had been unable to see through them.

Moreover, the interiors of those buildings and scenery contained no physical matter. They were merely manifestations or projections formed from condensed negative mind.

In other words, there was essentially nothing inside them.

Such a strange phenomenon reminded Riezel of the information the Dimensional Magic Cube had provided him before his dimensional travel.

‘Jujutsu Kaisen…?’

It seemed that he had arrived in a rather peculiar world.

‘If that’s the case, then this so-called negative mind is cursed energy?’

Once he understood that, Riezel also gained a rough understanding of his current situation.

Before this, he had at least gone over the information regarding this world once. It was another world completely different from the many worlds he had experienced before.

In this world, there was no magic or swordsmanship.

Instead, there was a power known as ‘curses,’ which were manifestations of the negative emotions that spilled out from human beings.

In this world, once the negative emotions overflowing from human beings reached a certain level, they would form something known as ‘curses.’

Curses could take the form of cursed energy or cursed spirits, and could even manifest as various cursed objects and cursed tools.

If someone could extract power from these negative emotions and turn them into cursed energy, they could use cursed energy to fight or activate techniques known as cursed techniques, granting them supernatural powers.

Such people were known as jujutsu sorcerers.

Jujutsu sorcerers were not widely known in the human world because they were hidden beings who existed on the other side of society, specializing in exorcising curses and eliminating cursed spirits.

Meanwhile, the cursed energy formed from the negative emotions emitted by humans could gather together and transform into creatures whose entire bodies were composed of cursed energy, and these creatures were known as cursed spirits.

Cursed spirits were invisible to ordinary people and could only be seen by those who possessed cursed energy or under special circumstances. They could also nullify physical attacks, meaning that only attacks formed from cursed energy were effective against them.

Cursed spirits, invisible to ordinary people, were similar to the monsters of the Akasha Continent and the world of Overlord, as well as the monsters of the world of Danmachi and the demons of the world of Demon Slayer.

Simply put, they were all beings that attacked and killed humans and harbored malice toward humanity.

And the duty of jujutsu sorcerers was to exorcise these cursed spirits, deal with cursed objects capable of causing disasters, and protect the world from the shadows.

As Riezel understood it, that was the setting of Jujutsu Kaisen, and that was also precisely why he had concluded that the negative mind filling the surroundings was cursed energy.

Cursed energy was formed from the negative emotions of humans, while emotions were closely connected to the mind, so in Riezel’s perception, the cursed energy of this world was a kind of dark mind.

It was similar to the magical energy refined from the mind in the world of Danmachi, yet different from it, which was why he could only describe the two as resembling one another without actually being the same.

As for this place, which was filled with cursed energy everywhere, it was probably not a real structure at all. Instead, it was likely a domain created through the technique of a jujutsu sorcerer or cursed spirit.

As for whose domain this was, where exactly he was in the original timeline, or which part of the original story he had entered, unfortunately, Riezel could not remember.

‘I actually can’t remember something for once…’

Riezel possessed an extraordinary memory, to the point that he had even awakened memorization magic such as Almighty. Yet even he could not recall the original plot of Jujutsu Kaisen, which showed just how unfamiliar he was with this world.

Honestly, there was nothing he could do about it.

Unlike the other worlds he had experienced before, although this world had been popular for a period of time before his transmigration, it had been a relatively new anime at the time.

He had been running all over the place and seeking excitement everywhere, so naturally, he had not paid much attention to it. He had merely learned some basic information and roughly gone through the plot once.

Being able to remember some of the original setting was already quite impressive.

As for the plot, did the parody epilogue at the end of each anime episode count?

Riezel had actually watched those quite seriously because they had been pretty entertaining.

‘Forget it. If I don’t know, then I don’t know.’

Truth be told, with Riezel’s current strength, he no longer needed something like foresight to maintain his advantages. If he remembered correctly, although the power system of this world was not weak, it was not yet at the point where powerful individuals were everywhere.

With his normal strength already comparable to Level 9, there was no way he would be unable to survive in this world, right?

“Extend Magic – Lead of Yatagarasu.”

Riezel immediately activated his guidance magic, summoning a three-legged crow capable of finding the shortest route to the heart of this labyrinth-like domain.

*Caw!* *Caw!*

Chirping, the three-legged crow circled above Riezel’s head for a while before flying in a certain direction.

“Hm, that way?”

Riezel immediately followed it, while also taking Hermit out of the Dimensional Magic Cube and fastening it around his waist.

Since this was the technique domain of a jujutsu sorcerer or cursed spirit, he would most likely have to fight sooner or later.

‘Cursed technique, huh…’

As Riezel walked forward, an interested expression appeared on his face.

‘Seems pretty powerful. If I get the chance, I’ll try learning one.’

===

“Hm?”

Within the dark domain, a creature suddenly turned its head toward a certain direction as though it had sensed something.

It could clearly feel that someone had entered its domain.

However, this was not particularly unusual.

Not long ago, another group of people had also entered its domain and arrived in its world. It had originally intended to go over there and have some fun with those uninvited guests, but this sudden intrusion forced it to put that idea aside for the time being because this newcomer seemed different from the previous intruders.

There had been quite a few of the previous intruders, three of them, to be precise, but they were sadly very weak, and it could easily slaughter them.

But this new intruder seemed quite strong?

It tilted its head, becoming somewhat confused since the creature could not sense any cursed energy coming from the other party.

In this world, having no cursed energy was a strange thing.

Cursed energy was the negative emotions that overflowed from human beings. Regardless of who they were, even the most ordinary person should have at least a tiny amount of cursed energy leaking from them.

Yet this person had absolutely no trace of cursed energy.

Instead, there was another kind of energy that resembled cursed energy, yet was much more positive than cursed energy.

More importantly, it could feel that this energy seemed quite strong as well.

In any case, the creature did not really understand, since it could only vaguely sense that this person was different from the weak intruders before him and was probably very strong.

Honestly, it could hardly be blamed for being unable to make an accurate judgment or question the situation, considering it had only been born recently.

In the next moment, the creature, with its simple mind, suddenly thought of something before immediately putting it into action.

*GI-GI—GU-LU!*

Accompanied by a strange cry, it summoned the weak cursed spirits inhabiting its domain.

One black shadow after another appeared around it, and under its command, they headed toward the new intruder.

“Hehe…”

It laughed, seemingly delighted and excited by the game that was about to begin.

Unfortunately, it had no idea that the one who had arrived was not a playmate it could casually toy with and slaughter, but a grim reaper who would decide its ultimate fate.

===

*WOOF!*

At the same time, on the other side of the domain, a dog’s bark suddenly rang out, causing the three people walking through the area to stop.

“What is it, Fushiguro?”

“Did you find something?”

Two voices, one from a boy and one from a girl, immediately sounded.

If one listened to their voices, there was no tension in either of them. Instead, they sounded almost as though they were out on a leisurely field trip.

Meanwhile, the other boy, who had been called Fushiguro by his two carefree companions, felt somewhat helpless about their lack of tension, but he did not say anything about it.

“Divine Dog seems to have picked up the scent of a living person. It might be one of the missing people mentioned in the report.”

Upon hearing that, the boy from before immediately shouted.

“Let’s hurry over!”

With that, the boy actually charged forward.

“Hey! Itadori!”

“You fool, this is the innate domain of a special grade cursed spirit!”

Seeing the running boy, the other two were shocked, but they were unable to stop him in time since the boy’s running speed was astonishingly fast, far beyond what an ordinary human should have been capable of.

With nothing more than a single burst of acceleration, he had already disappeared from the sight of his two companions.

“Damn that idiot!”

“If you make me run after your ass, I’m not letting you off, bastard!”

Even though the remaining two were angry, they had no choice but to hurry after him.

*WOOF!*

A large white dog ran at the very front, barking repeatedly.

Just like that, the three young jujutsu sorcerers headed toward the place where Riezel was.

===

Elsewhere, Riezel was still leisurely following the three-legged crow through one dark alley after another, making his way toward the core of the domain.

“Hmm, the cursed energy’s getting denser and denser…”

As he sensed the negative power permeating the air, Riezel genuinely felt somewhat uncomfortable, mainly because this negative mind was far too similar to the negative energy of undead creatures, and it was also very close to what could truly be called a curse, making him feel particularly uneasy.

Because of the world of Danmachi, he had already grown accustomed to refining mind into magical energy, so this was naturally something he was not used to.

“Hm?”

After walking for a while, he suddenly stopped.

*GU-LU!*

*GU-GU!*

At almost the exact same moment, black shadows began approaching unsteadily from the end of the dark alley.

‘Has the main event finally shown up?’

Riezel narrowed his eyes.

Several seconds later, he finally saw the approaching shadows clearly.

They were a type of monster he had never seen before, coming in all shapes and sizes. At first glance, they did not look particularly frightening. Instead, they possessed an almost comical appearance, resembling toys belonging to a clown.

They were not as savage and ferocious as monsters, nor as cold and merciless as demons. If not for the cursed energy that seemed to cling to their bodies everywhere, he would have thought they were some kind of twisted cloth dolls created by someone with an unusual sense of humor.

A group of such monsters, or more precisely, malformed monsters, staggered toward him.

They were…

“Cursed spirits, huh…”

Riezel’s eyes flashed as he waved a hand, dismissing the crow circling above his head.

“”OOOHHHHH—!””

In the next second, the monsters known as cursed spirits all roared at once before suddenly accelerating, rushing toward Riezel with an intimidating force.

“Good. Now this feels more like a group of monsters.”

Muttering to himself, the corners of Riezel’s mouth lifted slightly.

He slowly raised a hand and placed it on the hilt of the sword at his waist, remaining completely still as he waited for the attacking cursed spirits.

*WHOOSH!*

Just as Riezel was about to draw his sword, however, a figure suddenly swept down from above at tremendous speed like a gust of wind.

“Hm?”

Riezel stopped his motion and froze.

Meanwhile, the rapidly approaching figure did not say a word as it shot directly over Riezel’s head and landed in front of him.

“OOOHHHHHH—!!!”

A massive cursed spirit, at least two meters tall, happened to lunge toward Riezel and the newcomer.

Faced with the cursed spirit’s attack, the newcomer neither dodged nor retreated.

Instead, he suddenly threw a punch.

*BOOM!*

Amid the astonishingly heavy impact, the fist, which looked far too small compared to the cursed spirit’s enormous body, suddenly unleashed tremendous force and sent the cursed spirit, at least two meters tall, flying backward.

“…”

In that instant, the attacking cursed spirits came to an abrupt halt.

“Hmm…”

At the same time, the newcomer, a boy with spiky pink hair, maintained his punching stance for a moment before turning around to face Riezel.

“Good! I made it in time!”

He grinned energetically and gave Riezel a thumbs-up, his expression bright and sunny.

‘Did I just… get rescued?’

Riezel thought speechlessly, feeling rather weirded out.

‘Well, that was… definitely a novel experience…’