Bony Boy goes to JJK World
-Lots of spoilers on JJK read at your own risk.-
Gojo's pov
Without a guardian to protect it, the third layer was nothing but a huge waste of time for Gojo. The curses were stronger than before and packed enough power to harm even him, that is if they could hit him.
None of the creatures that plagued the third layer could land a single hit on Gojo. That made exploring the maze extremely safe and boring for the jujutsu sorcerer since he could easily one-shot anything in the layer and nothing could even touch him, Gojo eventually stopped fighting choosing instead to just juke or push the enemies away from him.
All that he cared about now was finding the guardian room so that he could move on with the game. Gojo had no idea that the game was pretty much fucked already and hastily ran around the maze looking for the exit. Little did he know that he was one of the last few players still playing.
Even if there were other people besides himself there was no one who could challenge the guardians and win without risking their lives. That was also true for Gojo, but he didn't want to think about that.
'Positive attitude. Positive attitude. ' Gojo repeated in his mind every time he ran into a dead end or a particularly strong-looking curse.
The many traps laid around the maze were no problem either thanks to his infinite barrier which reenforced the only problem that Gojo has. He does not have any idea where he's supposed to go. That feeling started eating away at his mind for what seemed like the better part of a whole day.
When he entered the game, Gojo was at peak confidence and power, but now...
The clock was starting to apply pressure on Gojo. There was no way of knowing how long it had been and with no one to talk to doubts started to appear in his mind.
'Don't think about it, just focus on finding the fucking-' Gojo stopped for a moment when he finally looked at the door with a very intricate design. He took a breath of relief as he quickly recognized what that was.
Gojo ran to the door and pushed it open. The door gave no resistance at all and simply slammed against the walls allowing passage to anyone who wanted. Just like the other guardian's room, this one was wide, but unlike the other ones, there was a pool filled with a red liquid.
Created to allow Shalltear to fight at 100% power while disregarding everything, this was the final stand for the first guardian of the great tomb of Nazarick. Gojo quickly realized that Shalltear still had one final trump card and smiled for a moment.
"Good thing I took care of her before she... Good thing she didn't decide to run. " Gojo wanted to throw a final insult toward Shalltear, but the fact that he needed help to beat her combined with his image of him fighting Shalltear once more caused him to rethink his words. His victory over the guardian, while impressive, was not solely because of his power.
Gojo looked at the door at the back of the room. 'The fourth layer... ' Gojo thought as he slowly made his way past the pool. The feeling of dread concerning what was beyond this point started to get a hold of his heart and mind.
A small sweat drop formed on his forehead slowly making its way down his face until it finally stopped when he rubbed his shirt over it. After a few moments, there it was again, the sweat starting forming in the same way which prompted Gojo to rub his shirt over his forehead many times, but no matter how hard he tried to clean it, his doubts and fears still remained.
'Nine layers, three of which were controlled by one guardian. There must be a least six guardians left... No problem. ' Gojo tried to sweep away his thoughts into a corner in his mind as that kind of thinking could lead him to lose his edge and eventually the entire game.
Gojo quickly made his way to the door and pushed it. As he expected, the was no resistance at all, the door opened just like wanted and now he was staring at an empty room. 'Fourth layer, here we go. ' Gojo thought as he stepped into the room and was teleported away.
He didn't know what the expect on the fourth layer and if the layout of the layer was decided by the guardian, whatever he was gonna find would be something completely different from before. So he had to prepare his mind to respond immediately, but even knowing all of that, Gojo couldn't believe it.
'Cold. ' That was the first thing Gojo thought. No more claustrophobic corridors and dim lighting, no more need to look around for the exit either, Gojo found himself on a plateau completely covered in snow. There were some trees, mountains, and some grass growing despite the temperature, but nothing out of the ordinary.
He was outside any structure standing over a thick layer of ice which could only mean one thing... Gojo placed his hand on the ground and grabbed a hand full of snow, the cold sensation confirming to him that it was indeed... something akin to snow. There was still the chance that this was not water, but at least it wasn't just set dressing.
The other thing that came to mind was the ice he was standing on. Gojo quickly unleashed his cursed technique on it, but once the initial layer of ice was broken... nothing. He continued his assault until he finally gave up. 'There's a good chance that this a lake, but at least the ice seems really thick. The chances of someone falling in there are really slim. ' Gojo concluded as he started walking to the only point of interest he could see, the only thing that was out of place, a gigantic castle.
'The guardian... ' Gojo thought as he started making his way to that location. The scenery remained the same for quite a while, just that alone would make him want to go faster, but even after a few minutes of walking, Gojo refused to run to the goal.
Without visual confirmation of any curses, and without any traps in sight, Gojo's mind started playing tricks. He picked up the pace when he saw a woman dressed in a blueish kimono, she had her hair covering her face and for some reason, the air around her looked even colder than normal.
Gojo didn't know what that was and he didn't care. The jujutsu sorcerer just kept walking forward and within a couple of minutes, he was alone once more. That wouldn't be true for too long.
The path ahead of him forced Gojo to walk into a forest. That was the only way to the castle, and it didn't sit right with the jujutsu sorcerer. 'There are more of them... ' Gojo thought as the Six Eyes allowed him to spot multiple curses swarming the forest, they all looked like the woman he had seen but unlike before, he could clearly see the bloodlust and power coming from them.
Gojo walked forward for a couple of steps before one of them made their move. The curse moved her arm elegantly displaying the upper part of her breast, Gojo quickly jumped to the side as a huge pillar of ice formed around him.
[Ice Pillar]
'So... the one who casted the cursed technique is behind me. ' Gojo thought as he saw another one of those curses walking toward him and soon enough he had four of these curses surrounding him.
[Freeze Lance]
They all said in unison. Gojo stood still and tanked the attack, or at least that was what it looked like to anyone watching the fight. The spells didn't hit Gojo at all and before the curses could cast another one, Gojo casted his blue attack all around him killing everything nearby.
'The curses are Ice theme too... what about the guardian? ' Gojo thought as he turned his head to the castle and started walking to it again.
[Cursed Technique Amplification: Blue ]
Gojo spammed the same technique in every encounter he saw. Most of them were the same woman-looking monsters trying to ambush him, but sometimes he found himself fighting a big wolf or a weird jelly thing. The result didn't change though, Gojo made quick work of anything he found as he made his way to the castle.
After walking and walking, the castle finally started to look close. Gojo had climbed over a small hill and after he climbed down, he found himself in a valley. 'Another ambush? ' Gojo thought as he saw many curses jumping down on him, a few moments later he continued his way to the castle.
Everything was going fine for Gojo, while he was taking a bit too longer than he wanted to, he would rather use whatever extra time he had to put his mind under control. 'The guardians are not to be taken lightly... I have to save up as much space in my mental stack so that I can beat them by myself. ' Gojo thought as he continued walking.
Things started to become monotonous as Gojo slowly approached the goal. He was getting a bit impatient, but his resolve was strong and his mind was disciplined, there was no way he was gonna rush to the fight only to not be able to finish it.
"You. Got. Here. All. By. Yourself? Well. Done. " Gojo heard a deep voice speak behind him. He quickly turned around, but what he saw caught him completely off guard.
The big blue insect with the halberd was not that out of place for Gojo, he knew that curses could take many different forms and thus he wasn't shocked at seeing it. What really threw Gojo for a loop was the fact that the castle was now right in front of him.
Gojo could see the doors, windows, statues, and even the furniture inside the structure. He quickly glanced behind him looking in the direction of where the castle stood just a few moments ago, only to see that there was nothing there.
"Surprised? Understandable." The Guardian spoke in a paused manner. " Your. Goal. Is. Suddenly. Right. Besides. You. And. So. Am. I. A. Guardian. Showing. Up. Like. This. Must. Make. You. Really. Scarred. "
Gojo turned back to the guardian. He noticed the curse didn't even try to attack him and just stood there with its weapon stuck in the ground, looking. "Did I walk right by this or was it teleported? Wait... Was I the one who was teleported? " Gojo asked with a smile. He was too shaken up to fight right away so he immediately tried to get control of the situation.
"You. Walked. Right. Past. Me. That's. How. This. Was. Set. Up." The Guardian spoke while taking a step backward. They respected Gojo as a warrior and knew that a powerful opponent like himself showing up behind an opponent like that is a major blow to their confidence and so, he allowed Gojo to recover mentally for as long as he wanted.
"You're the guardian? What's your name? I'm Gojo, by the way. " Gojo said as he pointed to himself with his thumb.
"Guardian. Of. The. Fourth. Layer. Cocytus. " The Guardian spoke before releasing a stream of cold air from his nose. Gojo quickly started planning how to fight that monstrosity while he tried to buy some time. "Only the fourth layer? So there are six of you left? " Gojo asked.
On the outside, Gojo displayed a calm demeanor to Cocytus who simply stood there, but on the inside, Gojo felt a huge relief. 'He doesn't have that much power compared to Shalltear. I can take him. ' Gojo thought as he started walking around Cocytus.
"Yes. Just. This. Layer. " Cocytus said while standing still. He allowed Gojo to circle around him and once the jujutsu sorcerer was done he asked another question.
"You're weaker than Shalltear, right? Was she the strongest? " Gojo asked trying to pry some information about the Domain, but he got the answer that he was expecting.
"Shalltear. IS... Was. Stronger. But. Whether. She. Was. The. Strongest. You. Will. Have. To. Find. Out. For. Yourself. " Cocytus responded.
Gojo scratched his chin while looking for any possible body language or facial expression that could give him some insight, but he gave up after a few seconds. There was no way for him to read a creature like Cocytus. "So... ahhhh... are we gonna fight or something? Or are you just gonna stay there looking at me? " Gojo asked. He wanted to see if he could piss off the guardian just like he had done to Shalltear, but little did he know that Cocytus was a different type of fighter.
Cocytus raised his hand and pointed it to the side. A small portal-like thing appeared and from inside of the void, a handle of a blade showed up. The guardian quickly shoved his hand inside the portal and pulled out a massive blade.
[God Slaying Emperor Blade]
Gojo's eyes immediately widened when he saw the amount of cursed energy flowing inside that weapon. "Impressive. That's the best sword I have ever seen in my life. " Gojo said while looking at the blade in Cocytus's hands.
That cursed tool was almost as big as he was tall, but for Cocytus, it had the same proportions as a regular two-handed sword. "Indeed. It. Is. The. Best. Blade. " The guardian said before he pulled out the Halberd from the ground and placed it on one of his arms.
Gojo saw as his opponent held two different cursed tools. Cocytus took a rigid stance before slowly inching forward with his right leg. "I. Assume. You. Are. Ready. To. Face. Me. Now. " The Guardian said.
Gojo cracked his knuckles before responding, "You were waiting for me? How thoughtful of you, Cocytus. " Gojo said with a casual attitude before taking his stance.
"Ready when you are. " Gojo said with a serious tone.
They both stared at each other for a moment until the fight finally started.
Yuta's pov
As soon as he was healed, Yuta got up and started looking for Yuki. He ran around the maze as fast as he could, but instead of finding her Yuta found the guardian's room.
Thinking that Yuki would eventually come there, he decided to guard the entrance himself, but soon after he started, he thought. 'She might have passed her already. '
While he had no way to know whether that was true or not, Yuta didn't want to let that doubt cloud his judgment and force him to make a rash decision. 'She's at least ten seconds ahead of me so it is possible. ' But these kinds of thoughts echoed in his mind.
Yuta stayed there for around a minute before he finally broke and moved to the third layer.
Once there, he was met with a powerful strike to the side of his head and he was thrown to the side. 'This is... ' Yuta immediately turned around on the floor and saw another curse similar to the skeletons that he had fought, but this one had a war scythe in his hand and a crown on his head.
'Special Grade! ' Yuta thought as he finished assessing its strength before he pulled his sword from the scarab and attacked.
The Doom Lord quickly blocked the strike as fast as it could, but Yuta's attack was slashed right through the War Scythe and the creature's arms. As if anticipating the counter-attack, Yuta passed right under the right hook from the undead and positioned behind the creature.
Yuta raised his blade and with a single vertical slice, he slashed the head of the monster who quickly fell down and disappeared. 'This is at the bottom of the rank, but there's no mistake. Are the curses here all special grades too? ' Yuta started thinking about the remaining players.
He had no way to know their situation or how many of them were alive, but should anyone who was not at the top of the first grade try to conquer this layer, they would probably die by fighting a single one of the curses. 'What about the other layers... things are escalating a bit too fast. If it goes on like this, even Gojo might not be able to handle it. ' Yuta thought as he took off.
'The fourth layer... Yuki... I have a bad feeling about this. ' Yuta thought as he, once more, decided to take down Yuki before she could do whatever it is that Ainz wanted her to do. 'The Domain itself is already an impossible scenario, we don't need her to complicate things even further. ' Yuta thought as he saw another Doom Lord standing in his way.
Yuta pulled out his sword and took a deep breath. He then speedblitzed the curse and slashed its head in half before continuing on.
Maki's pov
While many of the jujutsu sorcerers stayed behind with Hana so that they could disqualify most of the players, Maki and Ieri soon joined the players who were able to enter the third layer.
As soon as they appeared, Maki jumped over Ieri and took a defensive stance, there was no way to know whether they would be attacked right at that moment, and should the target be Ieri, she would probably die. 'No one here either, I guess we won't be attacked right after spawning... ' Maki thought as she released a breath of relief and relaxed her muscles.
Although nothing like that had happened to her, or to anyone she talked to, it was still a possibility. "If the possibility exists we should treat it as certain, don't take this Domain lightly or you'll die. " That was the final advice Gakuganji told them before they left. A final warning so that they could calculate when to fight and more importantly, when to back off.
But Maki didn't care about that, she didn't want to leave without being useful to Yuta or Gojo. She didn't want to leave without taking out her anger on Ainz, the one who orchestrated the attack on Jujutsu High and the one who was responsible for her sister's death.
Maki even put aside the hatred and disgust she had toward the Zennin family so she could work alongside them, as long as they put a wrench in Ainz's plans she didn't care. After Maki heard that they had died, she show it to anyone, the relief and joy from that news against the fact that now fewer people are trying to beat the game made her... uncomfortable.
That, however, was just her mindset going into this Domain. 'Pay attention to the surrounding, take Ieri as close to the fourth layer, and support the Gojo and Yuta. That's what I should be focused on. ' Maki thought as she turned to the corridor and started walking.
Ieri quickly followed behind Maki. 'The curses from the second layer were easily first-grade which means the ones from here should be at that level, at least. ' Ieri understood her position as the healer of the team and stayed close to Maki who continued forward.
While there were people like Gojo and Yuta, who could heal on their own and had enough cursed energy to last for god knows how long, there was no way of knowing the strength of the curses in the Domain. She only knew that Ainz, a curse who beat Gojo in a fight, cast it, but that combined with the 24-hour time limit was enough to make her believe that even Gojo would need to rest, eventually.
That thought was scary enough for her to never leave Maki's side. She stayed as close as she could while they both walked to support whoever was going to fight the third layer's guardian.
Toji's pov
Toji was ahead of everyone coming into the third layer, if this was a race he would be in second place. After a few lucky turns and beating the shit out of whatever curses he could find. Toji finally found the door to the fourth layer.
However, a problem arose. The door was opened. 'Someone's ahead of me? How could it... Gojo.' Toji thought as he took off running into the guardian's room. He quickly jumped over the pool and entered the teleportation zone, after a few moments, he was gone.
'Now where do I... ' Toji was stunned for a moment when he saw the change in the environment. The snow fields, mountains, trees, and the smell of fresh air caused him to stop for a moment. He looked around trying to figure out in what direction he should go, until he noticed the castle in the distance. 'Damn it. They're fighting already! ' Toji thought as he saw a purple color flash raise from the ground toward the sky.
That was the same technique that Gojo had used to kill him many years ago and thanks to that observation, Toji knew that Gojo was the one fighting the guardian.
He quickly took off running to the castle as fast as he could. 'That wish is gonna be mine, Gojo. ' Toji thought as he ran past the frozen lake into the trees.
Unlike in every layer, the start place was the same for everyone. Cocytus's layer was about the strength of mind, body, and will, not something cheap like slowly wearing down the players, or at least that was how Ainz designed his Domain to be.
That change in design allowed him some extra room to create a single special rule for the fight against Cocytus which took the shape of the castle in the distance. Whenever Cocytus was fighting someone, no one would be able to reach it, meaning that the fight had to be a one-on-one fight.
Toji had no way of knowing that so he ran. He ran as fast he could ignoring every single opponent he found with nothing on his mind, but to beat the game. He was now stuck in an infinite loop where he kept running and running until Cocytus was free for the next opponent.
Hakari's pov
Hakari was one of the few who entered the third layer. The place looked like the same type of maze as the previous two so he immediately started searching for the exit.
After walking around for a few minutes, he ran into his first curse of this layer. The Doom Lord quickly rushed him with a powerful horizontal slash which Hakari dodged by hopping backward.
'Faster than the others... ' Hakari noted as the Doom Lord quickly followed up with another horizontal slash. The speed was greater than that of a Death Knight, but not enough to catch Hakari who simply jumped back again.
'That weapon can cover the whole corridor's width, wall to wall... and the curse knows how to use it too. ' Hakari thought as he saw the second attack barely missing the wall. Doom Lord finally decided to take the fight to another level as the undead released a flurry of attacks.
Hakari dodged each attack with an ever-decreasing margin of error. He was slowly understanding the creature's strengths so that he could move more comfortably through the maze, just like he had done with the other layers.
After he was dodging with enough confidence and was just about done with practicing, Doom Lord stopped. The creature took a single step to the side and allowed another curse to run past him.
"Your friend? " Hakari asked Doom Lord who didn't respond. He saw a horse-looking skeleton run past Doom Lord only to stop right in front of the monster.
Doom Lord quickly jumped on top of the Soul Eater and started running ahead with his War Scythe to the side. Hakari was from the world of jujutsu and even though he had played video games before, he couldn't have guessed that Doom Lord was now buffed.
By simply ridding the Soul Eater, Doom Lord was not faster and stronger than he was a few moments before and thanks to that, he was able to catch Hakari off guard. The approach was swift and the slash was fast, Doom Lord's scythe barely missed the walls as the creature spun the cursed tool over its head.
Hakari tried to dodge the attack like he was doing, but the buff really pulled through here. The war scythe hit Hakari's stomach and if he didn't immediately react by focusing his cursed energy in that area, he would have died right there.
But instead, he ended up with a single big cut that spanned his entire width. 'Oh shit. Should I...' Hakari thought as he placed both of his hands in position, for a single moment he was about to open his Domain, but then he stopped.
'They are weaker than the guardians... ' With that and the image of Shalltear in mind. Hakari stopped himself from opening his Domain. 'If I can't handle these curses, forget the guardian and the next layer entirely. I won't even be able to survive here. '
Soul Eater quickly spun around to face his opponent once more. The Doom Lord kept his unbroken stare at Hakari who slowly started walking to them. "Arggggggg! " The Doom Lord screamed as he smacked the wall with his weapon.
The horse immediately started moving toward the target as Doom Lord spun his blade around his hand once more. Hakari stood still with an open stance, both of his hands were open and his eyes were focused on the scythe.
As soon as Soul Eater was about to pass, the undead turned its head to Hakari and tried to bite him, but the jujutsu sorcerer already expected a different approach to the fight, this wasn't a movie after all.
Hakari jumped forward and grabbed the weapon which he quickly used to stab the wall forcing the Doom Lord of his mount. Soul Eater kept going for a few meters, but when it turned around to check on its master, Hakari had already attacked.
Soul Eater got a punch to its face which forced the undead off balance and then he continued with a flurry of punches. 'I have to exorcise this one first and then... ' Hakari thought as the Doom Lord got up and started running after him.
Hakari felt the bloodlust in the air and quickly jumped over the Soul Eater. Doom Lord tried to attack but ended up cutting his own mount in half killing it. "Ha ha! Idiot. " Hakara laughed as his opponent dropped the ball and gave up their advantage.
After losing the buff, the Doom Lord went back to being a pushover for Hakari, who was able to beat it with no additional damage. 'Special grade... This thing is the lowest of the lowest special grade... I have to keep that in mind from now on. ' Hakari thought as he saw the curse disappear.
Megumi's pov
Megumi and Nobara were the final group of people to enter the third layer and just like Hakari, they also ran into some problems when fighting the Doom Lord.
[Divine Dog]
The shikigami could easily rip apart the Doom Lord's body with its sharp claws and teeth, but if he wasn't careful, the same could happen to his shikigami.
One glance at the weapon that the monsters carried told him everything, if Divine Dog got hit with that attack, it would lead to severe damage or worst, a one-shot attack. Of course, the same for him and Nobara who was now standing behind all the time.
Nobara's cursed technique proved to be incredibly powerful and if given sufficient material to work with, she could easily deal with the curses on that layer. The strategy quickly became obvious to them, Divine Dog would cut an arm or a piece of cloth and bring it over to Nobara.
Since every part of the Doom Lord's and the Soul Eater's body was created with cursed energy and they were a part of Ainz's Domain, her cursed technique worked wonders. Nobara quickly dispatched the first curse they found, and then the second, third, fourth, and so on.
Their teamwork was on point which allowed them to progress around the maze without taking a single bit of damage. They slowly but surely were making progress to the exit even though their real goal was actually finding Yuki and getting Yuji back.
If they found themselves in a position where they had to go to the fourth layer, they would have no other choice, but to wait for Hana to tell her about it so she would know to look for them in the fourth layer too. Even though they could handle the curses on this layer, there was no way of knowing if they could do the same on the next one and Hana's cursed technique was a very useful asset in case they need to escape.
Megumi and Nobara kept wandering around the maze looking for Yuki.