He spread his arms wide like he was going in for a hug and deliberately lowered his voice. “My adorable students, are you all safe? Your invincible Satoru Gojo teacher has arrived.”

  Akira saw through it at a glance. “You are addicted to that Whitebeard Meme, aren’t you?”

  “I knew you would get it.” Satoru Gojo looked pleased with himself and somehow even more annoying.

  “I already regret calling him,” Maki Zenin said, losing patience first.

  “Salmon.” Toge Inumaki followed up calmly.

  “There is no denying his strength, at least,” Panda said quickly, cutting off the praise before it could start. “That was not a compliment.”

  It did nothing, and Satoru Gojo still slipped into full self-satisfaction. Panda tried the ultimate move and shut the door while releasing Pancham. It still did not work.

  Pancham had been fooling around every day but never neglected training, and it could already touch Satoru Gojo’s Infinity Barrier. It was promptly grabbed by the back of the neck and lifted into the air. Satoru Gojo smiled as if this proved his point.

  “When you meet an enemy you cannot handle, just rely on the perfect lifeform, Satoru Gojo teacher,” he said. As he spoke, he even struck a pose straight out of Kars.

  Akira almost blurted out a spoiler on the spot and barely held it back. He took a breath and shut the nonsense down. “Enough fooling around.”

  He shifted into a serious instructor mode and pressed down the fake teacher energy. “This time, it involves Rika Orimoto and Curse Removal.”

  “Oh? You already…” Satoru Gojo paused, then laughed. “Ari, you did well, really well.”

  Akira ignored the jokes and explained the plan for Rika Orimoto’s Curse Removal in a steady voice, along with the three failed attempts. He described the first entry led by Yuta Okkotsu and the second led by himself. After calling for Gojo Satoru, they went to the cafeteria to eat and calm down, only to be caught by Maki Zenin, and soon the whole dorm knew.

  Curiosity got the better of everyone, and the entire group entered the Dream Dungeon once more. The result was a third failure.

  After hearing all this, Satoru Gojo crossed his arms and made a dramatic Araki Face. “So it is a nightmare-level dungeon, like Dark Souls. Is that a fair comparison?”

  Akira nodded. “The difficulty is similar, but the direction is different. After three attempts, I have some conclusions.”

  “Stop there,” Satoru Gojo interrupted. “Exploration is only fun when I do it myself. The unknown is the real challenge.”

  “I was just telling you to prepare and be careful.”

  “That applies to reality. This is a nightmare dungeon,” Satoru Gojo said lightly. “You are all standing here talking to me, which means it is not that lethal. At least, not completely.”

  “That is probably the only humane part of the nightmare,” Akira said. “I think it comes from Rika Orimoto’s own kindness.”

  “That is enough. Now watch the top player, Satoru Gojo, carry you,” he said, waving his hand as if pushing open a door. “Party up.”

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  No one responded, and silence filled the room. Satoru Gojo lowered his head slightly and looked at them through his Sunglasses. “Come on, cooperate a little. I have not had a proper entrance scene in ages. I wanted to help you and Nanami last time, but you only called me after the job was done.”

  Once he was here, it was impossible to send him away. Akira knew they needed his strength anyway. He turned and called out, “Darkrai!”

  A low response came back, and Darkrai opened the passage again. Satoru Gojo did not hesitate and stepped in first. “All right, nightmare dungeon party, let’s go!”

  The rest exchanged looks and quickly reached a silent agreement. They followed with amused and slightly malicious smiles. By the time Akira and the others entered, the battle had already begun.

  This world lived up to the name of a nightmare. Bells echoed as if announcing the end of everything, and the sky was smeared with black, purple, and red. The air carried a rotten, sulfur-like stench that mixed into a single, unmistakable curse.

  Under that sky, countless shadows wandered across the ground. It was impossible to tell whether they were living people, corpses, or lost spirits. The moment they noticed intruders, they swarmed in.

  Satoru Gojo stood among the shadows and casually pulled with one hand. A huge mass of darkness was dragged into the air by invisible force and twisted together. He pushed again, and a burst of repulsion flung another wave of shadows away, clearing a wide space.

  After that, he even had time to wave at the students. At that moment, two shadows burst up from below and attacked from a blind spot at close range. It was a perfect ambush.

  Of course, Satoru Gojo’s Six Eyes gave him complete awareness, and he did not miss them even with the Sunglasses on. He shattered the attackers instantly, but that was only the beginning. More shadows poured out from the ground and impossible angles, mixed with figures that were clearly different.

  Some ran on all fours, with fangs bared and tongues lolling, moving faster than any human. One of them broke through and messed up Satoru Gojo’s hair, and another slammed into him hard enough to send him flying. He scrambled up, dusty and annoyed, and shouted, “Where did these dogs come from?”

  The students did not look worried at all. Instead, they piled on. “Nice hit.” “Well done.” “Salmon.” “Impressive.”

  “Yo, yo, yo, isn’t this the invincible Satoru Gojo?” Akira added. “Long time no see. You are looking pretty rough.”

  He was the closest to Satoru Gojo but did not step forward at all. He knew from experience that standing still was safe, and moving made you a target. Satoru Gojo never listened, so he deserved the mockery.

  Satoru Gojo did not get angry. He swept all the shadows far away with his technique and shaved off a layer of ground to prevent another ambush, then calmly fixed his hair. “Careless. I did not dodge.”

  “I cannot believe you,” Akira said. “You used Dark Souls as a comparison and still did not expect a double-dog attack.”

  “I was just giving an example. How was I supposed to know Makoto would put that in?”

  The two experienced gamers stared at each other. Then a third voice joined in.

  “This is Rika Orimoto’s dream,” Yuta Okkotsu said. “It might reflect her hobbies. We used to play games together a lot, and she was much better than me.”

  “You should have said that earlier,” Satoru Gojo complained. He really had not expected Rika Orimoto’s nightmare to be this extreme.

  Akira shot back, “Would it have mattered? Who said exploration was only fun when everything was unknown?”

  “I did,” Satoru Gojo admitted without hesitation.

  Then Akira noticed something off. “Wait. How did you even get hurt by the dogs? Where is your shield?”

  “We are inside Rika Orimoto’s Domain Expansion,” Satoru Gojo replied. “My shield got neutralized. Or, in game terms, dispelled.”

  The room went silent.

  “Domain Expansion? You mean the Domain Expansion of Domain Expansion?”

  Even though Darkrai entering dreams was already surprising enough, Akira was still stunned by what Satoru Gojo said. He looked at him again, clearly trying to confirm he had not misheard.

  “That’s right. You didn’t notice?”

  Satoru Gojo sounded a little surprised himself. He had thought that Akira, who was already touching the threshold of Special Grade, would have seen it.

  “I’ve only heard the name of Domain Expansion. I’ve never personally experienced it. Thinking about it carefully, with Cursed Spirit Rika’s level, it would actually be strange if there was no Domain Expansion, and this kind of form makes sense.”

  Among known Jujutsu Sorcerer, only Satoru Gojo clearly mastered Domain Expansion. On the side of Cursed Spirit, there were several examples, but none of them had appeared at this stage.

  “That’s right. None of you should have seen it before.”

  Hearing Akira speak, Satoru Gojo suddenly clapped his hands in realization.

  “Perfect timing. Since the chance is rare, let Satoru Gojo give you a lesson after a long while. The peak of Jujutsu combat, Domain Expansion.”