Chapter 251: A New Curse Spell
Ace observed everything closely. He backhanded a sealing spell onto the masked man and physically restrained him with pure Mana Crystal chains. Then, excitedly, he began the interrogation.
He used Spells to influence the masked man’s mind. Under the dual effects of charm and illusion, the man spilled his guts like a bag of beans turned upside down.
One week later, a sweep of the territory revealed no other intruders, confirming the masked man’s story.
The trio hadn’t come specifically to investigate the High Tower Territory; they had simply stumbled upon those Strange monsters and wanted to capture a few to sacrifice to Pain.
According to the man, he belonged to a secret organization of Devil worshipers active in the Milne City-State up north—the Touch of Pain. As for their grey robes? That was just a disguise to blend in, a standard tactic for Devil worshipers.
If Pain took a liking to the creatures sacrificed to him, they might be transformed into corresponding Hell creatures to be driven by the cultists.
Their mission was to head south and contact a certain powerful Priest of Pain. Rumor had it that this priest had single-handedly orchestrated the fall of the Northern March Fortress, triggering the great war between the Demon Archon and the southern Demigods and God projections. Consequently, he had received Pain’s immense favor.
Even the Touch of Pain hadn’t known about this priest before. It was a direct will descended from the Devil of Pain they worshipped that sent the trio on this liaison mission.
“A Devil’s conspiracy?” Ace muttered. “According to the Ancestor God’s account, he did encounter a masked man of Pain before escaping the Northern March Fortress. Perhaps the Devil worshipers really did engineer the upheaval in the north. After all, while Demon worshipers are crazy, they don’t exactly seem like the brains of the operation.”
Ace continued studying the cultist. Fearing a repeat of the incident where the Gray priest died during interrogation in the north—costing him a precious experimental subject—Ace probed cautiously. Finally, he confirmed that the organization hadn’t placed any contract-like restrictions on this believer.
That’s strange, Ace thought. He didn’t believe a creature like a Devil would leave its followers uncontrolled.
The research continued. With the help of the Spirit of the Book, Ace learned a new Supernatural language: Hell Language.
“The Abyssal tongue leans towards chaos and destruction—or rather, it has the strongest destructive effects,” Ace summarized as he took notes. “Hell Language is different. It focuses more on influence, temptation, and control. It fits perfectly with mental control and dream magic.”
“Speaking of control…” Ace suddenly remembered something. He ran to his Magic Item sealing room and took out a lead box. “The Son of the Sea’s blessing. Perhaps my mental strength is now sufficient to observe the blessing orb.”
Just as Ace was taking out the blessing orb for study, an experiment was also beginning in Caruso’s villa.
A week ago, Caruso had spent a sum of Academic Points and a Soul Mana Stone to exchange for two Strange monsters for research.
Since Caruso hadn’t yet advanced to become an Advanced Wizard Apprentice, he couldn’t conduct many observations on his own. So, he specially invited the famous wealthy witch of Nightlight City, Polina, to join the research.
Caruso looked solemn. “Committee Member Polina, if this research yields results, we’ll split the profits thirty-seventy. You get seven, I get three. We share the usage rights of the results. Does that sound acceptable?”
Polina stared at the scar on Caruso’s face, noting his serious expression. A faint smile touched her lips. “Being so polite with me? We’ll split the profits fifty-fifty.”
Caruso’s gaunt face twisted awkwardly as he maintained his seriousness. He spoke stiffly, “You are an Advanced Wizard Apprentice. Without your help, I can’t observe many aspects of this monster. Therefore, it is reasonable for your share to be higher. Besides, results aren’t guaranteed; I’m just stating terms in advance.”
Polina tilted her head, looking at the awkward man. She smiled. “Alright then.”
In Caruso’s underground laboratory, he sliced off tissues from the Strange monster’s organs, carefully isolated them with a sealing spell, and placed them under a Magified microscope.
“Even when confined, the monster’s cellular tissues are extremely energetic and aggressive,” Polina noted. “According to the Magified microscope, every cell body has tiny Rune structures. I need to focus to see them.”
She concentrated her mental power into a beam, extending her perception through the microscope into the microscopic world, slowly bringing the Rune structures on the cells into focus.
Because it was so minute and mentally draining, it took Polina a full day to barely replicate a unique Rune.
A week passed in a flash. Caruso and Polina had recorded four Soul Runes with different functions.
“These Runes must be the secret behind the Strange monster’s ability to devour and transform,” Caruso concluded after multiple experiments. “The Devouring Rune and Reverse Assimilation Rune are the core, while the Dissolution Rune and Solidification Rune act as auxiliary forces. Without dissolution and solidification, swallowing and assimilating foreign bodies would lead to excessive hyperplasia. If the spell effect isn’t terminated, the subject will slowly mutate, eventually turning into a pile of meat paste and dying.”
“Looking at it that way, it makes for a pretty decent curse spell,” Polina added. “If the spell effect isn’t cleared, the victim will slowly degenerate and mutate until they die.”
“If we want to turn it into an excellent curse, we need to increase its stealth in the early stages,” Caruso continued. “Right now, the spell is easy to extract during the first week. But if it lasts a month, it becomes almost impossible to remove, and the victim is basically waiting for death.”
“We need more experiments to confirm the specific power and duration,” Polina supplemented.
Another month flew by. After nearly three hundred experiments on monsters, the pair finally confirmed the spell’s specific efficacy.
It was a 0-Ring Spell requiring Casting Materials. The greater the difference between the material and the cursed creature, the better the effect. Ordinary Monsters or those below the level of an Intermediate Wizard Apprentice couldn’t resist it; it was almost a guaranteed hit.
Advanced Wizard Apprentices or powerful low-level Monsters had a certain chance to be immune. However, if the curse took hold, the Rune structure would embed itself into every cell after a month, making it difficult to lift.
“This spell is suitable for killing enemies without them ever knowing. I believe it will be of great help to the branches infiltrating the various city-states, allowing them to remove enemies silently,” Polina recorded the effects, teasing Caruso. “How about we call it ‘Caruso’s Mysterious Blessing’?”
“You are the Advanced Wizard Apprentice; the naming rights naturally belong to you,” Caruso replied with a touch of wicked humor. “It should be called ‘Polina’s Kiss Goodbye’.”
They joked for a while but finally decided on a very plain name: Invisible Alienation Curse.
Advance chapters at Nightjar Reads · nightjarreads.com