Ch.63 You Want to Curse
to Death? Dream On
"Hey — what exactly did the High Priest spend all that money buying so many supernatural materials for, anyway?"
A low-ranking Follower of 'Nature' leaned against the side of a makeshift three-tier bunk, directing the question at the fellow cultist beside him.
"No idea. But……the High Priest is surely following the Lord's guidance."
Seeing that this one had nothing useful to say, he turned to another cultist. "Hey boss — I heard the last operation failed and we lost quite a few brothers. Is that true?"
The tall, broad-shouldered Follower of 'Nature' looked left and right, and only when he was satisfied that no one was paying attention did he lower his voice and reply: "Yes — the assassination attempt on the eldest son of Duke dillion failed. Apparently the intelligence was wrong."
"The intelligence? How did we even get——"
Rumble, rumble—
A tallic grinding sound, growing rapidly from distant to near, cut their exchange short. The tall cultist looked up — and there was the abandoned mine cart overhead, hurtling along the Coal-Cart Tracks at high speed.
What was more, a light source had been activated on the cart, projecting a human silhouette down onto the ground below.
"Soone's infiltrating from above!"
The tall cultist grasped the situation instantly and issued orders without hesitation: "You lot — co with
and chase down that cart. The rest of you, hold your positions!"
With that, the four n who had been called on instantly manifested the Lord's Blessing upon themselves — black viscous fluid swept across different parts of their bodies in an instant, coalescing into weapons that, while comparable to blades in sharpness, responded to their will like extensions of their own limbs.
The remaining three likewise revealed their Blessing, and began patrolling their positions in vigilant circuits.
"It worked — Miss Tanya, seize the mont!"
Seeing the eight split into two groups exactly as he had anticipated, Luo Nan called out at once to alert the female knight.
"On it!"
The female knight drew the war hamr at her hip, tid her mont, and erupted into motion — launching herself in an instant onto the head of one of the patrolling Followers of 'Nature.'
Thud!!
White, red, and yellow sprayed outward like a pot of thick soup blown wide open, spilling across the ground in every direction, still faintly steaming.
The unfortunate Follower hadn't even managed to reactivate his Blessing before he went to et his Abyssal Great Lord.
Tanya didn't linger — she swung the war hamr, stepped forward, and brought it crashing down toward a second Follower of 'Nature.'
This ti, however, the enemy had reacted in ti. The arm encased entirely in black fluid imdiately transford into a shield, just barely managing to intercept the female knight's bone-crushing blow.
"What the——!" The cultist who had taken the hit felt every bone in his body shatter, as though he had been trampled by a Dragon Bloodmane.
The black fluid was already working to repair his fractured bones from within.
"What are you standing there watching for?! Get over here and help!" He twisted his head and shouted at the other cultist.
"Coming!"
The remaining cultist activated his Blessing, his black arm transforming instantly into a curved blade — and he raised it to cleave down at the female knight.
Hmmm—
A low hum, like the resonance of a musical instrunt, split the air — and in the fraction of a mont before any of the three combatants could react, a silver bullet engraved with a Magical Circuit detonated against the curved-blade cultist's chest.
"What……" The curved-blade cultist only registered a spreading chill across his chest. He looked down — and found a hole thirty centiters across had been blown clean through it.
Thud
"Hah……this young master's accuracy is as impeccable as ever." Luo Nan holstered the Silent Hamr, allowing himself a rather satisfied smile.
"Miss Tanya — do you need any assistance on your end?" He called over to the female knight, who had the last enemy firmly pinned down.
The reply ca in the form of the final Follower of 'Nature's' abruptly terminated scream.
"No need." Tanya shook the bone fragnts and flesh clinging to her war hamr free, and re-hung it at her hip.
Luo Nan gave a small nod and moved to the center of the space, his thoughts turning inward. 'I wonder how Anya's side is going — has she been following my plan……'
"Mission accomplished!"
A spirited, energetic girl's voice broke through Luo Nan's thoughts. He turned to look — Anya was striding back toward them, a sar of fresh red across her face and her longsword still in hand.
"All cleared?" Luo Nan asked.
Anya gave a nod, a faint glimr of excitent still lingering in those golden eyes, as though the fight just now had left her wanting more.
"Luo Nan, I have to admit — the plan you ca up with wasn't half bad. Those five idiots did exactly what you said they'd do, stupidly clambering up there and trying to stop the cart loaded with waste ore." The girl recounted with evident relish.
"I cut the front axle — the whole cart flipped over, pinned three of the fools underneath in one go."
"The only one with any real threat to him was that big tall one, but I ca down on him from above with my sword and skewered him straight through……"
On the surface, Luo Nan listened to Anya chatter on about her dazzling performance. Internally, he was turning over and over the source of that nagging sense of dread.
"Hey — Luo Nan, are you even listening?"
Anya felt like this person was brushing her off!
She had just handled five opponents, cleanly and alone, in one go.
"Mm, I'm listening."
"……Tch, forget it." The girl, having gotten nowhere, turned away and went to Tanya's side instead, launching cheerfully into a second recounting of her heroics.
'In the original plot of The Shining Myriad Trails, the Listone Mine Shaft was a story dungeon tied to the Imperial Storyline — to Serela — and yes, it did contain Followers of 'Nature' plotting sothing. But unfortunately, the specifics were never spelled out in that segnt of the story. It was essentially just a dungeon designed to deliver that key Plot Item into Serela's hands.'
'By this point, the Followers should have already received word that their second assassination attempt on
has failed……logic says they'd be making so kind of move, so why is the security here so thin?'
'Does it have sothing to do with whatever ritual they're in the middle of preparing?'
'Wait — I rember now. In the cutscene for the Listone Mine Shaft in The Shining Myriad Trails, there was a flash of footage that went by so quickly……Yes! It was precisely the activation ritual for the Soul-Devouring Curse!'
'And the core instrunt was that black Curse Skull.'
The sense of dread was growing stronger by the mont. Luo Nan felt he had found the key.
'In the original story, they must have been using the Soul-Devouring Curse to assassinate so noble……but the target of the curse in the original plot was never .'
'Because in the original plot, there was never a single assassination attempt against
in the first place.'
Don't ask. A villain occupying the Joker's Ecological Niche simply wasn't worth the effort.
'But now, because of my disruptions to the Worldline, they've changed their assassination target on the fly?'
'Yes — that must be it. This sense of dread is the premonition arising from being marked as their curse target.'
'But I recall the curse requires a dium to activate, doesn't it? How did they get their hands on one?'
Luo Nan's mind drifted back to that sudden assassination attempt before he had visited Serela — and to the worst-case theory he had ford then.
'So there really is a mole in the Duke Manor?'
The corner of Luo Nan's mouth lifted slightly. With everything connected, it all made sense.
'Good — now that I know what the other side is scheming, I can act ahead of them.'
With that, Luo Nan moved to address the most pressing crisis first: the imminent curse. He called out inwardly at once:
'Cheat Device Miss — are you there?'
[……]
'Cheat Device Miss — if you don't step in, I'm going to die under the enemy's curse again, you know!'
[Luo Nan, I can sense your anxiety and unease.]
'So can the Cheat Device Miss help
get through this curse? I've just been thinking it over, and I don't really seem to have any good counterasures against curses on hand.'
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