'I'm sorry, Master. Even now, I can't sense the array formation. We only detected it when we entered. Other than that, this array seems completely traceless,' Dame Wasp replied, her voice tinged with panic. She couldn't fathom how she'd missed something so critical. Then, as if things couldn't get worse, she added in a worried tone, 'Master, the array is blocking signals. We've lost contact with the outside world.'
'Damn it, we have to get out of here,' Ace responded mentally, his jaw tightening as his mind raced. He prepared to instruct the driver to turn the car around and head back to the bus stop where they'd started.
Before he could speak, the car abruptly stopped in the middle of nowhere. The driver turned to him with an unnervingly vacant expression and said in a cheery yet eerie tone, "You're here! Hope you enjoy your stay at Wesley Winery Resort & Spa. Don't forget to try their Weslian grape wine. And please, give me a five-star review!"
Ace froze, his eyes narrowing. He didn't respond or step out of the car. Instead, he stayed put, carefully assessing the situation while keeping an eye on the driver's expression in the rearview mirror. The man's frozen grin and glassy eyes told Ace everything he needed to know. 'Mostly like hypnotized,' he guessed grimly as there wasn't a trace of curse energy on the driver, which only made the situation more unsettling.
'Master, it's an ambush,' Dame Wasp suddenly warned, her tone urgent. 'Both sides of the road and the path ahead are rigged with land mines. There are thirty men and women in the woods on each side, armed with grenade launchers and RPGs. They appear to be mortal and in a similar state as the driver. I don't understand what they're waiting for.'
Ace swallowed hard, his throat suddenly dry. His hands clenched into fists on his lap as he processed the gravity of the situation. Thanks to his meticulous practice of the body reinforcement curse art, he wasn't afraid of regular bullets anymore. But grenade launchers, RPGs, and land mines? Those were on an entirely different level.
'They need the car and its driver to lure curse users into their trap. Seeing how the back road is left wide open, I'm guessing that once you're in, you can't leave the array formation,' Ace deduced, his sharp gaze scanning his surroundings. It was clear a curse user had set up camp here, meticulously crafting a trap and patiently lying in wait for anyone responding to the curse exorcism request.
"You have reached your destination, sir," the driver suddenly said, turning to face him with an unnerving grimness that made Ace's stomach twist. It was as if the man's voice alone was pushing him to step out of the car, just as Ace had been wondering what might happen if he incapacitated the driver.
'Master, our best option is to make a run for the woods using Emi's invisibility talisman. I've mapped out all the land mines in the area, so you could get there safely—unless stray shrapnel or debris triggers a nearby mine. Alternatively, you can use Emi's barrier talisman and take your chances,' Dame Wasp suggested, her tone steady despite the dire situation.
'Alright, let's get this over with,' Ace replied mentally, gripping a yellow talisman in each hand.
He stepped out of the cab cautiously, his jaw clenched and his muscles coiled with tension. The only reason he hadn't broken the rules of his enemy's game was that doing so might prompt the curse user to detonate the car with the driver still inside. Ace couldn't bring himself to risk the mortal's life—even if, by all accounts, the man was as good as dead under the influence of a cruel curse user.
Ace had always drawn a line in the sand, even in the brutal 'World of Curses.' The only comfort he found in bloodshed was that he never killed those who didn't deserve it. And he wanted to keep it that way for as long as possible.
As he watched the cab begin to turn around and prepare to leave, Ace's eyes narrowed in thought. 'Could the car take me out of the array formation?' he wondered, his legs instinctively tensing as if ready to chase after it.
But just as he took a step forward, the car came to an abrupt halt about 30 yards away.
'Master, barrier!' Dame Wasp's urgent warning echoed in his mind like a thunderclap.
Soon, an opaque golden, one-meter-wide cubic barrier enveloped Ace as grenades and missiles struck it squarely, unleashing deafening explosions. The once-quiet forest was thrown into chaos as birds took flight, squirrels scrambled, and insects fled from the roiling cloud of smoke and dust.
At first, the barrier trembled violently under the onslaught, cracks spider-webbing across its surface. It barely withstood the first wave of grenades and missiles but faltered under the second. The relentless barrage continued for another two minutes, shaking the ground with each blast.
When the dust finally settled, there was no trace of Ace. The road was left riddled with craters of varying sizes, debris scattered everywhere, and black scorch marks smeared across the pavement. Just as the woods began to regain their eerie silence, it was broken by the sound of approaching footsteps.
A man dressed in a preppy cardigan, looking more like a weekend golfer than someone at the center of destruction, strolled past the cab. His hands rubbed together jubilantly as he muttered to himself, "Best two million dollars I've ever spent. Five curse users in just two days! At this rate, by the time the curse exorcism request's time limit is up, I might hit two dozen. That means not only will I make my investment back, but I'll also rake in a fortune. Please, let this one be a curse tool!"
Reaching the debris-strewn area, he began sifting through it eagerly, his eyes scanning for curse cores or, better yet, a valuable curse tool. He prayed the person he'd taken out was a curse master and not some lowly curse slave.
But then, his movements froze.
There was no sign of charred flesh, no bones fragments, no lingering barbecue scent in the air—nothing to suggest a body had been caught in the explosion.
Panic flared in his eyes. He whirled around, ready to sprint into the woods, but he didn't make it a single step.
A sharp crack echoed through the air as a clean, precise hole appeared in the center of his forehead. The man collapsed to the ground like a puppet with its strings cut.
For a moment, his lifeless body lay still before it began to dissipate into nothingness, leaving only a pile of empty clothes behind.