'Fuck!' Ace cursed silently as Dame Wasp reported that the curse user was already on their tail. His eyes darted to the road ahead, blocked by an array, and then to the dense woods flanking it. He needed to decide—and fast.
The vigilance of the group that had set this array was a glaring red flag. Whatever was happening in this town, it was serious. Deadly serious. These people wouldn't hesitate to tie up loose ends. Whether this had to do with the curse exorcism request or not. Ace didn't care. His survival was all that mattered to him now. But how?
[Emi, help me push the car out of the array,] Ace commanded sharply. Without hesitation, he moved around to the driver's side, gripping the steering wheel to guide the car while Emi shoved from behind. The vehicle creaked as it rolled out of the array. Ace avoided the unconscious driver sprawled nearby—the one he used to tested the array. Satisfied, he recalled both Dame Wasp and Emily. [Recall!]
His heart pounded as he began circulating the curse concealment art and then began to hurry out of the array. Every step toward the array felt like walking a tightrope over an abyss, his life hanging by a thread. But with grit and determination, he pushed forward and he broke free from the array. However, there was no time for relief, he immediately summoned Emi while using status screen to instruct her, [Emi, take the car and drive as fast as you can. When you're a mile out, signal me, and I'll recall you. Don't forget to leave an explosion talisman,]
[Hai!] Emi responded, climbing into the car.
Ace hoisted the unconscious driver into the back seat and got in but left the door ajar. Quickly, he applied three talismans—silence, invisibility, and presence-erasing—to himself and the driver. Without missing a beat, he then carried the limp figure and slipped into the cover of the woods closing the door behind him. Soon Emi sped off, the car's tires screeching against the gravel.
A few dozen seconds after the cab sped away, four figures appeared, soaring into the airspace above the ambush site on a wide stone slab, moving at high speed. Without pausing at the edge of the array formation, they chased after the fleeing cab. The leader could be heard barking, "I have no idea how they managed to escape the array, but we have to catch them before they inform the outside world what is happening here!"
However, just shy of a mile from the array, the cab suddenly exploded in a deafening blast. The stone slab jerked to a halt, hovering mid-air.
"It's a decoy! A fucking distraction to keep us busy while they hide!" shouted the figure at the rear, slamming a foot against the slab. "Those bastards are still in the array! Turn around!"
"Fuck!" the leader cursed aloud, spinning the stone slab sharply. They sped back toward the array formation, urgency etched on their faces. Once inside, the leader stopped the slab at the edge of the array and pointed at the ground. "This is where the curse users tried to leave."
"What the fuck happened here?" muttered the figure behind him grimly, scanning the scorched craters on the road and the singed woods nearby. His expression darkened. "Who won the bid to guard this part of the array?"
"Old Lady Benson did," answered the second figure, pointing at scattered clothing on the ground. "Looks like these belonged to her and her grandson. No sign of her husband, though. He was probably killed somewhere nearby too."
"Alright," the figure from the behind growled, his voice cold and commanding. "Spread out. Search for those assholes who dared to kill our guild members." He crouched, preparing to leap from the slab, but the frontmost figure raised a hand, warning, "Be careful. Knowing Old Lady Benson's temperament, she might've rigged this entire area with landmines."
"Great. That makes our job real easy," the other muttered sarcastically.
"See how they moved through here without triggering the land mines?" the leader pointed out. "One of them must be a powerful sensory type curse user. That's probably how they managed to take out Benson, even with her exceptional stealth abilities."
"Whatever," the figure in the middle scoffed. "We stick to the Feather Steps arts. Our light steps won't set off the mines. Let's hunt down those assholes before afternoon."
Meanwhile, invisible Ace carried the unconscious driver through the dense woods. His breath was steady as he issued a command to Dame Wasp through his Status Screen: [Rose, report this curse exorcism request on the Curse Exorcism Request Board and the C.I.B.'s official website. No! Don't. Those fucker will be alerted if they are monitoring the Curse Exorcism Request Board and the C.I.B.'s official website. You know what? Go ahead and send a detailed text about what we've seen here to every contacts of senior C.I.B. agents you got from Layla's cursed gadget. Make sure you don't leave behind any trail. I want this fuckers to pay.]
[I'm on it, Master,] Dame Wasp replied promptly but then, another prompt flashed on the Status Screen: [Rose, first contact the Oracle Doll Makers. Tell them to turn around and set a meeting point somewhere en route. Update me right away.]
Ace's grip tightened on the unconscious figure as he trudged forward, his thoughts racing. He silently prayed that the Oracle Doll Makers hadn't already reached the winery. That would be a disaster. What would he do then? Should he risk going back to rescue them or leave it to the C.I.B.?
His gut churned at the dilemma. From his history with the C.I.B., Ace knew their brutal pragmatism. When it came to rogue curse users and curse terrorists, they prioritized eliminating the threat over minimizing mortal casualties. Cruel, but effective. If they bent the knee to protect civilians, every curse-using bastard would take hostages using their peculiar abilities to force the country into submission.
The C.I.B. had made its stance clear: they didn't negotiate with terrorists and criminals. It was a harsh doctrine, but it kept others from trying the same stunts. Still, if the Oracle Doll Makers were already trapped in the winery... Ace could only mentally cuss in frustration, 'Fuck!'