Chapter 601: Execution: Mastermind

Alice pulled out her spear on the chest of a person wearing a green cloak.

These guys were cult. All of them were prepared to die for the sake of the successor of the Creep Lord.

It’s really troublesome to fight insane people.

‘I’ve killed three of them but it seems that it will be harder from now.’ She said inwardly while looking at the tall pillar hundreds of meters away from her.

This pillar was one of the focal points of the magic circle that was casted in the entire dukedom. It has a height of twenty meters and it was pulsing with dark green light.

She already guessed the effect of the giant magic circle. The giant magic circle was casted so that most of the ordinary people in the dukedom would be affected by curse.

A super wide range spell.

The Dukedom of Halbun had millions of population and not everyone was ordinary people. Hundreds of thousands reached C-rank, tens of thousands have reached B-rank, thousands have reached A-rank, and hundreds of them reached S-rank. Those people that reached Shackled Realm were either on Champion’s Den or doing quests for their legions.

In short, there were hundreds of thousands of experts that could help Alice yet no one came to stop this cult.

The answer to that question was that they were busy. People that died because of the curse came back. They weren’t revived but their dead bodies were moving according to the will of the curse user.

So Alice wasn’t the only person fighting right now. She could feel the vibrations on the ground. The other experts of this city were fighting the people that came back with all of their might. Also, most of the fighting forces of this city, the nobles, were poisoned by the organizer of the colosseum.

The cult planned this event really well so that everything will go well for them.

A few hundred people managed to take over a city with millions of population.

‘I need to stop them…’

Alice dashed forward but five people quickly blocked her path. She quickly swung her spear and clashed with the cult people.

Boom!!

…

“Here…”

Souta stopped and stared at the store in front of him. He didn’t anticipate that the source of the curse would be connected to this place.

The coffee shop that he visited before.

When he came here last time, he couldn’t see any curse energy in this shop. But right now, he was certain that the string of curses in his vision was coming out of this small place.

Souta stepped forward. He stretched out his hand and opened the door.

Inside the shop, the old man was standing on the backside placing cups in the drawer. When he heard the door creaked open, he turned his head.

He smiled and said, “What are you doing here, young man?”

Souta simply smiled and found a vacant chair to sit on. He looked around commenting, “You have no customers today.”

“Yeah, it’s a little bit chaotic.” The old man said in response.

“Hmm…” Souta stared at the old man. “You have fooled me. I didn’t expect that you are the mastermind behind all of this incident.”

The ground shook slightly. The battle outside the shop was causing the small objects in this place to tremble as if there were an earthquake.

All of the citizens in this city were panicking yet this old man was still here without a care about the chaos outside.

“It’s already too late young man.” The old man said.

He didn’t even deny Souta’s words. It means that he already accepted it.

“What do you mean by that?” Souta asked.

“The curse already affected forty percent of the entire population and it’s quickly spreading. People that have died because of it will rise again to create more chaos.” The old man explained.

“Oh, don’t worry about it. So you’re really the mastermind behind all of this?” Souta raised his eyebrows. “A week ago I found the Tomb of the Creep Lord thanks to your words. You weren’t lying but you just carefully choose your words so that I wouldn’t know that you lie to me.”

“I’m the successor of the Creep Lord. I’ve inherited most of her skills but my current power couldn’t utilize most of it so I’m planning to hide here but I didn’t expect that the Athen’s Champion would get a whiff of it.”

Souta ignored the old man as he looked at the system.

*Ding!*

[Quest Completed!!]

[You’ve received 12 skill points, 20 free attribute points, and 100,000 experience points!]

*Ding!*

[You’ve leveled up!]

[Your Health had increased by 100!]

[Your Energy had increased by 20!]

[Your Stamina had increased by 20!]

[Your Strength had increased by 50!]

[Your Agility, Dexterity, Intelligence, and Vitality had increased by 30!]

[Your Physical and Energy Damage had increased by 5%!]

[Your Health, Energy, and Stamina Recovery had increased by 10!]

[You’ve gained 1 skill point!]

[You’ve gained 2 free attribute points!]

He finally reached level 53. The last time he leveled up was still at the quest where he fought the Witch Clan’s Clan Leader. He went to Planet Orina to take the [Yin Yang Bracelet] and fought the forces of the council for several days nonstop. Then, he arrived here in Imperium and after joining the Athen’s Champion he grinds the quest for more than twenty days quickly promoting his circle to Third Class Yellow Squadron.

That’s not all, the members of his adventurer legion in the Giza continent were still giving him some experience points so he naturally earned all the experience he needed for one level.

*Ding!*

[Quest Triggered!]

[Curse]: The curse master has shown his true self to you. You have two choices. Capture the curse master or kill the curse master to stop all the curses in the dukedom.

Rewards: (Depends on your choice)

Souta snapped out of his thoughts when he heard the old man’s voice.

“What are you thinking? Do you still think that you could stop me? Or did you bring reinforcement here?”

Souta raised his head and looked at the old man. “No, I’m just thinking what sort of reward would I receive if I somehow stop you.”

“You think that you could stop me?” The old man tilted his head.

“How would I know if I don’t try?” Souta grinned as he kicked the table in front of him.

Bang!

A huge amount of best feram burst out and he rapidly closed the distance between him and the old man.

Swoosh!

Brandishing his sword, he directly used one of his skills.

[Crimson Moon]!!

A red light erupted from the coffee shop and it directly slice several houses in half.

“Oh, as expected of the mastermind.” Souta turned around and saw the old man standing several meters away without any scratches.

“It’s nothing young man.” The old man said with a blank expression.

Souta faced the old man and asked, “If I’m not wrong, you were just a B-rank expert last time so how did you power up yourself that quickly?”

He was curious about it. His [Galaxy Eyes] wasn’t wrong. This old man only had a power level of a B-rank. That’s why Souta didn’t care about this old man before except for the fact that this old man could brew delicious coffee.

“That’s the reason why I’m hiding for several years. My power is too low and those nobles would be able to kill me easily if I’m not careful enough. I’m slowly accumulating the curses over the years in the tomb.” The old man paused. “After you visited me, I realized that it’s the right time to integrate all the accumulated curses in my body, and as you can see… This is the result.”

“In short, you’re an old man that couldn’t advance to A-rank so you resort to using curse energy to promote your power level.” Souta shrugged his shoulder.

If this old man just integrated the power of the curse then his control should be low. He would have a chance to capture this old man.

“You wouldn’t be able to fight people on the same level as you.”

“But it’s enough to defeat a third evolution monster like you…” The old man smiled. “When I first saw you I thought that you are from the legion of a monster lord but after I investigated further I found that you are from Athen’s Champion. You’re a newbie, right?”

“Hahaha! Newbie?! Me?!” Souta grinned widely. “Let’s find out if I’m a newbie!”

Souta charged toward the old man as ten black balls appeared behind him.

[Gravitational Ball]!

[Cat’s Speed]!

[Triple Muscle Strengthening]!

[Agility Boost]!

[Strength Boost]!

[Night Overlord’s Aura]!

[Shadow Cloak]!

He activated several skills at the same time. Then, black mist exploded out of his body and quickly spread to the surrounding area.

[Dark Cloud Hunting]!

The old man’s expression turned serious. A huge amount of cursed energy seeped out of his body before he threw a punch in Souta’s direction.

[Decaying Strike]!

Souta slashed his sword and a red light flew out.

[Crimson Moon]!

Both of their attacks collided causing a powerful explosion.

BOOOM!

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