I Can Copy Curses

From within his own dimension, Orion could see and hear everything happening in the arena. He listened to the brief conversation between his sister and Carl about him, and sighed in relief that his plan had worked.

'Now, the only thing I need to do is wait—for them to kill the boss,' he thought.

If he wanted to, he could reappear as the attacker and kill them all right now, but that would raise suspicion. There were too many witnesses, and it would seem too coincidental for the attacker to appear right after Orion disappeared. This would definitely draw attention to him. So, he decided to wait until they finished with the boss.

'They should be able to kill it, right?' Doubt crept into Orion's mind.

After upgrading to diamond rank, the boss had become significantly more powerful and faster. Orion wondered if they would be able to defeat it.

'If they can't, I'll have to intervene at the last possible moment,' he resolved, waiting patiently in his dimension.

***

On the other side, after the wolf saw its attack miss, it locked its gaze on Emily and Carl. Remembering the strangeness of Emily's previous attack, it decided to attack from a distance.

"OOWWOOO!"

The wolf howled, and as if casting a spell, fire, ice, and lightning elements swirled around it before launching towards Emily and Carl in the distance.

"Let's kill this beast and get it over with," Carl spat in anger as he watched the wolf circling them.

He dodged the wolf's elemental attacks, his purple-glowing body moving seamlessly like a laser light. In a flash, he appeared behind the wolf.

At that moment, his entire body radiated a bright purple before shooting a thick beam of purple light, as wide as his body, towards the wolf.

Though the wolf managed to react to Carl's movement, it failed to dodge the attack. The intense purple beam collided with its body, sending it tumbling across the ground until it crashed into the barrier at the far end of the arena.

The wolf growled in agony as it struggled to stand up.

Burn marks appeared all over the wolf's body, and its once beautiful blue hide had turned pitch black.

It didn't have time to catch its breath when Emily suddenly appeared in front of it, attacking with her slow-moving sword. Just like before, the wolf failed to dodge, despite attempting to move away.

But this time, the injury was severe. If not for its thick hide, the wolf's body would have been sliced into pieces.

It screamed in agony and tried to run away, but it was futile.

The silver-haired man intercepted the wolf and attacked with five spear-like constructs.

Already severely injured from Emily's attack, the wolf couldn't move well. It failed to dodge and suffered yet another grievous injury.

"OWOO!"

The wolf screamed again, once more conjuring a chaotic, uncontrolled attack of swirling elemental energies.

But at that moment, the middle-aged man appeared above it, his hammer striking down with all his might.

The wolf was slammed to the ground, its attack interrupted midway, causing it to cough blood.

It was now once again on its deathbed.

But it didn't give up. It stood on its four feet and glared at those who had injured it, growling in anger.

At that moment, its body also began to glow with a bright blue light, but whatever it was trying to do was interrupted as Carl appeared beside it. This time, his hands were of normal size, but they carried pitch-black flames.

"Die, you wolf!" he shouted, slamming the flames onto the wolf before quickly stepping back.

Almost instantly, the wolf was engulfed in black flames. It tried to use its water element to extinguish the fire, but it was no use. Instead, the flames burned with even more intensity.

"Owooo!"

A low growl escaped the wolf's mouth as it felt its flesh burning. Despite its thick and strong hide, it could only endure the attack for so long.

However, no one noticed the faint blue glow that remained on the wolf. Since Carl's initial attack, the wolf hadn't stopped whatever it was attempting to do.

And now, it had completed its task.

Everyone watched as the wolf lay motionless on the ground, its body burning with pitch-black flames.

"Huh, it's dead," Carl snarled. He had been in a bad mood since Orion's escape, so he used his most lethal attack on the wolf, and hence the result was what he wanted or so he thought.

It was at that moment, the wolf's body began to float in the air, glowing with an intense blue light. The brightness was so powerful that it extinguished the black flames burning its body.

"NO! It's about to detonate!" Emily exclaimed.

"Damn," Ethan cursed as he heard her and shouted, "Carl, step back!"

"No, it's no use. If it detonates, at least half of the people here will die," Emily said, her voice anxious for the first time. "We have to destroy its body, or else all the people below Gold rank will perish, and even some Gold rank experts might not survive."

"Let's do as you say then," Ethan nodded. He couldn't afford more losses in the dungeon. So many had already died, and any addition would only worsen their situation.

He immediately sprang into action and flashed before the monster.

Emily also arrived in front of the monster, about to unleash her most powerful attack when something strange happened.

They saw the monster's body start to become invisible, piece by piece, until it fully disappeared from the boss arena.

"It's gone?" Ethan was dumbfounded. He moved closer to the area where the boss had been, touching here and there to see if it had merely become invisible, but his hands met only empty air.

"It's really gone," he exclaimed in surprise.

Emily also checked and found that the monster was indeed gone.

"It not only disappeared, but its physical body is completely gone," she muttered to herself.

"Who could have done this?" Ethan asked, hearing her. The ability to move things from one space to another was powerful, but if someone with such a talent was already here, why hadn't they helped with the boss monster?

"It was me."

At that moment, a rough and low-pitched voice echoed through the dungeon. The voice was so loud that everyone heard it.

Almost instantly, Ethan, Emily, and all the platinum rank experts sensed something and spun toward a direction, seeing a figure standing there.

He wore a pitch-black cloak radiating dark energy, and a white mask covered his face.

"It was me who took the monster away."

Hearing the hooded and masked figure, Ethan nodded and was about to ask his identity when he felt an overwhelming pressure descending upon him, nearly forcing him to kneel.

It wasn't just him.

Everyone in the dungeon felt the same pressure. The Iron, Silver, and Gold rank experts kneeled completely, while the Platinum rank experts managed to hold on but struggled under the weight.

"W-who are you?" Ethan asked, his voice shaking as he tried to withstand the pressure.

"I am... no one," the figure's low-pitched voice replied. "I just came here to kill some ants."

"Kill?" Ethan's face darkened upon hearing the figure. He had no doubt that the man in front of them could indeed kill them like ants, given the aura he was emitting. Yet, there were too many mysteries surrounding this figure.

First, this was a Platinum rank dungeon, designed to handle at most weak Diamond rank experts like the boss that had just died. But the pressure this figure was emitting was far beyond Diamond rank.

Second, no one above Platinum rank experts should be able to enter the dungeon. So, the arrival of this masked figure was truly shocking.

"How did you get here?" Emily asked, her face icy cold.

"I can go anywhere in this world," the cloaked figure smirked.

He then added, "I'm here to kill some ants, and there are four of them."