When the plot-skips players into the game world-Chapter 443 - 344 Dude, Your Curse Doesn’t Seem to Work Well (3rd Update)

At this very moment,

Prince Wolfram the Giant is holding a curse ritual in a clearing near a village.

Pieces of human corpses were scattered all around, a grisly scene.

They had been completely skinned while alive, and now their skins were covered on one side with Aiwass’s name, the other side detailed various crimes and causes of death.

These skins, crudely stitched together and overlapping, had been crafted into a drumhead. Inside the drum were the former hearts of the deceased.

Meanwhile, Prince Wolfram the Giant sat cross-legged on the ground with his eyes closed, stark naked.

His hands rhythmically beat the human skin drum, emitting an ominous cadence.

"This is not a curse. This is an oracle,"

he intoned in a deep voice, "I advise the King of Sin and Punishment that this man is guilty and must be punished. I beseech the oracle with the blood of the Penalty Demon for a just verdict."

There were eight skinned corpses, yet there were nine hearts.

This was not the holy number "9" of amber, but rather "8+1".

New novel chapters are published on freewёbn૦νeɭ.com.

For the ninth person, only the heart had been taken, their body directly consumed by the Giant Prince, utterly destroyed in the Material Realm. This was to differentiate from the number 9.

—When the holy number is eight, it signifies the Serpent Father.

For eight represents infinity, the cycle, and is also just one short of numerical perfection—because if perfection is reached, there is no need to transcend or improve, which is the essence of Transcendence.

The eight corpses with nine hearts signified a heart "one more than 8," symbolizing the Fallen Celestial Marshal who rebelled against the Serpent Father. This curse ritual suggested that He was to be revered as a greater being than the Serpent Father, thereby borrowing the power of curses to assassinate other Transcenders.

"You are Aiwass, you are human. You are Aiwass Moriarty, grandson of Jacob Alexander, son of Giulio Alexander, adopted son of James Moriarty. You were a sinner in the past, a Transcender now, and a Demon in the future.

"The moon waxes and wanes, people live and must die. Sins cannot be transcended, downfall is inescapable—

"I accuse you before the King of Sin and Punishment with my soul; you have used your own kind as materials in rituals, an unforgivable mortal sin. If this is true, let the oracle take half of your soul; if not, then please oracle, spare you..."

Wolfram beat the drumhead, and the sound thundered like a storm.

In a low chant, he continued rhythmically, "I accuse you before the King of Sin and Punishment with my soul; you have bound Demons with the force of contracts to make them obey, a grave sin. If this is true, let the oracle take half of your heart; if not, then please oracle, spare you..."

Between heaven and earth, a chilling wind blew, dark clouds gathered—a storm was imminent.

The observing Penalty Demon’s eyes suddenly lit up.

He clearly saw a black feather slowly falling from the sky.

It signified that the Fallen Celestial Marshal had heard Wolfram’s prayer and had cast His gaze down upon him.

The curse had taken effect!

—Truly fitting of a Curse Ritual Magician.

The Penalty Demon felt a thrilling fear and at the same time, a cathartic exhilaration.

It was about time for this to happen!

That strange butterfly-shaped Phantom Demon was a bit terrifying...

It had already suffered an attack from that butterfly, and now it held considerable wariness towards that creature.

The Penalty Demon was acutely aware that it could easily be killed by it if it was careless.

To eliminate him before the battle even began was far better than a desperate fight...

The curse had three layers: "Using kin as ritual materials," "Binding Demons with the force of contracts for obedience," and "Killing ordinary people with Transcendent power," each corresponding to "taking half of the soul," "taking half the heart," and "eliminating half the strength," respectively, to be returned only on the next full moon night.

And if it failed to take anything, then the Fallen Celestial Marshal would retaliate against the one who cast the curse, randomly selecting one of the three punishments.

For a typical Demon Scholar, just the first mortal sin was lethal enough.

```

The excruciating pain of a soul being sliced could easily strip away one’s ability to resist—followed swiftly by the secondary great sin that would seize half the heart, dealing a fatal blow. The third great sin is just the icing on the cake, but it’s almost certain to hit its mark.

This curse is so potent that it’s nearly impossible to withstand.

—Because no Demon Scholar could ever have avoided committing these three great sins!

Not utilizing human materials means that half of the Demon Scholar’s abilities could not be harnessed; and without employing contracts, that’s akin to relinquishing the other half as well.

How could one possibly bind a demon without using contracts? Now being a Penalty Demon, I am quite aware that demons harbor malice towards Demonologists—if someone dares to attempt summoning and contracting them, they would certainly create trouble in return.

But in the next moment.

Prince Wolfram suddenly let out a muffled groan.

The huge drum in front of him shattered abruptly, and bone fragments flew, embedding into his flesh. But these were just minor injuries—his complexion turned pale in an instant as he suddenly clutched his chest, collapsed to the ground, and vomited a mouthful of viscera fragments. The momentum about his entire body visibly diminished.

—Wait, what is happening?

The Penalty Demon was shocked, "The curse failed?" Find your next adventure on novelbuddy

"...It succeeded, but backfired."

Prince Wolfram gritted his teeth, "How could there be such a monster... Yes, it must be that bastard Jacob. He must have warned his grandson in advance about the tricks of the great wizard..."

"Are you alright?!"

The Penalty Demon was somewhat anxious.

It wasn’t so much concern for the wellbeing of the Giant Prince, but rather that it still needed him to divert the Wild Hunt King...

For the first time, a fire of rage ignited in those always calm and indifferent eyes of Prince Wolfram, "Thank the Fallen Celestial Marshal for his pity; only half of my heart is missing, it’s not a big problem... Thankfully, I possess fourth-level strength on the Path of Authority, missing half a heart is not enough to kill me just like that. But such curse-inflicted wounds, I can’t heal with rituals, I can only leave it as it is...

"You go to that village first, I’ll try other curses. I must torment him thoroughly—"

"...Alright."

The Penalty Demon, somewhat worried, reminded him, "Give it another try, if it doesn’t work, come quickly. Time is almost up."

"I will try once more. This time, I’ll use a curse without side effects."

Prince Wolfram was quite stubborn.

Elsewhere, Aiwass felt the pressure on him gradually lift and looked up, "It seems the curse is over."

"What did he curse you with?"

Hayna was somewhat anxious, "I’ve seen the Cursing Sorcerer’s methods, they’re incredibly bizarre and unpredictable..."

"...I don’t know either."

Aiwass was also a bit puzzled, not understanding what had happened, "But I indeed feel the curse is over. Perhaps he failed."

"He’s not skilled in his craft. Or let’s just assume he’s not skilled."

Sherlock replied decisively, "But we’d better not bet on it—do you have any way to dodge the curse?"

"—I actually do."

Aiwass suddenly had an idea and extended his hand to Sherlock, "Give me the mirror."

Taking the makeup mirror provided by Sherlock, Aiwass let out a cold laugh.

A perfect disguise, undetectable by any spell, right?

That means the Giant couldn’t possibly target Aiwass with a spell meant for ’Aiwass Moriarty.’ Otherwise, that would mean he had been detected.

Let’s show you what ’target lost’ means—

```