The Strongest Curse Master

"Did we get him?" asked a man dressed in nothing but a short bathrobe and a speedo as he landed on the charred crater.

His colleague, wearing a white tank top and cargo shorts, shouted in outrage, "You idiot! We weren't supposed to kill him—we were supposed to catch him!"

"Hey, who are you calling an idiot? You looking to die?" the man snapped back, tossing his bathrobe to the ground. He adjusted the crotch of his speedo, trying to prevent it from chafing his inner thighs.

"Out of everyone I could've brought to chase the kid, I picked you. I must be the idiot," the man in cargo shorts muttered, blaming himself for the poor choice. But there was no time to give it proper consideration—the kid had been too fast, and they only managed to catch up because he'd stopped. He sighed and ordered, "Let's at least bring back his innate curse tool."

"Innate curse tool? Didn't you see that explosion? It was brilliant—it probably turned to dust with part of the forest. Good luck finding that, buddy," the man in the speedo said, walking barefoot over the scorched earth like he was strolling along a beach.

"We have—" the man in cargo shorts began to argue, but he stopped mid-sentence. The ground beneath them trembled vigorous. A sudden sense of danger gripped him, and he shot into the sky.

Just as his feet left the ground, the earth tore open beneath him, and a gigantic boa made of intertwined roots surged upward with its mouth wide open. As the man in cargo shorts rose into the air, the monstrous root-boa snapped its jaws shut, swallowing him whole.

Just as the man in cargo pants was about to shoot out of the giant boa's closed jaws, he suddenly felt his body being pulled into an unknown space. Moments later, he found himself in a dimly lit room made entirely of wood. Before he could make sense of his surroundings, he realized there was no air to breathe.

He instinctively held his breath, but the room suddenly turned pitch black. Panic, confusion, and anxiety clouded his judgment. The next thing he knew, he was out of the woodroom and buried several miles deep into the earth's crust.

…

Just as the man in the speedo walked barefoot across the once-lush forest, now a charred and barren crater. He suddenly felt the ground tremble violently. Like his companion, he sensed imminent danger and rushed out of the crater.

Finding a huge shadow cover him, instinctively he turned around, to find a gigantic boa made of intertwined roots emerge from the ground, swallow his buddy whole, and then dive back into the ground, vanishing into the crust.

"Buddy!" the man in the speedo screamed at the top of his lungs. In a fit of rage, he began to bombard the crater with reckless blasts of cursed energy, not even considering that his friend might still be alive and might get caught in the explosions while trying to escape.

However, all he succeeded in doing was deepening the crust and kick up a thick cloud of dust—and scaring the nearby residents.

…

[ — Status Screen —

DD: Master, there are two enemies. They're mutant rust worms in curse master hosts. Both are ocean-tier. One is agility-type, the other is damage-type.

Ace: What's your plan?

DD: I want to engage them. I'll go after the agility-type first—he was able to catch up with Delores's innate curse tool. He'll be tricky if I don't take him by surprise. After that, I'll slowly deal with the damage-type. He seems a little slow in the head, so I think I stand a good chance against him head-on.

Ace: How sure are you?

DD: Sure enough to bet my life on it.

DD: Master, let me do this—for myself, please.

Ace: May the Lord be with you.

DD: You're all I need, Master.]

…

"Arrgh!"

The man in the speedo dropped to his knees, covered in dust and dirt, his legs buckling from exhaustion after bombarding the area for several minutes straight. Even his fustrated scream came out weak.

The entire area was engulfed in dust. Despite the explosions having stopped, the air remained thick and murky, reducing visibility to nearly zero for anyone in the vicinity.

Suddenly, the ground began to tremble again—more violently this time. Not giving the man time to rest or recover.

The man in the speedo focused all his curse energy, preparing to face the massive root boa that had swallowed his buddy head on. Eyes locked on the trembling ground beneath his knees, he muttered, "I will avenge you, buddy."

The man waited and waited, but the giant boa he was expecting never appeared. Looking around through the lingering dust, he turned his head—and behind the veil of the haze, he spotted the silhouette of an enormous, solitary armored knight, kneeling on one knee, holding a sword and a round shield.

Forcing himself to stand, the man turned to face the figure, trying to confirm he wasn't hallucinating. To his disbelief, the eye slits in the knight's helmet lit up with a bright glow, cutting through the thick dust, as the giant figure began to rise to its feet.

The man tilted his head back, watching as the knight stood tall. The dust seemed to shift and swirl around the towering figure. Unable to fit the entire knight into his field of view, he took a few steps backward—until he stumbled on debris and fell onto his backside.

"Majestic..." the man in the speedo whispered in awe. Ignoring his fall, he kept his gaze locked on the mysterious giant knight cloaked in the thick veil of dust.

The man froze, lying on the ground without moving a single muscle in his body, his gaze never leaving the majestic knight. He was mesmerized by the scene before him, his mind stuck in the moment, drawn in by the beauty. At that moment, nothing else in the world seemed to matter to him, not even his own life. He simply wanted to soak in the entirety of the world unfolding before him.