CHAPTER 49.

Amber immediately watched as the room evolved into chaos. Not every cultist was twenty levels above her, not even close in fact. Most were level 125 to 130, with the occasional member that was higher level. However, there was a whole group of people whose level she couldn’t see. And at the center of the group, there was a robbed man whose robes looked slightly different, he had a bushy white beard coming from his hood and he was⁠—

“Kill that damn Cursebearer, kill Amber and sacrifice her!”

Angry.

Amber watched as a few knight mages shot spells in the direction of the group, but they were quickly blocked by empurpled barriers. Amber wasted no time in dashing towards the group, perhaps it was a brash move but given the knights were taking care of the people across the room, she figured⁠ this was her best course of action.

In a blink she arrived in front of the group of people and stabbed forward, a barrier blocked and the mages backed off in a panic, except for⁠—

“Move,” the bearded man. He pushed someone out of the way. “I’ll deal with her!”

Amber watched as the old man moved past all of the other mages, who seemed rather panicked at the development⁠—

“Oracle, wait!” one of the mages called.

He’s Oracle? Amber raised her brow at the mage, he had aged and rugged hands, evidently belonging to some kind of old man. However, what surprised Amber wasn’t the fact that he was old⁠— no, it was the fact that she had heard his name before.

She had rescued a woman who knew the name, and she also heard it during her battle with the Risnar’s family heir; Oracle was the man that had figured out a way to connect with the demons. He was the reason all of this was happening, he was their leader. And now, he was coming to kill her.

Amber dodged as the man unleashed a blast of lightning. With Quick Dash she ended up a couple of meters to the side.

“You⁠— you are the reason all of this is going wrong!” he bellowed.

“Maybe,” she answered with some caution.

And a moment later, she paused, seeing the man put his arm at the tip of his staff and pull, making a piece of solid lightning. It wasn’t magic that Amber had seen before, but it was dangerous. He raised the lightning as if it were a weapon and⁠— threw it.

Amber used Quick Dash to appear behind him and stabbed but a purple barrier emerged to protect him. Meanwhile the explosion of lightning tore part of the room, hurting allies and enemies alike. Oracle, turned in anger and slammed his staff with a burst of fire. One that made Amber used her sword in response.

“Flamethrower.”

The crimson deluge clashed with the orange blast of flames. The both of them fought together for dominance as their surroundings were engulfed by the scorching heat, charring them in an instant. Meanwhile, from behind the veil of fire, she heard Oracle call.

“You have been missing for eight months and yet you are here now,” he said, his voice low. “All here to ruin my plans, maybe I should’ve killed you when I met you.”

Amber raised her brow at that, but said nothing. Instead, she focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was fighting the leader of this group of people. She had no idea what his level was, or what the full extent of his abilities were, but Amber didn’t care about that, all she knew is that she shouldn’t hold back.

Amber hadn’t ever used Curse Battery sparingly, always choosing to unleash it all at once, but she knew she could do it. She knew she could moderate it. And this time, it seemed like the only way to do so.

She took a moment and then⁠— teleported. She slashed against the barrier as Oracle turned and she⁠—

“Battery!”

Unleashed part of the skill⁠— the barrier immediately cracked and Oracle scoffed. Pointing his staff at her, and he said a single word.

“[Repulse].”

Amber was blasted in a single moment, flying into the air. Her vision remained steady, all the attack had done was send her away. She hit the wall and landed on the ground, Amber turned in the direction of Oracle only to see her standing right in front of her, a bolt of lightning right in his hand.

“If you weren’t a Cursebearer you’d be dead by now,” he said in an angry tone.

She, on the other hand, focused on one thing and one thing only, and that was⁠— she used Cursed Battery again, this time expending 15 minutes worth of curses instead of the 10 from before. The barrier exploded and Amber chose to trust her resistances as she raised her sword, this was her chance to get a clean hit and she wasn’t going to let it go.

Oracle swung down with the bolt of lightning and she was hit squarely by it. Amber felt all her insides fry as she grunted, and she⁠— swung. Oracle had his chest cut as he let out a groan and Amber with a messy Quick Step punched him, coating her fist with his blood.

The mage and leader of the cultists recoiled in pain and Amber burned the foreign blood present in her hand, immediately getting a drastic increase to her regeneration. But that wasn’t all, Amber used some of her accumulated rage to speed up Recovery of Curses, allowing her to fully regain her wits in no time.

But Amber didn’t let Oracle back off, no⁠— even with her vision blurry, she swung her sword upon him. The old man raised his staff to block. The two weapons clashed and Amber felt her strength growing back, the jolt of lightning had done quite a lot of damage to her, but it wasn’t enough.

Oracle backed off, he was much stronger than she had ever expected physically, but evidently, it wasn’t enough.

“You have a Legacy Branch, don’t you?” He gritted his teeth. “If I wasn’t weakened from the ritual, this would be going a lot differently.”

An explosion went off in the background and people screamed. She didn’t know what was happening in the room, all she knew was that she had to kill Oracle to put an end to it all. And as she watched the wound in his chest heal before her eyes, she realized she was going to need to do a lot more.

“If you are weakened then doesn’t that mean you are a hell of a lot easier to kill?” she asked.

“I’d like to see you try, Cursebearer⁠.”

Amber smiled and channeled all of her rage into the next attack, and taking a breath she spoke, channeling Curse Manipulation into it.

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Curse Battery.

All at once, almost a full hour worth of curses was unleashed upon the man. Cuts appeared all across his body, blood exploded and fire burst forth. It was something that should have killed any man, but Amber watched as a lot of those parts⁠— froze. And as if time was turned back, some of the injuries healed and some of the fire disappeared.

It happened in less than a second, and then⁠— all of those curses were unleashed upon her. Amber felt herself be healed by that, Curse Battery being considerably recharged in a single moment. Oracle backed off, parts of his body bleeding but the fires had already been extinguished.

I suppose that killing him with curses is not easy.

“You are much stronger than I ever anticipated, I’ll give you that, and I can understand your absence is due to this, but what I can’t understand is…” he growled. “How did you know about my plan?”

“The heir of the Risnar family and his scheme to sacrifice the Starkells, that’s how I was made aware of it.”

“That was eight months ago!” He raised his staff. “How did you know about today?!”

Amber blinked. “Oh, we were just going to arrest the two noble families involved, this is just a coincidence.”

Oracle paused at that, gritting his teeth in pure anger. And then, he slammed his staff on the ground.

“[Claw]!”

A demon arm in the air emerged and Amber cut right through it, the purple blood landing on her armor and threatening to melt it in a single moment. But Oracle didn’t stop there as he began to summon a myriad of demon limbs to attack her, all of them which she tore right through as she chased against the man that was backing off.

He had no words for what she had just said, but it was evident that he was shocked beyond belief, and Amber⁠— she was glad. She was most definitely going to get that divine weapon and use it to help her reach greater heights, she was going to explore its mysteries, and she was going to damn enjoy it after.

All she had to do was kill Oracle.

Amber stomped on the ground, using Cursed Stomp, and a purple barrier that emerged immediately shattered. She appeared behind the man with the 3rd Rank of Quick Step, and then, she slashed upon his back with a burst of fire, but at that moment lightning crackled through his body.

Amber’s slash hit⁠— Oracle screamed and she gritted her teeth in pain. His lightning was damn painful, and if it weren’t for her resistances she’d say it was damn deadly. She dashed to touch the man’s blood on the ground before burning it to heal herself.

Meanwhile, Oracle cleansed the flames off his body with the tap of his staff. Then he turned towards her, this time his lips were simply pressed into a thin line.

“[Jacket].” He tapped his staff against the ground and electricity permeated his whole body.

Amber in the meantime, also raised her sword. She knew it wasn’t going to be easy, especially after her opponent seemed to resolve himself, but that didn’t matter. It all ended here. She took a deep breath, and then rushed at the man.

Oracle on the other hand waited and Amber swung her sword, however she used Curse Manipulation to project the Curse of Laceration coursing through her body forth. He blocked and the cuts hit his staff, making him back off as he scoffed, but Amber didn’t stop there, she rushed again and this time she appeared behind him.

He flicked his staff and Amber used Curse Battery.

In a single moment an explosion rippled across his body and Amber was⁠— immediately forced to use Quick Step to dodge a gigantic arm, slammed against the ground. She was sure that her bones would break from that⁠. It was ridiculous that he always seemed to have a counter-attack, but at the same time he was the leader, he was⁠ the one that—

And she watched Oracle cough up blood, the man wobbled for a moment as the electricity around his body flickered out of existence and Amber knew that this was her chance. She used Quick Step in a single moment and appeared next to thing, pointing her hand at him.

“Battery.”

She used rage along with it and another powerful blast of curses engulfed the man, and she didn’t stop there. She continued to use Curse Battery as curses were deflected back onto her, healing her and fueling the next use of the skill. She constantly pushed the man back as he was afflicted by dozens of curses at once.

Oracle was screaming except⁠ it didn’t quite sound like pain to Amber—

“[Teleport]!”

And he vanished, appearing a couple of meters away with his staff raised up into the air, he was bloodied and yet his body seemed to be surrounded by a purple aura that was evidently made out of curses.

“I’ve had enough, I’m going to put an end to this!”

Amber meanwhile appeared behind him and swung her sword but a brand new purple barrier appeared. She heard footsteps coming and then, a different voice called⁠—

“[Repulse].”

It was the same spell that Oracle had used, and it sent her⁠— flying. Amber’s eyes widened as Oracle’s entourage assembled next to him once more. He seemed angry but as he looked across the room, he realized that most of the cultists were dead, and Amber watched as he bit his lip and spoke.

“We are leaving!”

The retinue called at that and they began to head towards a wall, though the knights didn’t stand idly by. They chased after Oracle’s group as they reached the wall that vanished from existence, revealing a passage.

A warrior reached and was pushed in no time by one of the mages, but a moment later a dozen of spells and arrows were shot into the tunnel, cracking the purple barrier. Some of the cultists had already gathered with him, the last remaining twenty of so put up a strong defense that Amber⁠—

Was planning to break apart.

She wasn’t going to let Oracle get away, not after all of this.

With two uses of Quick Dash she closed most of the gap, and she watched two mages raise their staffs at her. Both evidently planning to use the same spell as before, wanting to push her away which is why⁠— she used the 3rd Rank of Quick Dash.

Mana to her, wasn’t a problem anymore, and it was because she had been spending her attribute points on Wisdom. And that was why she didn’t need to hold back, she appeared behind the mage and stabbed with her sword.

A purple barrier blocked it⁠— she didn’t know if it was a passive skill or due to an item they held but it didn’t matter. Instead, she used the sword’s ability⁠— a crimson blast of fire engulfed the barrier as it began to show cracks and through the gap of the flames she saw the man smile before raising his staff.

It was the same staff with thorns that she was familiar with and he⁠— stabbed himself with it.

“I pledge my life to chaos.”

He fell dead, and Amber felt confused but she wasted no time turning to a different mage who also⁠— stabbed himself inside the chest. His parting words were exactly the same and she couldn’t help but have a bad feeling about things.

She immediately rushed towards Oracle, but found herself be repelled by a purple barrier. And the cultists that were trying to repel her also⁠— stabbed themselves with their staff. Their crimson blood formed a river that made the footsteps of the everyone present squelch. Amber didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t need to know what was going on.

A cultist stopped to get in her way, and he used a curse. A purple blast hit Amber, one that did absolutely nothing and in response, he too sacrificed himself as Amber ran past him.

Nine cultists had already died and Oracle and his entourage were running. Only eleven cultists remained⁠— and their leader was among them.

Amber hurried, and so did the knights; everyone rushed as fast as they could to catch up. Then, one of the most powerful mages turned towards them and stabbed himself. Blood splattered and he called, his voice booming:

“Use my life and the sacrifices, to Summon the Demon of Chaos, He Who Serves It!”

At that, the cultists⁠— every single of the corpses burst up into flames. And yet, nothing happened. Amber used this chance to rush forward, trying to catch up to the entourage that had just teleported up ahead—

“Ripper.”

Danger blared and Amber’s eyes widened as a gigantic sword cleaved through the ceiling, forcing her to stop in her tracks. A curse filled miasma swept through the tunnel as the knights were forced to back off, and Amber too paused.

And from the air itself, a black void appeared, acting as a portal. A gigantic demon walked out, one that had the head and lower body of a goat, one that had bulging muscles, and one whose skin was a bright red. It had protruding horns and its appearance reminded her of a demon from Earth’s history⁠, Baphomet.

It turned towards her as she raised her sword.

And Amber⁠⁠— recognized it⁠.

It was the same demon she had fought in the Dark Den dungeon, the same demon that was supposed to destroy the city of Laria, and the same demon that she had killed for her Level 50 Class Advancement, and somehow⁠—

“We meet again, lowly human.”

[Server of Chaos. Lvl. 142]

It was much stronger.