I was still in a sand village so [Meteor] wasn’t an option. My water skills are also out of the question. A black mass cancelled out my [Flare]. The next [Flare] connected.
“Ugh, how freakishly strong are you?” I kept barraging her with [Flares]. I don’t like using fire magic too much as the heat dries my skin out but I have no choice now.
“Collectors! Assemble!” Verruka made a strange pose and she disappeared after black shadows jumped on her. No that’s incorrect. She is using that obnoxious trick on herself. She should still be here.
It’s hard to target her if I don’t know where she is. I spread out [Fire Wisps] and made fire clones to crack open this skill. The wisps behind me got moved aside. I pointed my finger behind me without turning around and blasted the area with [Flare].
“Ugh, of course, you figured out the collectors so this wouldn’t work on you.” I caught a glimpse of Verruka after turning around but that obnoxious trick kicked in. I realized that I don’t have to attack. I can let her run out of mana.
The density of fire wisps increased and I had created 2 extra clones. The fire wisps gave away her location. Me and my clones hopped on our staves and flew away in a formation while still cracking open this trick.
She appeared after 6 minutes. “Ugh, my mana.”
I didn’t take any chances and fired [Heat Wave] and [Flare] at her. Something nearly knocked me off my staff.
“No more goop!” A large black goopy bird was assaulting me. What have I done? Am I cursed? Why does goop get attracted to me? Wait that imposter said she was the mother of curses. “You cursed me, didn’t you? There is no way that I would encounter 2 goop users this close to each other!”
“I’ve been trying to curse you this whole time! What sort of obnoxious defence do you have in play? Stealing your skills is becoming a better idea as time progresses. I was right to let you live in our last encounter!”
“What are you talking about? You ran with your tail between your legs after I cast [Meteor]!”
“Age must have gotten to you, no such thing happened!”
“Age? You’re twice my age! It’s you who is going senile!” I used [Gust] to blow a cluster of [Fire Wisps] into her.
Verruka got covered in the black goop and bulked up. I got shivers through my spine as I saw my old face sticking out of a mass of black goop shaped after some muscular abomination.
“Stop it!” I cast [Incinerate] on the imposter. Neither [Incinerate] or the cluster of wisps did anything to it.
A bulky goopy finger pointed at me and caused me to crash into the sand as I was afflicted with [Heavy]. I also got [Slow] on me and the status affects started to come through my [Azure Aura].
“I see I have to put at least 12 status effects or curses on you before it starts affecting you, how obnoxious.”
I wasn’t aware of this but it’s a good thing to know. [Cleanse] was used to get rid of them. My fire clones kept her busy so I could remove them faster than she could apply. I wasn’t aware of what status effects or curses my [Azure Aura] was blocking. She might have landed some on me that [Cleanse] can’t remove. If she can land 12 of those, I might lose this. I don’t have any means to deal with curses. Only the basics. She must be an expert in curses so the basics aren’t going to cut it.
I pointed my staff of the bulked-up imposter and used [Explode] and I kept chaining [Explode] until she got blown out of the village.
An idea had struck me. The magic circle of [Sink] appeared and I messed with it to also work on sand. My clones were still keeping up the pressure. I had to keep using [Cleanse] while adjusting my magic circle when I got hit by another [Heavy].
“Hey stop that! Stop making me heavy!”
“Heh, you must have not eaten yet. How about some sand?”
My improvised [Sink] was finished and I used [Sink] on Verruka and she started to sink into the sand.
“Huh? What!? Don’t humiliate me! “ The Misha aren’t a flashy race but we prefer to get beaten by powerful spells in combat. [Sink] isn’t a powerful skill. It’s payback because succumbing to curses is as bad as dying to a well-cast [Sink].
“Let’s see who can eat the most sand!” I poured more mana into the [Sink] as Verruka kept piling on the [Heavy]. Another thing I learned. Apparently [Heavy] can stack. I also got a curse that increases the cost of magic spells by 30%. Another curse to increase my casting time. All these curses were just turning me into a normal Misha. I had solved these problems with my research a long time ago, so while annoying, they are not helping that Imposter.
“Say hi to the mummies for me!” I said as Verruka got completely submerged in sand. I kept pouring mana into [Sink]. It will automatically lift when the Verruka clone dies.
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The mana kept going into [Sink] for 3 minutes before it disappeared. Verruka had been crushed by the weight of the sand. A very ugly way to die.
I tried to unearth myself as I was buried in the sand up to my hips. I was stuck… The 12 stacks of [Heavy] still lingered. Most of the curses on me were making the use of mana and magic more difficult. How dumb of her. I’m the only Misha that’s not very effective on. While problematic, this [Heavy] is my biggest problem. I will die here in the desert if I can’t get rid of it.
I teleported but I didn’t get far. I only teleported for 2 centimetres.
“[Heavy] also affects teleport distance? Or is [Slow] responsible for this?” I opened up my magic circle for [Slow]. It had saved me so many times during the fight with that bitch goddess.
Nothing suggested that it messes with teleports. It must be the [Heavy] then. I don’t know [Heavy]. It’s not exactly a curse but it's getting close to being one. Being heavy is a curse for any woman!
Water magic is so useful! It kept me hydrated while I was stuck in the sand. It was night time and it had become quite cold. I’m learning a lot of things. Only 5 stacks of [Heavy] left. The [Heavy] isn’t supposed to mess with teleports, but this one does. It’s slightly modified.
The movement restricting status effects had been lifted. I pulled my butt out of the sand. There was sand everywhere… These curses on me need to be lifted and I need [Azure Aura] to stop hiding the curses or conditions that it’s protecting me from.
I might have won this encounter but even though I’m stronger, it was quite close.
The fire wisps around me haven’t felt anything trying to approach me so it’s safe to assume that all the Blurs are gone from this area. I wonder how many she has spread over the continent… how many people has she abducted like this?
The village had been abandoned. I don’t blame them. Any human that sticks around a fight between Misha is a fool. This allowed me to find the house that was the most comfortable. The food will go to waste if it stays here so I helped myself and have a good night rest. I kept the fire wisps and clones around to wake me up if a Blur attempts a sneak attack.
The heat woke me up the next morning. I got up and went to this house’s version of the bathroom. They only had a shower and no products for my hair and skin. I was still in the process of getting sand out of my hair.
It’s official! The desert is Azu unfriendly! My attention shifted to the curses that I was afflicted with. I laid down on the bed and held my hat in my hands. I focused on my hat. My first step is to alter [Azure Aura] that I can see which curses or status effects its hiding.
I have a good bond with my hat so this was easy. I found more [Slow] and [Heavy] but these were [Greater Slow] and [Extremely Heavy]. How rude! [Cleanse] couldn’t deal with them because they deviated form the norm. So the next step is to tweak [Cleanse] to deal with these anomalies.
Dispelling them one by one is also an option but that’s inefficient as I will have to repeat that process whenever I get hit by more of these. It’s more efficient to make [Cleanse] cover as many of these as possible.
This sounds easy but its quite complicated. [Cleanse] operates on strict conditions. It’s not a list of status conditions or curses it can clear. I will have to specify the exact parameters that make these status conditions and curses special and add them to [Cleanse].
[Greater Slow] and [Extremely Heavy] have the same modifier. It’s to strengthen the effect based on the extra mana that has gone in casting these status conditions.
The modifier got added as a parameter that [Cleanse] has to check for and wipe out if it finds it.
I used [Cleanse and [Greater Slow] got removed but [Extremely Heavy] lingered. I continued looking for parameters that [Cleanse] doesn’t cover.
It started to become colder when I finished dealing with the status conditions. The sun was setting. I still had curses on me that hindered the use of mana in any shape or form. These are more traditional curses so it’s unlikely [Cleanse] can deal with these.
Curses have many subcategories but the biggest ones are curses that act more like status effects and curses that work on intent. The latter are the strongest and are extremely difficult to dispel when the intent is unclear.
The intent of these curses is clear. That’s the greatest hurdle for some curses. Which makes me curious. The Imposter said something about deadly curses. Isn’t that revealing the intent? Or is she confident in their effects?
My experience in curses is limited but if it were me, I would call something a deadly curse but make it turn someone into a frog or something like that. Anyone trying to lift the curse, thinking it intends to kill, will fail. Maybe that’s what she did.
The intent is known. Now what does it actually do. I cast some simple spells and felt the flow of my mana and looked at how the magic circles fill up.
This curse… it scrambles magic circles when mana gets activated. Another makes mana spill out of the magic circle, reducing its efficiency even more and making a simple spell guzzle mana. Another one requires the magic circle to fill up 5 times instead of once to create its effect.
I got angry. Is this bitch mocking me? She either is gutsy or a complete moron! She must be taunting me! She can’t be this stupid!
These curses are easy to fix for someone who has studied magic circles and mana runes. That’s why I got angry and think she is taunting me. She either didn’t do her homework or is having a laugh wherever she is. Either way, I will hunt her down. She won’t get away with this!
I expected to learn more about curses but didn’t learn much. This must have been her intention. These disgraces of a curse got lifted in no time. My hat went back on and I focused on the mana trail that I had felt when her stupid Blurs created those portals. So far south. I need to visit a library or secure a map of what’s south of the Kaledon continent.
The destination was Gittrian. Another long flight. It was getting colder and I had lost track of time again but it should still be the same year as I got freed.
The library had a map. The Ghecaio Ocean lies south of Kaledon. It’s a large patch of blue with some islands and then the continent Nesher. My eyes rested on a cluster of swirls not far from the south coast near Gavin, a port city.
“What’s that? I will visit it while on my way to kill that Imposter.”
I studied a bit. The swirls are called Hurricane Path. A cluster of hurricanes following a certain route. Also, according to my estimate, I will have to fly for 3 months straight to arrive at Nesher. I need to prepare for this. It's going to be rough on my mana and supplies. I will need to shop, store mana, make plans in case things go wrong, and more.
That will all be done in Gavin. I will stock up and rest in Gavin as getting there is another long flight. I sighed.
“Why couldn’t she hide in the jungle here on Kaledon…”