44 The Trap

We returned to the central area where the illusionary human was.

"Congratulations you two have completed the entry requirements of the relic. No one has completed the first step of this relic in many years." said the illusionary humanoid figure.

"Since you can use the Curse Dao, you can challenge the next stages. Be warned, when you enter the dungeon your connection to ever Dao besides Curse Dao will be severed."

"You will only be able to use the Curse Dao to complete the challenges."

"So we must become better at the Curse Dao to complete this relic?" I said.

"Yes, this is how relics are. The ones who leave them behind only want people who practice their Dao to inherit their Arts and Treasures," said the illusionary humanoid figure.

"Every level you complete will reward you with new treasures or Arts. Good luck relic challengers!"

James and Wanfang gathered themselves to prepare to enter the relic dungeon. The only thing they could use was the Curse Dao, and the only curse they knew was the [Enfeeble Curse].

From what they could understand, it was a scaling relic. The more talented they were in the Curse Dao, the better they could complete the challenges.

As they entered the inheritance everything around them changed.

"This feeling is strange, I can not feel my Daos."

"Yes, young lord. It is very unnerving, it has severed me from the elements."

A large graveyard in a shady morass marked the entrance to this relic grounds. Beyond the graveyard lies a massive, humid room. It's covered in bat droppings, crawling insects, and dirty. We could see remnants of sacks, crates, and caskets, deteriorated and consumed by time itself.

Further ahead was a single path. Its twisted trail leads passed countless other paths to a ragged area filled with tombs, some who no longer held their owner. It was such a strange place.

We tread onwards, delving into the relic's depths. We passed various passages, some that had collapsed, and others that were dead ends or too dangerous to try. We eventually made it to what seemed like to the last room.

An ominous granite door blocked our path. Dried blood spattered all over it, somehow untouched by time and the elements. We stepped closer and…

"What's that noise, young lord?" said Wanfang.

"It seems this level won't be as simple as we thought," I said.

Out of the caskets and tombs came many skeletal creatures. All of them stood guard beside their tombs.

"If I could use my Fire Elementary, I could easily burn these away," said Wanfang.

"Yes, same here. With my Fire Dao I could burn them to ashes. This will be quite a challenge." I said.

"They don't seem to rush at us. We can decide the pace of our engagements."

"Let's challenge one to understand what they are capable of then make our plan accordingly."

\u003cEnfeeble\u003e

The skeleton we engaged weakened from being hit with my [Enfeeble Curse]. Wanfang engaged the skeleton with his stave. Carved elemental runes covered his jagged, twisting staff.

Normally he could use his staff to call upon the elements, however, in this environment it was but a simple stave.

The battle proved too difficult for Wanfang. He was on the defensive shortly after engaging the skeleton. The skeleton's hulking strikes with its mace were powerful. Destroying the very ground when it hit. Even under the effects of the curse, the skeleton was a tyrant!

Its slow hulking strikes continued as Wanfang tried to gain some ground on it. As Wanfang was engaging the skeleton, I channeled the Enfeeble curse with my Curse qi to keep the skeleton weak.

"We must improve our usage of the [Enfeeble Curse] if we want to get pass this relic! We have to learn to fight while channeling the curse." I said.

"How could you fight while channeling such a curse young lord? It weakens you as much as it weakens the enemy!"

"Though it may seem difficult, we must learn! That is the only way we clear this challenge." I said.

"You channel your Enfeeble curse as well and I will assist you in fighting. Only then will we be able to take down this skeleton!"

"Enfeebled blood that courses through my veins, curse mine enemy!" said Wanfang.

\u003cEnfeeble\u003e

The skeleton grew much weaker from taking the brunt of two curses.

With curses it wasn't as simple as 1+1 equals 2. When two curse casters used similar effects they would empower each other.

Its tyrannical attacks slowed. I drew out my resentment dagger Lokkar and aimed it at the skeleton's head while it was busy attacking Wanfang. My dagger landed true, piercing through the skull of the skeleton.

The skeleton's flame lit eyes extinguished after my strike. We had finally defeated the first skeleton!

"You were correct young lord! Your genius knows no bounds!" said Wanfang.

Wanfang had gone through the standard lackey training course with Azon these past months. He knew now how to butter up to me as a good lackey should.

"Yes Wanfang. We will have a large task clearing out all these skeletons." I said.

Slowly but surely we cleared out all the solo skeletons that we could find.

"There are not only skeletons here. Within each coffin are these ritual objects, I can feel the Curse Dao within them," said Wanfang.

"Most likely the creator cursed these skeletons while living to become skeletons that guard these grounds. Gather the objects, maybe through studying them we can understand a bit about cursing objects." I said.

My line of thinking was correct. When we gathered all the objects, we noticed a trend with the construction. After dispatching all the single skeletons, we moved on to the skeletal groups. It was a daunting trial, but we continued at a fast pace.

Wanfang and I learned to work in tandem as we both grew more experienced with the Curse Dao. We were farmers, reaping skeletons left and right, eventually. After a long time, we finally defeated the last of the skeletons.

"Yep, a cultivator using a perverted Dao such as curses would never be kind. This was a death trap!" I said.

"We have no choice but to start the third trial. If we fail, we will die to the very curse we want to understand. Becoming like these fallen skeletons."

"Young lord, I will study these objects intently and understand cursed objects!" said Wanfang.

I took one object and studied it closely. From what I knew, cursed items were items with some potentially negative impact. Sometimes they're directly bad for the user; sometimes they're just inconvenient. Cursed objects can even have benefits mixing the bad and the good.

From studying these items I at least concluded the curses contained with them did not cause death. It seems whatever caused these skeletons to become animated undead was not because of the cursed objects. Upon further inspection, I determined that these objects all had a different curse!

The Curse Dao was like the Alchemy Dao in that you could form many types of curses from materials. I decided it was impossible to know how to counter each specific cursed object we had touched.

The only way was to cast a broad-ranged [Remove Curse]. We both experimented with our Curse qi in removing the traces of the curses.

Interacting with his Curse qi, Wanfang found the cursed objects all had an invisible curse string attached to their bodies. Interacting with his Curse qi, he could see these strings. Now he had to remove the cursed strings.

It was a tedious process, imagine being a locksmith with many locks and only simple thieves' tools.

Wanfang and I were inexperienced locksmiths, so it took us a while to break the 'locks'. As it went on, we became more aware of what it took to break a curse. We were on set by many minor ailments.

My hair had changed color. Wanfang's skin had changed color. We both had weird marks on us. Wanfang had to eat twice as much. I had to sleep twice as much.

Wanfang had to sing a weird song once a day. I even had to dance randomly. It was a horrific experience!

After many weeks we finally removed all the curses that had affected us. Our understanding of the Curse Dao grew by leaps and bounds. I felt I was even ready to design curses now.

I gained much more respect for the creator of this relic. The [Enfeeble Curse] was a powerful curse having an immediate effect on the target.

It was a sacrificial curse, however, considering the user would suffer from the same debilitation.

Wanfang and I exited the trial grounds and took a much-deserved rest. Being affected by so many low-level curses had taken its toll on both of us.