122 The Terrifying Curasee Race
[Congratulations! You have conquered one world gate]
[The gate interface is now opened for you]
[The world gate market is now opened for you]
[You achieved something impossible! A heroic calling mission is now completed under you name]
[As a reward, you have the privilege to use the heroic calling for one time for free]
[As a reward you can use another heroic calling for one hundred million coins]
[To use the heroic calling, just select the heroic calling icon in your channel interface]
[These rewards are only eligible during the upcoming five quests]
Yes! At last I got what I came here for!
Without any delay I hurriedly opened my channel interface. The icon of the heroic calling was in the form of a small rounded and shiny button with the drawing of a face covered with a helmet.
It was a shining red colour. Just as I thought about selecting it, the button flared up as if fire was ignited in the entire button.
[The heroic calling option is activated]
[You can now record a video that’s not shorter than one minute and not longer than half an hour]
[After recording the video, it will be delivered to all the intelligent races with systems inside the world you selected before]
[Please select a world from the list of worlds in the same apocalypse]
Once the messages ended, a list appeared in a separate window in front of my eyes. To my surprise, there weren’t just five worlds, but dozens of worlds!
“Hmm… All the other worlds are mixed with many races…” I started to study this list. Each world had a weird name to it plus a small description of the main races living inside.
I never expected that all such worlds were in the same apocalypse with us. Just as I was taking advantage of this chance, I found a weird name that instantly rang a dangerous bell in my mind!
“The Curasee race… No way! No f*cking way!!”
I couldn’t control myself when I read that nasty and infamous name. How could I forget about them? Damn!
Without knowing it, my eyes turned to the far away jumper. That dude… he was so unlucky to meet one of those deadly and notorious races early on in the apocalypse!
The term of Curasee wasn’t known before quest sixty. It wasn’t because they didn’t appear before that, but because of a deadly feature of that nasty race.
That race appeared with other races invading Earth. But unlike any other race, this race’s main goal was simply to curse to kill, kill anyone and everyone, eradicate the entire race off the face of the apocalypse without exception!
Everyone came to know about them when a general quest was issued after quest sixty, asking everyone to unite together and kill such a cancerous race or else they’d be wiped out!
In some sense knowing about the existence of such race so late in the apocalypse spread terror in all other races. That was expected, especially when information regarding that race started to be known by all thanks to the system support.
That race had a myriad of unique features that hailed them the king of all killers and the emperor of all assassins in the entire universe. Their bodies weren’t physical, but formed entirely out of darkness itself.
So they could easily spread all over the world, get to any place they wanted without being detected. That was different from the stealth ability the illusionist race had, or even the nihility skill that few could learn later on.
The main difference lay in the way they vanished from sight. The stealth ability and all the other skills resembling it worked by binding the light around the body of the user. So he or she would turn invisible without being seen.
Yet they could be detected using some abilities like the sense skill I had for example. Also if they got hit by anything like a sword or even a wooden stick, their cover would be blown away at once.
But the Curasee weren’t like that. In fact their bodies were a form of light waves in essence. So even against the skills that could detect stealth abilities and similar skills, they wouldn’t be discovered.
And nothing physical could attack their bodies or even detect their presence!
That wasn’t the only frightening thing about them. If they could only vanish from sight and not be detected, then they wouldn’t be as scary as I knew.
Their most dreadful ability was their unique curses. That race was infamous for burning their own life force to curse other races in a way no one could detect.
Their curses didn’t just attack the body, but mainly the soul. And they didn’t just aim to kill the target, they turned the target personality while slowly taking over his consciousness.
And then the friend turned to a deadly foe and started a killing spree at all other targets around. That alone created a lot of unexplained mysterious incidents over the long course of the apocalypse until quest sixty and above.
If they managed to get the target to that point, then they would feed over his body and replicate. Like a virus entering a living host, they turned one Curasee into a group of ten.
Then each one would leave the dead body of the host after a brief slumber and search for another target to curse.
Cancer… they were simply a weird mix of cancer and a deadly virus! Damn! And out of all people they selected that jumper to do that!
I felt an instant cold in my heart, recalling the scarlet red eyes of that jumper. That was the sign of their dominance over the host. Dammit! Was I late? Please don’t turn that dude into a meat sack for your filthy race to reproduce!
As for the way to kill them, there were actually many. Of course at this stage of the apocalypse, the sun was still gone and the new star wasn’t born yet.
Their nemesis was light, heat, radiation, and strangely enough loud voices.
*Roar!*
Just at this moment, I heard the loud roaring of that gigantic behemoth. My eyes flashed in realisation as an idea popped up into my head. ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
Even in the darkest moments, any disaster could be turned into a blessing if things were done right.
“I first have to finish with that heroic calling,” I knew that jumper might be facing a deadly situation anytime now. But I already activated the heroic calling and I had to give my speech before anything else.
Just don’t die on me, please… I hadn’t used your strength to the fullest yet!
[Please select a world to broadcast your video to all the intelligent races with systems in it]
“I select Earth,” I said and then the name of Earth burned into bright red fire before it vanished and with it the entire window vanished as well.
[Earth world is selected]
[Please start recording the video in ten seconds]
[The video can’t be shorter than one minute and not longer than half an hour]
[Ten…]
[Nine…]
I cleared my throat while the countdown reached zero. The next moment I saw a red flashing spot appeared that emitted a pale red light that enveloped my body.
“Fellow humans in the apocalypse, this Hye speaking from Jersey city, in the former US country…” I started to speak while feeling a little nervous at first. But once I started speaking about the dirty trap of the angels, I lost any sense of time.
I spoke about many things, the trap of the angels, the castles and emblems, the upcoming danger from many races, how to raise one’s strength, how to detect traitors… I spoke and spoke about anything and everything that might be helpful to humans to survive in this deadly apocalypse.
[Warning… You are less than two minutes away from the half an hour limit]
I was interrupted by the system by this message which was accompanied by a loud buzzing and annoying bell sound. I paused for a brief moment before I closed up the recording:
“I’m going to establish my base here in the US at the Atlantic coast. Right now New York city is considered a safe zone. And soon enough Jersey city will become so. Other cities will be freed and controlled by my forces. If you are close, if you can come, then head out right now and come directly towards either cities. My forces will warmly welcome and shield any humans no matter how old you are, how old you are, what nationalities you belonged to before… We are humans… And we will prevail as united as ever! Good luck and God bless all of you!”
I didn’t know why but I mimicked famous quotes from the era before the apocalypse in my last words. I tried to look cool, to give the impression of how strong and mighty I was.
And if any refugees managed to come, then it would be great. The greatest danger humans faced was the threat of extinction thanks to the big losses we all suffered during the early stages of the apocalypse.
Unlike other races, we were already in a sour spot. If I could gain more followers, then my rise would become faster.
Of course I wouldn’t plan to just shelter anyone without giving them the chance to repay that kindness in many ways. But that was something I couldn’t publicly announce, not when all the humans were about to watch my recording.
[The recording is rendered successfully]
[Do you want to broadcast it now?]
“Spread it over,” I said without a moment of hesitation. What was the point in asking me this in the first place?
[The video is now spread all over the world]
[Do you want to receive feedback from the viewers?]
“Feedback?!” I was astonished to know this, “sure, why not?” I shrugged before I turned my gaze towards a certain direction.
It wasn’t the direction of the monster, but the jumper.
“I hope I’m not too late,” I felt regretful. After all, how could I possibly link the curse he got with such nasty race?
Despite that I felt more responsibility towards his fate. He wasn’t just a simple follower of mine, but someone I might call a friend.
He and I shared a lot of things together. We were both strong, had special powers, and had specific goals to achieve. It would be a great loss if things ended up in the wrong.
As I moved my chariot, I summoned my warriors and illusionists. I wasn’t afraid of any hostile forces in the city. With the presence of that monster, any force here would send themselves to death itself if they tried to come at me.
But what I feared was the jumper himself. If the worst happened, if the curse started to control his consciousness, then I’d find myself in a very tight spot.
“You finally came!”
Just as I arrived a few hundred metres away, I found the jumper still standing on the side of the dead illusionist. He gave me his back, so I couldn’t tell if he was alright or not.
“How are you feeling now, my friend?” I asked while trying to know his status.
“Friend? Hahahaha! Which race would bind his friend by a contract?”
“…”
My face instantly sank at this moment. I clenched both fists, looked around and saw the monster far away.
If I had to do it, then it should be done right.
“Wait for me there,” I said in a grave tone, “I’ll come down for you.”
Without saying more I pushed my chariot to the back for half a mile before I activated the fully powered version of it again.
After that deadly encounter with the mysterious illusionist powerhouse, I changed the mode back to the intermediate state. Now I was going to have a brutal fight with the jumper, so I needed my chariot to be in its full power.
“Stay here,” I said to my warriors, “be ready to get deployed once I give the order.”