The Strongest Curse Master-Chapter 236: Festus Norges

"I’m sorry, but I don’t know you, and we’re in a hurry. So, that’s not happening," Ace said flatly with an indifferent face, ignoring that just the presence of the one-eyed man made his heart feel pressured and about to burst.

Delores’s heart jumped into her throat. Her grip on both him and the rifle tightened instinctively. She wasn’t someone who was scared easily, but the man in front of them made every fiber of her being screamed at her to run for her life. His presence alone was enough to put him in the same league as her missing master, the head of the McSuile family.

Ace, on the other hand, wasn’t suicidal—he just wanted to see if this one-eyed man’s politeness was genuine or a facade. Better to find out now than later. Plus, he didn’t exactly mind being nestled in Delores’s bosom. Honestly, he hadn’t expected to relive this experience so soon.

"Ah, where are my manners?" The one-eyed man gave a slight bow. "I am Festus Norges, a lowly curse crafter." His eye gleamed with something unreadable as he continued, "If I can examine that curse tool sooner, I wouldn’t mind lending you a hand with whatever urgent matter you’re dealing with."

Delores was caught off guard. The man was surprisingly easy to talk to—too easy. But before she could consider it further, Ace dismissed him again without hesitation, saying, "No, we’ve got it covered. We’ll be taking our leave now."

Delores winced as Ace’s words left his mouth, her grip on him grew painfully tight. He felt it but pushed through, giving her a simple order, "Let’s go."

She hesitated for a moment, stealing one last glance at the one-eyed man before taking to the skies. Seeing they made it to the clouds, Ace spread his arms, feeling the wind rush past him as he relaxed in her hold. Anticipating his usual antics, Delores had made sure to hold him from behind, keeping his chest and lower torso away from hers. But to her frustration, he lifelessly rested his head against her bosom instead, shifting his full weight onto her as if she were a couch.

Delores sighed internally, ’This damn kid… he’s got guts.’ She had to admit—Ace impressed her. He held his ground against that one-eyed man, even when she had nearly faltered. It was oddly reassuring to know that his boldness wasn’t just reserved for teasing her.

This time, Ace wasn’t trying to take advantage of Delores’s tolerance. He was genuinely drained. The fact that the one-eyed man had let them walk away without any trouble—despite him rejecting him twice—though within his calculations it still came as a surprise to him. The mental toll of standing his ground against someone that powerful was overwhelming. Right now, he needed Delores’s embrace to take the edge off.

He had turned the one-eyed man down again for a simple reason—he didn’t trust him. His name sounded made up, and he had that kind of slickness that didn’t sit right with someone with his prowess. Besides, they already had four people to split the loot with; they didn’t need another one especially someone stronger than them.

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"Don’t let your guard down. He might still be watching us—just like last time," Ace whispered, his voice was audible to the latter as her innate curse tool had a noise isolation effect, letting riders filter out unwanted sounds including the roaring wind and thunder at her will. Meaning, she could choose to hear him clearly.

"It could’ve all been avoided if you’d just let him glance at your rifle," Delores muttered, pretending to scold him for his risky choice

"Aww, were you worried about me?" Ace grinned, tilting his head slightly. "Don’t stress. I know what I’m doing," He confidently said having already figured her out. Delores had a habit of finding faults with people she cared about—her way of masking how much she actually liked them. But those she didn’t favor? She either ignored them completely or treated them with cold indifference.

"Shut up—unless you’ve got parashoot in that storage-type curse tool of yours," Delores warned, though a hint of red crept onto her cheeks. Still, her message was clear: unless Ace was itching for a round of midnight skydiving, he’d better behave.

Ace smirked. "No, but I do have a futon if you change your mind about being my mentor," he teased, finding it adorable how she kept trying to hide her true self from him. Just when he thought he had her figured out—bam!—she shoved him off her surfboard without a moment’s hesitation.

"You bitch!" Ace shouted as he plummeted toward the ground from a height that even she wouldn’t survive. Since he couldn’t complain that she hadn’t given him a heads-up he had no choice but to cuss. However, before he could use all the cultured words in his vocabulary, he saw Delores summoning a storm, charging up the rail rifle. He cussed in panic, "Shit!" Fearing a stray lightning bolt would be the end of him.

Wasting no time, he yanked out a handful of barrier talismans, activating them all at once. Layers of shimmering barriers wrapped around him as he fell. Then, something really freaky happened.

Out of nowhere, he spotted a one-eyed man floating just outside his barriers, descending with him at the exact same speed. The guy ran a hand along the outermost barrier as if assessing it—but carefully, almost gently, as though he was afraid to break it.

When their eyes met, the one-eyed man mouthed, "Do you need any assistance?"

Ace quickly shook his head.

The man narrowed his only eye seeking a clarification, "Is that a yes or no?"

"No! No!!!" Ace shouted, shaking his head more furiously this time. He really didn’t want to owe this guy. If he did, he’d feel obligated to return the favor, and that was a trap he wasn’t about to step into. Besides, he knew that once Delores was done charging the rail rifle, she’d come back for him. She wouldn’t leave him hanging.

The one-eyed man gave a small nod as if he understood. Then, without warning, he vanished. And that was what really freaked Ace out. Not the fact that the guy had disappeared—but the fact that he had been so interested in his curse tools. Specifically, the ones tied to his curse toybox and toy summons. He felt what he feared the most ultimately happened.

Moments later, a knock on the barrier jolted Ace from his deep thoughts.

It was Delores.

As he’d guessed, she had come back for him after charging the rail rifle. His eyes narrowed as a plan formed in his mind—he was definitely getting back at her for that stunt. Slowly, he repositioned himself within the barrier, waiting for the right moment. Then, with a smirk, he deactivated them all at once, launching himself at her.

His goal? Grab her by the waist and punish her to his heart’s content.

But Delores, as if she had read his mind, moved with ridiculous speed, vanishing right before he could make contact. Before he could even react, she reappeared behind him, locking her arms around him from behind.

"What the—?!"

And just like that, she dashed straight into the cursed fog veiling the resort, letting Matthew’s Dusk Dominion pull them inside.

The moment they entered, Ace took in the battlefield—and what he saw was insane.

Aztec and MountainOfSwords combined with their low-tier members were holding their own, pushing back Matthew and Evil Eye’s combined efforts inside her own Dominion. That alone was shocking. Sure, they’d heard that the core members of S.S.S. were deadly—MindBug had proved that much—but seeing Aztec and MountainOfSwords in action?

It was on a whole different level. Calling these guys deadly felt like an understatement.

The moment Aztec’s gaze landed on Delores and Ace. Without hesitation, she turned to MountainOfSwords and informed, "Time to leave." She had clearly mistaken their arrival as a sign of Matthews and Evil Eye’s reinforcements arriving.

Almost instantly, numerous brilliant stars began to appear in the dusky sky, twinkling as they aligned in a strange, unknown pattern. Within moments, all the S.S.S. members vanished—disappearing with the stars. However, they did hear MountainOfSwords scream, "No. Five more minutes!"

"What the fuck just happened?" Ace blurted out in shock. He stood there, completely dumbfounded. His loot had suddenly vanished.

"That’s Aztec’s innate curse art," Delores said as she moved forward to check on Matthew and Evil Eye, she continued adding, "It’s pretty handy in situations like this. She’s mostly the reason why the C.I.B. has failed to wipe them out so many times."

"Who did they send?" Matthew asked, catching her breath as she tried to figure out how to explain the situation to the incoming reinforcements.

"No one. It’s just us," Delores said with a frown, seeing Matthews make the same mistake as Aztec.

Matthew gave her a sharp look before impatiently remarking, "I’m not in the mood for jokes. I can feel their gaze peeking into my Dusk Dominion."

"What do you mean? The reinforcement—"

"I think she means Festus Norges," Ace cut in, his expression darkening. "He didn’t leave. He’s stalking me."