Chapter 71: Parasitic-Type Curseling
As the blood-stained gangster emotionlessly opened fire on his fellow gangsters, those in front of him did not even have time to react. The rest instinctively took cover behind the car but a few brave ones fired back only to witness the bullets bounce off their target's body or embed into his skin unable to break into his flesh.
Before the shock of witnessing the supernatural could register in their mind a bullet to their heads forced them into eternal rest. Meanwhile, those hiding behind the Baja Bug lay on the ground and aimed for the traitor's legs from under the car but to their horror, the bullets could not break past his skin. The despairing gangster could not help but look at the guns in their hand in dismay.
The blood-stained gangster's aim was eerily accurate, with each shot somehow he managed to claim a headshot. None of the bullets in the magazine were wasted. He then circled the Baga Bug to hunt down the rest.
Realizing they were not facing a traitor in their ranks but a monster in human flesh, the overwhelmed gangsters rushed into the empty fields under cover of the night, hoping to escape the monster but they could not make it far before a bullet claimed their lives.
Seeing the fate of their comrades those who remained gave up struggling. Unsurprisingly, Mark and his brother were among the surviving four. They threw their weapons and prostrated before the monster following Mark's brother's lead who begged aloud, "O! Great curse master Max, please spare us."
As his brother begged for mercy, Mark and the remaining two gangsters lay flat on the ground facing downwards in submission. They did not dare to move a single muscle in their body let alone lift their head to look at the monster in human flesh. Afraid of provoking it they even controlled their breathing.
Listening to the head gangster address him as a curse master, the armed gangster Max's indifferent expression morphed into an amused one as he replied, "I am not a curse master nor am your henchman Max."
Mark's brother was stumped. He did not know anything about the 'world of curses,' the only reason he knew of the curse masters was when he asked his bosses why they did not cook their product instead of acting as middlemen for the cartels they warned him to erase such thoughts by telling him unrealistic stories of a group of boggymen called curse masters.
They did not go into details nor did he bother to ask. Seeing his bosses who weren't scared of breaking the law and going against the authorities were too scared to even speak about the curse masters he understood the power of the curse master. Even though he did not believe them he prayed that he would never run into one if they truly existed but today he did.
Despite being denied by the latter, he believed the latter was a curse master if not his trusted soldier Max.
"Esteemed sir, we have hidden the cocaine. If you let us live we will tell you where our cocaine is," Mark's brother was quick to adapt and sharp-minded. Based on what he learned from the conversation he tried to negotiate with the monster. However, the monster was one step ahead of him, "I know you have buried the product and the cash underneath the farmhouse."
"I can help you get more cocaine. I know locations of other stash houses," Mark's brother was more than willing to betray the 9Ks to save his skin.
"Thank you for the information," Max thanked and soon the sound of four shots disturbed the peace of the night again.
*Thud* Max's towering body fell next to Mark's brother's body who was lying face down on the ground. A sting on his neck awakened Mark from his shock before he could feel the relief of being spared he saw his younger brother Mark had a bullet hole on the back of his head.
Just as he was about to scream in anguish, his facial expression suddenly turned indifferent before breaking into a grin as he muttered to himself, "Looks like I have hit the jackpot."
Getting on his feet Mark's brother then took a shove from the back of one of the trucks and headed into the farmhouse to collect his loot leaving nearly two dozen dead bodies behind him.
'Rose, what the fuck is happening?' Ace exclaimed looking at the bizarre sense unfold before him.
'Master, it appears this curse slave's curseling is a Parasitic Maggot. As its name suggests It is a parasitic-type curseling. By itself, it is not worth mentioning but when used by a curse slave it grants them immortality by allowing them to move their soul into different bodies,' Dame Wasp reported as she shared the records of half-life maggot with everyone using the status screen,
[ — Status screen —
Target: Parasitic Maggot
Race: Curseling
Class: Mortal-Tier
Title: none
Info:
i) A parasitic type of curseling that lives in the bodies of mortals and induces depression within them by feeding on their other emotions. Ultimately driving their host to suicide.
ii) They cannot switch hosts until their present host is dead.
iii) Washing the body of the host with a gentle curse energy is enough to kill the curseling.
Skill:
i) Memory manipulation: It can read the memories of its host and manipulate them to drive them to depression and ultimately suicide.
ii) Carrier: They can carry memories, emotions, and curse energy of their old host into a new host to induce depression faster within them and drive them to suicide faster.
Note:
i) Source: Dame Wasp, Steal Song Society archives.
ii) This data is created for human convenience by humans. Curselings don't assess to this.]
Listening to Dame Wasp's explanation and going through the curseling records, Ace finally spoke, 'I guessed as much but I still do not understand how it allows its curse slave to transfer their soul into new bodies. After all, both of its skills are not that overpowered.'
'Master, by allowing their curseling to possess them the curse slave can use the parasitic maggot's skill 'Carrier' to transfer their soul to a new body by killing their old body. However, it is said that this process of separating the soul from one's body is very painful, cursing the soul to eternal agony.
Therefore, the curse slaves that contract this curseling abuse various drugs in hopes of numbing their pain.
However, the relief gained is only momentary and no amount of the drug is ever enough for them,' Dame Wasp explained as she played the recorded video of the parasitic maggot entering Max and Mark's bother's body on her visor showing Ace how the curse slave used his curseling to switch bodies like changing clothes.