The Strongest Curse Master

"Why are you still following me around?" I asked Ava who followed me to the servant villa that Dee3 had leased from my family.

The matter of the curse caster was of utmost priority for me right now. For it, I even ignored my parents, texting Mandy to handle them for me.

When it comes to the information on curse caster's innate curse tool, it's not like I was completely clueless. Emi had made use of her curse familiar arts to get enough information from Layla's curseling partner that I knew that my guess was correct. One of the missing agents, Agent Marcus, had killed the curse caster and claimed their innate curse tool as his trophy.

This was just the basic information being passed among the agents and unfortunately, Layla's rank in C.I.B. wasn't high enough to gain access to detailed versions of the information or any information on Agent Marcus and the curse caster's innate curse tool's current whereabouts.

Just knowing that gossip about Agent Marcus killing a curse caster and gaining their innate curse tool had already started among the low-level agents of the C.I.B. was enough to elevate my sense of urgency about this situation. Because, it wouldn't take long for this gossip to reach the ears of the old monsters in retreat, tempting them to crawl out of their hibernation to get their hands on the only known curse caster's innate curse tool in the market.

Therefore, putting aside my other responsibilities, I solely focused my attention on finding Marcus and getting the curse caster's innate curse tool from him. Hopefully, my visit to Dee3 will be more rewarding than Emi was with Layla and her curseling partner. Otherwise, I will have no choice but to get Dame Wasp, even if it means interrupting her. I hoped it wouldn't come to it.

"I have nothing else better to do," Ava said ignoring my irritation and knocking on the villa door for me only to find the door open, it wasn't locked. Under her confused gaze I walked in promising aloud, "Dee3, let me in. I need your help. I promise I will not ask you for information on your source on curse caster's curse core or tool."

Ava looked around the villa feeling it was empty, she glanced at the boy in puzzlement wondering if Dee3 even knew they were in here let alone if she could hear them. However, to her astonishment, the wooden floor in front of her feet opened into an arch gate with a brick frame revealing an endless stair leading into bottomless darkness.

As someone with light as a source of her powers, Ava instinctively was hesitant about stepping into the stairs. Nonetheless, seeing the boy shoot into the stairs and arch gate slowly close behind him, she overcame that instinctive fear toward darkness and dashed into it transforming into a beam of light, following the boy.

Before she knew it Ava found herself on an endless floor illuminated by luminous crystals embedded in the ceiling giving an illusion of evening sky matching the evening sky outside. Ava looked around to make her new surroundings and find the boy but all she found were numerous animals and insects with metallic limbs and parts. It gave Ava the creeps, she felt as if she had stepped into Frankenstein's zoo and to her dismay the monsters had escaped their cages.

"Ace! Dee3!" Ava called out, trying hard to mask the panic and fear on her face and in her tone. Still the tremor in her voice gave her away.

"Ava, get it together. They are just a group of cyborg animals powered by curse energy," I said, trying to calm Ava down but in return I seem to have offended Thunder for referring to him and his friends as, 'just a group of cyborg animals.'

"Ace, what is this creepy place? How long do we have to be down here surrounded by these freaks? This place is giving me serious creeps," Ava asked, expressing her discomfort finally spotting other humans besides her in this freaky place. She was so focused on how odd and creepy the animals were that she completely ignored the various mesmerising habitats Dee3 had painstakingly developed over the past decades for her animal friends in her dungeon.

"Trumpet!" Thunder blew its trunk hard at Ava warning to watch her tongue and demanding an apology from her. It and the other animals appeared to be prepared to start a small stampede just to step on Ava still she drew her last breath.

"Thunder, stop threatening our guest. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, no matter how stupid and idiotic," Dee3 hurriedly calmed Thunder and her other animal friends without missing the opportunity to take a shot at Ava's rude and stinky mouth. She was a little timid by nature but for her friends she could be fierce enough.

*Rumble* Thunder snorted at Ava in warning and then glanced at me with disdain for bringing such a rude guest, before turning around and walking away while wagging its big behind on our faces. This was when I noticed for the first time that Thunder's small tail was actually a prosthetic tail, it was well disguised to look exactly like the original one using artificial leather. Based on the work done on Thunder's behind, I got to say Dee3's surgical skills were just godly. I couldn't help but wonder if there was something she wasn't good at.

Ava snorted at Thunder and Dee3 not bothering to waste her words on them and turned to face me. However, before she could repeat her insensitive question, I hurriedly said, "Ava, do yourself a favor and just shut up, your tongue is your enemy."

"Hey, I call it as I see them. It's not my fault that they can't digest it," Ava said, eyeing the cyborg animals glaring at her. Then, seeing the boy ignore her, she remarked in annoyance, "Whatever. That furless otter looks cute, creep nonetheless. I will go play with it."

Morphing into a beam of light Ava arrived next to a smooth-coated otter by the artificial lake and picked it up, almost scaring it to death. Seeing their friend in trouble, a hippo and walrus duo immediately attacked Ava, only to clash into each other as Ava disappeared with the otter.

The cyborg animals grew angry, becoming restless and began to scream their war cries as Ava's action was akin to declaring war on them, that too in their home turf.

*Trumpet* Thunder promptly blew its truck as hard as possible to get its cyborg animal friends in under control but its intimidation seemed to have little effect on the agitated and enraged animals. Therefore, it was forced to activate its cyborg parts, transforming its truck into a huge hypersonic blow horn straight from a sci-fi movie and cautiously blow it.

"Ace, tell that stupid girl to return the otter and apologize!" Dee3 immediately informed the boy in panic, as when her animal friends get like this it was hard for her to calm them down, even with help from Thunder, the uncrowned king of her group of cyborg animals.

"Huh?" I asked Dee3 with my hands covering my ears, my eardrums were at the verge of bursting. I could barely hear Dee3 over all this noise even though Dee3 was next to me. I did try to read her lips but without Dame Wasp to assist, I failed.

Meanwhile, the culprit of this mess, held the scared little otter in one arm and used the free hand to blow a loud and sharp whistle mobilizing her curse energy, instantly gathering the cyborg animals' attention where Thunder failed to. The animals instantly went quiet and nervously glanced at the redhead kidnapper believing that she had taken their friend hostage.