Everyone in the arena was quiet. They all looked at the bear with unexplainable emotions, but mostly just confusion. Sergeant frost then asked,
"Can It even speak?"
This question was directed at the US team's leader of course. She was a short girl with long blonde hair. Her face was hidden behind a purple veil, but she seemed to be some kind of prophet.
"I don't know."
Loud whispers began to spread amongst the crowd about what to do. The bear couldn't obviously compete, but then that meant the US team wouldn't be able to continue with the game. They would have to be disqualified.
And then as if to break all their doubts, the bear enhanced one of its claws with cursed energy.
"WHAT!?"
With that claw, it then carved the number 40 into the floor.
Animal weren't intelligent, and their natural instincts override any kinds of emotions they have, constricting their ability to control or even perceive cursed energy. And yet, this bear was doing all of that.
Wallace was then teleported into what seemed like an empty world of pure sky, but then a set stairs appeared out of nowhere, eventually connecting up to the upside down castle which manifested in the sky.
"32 grade 3, and 8 grade 2 curses have been selected. Get ready."
The doors at the top of the stairs swung open, revealing a dark hallway. The bear then groaned before curling up into a sphere like shape as if it were a hamster. It then released a sudden burst of cursed energy, as it rolled all the way up the stairs and into the castle halls.
2 grade 2 curses which had been guarding the entrance were immediately rolled over and crushed. They appeared to be some kind of living pristine armour, typical of the medieval times as they were also armed with spears.
The second Wallace entered, he was quickly surrounded by a horde of grade 3 curses that blocked it's path forward. Wallace simply tried to run over them all, but rather than spears, these knights were armed with swords and small shields.
As he crushed them with his body, he could feel every cut that they delivered to him. They pierced his hide as a group, gradually weakening the bear as it unfurled from its shield form.
Wallace towered over every single one of the knights, as light amounts of blood seeped from its mouth. The knights raised their weapons, preparing to take on the dreadful foe, but then Wallace began to change.
He grew taller, wider, his claws grew even more ferocious and wild as they turned into razor like baldes. His teeth grew even more sharp and deadly, and just making eye contact with him, threw the knights off guard.
It's fur had turned snow white, and it's eyes were now pitch black and filled with malice.
The once cute bear, had turned into a terrifying demon.
With just one swing of its arms, several of the grade 3 knight curses had their heads torn off, and at the same moment, even more knights seemed to swarm into the hall. It seemed that every single knight in the castle, was coming to him right now.
With a single loud ferocious roar, every single knight froze in place. And quickly, Wallace curled back up into a hamster ball, and began to speed down the hallway with even more power than before. He crushed countless grade 3 knights, but his movement had to stop once they began to move once again.
They all strategically avoided the path Wallace was speeding down on, as the grade 2 knights rushed to the front, and began to attack with their spears from a distance.
3 Spears were forced into Wallace's back, easily piercing his pelt. But the bear simply roared as it broke them all with one slash. It was just about to charge towards them, but then 2 more knights jumped on his back and tried to pierce him with their swords.
Distracted by them, Wallace quickly tried to sweep them off, but then three knights which had been disarmed, rushed towards Wallace as they fought with their fists.
The bear easily destroyed them, but then even more took their place.
The rest of the battle was long and hard, as Wallace came out the castle with terrible wounds. But he had won.
"KUMA THE BEAR SUCCEEDS IN KILLING ALL 40 OF THE CURSED SPIRITS, GRANTING IT A SCORE OF 55."
Despite the wondrous achievement, no one appeared to be happy. Wallace was covered in wounds that dyed his white fur red, and those wounds only grew as he returned to his original size. Quickly, a deployment of vets rushed in to take good care of him.
The castle which had been devastated in that battle disappeared, before blinking back into reality the next moment. The entire thing was now repaired, as if a battle had never taken place there in the first place. And just like that, it was Sung Gon-ill's turn to challenge the dungeon.
Before the robotic voice even had a chance to ask, Gon-ill then said,
"Give me all 100."
A flood of whispers could be heard amongst the crowd. Tyrece even commented,
"Fighting a special grade curse is a task by itself, but fighting 99 other cursed spirits at the same time?? This man has a death wish."
Even the robotic voice was slightly concerned. It was about to ask for confirmation, but Gon-ill quickly cut it off.
"Don't make me wait."
He was then teleported onto a floating platform much like his competitor before him, but the second the stairs manifested, and the doors opened, a flood of grade 3 cursed knights rampaged towards him. At the exact same time, a wave of arrows was approaching him from the walls of the castle.
Before they could reach him however, he uttered the words.
"Equip, Black wing armor set."
His entire body was briefly coated in a strange blue light that quickly evaporated. Instead of his usual black suit, he was now wearing some kind of black stone armour that was on the lighter side. He was armed with two black short swords, which he unsheathed immediately.
"Skill: Hermes Mercury."
One moment he was gone, and the next, the flood of knights were decimated without any warning. Some of them were split in half, some were simply knocked of the stairs, doomed to fall for eternity.
As Gon-ill rushed into the corridor, he was met by a legion of knights both armed with swords and spears. They all charged at him in unison, all for Gon-ill to disappear once again. Within a few seconds, they were wiped out without mercy.
Just then, 16 more Knight's broke into the hall. Their armour seemed much more sturdy and royal as they were tinted in gold, and unlike their lower class comrades, they possessed large greatswords which they wielded with two hands. Some even had bows and quivers.
It seemed all the grade 2 and lower curses were dead, and all the remained were the grade 1 and special grade curses.
Using his earlier skill once again, he blasted himself into the air instead. This time, he said,
"Skill: Athena's grace
Skill: Sylph's grace
Skill: Rain of fallen arrows."
The air above the knights began to shake and quake, as a strange wind coursed through the hall. Yumeno's jaw dropped to the ground, as she witnessed countless arrows of wind fall down on the curses below. In just a few moments, all the grade 1 curses were wiped out.
Wind was supposed to be her specialty, and yet Sung Gon-ill surpassed her in not just this, but every other aspect as well.
"WHAT THE HELL IS HIS CURSED TECHNIQUE!?? IT'S BULLSHIT!"
Sung Gon-ill then advanced to the throne room, which was just as large and grand as the hallway behind him. However, there was a large throne at the back of it, decorated in accents of gold and blue. Of course, sitting on that throne was a king. The Special Grade boss of this dungeon.
Contrasting every single object in this dungeon, the king wore blood red armour that covered its entire being, if there was even anything beneath that armour to begin with. It slowly rose, as it pulled out the red greatsword which was lodged in the ground in front of it.
Unlike its grade 1 counter parts, it could wield it with 1 arm, and with devastatingly more power to boot.
Quickly, Gon-ill swapped out his armour.
"Equip, Crimson Emperors Armour Set."
He was once again covered by that teal light, and everyone gasped in shock as he now donned the exact same armour and weapons that the Special Grade curse wore.
"Skill: Strength of Trolls,
Skill: Hermes Mercury."
The two identical opponents disappeared, and in the blink of an eye the clashed in the middle of the hall. As their swords scrapped against each other, sparks of light flickered away. They then pushed each other off, before swing their tremendous blades at eachother once again.
Although it wasn't obvious due to how fast they were moving, the special grade seemed to hold the advantage as it displayed superior physical might. Even with all of Gon-ill's buffs, he was struggling to catch up.
"Skill: Curse Of Sloth."
A faint purple light embraced the curse, as it's movements slowed down considerably. Gon-ill then swung his greatsword with his full power, as it smashed against the blood emperors side, sending him flying back into it's throne.
The king was just about to get back up, but a glowing yellow arrow quickly pierced it in the chest. Like the knights before, it was hollow on the inside, so it was about to pull it out.
"Skill: Holy arrow. That arrow is made of Reverse Cursed Technique, letting me heal humans who may be struck by it. However to curses like you.. "
The knight suddenly began to convulse, as it's armour began to bend and bloat. Then in just a few moments.. the top half of the knight exploded, as shrapnel scattered across the entire hall.
"It is a lethal poison."
The crowd then roared. This was undoubtedly, the greatest display of power so far in the cursed battle tournament. Sung Gon-ill didn't even take any breaks in between fights, and went straight for the special grade after dealing with its 100 lackys.
"SONG GON-ILL WALKS OUT WITH THE MAXIMUM SCORE OF 255! AND WITH THAT, HE WINS THE SPECIAL PRIZE! However.. will he be.. the only one?"
If the last remaining two teams wanted a chance at winning this round, then they would also need to fight 100 curses. But what were the chances of another sorcerer like that being on the other teams?
To begin with, there were only 2 official special grade sorcerers in participating in the games. That being Sung gon-ill, and Li Haoran.
Akumu approached the middle of the colosseum, now that it was his turn to challenge the dungeon. The expectations for the japanese team was little due to their poor performance, but Akumu had already made up his mind. He would destroy it here and now, everything that they think of them,
"I will fight all 100 of them too.", He said with dark intent.