Rise of the Lustful Evil Monarch (Re)-Chapter 518: Journey Across Continents (16)

Third Person’s POV

Altheria continued,

"According to what is written here, only a very small number of individuals belonging to the Malakar royal lineage ever awaken the curse runes embedded within their bloodline."

She turned her head slightly, ensuring both Nyx and Isha were following.

"And those who do awaken them gain access to certain curse spells that those runes are capable of manifesting."

Her brows knit together slightly.

"But there is something particularly strange about the nature of these abilities."

She traced a line of script along the parchment.

"These curses cannot be learned, copied, or cultivated by ordinary means, even by the members of the same family, as they are not techniques that can be passed down through study."

Her crimson eyes darkened slightly.

"They are innate, and even the caster themselves appears to possess only a limited understanding of how they function."

She tapped another portion of the record.

"The curse runes awaken within their blood, and the abilities simply manifest. The user can cast the curse, but they themselves do not fully understand the deeper principles behind it."

Her voice carried a quiet unease now.

"Furthermore, the energy required to fuel these spells, which the record calls dark curse energy, is also generated directly by those same runes."

She exhaled slowly.

"In other words, the caster does not need to use their mana or life force to sustain its functions as the runes themselves can use the victim’s life force or their mana and convert it into curse energy required to maintain itself."

Altheria’s lips pressed together faintly.

"This leaves almost no loophole for any outsider to study, manipulate, or dismantle these curse spells from outside."

As she finished explaining the contents of the codex, Nyx’s expression darkened noticeably, while Isha’s pupils widened slightly with growing seriousness.

"Hmph."

Altheria’s voice dropped to a colder tone.

"So one of the twin demon royal families has been hiding a secret like this all along."

Her gaze shifted briefly toward Ethan.

"And judging from the contents of this record, we can safely infer that the curse placed on Ethan carries Dajjal’s blood authority."

A shadow passed across her face as she said it, while Isha gave a slow nod in agreement, though Nyx did not react verbally to her statement.

Her golden eyes remained fixed upon the parchment as she continued reading the long and detailed curse record with absolute concentration, her gaze moving across every line with terrifying precision.

Meanwhile, Altheria raised her hand again, and the scroll responded instantly.

With a gentle motion of her fingers, the parchment rotated slowly in the air, revealing another section further down the document, one that contained far more detailed illustrations.

Looking at it, Altheria said quietly,

"This particular curse is called the Life Stealing Abyssal Hex."

The grotesque diagram displayed on the parchment showed a monstrous spider-like creature wrapping itself around a shadowy humanoid figure.

The resemblance to the curse visible across Ethan’s chest was impossible to ignore.

"It is not merely a simple curse," Altheria continued as her tone grew heavier.

"The record makes that point very clear that this curse seems to belong to a niche group of curses that are known as bloodbound curses.

And it is described as being extremely rare, even among those members of the Malakar bloodline who manage to awaken their curse runes."

Her crimson eyes narrowed slightly as she absorbed the deeper implications.

"And according to the record... the reason why this particular curse is so terrifying..."

She paused briefly before finishing the sentence.

"...is because it is directly tied to the life force of the caster himself."

Isha’s brows furrowed the moment she heard Altheria’s explanation, as the description she delivered sounded far too exaggerated and incomprehensible to her ears.

It seemed to be almost bordering on absurdity in her opinion, as even she, a dragon who had reached the Heaven Connection Realm and had lived for centuries, had never encountered or even heard whispers of such a strange and terrifying ability.

Her cerulean eyes narrowed slightly as she stared at the grotesque spider black vein pattern spread over Ethan’s body.

For a brief moment, she remained silent, trying to understand the implications of what Altheria had just read, but the more she thought about it, the more unbelievable it sounded.

Finally, she couldn’t help but speak her mind, her voice carrying clear suspicion.

"How can there be such an absurd ability in this world?" she asked slowly, her gaze shifting between the ancient scroll and the curse spreading across Ethan’s body.

"And if it truly exists, then how exactly does it work?"

Hearing her question, Altheria’s expression grew grim.

Her crimson eyes returned to the mysterious curse record as if trying to extract more meaning from its ancient script.

"I have been thinking about that myself," she replied after a moment of silence.

She traced a few lines written beneath the spider diagram with her finger while continuing in a thoughtful voice.

"Looking at the description here, it seems that the curse forms some sort of inter-dimensional connection... most likely something tied to the astral layer of existence."

Her finger moved slowly across the parchment.

"It creates a parasitic link between the victim’s and the caster’s life force."

Isha’s gaze sharpened slightly when she heard those words.

Altheria continued speaking as she read further from the record.

"The closer the victim remains to the caster... and more importantly to the caster’s domain according to the caster’s level of strength..."

Her finger tapped the line that described the Empire of Abyssal Dominion.

"...the stronger the curse becomes."

The moment those words were spoken, Nyx’s golden eyes flashed dangerously.

The faint light within them sharpened into something cold and lethal as she finally spoke a single word.

"Meaning?"

Her voice was quiet, but the weight behind it made the air in the room grow heavier as Altheria answered slowly.

"If Ethan continues to remain here in the Sanctum, the chances of him awakening from unconsciousness will gradually decrease with every passing day."