Chapter 103: The Curse is Broken

Several minutes passed.

The red marking above Ethan’s head had become very faint. It was now so weak that Ethan could almost see through it.

Beads of sweat had also started forming on Aldric’s forehead. He kept his hand raised and continued pouring his power into the curse.

Just then, a cracking sound came from the marking.

Crack!

The red symbol shook before breaking apart completely. The remaining pieces quickly disappeared, leaving nothing behind.

Aldric lowered his hand and let out a long breath.

"Phew... Finally done."

Ethan immediately checked his status.

His HP was no longer decreasing.

He also looked above his head, but the red marking was completely gone. He could no longer feel the strange energy that had been connected to his body.

The curse was finally removed.

"Thank you, Mr. Aldric."

Aldric nodded. He still looked a little tired, but he seemed satisfied with his work.

The Seventh Order expert also smiled.

"Thank you, Mr. Aldric. We really appreciate your help."

"It’s nothing. Removing curses is part of my job."

The man nodded before turning towards Ethan.

"Now that the curse has been removed, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I’ll also make sure the Academy is informed about what happened here."

He then looked towards the station personnel who had brought Ethan earlier.

"Take him to where the other students are. They should still be waiting for him."

"Understood, sir."

The Seventh Order expert looked at Ethan again.

"You can follow him. He’ll take you to your fellow students."

Ethan nodded.

"Thank you."

The station personnel stepped forward.

"Please, follow me."

Ethan followed him out of the room. He was finally free of the curse, and besides, he had a score to settle.

After Ethan and the station personnel left, the Seventh Order expert turned towards Aldric.

"I’ll personally see you out, Mr. Aldric."

Aldric didn’t refuse. The two of them left the room together.

A few minutes later, the Seventh Order expert returned to the room.

One of the other Seventh Order experts looked at him.

"Why did you go out of your way to show that student so much respect? He’s only a student from the Order Academy. He doesn’t have much influence or power yet."

The man shook his head.

"What’s wrong with that? The incident happened because of us. We should take responsibility for what happened to him."

The other man nodded, but then brought up something else.

"Still, I can’t help thinking about our current situation. The public still sees the Aethernal Empire as one of the hegemon factions in Elyria, but we know the truth. We’re only a half-step Overlord faction right now."

He leaned back in his chair.

"We’ve spent years trying to reach the same level as the other Overlord factions. We’ve made progress, and we’re closer than we were before, but there’s still a gap between us."

His voice became a little more serious.

"Once we become a true Overlord faction, things will be different. We won’t have to keep giving other factions special treatment or lower our heads whenever we deal with them. Even the way the other powers treat us will change."

The first man nodded.

"That’s what we’ve been working towards. But there’s still no guarantee we’ll get there."

He paused before continuing.

"Not unless the Crown Prince returns from that place."

The other man fell silent. He knew what the Crown Prince’s return would mean for the Aethernal Empire.

For now, there was nothing they could do but wait.

Meanwhile, Ethan followed the station personnel through another corridor.

"The other students are waiting inside," he said before opening the door.

Ethan walked in.

Adrian was the first to notice him. He turned his covered eyes towards the entrance, and the others soon followed his gaze.

"Ethan?"

Lydia stood up from her seat.

"You’re back!"

She walked towards him, followed by Gareth and Kael. Bran, who had been sitting comfortably on a couch, also sat up. Victor remained where he was.

"You’re alright?" Gareth asked.

"I’m fine," Ethan replied.

Kael looked him over before asking, "What happened after that man took you away? We were told he escaped, but nobody told us what happened to you."

Ethan pulled out a chair and sat down.

"After he took me onto the skyship, he put a Sealing Curse on me. It stopped me from using mana, so I couldn’t use any of my mana-based skills."

"Then how did you get away from him?" Lydia asked.

"I destroyed the skyship."

The others looked at him. "You destroyed the skyship?" Kael repeated.

Ethan nodded. "We both fell when the ship was destroyed. He was already injured from fighting the six Seventh Order experts, but he still had enough strength to keep fighting. After placing another curse on me, he eventually left."

"What kind of curse?" Adrian asked.

"A Life-Draining Curse. It would have continued draining my HP until I died."

Lydia’s face changed.

"Wait, you had a curse like that on you?"

"Yes. Princess Valeria arrived shortly after the man left. She gave me a small skyship and went after him. I returned here, and one of the Church members removed the curse."

"Wait, Princess Valeria was the one who helped you?" Kael asked.

His expression changed slightly, and he leaned forward a little.

"Yes." Ethan replied.

"I see..." Kael said, looking a little more interested than before.

Gareth let out a breath.

"At least you made it back safely. That kind of curse sounds dangerous."

"It was," Lydia added. "If the Church member hadn’t been able to remove it, you would have had less than two days left."

The others became quiet for a moment.

Gareth was the first to bring up another matter.

"How long were you away from the station?" he asked. "We’ve already lost quite a bit of time waiting here."

"Several hours," Ethan replied.

Kael frowned slightly.

"Then we’re even further behind schedule. We were already delayed by the inspection, and now this has happened."

"How much longer will it take us to reach Ironhaven?" Lydia asked.

"At least another day and a half," Kael answered. "That’s assuming nothing else happens along the way."

Gareth sighed.

"Hopefully, this delay won’t affect our assignment. We’ve already spent so much time getting here, and the situation in Ironhaven isn’t getting any better."

"There’s nothing we can do about the delay now," Ethan said. "We should just get ready to leave as soon as possible."

Kael nodded.

"Hopefully, we won’t run into any more trouble on the way."

Ethan didn’t reply. Instead, his attention shifted towards Victor, who was sitting some distance away from the others.

There was still something he needed to settle with him.