The Strongest Curse Master

"Those don't look like exo-armor curse gadgets," Ace said, eyeing what appeared to be armored platinum mannequins. Thanks to the high confidentiality level of this location, they could operate with some freedom, without the immediate fear of being discovered.

"Master, those are robot-type curse gadgets created using puppetry curse arts," Dame Wasp explained, taking a brief break from supervising the Speclimes as they devoured various curse gadgets from the armory. In another universe, these creatures would have been her most feared predators—but now, they were her juniors. She was making sure the Speclimes didn't get full, consuming only one type of curse gadget and had sampled every worthy gadget the armory had to offer.

Yes, they were robbing the armory blind, but this was just a pit stop to gear up for their upcoming mission. As their senior, Dame Wasp did not lose sight of the objective—she kept everyone focused and sharp.

"Are there any special curse gadgets I should know about?" Ace asked. The armory was packed with cutting-edge weapons, armor, and field equipment; it would take him a day or two just to familiarize himself with what each one of them was capable of. After all, he didn't have a super-brain like Dame Wasp or the Speclimes.

"The mind-reading apparatus, maybe. But it only records the brainwaves of what the target is thinking in real time, and we have to interpret those waves into a language we can understand. However, we have the Speclimes, so that won't be a problem for us. The rest are pretty basic—either they help you kill or defend," Dame Wasp answered, casually lumping all of the C.I.B.'s cutting-edge, state-of-the-art curse gadgets into two categories: ones that blow things up and ones that don't.

"Great. So, did you find where they're holding the Overlords' descendant?" Ace asked. As he had warned Janice, he was aiming straight for the king and his treasure. He didn't give a damn whose board game this was—he was going to teach them a valuable lesson: they'd picked a pawn far beyond their level.

"No. There's no record of it in the system. I believe they're being very cautious and didn't make an entry. I'm certain they're keeping him somewhere on the lower floors. I've got a few guesses where they might be holding him. We can check them out after we hit the motor pool," Dame Wasp replied, still unable to find any concrete information about the Overlord's descendant within Base Wulfric.

"Sure," Ace nodded.

There was a reason they were looting Base Wulfric blind instead of just taking what they needed. No, they didn't plan to sell it all on the curse market. It was because all four races of the Speclime possessed the innate curse skill 'Asexual Reproduction.' In other words, the four Speclimes could multiply over time within their toy space without hurting their individuality stats.

This meant that there would be more of them in the future without Ace having to worry about running out of toy space slots, but when exactly that would happen wasn't up to him. It was beyond the Toymancer's control. The Speclimes would reproduce asexually at the same rate they did in the cartoon. So, Ace wouldn't have a Speclime army anytime soon. However, one day, he would. That was why they were looting Base Wulfric blind—preparing for that day.

"Master, we're done here," Emi reported, having stored the last of the curse gadgets in her storage talisman.

Ace nodded and turned to the Speclimes; they, too, had finished their buffet. Recalling them all back into their toy spaces, Ace shared his senses with Dame Wasp and followed her directions to the motor pool.

According to Dame Wasp, the base featured a mile-long underground tunnel, 450 yards in diameter, acting as the runway for their fighter jet curse gadgets. There was also a specialized underground launch bay to facilitate quick vertical takeoff and landing for aircraft like Apaches, as well as other helicopter- and drone-type curse gadgets.

Additionally, a hidden tunnel system was in place to bring in supplies and personnel, all of it converging at the motor pool. This central hub housed the vehicle-type curse gadgets from fighter jets to Apaches to trucks when not in use, allowing personnel to service them efficiently without impacting emergency response times.

Because of the motor pool's critical role in the base's operations—and its obvious vulnerabilities—it was heavily staffed and guarded. This made it extremely difficult for Ace and his Speclimes to loot even a single truck from the motor pool without being noticed.

However, Dame Wasp had already planned for this. She intended to exploit Base Wulfric's system to redirect the needed vehicle-type curse gadgets to one of the base's maintenance depots under the guise of regular inspection. There, the Speclimes could feed on them without worry. She had made all the arrangements even before they infiltrated the base. That's how thorough she was.

Upon arriving at the depot, Ace saw that all the vehicle-type curse gadgets Base Wulfric had to offer were already there, neatly arranged in sets of four. Nodding in satisfaction, he summoned Specwork, Specorc, Specarc, and Specroll. As they dug into their buffet, Ace glanced around the depot and asked Dame Wasp mentally, 'You sure no one will come here?'

'Yes, Master. I optimized the system settings to ensure no one but us can access this depot. Not even the general in charge of Base Wulfric has the required clearance to access this section. No one can get in here without overriding my settings—' Dame Wasp was confidently bragging when a section of the wall suddenly slid open, revealing a hidden pathway, cutting her off mid-sentence.

Startled, Ace instantly used cursed clout to vanish into the shadow where he stood, quickly recalling the Speclimes, who were still mid-meal. He held his breath instinctively as he watched the unexpected intruder enter the room.

To his utter disbelief—it was… a woman?

Not that Ace looked down on women—it was just that this lady… the way she was dressed and moved caught him completely off guard.

She wore pajama bottoms under a cozy, knee-length bathrobe and rabbit slippers on her feet. Her hair was tied up in a messy bun, and a thick face mask covered most of her face. She was brushing her teeth with one hand and holding a mug of water in the other. Her eyes were half-closed, and she looked groggy, moving as if she'd just rolled out of bed. She strolled into the depot like she was stepping into the living room of her apartment.

To Ace's dismay, she seemed to have the instincts of a block of wood—absolutely no sense of danger. She wandered around without the slightest caution and didn't even seem to notice that the once-empty depot was now filled with rows of vehicle-type curse gadgets. For a moment, Ace wondered if she was simply that confident in her strength, only to have his toy summons confirm that she was just a weak mortal-tier.

What surprised Ace even more was that Dame Wasp had gone through the entire personnel list of Base Wulfric, and no one matched this woman's description.

*Thud*

Ace was yanked from his thoughts as the woman crashed into a truck and fell flat on her ass, letting out a groan of pain before shrieking in horror as the mug of water spilled all over her. She didn't even bother trying to get up—she simply gave up and sprawled across the floor in defeat.

After a moment, she pushed herself up to sit on her butt, blinking slowly at the truck in front of her. In a drowsy, puzzled voice, she muttered to herself, "That wasn't here yesterday."

When her mind registered the words she uttered, her eyes opened wide, devoid of sleep, sharp as she looked around the room, panic began to set in. However, her gaze suddenly paused on the shadow where Ace was hiding, and color drained from her face. She quickly looked away and, bringing her fingers to her mouth, she whistled.

Ace's eyes widened in shock. He could've sworn their eyes had just met. That should've been impossible, considering he was hidden in the shadows… but somehow, the weird mortal tier lady before him had noticed him. Just as he was deciding whether to escape, knock her out, or attempt a civil conversation, the woman blew a sharp whistle through her fingers.

Almost immediately, Ace began to feel tremors rumbling through the depot floor, growing stronger with each passing second. Something massive and heavy was heading their way. His eyes darted to the hidden tunnel the woman had used to enter, now expanding rapidly to fifteen feet high and eleven feet wide as the tremors intensified.

'Fuck!' Ace mentally cussed, thinking she had called for reinforcements. He hurriedly turned to make a run for it before he found himself surrounded by C.I.B. agents and soldiers.

However, just as he was about to bolt, a shimmering silhouette appeared in the maintenance depot and moved toward the woman. To Ace's astonishment, it turned out to be an armored platinum elephant—robot? puppet?

Under his shocked gaze, the metallic elephant gently lifted the woman with its trunk and placed her safely on its back, then turned to escape through the very tunnel they had come from. The elephant thing was very swift for someone of its size.

Just as the tunnel entrance began to close behind them, Ace instinctively used the Shadow Folding ability of the cursed clout to slip through and follow, abandoning his original escape plan on impulse.