Chapter 154 Lifted!
Chapter 154 Lifted!
Under Olivia's curious eyes, Luis once again started working with the hologram. She didn't disturb him, just quietly observed him while thinking back on his statement.
'The main part of the mission starts now, huh? Fufu~ Now I'm even more interested.'
After Luis worked with the Cruse Mark structure for another few minutes, he closed the hologram and walked over to grab an unconscious kidnapper. Luis placed his hand on the kidnapper's throat and tried sensing the Curse Mark.
'Hm, I can't sense it normally. Do I really have to work with his mouth open? No way! Let's try injecting my mana inside his body.'
As soon as he thought of that, Luis started injecting the Mana inside the kidnapper's body with acute control. A few seconds later, he sensed the Curse Mark and carefully controlled his mana around it to avoid triggering it.
'For now, my mana has kept the Curse Mark stable. Now, I shall start removing it by breaking its structure.'
Not wasting any time, Luis started lifting the Curse Mark. Because it was his first time trying, all his steps were meticulous, finally, after another minute or so. A wide smile appeared on Luis' face.
"Haha! It worked!"
He wasn't just happy because they could now extract the information and rescue the children. After he managed to crack the Curse Mark, it gave him the confidence to deal with similar insidious tricks by Dark Magicians in the future.
'In the game, this Curse Mark was one of the most troublesome tricks of that antagonist. Instead of directly fighting with the protagonist, he would always place that Curse Mark on the weaker characters that are close to the protagonist and make them all die miserably, playing around with his mentality.'
*Sigh*
'All the Dark Magicians are annoying characters to deal with. Fortunately, now I'll have one less trick to worry about when dealing with them.'
Luis brought his focus back to the kidnapper, whose neck he was grabbing. Then, without a change in his expression, he injected jolts of electric current waking him up.
*Zzzt! *
"GRAAAAAHH!"
*Zzzt! *
"*Pant* Ahh… *Pant* So pain… *Pant*" The kidnapper was in a state of confusion as he held his pained body. Then, after a moment, he murmured in confusion.
"… I am alive?"
Luis was about to interrogate the kidnapper using another torture session. However, when he heard the kidnapper's words, he stopped. Then he thought for a moment and decided to play along with his confusion. So, he said in a flat voice.
"No, you are dead. I used forbidden magic to keep your soul from leaving."
Olivia gave Luis a strange look, wondering what he was trying to do. 'Don't tell me you expect him to believe that nonsense?'
The kidnapper turned to Luis with an horrified look, who was also staring back at him with a neutral expression.
"IT YOU!!! No way! You are lying to me!"
'See, he didn't believe you.' Olivia just chuckled inwardly.
Luis' expression didn't change at all, nor was he flustered about his lie being caught. With a calm expression on his face, he shrugged.
"Believe it or not, I don't care. All I can be sure about is that now you are dead. That spell or whatever it was won't work anymore. So, I can get all the answers from you."
"What? That spell won't work?"
*Mmph*
The kidnapper hastily used his hand to block his mouth with a nervous expression. 'Oops, I said the wrong thing. Now my head will explode. I never expected that I would die because of my loose mouth.' In his heart, he was crying while awaiting his death. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Which made him doubtful.
"Were you successful in removing the spell from me?"
He asked while looking at Luis with a shocked expression.
Luis shook his head. "It was more difficult than I thought. So, I just used the easy way. I summoned your soul."
"No, I am alive. I can even feel the pain." The kidnapper shook his head in disbelief.
"Of course, you will feel pain. After the heinous deeds you committed, your soul is going to be tortured for eternity. This pain is too little only because I kept your soul from leaving. Once I let you go to the afterlife, you are going to through insufferable pain for all your sins."
Luis said with a cold expression, while also releasing some magic pressure. His temperament and confidence made it hard for people to doubt him. In addition to that, his Performer Talent was also active, making the kidnapper's thoughts waver.
'Am I truly dead? Is he not lying to me? If I think about it rationally, there's no reason for him to lie to me. He can just kill me whenever he wants.'
The kidnapper looked around and asked, "If I am dead, then where is my body?"
Luis scoffed and said with a smirk. "Of course, the summoning of a soul needs a sacrifice, and what sacrifice is better than the body of the soul I want to summon?"
When the kidnapper heard Luis answer and saw the dangerous smile on his face, he shuddered.
"Anyway, that's enough answering your questions. Now it's your turn to answer my questions."
Just now, in Luis' earpiece, Lily's voice sounded, updating him on Alicia and the others' warehouse rescue operation. That will be over anytime. Which is why he stopped messing around with the kidnapper and got serious with the interrogation.
The kidnapper gulped, then thought of something and nodded. "If I am already dead and the spell won't have any effect on me. Then there's no point in hiding. Ask away whatever you want. At least I can do one good deed in this life. Even if it is after my death."
Luis' face became solemn when he heard his words. 'Is this what I think it is?' He shook his head. 'I should ask about it later. Foremost, the children.'
Luis' brows furrowed. Seeing this, the kidnapper continued. "I am not lying. Just when we received notification about our schedule, you attacked us. So, we had no time to read it."
"Tell me, where are the kids?"
"I only know of a few storage points. From there, someone will come to pick them up and transport them."
"When will the pickup person come?"
"… I don't know."
Luis' brows furrowed. Seeing this, the kidnapper continued. "I am not lying. Just when we received notification about our schedule, you attacked us. So, we had no time to read it."
"I see," Luis rubbed his chin in realization, then asked, "Who received that message?"
The kidnapper pointed at the strongest kidnapper among them. "It's him."
Luis stepped forward and held his frozen arm. He started using his Lightning to melt the ice while thinking if he should wake him up and force him to unlock his mana bracelet.
When the ice melted, Luis looked at that kidnapper's mana bracelet and a surprised expression appeared on his face. "It's already unlocked?"
"He was just about to read it for us when we were attacked. Then everything happened so fast, he probably didn't have the opportunity to turn it off."
"Well, that's good. It saves the unnecessary trouble of waking him up and forcing him." With a serious expression on his face. Luis looked for that said message.
"Found it!" Then he started reading it and murmured after a few seconds. "So, the scheduled pickup is at 21:30. That is around 20 minutes from now."
'If we capture the person who is supposed to pick up the kidnapped children. Then we can find out where the children are being taken and all the spots from where they are supposed to be picked up.'
'Guess we will have to set a trap.'
Luis immediately sent a message to Alicia and Diana to finish it up there and come back here fast. 'We still have some time before the pickup person arrives.' Thinking so, he started asking other questions.
"Which country are you kidnappers from?"
"Aiverson Empire."
"City?"
"We don't have a fixed place. We just moved around many places to complete the missions assigned to us by the higher-ups."'
At his statement, not only Luis, but even Olivia also frowned.
Olivia knit her brows and inquired. "Mission?! Who assigned this mission to you?!"
The sudden appearance of another person surprised the kidnapper. Until now, he hadn't noticed there was someone else beside them. However, seeing her appearance did not surprise Luis, and he was also waiting for his answer. The kidnapper said while shaking his head.
"I don't know who assigns us missions. Whenever they approach us, they wear a weird mask."
'Weird mask? It should be an artifact.' Luis thought. Then he asked, knowingly. "Just because they ask you to do it. You accept it. Is it because of the money?"
"We have been doing this since the first time they forced us to do it as a child. If we try to escape from them and not follow their orders, the only option is death."
'As I thought, there's a story.'
*Sigh* He sighed, then said. "Although I want to know about your experiences. The most urgent issue right now is the kids. So, tell me, the reason behind this mass kidnapping."
At Luis' question, Olivia also looked over with a solemn expression.
The kidnapper hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"… It's for their skin and body parts."154 Lifted!
Under Olivia's curious eyes, Luis once again started working with the hologram. She didn't disturb him, just quietly observed him while thinking back on his statement.
'The main part of the mission starts now, huh? Fufu~ Now I'm even more interested.'
After Luis worked with the Cruse Mark structure for another few minutes, he closed the hologram and walked over to grab an unconscious kidnapper. Luis placed his hand on the kidnapper's throat and tried sensing the Curse Mark.
'Hm, I can't sense it normally. Do I really have to work with his mouth open? No way! Let's try injecting my mana inside his body.'
As soon as he thought of that, Luis started injecting the Mana inside the kidnapper's body with acute control. A few seconds later, he sensed the Curse Mark and carefully controlled his mana around it to avoid triggering it.
'For now, my mana has kept the Curse Mark stable. Now, I shall start removing it by breaking its structure.'
Not wasting any time, Luis started lifting the Curse Mark. Because it was his first time trying, all his steps were meticulous, finally, after another minute or so. A wide smile appeared on Luis' face.
"Haha! It worked!"
He wasn't just happy because they could now extract the information and rescue the children. After he managed to crack the Curse Mark, it gave him the confidence to deal with similar insidious tricks by Dark Magicians in the future.
'In the game, this Curse Mark was one of the most troublesome tricks of that antagonist. Instead of directly fighting with the protagonist, he would always place that Curse Mark on the weaker characters that are close to the protagonist and make them all die miserably, playing around with his mentality.'
*Sigh*
'All the Dark Magicians are annoying characters to deal with. Fortunately, now I'll have one less trick to worry about when dealing with them.'
Luis brought his focus back to the kidnapper, whose neck he was grabbing. Then, without a change in his expression, he injected jolts of electric current waking him up.
*Zzzt! *
"GRAAAAAHH!"
*Zzzt! *
"*Pant* Ahh… *Pant* So pain… *Pant*" The kidnapper was in a state of confusion as he held his pained body. Then, after a moment, he murmured in confusion.
"… I am alive?"
Luis was about to interrogate the kidnapper using another torture session. However, when he heard the kidnapper's words, he stopped. Then he thought for a moment and decided to play along with his confusion. So, he said in a flat voice.
"No, you are dead. I used forbidden magic to keep your soul from leaving."
Olivia gave Luis a strange look, wondering what he was trying to do. 'Don't tell me you expect him to believe that nonsense?'
The kidnapper turned to Luis with an horrified look, who was also staring back at him with a neutral expression.
"IT YOU!!! No way! You are lying to me!"
'See, he didn't believe you.' Olivia just chuckled inwardly.
Luis' expression didn't change at all, nor was he flustered about his lie being caught. With a calm expression on his face, he shrugged. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
"Believe it or not, I don't care. All I can be sure about is that now you are dead. That spell or whatever it was won't work anymore. So, I can get all the answers from you."
"What? That spell won't work?"
*Mmph*
The kidnapper hastily used his hand to block his mouth with a nervous expression. 'Oops, I said the wrong thing. Now my head will explode. I never expected that I would die because of my loose mouth.' In his heart, he was crying while awaiting his death. He waited for a few seconds, but nothing happened. Which made him doubtful.
"Were you successful in removing the spell from me?"
He asked while looking at Luis with a shocked expression.
Luis shook his head. "It was more difficult than I thought. So, I just used the easy way. I summoned your soul."
"No, I am alive. I can even feel the pain." The kidnapper shook his head in disbelief.
"Of course, you will feel pain. After the heinous deeds you committed, your soul is going to be tortured for eternity. This pain is too little only because I kept your soul from leaving. Once I let you go to the afterlife, you are going to through insufferable pain for all your sins."
Luis said with a cold expression, while also releasing some magic pressure. His temperament and confidence made it hard for people to doubt him. In addition to that, his Performer Talent was also active, making the kidnapper's thoughts waver.
'Am I truly dead? Is he not lying to me? If I think about it rationally, there's no reason for him to lie to me. He can just kill me whenever he wants.'
The kidnapper looked around and asked, "If I am dead, then where is my body?"
Luis scoffed and said with a smirk. "Of course, the summoning of a soul needs a sacrifice, and what sacrifice is better than the body of the soul I want to summon?"
When the kidnapper heard Luis answer and saw the dangerous smile on his face, he shuddered.
"Anyway, that's enough answering your questions. Now it's your turn to answer my questions."
Just now, in Luis' earpiece, Lily's voice sounded, updating him on Alicia and the others' warehouse rescue operation. That will be over anytime. Which is why he stopped messing around with the kidnapper and got serious with the interrogation.
The kidnapper gulped, then thought of something and nodded. "If I am already dead and the spell won't have any effect on me. Then there's no point in hiding. Ask away whatever you want. At least I can do one good deed in this life. Even if it is after my death."
Luis' face became solemn when he heard his words. 'Is this what I think it is?' He shook his head. 'I should ask about it later. Foremost, the children.'
Luis' brows furrowed. Seeing this, the kidnapper continued. "I am not lying. Just when we received notification about our schedule, you attacked us. So, we had no time to read it."
"Tell me, where are the kids?"
"I only know of a few storage points. From there, someone will come to pick them up and transport them."
"When will the pickup person come?"
"… I don't know."
Luis' brows furrowed. Seeing this, the kidnapper continued. "I am not lying. Just when we received notification about our schedule, you attacked us. So, we had no time to read it."
"I see," Luis rubbed his chin in realization, then asked, "Who received that message?"
The kidnapper pointed at the strongest kidnapper among them. "It's him."
Luis stepped forward and held his frozen arm. He started using his Lightning to melt the ice while thinking if he should wake him up and force him to unlock his mana bracelet.
When the ice melted, Luis looked at that kidnapper's mana bracelet and a surprised expression appeared on his face. "It's already unlocked?"
"He was just about to read it for us when we were attacked. Then everything happened so fast, he probably didn't have the opportunity to turn it off."
"Well, that's good. It saves the unnecessary trouble of waking him up and forcing him." With a serious expression on his face. Luis looked for that said message.
"Found it!" Then he started reading it and murmured after a few seconds. "So, the scheduled pickup is at 21:30. That is around 20 minutes from now."
'If we capture the person who is supposed to pick up the kidnapped children. Then we can find out where the children are being taken and all the spots from where they are supposed to be picked up.'
'Guess we will have to set a trap.'
Luis immediately sent a message to Alicia and Diana to finish it up there and come back here fast. 'We still have some time before the pickup person arrives.' Thinking so, he started asking other questions.
"Which country are you kidnappers from?"
"Aiverson Empire."
"City?"
"We don't have a fixed place. We just moved around many places to complete the missions assigned to us by the higher-ups."'
At his statement, not only Luis, but even Olivia also frowned.
Olivia knit her brows and inquired. "Mission?! Who assigned this mission to you?!"
The sudden appearance of another person surprised the kidnapper. Until now, he hadn't noticed there was someone else beside them. However, seeing her appearance did not surprise Luis, and he was also waiting for his answer. The kidnapper said while shaking his head.
"I don't know who assigns us missions. Whenever they approach us, they wear a weird mask."
'Weird mask? It should be an artifact.' Luis thought. Then he asked, knowingly. "Just because they ask you to do it. You accept it. Is it because of the money?"
"We have been doing this since the first time they forced us to do it as a child. If we try to escape from them and not follow their orders, the only option is death."
'As I thought, there's a story.'
*Sigh* He sighed, then said. "Although I want to know about your experiences. The most urgent issue right now is the kids. So, tell me, the reason behind this mass kidnapping."
At Luis' question, Olivia also looked over with a solemn expression.
The kidnapper hesitated for a moment, then spoke.
"… It's for their skin and body parts."