The God of Jesters
Chapter 604 - 9.12.1 Defeated by a weakling.

Chapter 604: 9.12.1 Defeated by a weakling.

The place was far deeper than Farhad expected, and the steps of this woman a bit too slow. Mind you, with each breakthrough on the path of transcendence, even if you are not a Knight, your physical attributes will always gain a certain level of boost, which keeps increasing as the higher you grow. With some Archmages, the beings that are considered feeble in front of Knights are able to rival the physique of a Master level Knight.

This is a physical evolution that exists in everyone, but this woman chose to walk with slow steps in a direction that Farhad couldn’t feel.

’Why waste time?’ Wondered Farhad, before he noticed an odd action by this old woman.

Boom with a step, she disappeared out of nowhere. ’Ho?’ It was odd, rarely would there be something capable of hiding from Farhad’s senses, but she achieved it in a way that was almost magical in his eyes.

Though there should be some limit, as in a distance of a kilometer, Farhad felt the existence of life again. ’So far?... what is this speed?’ It’s a speed almost impossible for a Master level Curse Master to achieve unless there was magic involved or a curse far too advanced for him, there is no way for a being so weak to do something like this.

’She is already outside the range of the Dhuma family’s compound.’ Farhad spoke, showing some concern followed by interest. This might be it, the core he had been looking for.

So without further delay he picked up speed and approached the old woman who seemed paler than usual, probably the effect of whatever power she used before. However that was not the end of her use of this talent, she teleported multiple times, in random directions, almost random as if there was no concrete path she had in mind.

But Farhad knew that she did all this to break off anyone tailing her. Which would have been possible if her opponent was someone else. But this was Farhad, a master at stalking his prey in the dark.

’Just how many more?’ Wondered Farhad before finding that the environment changed a lot from before, and then came a voice. "Even with the gift I left to your family, you still end up being stalked." Came out a feminine voice, who spoke from the dark, startling Hasina who didn’t expect that someone would follow her here, while Farhad?

Knowing that he had been found out, slowly took back his somewhat human form and climbed out of the ground slowly. His unsightly naked body lacked any coverings. Not like he would need them with how dark his skin was as well as his lack of any reproductive organs that in his eyes came in the way of combat. With a thought he can regrow them without an issue, but for now, the focus was entirely on the woman who looking at Farhad’s dark and ugly face, spoke. "Warnan, you have followed me... but how?" She appeared startled and then angered. "You, do you know what you have done." She didn’t care how Farhad was able to achieve a feat like this.

What she did care was that Farhad followed her to this point, to a place that no one should know about.

"Now Hasina, before we do anything, introduce this gentleman to me. I am curious who would dare to enter the domain of a mage at such a time of the day." When Hasina heard the word "mage," she already knew that Farhad would die at the very least. It’s rare for this great figure to spare anyone once she is exposed to the world, a habit she developed due to the world being too cruel to her.

The curses were too annoying so it’s better to kill anyone who would learn of her existence than to let them go.

As for Farhad, hearing her words, a smile etched on his face. Although he might not know what was on hold for him, it didn’t matter to him much, he was strong enough to survive virtually everything, and there was no need to fear this unknown mage. "Lord Dilbur, I never expected you to be so close to the Dhuma family." Farhad bowed to the figure that hid in the dark.

"Not close, but a beneficial one. Now, Hasina, I am waiting for an introduction."

"Yes Lord," Hasina said, slowly explaining Farhad’s identity, which did intrigue this woman a lot. "It would seem, that keeping you alive is more beneficial to me, the flames you used before, I wonder if it’s the thing I had been looking for all this time." She spoke openly, letting Farhad know that in her eyes, Farhad was nothing more than an entertaining material for her to mess with. Instead, Farhad should be glad that he won’t get to die at this time.

But Farhad had no emotional fluctuations. "If you wish to learn of this flame, this curse I carry, I will gladly let you borrow it, but before that, I wonder, what that food is about Guardian Hasina? And why bright it here so far into the distance? This shouldn’t be for Lord Dilbur I presume?" And it was this calmness that let him completely ignore the suppression of a powerful Grand mage.

Who herself seemed surprised by Farhad’s outright denial of her threats. This could either mean that he was foolish, which considering how far he came while following Hasina, he shouldn’t be this stupid. Which would mean, this man, this Curse Meister had reasons to be so fearless.

Were there others? She wondered, but then shook her head, this place was on the outskirts of the Baharuth Empire, and lacked resources. It would be rare for actual experts to come here and even do charity work as Farhad did.

No, there must be some other reason. ’Someone targeting me? No, he is still focused on that child.’

But thinking too much is not something Lord Dilbur was interested in. "You will get your answers after I have thoroughly understood your curse." She spoke as the stars in the sky turned purple before falling toward Farhad. "Starfall." She spoke

While Hasina took the food and dashed toward the darkness of the forest, escaping the range of the spell.

Which Farhad accepted without worries. "Let’s see what you have in your hand." This might seem flashy and can scare the ignorant and weak individuals, but Farhad had seen just too much. He understood the function of this spell with a simple look and understood that it lacked killing power. Or it’s just that his opponent underestimated him.

"I don’t wish for war." Was his first declaration as Farhad hid into the ground to hide from the impact.

There was no need to expose the freak he was to a being so strong, who knows if some strong individual that can harm him appears after being interested in the oddity like Farhad. So with the intent to hide his true capabilities, he chose to fight on defense.

But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t go after his enemy if he got the chance. The only issue for such a passive act was the inability to pinpoint his enemy’s location.

"Should have thought of this before you stalked poor old ladies into the woods." Lord Dilbur spoke as she started to look for Farhad once again using her detection magic, which wasn’t hard considering she was in truth an Arcanist with earth element mastery. The very earth beckons to her whims and the stars that she attacked with before were nothing more than dust that she compressed together to such a level that they ignited like stars into the sky.

A flimsy spell that was capable enough to kill an adept level Curse Meister and harm a Master like Farhad.

As for killing him? Well, she had many spells of that nature at hand, but there was no need to use it on an exemplary material like Farhad. ’Thanks for falling into my trap.’ Once Farhad escaped into earth, it was the same as him entering her domain. "You should have run." She spoke, tightening her fist that caused the very earth to burst apart as a mound holding Farhad surfaced from the ground.

"Now, your body reeks. But it’s enough." Before Farhad could do a thing, a small piece of paper floated to Farhad’s body and then got stuck to it. Sealing all the movement of Curse energy in his body.

Or so it was meant to happen. ’A talisman?’ Farhad barely had any curse energy in his body, the flames of Samadhi kept purifying him and keeping his body free from any corruption. But it couldn’t burn away the immortal nature of a Ghoul King that existed in his body.

Which made it appear that he was really incapable of using curses once the Mage that had been hiding in the dark came forward. "Now don’t struggle, I don’t wish to cause your precious body any harm... well not until you blurt out the information on this curse on your own."