I Can Copy Curses

In an instant, he teleported above the distant wolf and drove his sword down as he landed. The wolf was pinned to the ground instantly. However, Orion sensed an uncontrollable surge of energy building around its jaw.

'It's going to explode!' Orion realized, and without hesitation, he teleported away from the wolf just as the energy erupted.

Boom!

The moment he disappeared, the lightning wolf pinned to the ground exploded into a whirl of lightning all around it.

Orion frowned as he observed the spectacle, then turned his attention to the peak gold rank lightning wolf.

'Is the peak gold rank lightning wolf giving orders to the other wolves?' he pondered. It seemed likely; the wolves had attacked him with such coordinated and strategic precision that it suggested they were following orders. As he thought more about it, Orion realized that the strongest wolf in the pack—the peak gold rank lightning wolf—would naturally be the one to lead them.

'That's why it didn't attack me directly and waited,' Orion surmised. 'It planned to handle me with its henchmen.'

Understanding its strategy, Orion adjusted his own plan accordingly. His focus shifted as he prepared to deal with both the pack and their leader, strategizing on how to disrupt their coordination and overcome their combined strength.

'Let's finish the weak ones quick.'

He immediately switched the curse from Frozen Torment to Detonating Flesh in his Curse Transformation, causing the area around his stomach to glow with a purple light.

"It's been a while since I've used this curse," Orion murmured to himself.

He held out his left hand, and a purple glowing sphere, twice the size of his head, condensed in his palm. The sphere pulsed like a heartbeat, its purple hue fluctuating between low and high intensity.

Just then, flashes of golden light heralded the arrival of more wolves before him, their jaws poised to strike.

Orion smiled knowingly and vanished from their sight. However, the pulsating purple sphere remained suspended in the air.

The wolves were visibly confused when Orion disappeared, and their confusion only grew as they observed the glowing purple sphere left behind.

Their unease turned to alarm as the sphere suddenly split into two, then multiplied exponentially. Two became four, four became eight, and the process continued until there were countless pulsating spheres filling the area.

As more and more spheres appeared, the entire vicinity around the lightning tree was engulfed in a pulsating glow of purple light. The spheres varied in intensity, their combined radiance creating a mesmerizing yet foreboding spectacle.

The distant crowd was taken aback by the unfolding scene.

"What is he doing? Is this an attack?" one voice queried anxiously.

"I'm not sure. But it doesn't seem to be affecting the wolves," another replied with uncertainty.

"Look at Orion, he's just standing there and—"

Before the last person could finish, Orion vanished from his previous location and reappeared in front of the crowd.

"Brace for impact," Orion declared firmly as he addressed the bewildered onlookers.

"What do—"

BOOM!

An intense purple light flashed across everyone's faces, casting a bright purple glow over their bodies as a resounding explosion echoed throughout the dungeon.

The crowd watched in shock as a purple mushroom cloud-like explosion erupted around the tree. A terrifying shockwave, filled with dust and dirt, followed, forcing everyone to shield their eyes with their hands.

Orion's hair swayed from the shockwave as he wondered why he had stopped using such a powerful curse. It had unpredictability, power, and explosive force—everything he needed in a curse.

Seeing this spectacle, he recalled a phrase: 'Art is an explosion. I didn't understand it before, but now I see that art truly is an explosion,' he thought, laughing at the notion.

Soon, the explosion died down, leaving behind a purple mass of cloud covering the explosion area.

'Did it also die?' Orion wondered about the peak gold-rank lightning wolf.

"OOWOOOOOO!"

An intense roar pierced the silence, causing the purple cloud of dust to blow away, revealing an enraged lightning wolf glaring at the crowd. Its eyes were red, and bits and pieces of wolf corpses lay around it. These pieces glowed with a red hue before transforming into particles and disappearing into the air.

"OWOOOOOO!"

The wolf roared again, perhaps in agony at seeing its kin vanish before its eyes.

Orion turned to the crowd and warned them once more. "You guys should retreat as far as possible. These wolves are fast and could attack you in no time if you stay here."

The crowd immediately nodded and moved back as far as possible from Orion, understanding that staying would only lead to death now that the peak gold-rank lightning wolf was enraged beyond reason.

As the crowd retreated, Orion activated the Curse of Berserk Body and Thunder's Wraith in Curse Transformation mode while also setting all his other curses on standby.

"OWOO!"

The lightning wolf roared one last time before zooming towards Orion like a bolt of golden lightning.

Orion quickly condensed a golden lightning sword and swung it with near-infinite strength.

His sword connected with the wolf's body, but the damage he hoped for didn't occur. Instead, the wolf was blasted back at twice the speed it had arrived. Its huge body tumbled across the ground for a long time before stabilizing and coming to a stop.

Seeing that the wolf was unharmed, Orion gazed at his lightning sword.

'Lightning doesn't seem to affect it.'

The sword made from lightning was his strongest weapon at the moment, but it seemed futile against the peak gold-rank lightning wolf.

'The lightning move I made at home that day would also be ineffective here. I really need to get a good sword,' Orion pondered and sighed, resolving to acquire a better weapon when he returned home.

Condensing a flaming sword, Orion gazed at the lightning wolf in the distance. It had calmed down after taking a beating and was now staring at him intently.

'I guess it realized I'm not that easy to take down, but it doesn't really matter anyway.'

Orion walked towards the beast step by step before suddenly appearing at its side and swinging his flaming sword. The lightning wolf was caught off guard, and before it could react, a deep gash appeared on its body as it was once again hurtled across the ground.

Not giving it any more time, Orion quickly teleported in front of the wolf before it could stop and left a purple sphere in its path. He then teleported away.

The wolf uncontrollably collided with the sphere moments later, causing an explosion. However, the explosion still didn't kill the wolf, but its body was once again blasted away.

Orion had expected the wolf to survive the explosion since he hadn't put as much energy into the purple sphere as he had the last time due to time constraints.

But it had done enough damage. Alongside the deep gash from the flaming sword, many burning marks now covered the wolf's body.

'Time to finish it,' Orion thought.

He took a stance and held his sword horizontally, increasing his energy output. The flaming sword burned brighter and more intensely than ever before.