I Can Copy Curses

The beams of light collided with Elder Torry's cloudy defense, causing a massive explosion of energy.

The force of the impact blasted him back like a broken kite, sending him tumbling through the air uncontrollably. His protective cloud shattered under the pressure, fragments of dark energy dissipating into the ether as he was hurled away.

His body crashed into the distant buildings, which were already wrecked by the monster.

The impact sent debris flying as the structures crumbled further under the force of his collision. Pain shot through Elder Torry's body as he collided with the ground, rolling to a stop amidst the rubble. Dazed and disoriented, he struggled to regain his footing, his vision spinning.

The power behind those beams was far greater than he had anticipated, causing him to momentarily black out from the sheer force of the collision; however, he quickly regained his senses and stood up, gritting his teeth.

He couldn't afford to let the core be destroyed. He couldn't afford to fail this mission. They had wasted many years on this project and used so many resources, and now this monster wanted to destroy the very thing they had put all their work into.

"Damn this monster."

Cursing the monster, he conjured a cloud and stood atop it as it flew towards the monster once again.

However, this time he had learned his lesson and didn't block the monster from the front. He flew toward its back and murmured a few words.

Almost instantly, dust began to rise from all around the giant monster.

At first, it was only small, barely noticeable wisps swirling at its feet. But within moments, the dust clouds grew denser and more expansive, enveloping the creature in a thick, choking haze.

"Coud Cage."

Elder Torry then used a skill to cause all the dust swirling around the monster to turn into real clouds. The dust transformed into a red mass of cloud, enveloping the huge monster in it.

Orion, who had been witnessing this the whole time, was quite shocked by the strength and means displayed by Elder Torry.

Enveloping such an enormous entity into a cage was a daunting task but it seemed he succeeded.

From where Orion stood, it appeared as though a sand cloud storm had descended upon Aethelgard City, with its center being the huge monster enveloped inside the turbulent, crimson-tinged cloud. The swirling mass of dust and energy created an almost otherworldly spectacle, casting eerie shadows and a deep red glow over the devastated landscape.

'There is movement inside the cage of clouds."

As Orion was observing all of that, he suddenly noticed a movement around the mass of cloud surrounding the giant monster.

Elder Torry also noticed the sand cloud storm from where he stood, and his face became grim. He had thought that by caging the monster in a limited space and taking away its vision from the outside, he would be able to buy some time for the reinforcements that were on their way. But it seemed he had overestimated his cage of clouds or underestimated the giant monster.

And just like that, the situation changed. The mass of clouds surrounding the giant monster was blown away, revealing a rotating mass of tentacles around its face.

The rotating tentacles produced so much wind that it blew away the clouds surrounding the monster in a powerful gust.

Even after it slowed down, the remaining wind force was so powerful that debris and rubble all around the city also flew away. Buildings, already weakened by the monster's earlier rampage, groaned under the strain, their walls shaking as if in protest against the relentless assault of the wind.

Witnessing his clouds so effortlessly blown away by the monster filled Elder Torry with a sense of defeat.

'I guess it's right when they say only those at the Celestial Rankings could ever defeat an Apocalypse-level monster.'

He thought as he looked at the monster, who once again started heading towards the gaping hole it came from.

'It looks like I can only use that.'

Elder Torry then took out a glowing blue crystal the size of a finger hovering above his palm. It was the Space Tear the masked girl had been looking for when they were in the general's quarters.

He planned to use the restrictive ability of the Space Tear to bind the monster in this area while awaiting reinforcements.

Although the monster destroyed the restrictive domain set by the Space Tear on the General Dray's quarter, the binding he was going to use on the monster this time was different from the restrictive domain placed on the General Dray's quarter.

He didn't have much confidence in the binding either, considering the energy remaining in the Space Tear was only one-fourth. It had all been used up in maintaining the restrictive domain over General Dray's quarters for years.

But he believed it should be enough to buy him the time he needed.

Having decided on a plan, Elder Torry immediately set it to action.

He imbued the Space Tear with mana and activated it, causing the glow surrounding the Space Tear to turn even more vibrant. After that, he turned his attention to the monster and moved closer towards it.

Arriving before the monstrous creature, Elder Torry quickly activated the binding ability of the Space Tear.

With a surge of power, the tear released a blinding black light, from which hundreds of black shackles emerged, snaking through the air with deadly precision towards the huge monster.

When the shackles arrived before the monster, they lashed out, wrapping around the creature's limbs and tentacles, binding them in place with unyielding force. The monster let out a furious roar and struggled against its bindings, but the chains remained strong.

Seeing the monster's efforts to get free, Elder Torry gritted his teeth, pouring all his concentration into maintaining the binding spell. The strain of controlling the Space Tear was immense, but he refused to falter.

With each passing second, he felt the creature's struggles weaken, its movements growing slower and more desperate as it fought against the unyielding grip of the shackles.

Moments later, the huge creature finally stopped struggling. The previously aggressive whipping of its tentacles stopped, and a creepy silence fell upon the battleground.

Elder Torry sighed in relief as he saw that the creature had finally given up struggling. If it had continued to fight for even a few more minutes, the outcome could have been disastrous. He knew that he had pushed himself to the limit, almost exhausting his mana reserves in the process.

Orion who had been watching the whole situation also sighed in relief.

'It's so nerveracking.'

Even though he didn't take part in the confrontation and only watched from a distance, all his nerves were on edge.

He understood what the failure to stop the giant monster meant. It wasn't just about the devastation of Aethelgard City or the loss of countless lives—it was about the potential extinction of Planet Sadola.

Most importantly, if this planet were to be destroyed, he would either be stuck in his dimension with no land to stand on, or he would outright end up dead, depending on the situation.

"It's weird, he should be here but I don't see him."

At that moment, Orion suddenly heard Ryfin's voice coming from his surroundings, and it wasn't just any voice—it was the original, young version of him.

This made him shocked, and most importantly, the hope that had died down inside him reignited—the hope that they had somehow figured out the way to solve the puzzle of the mirror world and regained their lost years.