Chapter 101: Ghost! (1/2)
Arthur asked Reece to find Emma and the rest, although he expected him to be unable to. After all, Reece never met them. To his amazement, Reece agreed and left Arthur's pocket and headed somewhere along the forest atop the cliff. Before he left, he told Arthur that he saw them with him in the teleportation hall.
Arthur kept running atop the cliff and could see two persuing him from behind while three did the same from below. After a few minutes of pursuit, one of the three below was eliminated.
'Yeah, follow me. Hunt me down in the Forest of Traps.' Arthur laughed to himself as he avoided another rune. An owl flew over his head and glided toward the forest. Arthur had a hunch this was Reece since it had cooed at him as it flew by.
It seems the elimination of one of them brought sense to their mind, or maybe fear, as they decided to stop their pursuit. Arthur, however, didn't keep running.
As he got a better view of the sky now, he saw the platform they were on earlier and the flying stands besieging it. He could faintly, maybe he was imagining it, hear the cheers of the crowd above.
'I need Tyrin eliminated,' Arthur guessed he was being watched by the crowd, but he couldn't stop at simply snatching the cube. After all, Tyrin tried to harm him, take his weapon, and still planned to compromise countless lives including his mother and brother.
The two that had been following him seemed to realize he had stopped, glaring at him from a long-distance away. Unlike Arthur who was able to run freely, with little focus on avoiding the runes, they were at risk of always being eliminated and had to traverse the ground as if they were playing hopscotch.
It was admirable that they managed to get here, but he knew they had already activated some runes. Rather then knew, he 'felt' the activation.
”Oh, don't glare at me like that.” Arthur shrugged, but the two seemed to call out their mana as if they were going to use their abilities. Arthur wouldn't allow them. He sent several Bladeless Wind Slashes at them, a skill he got at the trial.
After a couple of minutes, pitiful was the least you could say about their state. They tried to evade the slashes and the runes, but Arthur was ruthless against them. In his defense, Arthur did so because they were helping Tyrin, so they probably had something to do with the attack on the Yalveran Union.
Really, it was all self-defense.
”You bastard, come here and fight me!” One of the two bellowed, his clothes ragged revealing superficial wounds underneath. The other was of an equal pitiful state as several wounds covered his body.
Arthur wanted to say he was sorry, but knew it would anger them to death. Instead of trying to throw them off with the wind slashes, he decided to use something of impactful effect. Like boulders.
It was purely self-defense; for the public good. Arthur eased his guilt using these words as he eliminated the two by throwing boulders at them. After he did so, he looked down and found Tyrin and the white hood trembling with rage.
He grinned. In their eyes, Arthur saw the terror of something incomprehensible. Terror of something they couldn't wrap their senses around. If this was a normal environment, they would probably outpower Arthur. However, here…
'How is he able to walk freely like this?' Arthur expected them to wonder. He wouldn't allow them to think this for too long, as he started sending boulder their way too using his Earth Manipulation skill.
The white hood stepped forward and clapped his hands together. His hand turned a hazy glow as he slashed the boulders apart easily.
”Is this all you've got? Throwing rocks?!” He roared and slashed a couple more boulders. A smirk emerged on his face seeming to realize how futile Arthur's effort was.
'Pff, idiot!' Arthur laughed when the white hood slashed the last boulder. He frowned when he heard Arthur laughing, but the realization was that something was amiss came too late. His body began to disappear as the teleportation runes activated on the ring, he was eliminated.