Chapter 84 - 84 : Blooming Rose (2/2)
What followed that was a gigantic blood red rose made by the ancient flames, it rose very high up in the sky and illuminated the gloomy sky. Dark red flames raged as the rose emitted a hellish heat, the desolate ground was turning black and the zombies' corpses which fell from the Spirit Boat were turned into black ashes.
Lucy stood beside Arthur as she gazed at the dark red flaming rose, she couldn't help but mutter
”..Beautiful...”
It was attacked which combined her meteorite attack and Arthur's ancient flames, its might was not something Kimu could withstand, not only that, after the meteorite struck its target, a dark red rose would bloom and cause even more destruction, it would burn everything in existence, including the energy of this world.
In the Underworld, far away from where Arthur and Lucy were, there was a dark-haired middle-aged man with a good build, he was sitting cross-legged and had his eyes closed.
It has been countless years since he moved or even opened his eyes, however, at this very moment, the middle-aged man opened his eyes and said with a very deep voice.
”...This pressure, the heat... it is unforgettable but it's still too weak from the original... how come it is here?”
The man stroked his chin as he was reminiscing about the past. After some time, he sighed and said
”... I can't even perceive its user...”
Then, as if he felt something, a look of surprise appeared on his normally emotionless face as he continued muttering
”Zodiak... how come I feel your magic too.... old friend, where are you....”
Malark was shocked by the power of the meteorite, he could not help but unconsciously tremble at this mind-numbing sight.
He only snapped out of his daze when he saw two individuals slowly fly toward him.
It was the black-clothed man with a big bamboo hat and the supposedly 'hostage' of Kashron.
He didn't know if they were enemies or allies, they indeed helped him but they could be aiming for the 'Yin Flower' and only got rid of the enemies to deal with him after.
Arthur noticed Malark's anxiousness, so he didn't waste time and said
”Senior, do not worry, we mean no harm to you or your people”
Malark relaxed a bit when he heard that, but he dared not put down his lance.
”W-Who are you?”
”We joined your zombie army not too long ago and marched with it, we are a couple who were cultivating in seclusion for a long time, we happened to meet with the zombie crowd and decided to join.”
Malark stayed silent as he stared at Arthur and Lucy, after some time, his face turned from caution to disbelief and fear.
”Y...You...you're both at the peak of the Deity Realm? How is that possible!”
It was indeed shocking to see two people at the peak of the Deity Realm deal with those lizards, who were at the Immortal Realm, normally, it should be impossible.
”Senior, we cultivate a special technique that increases our attacks if we join forces, the cultivation divides our Realms and make it harder to breakthrough but with each breakthrough, our strength increases by leaps and bounds”
Arthur fabricated some lies and spoke with an honest tone, he only explained to not cause Malark to be too suspicious.
He wanted to befriend Malark to learn more about the Underworld and the woman who abducted Saly.
”Oh... So it's like that... but even so... for the attacks to be so powerful..... .”
The reason it sounded so believable is because the world is so big, many techniques and cultivation manuals are mysterious, so it is not surprising to see one which divides the Realms of its users but make them stronger than the ones at the same Realm as them.
Despite somewhat believing them, Malark kept a cautious attitude, their strength is not just 'decent', it's too damn terrifying.
That meteorite attack could have killed him too.
What didn't know was that meteorite attack was also one of Arthur and Lucy's trump card, of course, it could not be compared to the one used at the tournament, but this one expended a lot of Mana and Mental power too.
Especially for Lucy as she used it two times in a row without resting, she prepared the second one in just 20 seconds whereas she needs 2 or 3 minutes to normally make one, so she was currently depleted of her Mana.
Moreover, the Mana in this world is not like Astria, the quantity is meager so it made the recovery a bit slower albeit her having very high Mana recovery.
Silent ruled over the place as none of the parties spoke, so Arthur decided to cut this silence and spoke again.
”Senior, as I said, we were cultivating at seclusion and very rarely go outside to roam, if you don't mind, we would like to accompany to ask you about the recent matters of the Underworld and perhaps become friends at the future”
Arthur was too direct as he stated his intentions without much hesitation, he had a strong feeling that being honest toward Malark would be better than making up lies, although he just lied about the cultivation bull-shittery a second ago.
Malark was the calm type, but he appeared to be a person who regards friendship highly and is not like some crafty people.
”Hahaha, friend, I like your attitude, stating your intention straight out! How can I be uncourteous to someone saved my life!”
It was a bit exaggerating to say that Arthur saved his life as the trio lizard couldn't possibly kill Malark, but what astonished Arthur even more than that is the very sudden change in attitude.
It just too abrupt for him to keep up, he expected Malark to be suspicious or even reject him, he never would have predicted that this Zombie General would do a 180-degree change in attitude when he said that....