Chapter 157 - 154 : Sect Meeting (1/2)
With the little bit of consciousness he has left, Arthur was able to distinguish Anastassia's figure, who managed to make it in time and save him from the final attack of Bucama.
It may be a mechanism laid by the monster in case it died. In normal cases, such attack wouldn't hurt him too much but in his current state, it would've been deadly, especially with his stats lowered.
Still panting heavily with his katana supporting him, Arthur looked up to Anastassia, who was in a black outfit that covered her whole appearance, seemingly like a ninja.
”Thanks, I owe you one.”
”No need to thank me, more importantly, what happened here?”
Surveying the surroundings and witnessing the bloody ground and the destroyed land, Anastassia was truly shocked. She came here for an investigation yet stumbled upon a wounded Arthur and a mass of bodies.
Before he could start explaining what happened, a massive wave of pain and shock overwhelmed Arthur, it crashed into him at the same time, making him unable to see properly, blackening his vision and making him lose consciousness.
After all the effort and strength he exerted, it's to be expected, especially the burden from activating all the passives. The wolf's body may be the perfect one for having them all activated but it's only the perfect one amongst the one he possesses in his storage. There must be a more suitable body out there, he just needs to find it.
...
The passing of time went unnoticed for one unconscious. When Arthur finally opened his eyes, he found himself laid on a comfortable bed inside a wide room. No one but him was present there and by the look of it, his body seems to have recovered fully, even the stat loss disappeared which is a good thing.
What's left to find out is how long was he unconscious? He hated being so defenseless and helpless, anyone would be able to kill him with the proper weapon if he's unconscious. It can be considered fortunate that it was Anastassia who saved him and not some crazy or weird stranger.
As Arthur's Sense spread, he was able to find out that he was currently located inside of his sect's area. Ma Clan disciples trained or spared outside, with some old tribe members trying to learn the use of Qi or challenging disciples.
There was no shortage of people, but the defense was tight with three bone dragons permanently guarding. There was also two death knights around.
One was located a couple of hundreds of meters away from him and it seemed to be the one who was guarding Taliya. As for the remaining knight, it just entered the room he was in along with Lissandra, who Arthur almost forgot about.
So many things happened, from hunting a black mage to the phases of the ARK and last but not least is facing that hideous looking monster.
Unconsciously, Arthur opened his status window but was sad when he saw his Realm drop by 6 whopping Grades. His stats also dropped but compared to his Grades, it was nothing.
The cost of preserving his life was indeed high. If he didn't use those forbidden skills, he wouldn't have survived or even resisted that shocking pushing force, neither the countless Spatial Tears.
..
Lissandra entered the room with a rather serious yet calm face, she was not as fearful as was last time. From the look of it, she either gave up on escaping or accepted her fate as Mortal, there was also the small possibility of her plotting to cheat him or someone close to him.
Still ignoring her, Arthur spread his Sense further yet found nothing weird that is worth paying attention too. When he ascertained that there was no danger around, he turned his head and looked back at Lissandra, who stared at him silently, as if she was the same rank as him or was never his enemy, to begin with.
Time slowly passed with no one of them uttering a single word, this silence was broken at last when Lissandra spoke with a straight face and a resolute tone.
”I know it's not my place to say this but I have come to make a request.”
”Denied. No requests, no trades, no offers, nothing. I'm not going to negotiate with a double-faced person.”
Seemingly unaffected by the instant answer and the rejection, Lissandra didn't leave and kept staring back at him with serious eyes, she remained silent for a moment before adding
”W-what if I told you I have a way to send you wherever you want?”
It was an alluring proposal, Arthur is impatient and wants to go to Earth and check if Lucy is really there or not but he's not that idiotic to believe whatever she says. Furthermore, let's just say she's speaking the truth, there must be some catch, she won't give precious information for free.
”Still a no. It doesn't matter what you can provide, I'm not negotiating or trading with you, go back.”
This time, Lissandra became a bit annoyed, it's indeed true that he has countless reasons not to trust her but he isn't even willing to listen to her, which made her unable to voice out her thoughts.
”At least listen to what I'm going to say! It's really ser-”
Before she could finish talking, she was interrupted by the Death Knight beside her which raised its axe, showing that it'll strike her if she spoke an extra work.
Begrudgingly, Lissandra left the room after throwing one last glare at Arthur, he didn't allow her to speak so she could only go back the way she came from.
As for Arthur, he ignored her and closed his eyes and entered the ARK, he had something he wanted to try and hoped it would work.
---
After softly saying the required word, Arthur surroundings blurred and he found himself standing in the familiar endless white space.
Every time he entered the ARK, he felt like he was in some kind of prison. if you look at this incredibly big space, by no means would you think it's a prison but maybe the thought of him being alone in such a huge place made him feel sadder and lonelier.
Without wasting much time contemplating the white surroundings, Arthur browsed through the available options and proceeded in entering the 'Beginner Phase' again. He wasn't sure but there's the possibility of obtaining the rewards again if so then he can spam it until his stats reach a limit and if he doesn't receive anything then he'll just rely on possessing until he goes to another world and cultivates.
The process and opponents were exactly the same, the only difference was that his lame copy didn't appear this time, he only heard the robotic voice of the ARK telling him to choose a weapon and so on.
Since he knew the attack patterns of the opponents, especially the hard ones like whitey, it wasn't that hard to defeat them for the second time and at the end of the third phase, he was given a score just the last time but you could see some improvements.
*Congratulations! You passed the third phase.*
*Congratulations! You finished the Beginner's Phase.*
*Performance:
Physical Score: 97/100
Skills Score: 77/100
Magic Score: 73/100
Battle Score: 80/100
Weapon Score: 6.75/10
Time Spent: 111 minutes and 7 seconds. 'Average'
Overall score: 79/100 'Great Job' *
Rewards: +4 Grades, +40% to Health/Stamina/Energy Regen. +29M to all stats. +0 Creation.*
'It's working!'
Feeling overjoyed, Arthur opened his status window and felt happier upon noticing his Grade increasing. If he repeats the Beginner Phase again then he would come back to being a peak Grade Immortal.
Without much hesitation, Arthur signed for another challenge and immediately began the first Phase. The third time passed as smoothly as the second one. The score was only 77 but Arthur didn't pay much attention to it.
His eyes were waiting for the rewards to pop up but his excitement lessened when all he saw as a reward was two grades and no advancement in stats, which was such a pity but at least he received something.
*You cannot do the Beginner Phase until the loading time ends. (9 Years, 11 months, 29 days, 23 Hours and 58 seconds).*
'10 years!'
Arthur had eyes full of disbelief when he saw that. Even though the time outside passes at a much faster pace than inside the ARK, as an inhabitant of this weird ARK, he had to go through ten literal years and wait patiently, and that is something he wouldn't do.
Heck! Even if it was a year, he would still not do it as it would worsen his mood, and make him go mad. Before leaving the ARK, Arthur decided to try a few things with the Plant Magic and his other attributes, trying to fuse them and he was met with a bit of success.
It was not overwhelming but it'll surely help in the upcoming fights.
'Dra'lim'
TITLE: MEAT GRINDER / SEEKER OF KNOWLEDGE / ONE WITH THE SWORD / ARK HOLDER
Level: ???
Class: Dark ARK Parasite
Realm: Immortal 9th Grade
Strength: 172.4M
Intelligence:189.9M
Agility: 155.6M
Wisdom: 146.2M
Vitality: 137M
Dexterity: 137.4M
*******
Health:140M // Health Regen: 73718/s
Nether Energy: 145.6M // Nether Energy Regen: 90500/s
Mana: 220M // Mana Regen: 132378/s
Stamina: Infinite /Stamina Regen: ???
Creation : 125
Attack: 264.1M
Defense:187.7MM
Magic defense : 48.1M
Enigma abilities : Telekinesis / Ancient Threads / Sixth sense / ARK(Activated)
Mental Power : 1999
Elemental Resistances:
Fire: 100%
Darkness: 100%
Wind: 35%
Water: 75%
Earth: 75%
Light/holy: 5%
Shadow: 30%
Lightning: 100%
Ice: 30%
----
Death Count: 1 (2 more to obtain 'Unbound')
In his current state, Arthur was the strongest he has ever been, if not for his long cooldown cheat skills that cannot be used currently, he would be in a much safer position. However, relying on Makaze whilst deploying then ancient flame or Dark Magic is more than enough to overwhelm a Divine Realm.
Even against a God, Arthur was sure that he wouldn't be pushed back and he would have a good advantage, especially with such high stats.
He had a guess that every God had at least 100M in all stats which is a boost if they breakthrough godhood, but that was just an assumption, but if it's true, then he would be much stronger than a normal God.
In prowess, if he were to face Meyzu or the Lich King right now, Arthur had a lot more confidence, and if Lucy joined him, getting rid of them wouldn't be much of a problem, even if they use the strange illusory phantoms behind them.
One Heavenly Arrow is all it took to scare them and if he learns to use Rizaki properly, there's no end to what he could achieve and truthfully, he doesn't seek fame, power or riches. He just wants more strength to protect Lucy and Saly, to have them live a peaceful and easy-going life.
Earth would be a perfect choice but he would rather live on Astria as he considered this world a home more than Earth ever was.
...
”Jackob! What did you think you're doing by bringing the head maid of the Demon Lord to our base?”
With a cold tone and an expressionless face, Anastassia reprimanded Jackob whilst glaring at Taliya, who was silently standing not far away.
”Well... hahah you know, she had a Death Knight besides her so she can't possibly be an enemy, right?”
Scratching his head embarrassingly, Jackob tried to find a suitable excuse.
He would take the risk of bringing a powerful enemy to their base rather than killing one of Arthur's friends because that's an irreversible thing which will make him receive the full wrath of Arthur, who would most likely not let him live.
Shaking her head helplessly, Anastassia could only sigh at Jackob's behavior and actions. Ever since they met, he would always do things the wrong way or screw the plans, nevertheless, he at least knew how to correct his mistakes. Compared to when they just met, he is way stronger and smarter, or so she thought.
She could remember having a headache anytime she argued with him. He was not that powerful, to begin with, however, Arthur had a good impression of this young man, who in the course of eighteen months or so, managed to grow way taller and become a lot stronger.
If she could name one of the good things about Jackob, it had to be his hard-working attitude, the man never slacks off and he's battling comrades and enemies every day, whether it's for training or to eliminate a threat.
”Didn't the thought of her being the one who summoned that knight ever cross your head? She's a Demon, she can't be trusted!”
Anastassia was fully capable of dealing of the Death Knight standing next to Taliya but she didn't, for the same reason as Jackob's.
The knight looked exactly similar to the one accompanying Lissandra, so Anastassia was hesitating a bit, moreover, it can't be just coincidence to be where Arthur was, especially when she knew what the identity of Taliya was.
Before everything else, Anastassia was Human, so like any other of her Race, she held a negative impression of the Demons albeit not interacting with them that much. It's like an inborn disgust or loathes, can't be explained properly and it's something you develop naturally when you grow in an environment where every Human talk bad or hates Demons.
As they were both arguings, Taliya remained silent and tried to grasp a good opportunity to sneak up and retreat. With the Death Knight protecting her back, there is a high chance of escaping despite all the defenses and strong figures here. After all, she saw how powerful the Death Knight was, monstrous strength and swift despite its size, one swing of its axe can easily crush her.
Taliya was no fool, she knew that Jackob or Anastassia could easily apprehend her so she patiently waited for the black-haired woman to drop her guard or look away, only she needed is for the enemy to be distracted for a second and that was more than enough.
She can't escape far after witnessing the three bones dragons and a terrifyingly big minotaur guarding the gates of the sect but with her being the head maid of the Demon Lord, she got a few items that may be helpful in such desperate situations.
Unfortunately for her, the Death Knight didn't take her orders and seemed to follow only one straight order and that is to protect her from any danger.
With the long sleeves of the maid dress covering part of her hands, Taliya sneakily shook her arms, making the hidden sharp blades slowly descend and when they were just about to be exposed, she stopped shaking her hands and surveyed Anastassia and Jackob, who were still talking without minding her.
'So arrogant to the point of not letting me unguarded and not sealing my powers. Humans never change'
Taliya they were the leaders of the most powerful sect in the western continent, and that the black-haired woman it that sect master, who is much stronger than her sister, the Demon Lord.
But no matter how strong you were, you must never underestimate an enemy and let him be unguarded, that is an iron rule Taliya followed since childhood.
Seconds passed and the moment she was waiting for never came, despite that, Taliya didn't give up, she waited a bit more before launching her offensive.
She unsheathed her short blades with lightning speed when a black shadow appeared before her and pinned her body against the wall. It was Anastassia, who never dropped her guard for even a split second, it's true that she was talking to Jackob but her attention was focused on the enemy, who shouldn't be here, listening to their conversation.
Having expected something like this, Taliya dropped a black object that soon emitted a smelly yellow fog that obscured the view.
The Death Knight also reacted and stretched its hands to grab Anastassia, who swiftly dodged the hand and kicked the Knight, sending it crashing into a wall a few meters behind it.
Anastassia's right hand, which was supposed to be pinning Taliya down, was now feeling the empty air. Cautious and startled at the same time, Anastassia crouched her body for a few centimeters before disappearing into a black shadow and chasing after Taliya, who was just about to leave the room.
The Death Knight quickly recovered by Jackob's large flaming axe came crashing down, pushing the knight and leaving it stumbling for a few steps before it stabilized its body, by the look of it, Jackob's attack was not strong enough to damage it.
As for Taliya, she couldn't step pas the doorstep before a cold chill ran down her spines and a dark and red dagger appeared a few inches away from her neck.
Anastassia was standing behind Taliya, with her dagger at the enemy's throat, ready to finish her but only stopped when she sensed an additional presence in the room, clearly stopping her from slicing the maid's throat.
”It's useless to fight any longer, she's not an enemy, for now at least.”