Chapter 159 - 156 : Final Preparations (2/2)

Gutcha didn't pause, he didn't even want to anger or displease Arthur or he will let Taliya have her way with him so he wracked his brain and spit everything he knew about the kidnapping operation.

”W-we kidnapped a hundred person. T,The locations were random and we would not wander far from the place we warped into as to not attract attention.”

”Tell me everything about the kidnapped people, their name, age, appearance...”

Every question answered would lead to another being asked, this continued for another thirty minutes before Arthur finally stopped. Gutcha was panting as his mouth was dry and his body totally numb, even this kind of interrogation felt a bit like torture with his body bound and paralyzed and him forced to answer over and over again.

What's relieving though, is that he answered everything with all honesty, he wasn't particularly close or attached to his tribe, his life was way more important than a couple of information that they'll know sooner or later.

...

Out of the hundred people kidnapped, thirty-six were uncooperative and were killed on the spot, as for the rest, they were still held in a prison under the tribe's main Hall.

The sixty-four remaining hostages were apparently from various races and Gutcha couldn't remember their appearance or name quite well but when Taliya barged in and stretched her hand and rubbed the dagger's smooth and sharp edge over his neck, the hideous monster pleaded for another chance and then closed his eyes for a minute or so, trying to remember some faces.

Presuming what he said was true, there were two individuals that stood up from all the others. The first, when she was mentioned, the dagger that was next to Gutcha's neck, uncontrollably shook as Taliya was startled by what she heard.

The person that was described resembled the so-called Alina, a young girl with long silver hair, a calm temper but the most outstanding thing is that many people from Gutcha's tribe treated friendly due to her cooperative and kind attitude. Not only that, she also used her Healing Magic to cure some injured warriors.

As for the second person, it was a young man, he apparently was kidnapped in the West of the Human Continent and his eccentric behavior along with high always smiling face is what made Gutcha remember him.

He wasn't sure but it was rumored that he was tortured multiple times because he mocked the tribe warriors but that torture didn't even make him flinch, the smile never left his face.

'Right now, he must be locked in the furthest room in the prison.' or so said Gutcha.

None of that matters if they cannot go there, but simply teleporting there using the Warp Device is a dumb idea. From Gutcha's description, there were a lot of warriors stronger than him and they didn't know about the concept of Spirit Realm and such, they gauged their strength using a stone that showed a specific color.

Going to an unknown land with this much information didn't seem right and if it's really a big world, then he isn't planning to return soon, he needs a way to go to Earth and check if Lucy is really there. What about Saly and the rest, did they teleport to the same location? So many questions that need to be answered and the only way for that to happen is to go to Earth!

Furthermore, the Death Golem was sent to the location where all the warriors that were coming back from Astria appear on, so currently, many warriors must be uniting to defeat the Death Golem.

Simply going there when all their forces are on high alert would be foolish.

”We need to go there immediately, the princess is in grave danger!”

Taliya protested and snapped at Arthur, bugging him to go there immediately. He tried explaining the situation but she didn't listen. She even proposed going alone to scout things and assure that he can come but it'll only be a suicidal attempt. With her strength, there is no way she'll survive, even a Heavenly Realm is unlikely to survive if there is a batch of Spirit Realm people ganging up on him.

She kept glancing at the orb in his hands but she knew that she can't snatch it from him, it's an impossible task. With a final piercing glare, Taliya turned around and headed to Gutcha to release her frustration.

Fortunately for him, he didn't suffer brutal torture but he was still punched a few times in his stomach, which he couldn't feel at all due to the poison.

As for Arthur, he pondered about what to do right now, it's either go or not go. For now, he needs to finish the preparation for his sect then he'll go there, but knowing Taliya's character, she's won't let him go alone which will complicate things. If he could alone, then just possessing the dead comrade of Gutcha would be enough to fool the rest of the tribe but if she came then that's another whole deal.

And to add more oil to the fire, there was the problem of the chains which are hindering his combat abilities and making things a bit more troublesome. He could hide them under clothes but they would still produce the crackling noise, that is if we exclude how much they limit his movements and making him absolutely unable to do a punch or a kick, or even wield Makaze, which is one of his strongest weapons and even a simple slash with the black katana is enough to injure a Divine Realm or even a God.

...

The very next day, early in the morning, Arthur headed back to the MoonStar sect after informing Taliya to guard Gutcha and prepare herself before they depart, exactly six days later.

As he was riding the Dark Cloud toward the South-West, Arthur waved his hand, making blue lightning condense at a rapid pace in front of him until Astrith's figure appeared before him.

The lightning wolf was as domineering and big as ever, with two red eyes and wide back, its appearance is becoming more and more ferocious.

Having a spiritual link with the lightning wolf, Arthur was finally able to summon it back a few days ago but he refrained from doing so unless he needs him as the wolf seemed to be evolving.

In fact, he didn't want to disturb him right now but this matter was urgent and it needs to be taken care of. Arthur laid a map in front of Astrith and pinpointed six locations all over Astria.

”Look around these places, if you find any creature similar to Gutcha, capture them and kill if they resist.”

Anymore kidnapping would be troublesome, they could also be building outposts or underground caves, which is a no-no, especially when Arthur is planning on uniting Astria.

Astrith bowed his large head a bit and replied

”This one obeys.”

Without delaying any further, the lightning wolf transformed into a blue streak that vanished into the horizon in just a few seconds. Although he was weaker than Arthur, his strength increased with his master's so Astrith could be considered quite strong.

What's strange is that evolving state, it's like a slumber and it started the second he returned to Astria. He refrained from summoning him against Bucama and the rest due to this, maybe if he was interrupted, a backlash would happen.

This state seemed to be reaching its final state, so Arthur decided to give the wolf one final mission before the real revolution begins.

...

The journey back the sect was smooth and fast, once he was there, Arthur started clearing things again and laying what's needed.

He called for Anastassia and Jackob to the meeting room at the top of the tower and when they were all gathered, he retrieved three objects from his storage.

As he laid the three small objects on the table, the tall Jackob was excited to see something new. Since he got 'Ace', he didn't stop using it for hunting. What's good about it is that the bullets are self-conjured if you inject a bit of Mana, the cost is too small to the point that it can be ignored.

The efficiency, power and precision of this sniper rifle pleased Jackob a lot, so he was looking forward to the next thing Arthur is going to introduce to him.

”Boss, what's this!”

Even Anastassia looked curiously at the three objects, she was acknowledgeable enough yet she never saw such things.

”These are called bombs, grenades. They are something I can mass produce but they must only be used in urgent situations.”

While stretching his hand and grabbing a sphering green grenade, he explained

”Just pull this metallic trigger and throw this to a specific target and it'll automatically explode after five seconds. It's quite simple but if someone is not careful, they can be injured by the aftermath of the explosion so don't throw it randomly.”

”Isn't it like a fireball.”

Anastassia was not that impressed, in contrary to Jackob, who wanted to snatch the grenade from Arthur's hand and try it immediately. As for the vice-sect leader, she was more curious about the chains around Arthur, the way he moves his two hands in sync and the crackling couldn't be ignored.

”If someone has high intelligence, producing a fireball stronger than the explosion of the grenades is possible. But that requires strength and an experienced mage, as for this, even a kid can use it, it doesn't require Mana nor Qi.”

He soon put down the grenade and grabbed the gray cylindric object and said

”This is also similar to the grenade but they are used as traps. Covered by dirt and put in places that are likely to be stepped on by enemies, it'll explode the moment a small pressure is put on them, their damage is considerably higher than the former grenade.”

Arthur then grabbed the last object, which was black, circular and a bit lengthy in size. It had a metal trigger just like the grenade and had some strange symbols that Jackob couldn't understand engraved on it.

”As for this, it's flash grenades and the most important one of those in my opinion. As for its use, I'll just demonstrate it.”

As he finished his sentence, Arthur just pulled the metal trigger and let the bomb roll on the wide table. Of course, he didn't forget to close his eyes and smirk.

Anastassia instinctively activated her defensive technique, as for Jackob, he just eagerly stared at the flash grenade with wide open eyes, full of excitement.

----

After only a few seconds, a low voice was heard followed by a numbing sound ringing in Anastassia and Jackob's ears. Especially the latter, who was so close to the flash bomb, what followed a total blindness covering their eyes. The ringing and the blindness brought dizziness but what was more surprising is their absence of vision. All they saw was white everywhere this lasted for a whopping thirty seconds before the two of them could see again.

Jackob regained his vision after Anastassia but that's due to being so close to the impact. Arthur smirk became wider as he saw their dumbfounded expressions. This could be a revolutionary weapon if it could be mass-produced. No enemy would expect such a thing, which will lead to them not closing their eyes and that will cause their death.

In a fight between Spirit Realm and above, a second can change everything, so thirty or so seconds can allow the user of the flash grenade to either escape or cut his opponent to countless pieces without suffering from retaliation.

”T-this is...”

Anastassia stretched her hand and held the black object, she inspected it several times but she could not sense any Mana or Qi and that startled her even more.

”You can mass-produce this?”

Her voice had some excitement in it. As a former clan master and a powerful leader, the thing she yearned for the most is a safe place for her clan disciples and family to stay in. Such useful weapons can give them a humongous advantage if the enemy ever attacks. Even a Deity Realm would suffer from such a grenade if it's stacked of course.

Last time, Arthur used thousands of flash grenade to blind the present Gods at the Grand Banquet, although the cost was high, it nevertheless was useful and managed to win him some precious time.

”If I have enough time, I should be able to produce a fair amount.”

Without beating around the bush, Anastassia held the flash grenade and stared at back at him while adding

”How many?”

”I'm going to leave in five days, so I'll probably manage to create around one thousand three hundred and sixty, and if I had the current ones I have, then it'll be two thousand five hundred. That should be enough, right?”

To be honest, such an enormous amount is more than enough to last for a long time. Unlike him, who fights random enemies left and right, they are a sect and besides competing with outside forces, they won't be needing that. Moreover, such objects should be used only by strong individuals as they cannot give every person flash grenades until they can be mass-produced at a faster rate and the most important fact is that they have to be used only in an emergency situation. Flat out using them at the beginning of the battle is a foolish move and any person who wants to do that should not be given such a precious weapon.

Anastassia nodded her head enthusiastically and Jackob just stared at the flash grenade with wide eyes and half-opened mouth.

The rest of the meeting was just talk about procedures and what should and should not be done. Anastassia was given all the grenades for fear of Jackob using them all just to satisfy his curiosity.

He is no doubt a trusted leader but he isn't a match for Anastassia. She really is good at handling sect-related affairs and on the course of one and a half years, she took care of the sect quite well.

....

Arthur retired to his room at noon and took out the best furnace he had in his storage and some tools and then proceeded in creating a weapon. He was going to use his advanced blacksmithing skills along with all the useful other skills to forge a weapon for Anastassia and Jackob. It's true that he gave them high-leveled weapons not too long ago but he decided to personally craft them weapons to match their skills and needs.

With his Ancient Flames, raising the temperature to a high-degree was no problem, adding that to his swift and precise hand-skills, blacksmithing skills, and forging skills, the process was done quite smoothly.

First, he took out two kinds of metal, one is called [Substitue High Metal] and the second is a rare hard ore also known as [Meteoric Iron].

Substitute High Metal: (Spirit 2nd Grade): A special Metal that changes by the will of the user, it can transform to the desired attribute willed by the user.

Quality: High

Meteoric Iron: (Spirit 1st Grade): A metal that is much stronger than regular iron and often has magical properties as well.

Quality: High

Although they were not the best materials he had in his storage, he was certain that they would match with Anastassia, with his skills, it wouldn't be difficult to create a perfect weapon even reaching the Heavenly Rank with weak materials.

Arthur put the two metal into the melting furnace which burned with an intense heat that none with sufficient Fire Resistance could sustain. Usually, the crafter has to wait for the materials and melt in liquid but this process happened in merely one minute for Arthur, who used his flames to personally melt them with the help of the Furnace, which facilitated this step.

Very soon, an orange liquid came out of the furnace and laid on a metal table in front of Arthur, who began doing the next step. Since he was going to begin by crafting a two-handed axe, he had to make it big enough for Jackob and easily wielded.

With a bronze rusty hammer, Arthur hammered the orange liquid which was transforming into a hard material. He shaped the axe with two sharp edges and each strike was strong enough to achieve the desired state. With a Strength like his, he didn't need to hammer it thousands of times like any normal blacksmith but albeit that, he kept hammering for an hour as it is the heart of the forging, it could be considered the most important factor of making a perfect weapon.

At the end of the hour, the shape of the axe could be seen but this was but the beginning. Arthur then started heating the axe again and when it was hot enough, he allowed it to cool down slowly whilst he sat cross-legged on the bed and started meditating.

The annealing process takes twenty-four hours and there is no need to rush so Arthur breathed periodically and calmed his mind as he absorbed Mana from the surroundings to replenish himself and relax.

After silently meditating for a few hours, Arthur finally opened his eyes and stared at the chains binding all his body. Every time he felt the cold sensation around his hands or waist, he would just sigh. It's so unpractical to fight like this and he was still hesitating on whether to go to Gutcha's world or not.

He should not have any problem fighting a peak Divine Realm even with the chains, but if it's a God then it'll be a tricky situation. Normally, the completed Heavenly Arrow will certainly erase a God from existence, even a miniature version of the arrow can heavily injure a God but just as it can hit a God, it can be evaded or blocked as its power is not that strong compared to the original, especially if it's not created using Void Magic.

Up to now, he can create Heavenly Arrows made from Lightning, Void and Fire with a bit of Dark Magic. The main structure of the arrow has to be either Void or Lightning, anything else would make it self-explode. As for Rizaki or Rinotsu, its potential is incredible but it is self-harming.

Fortunately his recovery is incredible as he healed from all the injuries of the spatial tears in just five full days. But the matter of those creepy and ugly monsters still couldn't leave his mind. Sooner or later, he's bound to face them if he travels around. Something about Bucama gave him the creeps, he wasn't a fearful person but it's like meeting a natural archenemy, an abnormality that should be erased from this world.

It's good that he got rid of them before they invaded Astria or else it would have been catastrophic but for that four-armed monstrosity to survive the spatial tears with just being at the peak of the Divine Realm, how is that possible?

Arthur barely survived but it's only after sacrificing one precious corpse and using forbidden Mental Power costing skills to escape, however, that didn't apply for the monster.

'That horn.... Makaze couldn't even scratch it. there was also that red light back then....'

For now, Arthur put that at the back of his mind and raised both of his chained hands. In just a second, a small plant sprouted from his palm and started growing until it was twenty inches tall.

Arthur opened his mouth and spit a purple liquid which fell on the plant and started melting it and resulted in a steam with the same color to appear.

'Not much resistant to poison....'

He would always experiment with his Plant Magic as it is not as useless at it sounds. Its efficiency is boundless and its usefulness is endless. Whether its paralyzing or lethal poisons, plant cages or strengthening plants, he could grow them all and with the help of the Nature Attribute, it's way easier but their power, for now, is still weak for some reason.

It's weak in Arthur's opinion as he always compared his things with an attack from Gods and no less. If he used all his Intelligence in launching an attack using Wind or even Earth Attribute, although he doesn't specialize in them, the attack can be quite powerful and may even hurt a Divine Realm but it's better using low-cost and stronger attributes that wasting Mana on weak magical attacks.

Plant Magic is granted by the World Tree, an existence that the so-called angels venerated and searched for all over their universe, it's not something that should be underestimated, however, its use is not easy too.

Arthur's main purpose is to try and merge it with another attribute, preferably Void but it always ends up being eaten by the bottomless purple orb that he conjured.

Fire would burn it and Lightning would do nothing, so all that was left was Dark Magic.

---------------------------------------------------

To the far East of Astria, specifically on the North-East of the Itas Continent. There was high mountain surrounded by a dense forest but on a closer look, you could see several pagoda-looking buildings and a high white tower in their center. Stretching a mile to each direction, there were some small houses, neat and ordered. This was where the headquarters of the Yan Clan was. Known to be the descendants of the White Tiger of the West and to have an extraordinary physical power along with powerful legendary techniques.

Previously, they suffered in the tournament and the explosion killed two high-elders.

Inside the sky-high white tower, at the top floor, there existed a wide Hall with golden pillars at both sides. The Grand Elder of the Clan, the Patriarch, and two other Elders were currently discussing something with a tall individual who wore a big black coat which covered almost all of his appearance.

”W-we tested the effects of the pills. T-they were beyond anything we've seen!”

The Grand Elder talked with an excited voice as he stared at the black-coated person in front of him, sitting at the other end of the circular table.

”Of course, that is to be expected from our Demon Strengthening pills... hehehe, the cost to make them is quite worth it too.”

While creepily chuckling, the coated person talked with a deep and unpleasant voice.

The Patriarch was also full of smiles as he inspected the red pills in his hand, they were quite ordinary in appearance but once consumed, the user would experience a tremendous increase in all stats along and the pain immunity will have risen to its maximum.

Such pills are considered very precious yet this coated individual was willing to hand them thousands of those pills. Of course, as a Patriarch, he wasn't that stupid so he didn't accept immediately, that is why, last week, when this individual came, he asked him to stay at the clan until they thought about their offer.

In return for the pills, the black-coated person said that the Yan Clan has to provide him a constant amount of Aether Crystals each week.

Aether Crystals are a material used to recover Mana, it is similar to the Mana Potion but what's different is that it can be charged again after consuming it, it's limitless if you wait a sufficient amount of time. The Yan Clan happened to have a mine of Aether Crystals just at the foot of the mountain, so it shouldn't be too hard to provide fifty kilograms of crystals each week.

”We have tested the efficiency of the pills and discussed your offer. As long as the amount of the Aether Crystal we should provide does not increase then we accept.”

Honestly, they could even provide 200 kilograms each week and still have a large amount of stock but the patriarch didn't want to be taken advantage of albeit the fact that such pills are too godly to pass on them, this is a golden opportunity.

'With such pills, the continuously growing force of the MoonStar will finally end!'

Although the two forces didn't clash directly, the influence of the MoonStar Sect has exceeded the Yan Clan, especially after it established its foothold on the deserted continent and unified all the rebellious tribe, all of that under the command of a former warrior of a tribe and Anastassia, the former leader of the Ma Clan. That is of course not enough to make the Patriarch of the Yan Clan fear the MoonStar Sect, the main reason is the flying undead dragons and the terrifying skeletal knights that exclude a cold and death aura around them.

....

When the deal was done and the black-coated person left, the Yan Clan elders began celebrating and planning what to do next, as for the mysterious individual, he took a ring which had fifty kilograms of Aether Crystals and left the territory of the Clan, promising them to come back after a week.

When he was a fair distance away from the Clan, the black-coated person took off his hood and the appearance he had was a horror to behold.

It was a monster exactly similar to the one Arthur saw in that hellish world, not a bit different. It had two arms and with two ugly eyes, a hideous face, a unique skin color and a foul stench around it, it grinned as it played with the ring in its finger while laughing maniacally.