Chapter 163 - 159 : Invasion (1/2)

Rows of well-built houses made from a special stone that Arthur never saw were lined up in front of his sight. His Sense quickly spread and covered part of the residential area and searching for an official. Gutcha said that this area was the high officials of the tribe live, so anyone he finds here is most definitely a good prey.

Arthur had a lot of limitations in the abilities of his Race after a couple of evolutions, they were not too drastic and some of them even gave him unimaginable benefits.

For a short amount of time, he can possess someone with a higher Realm than his but Peak Grade Divine Realm is the maximum limit. If it is someone who has lower Realm than his then possessing him would be an easy feat. As for God, it becomes a bit trickier. He can still lay dormant in a God's body as long as he wasn't discovered, or he could weaken the Mental State of a God then possess him. Coping with the recovery of his Mental State, even a God is not strong enough to resist a sudden invasion from an alien party into his body.

In the body of the small plant and adding [Faster Than Death], Arthur was undetectable as he appeared inside a house after another, appraising one person after another. He was searching for a specific person and that is Gutcha's direct superior. If he randomly possessed someone useless, it would disrupt the plan by a fair bit so if he just patiently searched for this Major Kal's house and possessed him, then with a decent authority, there would be no problem navigating through the territory and safely guiding Mary and co back to Astria.

'Oh?'

As his Sense spread with every teleport he made, his stumbled a house bigger than the rest, it's a bit false to call it a house as it is at least five times wider than the rest and there were even two guards stationed at the front gates.

Since a big fish appeared, Arthur didn't hold back and teleported inside of it, all that was seen was a small green plant suddenly appear on one of the empty room inside this house.

Arthur could sense four presences with three being weak, only in the Spirit Realm and one who is at the peak of the Deity Realm, only a step away from becoming an Immortal.

Without hesitation, Arthur teleported near the strongest presence only to see a well-dressed monster. He wore a red noble-like dress with three small metallic pieces hanging on his chest. Honestly, Arthur didn't know how to differentiate their ages by looking at their appearances as they all looked hideous with some scarier than others.

'Appraise!'

Hakim (Race: Pigolo): Realm: Peak stages Deity.

He could be considered a real powerhouse on Astria, even the strongest, but in a place like the Underworld, there would be hundreds of peak deities or even Immortals roaming the city. There was even an army of thousands of zombies and ghouls being at the Spirit Realm. Individually they are weak, but defeating an Immortal with such a big number shouldn't be a problem, however, the consequences wouldn't be light either as half of the zombies would perish in the process.

Hakim was peacefully writing something on a parchment, his expression was calm and he didn't seem to have noticed the plant that grew out of his stone floor just a few meters away from him.

Arthur waited a couple of minutes as he was pondering on whether he should possess this one or just continue to search for Kal.

If this was a Major then it would be ideal to control him. Unfortunately, Gutcha knowledge about the upper echelons of the tribe was not sufficient so Arthur didn't know how to find out a person's rank from their clothes. Suffice to say, this Hakim sure looked like a high-official and not a mere captain.

'Well, at least his position shouldn't be too low for him to own such a big house.'

With that thought in mind, the plant vanished and a split second later, a black whirlpool appeared next to Hakim, before he could even react or blink, his vision turned black and he was possessed by Arthur.

You successfully possessed Hakim

....

A row of pointless notifications, it's either skills he already had maxed or a stats addition.

'It would be convenient if there is a way to fuse skills or create something like an upgrade of all these useless ones.'

Just as he possessed Hakim, the chains sound rang in his ears, forcing him to remember their damnable existence. It's fortunate that Hakim's robe was quite long so it shouldn't be hard to cover them, as for their noise then he'll just activate [Sneak], [Terrain Focus] and [No sound, no action].

Sneak can be permanently activated if it's maxed and it'll make him less detectable and the noise he emits unnoticeable.

Terrain Focus(Passive)(Max Lv): The user has 10% of passing unnoticed when he does any action, he will also gain 5% Dexterity as long as he remains undetected.

No sound, no action (passive)(Max Lv): The user chooses one object he is wearing to make it emit almost no noise, the effect is tripled if it's used for daggers and decreases by one fold if it is used on heavy weapons

This was originally a skill obtained from someone who had the assassin class, it is rather useful and in almost every fight, Arthur has it activated. With those three and a concealment skill, there should be no one who is able to notice the chains. Arthur didn't bother hiding them on Astria because he didn't need to but in such situation, he had too.

Surprisingly, this newly possessed body was easy to adjust too and the feeling was similar to controlling a Human or any humanoid being in general.

With the chains concealed, Arthur dropped his head and looked at the parchment which was being written by Hakim. Half of the smooth looking paper was written in a weird language.

'En! This is the Pigolo Language.... easy as always.'

With a skill letting him learn any language of any new Race he possesses, Arthur was able to acquire their language the moment he possessed Gutcha fallen comrade, who died at his hands.

Upon a further look, Arthur was a bit shocked to see that the internal conflict that he heard of from Gutcha was more serious than he thought. Moreover, the second written part, which was not finished, explained how the attack that was going to happen, as for what attack and on who, it wasn't mentioned.

It's a shame that Arthur couldn't obtain the memory of those he possessed, it would be useful yet it would cause serious damages to him. Imagine having the memory of thousands upon thousands of lives, it would make him go mad if his mind didn't burst already.

He experienced a few lifetimes of beasts and it already damaged him, so what can be said about thousands of them? It would be catastrophic, even if he did survive that, he wouldn't be himself anymore.

Arthur folded the parchment and stood up to leave the study room. His destination was obviously the prison. The further he got his friends out, the better. He needs to focus on finding the Spatial Master and to do that, he needs to ensure their safety first.

He already got rid of Bucama and his people, and with all the defense lines he put around his sect, there shouldn't be any danger.

...

Soon, Arthur left Hakim's house and was greeted by the two guards at his house's gates. They performed a formal weird bow and shouted loudly

”Greetings! Colonel Hakim!”

Although he didn't know Hakim's behavior, Arthur wasn't a fool either. He waved his hands in response and nodded his head. He walked towards the direction of the prison. The two guards followed him leaving only a small distance between them. They vigilantly looked around, afraid of any sneak attack.

Arthur was inwardly shaking his head as their behavior is a bit exaggerated, however, maybe he's mistaking and this Colonel Rank is higher than he thought?

He wasn't well versed in the Army ranks and didn't know a lot about them, even in his past life. For him, a Colonel is probably something at the middle of the echelon, not too bad yet not too good, but it is certain that it's higher than a Major so he did indeed strike a big fish.

Having only walked a hundred meters, there wasn't a person who didn't greet him, they would stop doing their chores and perform that bow. Only a few minutes have passed yet Arthur felt like he was a president, having everybody look at him with admiration and respect. It felt good yet a bit uncomfortable as he is not the actual person.

With a friendly smile plastered on the ugly face of Hakim, he made his way to the prison with no one stopping him or questioning him.

'It isn't a difficult plan after all...'

----

Arthur just exited the residential area for the high officials when a strange earpiece that he appraised earlier suddenly vibrated and a panicked voice rang in his ears. Apparently, this was a communication device used by the high-ranked officials and they would only be used in emergency situations.

Arthur really wanted to ignore it and pretend as if he heard nothing but the damn earpiece that was like a small grey sphere suddenly emitted a secondary loud noise which was similar to a beast's screech.

Such noise was obviously heard by his two guards behind and some of the people around him, who were either respectfully greeting him or admiring him from afar.

'Tch! Someone is definitely playing with me!'

He was just rejoicing about the easiness of the supposedly difficult plan when this happened. If this wasn't instant karma then what the hell could it be!

Fortunately, the emergency he heard was about several mysterious figures invading the Purple Fading Crystal Mine that belonged to the Pigolo Tribe.

The Purple Fading Crystal was a special type of material used to activate instant teleportation and several other mechanisms. In a way, it can also be used as a currency along with Red Spirit Stones but the latter was of much higher quality. Albeit that fact, the Pigolo Tribe paid special attention to the mine, protected and valued the enormous amount of Purple Fading Crystal that was procured from it.

By no means was it a meager amount and twenty percent of the tribe's wealth came from that mine, accidents such as this one could be said to never have occurred as the mine is extremely close to the main headquarters of the tribe and there was a Major permanently staying next to it, to protect and guard against any suspicious actions or invading enemies.

If this strange earpiece, which was called 'Clarity Call', rang in any Colonel's ear, it means that the situation is dire. It's unfortunate that Arthur didn't know that but he was still planning on checking what was going on as he could not just act oblivious to the whole matter after the loud noise was heard by all the surrounding people.

”Call the three Lieutenants and tell them to bring their Companies to the Purple Fading Crystal Mine North-East of here!”

With an authoritative and cold voice, Hakim ordered the two guards following him and darted to the North, heading for the Mine. Using his Immortal Sense, which was less accurate but could spread wider than the Sixth Sense, he sensed a gigantic cave which was most likely the mine, it was exactly thirty-two kilometers to the North-East and there were hundreds of living beings present inside of it. There was turbulent and chaotic airflow at the entrance, which was probably where whatever is occurring is happening at.

Thirty-two kilometers, that is a distance Arthur could cross in literally three seconds on Astria, however, due to the thickness of the Nether Energy and the difference between the two worlds, albeit having a sky-high Agility stats, his speed significantly decreased and he was only able to arrive there after half a minute....

He kept his original form and didn't rely on any movement technique or the lightning form or else the time spent would be halved.

There was an almost invisible dome enveloping the Mine from outside, it was very similar to a barrier, it had a greenish light that was barely unnoticeable. Arthur was only able to distinguish it using his [Eyes of the Noble Sea]. The eyes of Hakim pulsated with a dazzling blue light as Arthur squinted his eyes and stared at the entrance of the cave, where hundreds of presences could be felt.

Almost everyone belonged to the Pigolo Tribe except six figures which wore a long brown robe covering their whole body from head to toe and each one of them was wielding short daggers.

'*sniff* *sniff* Oooooh..'

Arthur smirked as his nose caught the sense of poison, with maxed [Poison Mastery] and a suitable body like Hakim's which could activate quite a few of good passive skills, Arthur was able to notice the poison which was perfectly hidden as no liquid appeared on the sharp edges of the short daggers. Not only could he sense the poison, he also knew that it was the lethal type, which would instantly invade the person's heart and drain every last bit of life in it.

Whether it's [Poison Immunity] or even [Acid immunity] Arthur had them all maxed, however, he could not help but feel a bit startled and curious. This was close to the headquarters of the Pigolo Tribe, one of the three leading forces in this large desert, so it is not common to see some bold people who are willing to invade such a large force foolishly.

'This does not seem right....'

From the looks of it, these six figures were strong but not to the point of being able to overpower the hundreds of raging warriors charging at them.

A single soldier is at least Lv500 with some being Lv800 and above, there were even two captains clashing with the six figures, who were only at the peak of the Spirit Realm. Arthur didn't even have to interfere but if the situation was like this, why did the Clarity Call activate?

This question was soon answered as a loud 'boom' noise entered his earlobes, it was soon followed by the change of the winds, which turned from calm to raging tornados.

A fight between Spirit Realm can cause a lot of damage and even change the atmosphere if the intensity of the attacks is high, but not to this point. Arthur was five kilometers away from the entrance yet he could feel the raging airflows.

'It must be a fight between Deities!'

His Sense spread even further, following the source of the noise only to sense two peak Deities fighting high in the sky, ten kilometers to the west of the mine.

'So it is indeed serious, however.... even with such force, it is still foolish from their part... unless...'

With his hand crossed and a calm expression, Arthur closed his eyes and pondered for a few seconds before opened them again and turned his head to the South, where the prison was.

'Unless this is merely a diversion!'

Just as he was going to turn back and head for the prison to hasten the plan, his sense caught two additional Peak Deities joining the fight, now it was three versus one and from the looks of it, the Colonel belonging to the Pigolo Tribe was the one who was in a disadvantage.

Even when he saw the colonel in danger, Arthur didn't even flinch as he wasn't going to waste his time with them but he never expected such a serious situation to happen, this wasn't merely a diversion as he predicted, it was a full-scale attack from another unknown party.

With such noise and fighting, no one would notice a few prisoners fleeing, especially with his help. He wanted to send Astrith but the lightning wolf was in deep slumber, after calling a few times and hearing no response, he gave up and decided to personally go. He wasn't planning on returning to Astria but the others had to as it is not a place for Mortals to live in, a small aftershock of an attack of a Deity can easily kill a Mortal like Alina or even heavily injure Taliya if not cripple her at the spot.

As he was flying using his lightning form, a yellow line passed through countless battlefields where invaders and soldiers and their captains defended against the enemies. Chaos was everywhere, a couple of buildings were being destroyed due to the fights of the big heads and the ground was slowly but surely being bathed in a mix of black and red blood with a stinking bloody stench that Arthur had could never forget, not after what he saw in Bucama's world. Albeit the sudden invasion and the extremely big number of the unknown brown robbed enemies, the Pigolo Tribe had a well-composed and strong army, with the orders of the captains and majors, they were slowly pushing back the invaders, however, not all places had a favorable situation.

Actually, before he transformed into his lightning form, Arthur sensed the death of the Colonel who was fighting the three peak Deities. He purposely let them go them live as killing them would cause more trouble to the tribe and buy him more time.

Arthur just passed a certain location in a flash but a moment later, he reappeared in it again with a complex look. He sensed Gutcha's presence along with Reek and another who was at the Heavenly Realm.

Surrounding those three were four robe individuals with two at the Heavenly Realm, one being at the early stages of the Deity Realm and the last was only at the peak of the Spirit Realm. These were not that strong compared to the ones Arthur saw earlier, however, they were more than enough to defeat these two captains and the Major.

After hesitating a bit, Arthur rushed beside them, completely taking them but surprise. Their distorted faces, which were way uglier when their present expression, drastically changed when Arthur appeared. Reek's angry eyes stared at the Colonel with proudness and arrogance.

”How about you repeat what you just said!'

With both of his hands on his thick waist and an arrogant posture, Reek faced the four robed individuals whilst showing a row of pointy teeth and a sneering expression.

Gutcha stared dumbly at Hakim before he did a quick low bow and faced the enemies with his spear in hand. As for Major Kal, his eyes, which was worried and anxious relaxed but he didn't dare spout nonsense and could only glare angrily at Reek, who was proudly showing off when the colonel appeared.

'A second ago, he was scared witless and even proposed to us that we surrender... to think that his true face would appear only in extreme situations...'

Major Kal shook his head in disappointment and tightly held a long silver spear which was pointed at one of the Heavenly Realm figures. Every Colonel was at least in the middle stages of the Deity Realm, so Major Kal had to only take care of the rest, only the Deity Realm person was the one that bothered him as he was not his match.

Only freaks like Lucy and Arthur, who can defy the nature of everything would be able to frog jump a Realm or two to face Divine beings and Gods. For a Heavenly Realm, it is almost impossible to defeat a Deity, the same thing applies for a Deity and an Immortal, the difference was just too big, adding the variable which was the techniques and circumstances, this would make it more so impossible.

”Go help the East side, the Batallion is falling and the death count is increasing, there are some innocent bystanders too.”

Arthur looked at the resolute Major Kal and instructed him with the same authoritative tone as before, his expression was calm and his voice was cold with a hint of killing intent.

Being only a Major, Kal nodded his head seriously and left with his silver spear in hands, he didn't even bother instructing the two captains. Just as he was their superior, Hakim was the superior of his superior, and in times of crisis or even training, they must obey the orders immediately with no questioning whatsoever, such rules have been forcefully engraved in their mind since the moment they joined the army of the Pigolo Tribe.