Once Human, Now a Parasite 163 Chapter 159 : Invasion

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.

Reek paid no heed to the departing Major Kal, as long as the Colonel was still present, his contemptuous look and arrogant look never vanished, instead, it grows stronger every passing second.

"Audacious! To think that a mere captain dares to act so arrogantly in front of us!"

One of the two Heavenly Realm individuals dashed toward Reek and stretched his hand, preparing to smash his head. In return, Reek maintained the arrogant posture, not the least bit afraid of the incoming danger as he was certain that the Colonel would save his life and defeat these enemies, however, reality was always cruel and Reek came to know this when the enemy was just a few meters away from him yet the Colonel didn't even move a single finger. His face froze and his smirk stiffened, he was just about to raise his weapon to act but it was too late, he was but a Spirit Realm, facing a Heavenly Realm, more so giving him time to approach, there was no way he would be able to block or dodge.

'poof'

The hand crushed Reek's head, making blood splatter across the ground and throwing brain matter all over the place, Gutcha's face turned white and a look of shock appeared on his ugly face, as for the enemy, he just kicked the headless corpse of Reek and harrumphed.

He too, was surprised by the fact that the Colonel didn't act, when he raised his hand to look at Hakim, he saw the other party look back at him with his hands folded and a look of amusement plastered on his ugly face.

*****

"C-colonel...."

The words couldn't come out of Gutcha's mouth, he was just too afraid and surprised when he saw a comrade of his, despite his dislike for him, die brutally in front of his eyes with no means of retaliating or even a simple resistance. The disparity in strength is just too great.

Anyone present, including Gutcha, expected the Colonel to interfere, after all, the enemy attacked a subordinate of his, someone of his tribe, so it is his duty to defend the weak, just as it is his job to protect the tribe from invaders.

"Don't mind him, he was a nuisance that should have died long ago. Now that we're alone, how about we speak for a couple of seconds?"

The astonishment of Gutcha never stopped increasing as he heard the weird words the Colonel just uttered, it's as if he wasn't on his side. This thought crossed the captain's mind and made him soaked with cold sweat, he unconsciously took a step back.

Before he could think of a suitable route or an efficient plan to flee from this place, Gutcha saw the colonel advance toward the brown-robed figure who stood there, gazing at Hakim from under the dark hood, which covered his facial features and his whole appearance.

Arthur didn't have all day, he wasn't going to personally waste time to fight these small fries as it was unnecessary, however, to gain a better knowledge of the whole situation, possessing one wouldn't require that much time.

If he is planning to stay here on a longer term, having a broad knowledge about the enemies would facilitate things for him if he wants to change sides, especially with a suitable body to possess.

From the Appraisal, Arthur was able to see their Race, which was the Desert Gargoyles, however, from his knowledge and from the stories and notes of Zodiak, who adventured in many stars and planes, Gargoyles have never resembled Humans or Humanoid figures, not even the least bit. With a talent in manipulating pure Darkness and an evil nature, they are usually despised and cast out in the edges of the world, so this confused Arthur quite a bit, nonetheless, by possessing one, he would gain a fair amount of knowledge about their body, skills and so on.

After only walking a few steps, when he was only five meters from the closest enemy, the one who just killed Reek, Arthur's figure suddenly vanished from their sight and by the next second, you could only hear a small noise resembling the fall of a corpse on the ground.

A second is a short time for Mortals, but a mere second is enough for Gods to kill thousands of Mortals, with a power equal to a God, killing these four, who are slightly stronger than a Mortal, is nothing to the current Arthur. Although saying they are slightly stronger than Mortals is an exaggeration, for Arthur, a Mortal or a Deity are no different, they would die with only one attack.

The four lifeless corpses of these Desert Gargoyles fell on the ground, under their brown hood, their eyes were full of disbelief and unwillingness to die, it was too sudden and even if they were a hundred times stronger, the result would have been the same.

With a small manipulation of Dark Magic, invading their minds and corrupting in an instant is but a child's play for Arthur. It was a function he just discovered as he usually uses this strong Magic in a physical way rather than a mental one. It is unknown if it works on God or not but it is unlikely as they are beings who transcended and the difference between them and a Deity is big.

...

Gutcha stood there, petrified as he could no longer move a muscle when he saw the four enemies die instantly. He didn't even see how they died, although he was stricken with immense fear, he wasn't dumb enough to think that a Colonel would be that strong. Strange and incomprehensible thoughts surged in his mind, he even assumed that the Colonels were hiding their powers from the very beginning but that assumptions were just too biased and stupid.

Soon, Gutcha's eyes witnessed the Colonel appear near one of the four corpses and transform into a black whirlpool which lasted less than a second and disappeared inside the corpses. If he didn't see this process in the past, he would think that he was surely hallucinating.

Back on Astria, Arthur did the exact same thing to his comrade. It was something inexplicable and adding his position, he didn't dare to question what was done or even think about asking, after all, the most dangerous thing in this world is the unknown, you could fear the gods but what is more fearful than these beings is what you don't know, that if you knew them, you would rather die than live any extra second, that is how Gutcha thought.

For him, bowing and kneeling for anyone is worth keeping his life, it is still a much better fate than death. However, Arthur wouldn't share his thoughts, for someone who seeked death more times than he could count, sometimes it is better to just die than face horror no one would be able to fathom. Ranging from something as tragic as Lucy's past to the torture the people from Bucama's world experienced.

The fastly beating heart of Gutcha calmed down after a few seconds had passed, when he saw that strange whirlpool, he was certain that it is Arthur. Since ancient times, there was only one evil Race known to be able to possess or corrupt other beings, and that is Devils, a Race matching the Angels if not stronger.

Gutcha also thought that since Arthur was able to leisurely use someone else's body then he must be a Devil but there was a few inconsistencies, nonetheless, what he was sure about is that Arthur is by no means Human.

He wasn't sure that if someone tortured him, he would or would not spit everything he knew about Arthur, but for his life, he would do anything so it is highly probable that he would spit the beans. He feared Arthur the most, but that is only second to Death itself.

It is unfortunate, however, that with the detonator that Arthur planted inside of him, coupled with a special poison, the second he diverted from the plan, started planning behind his back or spoke even a single word concerning Arthur, the tall and hideous body of Gutcha would only turn into minced meat and leftover liquid from his burned brain, a tragic death indeed, unwanted by anyone. What's more unfortunate is that Gutcha didn't know that, he only knew that Arthur planted something weird looking inside of him, as for its function, he assumed it was like a radar, assuming the original user to locate his position wherever he was.

'ting' 'ting'

A row of notifications appeared in Arthur's vision. He stored the Colonel's body in his ring and entered this one, the process was smooth as always and the same second he possessed the Desert Gargoyle, he was able to move the body freely as if it was his own. Arthur didn't exactly know how his Race functioned but the amount of time it takes to possess and move the body has become a lot shorter when he just came to this world, it would take about three seconds to possess and more than ten seconds to stabilize the body and get used to it.

'You have successfully possessed Gilot (Race: Deset Gargoyle): Realm: Deity Early Stages.

'You have obtained a new skill(passive): [Gargoylan Language].

'You have obtained a new skill(passive): [Gargoylan Bloodline]: 00.07% (99.93% to fully awaken)

You have obtained a new skill(active): [Earth Attribute: Advanced]

You have obtained a new skill(active Lv14): [Dark Wings]: Gargoyles are angels of night, with fully grown black wings, the user's flying speed would be multiplied by 1.5 times.

Additional effect: Releases Evil Aura causing any target within a hundred meters to weaken by 3% and cause damage equal to 0.5% of their full health every 10 seconds.

Cost: 25,000 Mana every second.

Cooldown: None.

The list was long but only [Dark Wings] and [Gargoylan Bloodline] caught Arthur's attention, especially the bloodline thingy, it was too sudden but enticing. Gargoyles are not weak creatures, it's true that is disliked by many but that's because of their evil nature and cruel behavior. Arthur recalled a note written by Zodiak which stated, quote by quote

'I once stumbled upon a mysterious Shrine at the corner of the Heaven and Hell Universe, it was an isolated star called 'The Dark Ice Star'. Honestly, I got in a big trouble with one of the local Devil Lords but what was more troublesome is entering it, the thick miasma was harmful even with my Dark Cloak.... I seem to be diverting from the main issue, what I found in that shrine is beyond belief and in the process, if it was not a nest full of gargoyles, I would have dived deeper. I was lucky to survive as they seemed to be enslaved and couldn't come out of the shrine or else I wouldn't be here, writing this journal....'

Such strange places that he never heard of were often mentioned in Zodiak's notes which is why he didn't pay them much importance at first, but as time passed, he came to discover that these were not just simple notes, a mighty figure such as Zodiak wouldn't just write a journal of all of his experiences just on a whim, what was weirded is that it is not full, it was a thick journal but half of it is empty, only yellow paper, which became dusty due to its extremely old age.

'Show me details about the Gargoylan Bloodline'

A lot of people didn't know but the System could be used in a lot of ways, whether it is detailed information about a skill you have or something else, it's helpfulness is beyond limits, even to someone such as Arthur.

Bloodline: A sequence of direct ancestors especially in a pedigree, it can be of any ancient creature as long as it was strong enough to produce a bloodline which carries special characteristics or unique skills.

Currently, the user has 4 active bloodlines.

Gargoylan Bloodline: 00.07%

Geo Dragon Bloodline: 0.004%

Titan Bloodline: 50%

Wyrm Bloodline: 74.8%

*************

Seeing something completely new, Arthur was flabbergasted for a few moments as he stared at the blue window in front of him. It's the first time that he discovered this, previously, he thought that all bloodlines were the same, for example, once he got a drop of titan's blood, he would have its bloodline but it seems that there is a large difference. Of course, different bloodlines grant different kinds of powers, just like there are ancient and godly bloodlines, there are also useless ones, however, for Arthur, nothing can be useless, even if it increased his strength by a mere 1%, it is still worth acquiring.

From the looks of it, the Wyrm bloodline has the highest percentage. It's to be expected since Arthur possessed a lot of ancient corpses made only of broken bones, most of them were snake-shaped which were subspecies of the Wyrm, which is an ancient Race with a high standing and a commendable power.

It was unknown what will if the percentage reaches 100 but it must only be a good thing for Arthur, however, reaching 100% is easier said than done. Arthur possessed more than ten thousand snake species, coupled with different elemental Wyrm and so on, and to obtain more, it'll take some time, even on Astria.

'Maybe I can ask the ARK later about it. From his annoying clone, Arthur knew that the ARK is a purely scientific creation that has a vast knowledge no one could obtain, it must be like a Heavenly Library, but the problem is if it'll answer him or not.

Arthur pushed all these thoughts to the side and stared at Gutcha, who remained silent and just looked at him with a mix of fear and hesitation, it's as if he wanted to say something but didn't have the guts to do it.

With a solemn voice, Arthur used the Gargoyle's mouth to talk

"Go hide in a safe place..... also, it is better if you focus on finding the Spatial Master, the sooner the better."

Now that his suspicions were cleared, Gutcha clenched his fists tightly and nodded his head before turning around and rushing far away from this hellish place. The deal between them was clear, if Arthur successfully achieves his goal then Gutcha will be freed.

Although Arthur seemed like a ruthless and cold person, he never was a person who didn't uphold his promises. They started off as enemies, that is indeed true, but that didn't mean they should be enemies for life. They weren't archenemies, no one held a grudge against the other and if we're talking about a grudge, Gutcha only disliked Taliya as she was the one who tortured him, apart from her, he didn't even think of double-crossing Arthur or acting against him, quite the opposite in fact, he would rather build a good relationship with him.

If anyone of his tribe heard his thoughts, they would treat him as a traitor and execute him on the spot, but he was sure that apart from him, there are countless people in this tribe who wanted to leave.

The life is not bad, each had their own shelter and never starved but a monotonous life was boring and in times of war, even the civilians would be used as disposable pawns.

When Arthur was sure that Gutcha was out of danger, he waved his hand and stored the Gargoyle's body into his storage and maintained his real appearance. Since there is chaos everywhere, the plan to send the prisoners back to Astria wouldn't be difficult. With the body of the Gargoyle and the Colonel, it would a piece of cake to infiltrate the tribe once again once everything was settled.

Arthur's body emitted cracklings noise as Arthur started walking but the sound soon stopped as his figure transformed into a black shadow that crossed a thousand meters within the blink of an eye, with such a speed, amongst the various fights scattered in the territory of the Pigolo Tribe, no expert was able to notice him.

Surprisingly, Arthur spotted a few Immortals clashing against each other but he completely disregarded them and headed toward the prison.

As he was heading toward the prison, Arthur noticed something that kept bothering him since he arrived at this world. He felt as if his speed, or maybe his overall powers decreased, it wasn't a big deal where his whole prowess was affected, but the change was still felt. The numbers on the Status Window didn't change and the presence of the chains proved that his body still had immense strength, it's just that something didn't feel right. Another inquiry was added to the list of questions Arthur prepared for the ARK.

*********

The tension in the prison increased as explosions were heard from the roof, which was the desert around the cave, what was even more frightening is horrific shouting and painful yells were heard, accompanied by helpless cries of help and loud orders of the captains, who were commanding their subordinates.

It wasn't hard for the prisoners to figure out what's happening, the guard didn't even come to inform them or even bother with them, he was so afraid that he locked himself on top of the tower near the cave entrance and hid there. It was a cowardly move but he valued his life and was not a brave warrior or a soldier, in fact, he only did a couple of spars and never had to fight for real, he would only act haughtily in front of the weak prisoners.

"Wh-what should I do? The metal doors of the tower could defend against an attack from a person at the early stages of the Spirit Realm.... I shouldn't panic too m-much..."

With shaking hands and a distorted face, he sneaked a glance at the usually empty area around the prison only to be thoroughly flabbergasted by the sight.

More than a dozen figures were running straight at the tower with three brown-robbed shadows behinds them. Clems, the guard of the prison recognized the person who was bleeding intensely and was helped by three soldiers, he was amongst the dozen rushing straight at the tower and the injured one was a newly appointed Captain. There were eleven soldiers and an injured captain chased by three enemies, two seemed to be under the Spirit Realm and the last one, who held a long wooden staff, was at the early stages of the Spirit Realm.

Clems didn't know that his fear grew more intense when he saw that a dozen of soldiers were fleeing from just three people, he came up with a crazy assumption which is that these three are insanely strong.

While keeping his head ducked to not be spotted, he shivered as he covered his small ears and ignored the banging sound which was caused by the soldiers, who were shouting and banging on the metal door of the tower. They desperately banged on the door, wanting whoever was responsible to open it for them as they may survive or have a chance at least. Fortunately, the soldiers were a bit ahead of the three people but the distance was shortened as they spent a whole ten seconds banging and when no response came, they finally knew that this was it. Although unwillingness lingered in their eyes, their resolute expression proved that they aren't just going to beg the enemies, they were soldiers after all.

Clems turned a deaf tear to the cries of his fellow tribe members, in a way, he was like Gutcha but way more cowardly. Even someone like Arthur wouldn't blame him if he didn't feel any closeness to the tribe and had no friends to help or protect, keeping himself alive is the best choice.

The banging sound, which lasted an eternity for Clems, finally stopped as the soldiers turned around, raised their spears which were dyed with the blood of their fallen comrades or the blood of the enemy.

A soldier stayed at the back, helping the captain stand up and the remaining ten pointed their spears at the incoming enemies and charged with loud roars. There is no escaping from death, at least they must die an honorable death instead of simply waiting for it to come.

Just as the clash was going to happen, a strong gust of wind that none of the present people could resist, the fourteen bodies were sent flying hundreds of meters away from that area, even the brown-robbed Spirit Realm couldn't resist the wind which sent him flying. He was only able to stabilize his body after he was flung four hundred meters away from his previous position. A cold shiver ran down his spine and fear surged through his heart. This was by no means a mere gust of wind, even a tornado wouldn't send them flying this far.

What was an attack that could not be resisted was actually only Arthur using a bit of his Wind proficiency to push them back, their fighting was none of his concern, however, he would rather send the prisoners out of here with no eye-witnesses, including the shivering Pigolo on top of the tower.

Unlike the fourteen others, Clems's body was sent flying toward the opposite direction, you could only hear his loud cry as he was scared witless when he realized he was mid-air with no proper means to land.

Arthur surveyed the surroundings one more time using his Immortal Sense then he entered the cave.

************

"What should we do? Alina."

"W-we should try to find a way out, I can hear the explosions nearby and the roof wouldn't hold on much longer."

Although the fights were not that close, the roof was showing signs of destruction as clear long cracks appeared on it and small stones fell one after another, if not for the hard and resistant iron bars, it would have fallen a long time ago.

The helpless prisoners surrounded Alina, seeking hope and a solution, they relied so much on her to the point of being unable to think properly in any risky situation. Taliya clicked her tongue and stood next to Alina, emitting a cold aura and sharp killing intent, resulting in the crowd being pushed from fright. Lucas stood at the other side of Alina and said

"When Alina sought your help multiple times, you turned a deaf towards her and now you expect to be saved? See if I do not finish you immediately if you keep pestering her and spouting useless words!"

The reason he was annoyed was due to the people who were talking. Some were even blaming Alina, they were the ones who would talk or try to get close to her in such situations, there were some likable characters who were helpful, but those kept silent as they knew that Alina was just as helpless as them in such place, however, some unnecessary parasites would show up when an opportunity shows up, and their main purpose is to take the leader position and at the same time, getting rid of Alina.

Being shouted at and feeling the terrorizing killing intent of Taliya, they could only back away as their knees trembled and their faces paled.

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Chapter end