Capítulo 79: Chapter 79 : Arthur's resolve

It has been 3 days since Anastassia passed out, Arthur and Lucy took her to a small house which was not devastated by what happened at waited for her to wake up.

Lucy became more and more anxious as after searching the whole clan's territory, she found no trace of Saly, even Astrith was missing.

Apparently, a lot of people died, it's like a clan extermination as the Elders and the section chiefs all died, Arthur didn't know what happened exactly, but one thing is certain, it's that the opponent is very strong.

Anastassia spoke of a woman, so his first guess was the woman who attacked him that time, but if so, then why would she attack the clan instead of him?

That was a bit confusing, nonetheless, he couldn't guess the whole truth so he patiently waited for the unconscious Anastassia to wake up.

"Hey Arthur, d-do you think she's okay?"

Lucy was leaning on Arthur as she asked him with an anxious and sad tone, after searching many times, she couldn't find Saly.

She deeply loved the little girl and considered her part of her family, if something happened to her then how could Lucy forgive herself?

Arthur was also restless and worried, but in situations like this, one cannot act recklessly, although he was very fast in terms of traveling and such, he can't search the four continents for Saly, it would take a lot of time, especially if he were to search every corner.

Anastassia was present and she most likely knew what happened here and to Lucy, so it's better to wait for her to wake up.

...

At the 6th day, Anastassia finally woke up, the serious injuries were healing slowly which was a good thing but she still couldn't move properly.

It took her a lot of effort to lift her head and sit on the bed instead of laying on it.

Arthur and Lucy were near the bed, sitting on wooden chairs and staring at Anastassia, who had a sad look on her eyes.

"Are your injuries okay?"

Arthur didn't bombard her with questions right away, no matter how worried he was for Saly, he couldn't ignore Anastassia and just expect some answers from her while disregarding her current state.

"Not fully healed but it's possible to move"

Before Arthur could open his mouth to talk again, Lucy interrupted him as she spoke to Anastassia.

"Where is Saly?"

Anastassia wasn't particularly surprised by this question, after all, she knew how much they deeply cared for Saly and for Lucy to ask her that was expected, but anyone could see sad and regret were shown in Anastassia's eyes as if it was her own fault.

"She was taken by that woman..... I'm sorry"

It was too late to apologize but she nevertheless did it, it was the only thing she could do right now, with her body in this state, unable to even walk, how could she help them?

"Taken? Where was she taken? And who is that woman?"

Lucy never ceased asking questions and she wanted to immediately rush to the place where Saly was taken to save her.

"She didn't say the exact place... that woman only said 'Underworld' "

"Underworld?"

Lucy was confused, she stared at Arthur but he too was as confused as her, it's the first time he heard of this place.

Usually, when thinking of the Underworld, it's like the hell, or the opposite of heaven, or in some cases a place where the dead resides.

After staying silent for a while, Arthur spoke again.

"What about Astrith? I'm sure he is not dead because if he was, then I could summon him again.."

"I don't know either, the last time I saw him was when he followed that woman in some kind of a portal."

Lucy was gripping Arthur's hand as thinking of Saly being alone in an unknown place made her even more worried.

That kid just got out of hell when they took her with them, but it's not been that long yet she was taken again, and this time it's by an even more powerful person.

...

Arthur knew that he won't find Saly easily, If he were to begin searching through the books and asking people, it would take some time, but the woman said she'll be waiting, but for how much time? 1 day? 10 days? A month?

He wanted fast answers and the only one he could think of was...

As Lucy was thinking about Saly and Anastassia was resting on the bed while gritting her teeth, a skeleton appeared out of nowhere.

Arthur decided to ask Zodiak, he didn't know if he would reply or even wake up, but he should at least try.

Anastassia stared at the skeleton with a puzzled expression, as for Lucy, she didn't react as she was absentminded.

"Sir Zodiak, can you hear me?"

Honestly, Arthur didn't know if this would even work, Zodiak only wakes up in dire situations and up until now, he woke up only 2 times and last time he said that he didn't have much energy left, so the possibility of him waking up is quite slim, however, Arthur chose to bet on that slim chance.

Arthur called Zodiak many times, he repeated the calling over and over again until something finally occurred.

The skeleton rose by itself and like last time, a black robe covered its body.

"..*Sigh* brat, I may be dormant, but I can still hear what happened, if not for your annoying callings then I wouldn't have woken up, every second I'm awake is consuming what's left of my energy."

The lifeless eye-sockets of the skeleton beamed with bright red as a dark aura enveloped the small room.

Anastassia stared at Zodiak with wide open eyes, still not believing what just happened.

"Senior Zodiak, please forgive me, but I need your help in something.."

Arthur was not someone who begs for forgiveness like this, in fact, he never did it before, but Zodiak was a special case.

Not only has he gained Zodiak's powers and treasures, this Senior also saved his life two times, he didn't seem a bad guy like the myths said.

Zodiak waved his skeletal hand dismissively at Arthur while saying.

"I know I know, you want to ask about the underwork right? I've been with you this whole time so I know your attitude"

Zodiak sighed again before he continued speaking.

"Underworld, if that woman was talking about the same Underworld that I know, then I must tell you that going there right now is impossible for you. It's a dangerous place, in fact, it's one of the most dangerous Realms, so that woman must be at least in the God Realm. If I'm correct, then she went back to her world quickly because her powers in this Realm are restricted and if she stays too long then she'll weaken permanently, this is also part of the reason that you don't see any powerful being in the Lower Realms."

As he carefully listened to Zodiak, Arthur's face turned ugly as he unconsciously clenched his fists. To think that Saly is at a place like this made him even more nervous.

Zodiak noticed how Arthur became even more anxious but he(Zodiak) didn't say anything, he just kept staring for sometime before he resumed speaking, but this time, it's with a softer tone.

"I know what you are thinking, brat. But I have to warn you that going there is simply suicide, you'll die before even reaching that woman. For her to even be able to come here indicates that she has a powerful backing!"

Even though Arthur heard that he still couldn't hold himself and just obediently stay here. Without hesitation, Arthur got on his knees and said.

"Senior Zodiak, I beg of you, send me and Lucy to there, we only need to way to go there and that's it!"

Arthur's action was followed by Lucy, who got on her knees too next to Arthur. Begging was always something not to be done easily, some people would rather die than beg or get on their knees and perhaps Lucy and Arthur would have never done that in the past.

But now it was different, they were begging for a chance to save Saly, there was clearly no other way to go to the Underworld with their current strength so Zodiak was their only way.

"...*Sigh*, Usually I only think rationally, even in situations like this, brat, sooner or later you'll know that decisions like this, made from the heart are reckless and will only lead you to your death! If you want to save someone then you have to prepare.... . It seems I've got no choice but to send you, however, you have to know that this will be the last time as all my energy would be spent to send you both, only if you get another portion of my powers will I be able to wake up again.."

The small room began to distort and twist itself and in just seconds, what seemed like a space rift which was about 2 meters was created.

"Go... you'll appear in a random place in the Underworld, oh and one more thing, if you somehow manage to meet the woman, get her book! I can sense that it's the other half of 'the book of the damned', it'll be a great help for you.... I hope we meet again, brat.."

As he said that, Zodiak's body went back to Arthur's storage, and the only thing left in the room were the three of them and the space rift.

Anastassia was still dumbfounded and couldn't process everything, as for Lucy and Arthur, they were preparing to go into the space rift.

Before they entered, Arthur turned to look at Anastassia, who was sitting on the bed and said while waving his hand.

"Almost all your clan was wiped out, I'm really sorry about that, I don't know if you want to stay here or not but It'll be better if you go away since the other clans won't stay still. You can head to our sect on the Western continent, these 3 will obey your orders and will take you to the sect if you want."

After he said that, Arthur and Lucy disappeared into the rift, the space rift vanished too leaving only Anastassia in the small room.

Just as the rift disappeared, a bottomless hole appeared in the room and seemed to stretch even outside of it and suddenly 2 huge bone dragons and a Death Knight which was riding on a 2m dark steed appeared out of the hole.

The bone dragons were a bit smaller and weaker than the one in the Western continent, Arthur didn't know why but it seemed that the first bone dragon mutated and became much stronger.

As for these bone dragons, each was Lv650 and the Death Knight was at the Spirit Realm, it cost Arthur 700 Mental Power but it was worth it as it'll at least protect Anastassia if something happened.

The small room was destroyed by the bone dragons and what was left was only a bed and a person sitting on it.

Anastassia finally snapped out of her daze and looked at those 3, after some time, she struggled to stand up and said with a low voice

"Let's go..."