Bab 73: Chapter 73 : Hunt (2)
The distance between the giant disgusting worms and the bound Jackob is shortening each second, until it was less than 5 meters, albeit their huge frame, the worm's speed is quite fast, which make it more troublesome to deal with it.
Jackob already gave up on escaping, there is no way he could free himself from the paralyzing saliva, so what is only left is just give up and accept his death, he closed his mouth and layed there, silent, his thoughts about his mother..
However, even after a couple of seconds passed, nothing happened, the first thought that crossed his mind is that perhaps it's done? Maybe he died painlessly? It was a happy thing yet depressing, happy because he didn't feel pain, yet sad and depressing because he died and can no longer help his mother, but if so, then where is he now? The afterlife?
With that absurd thought in mind, he opened his eyes only to see the disgusting body of the 3 worms around him, but what was even more surprising is that they were frozen in a big block of ice, each and every one of them.
Apart from them, two figures appeared a couple of meters away from him, because he still felt a bit weakened, and couldn't comprehend what just happened, he couldn't exactly see their appearances, but he was sure it was a man and a silver-haired woman next to him, both of them slowly walked toward him.
As for the giant worms, they didn't move since they were frozen, Jackob was relieved as he breathed a sigh of relief, he didn't die, so why not feel a bit delighted? Yet he also felt a mix of cautious and fear toward those mysterious individuals.
First, why did they save him? For someone like him who fought countless battles and grew in a harsh environment like this place, it's weird to save someone out of kindness, there surely must be a reason they saved him, so he raised his guard against them although they saved his life.
Arthur and Lucy finally found a living being, well to be more precise, it was a small party, but as they approached, it seemed 3 of the people in that party left the last one alone and fled, it was kind of expected and neither Arthur nor Lucy was surprised, such acts were very common in this world, especially on this continent.
First, they were going to go question the 3 fleeing people, but after some thought, they decided to save the other one and question him instead, he may give some honest answers because they saved him, and the others may spit some lies.
Arthur doesn't particularly care about that beastmen's life, he was kind, yes, but not to the point of saving everyone that was in danger, he would only help friend and relatives, probably helpless people that were kind of his acquaintances, but helping strangers was a no-no for him, but that seemed really ironic when he helped Lucy, a complete stranger to him right? And Saly? I guess his character may have changed a bit after all that happened, maybe he softened or became colder, whatever happened, it doesn't matter as long as he did was he thought was right.
..
Dealing with such weak worms was truthfully extremely easy, even Saly could slaughter hundreds of them, they didn't even seem strong, just disgusting.
With but a thought, all the 3 attacking worms were frozen with his Ice Magic, he didn't use it often or tried it, but against such weak creatures, this kind of magic is very effective against , furthermore, after possessing thousands of creatures, his Ice Magic is the most common amongst the special attributes, so he already got it in advanced, but what he really wanted to have is that strange ice the woman used in the tournament back then.
After having possessed a significant amount of corpses of numerous races, Arthur came to know that special attributes are really very rare, Ice is the most common, although I said common, it's just that it's the attribute that is commonly found amongst all the other attributes, from all those corpses, he never got the metal or wood or another attribute, which is a pity.
..
Lucy and Arthur walked toward the beastmen who appeared to be paralyzed and layed on the ground, he looked at them with fear and cautiousness, but Arthur wasn't going to hurt him anyway, he could only chuckle and speak loud enough for the beastmen to hear him.
"Hello there, no need to panic! We were just passing by, we're definitely not suspicious, I saw you were in danger, so I saved you..."
Hearing this, Lucy could only sigh and slowly shake her head while mumbling
"You... from all the things you could have said, why say that?"
Arthur just scratched the back of the head while smiling, now that he thought about it, what he said was a bit suspicious, plus with their sudden appearance, how could the other party not feel fearful and suspicious towards them? Anyways, he kept looking at the beastmen, expecting an answer.
As for Lucy, she didn't try to correct or do anything, talking to strangers was not something she excelled at, only when talking to Arthur can she express her feeling and talk about whatever she wants, as for others, it was not like with Arthur, for example when talking to Anastassia or Sonia, she wouldn't talk much, maybe Saly was an exception as she loved chatting with that little girl, but other than her, there was none.
Of course, that didn't necessarily mean she can't talk, she just didn't want to talk to strangers, she also found it useless, plus there was Arthur to do the talking.
..
Half a minute passed with no response, the atmosphere was a bit awkward, Jackob managed to sit up as the paralysis began to wear off bit by bit, plus his resistance to it was stronger than normal people because he had been exposed to it numerous times.
"W-who are you?.."
Jackob finally managed to utter those words, he escaped from calamity but he could not relax yet, maybe those two are even more dangerous than the worms, it's just that every person from here would feel suspicious and confused if they were saved like this.
"Ehh? I know that in this continent, everything is messy, but I think that most people know that if a person got saved by someone, they have to thank them first before asking anything else, or am I wrong perhaps?"
Arthur kept a distance of 5m or so between him and Jackob, he knew that his beastmen felt very cautious, so he didn't want to cause him more fear than he is already feeling, he just wanted to know the whereabouts of the closest city.
To be honest, with Lucy and Arthur's traveling speed, circling the continent a few time a day would be easy, crossing it all would not take a lot of time, it was possible, but what he needed was information, just going to random cities would not really help that much, if he just searched every village and city one by one, and inspecting its people and so on, then that would take a lot of time, so having someone provide necessary information for him is very crucial.
Jackob somehow managed to stand up, he cautiously stared at the couple while replying
"Y-yes, I apologize for my rudeness, thank you for saving my life.. uhh.."
After thanking him, he couldn't think of anything else to say, if they truly helped him out of kindness, then he would eternally feel grateful, but such thoughts never crossed his mind as events like this where people are saved by strangers without expecting anything is impossible to occur in this wasteland.
"Good, so you know how to appreciate kindness, well then, we saved your life, what have you got to repay us?"
'I fucking knew it!' Jackob gritted his teeth as he unconsciously backed away from Arthur, he obviously has nothing to give him, so he could only helplessly gaze at Arthur and hesitantly say
"I-I have a couple of gold coins back home, if you're willing to follow me, I can give them to you.."
Jackob did many contributions to his clan and village, so he was rewarded with money, and after more or less 5 years, he managed to save a couple of gold coins, it was not lot for rich people, but for the beastmen and the inhabitant in this continent, every coin, be it copper, silver or gold, it's worth a lot, after all, they were short on food, water and so on.
Unlike other continents, this one is very special, as recorded in the history books, this continent suffered from countless bloody wars, it was a battlefield for hundreds of years, it was not a place to live, no more grass or trees grow anymore, it's just 'rotten earth', there were canyons, cliffs, dungeons, but every single one of them didn't even have a single tree, it's a pity but that's to be expected after all these wars that happened here.
..
Arthur walked toward the restless beastmen, still smiling, hearing what Jackob said, his smile became wider, but to Jackob, it looked evil rather than appealing.
"Ohoho, such things like gold coins.. they are useless for me"
Jackob really wanted to get the hell out of here, he didn't know what would this person do to him, after seeing him come toward him while smiling, he regretted not dying, maybe his fate was going to be worse than death? That's what most people in his situation would think.
"Then what do you want? Apart from that I really don't have anything else..."
Arthur was finally a meter or so in front of the beastmen, he gazed intensely at him while humorously saying
"No no! You indeed can repay me with something apart from the gold coins, hmm..... for example, your body?"
As he heard that, Jackob stared at him with a confused look, he really couldn't understand what he just heard, after a couple of seconds, he seemed to have realized something, with a still confused look, he shifted his gaze to Lucy, who was next to Arthur.
'Maybe he swings that way?... eh!? then this woman is maybe his sister? No way... or perhaps he wants to dissect me?"
Many absurd and crazy thoughts rampaged in his mind, but outside, he didn't utter a single word.
After an unknown amount of time, a cold yet pleasant to hear voice rang out.
"You really should stop, your joking scared the boy a lot..."
It was Lucy who talked, Arthur didn't joke around this much usually, so why would he do that now? Well, either way, it didn't bother her but the beastmen seemed to become more and more afraid and restless.
After stopping for a second, she resumed talking again while facing Jackob.
"We just want answers from you, that's all"
Hearing this, Jackob was momentarily startled before he managed to process what she just said, his mind was still confused by what Arthur said, but the woman finally said something reasonable, he unconsciously sighed and stared at Lucy.
Now that he took a closer look, he couldn't help but feel a bit of shock, this mysterious woman is really a top-class beauty, even amongst all the women he saw in his entire life, she can be considered amongst the top, well, he doesn't have the time to contemplate her beauty, plus, just by the way he coldly looked at him, he felt cold sweat and chills over his whole body.
"O-oh oh... if so, then I will try to answer as best as I can!"
He still didn't let go of his suspicions, but if it's only questioning, then it's no problem, he resolutely looked at the duo while waiting for their questions.
'Hopefully, they let me go after they are done with me... fuck! My luck is so bad, why must I run into them, especially this man! If he was really joking, then it's not funny! Not funny at all!'
Arthur nonchalantly clapped his hands as if a bit excited, then he said
"Alright alright! Just answer some questions okay? Hmm, first, tell us about the cities here, are there any major city or a capital? Any important places for the people to gather.."
Just from their demeanor and appearances, Jackob already guessed they were not people from this continent, the worms were easily frozen, someone with strong magic like this would definitely be known if he was from here, plus the woman, how can someone with her beauty not be popular? Strong beastman chiefs loved collecting beauties, especially from other races, so such person wouldn't escape their radar, so the only guess is that they are from beyond the sea.
As he heard Arthur, Jackob didn't hesitate and earnestly answered.
"There does not exist any cities in this continent, only territories, each beastmen clan have a territory, depending on the force of the clan, the territory's size also varies, however, there is a somewhat big town on the west of the continent, it's called 'Kal Town', it would take more or less 3 months to arrive there, as far as I know, that's the only place where 'tourists' such as yourselves can go, there are some merchants and private auctions too"
Arthur touched his chin, deep in thought, then he proceeded to ask other question, Lucy stood next to him, silent and listening to Jackob..
Deep underground, precisely where the statue of the pretty woman that Lord A previously kneeled in front of, there appeared a crack in the air, as it was shattering glass, the sound was not loud, almost non-existent.
It expanded until it was the size of a door, then a black-clothed woman got out from it, she was exactly the same as the statue, voluptuous body with pretty curves and enchanting waist, and a dark ominous book hanging on the dark belt in her waist.
The room she appeared in not that big, but currently, it was filled with 8 people, each and every one of them was kowtowing toward the woman, not daring to look at her face without permission.
"Damned 'Lower Realm', can't even maintain my full powers, tsk tsk! I guess even with my current powers, it should be enough to deal with 'them'.. hmpf!"
The arrogant yet sweet tone of the woman rang out in a silent room, she sounded a bit annoyed and angry, and when her eyes landed on the 8 figures present, for some reason, she became even more annoyed
"HMPF! Can't you even finish a simple mission yet daring to show your ugly dog faces? I can't even believe I have to come to clean up your mess you made up! If it was not important for my plan, why would I come to such insignificant place?"
She then remained silent for half a minute before speaking again
"Divine Realm should be enough huh?....."
She then remained silent for a second before speaking again while pointing at a random old woman from the 8 figures
"You! You'll be in charge of completing the mission from now on"
The old woman didn't dare talk, she merely kowtowed, again and again, all of them worshipped this mysterious woman and considered her their god, so how could they dare talk back to her? Much less disobey her.
The pretty dark-haired woman then disappeared from the room and appeared in the sky, floating above a forest thick of trees.
'They appeared in the East right? To think I have to come to deal with some ants because of these useless dogs! Nonetheless, they managed to kill an Immortal... I have to deal with them even if I have to search all this damn planet!'
With that, she disappeared once again, beginning her 'hunt', but what she did not know that Arthur himself was also looking for 'Medusa' to get Zodiak's powers and soon enough, the hunter will become the hunted!
Hadiah
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