章 12: Chapter 13 : Journey to the North
When Theodor Used the crystal to disappear, he was teleported to the Headquarters of the holy church in the center of the human continent, actually this kind of crystal was very rare as not even high officials in neither the royalty or holy church would have it , it's a unique item found in the dungeons and the probability of it dropping is near zero . The father of Theodor is a reputable man in the holy church and has somehow gotten his hands on this crystal so he gifted it to him to teleport to safety with it in case of an emergency.
The teleportation happened in just a second and he soon found himself in a circular room which seemed to be used as a teleportation room. In This world, the powerful people would not travel for days or maybe even months instead they will use teleportation arrays, for example, to go to the Nemia academy you have to either travel by boat which will take some time or use the teleportation array but it is very expensive so only a few rich nobles would use it. That kind of teleportation arrays is scattered in all the continents as to help people travel faster.
Theodor saw 2 guards standing at the entrance of the room so he shouted at them with a shaky voice
"Q-QUICKLY BRING ME TO LORD.ERIK I NEED TO INFORM HIM OF AN EMERGENCY !!"
The 2 guards were startled as the pale face of Theodor but they soon they ran out of the room followed by the terrified Theodor. After sprinting for a minute they arrived before a big white door which had some ancient runes written on it.
"Lord Theodor, this is Lord Erik's office please wait so we can inform him first"
Theodor just ignored him and just pushed the door hastily and once he entered he saw an old man with a long white bear and deep blue eyes writing some kind of letter or document. The old man raised his head and saw Theodor in his sorry state so he frowned and said calmly"Theodor, what are you doing here? how did you even get back here.." even though the old man was surprised he still remained very calm.
"L-lord ERIK, Lord R-rein h-he died ! ! he died fighting against the black-robed mage !!!! "
The eyes of Lord Erik were stunned when they heard what Theodor said as he would never have thought he would say something like that.
"What are you saying? Rein is not a weak person to die , are you sure he is dead or just ran away without checking anything?" the tone of the old man seemed cold and threatening as he didn't like Theodor in first place and considered him just a mere puppet to use for he is very weak and only relies on his father's backing to rise in status.
"Lord Erik I am absolutely sure, I saw his corpse, not even his legs remained after he died !!! the black-robed mage is a monster!!!!"
The old man stood there thinking about something but he could feel that what Theodor was the truth by looking at his terrified face, after some seconds he raised his head and spoke
"Alright, tell me the details of the fight and how did this black-robed mage win"
Theodor nodded continuously and started narrating the whole fight without even leaving a single detail he even mentioned that the demon 'Lucy' who they were looking for was with him and was actually his slave and that she regained her demon powers and the seal was broken.
".... After the black-robed men fought with Rein for quite some time, he backed away using his teleportation and just created a LOT of some kind of black daggers which were floating in air, it was REALLY A TERRIFYING SIGHT ! and in just a second those black daggers penetrated Rein without any resistance , even his holy enchanted armor was destroyed without nothing left of it !!!"
After he finished Theodor was still shaking as this was the first time he saw someone this monstrous and powerful, he knew the pope of the holy church and many other people were extremely powerful but he never saw any of them fight or demonstrate powers.
Having listened to Theodor, Lord Erik was shocked especially when he heard the last sentence 'Why would he use magic just in the end? He could've just finished the fight from the start... did he need to prepare it beforehand and it took a long time ?'.
Even though the old man was angry because he lost an important knight nevertheless he still didn't argue any longer and just sighed , Rein was strong but compared to the monsters hiding in the holy church he considered nothing, even he himself could kill Rein with one attack but what made Rein special is that he was young and powerful so he still had a long future but now it's too late...
"Since things have come to this, I'll have to take the necessary measures against this man , I cannot let him become a threat to us and about that girl hmm to think she was with him, interesting ..very interesting, Theodor go tell 'him' that we found her and if he wants her he should search for her himself I do not want to waste any more of my men in this useless search "
Theodor just nodded and bowed to the old man before quickly leaving, as for the old man he just continued what he was doing before Theodor barged in.
***************************************
Morning quickly came and Arthur was feeling quite relieved after he killed the young noble and stopped any future troubles , he learned from his previous world that mercy on evil people is a decision only made by fools or mindless people as those evil people will somehow someway comeback for revenge either on you or your loved ones so you better kill them when you have the chance.
Like usual, Arthur passed the night reading and the girl just sat on the bed still excited from the thought of going to the Nemia academy, he thought that she really looked like a little girl seeing her excitment and her feet dangling from the bed and moving non-stop. In a way, she changed from the day he first saw her as now she talked more and didn't feel as cold anymore towards him that is but when outside she returned to her usual emotionless attitude.
Early in the morning, They both left the inn after thanking the landlord for her hospitality and soon they were at the exit of the town. Willsden town was actually deep in the center of the human continent and 400km or so North there is a big city but Arthur didn't plan to enter it as it will be a waste of time and there is probably a holy church branch there too since there is one in this town.
The human continent was in the south so Arthur and the demon girl had to go north until they reached the end of the continent then somehow go to the island which is owned by Nemia academy, actually this 'island' could be considered a small continent as it was very big and stretched very far.
Soon they exited the town and started traveling, Arthur didn't forget to give the ring he got from Feylord to the girl , the storage ring had quite an amount of gold he also put all the food he bought in it as it could fit since food didn't take that much place he also put the clothes he bought for her in it. The girl took the ring after thanking and Arthur deemed it to be worth as hearing her melodious and charming voice was pleasing to the ear.
The speed which they were traveling was considered fast compared to normal travelers or merchants, even though the girl couldn't run as fast as him and had to rest, that didn't matter as he created a dark cloud and they just rode on it non-stop except a little rest in the night because he couldn't fly at night as they were heading north and the weather would be colder and the demon girl wasn't like him a body of bones instead she could feel coldness and he knew even if she did suffer from coldness she wouldn't say it as it was her attitude so he just stopped at night without telling her.
They didn't talk a lot except some questions here and there made by Arthur, the mood was awkward at first but he soon got used to it as there was nothing he could do.
A week or so passed since they started their journey to the north and the distance they passed was considerably big, their speed increased more as Arthur thought of a way to increase the speed of the cloud and at the same time protect the girl from the strong air resistance and that's by making a spheric dark barrier around her.
It seemed his barrier had quite a lot of uses and this was one of them. With this method, their speed increased dozen of times and he now could use the dark cloud to fly at max speed all day long and in just one more week they crossed half the distance.
Honestly, Arthur was pretty surprised about the mind-numbing speed of the dark cloud, it could travel at a speed even faster than sound. On the course of two weeks, he was certain that the distance he crossed his large than a whole tour around his previous world, Earth. He concluded that this world is definitely larger as only a quarter of the Human continent is way bigger than the whole Earth, one can imagine how vast this mysterious world is.
At night, he just got down from the dark cloud to let the girl eat and sleep for some time, they were in a forest full of trees and plants but Arthur just ignored his surroundings and just sat on a nearby rock while gazing at the eating girl with a complex feeling, his thoughts drifted to his past as he remembered his wife.
Truthfully he really loved her before she had done anything to him as she was beautiful and caring but that was all an illusion as it was only to trick him and get him money, just for some papers which would buy a few things she was willing to let him go through hell , he couldn't forget her look when she was torturing him with the other men, she laughed and mocked him for his stupidity.
"Haha, to think that I would love you? You're not even that handsome! I only took the opportunity that was made for me and married you as I saw you were rich and indeed you were hahaha, I've never seen someone so stupid with just some words and kiss you fell for me, it couldn't be easier!!"
Arthur's heard ached as he remembered those terrible memories and couldn't help shaking a bit, he was sad but angry, lonely but thirsty for revenge.
The demon girl seemed to notice Arthur looking towards her but she couldn't see his eyes as not only was it a night at the moments, he wore a robe which covered him from head to toe, she didn't even know which race he was from.
She became restless because he continued to gaze at her for a long time but she didn't say anything as she knew he was lost in thought otherwise he wouldn't stay dazed like that. The girl frowned when she saw his hands shaking as it was the first time she saw him this distressed, usually, he was very calm no matter the situation is, even when he fought the holy knight he seemed relaxed as if nothing could change his mood.
Truthfully, she didn't know what to do, after all this man helped her a lot and didn't even anything in return , she didn't particularly trust him but she felt indebted to him and couldn't repay the things he had done for her so she suddenly thought of something, she stood up and walked toward Arthur who seemed unaffected by her action and lost in thought, when she was a couple of centimeters in front of him she patted his head.
She thought of the moment when he too patted her head to reassure her that he will keep his word and then chopped that old man's hand, back then his pat really relieved her from her anxious thoughts and comforted her even for a little bit.
Arthur who was still remembering those hellish memories was startled when he felt some kind of hand patting his head so he quickly snapped out of it and lifted his head to look at the figure who is patting him but he suddenly felt a terrifying sense of danger so he stretched both his arms and hugged the girl who was completely surprised by his actions , he quickly created a dark barrier behind his back and tried creating dark shields around it .
"boom"
An enormous object struck Arthur from behind and instantly destroyed his dark shields and barrier he was sent flying with the girl in his arms 20 hundred meters until they fell down, Arthur could feel that his left hand was completely destroyed as nothing was left of it and he had some ribs which were shattered, he even heard a notification
critical strike ! -901 Health
Fortunately, he managed to protect the girl in the last second with his body otherwise she would have been insta-killed by that sneak attack, she only had some minor injuries here and there but nothing serious. As she was surprised by what happened she quickly opened her eyes and saw the skeleton head of Arthur who was now exposed due to the attack, he also had some cracks on his skeleton head which made him look even more terrifying
"You...What are y.."
before she could finish Arthur threw a healing potion to her and quickly gulped one after quickly adjusting his body and checking his injuries but he was surprised by what he heard saw "ting"
You are possessing an undead body you cannot eat or drink any kind of food or potion
'what the fuck ! are you serious .. !!!' he had no time to curse his luck as he turned around to see the origin of the attack and what faced him completely surprised him, it was huge beast, probably 300 meters in height and 100 meters in length , the creature had long sharp scales which were yellowish , the beast's head was even more terrifying as it had grey ferocious eyes and sharp teeth , it appeared to be grinning toward Arthur with contempt and pride in its eyes.
Young Earth Dragon: LVL129
When he saw the results of the appraisal he didn't dare believe it so he quickly appraised again and again, after multiple checking he took a deep breath and looked at his left arm which was now regenerating but at this rate it would take a couple of minutes and he didn't have this kind of luxurious time as there was a boss-like beast in front of him. Arthur didn't waste any time, he quickly retrieved Zodiak's cane from his storage as this was his best weapon so far.
He saw how his barrier was useless against such a monster so he gave up on the idea to use it to defend from his attacks as the barrier was shattered in an instant but nevertheless he created one around the demon girl as to protect her from the collateral damage of the incoming fight then he created long dark spears, thousands of them were floating in the air and the sight was more terrifying than when he created many dark daggers, he conjured countless dark spears and threw the at the dragon which was also amazed by the dark spears but didn't even budge or feel afraid.
...
Because of its huge frame, all the spears have hit the dragon but to Arthur's surprise, they didn't even scratch its scales, hell! It seemed to tickle it a bit.
Cold sweat broke out on Arthur's skeletal forehead, he seemingly mopped it away with his forearm, when he saw that his attacks didn't do anything he completely understood he was screwed but he wasn't just going to give up as he couldn't just run away with [faster than death] and let the girl perish. In the meantime the dragon didn't just stay there without doing anything instead, it charged toward Arthur and although its frame was huge, it was crazy fast, creating tremors with each step and bringing a never stopping pressure. Despite the surprising swiftness of the dragon, it was still lacking compared to its tiny foe, who was specialized in speed.
Just when he was trying to move away to avoid the huge dragon, Arthur was surprised to see that he couldn't move because some sort of solid rocks which were binding both his legs, as the dragon was going to crash onto him, he used [faster than death] to teleport some distance away but when he reappeared and was going to breathe a sigh of relief, he was surprised to see a gigantic long tail coming right at him with lightning speed so, with no time to react and lesser time to concentrate on a place to use [faster than death]. He was left with no choice but to create a barrier and hope for the best.
'booom!'
The tail was bigger than all his body and when it hit him it felt like a mountain was pressing on him, the dragon's tail has struck him from above and sent him flying to the ground, as he crushed on it, a huge crater was formed and he lost a whopping 1200 health.
Although he didn't feel pain, he felt that his body was not responding to his thoughts and commands, he could barely stand up, his skeleton body was fully exposed and some places had shattered bones.
He gritted his teeth and put back Zodiak's cane, since it wasn't useful he decided to change his tactic as his [Dark Magic] was not working. Mayhap it was because he was not skilled with it enough even though he got the mastery and talent of Zodiak, he still didn't have a better imagination to create better weapons or to use it more efficiently.
He glanced at the demon girl who appeared looking at him with a stunned expression and strange complexion flickering in her cold pupils. He had no choice but to shout at her to wake her up for her long daze
"What are you dazing for! Quickly go away! I can't deal with this dragon!"
Even though he created a barrier around her, he couldn't guarantee her safety, he wasn't sure if he was going to win or not but the probability of him winning was very low considering he lost more than half his Health with one blow and his attacks are doing nothing to his opponent.
He created a long dark sword and held it in his still functioning right hand and without wasting a second he dashed towards the dragon, with the insane speed he soon was near the creature and after having used [dark burst] he slashed with all his might at the scales of the dragon , a dark arc was formed by the slash and directly headed onto the yellowish scales and on contact a loud noise was created which could turn normal people deaf.
As Arthur checked the place where he aimed, his face immediately stiffened due to what he saw , the scales were not destroyed instead there was a slight crack on them, if he continued like this it would take him ages to completely destroy those scales and he didn't have the time anyway as the dragon would not stand still and watch.
"What the hell is with this defense, how could I beat him!! think think..." seeing the dragon attacking with his sharp claws and high-speed tail Arthur used [faster than death] and teleported 50meter away to gain some seconds to think of a way to beat this dragon
"Maybe that will work?... I might as well try it"
Arthur started using [faster than death] every 3 seconds to escape the dragon's attack until 1 minute passed then he quickly Charged a [dark burst] and dashed again towards the beast who was charging at him too.
When the enormous dragon was going to finish off its foe, Arthur quickly swung his weapon using [Void Slash] as he knew that his void magic would eat devour things like a black hole, truthfully Arthur didn't have any hope in his [Void Magic] as he neglected it and didn't even practice it because he deemed dark magic more powerful.
The [Void Slash] landed on the dragon's scales and surprisingly, it wounded it which caused blood to gush out of its wound.
Actually, the scales were not shattered or destroyed but they were eaten and just disappeared when the [Void Slash] landed on them, Arthur hoped the slash would continue all the way to its bones but unfortunately, it did not, so he guessed that it had a relation to his low mastery in Void Magic. He decided to focus more on this mysterious attribute as it was deemed more useful than he thought previously. But all of this is for after surviving this battle, if he comes out alive, that is.
[Dark burst] cooldown was 60 seconds and the wound he inflicted didn't even flinch the dragon , so Arthur knew even if he managed to find a way to harm the beast; he wouldn't be able to kill it quickly considering the dragon began to understand his tactics of attacks and predict where he would teleport so whenever he used [Faster Than Death] the beast's tail would come down at him with lightning speed, crushing his already cracked bones on the ground.
Just when he was busy dodging the dragon's claws, a crazy idea struck Arthur, it was a reckless one but he had to gamble on it as there really was no other way to win
He noticed that the demon girl didn't even move from her place even after he shouted at her but he didn't have to question her actions now.
He backed away with a teleportation and created a long dark chain, it was 500meter long black chain, as it floated in the air it seemed like a black snake, Arthur willed it to charge at the dragon and soon it enveloped its legs and tail.
The long chain was pretty effective, using the Dark Magic as a conjuring source, he created this long chain and smoothly managed to restrain the dragon's movements by wrapping it around its crazily swinging tail and its thick legs. He then retrieved Zodiak's cane as every bit of intelligence is needed for the upcoming attack.
Arthur held the cane and raised both his hands and closed his eyes, you couldn't know his eyes were closed because he was a skeleton and it had no eyes but nevertheless, he closed them and began to concentrate.
Soon enough, Dark Magic began to form on top of him but it had a little violet in it , it resembled a miniature black hole as it devoured everything around it, including air and light, the dark-violet energy began to expand little by little while the black chain was restraining the struggling dragon.
A minute had passed and Arthur finally opened his eyes, above him was a gigantic black and violet arrow, it emitted a terrifying pressure to the point of alarming the unyielding dragon.
The arrow's length was 60 meters and you could even see it from a long distance, it seemed to be like a magnet as rocks and dust were being sucked into it, it was pointed at the dragon and was a dozen or so meters from the creature.
The earth dragon, sensing danger, ferociously struggled out of his bind but he just couldn't shake off the chains, since he was a young dragon he still hasn't grown any wings so he wouldn't be able to fly even if he wanted to.
Just when Arthur opened his eyes he heard a notification and a window popped up 'ting'
Congratulations! you have successfully managed to fuse [Void attribute] with [Dark attribute] : any attacks made by mixing [Void] with [Dark] would have 150% increased damage / be aware that attacks requiring the fuse of 2 attributes or more cost a lot more than normal attacks
Congratulations! you have created a new skill(active) : [Hell arrow] : By fusing [void] and [dark] you created a gigantic arrow that can annihilate everything in its way
cost : 3500 mana cooldown time : 10 days.
For creating a skill without relying on any exterior help: 1 skill point
Skill point: They are very rare to obtain and you must have completed certain conditions, you can use skill points to increase the level of any skill by 1
Congratulations! your [void manipulation] mastery have improved!
a lot of notifications came in but Arthur didn't have the time to look through them, he noticed his mana pool being emptied and guessed that it must be because of the arrow, without wasting time he waved his hand and the arrow struck the dragon, for an arrow of that size; its speed was truly god-like as it landed on the dragon chest the second he willed it to strike, in a sense, it was instantaneous.
It did stop for a second before going through the Scales and creating a hole in the dragon's chest, blood flowed out non-stop from the hole and from its terrifying mouth, the ground became dyed red along with the stench of this liquid. The beast crashed on the ground, screaming and howling in pain.
Arthur watched the scene with joy and surprise, he was happy to see his arrow break the defense of the dragon and fatally wound him, he watched the beast fall and scream in pain but didn't feel any pity as it deserved what happened to him because the creature attacked first without any reason. Arthur still didn't know why it ferociously attacked him like that but he didn't care for any enemy who wanted his life he would kill them without hesitation.
minutes passed and finally the screaming ended and the creature died from the serious wound in his chest, Arthur immediately heard notifications "ting"
level up! level up ! level up ! level up ! ....
Congratulations! you can now use [Necromancy] to spawn a bone earth dragon from the underworld
Cost: 50.000 mana
He leveled up 6 times, and became LVL95 ' the experience from killing a dragon is really generous... '
Arthur noticed that his bones had grown back again, same as new, and his health bar is full as his health regen was sky-high so it only took a short time to get him back to his peak condition, nonetheless, it didn't stop the fact that the last fight was hard and a simple mistake would have led to his miserable death.
Arthur was quite delighted to see he can spawn a dragon but when he saw the cost he immediately gave up on that idea as he barely had one-tenth of the actual cost.
He turned to look at the demon girl and saw her standing not far away with the barrier still surroundings her so he felt reassured but he soon remembered she saw his actual 'body' so he felt fear because his appearance was by no means normal, you could actually say it was terrifying as if he was a reaper or a lich so her being surprised and scared would be a normal reaction.
He saw her staring at him with surprise but there wasn't any tinge of fear in her eyes, actually, she was looking at him curiously and frowning from time to time. He soon put back his robe in a way so that it covers his body completely as usual and walked towards the petite girl.
Arthur felt awkward to talk to her after she has seen his appearance but he still urged himself and said reproachingly
"Why didn't you run when I told you to? Do you even know how dangerous it was? Even if someone like you with a Lv of 44 cannot take a single attack from that dragon!"
Just when he finished speaking, he saw the girl's eyes widen from astonishment so he soon realized he said something he shouldn't have. He was too focused on scolding her that he forgot that not everyone had the appraisal skill like him.
"H-how did you know my lvl is 44.... I never said that."
The girl spoke softly but with a cautious gaze as she recalled never saying her Lv to him and if he used an appraisal stone on her, she would've known.
He didn't know how to respond so he coughed and splendidly dodged the subject by asking a question in return
"S-sooo, how are you ? Did you get injured from the previous attack?"
Noticing him dodge the question, she no longer persisted as everyone had secrets they didn't want anybody to know about, even she was not an exception. She returned to her usual indifferent and cold expression whilst replying
"I am fine... thank you"
Her voice seemed to change at the end as if containing some concern and gratitude. Arthur hearing her response nodded and headed toward the dragon as it was the time for him to possess it and gain its stats.
He sat on a nearby rock and then exited his skeleton body and jumped to the dragon, his real body was so small that it was not noticeable by a normal person, unless a person had high Dexterity stats and good senses, nobody would be able to see him, not his real 'body' at the very least. In a second, he was inside the dragon's body and the joyous notifications came one after another
You have successfully possessed: Young Earth dragon
you have gained a new skill(passive) : [Earth's aid]: the Earth has given you its help, increased vitality and defense: +1500 vitality / +2000 defense
You have gained a new skill(active) : [medium: Earth magic]: you can now use earth magic to either attack or defend or to bind your enemies.
You have gained a new Stats: Magic defense: similar to the 'defense' stats, this stats increases your resistance towards magic attacks in general
Your stats have improved! please check your status window for more detailed information
TITLE : MEAT GRINDER
Level: 95 Class: Void Parasite
-
Strength 6041(+2919) Intelligence 4821(+1945)
Agility 5247(+667) Wisdom 3866(+1456)
Vitality 7315(+4561) Dexterity 4261(+2141)
-
Health 8013(+5238) Health Regen 77.9/s
Mana 6801(+2249) Mana Regen 82.7/s
Stamina infinite Stamina Regen ????
-
Attack: 4691(+1738) Defense: 7812(+5220)
Magic defense : 1781
--
Elemental resistances
Fire: 25% Water: 25%
Wind: 35% Earth: 45%(+20%)
Light/holy: 50% Darkness: 100%
Arthur was stunned when he saw his status window because his stats rose by an enormous amount, though he didn't get many skills from the dragon he still was amazed especially when he saw his defense, it had become god-like and he guessed that his defense now was many times better than the dragon before it died.
Even without scales he still had a very strong defense , he also noticed the new stats magic defense and it intrigued him a lot as he never got it from any other being he possessed not even Zodiak so he judged that it must be a unique attribute related to dragons but nevertheless he got it and his resistance toward magic is increased which is a huge benefit.
It was a hard fight but the rewards are extraordinary so Arthur didn't regret for a second not running away as he felt more confident in himself when he saw his stats window.
He soon left the dragon's body and headed toward his previous one. In a matter of seconds, he was back again at his skeleton body and felt his bones become harder and more robust.
He could feel them cracking as if transforming and becoming harder in every second, he also got a feeling that with his current strength he could destroy a big boulder with but a finger.
Both of them left the area quickly after, and headed deeper into the forest, they soon found a good spot and lit up some fire and both rested on a small rock.
For Arthur who lost his ability to trust people after what happened to him, he didn't want to lie to people or neither cheats them so he thought that he should explain to the girl why was he able to see his lvl and why was he a skeleton, of course he didn't have to and no one forced him to but if she is going to follow him to the academy he wouldn't want to lie to her about his identity because he lying for him is like deceiving people and he doesn't want to become someone like his ex-wife, and to be honest Arthur can't deny the fact that he trusted her.
He who has forsaken his hope for humanity is trusting someone even if it is a demon, he felt comfort being with her and felt warmth when she didn't leave him alone after he shouted at her to run away, maybe he is overthinking it and she didn't run because of other reasons nevertheless it still touched him and melted some of his icy and cold heart. As the fire was between them, he gazed at this beautiful and alluring girl and began to speak.....
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