บท 27: Overconfidence

After realizing such a significant thing, Arthur questioned if he was worthy. He always wondered if someone else fell into that space where Jizo was, would they be in his stead? Would they be better, help others, or have higher ambitions? He didn't know, nor did it matter.

He was the one holding the legacy now. What he did was up to him, and he could always think about the complicated stuff Jizo told him later when the time came.

Since he couldn't fuse the rune into his body, he decided to fuse it into his leathered armor. Although it was low-level, Arthur looked at the new artifact he created with a complicated gaze. It was… too easy. He shook his head and decided not to mull over it. He decided to experiment with one more thing before he started hunting.

Arthur used two mana cores to create a permanent rune of [Force-II], and as he expected, the rune was more powerful than last time. If he kept adding materials, he would probably reach the boundaries of [Force-III].

Just like earlier, Arthur couldn't use the rune on himself. Thus, he decided to use it on his sword. With its sharp edge as the origin, Arthur directed the rune's force forward. That way, he could activate the rune by supplying mana into the sword and achieve a greater strike than usual.

With his new gear, Arthur felt more confident than before in his hunting. He decided to head deeper into the tunnels if the monsters stopped giving him stats points.

With his new gear, hunting became far easier than before. He used his Protection-I rune when he was attacked and used the Force-II rune to attack the monsters. This way, his strength almost doubled.

The power of his strike was the same, but the impact was a lot more if he struck with the rune. If he used Poison Strike too…

Making the Force-II rune on his sword proved to be a sage choice. When he used Poison Strike before, monsters could dodge the corroding poison since it was so slow. However, with Force-II rune acting as some sort of 'water gun', his Poison Strike became more like a poison bullet.

After killing the third pair of monsters for the day, Arthur no longer received any points. No matter how much he absorbed, he still gained nothing. He decided to hunt deeper for other species of the goblin ants to get more stats points.

As he was heading deeper, he avoided the monsters he came across. He didn't want to waste time with them as they weren't valuable to him anymore except for their mana cores. He would get back for them later after he hunts the other species, though.

After a while, Arthur detected a new lifeforce in his detection rune. It was more powerful than the previous monsters, but not that much different. He peered into the tunnel the monster was in and saw a giant goblin ant, almost double the size of the two previous species. Its shells also looked harder, and it had two scythes-like front legs that looked like weapons.

As he was examining the monster, it suddenly turned in his direction. Its eyes looked at his location, and Arthur noticed a violet gem in its forehead.

"Kekekeke!" With a screech-like scream, the monster darted toward Arthur's location. Arthur had no idea how it managed to sense him, but he retreated and positioned himself in front of the tunnel and waited.

When the monster showed its head, Arthur began firing the accelerated poison strikes. Three of the four bullets-like strikes struck their target and one missed.

The monster screeched even loudly but continued to rush forward. Arthur was sure of it now; the monster's scythe-like legs and its shell were proof this species specialized in combat.

Arthur wasn't afraid, and he clenched his sword hard as he supplied even more mana to the rune on it. Using a Protection rune on himself and activating the one on his armor created a double barrier, with each one of them having the same amount as his strength. He was confident.

From the corner of his right eye, Arthur saw something fly toward him. He wasn't fast enough to dodge it, and a rock smashed into his face. The strike canceled one of his barriers and threw him off balance.

The monster was close to him, using this chance as a gap. With one of its scythes, he slashed toward Arthur, who had his body unestablished by the last attack. He tried to block the strike with his sword, but another flying rock deflected his blade.

The scythes slashed him from his left shoulder to his right loin. This ruined his armor, and his barrier was useless against this strike.

It was only then that Arthur saw that mana covered the scythe. The mana added to the destructiveness of the leg by leaps and bounds, and Arthur's armor couldn't handle it.

As he felt his upper body get warmer from the outside and colder from the inside, Arthur realized he messed up. He has lost so much blood that his head was spinning.

The monster slashed again, giving Arthur no time to retreat. As he saw the slash come his way, Arthur's shivered at the thought of death. Until just a moment ago, confidence filled his heart.

He thought he was the chosen powerful. How laughably wrong he was. His overconfidence would cost him his life. He should have retreated the moment the monster sensed him.

Arthur's back was now against the wall due to the first rock that had struck him. He should have realized this monster also had skills related to the soils. From what he saw, it seems this one could manipulate earth.

He wished he had observed the monster earlier before he got himself into this fight. As he saw the slash coming, Arthur created another protection rune hoping to save himself.

However, before the strike reached him, Arthur felt sudden emptiness behind his back. He then felt his body fall backward and could see the monster missing. He slid in what seemed to be a tunnel as he watched the hole that he fell from close up, preventing the monster from chasing him.

Arthur tried to stop his falling, but he was too weak to do so. After a few seconds, he felt himself crash into the ground as his wound oozed more blood. It hurt like hell now that his adrenaline was wearing off.

"You're half dead, boy." Arthur felt a voice from behind him, and he hurriedly turned his head. Although he was bleeding, he couldn't rest just yet before knowing where he had fallen.

As he turned around, Arthur saw a wall with a man's head coming out from it. It was the head of an old man with grey hair and beard. The old man was looking at him with his eyes lifeless, seemingly dead.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked, his voice weaker than he expected. It seems the monster injured him badly. However, he couldn't focus on recovering while he didn't know if he was safe or not.

"I'm the one who saved you, boy." The old man's lips moved, but his eyes were still lifeless. His voice was husky, as if the old man hasn't drunk anything for a while. He continued, "Before you know who I am, why not express your gratitude as you rest?"