39 Who are they?
Seven masked people with levels above 20. The leader was the highest, and he was level 27. Arthur had dealt with them before, but it was only a small branch of The Doom Order. Based on what he knew, these bastards were all over the place.
“Well, well, well. Look what we have here.” said the leader.
“I was expecting more people, but only two? How did you survive up to this point?”
Things got complicated for Arthur. He wasn’t that confident in fighting against all of them alone, and the wyvern didn’t look like he could help him in direct combat.
“I need to give you my bloodline before I die for good. It has to be now. There’s a secret room behind me for the two to absorb the bloodline peacefully, but someone will have to fight these guys.”
Kai and Sully weren’t happy about leaving Arthur to fight alone.
“Just go. This is an opportunity you can’t miss. I’ll deal with these bastards.” With teary eyes, they left Arthur.
“Look at all these treasures. We will be rich, hahaha.”
“Yeah, let’s hope the dagger is here,” the leader pointed at Arthur and continued, “but remember, we have to kill him first.”
“Yeah, yeah. It shouldn’t be a problem. He’s just one against seven, after all.”
“Don’t underestimate him. He reached this far, alone. Could you do that?”
The man was embarrassed after hearing the leader’s question. He wasn’t confident of getting there alone, so the leader was basically saying the mysterious youth was stronger than him.
With gritted teeth, the man said, “Yes, you’re right. I’m sorry.”
Kai and Sully were now inside a mysterious room. The wyvern gave them his bloodline and was almost dead. Its body was now translucid, and the only thing binding him to the world was these two who carried his bloodline. He would use all of his strength left to make sure they survive.
Arthur stared at the masked people and promptly used his Draconic Transformation once again. Before, he had only used it to gain access to his breath, and after that, he returned to normal. That way, he did not receive any penalty.
“What the hell is that? He isn’t a human?”
“He should be. Only a few high grade beasts can turn into human form, and there’s no way he is one of them. If he is, then we are all dead.”
The leader gave them a hand sign, and all of them entered a type of combat formation. They weren’t planning on giving Arthur a chance to win. The leader was in the middle, with three of them in front and three behind him.
Arthur had no one with him to even try a formation. He was the one-man army, and that would have to do the trick.
“All right. Let’s give those fuckers a nightmare.”
A shadowy figure went directly at them. The snake-like eyes in the dark made them uncomfortable, so they launched a few spells, trying to stop Arthur. A fireball, a corrosive green liquid, and even a dark-claw flew in his direction.
Arthur thought little of these, and all it took for the spells to vanish was him opening his mouth and devouring them. In an instant, all the spells were gone, and they actually boosted Arthur’s strength, but only a small amount.
[+2 to all Stats for 30 minutes]
It was not a game changing bonus, but Arthur’s intent was to make the spells vanish, and so he did. The three masked people who were in front, and handled the spells, could not believe what they saw. Their spells got devoured, which was something not even beasts could do.
“What the hell is this?”
Before they could cast a second round of spells, Arthur was already in front of them. He knew he couldn’t kill the three of them, as the others would surely cast their own spells to stop him, but what he could do was to aim for the weakest and try to at least kill one.
Guess what? It worked. Before the masked people realized, he was already dead. Arthur grabbed his neck and used all of his strength to break the neck of said victim. He was dead in an instant.
All the others gave a step back without realizing it. Arthur looked like a blood starved beast, and they lost one in their first exchange.
“Everyone, attack!”
A barricade of spells flew into Arthur’s direction, and he had no other choice but to run. Even with his devour ability, it was impossible to devour so many spells at the same time. But where could he hide? The only thing present in the room were the treasures, but these were behind the wyvern, so he couldn’t hide there.
“Fuck. I don’t know if it’s night-time or daytime outside. Nefion warned me to not use this technique during the night-time, but there isn’t another option.”
As the spells were almost hitting Arthur, he vanished. Not even a single trace of him remained, and no one from The Doom Order could understand what happened.
It was the same room, but it was dark, as if a veil was blocking it. Everything else seemed destroyed, and Arthur could vaguely see the cultists. But it was different now. When he used this technique with Nefion, when he was still a human, time passed equal no matter if he was inside that place or not.
Now, everything in the real world had stopped, and it was as if Arthur could stop the time.
“Damn. What is this? The description of this technique says it opens a passage to a part of the Dream Realm. Does this means time flows differently in all the Dream Realm? Or only in this part?”
Arthur felt it was too overpowered. The fight he was afraid of losing was now a piece of cake. Well, he thought that was the case.
~~~~
Inside a strange and dark room, a few mysterious people talked to each other.
“Did you hear the rumors?”
“What rumors?”
“Someone like us appeared.”
“That’s bullshit. We locked everything.”
“I agree with him. These are only rumours!”
It was at that moment something strange happened. They felt as if someone invaded their domain, but that couldn’t be possible.
“Did you guys feel that? Let’s check it out!”
All the 8 people in the room vanished in an instant.
~~~~
Arthur was still in the same spot and felt as if someone was watching him.
“Nefion wouldn’t lie about this. I’ll use this chance to kill the leader, and nothing more.”
He went to where the leader was and stood behind him. Arthur returned to the real world, and before anyone could do anything, he used his sharp claws to rip off the leader’s head. The man was dead in an instant, and no one could understand what had happened.
“Leader!!!”
They yelled and cast more spells, trying to end Arthur’s life. He was not in a suitable position, as he was in the middle of everyone, so what Arthur needed to do was to leave that place immediately.
He jumped back, and as he did that, Arthur also used his dragon’s breath, sending a scorching fire towards all his enemies.
“Watch out, everyone!” They yelled and tried to avoid the upcoming attack, but it was impossible. The fire breath came fast, and even with the magical shields they cast to protect themselves, most of them still got burnt.
Arthur was now far from these masked people, close to the door he opened a while ago. The Draconic Transformation made him tired at a rapid pace, so he needed to end the fight as quick as possible.
It was at that moment a person Arthur knew appeared right in front of the room. Claridge, alongside three more people, presumably the only ones that survived until that point.
“You? How are you here?”
It surprised Claridge to see Arthur there. He hadn’t heard about him since the first time everyone got out to explore the island.
“There isn’t much time to explain. You see these bastards there? They are part of a demonic cult called The Doom Order, and they are here to steal all the treasures. Could you help me while I recover?”
He did not trust Arthur completely, but it was a fact these masked people were there to steal all the treasures. Claridge and his group fought against them before entering the underground area.
“Fine, I’ll help you, for now. But after this you’ll have to explain to me everything in details, or I’ll have no choice but to kill you!”
Arthur’s legs got weaker, and he fell. Something was wrong, and it was not because of the usage of the transformation. It happened right after he used the Void Step to avoid the spells.
“Nefion told me it was dangerous to use it during the night. Maybe that’s what happened? Fuck!” thought Arthur.
He went to the corner of the room and rested as Claridge and his men fought against the Doom Order.