54 Fire Claw, Stronger than I Thought
The best decision would be to wait for Kai and the others to come. Why though? Hayla was in danger, and if something happened because of Arthur’s latenesses, he would never forgive himself.
Arthur took a few moments to seize up the situation. Most of the people there weren’t particularly strong, only level 20.
It was a good sign, a sign that gave Arthur the confidence he needed to rescue his friend Hayla.
“Sadly, its night time, or else I could use my Void Step to get there easily.” Arthur thought.
After a few minutes of just watching, he deduced there were only about 4 people in there, all of them with the level of 20.
Some people would find hard to go up against that squad, but Arthur did not feel a threat at all. With his superior body, he could get to them before they could even react.
The first victim was one guy who went outside to pee. He was near a bush, somewhat far from the cabin. Maybe the man did not want anyone near him when peeing.
Arthur sneaked up behind him and punched the man in the head, knocking him out.
“I’ll not go out killing people without knowing the situation properly.”
There were 3 more to go. Arthur hid the men he just knocked out inside a bush, and continued towards the house.
“Why is he taking so long?”
“Don’t you know him? Almost every time he says he’s going to pee, it is actually him shitting himself in these bushes. Be careful to not step on those, hahaha.”
“Really?”
“And why did we kidnap her? I still don’t get it.”
“You may not believe it, but she’s an elf. An ELF.”
“Elf? Weren’t these supposed to be only stories?”
“I thought too, as well. Anyway, we must wait for our boss to return.”
Arthur listened to everything through the walls, and it shocked him. Hayla was an elf? If that was true, then it was only normal for these people to kidnap her.
Elfs were rare and considered a legend. They could be sold for an extraordinary price.
“There’s only two of them. Their boss is out. This is the best opportunity.” thought Arthur.
He activated his draconic transformation and aimed for the man closest to Hayla. The man only saw a shadow getting closer, and before he knew it, he was out cold.
Arthur used his claws to cut the ropes around Hayla, and turned around to face the other man, who was already chanting a spell.
“I don’t know what are you, but you’re stupid, hahaha. Instead of going after me, you lost time cutting the ropes of that lady. You’re dead now.”
Magic symbols appeared in the air, and a massive ice spike came directly at Arthur. It was fast, and presumably the strongest spell the man could cast.
It was a waste. All Arthur needed to do was open his mouth and devour the spell, as it was just a piece of meat.
“What the fuck?”
The man could not believe what he was seeing. Arthur spit the spell right after, and it pierced the man, killing him in an instant.
“Captain? What was that? When did you become so strong?”
“I always have been. Are you okay, Hayla?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. These bastards kidnapped me.”
Hayla went near the man who got knocked out by Arthur and kicked him lightly to release her anger.
“Should we grab this man to interrogate him?” Arthur said.
“I don’t think it is necessary. I heard their talking.”
“All right. Let’s go then.”
~~~~
Arthur returned with Hayla. Kai was still looking for her, so they had to find him to tell everything was okay. It took some time, but nothing extraordinary.
They were all together in the inn now.
“No one leaves alone anymore. At least 2 people need to go out together, especially with Hayla.” Arthur said.
“Okay, captain. Did you find out more about the kidnappers?”
“Some random guys trying to kidnap people to sell. Scumbags.”
Arthur talked to the guards and said he saw some strange activity in that area. The kidnappers who were still alive were probably in jail.
After that situation was settled, Arthur went to his bed to rest. Before that, he asked if everything was okay with Hayla, and she was still scared about getting kidnapped again.
“Captain, can I- can I sleep with you? I don’t want to be alone inside a room.” Hayla said.
“Of course. Come.”
The bed was king-size, so Arthur slept on one side, and Hayla on the other. Arthur would not try to get romantic with her in such an unpleasant situation. He just slept and tried his best to keep his focus if anything happened during the night.
~~~~
When Arthur woke up, Hayla had already left the room. He went to ask if anyone saw her, and if she was okay. She was.
“She probably left early, so no one could see her.”
There was no need for him to be concerned anymore. Hayla was fine, and whoever did that to her wouldn’t succeed again.
Before leaving the inn, Arthur went downstairs to grab something to eat. The restaurant on the inn’s first floor worked 24 hours a day, so it was incredible.
Arthur ate and then left to start his training. The sun was shining on the sky, and it was a hot day, which was awesome, as Arthur wanted to try out a new fire skill.
The best place to train was outside, away from the city, far from the curious eyes of others. Some people on the streets recognized Arthur and waved at him. These were all the people who got up early to work, and as Arthur did the same, they felt he was friendly.
Of course, Arthur would not go to work but to his training, although no one knew that.
Between bushes and trees stood a youth who read an old and dusty book.
“All right. The first and most basic skill dragons used. Fire Claw.”
The name spoke for itself. It was a skill that fired up the claws of a dragon. It wasn’t the most extraordinary skill, but it surely was powerful.
Arthur knew well everyone should start with the basics, and then move up to more complicated skills. There was no way he would simply skip everything and learn how to cast a meteor. That was just stupidity.
And his sharp claws had taken off the lives of many by that point. Now imagine if they become blazing claws.
The idea of the skill was to use the sunlight to power it up. Arthur had the choice of using the sunlight from the sun itself, or the sunlight he stored inside his body these past days.
Arthur was basically a solar panel. His first thought was that it was an easy skill to do, and that he would do it instantly.
Well, that wasn’t the case. Arthur spent the entire morning trying to gather that energy in his claws, and when it was near lunchtime, he finally did it.
The black sharp claws now had a scorching fire around it. It was hot, but Arthur did not feel a thing. He slashed his claws a few times, and the power behind each strike was clear.
There was no way he could test the skill in the place he was. A forest. One slash could send all the trees on fire. It would be stupid and mean.
Arthur walked through the island until he was near the shore. There, he found a place with many rocks near the beach. These rocks were huge, and Arthur thought they were ideal for his testing.
He went near one of these rocks, fired up his claws, and slashed it. Before, that attack would probably break a few pieces of that huge rock, but now? As soon as Arthur’s claw hit the stone, it melted in a few instants.
“What the fuck? This is stronger than I thought it would be.”
A system notification popped up after he used the skill for the first time.
[Ding]
[New Skill Learned]
[Dragon’s Fire Claw (Max Rank, Level 1): A skill created by the dragons, and for the dragons. It sets the claws in flames, increasing its power, and adding the fire element to each attack.]
The skill was also of max rank, just like all the dragon skills. But that one was still at level 1. Arthur already knew that to level up, one just needed to use the skill lots of times.
Eventually, it would level up. Arthur wasn’t that concerned about it, as he was more focused on learning more skills before the tournament.
There was one skill in the book that caught his attention, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy to learn.
“Dragon Fire Wings. I want it, now.”
Arthur left the shore, but little did he know that someone was lurking, and watched all of his moves.
“I knew that feeling back in the dream realm was strange. Who’s this guy?”
A black-cloaked figure vanished from behind a tree.