8

Either Arthur had underestimated his own volume or the echoing effect of the chamber they were in, because his howls reached such a deafening volume that everyone, including the black robes and Emilio had to stop their aggression. They dropped their weapon because they needed their hands to cover their ears.

Even Billy's face was scrunched up in pain as Arthur's deafening scream reached a state where it felt like it was going to flood his brain with nothing with auditory stimuli. Those with a lesser resistance threshold started to faint. Some of the black robes had begun to collapse. Their brains were overloaded with so much sensory information that the brain shut down automatically before it led to permanent brain damage.

The scream lasted for about several minutes but for the victims, it felt like a lifetime and more. In the end, when Arthur lost his breath, only Billy and Emilio remained conscious. Both of them were mentally sturdy enough to withstand the assault on their ears.

Arthur collapsed to the ground like all his energy had been exhausted in that scream. Under this circumstance, the first one to stand up would be the victor. Billy tried to struggle up but the focused assault by Emilio and his men on his already-injured knee worsened its condition. He could not put any force on it or it felt like the ligaments in his knee were going to tear apart. Billy glanced at Arthur and the man looked so immobile that Billy suspected Arthur had fainted. Billy called out Arthur's name, "Arthur, get up! This is our chance!" but there was no response.

"Unfortunately, for both of you, that chance is now lost." In the end, it was Emilio who got over the hurdle first. He struggled slightly before managing to stand upright. He picked up the dagger that he dropped on the floor earlier and glanced backwards at Billy. The man was practically incapacitated so there was no reason for Emilio to deal with him immediately. Instead, the man turned to Arthur's supine body and a wicked smile bloomed on his face.

He twirled the dagger to work the muscles in his fingers. "Who knew you have that in you? Too bad, you still lost in the end!" Afraid that Arthur still had more tricks up his sleeves, Emilio threw his dagger at Arthur's head. Furthermore, Arthur was the one who managed to knock his entire crew out so technically speaking, he was the biggest threat in the room.

Arthur only had the energy left to nudge his head upwards. He saw the dagger flying at him, aiming right for the space between his eyes. Arthur closed his eyes to surrender to impending doom. He was sad that his adventure ended even before it had the chance to begin but he did not feel sorry for himself. At least he had given it a try and he knew he died an adventurer even without the formal certification from the guild. However, he did feel sorry for Billy and Felicia. They were going to die alongside him as well.

Without a mastery of either sword or magic, Arthur knew how far he would go in life. This kind of ending was already good enough for him, at least he did not die a nameless death due to old age with nothing to be proud of in his life. He would not have been able to live up to his legendary father's name and disappoint his loving mother.

However, his situation was different from Felicia and Billy. They were destined for great things because unlike Arthur, they had the capability to achieve great things and Arthur was sorry on their behalf that their story had to be cut short because of their decision to bring him along.

The pain or eternal silence that Arthur awaited did not arrive. All he could hear around him was a peaceful stillness. 'Is this how death feels like?' Arthur opened his eyes with confusion and he saw the dagger suspended in the air about 2 metres away from hitting its target. It looked like the dagger had stuck into a block of sound waves that materialized in the air. It reminded Arthur of the tactic used by the elite phantasms earlier. 'Did a phantasm save me? But why?'

Before the question could be answered, Arthur heard a female voice ask from behind him, "Who dares to desecrate my amphitheater with such acts of violence?"

Arthur could feel the ground tremble with the cadence of every word. Based on that, he knew the woman was extremely strong. Arthur tried to twist his neck around to take a better look. The woman who stood behind him had on a flowy white dress and an ethereal beauty about her. Arthur could confidently say, this was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life, she reminded him of a goddess... and Arthur had no idea how correct he was with that assessment.

Then, the woman continued, "Who is the person with that mellifluous yet powerful voice that has summoned me? Come forth and let me hear your plea."

Emilio rushed from his position with a glow in his eyes. This seemed to be the thing he was waiting for and the goal he was wishing to achieve with his plan. He yanked the conch shell from Arthur's grasp and prostrated himself before the lady, "Dear Mistress Aoide, the Muse of Song and Voice, I've managed to stop this petty thief who was attempting to rob your shrine. Here, please accept my humble return of this powerful relic."

Of course Emilio was lying through his teeth. The reason he was doing all this was because a blessing from the divine would be able to improve his capability by an impossible amount. He would cheat, murder and plot for something like that. Initially, his plan was to prostrate himself before the goddess' shrine to ask for her blessing but if he had a chance to endear himself to her by outing a "thief", he'd figured why not.

Naturally, both Arthur and Billy tried to expose him but they realized no voice escaped from their throat. It appeared like that the goddess had done something to strip them of their voices.

Aoide accepted the shell back from Emilio's hands. Just as the man felt the weight left his hands, he believed his goal had been achieved. Immense power was just steps away from his grasp.

She studied the man with her pair of intelligent eyes. In the end, she concluded, "Such insolence."