CHAPTER 113: THE BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY AETHER

AN: Sorry for the late update.

"Hey, are you seriously going to help him?"

"Yes!"

"Sigh..."

Bon had a complicated look on his face as he gazed at the back of his determined sister.

He didn't know what happened for his sister to develop an interest in that golden-haired human.

Honestly, he knew what he did on their first encounter was wrong and he was no different from a bully.

It was just that a week before when Arlo was brought, their family had participated in a noble gathering.

Because of their status as a lower-class noble, not only were he and his sister alienated, but even their parents were looked down upon.

In fact, his father was originally a plebian, and it wasn't until after he obtained the grace of one of the Counts that his status changed.

The vampires were a race that emphasized the importance of status.

So after receiving Joe, the duo didn't hesitate to feast on them. It was also their first time feasting directly on a magical beast, not to mention one of royal bloodline.

But someone interrupted their feast.

It was the first human they had ever seen in their lives.

The general knowledge vampires had about humans was that they were physically weak, but were able to make it up with their talents with diverse laws.

The golden-haired boy had immediately ordered them to stop, sparking his fury.

He decided to use the human as an outlet to release his anger, but surprisingly the human resisted.

It was then his knowledge of humans was overturned. Not only did the human have high physical strength as opposed to their knowledge, but he didn't even feel any mana from the human.

In the end.

He lost to a human.

Not only did he lose, but he later found out that his sister lost.

What is this?

Were they not talented?

He and his sister have always been showered with praise from their parents.

Even the vampires of the higher class who looked down on them had no choice but to acknowledge their talent.

It was mainly because he recognized their talents that one of the Counts shared his origin blood with their family two years ago.

Yet they lost to a human?

But Bon didn't despair.

He was yet to awaken the origin blood he received and was still limited by his original bloodline.

He thought the human would be far beneath their feet when they awakened.

But what was the truth?

He met the human in the academy where he was supposed to be awakened at.

And the human demonstrated immense potential, one that even he couldn't help but admire.

In the end, his hatred for the human started dying down and soon changed into competitiveness.

His sister's feelings toward him also seemed to have changed. However, he didn't like the result one bit.

Tonight they met the human again.

The human was pursued by a terrifying beast. They had thought he would use that opportunity to get back at them, but surprisingly he moved in a different direction.

It was almost as if he didn't want to implicate them.

It was then that Bon felt his lingering hatred disappear completely.

After that, Judi was worried about him and decided to follow his trail.

They have been doing that for a few hours now and have yet to find him.

And while Bon kept grumbling about why they had to help him, he didn't show any sign of stopping.

It was then.

*BOOOOM!*

*KABOOOOOOM!*

A series of explosions lit up the dark forest in the distance.

Judi's pace hastened, and he quickly chased after her.

A few distance from the sound of the explosion, Bon's face turned pale as he saw a flaming bird confronting a huge black steel spider high up above the tall trees.

"Judi, I don't think it is wise to..."

*Whoosh!*

Judi turned into smoke and disappeared in the direction of the burning forest, causing Bon's words to fall on empty ears.

"Crazy..." Bon grumbled but eventually followed after her.

About three minutes later, the duo arrived in time to see a two-meter monster standing atop the flaming bird, as it tightened two bloody chains around the bird's neck.

There was also a massive sphere of darkness hanging just a few inches from the flaming bird.

The duo recognized the technique almost instantly.

'World of darkness!'

However what truly stunned the duo was not the sphere of darkness, nor the several branches of the surrounding trees that rose high into the sky to bind the two beasts; it wasn't even Anita, the slime resting on one of the few branches unaffected, as she released a fearsome amount of energy.

No!

What stunned them was the golden-haired boy who flew high into the sky with two big orbs revolving around him like planets around the sun.

Judi's face flushed red.

The only person in her view right now was Arlo.

The same could be said for Bon, albeit he was experiencing an entirely different feeling from his sister.

The spinning orbs moved towards the firebird's eyes and squashed them.

Arlo's body rose higher as the bird released a painful cry.

A moment later, Arlo fell with his knees pointing downwards.

*BAAAAM!*

The branches holding the firebird snapped instantly as its body drew a flaming vertical line down the sky.

*BOOOOM!*

A massive shockwave shook the forest and a cloud of dust rose high into the sky.

Coughing sounds could be heard from within the dust.

Soon after the dust scattered revealing the situation within.

However, Bon and Judi didn't have the chance to confirm the situation, as the situation above suddenly changed.

It was already about twenty seconds since Arlo's plan took off.

The sphere of darkness hanging high above the tree tops suddenly shattered before turning into dark smoke.

A body flew out, blood filling the night sky.

*SHRIIIIEK!*

The black steel spider released an angry cry as it glared at the falling Rosaline.

It noticed Rosaline who dared to cage it heal even as she fell and released several webs towards her.

It didn't doubt its webs would split her body into several pieces.

Bon and Judi moved the second they saw Rosaline fall.

"I will block the web, you help her!" Judi said before she turned into a dark smoke that streaked toward the sky.

She passed by the falling Rosaline and formed her body back when she was close to the webs.

She released her mana and a dark essence burst out from her body.

"Dark hands!"

Several hands formed from behind her before stopping the descent of the webs.

The hands gripped the webs and tried to destroy them.

But it was futile.

These were the webs of a black steel spider. The webs were as strong as its defense.

While Rosaline could not destroy them she was able to successfully stop their descent allowing Bon to save Rosaline.

But Rosaline was only a peak beginner mage and could not fly in the sky.

Fortunately, one of the free tree branches moved below her feet and acted like a foothold.

Judi was not sure, but she felt like this was all due to the slime.

But she didn't dare to shift her gaze to confirm.

The black steel spider became angrier when it saw another two weaklings appear and save the rat that dared to cage it.

Its body moved to kill these little rats once and for all when suddenly its body stiffened in place.

It looked down toward where the firebird was.

.....

Arlo coughed as the dust dispersed slowly.

He struggled to his feet and checked his surroundings.

The firebird was down on the ground, the flames now burning weakly around it as it showed no movement.

Arlo didn't dare to check its condition closely, and after Arianne struggled to her feet a short distance away, he looked up.

'We need to help Rosaline!'

His fear came sooner than he expected as he saw Rosaline fall from the sky, and coughed blood.

He tried to move but couldn't.

He was already at his limit.

Fortunately, Bon and Judi suddenly appeared and handled the situation.

Arlo sighed in relief.

He didn't know why Bon and Judi were here, but the displeasure he felt against them lessened greatly.

'I still need to help them. They can't resist the black steel spider.'

Arlo had only taken three steps when his body suddenly stiffened.

The fear of death gripped his heart.

*ROAR!*

Arianne's roar drifted into his ears, but unlike before when it demonstrated her dominance, all Arlo could feel from it was her anxiousness.

As he felt the burning feeling from behind him, Arlo stiffly turned his head.

There behind him, the firebird seemed to glare at him even with no eyes

Its skull was cracked and its head was covered in its blood.

It couldn't live for long.

But Arlo could feel its determination to take him, along with every other person in this place with it.

A fist-sized fireball formed before the firebird's beak.

Contrary to the previous yellow flame, this fireball was deep blue.

This was the firebird's origin flame.

A scorching air spread out into the surroundings.

In the face of death, Arlo became surprisingly calm.

Arianne's angry roar slowly died down along with the angry cry of the firebird, and the burning sensation he felt disappeared.

The only thing in his world was that fist-sized fireball.

Such a beautiful attack would kill him?

He felt something around him stir.

In his vision filled with only the blue fireball, several multicolored lights suddenly lit up.

The light resembled threads and what they all had in common was their connection with him.

Arlo had never seen such a beautiful scene.

Compared to the blue fist-sized fireball, the multiple colors that seemed to blend harmoniously into one seemed to be something out of fantasy.

However, Arlo didn't appreciate its beauty for long, as he soon felt an overbearing pressure from the light.

When Arlo saw the fist-sized fireball, he didn't doubt it would consume at least the surrounding thirty meters and burn it into nothingness.

But as he looked at the countless multicolored threads that connected to him, Arlo felt a crushing power; a power that could destroy the world and anything on his path.

And... he felt this power within his grasp.

All he had to do was take it.

He stretched out his hand towards one of the threads.

.....

While all this sounds long, it all happened in an instant.

Feeling that Arlo would die from this attack, Old Bro was about to take action for the first time since Arlo was teleported into this world and fell into the lake filled with fish monsters.

But he suddenly stopped.

<<... >>

He could feel the air around Arlo had changed.

The surrounding Ki stirred as something seemed to resonate with him.

Old bro realized something phenomenal was about to happen. This is why he agreed with the others not to interfere with Arlo's destiny.

Only by facing trials and obstacles; and only by facing death could Arlo truly grow.

And it seemed he was about to take his first true step to the peak.

Unfortunately, while Old Bro could detect Arlo's strangeness in time, the same couldn't be said for the others.

Arianne was still roaring in anxiousness.

The angry black steel spider had frozen in place as it looked at the blue fireball.

The same was true for Judi, Bon, and Rosaline in his embrace.

Joe cried in fear, "ARLO!"

Only two people reacted differently.

No.

It is more apt to say only two monsters reacted differently.

Anita stopped feeding her energy into the tree branches and turned into a blue streak.

She moved at a great speed but she was still slow.

However, something else was faster.

The two-meter pitch-black snake coiled around Joe's neck which had been quietly gazing at everything that was happening finally acted.

Its body moved so fast that it seemed like it teleported.