Chapter 11 - Adversity

Arthur disappeared from his position with unbelievable speed and went to the nearest place where one of his 'ambushers' lay in wait.

Lucia also disappeared towards the opposite direction and started her own massacre.

"One down." Arthur declared as he appeared behind the Unranked Chameleon that was the size of a fully grown man's arm.

The Unranked Chameleon was caught by surprised, it turned its head and tried to use its tongue to attack Arthur. However, Arthur's katana was much faster.

Stab!

Blood spurts out from the Unranked Chameleon's forehead as its eyes rolled to the back. Its body fell to the ground with a thud.

[You have acquired a portion of... ]

[Your summon Lucia have acquired a portion of... ]

[Your summon Kent have acquired a portion of... ]

[Your summon Pom... ]

Arthur immediately dismissed the messages and he also turned off the notification regarding the leveling up or the stats his summons will acquire. The endless notification was limiting his vision and it was getting really annoying that was why he decided to turn it off.

As if the death of the Unranked Chameleon was the signal, all of Arthur's 'ambushers' immediately flees.

There were a total of 12 'ambushers' and now they were down to 11 quite quickly.

They have realized that the 'preys' they thought was actually the 'real' predators here and not them.

Arthur was handling 7 of them while the rest was on Lucia's side.

A murderous glint flashed through Arthur's eyes as he scoffed at them, "These beasts really think they can escape."

Now that their positions have been revealed, Arthur could easily pinpoint them.

Arthur waved his free hand since his right hand was holding a katana, he expended 70 points of his mana.

If it was before then Arthur would definitely feel a little drained, but now that he have Nyx the 70 points were no longer a big deal at all.

Small ball of condensed space which have a dark purplish color, hovered on top each of the fleeing creatures' heads.

"Die." Arthur declared coldly as if he was a God of Death, he gestures his hand like he was grabbing something.

Each of the small ball of condensed space visibly shook before each of it shot a flash of purple light aiming towards each of their own prey's head.

All of them had their head pierced by an unknown attack all at the same time. Their bodies swayed before falling lifeless on the ground.

[You have acquired a portion of... ]

[You have acquired a portion of... ]

[You have acquired a portion of... ]

[You have leveled up to level 11. You are given 3 free stat points.]

[You have leveled up to level 12. You are given 3 free stat points.]

A series messages appeared on Arthur's retina, he dismissed them all before going to each of the creatures' dead bodies in order to check for drops.

Arthur grinned widely displaying all of his sharp teeth, he have collected a total of 4 different skills and 3 Unranked Soul Cores.

BOOOOM!

Suddenly, a loud explosion was heard behind Arthur.

"It makes sense if Lucia's still not done, she is a pure fighter. Even if she has an unexplainable high magic and mana stats it won't matter if she doesn't have a skill to use it on." Arthur swears in his heart that he would definitely acquire a skill that would suit best for Lucia.

Arthur immediately left his position and headed towards where Lucia was.

. . .

"Die, you overgrown worm." Lucia declared in a cold voice devoid of any emotion as she punched an Unranked beast in front of her.

This beast was the same type of the one who once almost ended her master's life right in front of her eyes. That was why the hate she have for these creatures cannot be measured.

This was also the reason why she choose to target this creature first even though there were 5 of them in total.

Although this creature was the same type, it was 5 levels below than the one Arthur fought to the death with.

SWOOOSH!

Lucia's punch cut through the air, it was aimed towards the creature's head. The Unranked Serpent, couldn't even react to Lucia's blow because it was busy trying to flee.

BOOOOM!

Lucia smashed its head with her fist on to the ground, turning it into meat paste. The skull of the Unranked Serpent caved in; blood seeping through out of it, forming a small puddle of blood with bits and pieces of its brain.

[You have acquired... ]

Lucia immediately dismissed the notification since she didn't care how much stats she got. She looked down on its body and a small smile immediately plastered on her face.

There was a skill scroll beside it, she bent down and picks it up. She would give this to Arthur later.

"Rejoice, you have become useful after your death." Lucia sneered before she kicked the ground and left to chase the other fleeing beasts.

A few seconds later, Arthur arrived 3 meters away from Lucia. He saw her sadistic smile on her face as she ripped off the entire head of an Unranked Jumping Spider that was the size of a fully grown adult.

"Lucia?" Lucia's body visibly flinched when she heard Arthur's voice.

"Master... I'm very sorry for showing you an unsightly side of me." Lucia faces down, she was ashamed that she have shown her master this side of her. Even now, there was still a slight smile on her face.

This was one of the things she hated about herself, she was prone to bloodlust and would sometimes get lost in it.

Arthur shook his head, he approaches Lucia and held her face to look him in the eyes. Arthur was still wearing Nyx, so Lucia had to look up a little.

"Wrong, what I wanted to ask was if you're okay." Arthur's still hoarse voice permeated Lucia's ears, however even though it was hoarse, Lucia clearly felt Arthur's worry and affection.

This show of care eased the bloodlust she was feeling and she returned to her normal self.

"I'm okay, master." Lucia smiled at Arthur. "I didn't manage to catch the other three that have fled. I'm sorry-"

Lucia couldn't finish her sentence when Arthur put a finger on her lips, telling her to not continue. "Listen, Lucia... Sigh... I don't know why you keep saying sorry for things you don't have control to, so stop that okay?"

"Yes, master. I apo-" Lucia managed to block her mouth before she could apologize again when Arthur just said to her not to apologize to every little things.

"Good." Arthur nodded, he was satisfied... for now.

Lucia once again admired Arthur's behavior and mindset; it really didn't matched his age. Kids his age would act more arrogant, lustful to women, and have a pride that was the size of a whole planet not because of what they are but because of their background.

That was why Lucia couldn't see him as a kid. He is still 15 and he was already like this. Lucia imagined a future where Arthur was an adult, 'I shouldn't have imagined it, now I can't wait for it to happen.'

"Did you get anything from your kills?" Arthur asked while surveying the surroundings.

"I did get a skill scroll, master." Lucia reported and handed Arthur the skill scroll she got.

"I also have four with me. Let's inspect it later if we can find a suitable skill for you." Lucia's eyes widened when she heard what Arthur had said.

"How did you get so many skill scrolls, master?"

"I got lucky, four out of seven dropped a skill scroll and not just that! I also got three Unranked Soul Cores." Lucia's shock only grew, he killed seven of them? In that measly given time?

Seeing Lucia's reaction, he finally understood what she was referring. "Ah, you meant that... It's the power of a skill."

Lucia now understood, however, that would mean that his master got a really powerful skill. Then a scene came to her mind, it was the scene when Arthur continued to experiment with his new skill until he was fully drained.

'So that time when Master damaged his room, was only the tip of the iceberg of how much damage his skill can do.' Now she was also raring to obtain a powerful skill for herself!

How can she be useful to him in his future battles when right now all she could do was kill two out of five Unranked creatures?

"Don't worry, we'll find a skill that suits you best. Then, we'll find one for Kent. Kent as of now can't keep up with us, not to mention the new summons earlier. They'll join us in battle when we've got enough skills for everyone to choose from. Right now, we'll focus on you Lucia." Arthur said, he already unequipped Nyx and was back to normal.

"Mm... " Lucia meekly nodded at Arthur.

"There are plenty of strong Unranked creatures here, I believe that as long as we don't come to face a First Tier creature then we should be okay." Arthur concluded, the difference between Unranked and First Tier is is not just level.

If you ascend to a higher Tier, the stats you have accumulated while completing your Tier Advancement Requirements will be added to your stats the moment you advance.

Simply put, your overall strength after advancing a rank won't be 1+1=2 but more like 1+1=5.

"Fuck... "

"Eh? What's wrong, master?" Lucia got surprised when she heard Arthur cursed out of the blue.

"I set up a flag." Arthur wanted to knock himself out right now for being stupid.

"What flag... " Lucia was about to ask questions when suddenly;

ROOOOOOAAAAR!!!

A huge Grizzly Bear looking creature stood two meters away from them. It stood 3 meters tall, it has dirt colored fur. And the most noticeable thing was its unnecessarily long sharp claws.

Arthur and Lucia the targets of the Bear, felt an immense pressure they have never felt before.

A deathly pressure coming from a First Tier beast.