Alfred's body was torn in half in front of their eyes as it was eaten by something else entirely. As if a sock that was being turned inside out, Alfred's body opened from his naval as darkness emerged, replacing him.
The blood and gore made the group retreat backward, feeling sick at such a sight. However, the appearance of what had appeared was even worse. A dark humanoid creature that had no resembling of its host. It had hollow sockets with a single black flame instead. The prince's flesh fell off with every second until the black-bubbling fluid took place.
The fluid stuck to the bones like flesh, dark and rotten. The creature that had appeared had two long appendages protruded from its back like two skeletal wings.
It turned to face the group as it screamed. Its scream was so bizarre like an old rusted engine trying to cough whatever life it had in him, yet unable to. The air around it changed suddenly and started to be sucked as if it was being vacuumed.
"Retreat!" Ivy shouted with panic as everyone could sense this creature was in a different realm altogether. However, the creature gave them no time to do as they please and attacked the closest person to it, Li.
Li tried blocking with his sword, but everything was devoured in front of the creature's rotting claw. The sword split in half and Li only managed to push himself backward at the last second.
Arthur didn't stand still as he skimmed over the messages from his legacy. His mana was near bottomed and he had already used his Restore-I rune. His eyes gleamed as he read his first quest reward.
[Legacy Inheritance has been unlocked. Legacy points can be traded for possessions from the Scholar's Guardian's vault.]
[New rune has been gained.]
[Teleport-I: Teleport through the surrounding space in a one-kilometer radius.]
It was another active rune. Arthur had no time to check how many legacy points he had currently, so he quickly searched through it. Luckily, the legacy knew what he wanted and showed him the items and their price.
He exchanged for a mana-replenishing potion and drank it immediately. His stomach felt warm before his body started to hungrily absorb the mana. The one-hour duration of the restore rune hadn't passed yet, so he had no problem using it. His mana paths were still in the excited state as they greedily absorbed the mana.
The rune itself didn't specify if it could be used on more than one target or not, but it also didn't restrict it. Before the creature, whom Arthur thought to be the ender, could reach him and Ivy, Arthur used the rune on Ivy and sent her to the first layer.
They had no chance against this thing. However, it didn't seem it stood a chance against its own powers as well. The skeleton was crumbling away, devoured as well by the black energy.
It reached Arthur in an instant but he was already gone. He appeared next to Li and teleported him before teleporting Zas as well. Zas should be able to escape on his own, but Arthur couldn't risk him not having enough mana.
As for Arthur himself, he needed a negligible amount of mana to use the teleportation rune. As long as it was in a one-kilometer radius, he would be able to teleport them. Arthur was about to teleport himself before a voice stopped him.
"You…" The black skeleton seemed to realize it couldn't take Arthur down. "Won this time…" Its voice was hollow and nauseating. "However," Arthur could almost see a grin. "We found the outsider…"
As it launched itself toward Arthur along with a dozen spears of darkness, Arthur activated his rune and returned to the first layer.
The teleportation was a lot more fluid and instantaneous than what he was used to, but he wasn't that proficient in setting the coordinates. He lost his footing and fell after he appeared in front of the first layer's gate.
As he stood up hurriedly, he saw the other three also sprawled on the ground clumsily. However, there were only two of them. Zas was nowhere to be seen and Arthur panicked until he heard a groan from a pillar. There was Zas, lying on a giant gear.
"Well," Ivy looked around, still unable to process what just happened. "That was easy?" She looked at Arthur in an expression of bafflement. He could read her thoughts since this time it was Arthur that had saved them.
"You bastard, what exactly…" Zas teleported himself to the ground as he looked at Arthur with shock. After all, Arthur had just used an ability similar to his. They had all thought that Arthur's ability was related to fire since he used it the most. Now, they weren't so sure.
"I'll explain later," Arthur held up his arms in a surrendering gesture. "But now, we need to flee." The rest paused at this since they remembered that the creature might still be there, chasing after them. From what they had seen, a few runes and metal wouldn't be able to stop it.
The group ran toward the fortress's entrance that consisted of many rooms linked to a giant gate. Opening the gate was easy for Arthur and what greeted them was the blowing wind of the wild.
"I'll send you to a place beyond the wall," Arthur said toward the others but Zas simply snorted and teleported on his own. Arthur sighed and sent Li and Ivy away. He looked at the destruction the spider had made while they were inside. Parts of the fortress had fallen and a huge crater appeared.
The crater had taken down a part of the fortress and Arthur could see many corpses that belonged to soldiers and awakeners alike. He remembered Sier's words when Arthur asked about the reason this happened.
It was because of the prophecy of the outsider. Suddenly, he was aware that this was a consequence of his actions. He had already known this, but he had never really realized the magnitude of the impact his existence made on the world.
He saw soldiers removing the rubbles, gazing fearfully at the spider. As it had suddenly stopped moving, they were all still afraid another tsunami or worse would appear. He exhaled as he removed the heaviness his heart was feeling before turning and going back into the fortress.
Unlike the others, he could instinctively feel the presence of that creature. It was either an Ender or something related to it. Since the layers didn't allow teleportation toward the inside, only the outside, he had to make his way back to the fourth layer without using the teleportation rune.
Before an hour passed, Arthur managed to return to the scene of their fight. The creature had already crumbled to a mess of charcoal bones without another trace of its existence.
His body was tired, but he wouldn't just leave this thing after it had put him in so much trouble. At the very least, he had to understand what he was fighting against.
He walked toward the bones and picked up the necklace from it. The bones crumbled to dust at his touch and all that was left was a cracked black crystal. It was unlike anything Arthur had ever seen and his legacy didn't show him any messages. He placed the crystal away in his subspace as he turned to leave. He would come back to the fortress after the 24-hours period ends.
With his perception, he was able to see something else sitting on the ground. It was covered in blood and skin, a leftover of the dying prince.
"A ring?" Arthur cleaned it and started studying. Judging by the runes it was a storage artifact. He grinned at this harvest without feeling any pity toward the prince. After all, the prince was after him. His death was beneficial to Arthur. Now, he didn't need to worry about being hunted down.
He could now return to his goblins' village and see Kira again without fearing being spotted. He kept the ring and teleported back to the first layer. He then started teleporting back into the city using his rune more than once until he found himself in an empty hotel room. Before he could send a message to Ivy, he passed out on the bed of the hotel.
***
It was unknown how long he had slept but when he woke up, his body still felt heavy. Opening his phone, he realized it had been a mere twelve hours since he teleported here.
Luckily for him, most citizens were evacuated from this city so he had no worries about someone entering his room. He picked himself up and sent Ivy a message.
"I really can't use mana…" This was the first time Arthur felt this way since most of the times he used the Restore-I rune, it ended up in him being unconscious for a few days. When he tried to guide mana, his mana paths burned and the mana slipped away.
He took out some food from his subspace and ate. He wanted to tell Ivy his location or go to their place, but he felt it was unwise to move around without being able to use mana.
After resting for another twelve hours, Arthur's body was a lot better. Days of raising his stamina had proved their worth as his body had a monstrous regeneration rate. He met with Ivy and the rest in a closed-off bar.
Things would be different from now. Arthur knew it. He was no longer a weakling or a bottom-feeder, but someone with his own ability and worth. As he opened the bar's door, he thought about what he wanted to do next.
'Well, it's obvious. It's time we take over the fortress.' He thought as he looked at the people present. There were more than just three, Sier was also there with a few others.