Souta turned back into his normal form. He fell on his knees and spat a mouthful of blood.
This battle gave him an idea about his real strength. Two S-rank experts had died in his hand today and it was enough for him. If another S-rank expert appeared then he wouldn't be able to fight back.
Fighting two S-rank was his current limit.
But he will get stronger in the future. The mastery of his Archetype was still low so he had the potential to rival those shackled realm experts with his current evolution.
The Archetype will be one of his foundations in the future. Saya was right this was his foundation in reaching monster lord. Although he had the system, he didn't need to rely on it as he couldn't level up Archetype using points.
He would practice later and improve his strength to the point that he didn't need his equipment skill to fight the S-rank experts.
He stood up and his parasite slowly healed his wounds. After fighting fiercely, the regeneration ability of his parasite had slowed down.
He gathered a little bit of his energy in his throat.
"Gragas, Amanda, Yenxa! Come here! We're leaving this place!"
His voice echoed in the entire place.
Soon, Gragas, Amanda, and Yenxa appeared before him. They were wounded and blood covered their bodies. Also, their breathing was ragged.
It seems that their battles were hard too.
"Have you secured the items?" Souta looked at Amanda and asked.
Amanda nodded before she showed the items to him.
"How can we get out of this place?" Gragas asked while looking at the broken barrier in the sky. He could feel several presences of Annihilation Realm powerhouse.
It would be bad if those people caught them. Also, those people must be targeting Souta. It was impossible for them not to sense the dense best feram in the atmosphere after an intense battle.
"I prepared an escape route," Souta said to him. Before he started the battle, he already knew what would happen if he didn't have an escape route. So he prepared it.
...
The battle in the Crimson Auction shook the entire Paultry City. The entire underground base was demolished and hundreds of people died. The barrier prevented anyone from leaving and entering so most of the people inside had either fought to death or died from the aftershocks.
The incident involved an unknown monster, several Annihilation Realm masters, and dozens of Extermination Realm masters.
The reports of the battle quickly spread in the city. It shook the heart of the people and it made them shiver uncontrollably.
Four Annihilation Realm masters and dozens of Extermination Realm masters had died.
Four Annihilation Realm master?!
That's a strong force that other people couldn't ignore. Even the larger organizations of the Paultry City were scared when they heard the news. Those four powerful people were a huge asset for an organization like them.
They weren't Union Peace or Night Watch that ruled dozens of big cities in the central continent. Only the top 10 organizations in the land could afford to lose four Annihilation Realm experts.
Naturally, the Night Watch who ruled the Paultry City launched a large scale investigation. They wanted to find out what really happened in the Crimson Auction. Soon, they've found out that the two Annihilation Realm masters had died at the hands of an unknown monster.
They concluded that the monster was a fourth evolution monster but then a lot of questions appeared. A fourth evolution monster could easily kill an Annihilation Realm so why did it take so long for a fourth evolution monster to kill the two Annihilation Realm? Maybe, the monster wasn't a fourth evolution from the beginning.
But no matter how powerful a third evolution monster is, they couldn't hope to kill an Annihilation Realm. In fact, they were just a prey for Annihilation Realm masters. Also, a fourth evolution monster was too rare in the whole world. Only the Monster Dungeon in the east has fourth evolution monsters in their ranks.
Each time a fourth evolution monster moves it would cause a huge ruckus in the land and that's why the Union Peace was keeping an eye on them. As only Extinction Realm masters could handle them.
In the end, the Night Watch said that it was indeed a third evolution monster and it's not an ordinary one. Instead, the monster was probably a rare species and a mutated one at that. That's the only explanation that they could give.
If it's a mutated monster then there's a probability that it could kill an S-rank. But it was still a possibility and a lot of powerful people who were familiar with monsters didn't believe it.
This piece of news spread out in the nearby cities like a wildfire and various organizations tightened their defenses. They didn't want a monster to enter their city and cause a problem just like in Paultry City.
...
In the Earthen Core City...
Yenxa, Amanda, Gragas, and Souta were inside a room with Eilish, the Leader of the Red Light District.
After the battle, the group quickly went to the Earthen Core City and Eilish helped them enter the city in an illegal way. She had some influence in this city as an Extinction Realm master so she had various methods.
Eilish tucked her silky blue hair on her ears and she lifted a glass of wine. She glanced at Souta and said, "I've heard the incident in Paultry City. I didn't expect that there would be a battle."
"Yeah, those guys are targeting me. They know that I will come in that place." Souta said with a sigh.
"Those guys must be connected to the group in the hidden base. In other words, the Union Peace. When you've arrived in the hidden base, they've probably guessed that you're looking for the clues of the Witch Clan so when the auction started in the Paultry City, they've guarded the soul weapon to see if you're going to appear. Lucky for them, you delivered yourself on their doorstep. It's just that they underestimated your strength." Eilish paused for a moment and smiled. "Me too, I didn't expect that you're capable."
Gragas, who was listening to the side, couldn't take it anymore. He opened his eyes and said, "I've gotten involved in your affairs. Those people will investigate all the people that attended the auction so they will know my identity. It means that I can't go back to Paultry City."
Eilish turned to Gragas. "So what are you trying to say?"
"Benefits. I want benefits." Gragas said.
"You already have the soul weapon in your hand so don't ask for something else. I'll let you meet my witch friend if you keep quiet about this." Souta said.
The corner of Amanda's mouth twitched when she heard Souta's words.
"They are coming for you. If only I know that they will attack the auction house, then I wouldn't have come with you." Gragas said.
"It's the same. You will take the soul weapon even if I'm not there so naturally, you will fight them. It's just that we work together this time and handle them." Souta glanced at him. "Also, you have to tell me about the Witch Clan. It's a part of our deal."
"Just accept it Gragas. Even if you want it or not, you are already involved in this case the moment you decided to take the soul weapon. This is your lifelong dream, isn't it? You have said before that you are prepared to face any kinds of consequences." Eilish added from the side.
"Fine..." Gragas sighed in defeat. He didn't expect this development at all. He was just a simple blacksmith that has a dream to replicate soul weapons.
A blacksmith that has a power level of an S-rank said that he was a normal blacksmith. Who would believe it?
"I don't know if it will help you but..."
Gragas began to explain what he knew about the Witch Clan. The others listened to his story especially Amanda who was eager to know details about her clan.
He didn't know much about the Witch Clan but he knew a lot of things about their soul weapon. He explained what he found in his years of research about them.
After half an hour, Souta sighed as he glanced at the system. The information of Gragas wasn't enough to complete the Quest 2 of Chain Quest. But it wasn't in vain.
At the very least, he learned that the Witch Clan was a secluded clan decades ago. They were powerful and yet they didn't involve themselves in worldly affairs.
According to Gragas, there were twenty-seven branches of Witch Clan in the central continent. And one of them must be the hidden base that they've found. About the main territory of the Witch Clan, no one knew about it except for themselves.
Five years ago, Gragas explored the continent to find these hidden bases. He wanted to see if he will find something that could help him in replicating the soul weapon. Unfortunately, he met a group of people and they heavily injured him. It was fortunate that he managed to keep his life but since then he decided to settle himself in Paultry City.
Also because of that setback, he advanced his power level to Annihilation Realm.
"Isn't your friend a witch? So why doesn't your friend know about the hidden base?" Gragas asked.
"My friend is an orphan. My friend only realizes that he is a witch after his soul weapon materialized." Souta replied calmly.
'He? So I'm a man now.' Amanda closed her eyes when she heard Souta's words. This guy was good at lying. If Souta wasn't talking about her then she would believe his words.
'In the end, we still need to find these hidden bases..' Souta said inwardly.