Chapter 345: Lordship
The Evolved Ogre gave a deep and threatening cry as it retracted its hammer to swing it again. The strength it descended with appeared to be one with the world but trying to split it simultaneously.
Arthur punched with his fist, and the hammer bounced away. As the Ogre was about to attack again, Arthur"s teleport rune appeared, and he used it on himself. He disappeared from his spot where the hammer descended and destroyed the ground and appeared above the Ogre.
His spiritual powers gathered to form a rough outline of an arm. Using his other hand to cast the Liquid Fire rune, Arthur used it on his spiritual arm.
His ethereal arm turned red, and the rune merged with his spiritual powers, enhancing it further. The monster raised its hammer to attack the descending Arthur, who punched toward the Ogre.
His fist collided against the hammer, and liquid fire exploded. What it touched from the surrounding turned to ashes, and the Ogre"s hammer began to melt, but not fast enough to stop it from sending Arthur flying upward.
"Force-III," Arthur muttered as he directed the force upward, making accelerate back into the ground. He sent an ax-kick toward the Ogre, who blocked using his wrist protector and pushed Arthur away.
Arthur made a flip in the air before landing on the ground. He let go of a breath as the Ogre in front of him strode toward him. Suddenly, a memory appeared in Arthur"s mind.
"Didn"t I want to fight against unbeatable monsters?"
Wasn"t the Ogre in front of him, a giant with scales, the best example of such a monster? The thought filled him with excitement as adrenaline rushed through his veins.
As if responding to his excitement, his spiritual arms bulged and grew bigger, appearing disproportioned to the rest of his body. The Ogre seemed to sense the power within it and roared to hide its fear.
It darted toward Arthur, who rushed forward to meet it. The two attacks collided, and a resounding bang shook the forest as flames and dust flew everywhere.
The hammer flew away from the Ogre"s hand, and scales grew on his fist. With a wide swing, he struck Arthur"s side. Arthur blocked using his left ethereal arm, but the power of the punch destroyed the area behind him.
"b.a.s.t.a.r.d..." Arthur gave a bloodied grin and spat at the Ogre. Then, clenching his right fist tightly, golden colors exploded from within it. "Let me repay your kindness."
His punch connected to the Ogre"s abdomen and sent it flying through the air. Before the Ogre got away, Arthur"s spiritual arm dissolved and pulled it back toward him.
His right fist connected again to the Ogre"s face, who responded in a fist of his own. With each strike, the land around them was flattened further until only a shadow of what it remained.
***
The Knight of Courage looked at the list of people in front of her with a frown. Including her knights and the people from Hidden Gem, there were almost a hundred city residents.
All of them lived in tents now, as the only houses available were the ones that the Seika built. He would have to make more to house all of them.
"Commander," Big Bear knocked on the door –which wasn"t a door as those needed to be installed later– and entered. "I have a report to make about the Seika"s progress against the monsters."
"That"s good. How many cl.u.s.ters did the Seika clear?" Courage said absent-mindedly while going over the list of residents.
"Ten are the ones we managed to track. As for the actual numbers, we don"t know yet."
"Oh, I see." Courage nodded before pausing. "Did you say... ten?" She snapped her head toward her captain, who appeared equally disturbed, and nodded. "By himself?"
"He was alone, yes. The witch and the rest are still in the camp." Big Bear announced. "I can only say that the Seika is all over the place." The captain shook his head.
"Ten..."
Courage repeated with shock. She expected the Seika to clear out two by now, but he cleared out five times the amount. She was at the early stages of the demi-rank with her domain, but she still needed to track and travel to each cl.u.s.ter.
"The last place we tracked him to was..."
Boom!
The captain was reporting when a booming sound shook the camp. The quaking continued for several seconds before it disappeared. Courage and Big Bear had to stabilize themselves before looking at each other with confusion.
None of the two said anything, and they darted outside the camp toward the source of the sound. The sound came from the Ogres Mountain, and they rushed toward it.
"Was there another meteor?"
Courage"s stomach turned in regret for not investigating the meteor matter more closely. However, the Seika refused to do so, saying that they wouldn"t find anything anyway.
If a stronger meteor targeted the Seika and he got hurt, they would be doomed. Blessed Spirits, the Hidden City, and the Princess of Ice and Fire were all connected to the Seika irreversibly.
And there was the Duke of Fire"s daughter, who seemed to be scaringly protective of the Seika. If she caught wind that something happened to him, not even the Knights could stop her from upturning the kingdom.
Running toward the mountain, Courage had many expectations for what she was to find. However, the scene of destruction in front of her sent chills down her spine.
"Was it a meteor?"
Her certainty only grew stronger as she looked at the crater of destruction at the base of the mountain. Flames unceasingly burned as if it was a deadly inferno.
"There"s something within the flames..." Big Bear muttered beside her while clutching his sword.
They could see a giant figure from within the flames as the smell of roasted meat drifted their way. The Knight of Courage frowned and prepared for the fight.
She waved her hand, and a wave of water began to extinguish the fire until the figure appeared. It was the corpse of a giant ogre unlike they have ever seen before.
"What is that?" The Knight of Courage unsheathed her sword as soon as she saw the figure standing on top of the Ogre"s burning body. It was a humanoid creature made of flames, burning so intensely that it burned the tip of her hair strands.
"Is it... a Calamity?" Big Bear asked with fear as the creature turned to look at them. It stared at the two for a few seconds that felt like ages.
"Now that"s rude." The creature opened its mouth and said in a familiar voice. Waving its hands, the flames disappeared to reveal the Seika of Living Beings.
He was covered in blood, wounds bleeding from every part of his body. His face was a bloodied mess, but his expression was relieved. As he pulled his hair back after it came off, he looked at them from above the corpse.
"Seika!" The Knight of Courage was baffled, looking at him with shock. "You were..."
"On fire?" The Seika tilted his head. "How do you expect me to win against..." The Seika suddenly paused and turned to look at the empty air in front of him.
"Is it still alive?" The Knight of Courage was confused by the Seika"s action, but he didn"t reply.
"Man, why does this look like a game I played before..." The Seika muttered with a sigh. "There"s no need to report about the residents anymore. Send them to my house one by one tomorrow morning."
"Ah?" The Knight of Courage was confused but nodded anyway. The Seika ruffled his hair with annoyance, but a childish grin could be seen on his face. The only disturbing thing was that his face was dyed in blood.
***
[You have leveled up!]
[New Legacy Function: Lordship.]
"What the heck?" Arthur looked at the notification as he stood amidst the flames. He knew that a new function would appear once he reaches level 40, but he didn"t think it would be... Lordship.
He was once again reminded that his Legacy was a living ent.i.ty, not an inanimate object within his soul. It seems it always pushed him to grow stronger through his environment.
"However, what can this function do?" Arthur wanted to ask Jizo, who was the lord of his domain in the past, but he could feel something obstructing their connection ever since he came to Alka.
It was probably the effect of being in a different timeline, the same thing that made him unable to use his Breaker Insignia. However, the Legacy could still be used, even if the change in s.p.a.ce-time disorientates its owner.
He opened his Legacy"s Lordship, and rows upon rows of information appeared in front of him. There were stats for his estate, like cleared land to the number of followers he had.
However, that wasn"t all, as there were functions that could help him create Hidden City faster. This way, it might not be long before Solomon trusts him enough to give Arthur what he needed:
A way back home.