Once Human, Now a Parasite 162 Chapter 158 : The Pigolo Tribe

Due to his chains, Arthur didn't need to be physically restrained by anything, as for Taliya and Lissandra, Gutcha has advised him to tie them with a special rope in his storage as the story more believable.

"Everything is in order, all that is left is for Arthur to come as well."

The two women and the hideous creature stood near each other, waiting for Arthur, who was sitting in a corner with his eyes closed seemingly focused on something important. This began a day ago and he didn't stop for a second and after a few hours, a bright flash would blind their sight and when they recover, he would still be laying in the same position.

The three patiently waited for him to finish with Gutcha being a little bit anxious as he wasn't totally willing to go along with the plan, however, he really does not have any choice in the matter or else he would have hidden in a remote cave somewhere on Astria and seclude himself for a long time before coming out.

Fortunately, Arthur finally stood up after a few minutes after the predicted blinding light. He had a proud and happy expression as he walked toward them.

As a final precaution, Arthur summoned The Book of the Damned and hid under his black robe. If he were to be sneak attacked, the rotten hand would instantly absorb the damage and unleash the little bit of Energy he stored into it along with the recently absorbed attack.

"So, is everyone ready?"

Lissandra silently stared at the floor, Gutcha hesitantly nodded his head and Taliya resolutely nodded her head with clenched fists. Seeing their response, Arthur took out the Warp Device and activated it without delay. He didn't need Gutcha's help to use it with the presence of the Appraisal.

Very soon, the four of them experienced a pretty discomforting feeling, even Arthur felt that his body became a bit sore, the experience felt completely different from using a Spatial Tunnel.

Gutcha had already told him that the Warp Device is not very practical and it is only used when Spatial Tunnel does not exist, it is like a primordial version of teleportation. The warped people would also experience dizziness and in some rare cases, they would pass out, especially those with a weaker body, so Arthur laid a Dark Barrier around Lissandra as she is but a Mortal. As for himself, he wasn't worried about falling unconscious with such a high Vitality, his defensive layer from the Dark-Star Strengthening technique is permanently activated too.

...

Contrary to the Spatial Tunnel which only took a couple of seconds or minutes if the distance is large, the Warp Device takes between half an hour and an hour for the users to arrive at the destination.

All he could see around him is a grey world with blurring environment, it was unpleasant to the eye and a discomforting feeling surged him, it wasn't to the point of annoying him yet it was still unpleasant to have.

A little bit more than thirty minutes, the four of them appeared in a big square with a large rune engraved on its floor. The weather was a bit hot and the sun was blazing hot.

Arthur was not bothered by such a hot weather, however, that was not left unnoticed by him. His only guess is that this strong heat is due to the wall of flames which is a distance away from here. Its intensity must be huge to cause its surroundings to suffer a rise in temperature.

One look at his surroundings made him certain that growing plants or anything in such a soil is practically impossible. The place resembled a desert but there were countless structures around the large square, they were buildings made from normal stones as wood would make its interior much hotter.

The very second they appeared, yelling sounds could be heard from all around them, several hideous creatures similar to Gutcha surrounded them with long yellow spears pointed at them from every single direction.

'There must be at least 50 around us.... let's see....'

Appraisal was activated and a stream of blue windows appeared in his sight

'Hmmm between Lv800 and 999 with three at the Spirit Realm?'

It was quite a terrifying force, and this was only at this square, what about the rest of territory. From Gutcha, Arthur knew that his Golem was sent here so it must have caused quite the ruckus and caused them to be alerted which forced the higher-ups to stationed a remarkable force to guard this place.

'Quite the clever ones, huh?'

With his Sense, Arthur could sense more than a hundred extra spear-yielding monster hiding in the buildings around the square with a few ones who were quite skilled in hiding their presence, it's a shame that they couldn't escape from his Ability.

"C-captain Gutcha?"

One of the spear-yielding monsters hesitated before he stared at Gutcha with a confused expression. Clearly, he recognized his captain and dropped his spear whilst breathing a sigh of relief.

The others were not as relieved as that soldier for they were not all under Gutcha's command. There were just too many captains in the tribe that it is quite hard to remember them all unless one had done distinguishable feats. Gutcha was a newly promoted captain but in the past, he did the infiltration and scouting jobs, so his identity was not that famous.

"Drop your weapons, I'm Gutcha, a Captain in the third army, I have come back and brought a few hostages with me."

Even after saying that, none of the soldiers dropped their spear. They only took orders from their direct superiors and Gutcha is but an unknown captain so they still maintained a serious expression, a cold glare and an intent to stab their spears at any sudden movements from the enemies.

"Drop your weapons."

The three present Captains which were standing at the back spoke at the same time. When the spears were dropped, the huge crowd of soldiers who were surroundings Arthur and co, opened a path for the three captains, who made their way to Gutcha and his hostages.

"If it isn't Captain Gutcha, we didn't hear you for a while so we assumed you perished."

Laughing heartily, a captain with a burn scar on his neck addressed Gutcha but his eyes were full of mocking and contempt. Albeit being at the same rank as Gutcha, he didn't seem to respect him and instead, belittled him in front of everybody.

Oblivious to the other party's mocking, Gutcha shrugged his shoulders, not caring about that and said

"A few unexpected things happened and I was ambushed by a strong group which led to the death of Captain Drok'e but I managed to defeat the enemy."

Gutcha didn't offer a detailed explanation as that was planned for his superiors, not this captain. The other party did not hold enough authority to be able to force him to explain himself. Just by bringing precious hostages, he is considered to have achieved good merits in the Third Army.

Upon hearing Gutcha, a frown appeared on the laughing Captain, the other two also had a serious expression.

"What kind of strong group?"

Another captain was the one was talked, he had a pig face and was quite fat which made him look a talk fat pig.

"The details will be reported to the Major."

"Captain Gutcha, this is no time to be holding on important information. Because you were so busy apprehending whatever hostages you brought, our tribe suffered heavy damages a few days ago when a monster suddenly appeared on this very spot."

From his tone, it can be seen that he feared whatever he saw a few days ago. There was only one monster that was sent by Gutcha and that was the Death Golem, which also gave him a fright.

It was called a Golem but its appearance was scary and by no means did it slightly resemble a normal golem, only its size was similar.

Obviously, Gutcha wouldn't be as stupid as to say he sent the Death Golem because he was going to be killed by it so he decided to send it to his tribe to take care of it. All the Warp Devices the other captain who invaded Astria took, lead to this destination so any one of them is a suspect.

There was another piece of information that Gutcha was unaware of, it's that Astrith disposed of every one of his tribe and none were left alive.

Feigning a look of shock, Gutcha stared at the three captains with a loof of surprise before speaking

"I-is that true?"

The pig-faced captain nodded his head seriously and added

"Not only did it cause a lot of destruction, it killed more than a hundred soldiers and two captains, it required Major Bull and Major Billard to apprehend. It was only due to luck that they won, the monster suddenly fell on its own and died then its body turned into a black ash."

"Major Bull was also promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel due to sacrificing his arm to protect his soldiers."

The first captain who mocked Gutcha said proudly with a smirk. Major Bull was previously his superior and their relationship is quite good.

'Now that Major Bull is promoted, I expect that in no time I'll become the next Major of the 5th platoon of the Third Army hehehe'

Captain Reek didn't voice out his thoughts but from his expression, anyone can tell he was happy, not only that but almost everyone knew that he was close to Major Bull so the free position of the Major would necessarily be passed to him.

"Is that so... well then, I'll have to go report to Major Kal and bring those hostages to the prison."

Gutcha grabbed the string which tied Taliya and Lissandra and bypassed the three captains. His reaction was a bit lacking to what happened recently but it wasn't a family but just a tribe made of random warriors, despite this, its heritage and prowess are long and powerful and it is a force that should be reckoned with.

Arthur remained silent and stared at what's occurring, his attention was diverted to his Sense, which spread with every step he took forward.

As far as he could tell, there was no imminent danger and it was going smoothly, he just needs to arrive at the prison and see if Sonia and Mary are there, there was also the Demon Princess but the two women came first as they were his and Lucy's friends.

"Wait a minute."

After walking a few steps, Captain Reek turned to look at Arthur and frowned.

"What is it, Captain Reek?"

Displeased that he was stopped yet again, Gutcha turned to look at the annoying captain and harrumphed. As two people with the same rank, the other party should at least speak to him with respect. 'Wait a minute' should be replaced with 'Please wait a minute', as Gutcha is not a person who cares about that, he was not bothered by it but the way he acts right now played a huge role in Arthur's plan and he did not dare to divert from it, especially after witnessing the weird and scary looking ball that entered his chest.

***

"Oh it's nothing important, I just happen to have something to do with Major Kal so why not head there together?"

Without waiting for Gutcha to reply, captain Reek strode toward the same reaction with an unpleasant grin on his ugly face.

Gutcha didn't press on the matter as he really didn't care about being mocked or disrespected, as long as Arthur and the rest to their destination without any problems, everything will go smoothly. As per Arthur's orders, he had to do a few things and the idea of fleeing far away from the tribe didn't cross his mind.

Each nearby tribe had their own unique Race so venturing into unknown areas is simply suicidal from his part, as for crossing the wall flames, that is even more unlikely.

There have been cases where experts would emerge from the flames and rest in one of the tribes, although they didn't help in any way, just by the fact that they rested in that specific tribe, its reputation, and status in the surroundings would soar astronomically.

The two other captains didn't follow Gutcha and Reek, instead, they instructed their soldiers to keep watch then left to one of the buildings near the big square.

Arthur silently surveyed the area but nothing was special or deserved to be paid attention to. They walked away from the several stones buildings and by the look of it, the prison is quite the distance away from the tribe's main territory.

There were mountains and hills made from sand, coupling that with the intensely hot weather and the fast pace the captains were walking, it became hard for the weak-bodied Lissandra to catch up to them which systematically made her fall and be dragged a few meters before Gutcha noticed her.

As a hostage, if he were to treat her with respect as she is Arthur's comrade, it would appear suspicious and if he were to yell at her or execute her on the spot, it would incur Arthur's wrath.

Helpless, Gutcha glanced at Arthur who was far at the back, he was not bound by the special ropes and instead, had chains around his feet and arms, but his face excluded total calmness as if he was not a hostage, to begin with.

Captain Reek didn't pay much attention to him and only frowned when he saw Lissandra fall.

"Captain Gutcha, it seems that the hostages you brought are way too weak! To think that they gave you a hard time, this is a disgrace to the Third Army. Even a Captain died *sigh* I'm afraid that our reputation will decrease dramatically if anyone hears about that."

Reek didn't need to say it out loud for Gutcha to understand. Lissandra needs to be killed for such a stupid reason, however, Gutcha wasn't a pushover either. With a snort, he continued walking whilst saying

"Each extra hostage adds more rewards for me, moreover, it is not up to Captain Reek to decide what I do with hostages that I caught."

Although a bit risky, he decided to leave Lissandra's case into Arthur's hand and hoped it would be solved, if he made a move and tried to execute her, he feared that he'll be the one to die instead.

'Even with a Dark Barrier around her, she's still this weak?'

It was indeed weird for Lissandra to fall like this. She's a Mortal, yes, but that doesn't mean she's that fragile. The intense heat is not even affecting her thanks to the barrier and all she had to do is walk, it can't be that hard to simply walk, even for a Lv1 Mortal, much less for an ex-God.

'Appraisal!'

Lissandra (Race: Human): Lv8 (Suffering from 'Mind Break', 'Soul self-devouring', 'Against Death'...)

A whole list was displayed in front of Arthur, who stared at it with gobbled eyes. Last time he appraised her is when he stripped her away from her powers, she was weakened to Lv10 Mortal but none of the statuses of the above were present.

There were at the very least 20 debuffs with names more astonishing than the others.

It seems that her sudden change in attitude and silence is strongly related to this and it was way foolish for him to not appraise her immediately but how could he ever think that she is suffering from all of those? She's just a Mortal and what could a Mortal suffer from except illnesses.

Arthur picked one random debuff and appraised to see its contents only to be flabbergasted

Against Death(Passive)(Permanent): Becoming a fallen God, the lower the Realm the stronger the effect and the shorter the time for him to live is. Gods age differently than Mortals but once the balance is broken, the past rules will apply to the fallen user, he will be marked by a Death Reaper and soon his soul will be reaped!

'Are you kidding me? A Death Reaper?'

Remembering the fearsome Death Reaper he had to fight, Arthur couldn't help but shiver unconsciously, it's true that he got rid of it but it was only thanks to the World tree's help and since he is not on Astria anymore, he can't request its assistance.

If a Death Reaper were to appear right now, the plan will be totally disrupted and things would get pretty messy.

To be honest, Arthur was not afraid for Lissandra, quite the opposite, in fact, he couldn't care less if she died by the Reaper's hands as he is not her guardian angel, if it's a beast or someone he could cope with then he'll save her but against a Reaper? Hell no! Especially with his body restrained by these damnable chains.

What he was more afraid of was that the Reaper will also sense him and will try to execute him along with Lissandra, getting two birds with one stone.

Furthermore, what if the incoming Reaper is more powerful than the previous one?

Feeling a headache, Arthur didn't even bother reading the rest of the debuffs, just this one is practically impossible to deal with, so if he reads the rest of them, it'll only make him feel worse.

The only thing he could do is push the matter to later when this plan ends at least then he will see what to do. The safest choice is to kill her right now but he was reluctant to do that. She did a lot of horrible things, that's true, however, if he were to execute her after all the torture he did to her, he would be no different from her.

Secretly, Arthur used his Ancient Threads along with Telekinesis to move Lissandra's body. She was barely conscious and she didn't struggle when the threads wrapped around her body and moved it on its own. The Telekinesis was only used at the beginning to adjust her body then removed.

Taliya kept a passive attitude and disregarded the falling Human woman, even if Lissandra would die in front of her, she would not bat an eye.

Her hatred for the Human Race far surpassed the feelings of pity to a miserable being. As they continued walking toward the prison, Arthur's body was like a dry sponge absorbing all the water around it. This world had Nether Energy and not a small amount of it.

It lacked a bit compared to the Underworld but nevertheless, it was enough for Arthur's body to start absorbing it like a massive a whirlpool.

His empty reserve of Nether Energy began filling up in a matter of seconds and the chains around his waist, hands, and feet began vibrating intensely, making loud noises and even making a bit of the sand under his feet float for a few millimeters. It fortunate that Reek ignored the noise and Gutcha only threw a couple of glances whilst walking next to the other Captain.

The black orb inside his Dantian began rotating intensely and emitting a dark steam, an illusory talisman also circled around the orb. Arthur started feeling his body heating up on its own and the Dark Star strengthening technique along with the Dark Anguish technique acted on their own.

Being at 1999 Mental Power, Arthur was just one point away from breaking through. With no presence of Nether Energy on Astria, his body started to become a little bit to such atmosphere but now that it was thrown to a world with so much Nether Energy and adding that to Arthur's extremely high Nether Energy Recovery, breaking through was something that was bound to happen sooner or later, even if he didn't intentionally try to break through, with such accumulated stress and after holding back for quite sometime, stopping it from happening is almost impossible.

While gritting his teeth, Arthur closed his eyes and dived deep into his consciousness, where his soul laid. In the starry sky, Arthur floated to the bright light in its centre, which was his soul.

He didn't know much about the Orb of the Fallen Overgods which didn't act since a long time ago, or about the thick chains around the big blob of light but it didn't take a genius to know that they are means to restrain something, as for what it was, he didn't know yet.

Arthur noticed a slowly rotating cubic object which resembled the one he saw inside the ARK, the cubic object was silently rotating next to the Orb and the two have the same size, more or less.

Breaking through will bring countless benefits and if he's lucky then the chains would disappear, however, that was what he would think a few hours ago, not right now!

He honestly didn't know how strong he would become if he became a Divine being, but there was still the possibility of powerful experts laying nearby, he won't be reckless anymore and dive into their territory expecting to save everyone and come back safely.

Such actions will only be done when he holds complete confidence in battling Peak Grade Gods.

After thoroughly thinking about his decision, Arthur floated near his bright soul and grabbed the end of the thick chains at the bottom half of the blob and pulled it with all of his strength.

It was only after a lot of effort and full-strength pulling that he was able to bulge the chains and make them tighten just a bit around the soul.

It may not be a good idea to do that but it is the only way to stop the breakthrough, it'll buy some time for him at least. He was willing to break through when he is in his prison cell, but not in front of Captain Reek. He could still kill him and possess him but he was not sure if breaking through will remove the chains and everyone would find it suspicious if a captain is loitering around with chains all over his body.

'Argh!!'

As the chains tightened around his soul, Arthur experienced unimaginable pain along with an unpleasant cold feeling surging his physical body. The heat emanated from his Dantian lessened and the fastly rotating Orb was forcefully stopped. As for the talisman, there were no signs of it.

Arthur was relieved to see that, however, before breathing a small sigh of relief, he couldn't help but spit a mouthful of blood, freaking out Taliya who was sizing up Captain Reek and making some secret plans.

Obviously, such actions were seen by the two captain, who turned to look at Arthur since the second his chains started making very loud noises. When they saw that the hostage was acting strangely then suddenly spit a mouthful of blood, captain Reek shook his head in disappointment and continued walking, as for Gutcha, he was really surprised by the fact that Arthur, a person who he could not fathom his strength, was spitting a mouthful of blood out of nowhere.

Such thing was not mentioned when the plan was explained, nonetheless, he remained silent and followed captain Reek.

"With such weak hostages, they'll surely die in a matter of days. To think that a captain died just to bring them here...."

Captain Reek kept complaining about how fragile and weak the hostages Gutcha brought. The turned a deaf ear to him and marched toward a yellow tower made mud with a cave entrance next to him. It was the prison of his tribe and it can be considered a desolated place.

"Are you okay?"

Taliya stared at Arthur with a strange face, since she met him, he would always say or do weird things but this topped them all. Who in their right mind would spit such a big mouthful of blood out of nowhere, even if it was acting, it would be too exaggerated so she couldn't help but feel a bit anxious as if he is injured then the probability of escaping if they are discovered lessened by a huge margin.

All her planned actions to take care of Reek fell and she could only glare at Arthur, who gave her no explanation and continued walking with his eyes closed.

'Hmpf! I just need to ascertain that Alina is in that prison then I'll figure a way out of here!'

****

*shiii* *shiii*

The long chains were dragged in the sound as they entered the cave, which was supposed to be the prison of the tribe. Arthur's sense had already spread underground and he was able to notice a considerable amount of living beings. One was in a corner quite a distance away from the rest and from the looks of it, he is the one Gutcha described as weird.

"Now that we guided your prisoners as you wanted, let's head to the Major and hear your detailed explanation, there's no time to waste."

Reek still insisted on hearing Gutcha's explanation about the ambush. It was unknown whether he wanted to learn the truth or find a mistake and blame it on his comrade to earn more merit or perhaps earn the rewards in his place.

After glancing at Arthur and obtaining the confirmation from him, he nodded to Reek and handed the rope binding Lissandra and Taliya to a guard stationed at the entrance of the prison.

"Yes sir, you can rest assured!"

The guard took the rope and pulled the two woman to the inside of the cave followed by Arthur who was ignored due to the visible chains restraining him.

....

The prison, which was practically a cave with a few rooms dug inside of it, was not big at all, however, that is to be expected as they usually kill and don't take prisoners. This was only a special case where they needed to extract pieces of information from the captured prisoners. Gutcha said that they rarely resorted to torture as the prisoners are always scared senseless when they just see their appearance and they would spill everything they knew. As for the uncooperative types, they are, of course, tortured but they would give up after a few rounds too, with the exception of the weird young man.

"Come on! I don't have all day, I have to guard the entrance!"

The guard's attitude changed 180 degrees when they walked away from the two captains. Violently, he pulled the rope binding the two women, almost making them fall which resulted in receiving a piercing glare from the maid. It didn't seem like he was looking at living beings but just inferior livestock which is normal as Humans are an alien race in their territory. However, what seems a bit off is that from Gutcha's mouth, Arthur heard that the strong beings who came from beyond the wall of flames looked similar to Humans, so what lingers in the guard's mouth should not be contempt but fear as these prisoners are of the same Race as these strong experts, or so thought Arthur.

Since the prison was not big, it only took a few minutes to reach a large room which had thick iron bars blocking its entrance, inside the room was a large crowd of people, each minding their own business and divided into several little groups.

The guard used some kind of cylindric device to make the iron bars open up a small hole, enough to fit both ladies, who were pushed by him.

As for Arthur, who was expecting to be thrown there too, he surprisingly wasn't put in the same place. The guard gestured for Arthur to follow him without coming close to him and when they descended a few stairs, an extremely small cold room laid before his eyes, only a figure was silently sitting on what seemed to be a rough bed and when the two of them entered, the young man opened his eyes and lifted his head whilst happily smiling.

'I guess I should have expected this.'

Seeing that he was dumped next to the strange young man, Arthur shook his head and remained silent. With an appearance like his, he wouldn't look that shady but if we add those long thick chains all over his body, it's perfectly normal for the guard to think of him as a dangerous fellow. He wasn't even tossed like the two ladies, the guard just opened the gate and waited for him to enter without uttering a single word then he darted out of the cold room in a split second.

"Oh! A new roommate, pleased to meet you!"

The young man walked to Arthur and stretched his hand in greeting, however, the latter ignored him and didn't even spare him a glance. He may have fooled the others with such a friendly attitude but one appraise was enough for Arthur to know who he is and how strong he is.

Vyncent (Race: Human): Realm: Immortal 6th Grade.

'No wonder he was not broken by all that torture, must've been an act from the very beginning. But what are his motives for all of this?'

It was indeed intriguing but Arthur does not have the time to ponder about that or waste it on this young man. Vyncent looked like any normal teenage boy, a blonde hair and hazy green eyes, it could not be denied that he was handsome and except his poor attitude from the current circumstances, anyone from Astria would mistake him for a Noble or a wealthy figure.

Arthur's goals are to first locate and rescue Sonia and Mary if they are here then he'll need to either find if this world is isolated like Astria or not, if it is not then he needs to go to Earth and if that doesn't work then he'll need to find a good Spatial Master and possess him, in that way, he'll create a Spatial Tunnel himself, however, the chances of finding a Master in Spatial Laws is extremely meager, even in high-Realm World or Planet.

"Oh! I didn't notice the chains in your hands, excuse me!"

After seeing that Arthur was not going to talk to him, Vyncent said that and bowed his head in apology whilst keeping the usual friendly smile.

This kind of character reminded Arthur of good old Kilan, the leader of the Monster Race in the Underworld, however, Kilan had a unique cold aura around him which made him less friendly than Vyncent, who really looked like a friendly guy. Arthur would have greeted him back, if not for the appraisal result and the things he heard from Gutcha.

The room they were in only had one bed and nothing else, although the coldness didn't affect Arthur, he could still feel it and there was even a small layer of steam on the roof, which had many water holes.

It was an unusual place to build a prison, especially with the presence of water, which should not be here when the surface is a literal desert. They are not that far underground for water to exist, barely ten or so meters.

----

Despite being totally ignored by the other party, Vyncent still kept his smile and sat on his bed while throwing a couple of glances to newcomer every now and then.

It has already been an hour since he arrived yet this grey-haired man sat cross-legged in a coin with his eyes closed and did nothing. Vyncent started to contemplate the chance that his new roommate is a mute or an eccentric person. He tried probing him but wasn't able to perceive anything which meant that either the other party's Realm is higher than his or it is covered by some kind of treasure or technique.

It's been a while since he got a roommate and Vyncent was feeling talkative yet this black-robed man was just sitting there, completely silent. Vyncent tried beginning a conversation more than one time in the course of the last hour but he felt as if he was talking to a wall, heck! At least the wall will stare at him but Arthur just didn't pay him any heed whatsoever.

'Maybe I should give him a gift before he can talk?.... but they took my ring so I have naught but two dry pieces of bread and if he is Spirit Realm or above, going hungry is the least of his worries.... *sigh* what to do....'

As Vyncent stretched his hand from under a torn cloth to grab a piece of bread to enjoy it, the figure at the corner of the room finally made a move.

Vyncent's hand froze as he stared at Arthur, waiting for him to do something or strike a conversation to relieve the boredom of the last long hour, yet what the young man expected never happened.

All he saw was a black nebula forming in front of the grey-haired man, then the nebula contracted until it took the same exact appearance of the grey-haired man.

'What just hap-ppened!'

At the middle of his surprise, another astonishing thing occurred, the grey-haired man before Vyncent's eyes transformed into black flames which quickly dispersed into the air and vanished in a matter of seconds.

Curious and flabbergasted, Vyncent stood up and approached the grey-haired man who was formed from the black nebula. He looked exactly similar, even the chains were present. The man sat cross-legged with his eyes closed, just like the previous posture.

"E-emmm, friend..."

--------

ONE HOUR EARLIER

When Taliya and Lissandra entered the big cell full of people. The head maid looked around in a rush and dragged the silent Lissandra with her, almost making her fall again.

Her head turned left and right, searching for her missing niece. The usually calm Taliya looked distressed with flushed face and fastly beating heart if Alina is not here then it only means that something happened to her. Gutcha described the famous girl with silver-hair and from his descriptions, Taliya was sure that he was talking about Alina, the Princess of the Royal Demon Family.

"Alina!"

Once Taliya saw the figure of a silver-haired girl come out from a small group of people, she immediately dashed toward the girl and hugged her before the latter or anyone around could react.

As they were both new prisoners, many people gathered around them due to their curiosity, Alina was one of them and since she was famous and helpful, all of the prisoners present respected here and followed her instructions.

The princess was just in the middle of talking about something with her group when she heard from nearby that two new prisoners had been thrown inside the cell so she wanted to welcome them and assure them as mostly every prisoner who is thrown here is either scared stiff or had been tortured then thrown here.

She is known for her miraculous healing skills, so very few did dislike here if not none.

"aunt Taliya?"

Unable to believe who was hugging her, Alina stood in total disbelief, she couldn't comprehend why her aunt is here. You have to know that this is not Astria and simply getting here is extremely hard. She was kidnapped more than a year ago so she managed to accumulate quite a bit of knowledge, and the method to come and go between this place and Astria was also known by her.

"Yes! It is me, your aunt. I have come to get you back!"

With a relieved smile on her usually cold face, Taliya stroked her niece's head lovingly and checked the condition of her body, ascertaining that there were no injuries.

"Alina, who is he?"

A white-haired demon with a half-grown horn and an eye-patch on his left eye walked near the duo and looked warily at Taliya. A well-hidden short ten-inch blade was under the cloth on his back, his hand was touching it as he walked near Taliya. From the looks of it, he was not that trustful of her, especially on how she suddenly appeared and hugged their leader. He just needs one word or signs from Alina to attack.

It is quite unfortunate for this young man that Taliya was an expert compared to him, their Level difference was just too big and such a movement was easily perceived by the maid, who pulled Alina behind her and stared at the eye-patched young man while coldly saying

"To even think about raising a blade against me, you must be reckless, boy."

She may not match Arthur or even his Death Knight, however, these prisoners are not experts either and amongst them, very few are high-leveled and fewer are of the same level as her. A cold killing intent emanated from Taliya's eyes, suffocating the young man and forcing him to take a step back, nonetheless, he didn't back down and was about to take out his short blade when the silent Alina interrupted him and got between the two.

With a panicked face, she motioned for him to stop and hastily said

"Lucas stop! She is my aunt! The one I've talked to you about!"

Alina may be their leader, and he has blind trust towards her, furthermore, she is liked by quite a lot of people from the Pigolo Tribe who go as far as giving them extra meals thanks to her healing hands and friendly attitude, however, there are still some who wants to get rid of her due to an internal conflict, and for a tribe with such a prowess, it shouldn't be too hard to capture her aunt and use a strange technique to make a clone or an illusion that would fool Alina, or so thought Lucas.

****

Somehow, Alina managed to calm down the young man and make her aunt refrain from literally cutting him down. Taliya may be gentle to her family members but except for them, she is a ruthless warrior and if not for Arthur being strong enough, he would have been tortured by her at several occasions with the first one being when they just accidentally crossed each other's road.

"aunt Taliya, how did you come here?"

This was the question that was bothering Alina the most. She knew how difficult it is to come here from Astria with her aunt's ability, although she's decently strong, she shouldn't be able to come here without any external help. Gaining the trust of most of the prisoners and making some tribe members like her, the demon princess was easily able to deduce such a conclusion.

Her line of sight changed as she stared behind her aunt, specifically at the silent Lissandra, who hasn't spoken or moved an inch since they got here.

Even Alina was able to notice her due to the rope tying the two ladies. Taliya didn't give a detailed or honest reply to Alina, she slashed the thick rope wrapped around her waist and instantly cut it, freeing herself from this useless binding. She then surveyed the crowd around them and casually replied

"How I got here does not matter, we have to go back immediately, this place is dangerous."

Taliya looked to ascertain if the two friends of Arthur, Mary and Sonia are here or not. He did help her a lot but for now, her highest priority is to get Alina out of here, it's no place to live and if she finds Arthur's friends, she'll bring them along too repay the favor.

By no means did she think of breaking her promise but she'll only be willing to follow Arthur if Alina is back safe and sound.

As her eyes looked around and inspected every person, her sight fell on a laying figure not too far from her position.

From the description that Arthur gave her, the figure laying on some torn clothes appeared to be Sonia, the younger sister of the woman managing his sect. She looked a bit similar to Anastassia but only a bit, her hair was different and her facial complexions were a bit pale.

A bit annoyed that her aunt ignored her and gave her a half-assed reply, Alina didn't fret about it albeit her inner annoyance and frowned when she saw her aunt focus on the female human laying a couple of meters away from her.

The demon princess only knew that the female is called Sonia and she had another friend who kept taking care of her. She tried giving her a helping hand but her friend and even her strongly objected, saying that they did not need a help from a demon, a royal one at that.

Before Alina could ask again, her aunt walked near the laid Sonia to examine her only to be stopped by a tall female. It was Mary, who went missing way before Sonia, she didn't have the axe that Lucy gifted her and a scar could be seen on her neck despite covering all her face with a veil.

Back then, Mary had a sort of childish behavior, being easily enraged but that didn't stop her from being forgiven by Lucy and they even became close friends. Lucy would always tell Arthur how much she missed talking with Mary when they were in the Underworld.

The relationship between Lucy and Sonia is still a bit weird, as for Arthur, he stayed out of their way and rarely talked to them, even when Lucy persisted that he should socialize more, she was rejected by the pretext of having her is more than enough for him.

It was kind of true as Arthur only needed his wife and daughter, however, that didn't mean he doesn't have any friends, it's just that he does not have the necessary will to fully trust someone other than Lucy, perhaps his past played some part in this.

.....

"What do you think you're doing?"

quite some time have passed and Mary grew a bit stronger but she is still weak compared to an old expert like Taliya, despite that, she didn't back down and stood tall in front of the head maid, not letting her get close to Sonia.

It's been a short time since Sonia came here, she was captured in a very sinister way and since then, the poison that they used to immobilize her worn off but the after effects were not something the captains who captured her had expected.

It is slowly draining her of her Vitality stats, which was extremely weird, even after trying to inquire what type of poison was used, Mary was rejected and almost beaten up.

As per Sonia's words, her status window showed that her Vitality is slowly but surely decreasing and the speed is fastening every day. In just a month, she became unable to walk and a few days ago she fell unconscious with no signs of waking up.

"I'm just trying to help your friend."

Taliya was not going to force her way, now that she confirmed the presence of both of Arthur's friends, then he certainly knows, as for when he'll act, that is not something she knew because for her, getting out of the prison must be done immediately.

The silver-haired maid took out a Healing Potion that Arthur handed to her and put it on the ground then she turned around and walked toward the prison's thick iron bars.

Mary ignored the bottle and continued taking care of the unconscious Sonia, stroking her cheeks and measuring her temperature. As for Taliya, she went to the prison bars to try something only to be stopped by Lucas who blocked her way and said

"There is no use trying to get out of here, you think that after all the time we passed here, we didn't try anything? You'll only make more noise and annoy the guard which will result in him not bringing any food for us today!"

This time, the eye-patched young man didn't hide the blade and instead, pointed it toward Taliya, trying to make her step down but all he got was piercing glare and a chill down his spines.

Alina also sided with Lucas this time and with a flustered expression, she hurriedly said

"Aunt, please calm down! These iron bars are not something that can be cut easily, it'll only bring trouble, please believe me!"

The head maid remained oblivious to the pleas of Alina and the panicking crowd.

She retrieved her two short blades and motioned for the people block her path to go to the side while seriously saying

"We won't know until we try."

.....

AN HOUR LATER.

Arthur used his Dark Cloud to create a clone of himself that'll act as a decoy then with the use of [Faster Than Death], his Race ability and the Nature attribute and Plant Magic, he was able to freely leave the prison and inspect the territory of the tribe.

His sense had already found Mary and Sonia, with the latter being in a tricky situation but it wasn't death threatening so he didn't immediately act.

Now that the first stage of his goal has been achieved, all that was left is to send them back. It shouldn't be too hard to get them out of the prison and bring them to the big square. He had the Warp Device but he can't just lead them there with his real appearance, he needs to possess someone of high importance or else the whole tribe will gang up to kill him.

He teleported multiple times while he was possessing a body of an extremely small plant. He traveled through the Earth, barely visible to anyone. It was a small green plant appearing and vanishing in a split second, each time, it'll cross a distance of 150 meters.

The reason Arthur waited one whole hour is for Gutcha to finish his part of the plan and proceed to the next phase. First, he should speak with the Major as it is necessary then he is tasked to ask every possible person about any Spatial Master in this tribe or the other two. Arthur could not just go around and search every person by possessing them. Having someone do the hard work for him is way easier and more practical.

Arthur spent a couple of minutes to thoroughly investigate the surroundings of the prison but all he saw was desert, the soil was dry and unfertile, the weather was as hot as ever and apart from stationed guards, there was nothing amiss.

He followed Gutcha's description and headed straight to the living area of the high officials and experts of the tribe. Gutcha was a bit uncertain but he said that all the Majors and above lived in that place.

With the body of an extremely small plant, Arthur used the ground to teleport countless time and head straight to his destination, expecting to find a suitable prey to possess.

Chapter end