Chapter 46: I Wonder What She’s Training For
’Lilith, you’ve been oddly quiet lately,’ Arc said internally.
It took a few moments before the familiar alluring voice came through.
[I’ve been busy... and giving you time to think about what I said.]
’Perfect timing then. I’ll do it.’
[You sound confident. What changed?]
Lilith asked with an amused tone.
’I haven’t kept my end of the bargain, and I would’ve explained it to you right now, but I’m in the middle of something. So how about we reschedule it for sometime later?’
[You seem to know too much, so I’d prefer you tell me everything you know to see if we could use that to our advantage.]
[But I’m not visiting your shack again. We’ll talk at my place.]
’Your place?’ Arc was surprised. ’Fine by me.’ He wasn’t about to pass up visiting a primordial’s domain in person.
[And try not to risk your life like with that prop 11th Authority Devil. You only survived this time because the Avariel isn’t an Original. You do know I can’t save you if you don’t save yourself.]
Arc went silent for a moment. Not because he was contemplating what she said, but rather contradicting it.
The Golden Age was a realm designed for mortals alone. Primordials couldn’t invade the realm, which was why they used Champions to carry out their bidding within the realm.
All except Lilith.
She’d invaded the realm a few times in his past life when Arc didn’t know any better, but had done that just a few days ago at the Crimson Goblin island without facing any retribution or backlash.
He didn’t know the ties she had with the Golden Age, or the reason she was the most wanted being in the entire universe long before the Golden Age, with the highest bounty on her head. Arc never got to find out in his past life, but it was going to be different in this lifetime. He was going to get answers to all his questions. Definitely.
He turned his attention to the Destroyer, who was standing awkwardly by the side and tensed up once more when Arc’s eyes locked onto him.
"What was your purpose for taking over this island?"
"W-What?"
"What was your purpose for coming to the starter zone?" Arc asked in a heartbeat. "Who sent you?" he added with a chill to his tone.
The Destroyer’s throat went dry, his eyes widening slightly as he hesitated.
"I-I don’t know what you’re talking about—"
Before the Authority Devil could finish, a dark fog permeated the room and multiple phantom hands began crawling towards his chest.
"You might be scared of them, but you should fear me more. Because I can kill you right here and now. So which is more important, your life or their identity?" Arc calmly said.
The Destroyer heard this, but still hesitated, watching the phantom hands creep closer to him as sweat broke out across his forehead. When he finally forced himself to say,
"I’m only here to keep an eye on the starter zone and report back to my superiors."
"Let me guess; do these superiors have something to do with the Demonic Faction?" he asked sharply.
The Destroyer’s eyes went wide with surprise.
The Authority Devil was clearly from a demon race, and it didn’t take a genius to know the great White Faction didn’t associate themselves with such lowlifes. Nor did the Neutral Faction meddle in the affairs of mortals.
"What is he looking for?"
"Who?"
"The Dark Lord. What, or who, is he looking for?"
"I don’t know that—"
The phantom hands immediately accelerated, laying their claws on his heart and clawing at his life force, forcing the Destroyer to his knees as he groaned in excruciating pain.
"I-I swear. I know nothing. Our job is only to report the events of the day," the Destroyer forced out through gritted teeth.
"Our?" Arc caught on, though he already knew that much. "How many of you are there?"
The Destroyer’s eyes widened in surprise, still in excruciating pain from the phantom hands clutching his heart and depleting his life force.
"I-I don’t know."
"Where are the others?"
"I-I don’t know. I swear, I r-really don’t know."
Arc fell silent, and the phantom hands slowly retreated back into the void. He could tell the demon wasn’t lying.
"When was the last time you reported back?" he asked once more.
The Destroyer was breathing hard on all fours, clutching his chest.
"Good. Your fealty no longer lies with the Dark Lord; it lies with me. But you are still a member of the Dark Faction and will report back as instructed, then report that back to me," Arc said and stood up from the throne.
"Just to be clear, you never had an encounter with me, and neither did you ever set eyes on the 22nd Authority Devil, Lilith. If you fail, you die," Arc said coldly, his voice sending chills down the demon’s spine.
The Destroyer immediately lowered his head. "Y-yes, my lord."
[Awwn, that’s sweet of you.]
Arc’s lips twitched. She didn’t know he was very much aware that if her location was exposed to the Dark Faction, it could be dangerous. Yet, she didn’t care to shut the Authority Devil up and was even teasing him about it now.
He sighed internally.
[You have received 250 EXP points from Coco]
[1.5× EXP Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have received 210 EXP points from Coco]
[10× EXP Multiplier Triggered...]
[You have leveled up...]
"Huh?"
Arc was slightly surprised. All this while he’d been there, he’d been receiving EXP points from the Destroyer, who was also there, but the familiar name that had just joined the series of notifications caught his attention.
He turned to the Destroyer. "Do female goblins participate in island battles as well?" he asked with a raised brow.
"I don’t think so. From what I’ve witnessed so far, their roles involve household chores, herb gathering, and mostly childbirth," the Destroyer recounted.
But according to his notifications, there was clearly a female child goblin in battle.
Arc’s interest was piqued. He stepped down from the throne and began heading towards the exit, and the Destroyer quickly trailed after him.
Stepping out of the throne room, the view of the Crimson Goblin village sprawled before them. But it was anything but peaceful.
At the gate of the village were tall orcish creatures clashing swords with the goblin warriors, and though the two tribes had little to no battle strategy, the orcs were bigger and stronger and used that to their advantage to get this far.
Arc had almost forgotten the reason he stepped out and was inspecting the battle when his eyes fell on a certain goblin who had terrible but neat sword technique and was using it to cut down the orcs.
It was a female goblin who fought better than the males and the main warriors, which made him wonder just how many female goblins were getting drafted into their military.
When he noticed that each time this female goblin killed an orc, it triggered an EXP point notification on Arc’s end, it made him raise a brow. But this goblin wasn’t the small goblin he’d encountered the last time, and looked a head taller and slightly bigger, like she’d eaten more than the tribe’s thin women now.
She had just cut down an orc when she turned, as though she felt someone’s gaze on her back, and froze. Arc could feel her pupils shrink as she stared at him in shock, when an orc crept up beside her and brought his battle axe down on her exposed side.
The goblin managed to slip away in time, but lost her balance and tripped over herself, dropping to the ground as a second attack came almost immediately, the battle axe descending down on her with no possible escape route.
She quickly used the side of her sword as a shield to block the first attack. It snapped in two, but broke the momentum of the battle axe, and the orc raised it a second time, intent on bringing it down with even more force than before.
She didn’t have time to think, and with no escape route, she could only raise her arms to block the strike with zero hope. She gritted her teeth, anticipating the strike, which never came, and slowly opened her eyes to peek through her arms, only to find the orc headless, with its massive body dropping down on her.
She rolled to the side just in time to avoid getting crushed beneath it, and looked up to see a dagger flying back to the human monster that had terrorized her village and killed her brother.
She clenched her fists as she stared daggers at the human.
Why did he save her? She would’ve rather died than be saved by that monster.
She had just discovered a unique power within her, and would use it to her advantage to grow strong enough to avenge her tribe and brother’s deaths from the tyranny of the two figures who didn’t belong on their island.
"Why did you save the goblin?" The Destroyer couldn’t help but ask.
Arc didn’t answer immediately. "She has potential."
That was a lie. He was clearly copying Coco’s Talent, and though it had upgraded on his end, he wasn’t sure what would happen to it if the goblin were to die now. He wasn’t about to find out either, with such a useful Talent on the line.
"They grow so fast... I wonder what she’s training for," Arc mused to himself.