Two days until the Mournwood raid...
Arthur walked down Mournwood with his hands in his pockets, while he did dismiss it earlier, the golem Foxly was meant to protect was pretty important.
"What could one earth elemental do against a massive tidal wave?" thought Arthur internally.
"Still... I can't leave any loose ends..." he relented.
"Even so... I have no idea where I'm going!" he exclaimed looking at the improvised map created by one of the fish people.
All the ink completely smudged off since it was made underwater.
"Stupid fish people!" he exclaimed tossing the soggy paper to the ground before stomping on it.
In the distance, he heard the sounds of a fight, "Did someone find the golem?" he asked before rushing over to the source of the sound.
He chose to walk instead of cracking the distance between him and the source of the sound to conserve mana.
When he made it to the source of the sound he saw a man wielding a nothing but a guitar being assaulted from every direction by a group of a dozen players.
"I'm telling you! My bounty disappeared when I got isekaid!" exclaimed the greed-haired frogman, his skin had a slight blue hue.
He wore a brown coat with a zig-zag pattern on the ends and black trousers.
"Then maybe we have to perma-kill you to get the bounty!" exclaimed a dagger-wielding human in the front.
"Why would it work like that?!" demanded the frogman.
Arthur stepped onto the scene.
"Excuse the interruption, but does any of you happen to know where an orange golem about this size is?" he asked making a box with his hands to show the size of the golem.
"..."
"..."
"Who the fuck are you?" asked a mace wielding person from the back.
Arthur let out a sigh.
"Just answer the question... that's the logical thing to do!" he exclaimed.
"Help me, man! They're trying to get a bounty I don't have!" exclaimed the frogman.
"We'll see about that!" exclaimed a mage from the back prompting laughter from the group.
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Arthur looked over to him.
"And what can you offer me in return?" he asked with a cold stare.
A few of the attackers laughed.
"I'm a really good bard! I'll help you out for as long as you want!" he exclaimed.
"Are you willing to do anything?" asked Arthur with a raised eyebrow.
"Y-yeah?"
"Don't make promises that can't be true..." Arthur thought trying to stay composed.
"Do you know this zone well?"
"Oh! Yeah! I know this zone inside and out!" he said excitedly.
Arthur produced a staff from seemingly nowhere and pointed it at the attackers.
"Do you want them permanently-killed?" asked Arthur.
"Ehm... sure!" the frogman exclaimed.
"Unsuspected reply..." thought Arthur.
"I'll help you out of course!" he said drawing his guitar.
With a single flick of his staff, a white crack formed in a ring shape around the group, removing the entire dozen people from existence.
Arthur turned back to the frogman, "If he tries to run away I'll just crack him too..." he thought.
"That... that... that was awesome!" exclaimed the frogman, his response shocked Arthur.
"I'm Grimly!" exclaimed the frogman.
"How'd you get so strong? What class are you!?" he inquired.
"Before that, my name is Arthur, I specialise in spacial magic and plan to undo this world," he said with the same stern expression.
"You... want to undo... this world?" asked the frogman.
Arthur nodded.
"Ok."
"I'm sorry what?" Arthur asked.
"I mean, I assume that includes me, so I don't mind!" exclaimed the frogman with a shrug.
"..."
"..."
"Say, are you looking for a bard?" Grimly asked.
Arthur was dumbfounded.
"You... you're ok with dying?"
"Sure, this world sucks, so does the last one, might as well clear the slate, right?" he replied.
"God knows what happens to our souls after we perma-die, what if we just respawn without our memories?" he asked.
"That's essentially correct... your soul will be wiped clean and re-used for a child or NPC in this world," Arthur nodded.
"See, that's stupid! I just want to die, no heaven, hell, spaghetti monster or anything else!" he exclaimed.
They both remained silent as Arthur looked intensively at Grimly.
"I like your nihilism..." Arthur finally said.
Arthur extended his hand towards the frogman.
"Let me ask you again... more formally, are you interested in working with me? If you say no I will leave you be, you have my word."
"Your ambitions are like a godsend to me, of course, I'm in!" he exclaimed returning the handshake.
"If there's anything I can do to help you kill me, I'll do it!"
"In that case... let's get started!" exclaimed Arthur, "I need to find the red-brick golem, one of the only elementals with any real impact on the world as a whole!" he exclaimed.
"Wait, so how are you going to destroy everyone?" asked the frogman.
"Well, I had many plans, but they all failed, so-called heroes would appear and at the cost of hundreds of lives... that's why I'm here!" he exclaimed.
"Sound like a pain, man!" Grimly exclaimed.
"It was..." Arthur agreed.
"I'm from a time thirty years in the future, this world is no different than the one you say you came from, so I came back to this primitive time to wipe it all out!" Arthur exclaimed.
"Woah, you're from the future?! Like, you're born into this world!?"
Arthur nodded.
"Yes, that is where I learned the world-cracking school of magic which for your time is completely new," Arthur explained.
"Of course, magic is completely restricted meaning a fire mage is a glorified lighter... and PVP is forbidden..." he let out a sigh.
"That sounds awful..." Grimly said looking down.
"Why would you want to make a fantasy isekai world resemble earth?!" he demanded.
"Power... "
"I see... then it's all the more important we destroy this world!" Grimly replied.
"Yes... this time it will work... I'm sure..." Arthur said cracking a smile.
"Ah, right, you wanted to find the golem!"
He began playing on his guitar.
"Song of resonance, stone elemental!" he began playing a slow, heavy sounding song as in the distance the same song began to play.
"That's it!" he exclaimed walking towards the source of the sound.
It was too faint for Arthur to pick up, but even at this distance, Grimly could hear it.
After only a few minutes they reached the sound, a small, orange-brick golem tangled-up in some vines, desperately trying to escape as Arthur reached down for the golem with his hand.
Arthur cracked it into dust effortlessly.
The world shook as somewhere, the spirits of earth raged on.
"Woah!" Grimly exclaimed looking at the disintegration of the golem.
"Your skill was also something!" Arthur remarked.
"Now nothing can stand in our way, the other elementals lack to strength to oppose water..." Arthur explained before creating a massive crack in space, he stepped through.
"Let's go, Grimly! We have a world to destroy!" he exclaimed.
"Right!" Grimly hopped into the portal after Arthur.
They were in the palace located on the sunken continent, Grimly was surprised to find out he can breathe underwater.
"Woah..."
"Hmm, people from your time haven't seen this land yet..." he remarked walking down the marble halls overgrown with coral.
"I will introduce you to the puppet king of our world-destroying nation!" Arthur exclaimed opening two massive doors and showing the fish-tailed "king" chained to his fancy throne.
Around him the harem of various water-loving creatures.