When Arthur saw the two black-robed men, he disregarded the option of questioning them.
First, because it would take time, usually people like them would only speak after getting tortured for hours or even days, second, he doesn't need to question them anymore.
Since it's confirmed that this is a secret base of 'Medusa', his only goal now is to kill all of them and try to find the boss or Zodiak's power.
He wanted to find it in here, but the likeliness of 'it' being in this base is almost non-existent, for such an organization like 'Medusa', it must certainly have at least a dozen secret bases, so what is the probability of Zodiak's power being here?
Anyways, whether he finds it or not, he decided to go to the Ma Clan to check on Saly.
The connection between him and Astrith was still on, however, since the distance separating them is too much for him to know if Astrith is in a battle or anything similar.
He even suspected that he would not realize it if Astrith died, he could barely feel the connection between them, much less know if Astrith is dead or not as even if he's dead, the connection will still exist.
This kind of strange connection was established when Arthur summoned Astrith the second time, he didn't clearly know its purpose, so he didn't think too much about it, for the time being, that is.
..
The two black-robed men were instantly killed and absorbed into his ring.
Right behind them, there was a metal door similar to the one which was demolished, the room was small and there was nothing in here besides a table and 2 chairs.
It's amazing to think about those two men, sitting here and doing nothing, isn't it boring?
The metal door was melted by Lucy's magma in a split second, as the metal door vanished, two fast figures rushed from it and continued to run deeper and deeper into this underground base.
What layed behind the metal door was a dark and long corridor, it was not very wide, approximately 1 meter.
It only took them 10 seconds or less to arrive at the next metal door, the distance between the two rooms must have been a dozen or so kilometers.
Such distance is considered big, but for Arthur, crossing this distance in seconds couldn't be easier, even Lucy, who couldn't use any movement techniques could do it, their stats were just too high so it's to be expected to be able to do at least this much.
The metal door was melted yet again, but unlike the other room, what was in front of Arthur and Lucy was a huge room, probably a hall of some kind?
There were several black-robed figures, some were talking and others were sitting in a meditative position.
However, everyone noticed what happened o the entrance, what was supposed to be a metal door reinforced with some protective spells was now gone, they didn't even have time to react before the door disappeared.
The magma turned it into nothingness, what was in place of the door were two people, one dark-haired man with red eyes, and next to him was a woman with silver hair and similar blood red eyes.
"Ahh, it seems this is no ordinary base, good good"
Arthur gazed at the numerous enemies with a smile, some hope surged in him as the probability of finding Zodiak's powers in here increased.
'It would be great if this is the main base'
Although Arthur wished that, he really didn't believe it was the case, maybe because it was too easy to find it?
If some people heard what Arthur thought, and that finding this place was rather easy, they would surely cough blood and curse him non-stop.
The illusion barrier laid to hide the base was similar to the one hiding the powerful clans, only someone extremely skilled in barriers and seals would be able to discover, yet he just bombarded all the place with his Demonic Lightning...
..
Purple fire and countless invisible threads rampaged left and right, people were dying at a rapid pace as Arthur and Lucy showed no mercy, they didn't even speak, they just advanced and killed everyone they saw.
The place was like a maze as there were no more corridors or stairs, just big halls, and some small rooms, there were hundreds of black-robed figures, and their numbers increased by the second.
Some of them even used 'Dark Magic' and tried resisting the invisible sharp attacks or the purple waves of flames but it was utterly useless, they were either cut into pieces or burned to ashes.
After they have advanced for about 500 meters, an old man and several figures behind him appeared out of nowhere and blocked Arthur's path.
Just as Arthur was to slaughter them, he stopped as he saw the old man's Lv.
Kenishi(Lord S) : Lv1273 (Spirit Realm)
Honestly, Arthur kind of expected to see people in the Spirit Realm, Tensui was Immortal Realm so seeing some people in the Heavenly or Spirit Realm is not surprising.
"Stop! Why have you com.."
The old man was planning to try to stop them and question them, however, once he looked at their appearances properly, especially Arthur, his eyes widened and he couldn't even continue speaking.
Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.
"Y-you...!! How come you are here?"
As he heard Kenishi, Arthur furrowed his brows and causally replied
"Ah? So you know about me? This makes things easier.."
The old man didn't seem to have heard Arthur as he stared at him with great shock and disbelief.
It was like he just saw a ghost, Arthur became more confused as the behavior of the old man was strange.
Even some of the people behind him appeared surprised, some stared coldly at Lucy and Arthur and some had a mix of fear and shock mingling in their eyes.
"Yo...you should not be here!!! How are you even alive.."
Arthur who was confused a second ago suddenly appeared in front of the old man, then without even letting the enemy react, he grabbed him by the neck and squeezed tightly, almost choking the old man, who snapped out of it and gazed at Arthur with fear.
The people behind the old man didn't just stay there and watch, they were preparing to attack Arthur when all of a sudden, dark red magma hands came out of the ground and bound them, the pain was agonizing as the parts being held by the magma hands were being melted by the second.
These people were obviously trained and a bit used to pain, although some of them groaned, none issued a loud scream or yelled pitifully, they just tried to struggle but it's didn't work no matter how they did.
"What do you mean how am I alive? Speak! If you're just going to waste time then I'll just try to find another one who will answer"
Arthur wanted some answers to his questions when he saw the weird behavior of the old man, so that's why he did all that, although these answers he sought for were not urgent since an opportunity arose, then why not grasp it and try to force this old man to answer?
"..*cough*...you... it's definitely *cough* you!! You are that man who killed *cough* Tensui! You're alive, it's *cough* *cough* impossible!"
Kenishi then gasped for breath and continued after he managed to breath for a couple of seconds.
"....Ha ha ha, you are *cough* so dead... *cough* Lord has *cough* descended to get you...and you *cough* delivered yourself to our doorstep *cough*.. *cough*..... ha ha ha ha"
Listening to the old man, Arthur frowned and pondered for some time, the uneasiness he was feeling was definitely not fake, and this old man said 'Lord'...
"Your lord or whatever, where is he?"
The old man didn't respond to Arthur and continued laughing while coughing from time to time, anger arose in Arthur as the man didn't answer, so he tightened his grip on Kenishi's neck, choking him and slowly killing him.
"You have 5 seconds to answer or else you'll be killed! Where.is.your LORD!"
Albeit the threats of Arthur, neither Kenishi nor any of the bound people uttered a single word.
5 seconds passed and nothing happened, so Arthur didn't bother with Kenishi anymore, he snapped his neck, killing him which was followed by the deaths of the other people who died by the hands of Lucy's magma.
"Something is not right.... Let's go back. now..."
"I know, I have been feeling uneasy since some time ago...."(Lucy)
Arthur picked Lucy and transformed into a streak of lightning, he didn't bother with the other figures as he left the secret base, the uneasy feeling become stronger as he felt something calling out for him from the East.
He didn't stop as he flew toward the Itas continent, he used his max speed to arrive faster and earlier.
The more he got closer to the Ma Clan the more the uneasy feeling became stronger.
..
The distance between the Western continent and Itas continent is by no means short, it's at least a million kilometers.
And with Arthur's speed, he could cross 700 or so kilometers in a minute, so going by this speed, it would take them about a day to arrive, and that's considering the distance is just one million kilometers.
..
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It has been 26 hours since Arthur started flying non-stop with Lucy near him, he didn't go to Jackob to check about the sect or even bother with the Red Minotaur.
He just entered the Ma Clan territory but just by seeing the broken illusion and protective barriers, his face paled, the ground was totally destroyed as if a power happened here.
What was in the past a calm and dense forest is now a ravaged and destroyed land, there was a dozen of craters the size of a building scattered everywhere, making it look more like a battlefield than what was essentially a peaceful habitable environment.
In the middle was an extremely big crater, its width was approximately 500 meter and it was located exactly where the big pagoda belonging to the female area of the Ma Clan was.
There were no signs of living being, even with Arthur's sixth sense, he couldn't sense any living being, he wasn't worried about the disciples.
Only Saly mattered for him, of course, he cared for Anastassia and the others, but not like Saly, he regarded her as his own daughter, so how could he not feel anxious.
Even the usually calm Lucy was anxious, she tightly held Arthur's hand while gazing at the destroyed area.
With their speed, it doesn't take much time to inspect the whole clan area, after all, its territory is only a hundred kilometres at best.
Arthur and Lucy landed on the ground and carefully searched for a living person, Arthur's Sixth Sense was constantly activated.
It didn't take them much time to find a person, it was actually Anastassia.
She was laying in a small pond, which turned red from her blood.
It didn't seem she was fighting recently, she was unconscious and she looked absolutely horrible. One of her hands was cut off and the other was no worse as it was probably broken. There were bloody holes in her chest and wait and some cuts in her legs, one look at her and would assume she's dead.
Arthur picked Anastassia as it was not time to follow his own rule about 'not touching any other woman'.
No matter how cold he was toward other woman, Anastassia was a good person who helped him and gave him a shelter, he considered her a friend so it was not time to act like that.
Lucy retrieved a small bed from the storage and put it near Arthur, who slowly put Anastassia on it.
Then he retrieved all the healing potions he had and slowly put it in her mouth, it was not easy to make her drink it but there were no other choice.
He could only guide the potion's liquid to her throad with his telekinesis, in times like this, it was very usesful but using telekinesis inside a person's body is very difficult, it even cost a lot of Mental Power.
"I'll go look for Saly, you wait here and check on her..."
Lucy spoke with an anxious tone, although they found Anastassia, she couldn't calm down, Saly was equally important to her just as she is to Arthur.
She could not afford to lose her!
Lucy ran as she circled around the area, checking any place which could hold living being, any rubble or houses, albeit the destruction, there was some intact houses, however, all of them were empty.
After checking all the female area in no less than 15 minutes, she proceeded to the male area....
----------------------------------------
30 minutes passed and finally, Anastassia's eyes opened, she had no strength to move, much less raise her head, she could only open her eyes slowly.
She was a bit delighted to see that she was alive but that happiness on lasted for a split second before she felt bitter and sad.
"You finally awakened.."
She heard a familiar sound but she couldn't lift her head to look at the origin of the sound, but she didn't need to, this voice was obviously Arthur's!
"Art.. *cough* *cough* Arthur *cough* "
"Take it easy, you survived with these dire wounds, it's already fortunate.. take things easy and only talk when you think you can.."
Arthur wanted some answers quickly, but he wasn't heartless to the point to force Anastassia into speaking even though she's this injured.
He gave her potions that even gods would wish for, but she was surely going to die, so it's already a miracle that she survived, one could say she only survived until now because of her strong will.
Albeit hearing Arthur, Anastassia struggled to talk and tried lifting her head.
"No time *cough* a woman came.. She ...*cough* very strong... *cough* I couldn't fight back *cough* ... she told me to inform you that she'll be waiting for your arrival."
After struggling to blurt that out, Anastassia finally passed out again........