Time Skip 3 Months Later
Arthur was hunting with everyone. By now, he had filled up a quarter of his first soul core.
He looked at his runes again because he was nervous this time they would hunt another Cursed Herald.
Name: Arthur
True Name: [The Fool Who Does Not Belong to This Era]
Rank: Dormant
Soul core: Dormant [280/1000]
Memories: [Starlight Legion Sword], [Hidden Rebel's Regret], [Bronze Spear], [Blood-crazed sword], [Frenzy Ring].
Echos: —
Attributes: [Fated], [Mark of Divinity], [Hunter], [Fate affinity].
Aspect: [Lord of The Mysteries]
Aspect Description: [You are the Lord of The Sefirot Castle, The Supreme Ruler of The Grey Fog, and a Divine Fool whose Conspiracies Fool even The Gods]
He really had no business hunting a Fallen monster as he was! And worse since sensing one's essence takes years and the doubt it won't be true some had been slacking off on meditation,
Abner, Kaelen, Zane, and Glorielle seemed to believe him, though Abner can't meditate due to his flaw. When he mentioned his flaw, Arthur didn't think it would be a huge problem,
But now that he thought about it, how was Abner supposed to make a transcendent battle style when he became a Saint with his flaw? And if he was not infected by the nightmare spell, how would he even become an Ascended?
'You really can't underestimate a flaw.' Arthur thought to himself as they finally laid eyes on the lone Cursed Herald.
Zane did not waste time and shot an arrow first, aiming for the right eye. Brave shortly after aimed for the left wing.
The Cursed Herald sensed an arrow heading its way, but only managed to dodge Zane's Brave's arrow hit the wing of the Cursed Herald.
The Cursed Herald's wing was wounded, so it couldn't fly high, but it could still use its wings to boost its speed when it jumped, and so it jumped at the Cohort.
The Echo of the Hidden Rebel was not the target this time; it was Alec instead.
Alec activated his aspect and held his shield tightly, but the Cursed Herald easily tore through the shield and stabbed into his body; luckily, his aspect stopped its claws from penetrating deep.
Abner once again aimed at the wings; it couldn't allow for the Fallen Monster to be mobile; he hit the uninjured wing, managing to cut it off.
Arthur threw his Shining Starlight Legion Sword at the Cursed Herald's face, blinding it briefly as he used the Blood-crazed Sword to stab it in the neck; his sword barely scratched it, but from the small cut, blood flowed more than it should.
He dismissed the Starling Legion sword and retreated, shouting "Left Wing!" because he felt a premonition of danger coming from the injured Wing, and his senses proved to be correct as the Wing soon came at them.
Thanks to the early warning, all of them managed to dodge, and Glorielle started using her aspect and her new armor's enhancement as she dodged.
The new armor was from the Awakened Monsters, Hidden Rebel's Wraith's Kind. The Awakened Devil: Revolutionary's Head, she had figured out two enhancements [Revolutionary's Heavy Regret]. And [sacrifice no one else]
The first made the wearer's soul heavier, making it harder to damage it, and the second made the wearer stronger when they risked themselves to save an ally.
And since the Cursed Herald was attacking them, now was the perfect time to activate it!
The [sacrifice no one else] enhancement boosted by her aspect in combination with her aspect enhanced sword made Glorielle into a real threat to the Cursed Herald.
So when she thrust her sword at its neck, the Cursed Herald would have died if it did not move its neck by instinct.
However, this left it open to the others, and Kaelen used the chance to slash the fallen monster's face, blinding its left eye.
Alec retreated as his shield memory was destroyed, and he summoned another one.
Naamah who was near Glorielle stared at the Fallen Monster in the eye, smiling slightly. The Fallen monster shivered as suddenly the world seemed colder and darker as her eyes seemed to shine bright blue light.
Looking at them made him barely be able to hear the cries of those she had killed, urging the Cursed Herald to take their place.
This made the Cursed Herald stunned for a second, as Naamah used the chance to stab it in his remaining eye. Completely blinding the Cursed Herald, after she did that, she retreated.
That saved her life, as the Herald barely missed her guts, leaving a shallow cut on her stomach. After this, none of them approached the Cursed Herald as Zane and Brave shot it from a distance, eventually killing it.
Arthur was surprised by how easily they killed it. He couldn't help but think, 'Teamwork really does make the dream work.'
Arthur asked, "So did it drop anything?"
Brave nodded happily as he responded, "It dropped an arrow!"
He summoned it as he read its runes.
Name: [Cursed Arrow]
Rank: [Ascended] [II]
Type [Weapon]
Item description: [They served the sun, believing it to bring light and hope, but those hopes were false, and it's light, a daily reminder of its growing hunger. The light they fought for to keep the eternal darkness at bay had turned against them; the sun could only bring them the day and not offer salvation. That is a cruel lie they had told themselves—a lie they are cursed for believing to this day]
Arthur asked, "So what do you think it does?"
Brave answered, "No clue; I guess I will shoot it at some nightmare creatures later and find out."
As they talked, they collected the parts of the Cursed Herald's body, even though anything other than the meat is useless now. There might be someone who arrives here who could make use of them later.
Since they were still in good condition despite fighting a fallen monster, they decided to hunt more.
Arthur couldn't help but think to himself, 'I was worried this might be my last battle, but I forgot each of these guys is a monster. I didn't even do much in the battle. Had they known about the dangers of the mist in the Hallow Mountains, they would have definitely managed to escape this place.'
Arthur was used to hunting by this point; he even did it for sport; there wasn't much to do in the Forgotten Shores after all.
He wasn't the only one; they hunted more than they needed to, and by this point he had long realized what his blessing in the vision he had was—it was a message!
He was practically a telephone to the cohort! When he hunted with some of the cohort and didn't come back from hunting for a while, the rest who stayed in the bright castle would pray to him and tell them to hurry up.
When he stayed, he just summoned them above the Grey Fog and told them to hurry up. He even joked about becoming a divine telephone at this point.
Since he would occasionally make some divinations about the new trends of the waking world and to see if the Cohorts families were doing well and showed them above the Grey Fog. He really felt that they saw him as a smartphone at this point!
Since Arthur has gained more confidence, he asked the others to let him fight a carapace scavenger alone, and they agreed easily; they didn't think he would die quickly enough for them to be unable to interfere if he lost.
The Carapace Scavenger rushed at him, doing a punching motion with its right aiming for his head, attempting to crush it. Arthur stepped to the right as he dodged and thrust his Blood Crazed Sword at the Scavengers head.
The scavenger dodged by tilting his head back; Arthur did not let go of his advantage, though, and threw a slash at the scavenger's chest.
It defended with its left claw and attacked him again with its right one. Arthur was waiting for this as the scavenger completely forgot about its legs, so he dove under the scavenger's right arm, attacking him, and after cutting one of its legs, he smirked as he taunted.
"And here I thought crabs were supposed to be the ultimate evolution, but it looks like I was wrong. Just where did you take the wrong step? Don't worry, old man Darwin knows a thing or two about it, and I will send you to meet him!"
The cohort chuckled at Arthur's insults; he had a habit of taunting his opponents even if they couldn't understand him, and they thought his taunts were pretty funny.
The Carapace Scavenger was furious, although it couldn't understand Arthur's words; his leg had been cut off, so he attacked with renewed vigor.
Arthur easily anticipated the Scavengers blows after all, between his danger intuition and his skill. The scavenger who wildly attacked without any skill was like an open book. Arthur smirked as he continued taunting the Scavenger.
"What's wrong? Can't you reach me? Oh! If only you had one more leg..."
Although he couldn't understand Arthur's words, just seeing Arthur's smug grin made the Carapace Scavenger absolutely livid.
Seeing the Carapace Scavenger become even more reckless, Arthur found more openings he exploited as many as he could and continued bullying the Scavenger until eventually he killed it.
[You have Slain an Awakened Beast: Carapace Scavenger]
'It wasn't that hard now, was it? To think I was scared of these things back when I arrived here' Arthur thought to himself, happy he managed to kill one by himself.
He then went to collect the body of the scavenger and returned with the cohort to the bright castle. By now, it really started to feel like home; at least to Arthur, it did.
Maybe it was because Arthur had been a shut-in before, but at least at this moment he didn't feel like leaving his new home, the Bright Castle, and becoming a Master or a saint to start his own clan;
It felt bothersome; he could leave saving the world to someone else; he wanted to stay here with his friends. But he quickly shook off those thoughts—his friends don't want to stay here forever, and he knows he can't keep them trapped; at least he doesn't want to.