Once Human, Now a Parasite

Chapter 688

By the time Lucy finished talking to Leiu and the latter vanished as fast as he appeared, Arthur exited the Adventurer's guild.

The parasite was overly cautious and even after activating his Stealth skills, which rendered him basically undetectable by almost everyone, he still looked around after ten or so steps.

Lucy noticed the green card on his hand, which indicated that he officially became an Adventurer and was able to gather a bit of info about this small world.

She kind of predicted what he would do but she still followed him out of curiosity and affection. Even if his stats are still absurdly inflated, he doesn't know how to properly use them and even though there is nothing that can threaten his life here, she still remained very close.

Only when Arthur left the bustling village and stopped in a random place inside the eerily quiet forest did Lucy choose to reveal herself.

When the man's eyes landed on the mesmerizing silver-haired woman, he hastily jumped back and looked at her with a frown. He knew she was the woman from before but the caution he was showing was to be expected knowing his character.

"Why do you keep following me?!"

He coldly spoke to her while unsheathing Makaze, which had a bit of lightning dancing around it.

Seeing this, Lucy softly smiled, spread her hands innocently and replied

"I told you that I'm your ally so it's only natural that I accompany you."

"I don't need you! Scram out of here!"

"It won't happen!"

Seeing her stand her ground, Arthur's eyes narrowed and, by the next second, he jumped at her with a moderate speed and swung his sword, which burst with yellow lightning.

The Dark Blade whistled in the air and soon reached Lucy, who didn't react at all. Just as Evil Wind was about to strike her, it was easily stopped by a frosty layer which covered Lucy's skin.

Arthur panicked a bit and swung his sword again but the result was the same so he anxiously retreated and looked at her with an unreadable expression.

'It seems he's contemplating whether to continue fighting or run away.'

As the parasite started slowly backing away, Lucy spoke again,

"I have no intention of hurting you. Just let me follow you."

"No. I don't trust you."

"You don't have to. Furthermore, it's not like you can stop me."

She pointed at a random direction and continued,

"Go ahead, try running. I guarantee you that you're not faster than me."

For an inordinate amount of time, Arthur stood there like a log, not saying or doing anything. Lightning buzzed around him but he remained unresponsive until Lucy took a couple of steps towards him, causing him to snap out of his daze.

He glared at her for a few brief breaths before clicking his tongue, sheathing makaze and leaving, not bothering with her anymore.

Although he wasn't skilled in fighting anymore, it didn't take a genius to know and 'feel' that Lucy is much stronger than him.

From Arthur's point of view, he reincarnated not long ago, and provoking a powerhouse won't help him at all. Of course, he doesn't trust her at all but, also, he can't stop her if she wants to follow him.

Earlier, when Arthur entered the Adventurer's Guild, he only registered himself as an adventurer and asked a few things about the town's vicinity, he didn't take any tasks.

After his short confrontation with Lucy, the parasite walked farther from the settlement, and in a bit less than an hour, he met with an overgrown lion with a red fur and a flaming tail.

It was a Lv46 monster that can threaten the townspeople and its appearance made Arthur hesitate for a couple of seconds but when he decided to attack, the poor beast was turned into sliced meat with just two slices from Makaze.

Its skin was charred and its bone turned into ash, though when Arthur possessed it, its body quickly regenerated. As he witnessed the incredibly meager increase in stats, Arthur left the new host and let out a sigh before glancing at Lucy, who stood three meters away, her blood-red and sky-blue pupils never leaving his figure.

"Until when are you going to follow me? Are you that bored?"

Hearing this, Lucy giggled and retorted, "Who said I'm bored? It's quite entertaining to see you go around and slay this and that."

After that, Arthur proceeded to ignore her again and killed a few more monsters, each time he learned a new thing about his arsenal of skills.

First, he relied on Makaze but then he mastered the already mastered magic skills. He used the Hell flames, which had a deep dark red color. He used Lightning, Water, Wind, and even Space Magic but the last one was difficult to handle.

Even Dark Magic was used but it wasn't as strong as before as he doesn't know how it works. In the end, he stuck with the Vermillion Bird's flames, which seemed to be the most effective against the monsters found in the forest.

He would shoot a small but fast bullet made of the Divine Beast's fire. It was always a one-shot and although the increase in stats was small, Arthur always possessed his dead victims.

As Arthur was about to search for the next prey, he heard a nearby rumbling sound which was followed by the fall of multiple big trees. Less than half a minute later, three swift silhouettes appeared from the base of a mountain not far off, they were all profusely sweating.

The middle one, a woman with long red hair and a kind of revealing armor that matched her crimson hair, looked at the motionless Arthur, her expression turning joyous for some reason.

She signaled for her companions to follow her lead before they stopped before the unresponsive Arthur, whose attention was focused on the trees, which kept falling and the loud noise was getting closer, which means that something is definitely chasing those three.

"Hey friend! Are you an Adventurer?"

The woman flashed a smile at Arthur, who glanced at her but didn't reply. Lucy was just behind him but the woman didn't seem to notice her, or rather, none of them could see the camouflaged specter.

"You're Lv31 so you must be one, right?"

She looked above Arthur's head, where his 'Lv' was displayed thanks to her Appraisal skills, which is much inferior to Arthur's.

Once he appraised all three, he saw their Lvls, names, age, titles, and so on…

Without even waiting for the parasite to reply, the woman stretched her hand, which was holding a strange-looking brown grass.

"Hold this and wave it around."

She expected Arthur to comply, after all, she's considered famous and he must have recognized her, however, the reality was way different than her expectation.

The man looked at her as if she was an idiot or a lunatic. He even comically tilted her head and gave her a dumb stare, causing the woman to crease her brows and try to force the grass on him.

On the side, Lucy was about to interfere as the thought of having another woman close to Arthur bothered but, from the looks of it, she didn't need to act at all.

Arthur slapped the woman's hand away then raised his hand, which burst with orange flames. The woman couldn't even let out a squeak as she and her two companions were enveloped by the fire and turned into cinder within two seconds.