Chapter 79: A Single Purpose: Death!

Arlo replied in his head, but in the next instant, his face changed when he sensed another figure at his door.

They tried to make sure that their footsteps were as silent as ever, but they were still noticed due to Arlo’s doubled perception.

Slowly, Arlo’s expression began changing rapidly as he sensed more and more figures, their numbers soon reaching the twenties, with the majority on all fours, revealing to him that they were either beasts or in their Vorath forms.

[System Power Assessment Ongoing.]

[Results Obtained.]

[Their Cultivation Base...]

[RUN, ARLO! RUN!]

It flashed in bold red, and instantly, Arlo flashed away from where he stood just as a gigantic claw smashed completely through his door, sending wood splinters throughout the entire room.

SHATTTTTTTTTER!

The sound of glass shattering into pieces rang out as the hooded figure turned his black eyes toward the room’s window, which had been shattered to pieces, and a figure could be seen rapidly disappearing into the night.

"Let the Hunt... Begin!"

ROOOOOOOOOOAR!

SCREEEEEEECHHHH!

---

Immediately after receiving the system’s signal, Arlo burst forward, exiting through the room’s glass window, the only side where he saw that the figures had not yet covered.

Jumping out the window, glass rained down around his body and onto the floor, and his face paled when he raised his head and saw dozens of beastly Vorath covering the entirety of his floor, all of them turning their soul-piercing eyes toward him.

Without warning, the ground beneath Arlo shuddered, and he tore through the air with horrifying speed.

"Let the Hunt Begin!!"

The signal was given, and the excited sounds and roars of the Vorath rang through the place loud and clear as they all rapidly chased after Arlo, quickly covering the distance between them.

[Shit! They are very much like those monsters in your class. You can’t fight this alone, Arlo.]

"Oh, maybe I should go talk to them then, huh?" Arlo asked rhetorically, his legs quickly becoming covered by a thunderous mirage as he sped up using everything within him.

[Well, that is not a good ide...]

BAAAAAAAANG!

It was like running into a wall, as his body was sent tumbling backward for more than ten meters, and he rolled across the ground a couple of times before coming to a stop.

"What the!?" Arlo screamed in shock as he looked in front of him, yet strangely, there wasn’t anything there.

[Walk closer to it.]

The system ordered as Arlo ran forward with his hands stretched out, and soon, he felt it!

A strange invisible wall that would not budge at all.

[Shit! A Mana Barrier! Try breaking it!] the system yelled at him as Arlo clenched his fist, punching forward with all his strength.

Yet when his fist connected, his hand violently jerked backward from the barrier as the sound of his bones groaning rang within him, pain shooting through his arm.

"Nice try..." A voice rang out from just around ten meters away as Arlo turned around and saw them all looking at him from less than ten meters away.

[You’re fucked!]

---

"Heheheh..." Devilish crackles from the surrounding Vorath rang out as Arlo turned to look at them fully, counting them to a total of twenty-one.

Out of all of them, only a single person was in his humanoid form, and that person was so incredibly familiar to Arlo that his eyebrows creased.

"You..."

"It’s been a long time, kiddo," he said, and just as Arlo heard his voice, he confirmed that it was truly him, the boss of the five whose large attack had almost brought an end to his life.

The only one who was said to have not been caught. How the hell was he on the academy grounds itself?

"You’re pretty brave to come back to your death grounds, aren’t you?" Arlo asked as the man grinned evilly.

"Oh, thank you for the much-appreciated care. But the thing is, you see that barrier behind you? It has quite the special effect of a very potent illusion."

"Everyone who passes by here would see everything as normal and simply continue on their way."

"Besides, this place is the assigned area for Professor Cygnus’ lab interns."

"A kinda abandoned place that none have used in years now, so this is quite the, um... safe area, if you may say..."

He replied in between his evil and sinister grin.

"Why me? Your target was her, wasn’t it? Don’t tell me it’s been me all this while?" Arlo asked with furrowed eyebrows.

If he could remember clearly, the five men were definitely after Princess Milliani’s life.

And he just happened to be there on the scene that day.

So why were they all gathered around him, no doubt with nefarious intentions? Revenge for bringing their mission to failure? No.

The crowd before him couldn’t just be here for simple revenge.

"You see, boy, you have been a nonentity ever since your birth. You know that, don’t you?" the man asked with a smirk, causing Arlo’s eyebrows to wrinkle slightly.

"But you became someone when my master found out about you, about your strange white wings."

’There we go again...’ Arlo thought tiredly.

"The princess was formerly the prize, but now, the tables have been reversed. It seems you have an even purer bloodline of something I don’t know, but my master does."

"And that’s why we are here. Once he devours you, he will finally rise from his slumber, and the Vorath, same as the humans, will be forced to recognize the horror and true nature of us Vorath!"

[You should have dropped her, just like I said. Now look at this needless trouble you’ve gotten yourself into!]

The system blamed in the background, but Arlo’s brain was currently processing information at twice the normal speed.

His gaze, though fixed on the man, was quickly scanning the waves and auras of the Vorath behind him.

Still, hope was bleak.

"This seems a little unfair, isn’t it? All I was doing was simply trying to be a hero to a damsel in distress."

Arlo said as the man laughed out loud, with the Vorath behind him also snickering loudly.

"You have quite the good analogy, but that was your real error, boy. Saving a damsel in distress."

"All just for a little bit of fame or recognition? And now you will pay it back with your life."

"Tell me something, what reward have you obtained from saving this damsel of yours from distress? An, uh... affectionate hug, or the usual kiss?"

He asked, snickering as Arlo thought about it, his expression dipping.

"Uhhhh, don’t tell me you didn’t even get a kiss. Tsk, can’t be me."

"Now that an assassination attempt has been carried out, she will probably stay guarded by hundreds of guards, and here is your lame hero ass, assigned with not even a single security."

"Tsk, tsk, you’re very naive!"

’How many times have I even been told that word?’ Arlo asked, clicking his tongue.

[That’s because you’re truly naive.] the system silently chimed in, rubbing it in even further.

"Let this be a last lesson to you, kid. Being good does you nothing! The world is cold and hard."

"You have not even a flicker of an idea of what’s happening in the real world at all."

"You live a life of illusion, thinking the princes and princesses and young masters of the various families are as innocent as they look?"

"The various Vorath families all have their hands drenched in blood and curses. You think they won’t be carried by their predecessors?"

’Huh?’

"Everything you know is a cozy lie, carefully concealed by the peaceful and slight weight of justice depicted by them."

"The sea is redder at the bottom, and all you have ever been exposed to is the small white on top."

"Shamefully, though, you will be unable to confirm everything I’ve just said. But still, I am a believer in reincarnation."

"So if you get reincarnated, you’ll at least know about this world better and learn to mind your fucking business," he said, slowly raising his hands and signaling to the goons behind him.

"Killing me won’t be easy. I can assure you that!" Arlo threatened fiercely, but the man only grinned even more.

"That sounds familiar... Like the last words of those spoiled young masters, though theirs had always been, you will regret laying your arms on me."

"Still, my reply has always been the same."

"LET’S FIND OUT!"

SCREEEEECH!

ROOOOOOOOOOOAAAARRRR!

KAABOOOOOM!

A terrifying influx of energy tore through the air, with a ring of shockwaves overlapping through space and pushing everyone back from him, their legs sinking into the ground and carving massive gorges through it.

’Activate Half Fallen Angel Form...’

’Activate Cybernetic Transfusion...’

"What the hell!?"

The influx of energy from activating the two cultivation methods was enough to shock them to their core as they watched Arlo get on all fours, his skin becoming paler, and his midnight-violet hair changing into a frigid white that reached down to his back.

His eyes changed from crimson-speckled to black, then snow white, as two gigantic wings, each two meters in length, tore out from behind him.

His former little frame, now brimming with muscles, though not as bulky as that of normal warrior Vorath, was enough to make them furrow their eyebrows.

But what blew them away even more was the strange core undulating in his chest, while the red outline of a strange frame within him made their eyes flash in even greater shock.

"Wait... what... is that!?"