Chapter 733 - Soul Predators
Arthur felt a great threat coming from the words of the golden dragon. However he had to wait for a few longer before he could see clearly through the place he entered.
"This…" his eyes went wide open the next moment as he spotted endless rows of giant eggs. Each one had a thick green and black shell with a few thorns coming out from its top.
"What is that?" he glanced around trying to see and end all these eggs.
'The soul predator eggs,' the golden dragon slowly said, 'but that's not the big deal here.'
"I feel they are bad news," Arthur kept his vigilance.
'The bad news is that your true body came to this place,' yet the next words of the golden dragon startled him.
He glanced at his body instantly before he was truly shocked. His body was now here in flesh and not just in soul.
"Just… How…?!!" he was extremely shocked.
'It seems that the soul predator is very nasty,' the golden dragon said, 'it must have put some sort of magic around the room to protect it from any invaders.'
'Ding! What are these soul predators?' the system asked the question Arthur was dying to ask.
'They are one of the ancient creatures that lived since the ages of the originals,' the golden dragon answered before explaining further:
'They feed on the soul. Their fierceness was a well known calamity to all realms and clans in the universe.'
"But they can be killed, right?" Arthur tried to find a spot of light in the middle of all this darkness.
'Well… I heard some rumors about how to kill them.'
"Rumors?! You gotta be kidding me, right?" Arthur was speechless for a moment there.
'It's an ancient creature that was thought to be long extinct,' the golden dragon said in a defensive way.
'Ding! But you managed to recognize it from first glance!'
'It's not that hard to recognize such a disaster miles away.'
Arthur kept moving his eyes around before asking:
"You warned me not to move, why?"
'It can sense only movement,' the golden dragon said, 'and if you move a muscle it will know about your existence. Besides… I dunno if there is only one or more of those nasty beings.'
"Then what should I do?"
'Retreat,' the golden dragon decisively said, 'you can't win this battle. Run and live to fight another day.'
Arthur hesitated. There were a lot of things depending on his success here. Just running away was an option he couldn't afford to take.
"I'll stay and fight," he firmly said, "there is no room for retreat."
'But…'
"Just tell me these rumors so I can be ready," Arthur cut the words of the golden dragon.
He knew his golden dragon would try to persuade him against staying here. As he had already made up his mind then he didn't need such words at all.
He would risk it all, and if he had to do that then he would need all the support he could get from them.
'Sigh, you know you are asking for your death,' the golden dragon said in dejected tone, 'it's not a shame to run away from such a thing. Any master of yours will do the same.'
"But if I did that then I'm done for," Arthur slowly said, "I want to retreat but I can't! I have to stay and fight."
'Oh boy,' the golden dragon took a deep breath, 'alright. There are many rumors that enveloped these creatures but there is one that you can use. It depends on using another form of energy other than the dragonair and mage's energy known to this world.'
"You don't mean… my spiritual energy, right?" Arthur tried to make sure of his guess and the golden dragon words next confirmed that.
'The soul predators are creatures of this world. It's said once that any energy hailing from this world can be absorbed and eaten away by them. So one of the theories to kill them was based on this. Your other energy will do fine, I hope.'
'Then what about the golden energy?' Gege suddenly asked, 'can it help?'
'Well… in theory yes.'
'Then we can use that technique of yours,' Gege said, 'after all it's your current strongest attack, right?'
Arthur slowly nodded before asking: "What about those eggs?"
'They are the offspring of those creatures,' the golden dragon got what Arthur wanted to ask about here, 'but don't worry. They need a thousand years at least to bring forth any new monster to this world.'
'Ding! but we don't know for how long the world's will was killed,' the system said, 'Ding! so let's assume a thousand years have passed already.'
'In that case…' the golden dragon paused, 'we have an impossible task ahead of us.'
"I'll start killing them first," Arthur took a deep breath before adding, "be ready Gege, we will have a rough start."
Arthur knew that for him to activate the technique, he would have to move. That meant the currently hidden somewhere soul predators would be alarmed and converge at him.
But he had no other choice but to do that.
"Let's do it," the next moment he started to move. The steps needed for him to activate the technique wouldn't take longer than a few seconds.
However from the first moment he moved, a very deafening scream appeared coming from a single direction.
Then a second one came from a different direction, then a third and a fourth…
"Damn!" Arthur gritted his teeth, "there are too many to count!" he heard over twenty screams so far.
'It's not too late to retreat,' the golden dragon tried to persuade him but he failed.
"It's time to advance," Arthur was almost there to complete his technique and he wouldn't stop doing it at this stage.
As he ended the technique and got his phantom sword, he turned around and was surprised by what he saw.
"They are… small?!" he slowly muttered in doubt, "are they the newly hatched ones?"
'Nope, these are the real deal,' the golden dragon said, 'don't wait for them to catch up to you. Attack, attack them now!'
The shouts of the golden dragon didn't match what Arthur saw around. The monsters running at him were almost double his body size, with three to four long and thin tails.
Their bodies were covered with black thorns covering up a green thick skin.
"Are you sure they are this strong?" Arthur was skeptical yet he waved his sword against the nearest monsters.
His sword flashed and hit the monsters alongside many eggs. The slash was simple yet to his surprise the monsters only retreated ten meters only before stabilizing their bodies.
Then they started to run again at him like nothing happened.
"Damn! They are tough!" Arthur was surprised to see that and kept slashing his sword everywhere around.
'It's impressive for you to push them back,' the golden dragon slowly said, 'but you need to kill them and not just halt their advance.'
"I know," Arthur was struggling here, "but I can't even scratch those thorns or that thick green skin of theirs."
'Ding! It's the time to get that sleepy princess out,' the system suddenly said, 'Ding! she might help in this fight.'
'Good idea,' the golden dragon approved, 'there is nothing left to lose anyway.'