Rin reached into her shoulder bag and pulled out a large communicator. Taking it out of its protective case, she quickly began typing something, and no matter how much Arthur tried to see what she was doing on it, from his position it proved to be an impossible task. But seeing how the girl's mood worsened with every second, and at the end, she even angrily threw the expensive device on the ground, as if it were ordinary garbage, the boy realized that she certainly did not get good news. 

"Fuck. Hey, Derek. Did you get a signal? Check it out."

Derek repeated the process on his device and soon shook his head in the negative.

"Damn. These ruins are too deep underground. But we need to contact the temple... Derek, we'll be here for now. Go up a level higher and contact them when you get a signal. Got it?"

The young hunter turned his gaze to Mia, the healer sitting beside him. His face remained professional, but his eyes betrayed his reluctance to leave the girl alone. He hesitated, the various pros and cons running through his mind, but he could not decide whether to confront their leader. 

He opened and closed his mouth several times, not daring to speak out. And probably this idiotic scene would have lasted a long time if someone's soft and gentle palm had not laid on his hand.

"It's all right, Derek. Go. I won't be here alone." nodded Mia to him.

"Okay. I'll be back soon." the guy said, picking up his daggers from the ground and shoving his communicator in his pocket behind his back. And then only a residual image of his figure could be miraculously seen, so fast the guy sprinted up the stairs to the level above.

Arthur sneezed, sitting on the dirty and dusty ground. He had been left alone, completely unconcerned that he might pose any threat at all. He was stripped of his [Blade of the Void], and the mana bracelets attached to his arms prevented him from using mana, though he had none anyway. He was also the lowest-ranked man here, so anyone could crush him with his bare strength alone, especially that bald asshole.

But there were positives. The guy finally had time to catch his breath and come to his senses a little. He needed to come up with an urgent plan to get out of this situation. If the paladins did come for him, they would find him with a huge red-skinned creature, with frayed wings, which it was very unlikely they would confuse with a red overgrown cat.

Moreover, if they search him, they will also find the drink of Living Death in his belongings. Even if this evidence on Earth could best be described as only circumstantial, no one here would take long to sort it out. For such a machine to grind up countless criminals in the Eridan world as the Temple, crushing Arthur would be no problem. It would simply be a death sentence with no chance of acquittal. Unfortunately for the lad, that was the only way the paladins fought greedy smugglers.

Arthur chuckled as he thought about how idiotic the picture would look. He would be sentenced to death by the Temple worshipping the Holy Goddess Azrea, his real wife.

'I wonder if it's safe to say in this case it's Sophia who will kill me or not.'

While he pondered, the hunters weren't sitting idle, either. Craster, finally cementing his title as a mountain of muscle without brains, tried to pierce the skin of a level-3 demon with his huge double-edged axe. Each blow was accompanied by a violent metallic clang, demonstrating just how incredibly hard the creature's armor was. Without prepared resources, killing it, or at least knocking it out, was something even beyond normal imagination.

The giant swung around and again chopped at the intended spot. He had already succeeded in penetrating a shallow wound on the body. But, God, how much it annoyed Arthur. Every time he struck, not only did an unpleasant noise spread through the ruins, making a painful ringing in his ears, but sparks also flew in all directions. But why was a G rank hunter trying so hard to open up a demon's chest cavity? It was naturally all about the core. The hunters knew they had to get it before the paladins arrived, otherwise, it wouldn't be considered a separate item the smugglers were carrying but would be considered part of the killed creature, which meant they wouldn't get any extra money.

Rin was rummaging through Arthur's things at this point. She'd already taken a couple of test shots with [Blade of the Void] and if it weren't for her status as leader of the group, Arthur was pretty sure she'd be dancing for joy right now. She kept asking him the same question over and over again about where he got that gun, but the boy answered her about the same thing every time:

"Fuck you, bitch."

But his unwillingness to keep his mouth shut resulted in a couple of new bloody marks on his face, left by the girl's heavy fists.

Once again spitting blood on the ground, and then once again repeating to the girl all the curses he knew, Arthur looked in disbelief at the beautiful, slender woman's legs coming his way. Mia squatted down beside him, looking with horror at all the evidence of the beatings he had suffered in the last hour. Her hand gently touched Arthur's cheek, which was completely covered in still fresh blood, and awkwardly mouthed:

"Let me help you."

Arthur felt that there was no hostility in her voice and her concern for him was genuine. But even if she was a good person, no matter how much compassion she showed, it in no way negated the fact that this girl was with those who had attacked him and were about to send him to his death.

Mia closed her eyes, she concentrated, gathering all the mana in her palm. White energy coated her hand, a pleasant warm soothing feeling emanating from it. Arthur had experienced this power many times before. The element of light, as its name suggested, was mostly used for healing and it was believed that unlike the other five elements it was not the original part of this world. The temple claimed that only the appearance of the Great Goddess, who illuminated this dark world with her radiance, allowed people to receive it as a gift.

'I'll have to ask Sofia someday what she thinks about all these stories. The most divine thing I've noticed about her since I was with her is her heavenly ability to fool me in the bedroom. But I don't think any man would call that power holy or light, I think it's pure evil." laughed Arthur mentally as the external energy flowed through his body and into his open wounds. 

Mia, like a professional healer, even bothered to remove the two arrows from his arms that he was still suffering from. Her forehead was covered in sweat and her breathing got frequent and intermittent, the girl had clearly spent a great deal of mana treating his wounds.

"I ...have...done."

The girl frowned grudgingly in displeasure as Arthur only nodded nonchalantly in response. She tried so hard to help him, but not a word of gratitude escaped his lips. Mia snorted and leaned on her hands to get to her feet. Such a loss of mana took its toll on her physical state as well. The girl even got her hands dirty, which she now wiped on her hunting uniform, which made her even more furious at the ungrateful guy.

Arthur clucked his tongue at the fool's behavior. In his opinion, she should have been happy that the torrent of hatred didn't fall on her as much as it did on her leader.

At that moment, his eyes noticed something on the ground that he couldn't believe for several seconds. Arthur shook his head as if trying to get his mind back, but when he opened his eyes again, it was still there. It wasn't a hallucination.

Only a meter away from the red-skinned creature, which Craster had mercilessly continued to beat, a seemingly already broken Selina Two was crawling stubbornly on the ground. All of her mechanical limbs were damaged so that her corpus was in contact with the surface, and she moved solely by the mana she was sending on one of her paws. The spider, with only one eye glowing red, was slowly moving toward the demon.

The guy rounded his eyes with shock, and his mouth dropped open on its own.

'What the hell? Hadn't she been crushed by that bastard's giant paw? Oh, and where is she so anxious to crawl to?'

Arthur kept his eyes on the spider's slow movement. If she were human, he would surely place her in the ranking of the most strong-willed creatures on the planet in the top ten at least. Her metal body, under the endless noise made by the bald giant's axe, silently approached closer and closer to the demon on the other side. 

'What are you doing, you silly spider? Why ... no, you're not serious, are you? God, you do really seem to be Arno's creation, you're smarter than 95% of the people in my old world' joked the guy as a wry smile involuntarily spread across his face.

Selina found herself right under the demon's foot, the last remnants of mana she'd gotten from Arthur before they'd hit the deepest level of the ruins being used to make a small barely noticeable crack in the creature's armor. One paw, like a needle, managed to enter just a couple of millimeters inside the leg, but that was the last thing she could do. Then the spider's other eye flickered a few times before it went out forever.

Arthur understood what the stupid four-legged creature was trying to accomplish, and he decided not to pass up the chance he had been given. Given the mana-blocking bracelets he wore, he wasn't sure if he could use the gold energy. But taking the chance to try, his lips immediately curved into a devilish grin. It was working!

The golden thread flew stealthily, bypassing all obstacles, toward the spider. The iron body, and most importantly the core inside, was to become a special conduit between it and the red-skinned creature. As they found out, this was the only way to harness Arthur's Original powers at a distance.

'Please work.' he prayed and channeled the energy inside the demon's body. His face twisted in pain, and a horrible burning began in his chest as his golden core began to work at full power, spinning at incredible speed. As a high-level demon should be, not only was his body monstrously strong physically, but in terms of energy, it was not the least bit inferior. Even the small remnants of Chaos energy that hadn't dissipated in a century resisted the intrusion of external power with all its might.

Arthur, remembering his spider, felt that he would be a complete failure if he gave up halfway. Only on pure willpower, clenching his teeth so as not to scream and give away all the work he was doing, trembling with his whole body, he moved forward very slowly. Finally, the golden thread was able to penetrate through all the obstacles and reach the demonic core.

The boy breathed a sigh of relief. The first step had been a success. But that didn't mean it was over.

"In Sargon's name: Launching the Core," he whispered.

Golden energy began to flow out of Arthur's body at breakneck speed. It was leaving his golden core so fast that the boy worried if it was enough to accomplish the risky task.

[Danger! Danger! Lack of energy! The required operation could cause the core to collapse. Continue?]

"Yes," said Arthur without hesitation and felt his golden core crack and crumble, releasing additional super reserves of energy in return.

Craster, who was on the one hand tired from the monotonous work, and on the other happy that he could do what he loved, jumped back. His heart skipped a beat, and drops of sweat started to trickle down his bald head.

Fear. Insane fear. That was the only feeling any man could have felt when, until that moment, the two lifeless round orbs suddenly opened and black pupils, like primordial darkness itself, stared at the hunter with the axe.

Rrrrrrrrrrr!

The deafening roar made the walls of the ancient structures tremble with its power. The sound wave alone threw Craster back several meters and he crashed his back into the stone thousand-year-old house. Debris spilled downward, and the giant's body got covered in a cloud of dust. Only the wide bloody trail where he had landed indicated the seriousness of the wound he had sustained. It was not known whether he was alive or not after such a blow.

Arthur took the opportunity, while the demon's attention was focused on the hated man himself, to dash off in the opposite direction. Rin fired at him a couple of times with the [Blade of Void] she had in her hands up to that point, but missed, as she wasn't used to firing firearms. She tossed it to the ground, and with a swift habitual motion took her bow off her shoulder, and aimed it at the back of the fleeing boy.

But when the dust that covered Craster settled to the ground, it was clear that he was still alive and trying to get back on his feet. The demon roared again and then lunged toward the giant, who was not yet in fighting form. 

Rin had to decide whether to shoot the hated Arthur or try to save her teammate. Figuring that she could catch up with the boy hundreds of times later, she drew her bowstring as tight as possible, closed one eye for a more accurate shot, and fired an arrow.

"[Pulsating arrow]" shouted Rin as the object, flying at incredible speed, glowed a strange green color, and amplified by mana to the limit flew straight into the demon's eye.

If you thought the creature was about to lose some of its vision, have you forgotten who they're fighting against? It's a level 3 demon. A hunter of only G rank couldn't pierce through its armor, even with all his strength. The arrow just bounced back and fell to the ground.

But the action still had a positive effect. The rage-crazed creature, which had lost any ability to control or contemplate its actions after receiving such an annoying blow, shifted its attention from its nearest victim to its new hunter.

The target had changed. Now it was Rin who had to run. She turned around and, without thinking much about her direction, ran toward the nearest building. She flew at full speed inside, ran up the ancient stairs, crumbling under the weight of her body, and ran out to the second floor. The demon rushed after her, not caring about the stone walls in front of him. He took one furious swipe of his muscular paw and punched a huge hole in the wall, shaking the house like a 9-ball earthquake.

Rin saw the open window on the second floor and jumped out of it, just as the floor beneath her collapsed from another blow from the beast. She landed spectacularly, showing off her combat and hunting experience, as well as her title as leader of the hunting group. After flipping over, she rose easily to her feet and continued running.

'How do we stop this thing? Is it even possible? Wait...Arno already did that once. Exactly! Grenades!

The girl finally realized what she had to do next. Her feet carried her forward on their own, maneuvering between the ruins of ancient buildings, the fallen stone columns, to the bag where she put her trophies taken from Arthur.

But the demon, who had been considerably weakened since his awakening, his strength now roughly equal to 10% of his actual strength, was faster than a low-ranked hunter even in this state. His huge legs covered three times the distance in one step than the girl, and his massive body was getting closer and closer to her. Especially if in contrast to her, he did not need to jump over, run around, or otherwise avoid encountering various obstacles in his path. He just tore them down.

When he was within a meter of her, the demon again tore through part of the building with a single blow, sending hundreds of small pieces of stone flying into the air. That sudden explosion-like blow took the fleeing girl by surprise. One of the shards ripped through the left side of her abdomen, and Rin herself collapsed to the ground. The bag was already so close that all she had to do was reach out and grab it. But did she have a chance to do so?

"[Mana Explosion]"

Craster returned to the game, seeing the pitiable situation of his leader, and rushed to the rescue. He put all his strength into a single blow, bringing his axe to the ground and sending a shockwave toward the fleeing demon. Any other time it wouldn't have worked, but now the weakened creature, which had received a sudden blow to the side, flew aside and even traveled a few meters on inertia.

The huntress, nodding to her partner, overpowered by pain, reached into her bag and pulled out one of the grenades. She had even turned around and activated it, getting ready to throw, when she saw the creature on its feet, its mouth open, staring at the bald giant with rage.

"Craster, look out," she shouted, but it was too late. Violet energy gathered in the demon's mouth and turned into a blinding lightning bolt, and fast as an arrow flew toward Craster. There was a bright flash for a second, and then the blood rained down on the ground. The giant's body was torn apart in one blow.

"Fucking demon." shouted the huntress and threw the grenade.

The demon turned to face her and began to concentrate energy for another strike. Rin, however, was faster. The grenade exploded over the red creature's head and the drink of Living Death spread around. Above the demon, the liquid formed a cloud that destroyed all chaos energy within a certain radius. It was the final death sentence for the mighty monster. The last bits of energy keeping it alive ran out and it collapsed lifelessly to the ground, knocking down another building.

By the way, it was the last intact building in the once great ancient city! There would be nothing for archaeologists to do here anymore!

Rin dropped helplessly to her knees. Her vision blurred. Pain, sadness at the loss of her faithful friend, hatred, and a host of other emotions raged in her soul.

"Craster, you saved me from that demon. I will never forget it," the girl said with tears forming in her eyes as she felt the cold metal touch the back of her head.

"Yes, he saved you from that demon... But who said there was only one demon?" came the familiar voice from behind her. Rin had time to realize the situation and even smile a defeated smile before her brains scattered in all directions. Mana bullet pierced her skull, leaving no chance of survival.

" The one who survives last wins...and no one cares how you achieved that victory." Arthur spat out the words venomously.

Arthur remembered who helped him to stay alive. He walked over to where the demon had originally lain and found the spider there, miraculously not crushed into crumbs. Though its appearance looked very bad as it was.

"Thank you, silly spider...No. Thank you, Selina, you saved me again." he took the mechanical robot in his hands and placed it in his shoulder bag.

He was about to leave, he had to hurry when suddenly he heard quiet sobs. Walking toward the sound, Arthur turned the corner of the ruins of one of the buildings, and in a secluded spot, he noticed a girl curled up, moaning softly with eyes overflowing with tears. Her cheeks were moist, too, probably all that had happened had had a very strong effect on the young girl.

"Mia! What a surprise. Are you still alive?!"

The girl's pupils dilated and her body shook when she saw the gun pointed at her.

"Come with me. Be my hostage. We must catch up with your lover" said Arthur in a cheerful voice and winked at her, which almost made the girl's heart stop. Fear completely paralyzed her body.

******

Derek had been wandering for ten minutes through the endless maze of underground sewers. How their leader could so easily navigate maps was beyond his comprehension.

He walked through a dark tunnel, where only the communicator screen, which he did not let out of his hands for a second, illuminated his way. The young hunter kept checking the status of the signal, hoping to catch it as soon as possible and get back. He didn't want to leave Mia alone with such a horrible creature, he knew the fear she felt and could imagine the nightmares she would have afterward.

Derek dreamed of becoming support for her in such a difficult time, and maybe then the girl would forget about that arrogant bastard named Eric Mann and finally turn her beautiful green eyes to him. 

These were the thoughts that filled his head when he heard a quiet voice coming from somewhere far away.

"De..."

An indecipherable sound made him turn around and listen.

"Derek."

The voice became clearer; he caught his name accurately. Someone was calling out to him. The only problem was that he could soon remember the person to whom the voice belonged. And that was not good news.

"Arno?" he muttered doubtfully.

"Derek. Stop...Or I'll make another hole in your beloved's body," an entire phrase echoed from the walls and reached him. The young hunter froze, unable to continue forward.

The monstrous tension had reached its critical phase in these silent, closed corridors, where no tiny ray of light ever penetrated.