Their destination after traveling in a car for three hours. The short trip was boring and filled with silence, only Claudia kept clicking her tongue and complaining about the weather, the uncomfortable chair and so on.

Rebecca minded her business and so did Usui, who, surprisingly, didn't annoy Lucy or even talk to her. He would just glance at her from time to time but he didn't begin a conversation for fear of being totally ignored.

Accompanying the team of four was a soldier that was driving, no other reinforcement was sent with them as they would be useless in a battle again an army of undead. Unless someone had a destructive power that could defeat large groups of enemies in one sweep, they wouldn't be able to contribute much in the upcoming fight, if the undead really strikes that town, that is.

When they finally arrived, they found themselves standing in an almost deserted town. Several corpses could be seen rotten on the hot ground while others were coughing in a shadowy corner.

All the people here lacked nutrition and are a few days away from their imminent death. They can't leave the town as the closest habitable area is hours upon hours if they went on foot. Moreover, neither the military of the country, which existed no more due to the undead, or the IHO cared enough to help them leave or provide some food.

'After all, this isn't so much different from Astria, if not worse...'

A voice rang inside Lucy's head. It was none other than Arthur, who made use of his Racial ability to enter her body and lay dormant while simply watching what's happening outside from her point of view.

'I don't understand how they have the face to call themselves Heroes when they only care about money and power.'

Lucy spoke with Arthur as her team surveyed the area and camped at the only non-destroyed building in this run-down town. There were around ten or so survivors that managed to hide there after procuring a bit of water and food, though they all were skinny and fragile bodies. There were even two kids amongst those people.

Unhappy with their presence, Claudia shouted at them and threatened them until they reluctantly leave, they knew that Heroes are coming and although they want help to survive, they knew pleading would do them no good as this was not the first team of Heroes that came here.

Despite this fact, there was a father-daughter duo that slowly walked up to Claudia and her team and knelt before them with tears in their faces.

"P-please give us a bit of food... please."

With a disgusted expression, Claudia walked up to the guy and haughtily said

"We didn't come here to distribute food but to resist the undead attacks. Consider yourselves lucky that a team of Heroes came to this desolate village."

The man didn't give up yet, he banged his head near Claudia's high heels and repeatedly begged

"Please! My daughter hasn't eaten for more than three days.. I,I beg of you!"

As he saw that his begging had no effect on Claudia, he shifted his pleading to the others. The soldier that acted as a driver had a complicated look on his face, seeing that no one of the present Heroes showed a reaction to this poor duo. He hesitated for a second then took out some rations and handed them to the father, who accepted them and thanked the soldier non-stop.

'You're feeling too, right?'

Lucy asked Arthur as she stared at the teary-eyed father. The only response she got was a cold snort from Arthur, a pitiful sight like that would make anyone sympathetic with the father-daughter duo but Lucy remained unfazed and showed an indifferent attitude.

Their mission was to protect this village in case of an undead invasion, so they literally have nothing to do but wait for a few days in this harsh environment and wait for Zalon to call them back.

From how fast the undead are marching, it won't take them long to conquer this whole area so they are leaving, either way, the question is when?

Quite honestly, Claudia preferred to leave without having to fight, or rather, without her team fighting as there is always the chance of suffering unexpected damage. She was a bit relieved that Lucy is present, however, even without her, Rebecca and Usui can handle themselves.

One was praised as the Flame Emperor and the other was master at Darkness magic and can cast deadly curses. Compared to the old mages of Astria, people like Usui are incredibly weak. If a dragon were to show up right now, a dragon like Yamak, for example, they would suffer an instant lose.

The only reason Saly triumphed over the dragon was because of her sky-high stats and the powerful skills she has in her arsenal. Moreover, she's a beastmen, a Race known for their superior physical abilities.

......

"S-shit, what exactly is happening?"

Inside Arthur's consciousness, the Earth Spirit was shrinking in fear as the chains around the soul and the ones trapping it are twisting in a weird manner and releasing a harmful and very ominous dark fog that gave it the creeps. Even an existence as old and powerful as this spirit was feeling actual fear from this unknown fog and especially the chains, which are the source of all.

The thick chains kept slowly expanding and retracting, their jet black color deepened and the clacking sound made from the chains rubbing against each other made the spirit more and more uneasy.

The Earth Spirit felt safer inside its cell than outside, it cautiously shrunk its body and laid motionless, unwanting to resist the binding chains while avoiding the black fog as much as possible.

Even Curtis, whose soul merged with Arthur, temporarily separated himself from the main soul and distanced himself from all the fog and chains while muttering

"This is getting dangerous, I fear the worst has yet to come...."

What's more surprising is that the ARK, which had the form of a half grey half white cube, was heavily influenced by the dark fog and started turning black, its monotonous rotation became drastically faster.

Inside the ARK, the place was no longer an endless white space but a mix of white and black. The ground was still white but the 'sky' became jet black as the encroaching darkness dominated the whole place.

"And I was wondering why he was so slow at cultivating.... no way!"

The copy stared at the darkness while constantly cursing out loud

"The Dark Anguish Technique fed off his hidden emotions and multiplied their intensity...."

Unbeknownst to Arthur, a deep and scary growl resounded inside his consciousness, it made all the chains shake intensely and forced both the ARK and the Orb of the Fallen Overgods to stop rotating.

"What a terrifying thing...."

The copy stood up from the chair and grabbed the cube next to him while saying

"Freeze all motor functions. Disable the connection, enter sustained safe mode. Also, get the fuck away from those chains."