"I've always wanted to fight a para-"

Carpentine wasn't even able to finish his sentence as a massive dragon made of blue lightning flew at him, its mouth open wide, ready to devour him whole.

The serpent man was able to defend himself by instantly summoning a scaled red snake that had the same size as the dragon. The two monsters crashed into each other, one side burst in lightning while the other was covered in a sea of orange flames.

The scaled snake managed to get rid of the lightning dragon and spit flames at Arthur, who remained immovable like a mountain. The flames soon hit him but did no damage, further surprising the chief guard.

These were normal flames and Arthur had complete immunity to normal fire. In fact, even if it was an ultimate fire technique, it'll still not harm him… quite the opposite, it'll help replenish his Nether Energy and even slightly strengthen him.

Beginning from his foot, green lightning covered the parasite, then two wings, one white and the other black, sprung from his back. His appearance drastically changed and his stats increased, Arthur raised his hand, which was now holding a six-meter long dark javelin.

Arthur threw the javelin, which whistled in the air and reached Carpentine within a split second. The projectile was faster than the chief guard's reflexes, it ended up piercing his abdomen and creating a gaping bloody hole. However, hundreds of disgusting black snakes plastered themselves on that hole and regenerated the serpent man.

The parasite wasn't fazed as he threw one javelin after another, his speed simply absurd. Carpentine could only gasp as the rain of javelins flying straight at him. In retaliation, he raised his left hand, the brown snake hissed and sat a weird black ball which expanded into a protective sphere, resisting all the javelins.

Sadly, Arthur wasn't done as his figure vanished like a ghost, and by the next second, Carpentine's ankle was held by a monstrous force which crushed his bones.

He saw the world spin then, like a kite, his body was thrown hundreds of meters away, exactly towards ten creepy-faced orange fireballs, which evilly grinned then detonated.

Deafening successive explosions resounded inside this mysterious world. The chief guard's clothes were incinerated and a third of his body was burned by the hell flames. He managed to get rid of the dark red fire as one of the snakes below jumped beside him and gulped the flames then burped.

The snake was only 1.5 meter long, grey in color and had six inky black eyes. It had an unusual appearance for a snake, it wasn't even threatened by Arthur, whose finger stretched to the front and pulled the space, causing the surroundings to shatter like glass. His space attack was enough to disturb the world but it didn't break him free. The grey-snaked was unaffected by the space tears all around it as it flew at Arthur and spat a fireball that was at least two hundred meters in radius.

The massive ball of flames was green and had a poisonous smell radiating from it. Arthur's body transformed into a majestic white tiger, which dived at the fireball, literally passing through it as if it didn't exist.

The Divine Beast's speed was unrivaled as it reached the snake and cut it in half using its elongated golden claws. Arthur didn't stop as relied on the White Tiger's unique ability to ignore all the snakes lunging at him from below, his figure turned illusory as bypassed all the hurdles and reached Carpentine, who took out a lantern.

*Item: Offensive type

Name: Lantern of Doom

Rank: Mysterious

Grade:3*

The appraisal gave him simple and not satisfactory information about the lantern. Although he was aware of its dangerous aura, Arthur still attacked the chief guard. The tiger's mouth opened and a deadly acid fell on the serpent mine. The Lantern shook left and right before a gloomy red light burst from it, however, it wasn't able to stop the acid, which fell on the victim and his artifact.

To Carpentine's surprise, the lantern melted within three seconds and his right hand was gone, not even the bones were spared. With a pale face, he hastily retreated and used the brown snake on his left hand to counter-attack.

The brown snake was very fast as it bit the white tiger's face but what the chief guard expected didn't happen. The Divine Beast remained still for a short period before trembling and puffing out brown smoke out of its big nostrils. The poison of his snake was ineffective, moreover, Carpentine's body was hit by the White Tiger, which slashed at him with its claws.

He was pushed a hundred meter or so but black slash mark could be seen on his shoulder and left side of the chest. The black snakes tried to heal him but it was too late, only the exterior wounds recovered, the Dark Magic infiltrated his body and immediately started weakening him and affecting his judgment.

Arthur returned to his original appearance and looked at the chief guard, who was throwing up mouthfuls of blood.

"Quietly let me possess you."

The parasite became a lightning bolt which reached Carpentine and zapped his body, flinging him further away but before Arthur could continue, a two hundred meter long snake sprung from below, blocking his way. Its fang made of purple gems and its body crystallized. It seemed even more dangerous than its master, Carpentine.

Arthur distracted the snake by using [Cascading Flames], which is the Vermillion Bird's unique ability. The Divine Beast's flames shone in the sky before falling on the snake like a tsunami. All the other weaker snakes turned into ash while the ginormous monster hissed and curled its body, using its crystal body to resist the orange flames.

It successfully resisted the flames but by the time it raised its head, a black arrow which was over 100 meters in length came flying at it. Its tip was purple and an unstoppable absorption was emanating from within it. Moreover, the arrow had two feathers made of white godly thunder at its back.

The serpent met the arrow head on as opened its mouth and spat a black light but it was devoured by the Void Magic at the Heavenly Arrow's tip. Arthur's projectile easily pulverized the snake's head and hit the ground, splitting it and causing the whole world to shake.

A fast shadow attacked Arthur behind but the latter's body turned illusory before an ugly wraith made its appearance. Carpentine dumbfoundedly looked at the wraith, which couldn't be touched by his snakes. He was about to retreat again but the wraith shrieked loudly before flying at him like a creepy ghost.

It was much faster than him as it stopped before his face and before he could defend, a hand penetrated his chest, causing him to cough a lot of blood.

Arthur grinned as he calmly looked at the serpent man, who looked at him with shaken resolve and a pale face. Now that he was subdued, Carpentine's world crumbled and the two returned to reality.

…

Habs was still imprisoned, his attacks were fruitless and he could only wait for Arthur and Carpentine to finish fighting. Their battle lasted a bit over two minutes and when they reappared, the parasite was standing in front of the chief guard, the former's hand stabbing the latter's chest.

The Warden's face became uglier as he glared at parasite. The short sword in his hand shook as he amassed all of his energy, trying to break free and attack Arthur or at least try to capture him. He has an item which can immediately send a target to the fifth level of the prison but it has to make contact with its victim and the distance between Habs and Arthur isn't that easily crossed, at least not with Zaarae present and keeping a lookout.