Arthur had enough time to prepare for a sure-proof plan that would guarantee his safety. By absorbing Ambient Mana, including but not limited to the one in the air, he boosted his magical capabilities with [Enhanced Spell], thus empowering the Sanguis Barrier.

He felt a great strain, mentally and physically, but the result was a brilliant yellow-ish barrier that protected him from all directions and successfully absorbed the destructive blast of the deafening explosion.

The cubic barrier was blown hundreds of meters in the air before it crashed, along with its caster, far away from the impact.

By the time Arthur had regained his senses and sobered up from the temporary disorientation, he saw himself lying on the grass, totally unscathed. However, the inexplicable occurrence happened right after; His vision turned black and he was stuck in a world of primordial darkness, where all sensations were robbed of him.

Just when he started questioning his sanity, thinking that his survival was but a hallucination and that he actually perished in the explosion he himself had initiated, the parasite was flabbergasted to see himself in a small room stinking of a putrid and foul smell.

At one of the corners of the empty room was a young girl, seventeen years of age, at most. She was dangerously thin and quasi-naked as most of her previous clothes seemed to have been shredded to pieces.

Arthur looked at her bony physique while frowning, still making sense of the situation.

Even as he scrutinized her pale face, he couldn’t recognize it.

“Hm?”

A soft sound came from the side, which made Arthur turn his attention to it. Much to his surprise, he saw a silver-haired woman wearing a regal dress and looking around cautiously.

Unlike the girl, the woman was familiar to the parasite, who grinned and, with a clarion and amicable voice, stated,

“My my, isn’t this an unexpected reunion, Demon Lady.”

Lucy’s eyes focused on the smiling man, whom she’d never seen in her life.

He was relatively tall, had short black hair, a short and pointy nose, a commanding jawline, and a thin and slightly unkempt beard.

Even if she didn’t recognize him from his appearance, the way he called her was unique, to say the least. In fact, it was so unique that only one person had called her such.

“You…”

She stepped back while giving him a hostile glare.

“From the looks of it, you are as clueless as I am about what’s happening.” Remarked Arthur as he calmly paced around.

Although he was slightly restless, he didn’t make it apparent. When things like this happen, he had to stay rational and think logically.

He clearly remembered the explosion and getting sent flying away, but his presence here meant that he either missed something or it was a voluntary action done by a higher entity.

‘A god, perhaps? But why would he pair me with her? And where are we?’

Arthur saved the questions to himself and kept looking around before approaching the unresponsive girl who had her ankles and wrists chained.

“Hello, young lady.”

He elegantly bowed toward the girl, but she gave him a single glance before lowering her head again, seemingly uninterested.

Strangely enough, both Arthur and Lucy felt an intangible yet strong connection to the girl and to each other. It was hard to explain in words, but it was an instinctive sensation that made all three feel bound to each other.

“I don’t think silence is preferable right now. You seem to be in a bit of a pickle.” Added Arthur as he peeked at the cell door firmly shut.

“Piss off.” Muttered Isabella as she hissed at him in an unpleasant manner.

“So you can talk!” Arthur chuckled as he casually sat down and nodded to himself while muttering inaudibly.

“Since I don’t know what’s happening, I figured you might be privy to something. Am I perhaps wrong?”

Again, he was met with a long silence, so he directed his gaze to the cautious Lucy. She kept her distance from both of them and tried to kick the door but her body just went through it, which made her surprised and perplexed.

“What about you, Demon Lady?”

“Who are you?”

“Oh! Where are my manners? You can call me William… or Will.”

“...”

From the suspicious and cold glare she gave him, it was clear she doubted his words. Nevertheless, she didn’t argue back and continued trying to leave but every time she crossed some distance, she was pulled back.

“Let’s see here…”

Arthur closed his eyes while smiling mischievously; He concentrated for a bit as he lifted his right arm, however, Isabella’s arm mimicked him like a robot.

Startled, the girl sprung into action as she used her chains to try and attack him, but just like what happened with Lucy, the parasite was also like a ghost, totally immaterial.

“I knew there was some kind of trick.”

Seeing her get riled up and try to attack him again, Arthur shrugged and continued speaking,

“Circumstances notwithstanding, I think me and that graceful Demon Lady right there were called here for a reason. Maybe it was involuntary on your part, young lady, or maybe it was the machination of something else? Either way, I think we can help each other.”

Lucy and Isabella stared at him in silence, so he sighed and excitedly explained,

“Although faint, I can feel a connection to both of you, specifically this young lady.” He motioned at Isabella with his chin then resumed, “As I have demonstrated, I can control her body, though I did feel some resistance. Maybe… just maybe, we’re here to help you get out of this place? I mean, it would make sense, no?”

Just as he finished speaking, there were loud footsteps coming from the corridor. Seconds later, two massive and frighteningly hideous creatures appeared.

If one were to think of Demons, their terrifying appearance would be one of the first to surface in one’s mind. However, the Demon Race was a collective term that encompasses dozens of races, including this one.

With a height of over 2 meters, dark blue rough skin, bulging muscles, and little to no clothing, these towering creatures had a face of nightmares.

Whether it was their large and flat noses, their bulging black pupils, their rows of pointy and dirty teeth, or the malevolent and foul smell emitting from them.

“The wench is up again!”

One of the two demons walked to Isabella and extended his arm, but she retaliated by swinging her leg. Alas, the thick chains limited her movements and she was caught by the cackling demon.

“Always so lively.”

A cold glint across its eyes as he smashed Isabella’s body against the ground, breaking a few bones in the process.

Surprisingly, the wounds she had sustained were healing at an alarmingly rapid rate.

Arthur prided himself in his racial abilities, which would slowly restore a host to its original, unscathed state. However, in comparison, Isabella’s regeneration was ludicrously fast.

In just a couple of moments, her bones returned to normal. Her unique ability notwithstanding, it was apparent that the girl felt the agonizing pain, which muddled her mind and rendered her momentarily unresponsive.

“Hold her down. We’re going to try something new today!”

The other demon approached the immobilized Isabella and fished out a shallowly-made curved black dagger.

Isabella hissed and thrashed around, but she lacked the strength to resist the monstrous brute force of the demon. In the end, it pressed its knee against her back and smashed her head to the ground while stretching her left arm.

The other demon cackled manically as it licked its dagger and crouched down.

As this was happening, Arthur clicked his tongue as he met Isabella’s gaze.

“What a poor fate for a young girl. Are you sure you want to go through this? I speak from experience when I say that it will permanently scar you.”

“...”

The parasite leaned closer to her face, a wide shit-eating grin plastered on his face.

“Lend me your body and I’ll get you out of here. You do want to survive, do you not?”

“...”

“Time is ticking.”

He pointed at the demon who was about to cut her arm off just for the fun of it.

When it was about to swing its dagger, Isabella muttered something, which made Arthur rejoice. By the next second, his vision blurred and he found himself in control of her body.

To make things even better, all of his skills were available.

Green mist burst from Isabella’s body and filled the whole room, suffocating the two demons with [Air Decay].

Still, it wasn’t enough to completely incapacitate them, so Arthur followed up with Sanguis Barrier, which whistled through the misty air and crushed the demons into a meat paste.

In barely five seconds, the room returned to its usual silence as the mist retracted back inside the girl.

While chuckling, Arthur looked at the stupefied Lucy and at the gloomily quiet Isabella.

“You sure do have some good skills, young lady.”

Arthur felt rejuvenated and strong as he was in full control of the girl’s fragile and slim body. Truthfully, he didn’t expect her to be this strong, but unfortunately for her, her magical capabilities weren’t suited for escaping this place.

Her most impressive skill was, unsurprisingly, the insane regeneration, labeled [Immortality] by the System.

“Maybe you should lend help too, Demon Lady.”

Lucy snorted and kept her distance, but, using Isabella’s body, Arthur shrugged and transformed into a swirling mist that slipped out of the cell and rushed through the corridor.

He saw other prisoners kept in similar cells; There were tortured elves, chained beastmen, dead and alive humans, and so on…

However, Arthur paid them no heed as he sped through narrow and smelly corridors.

He only met three additional demons, all of which were disposed of with ease with the use of [Mist of Decay] or Sanguis Barrier.

In terms of physical prowess, those hideous entities had tenacious bodies equipped with strong defensive capabilities, but that was. They were slow and couldn’t cast long-ranged spells.

Arthur picked up a sword that belonged to one of his victims as he made use of narrow gaps to hasten his escape, allowing him to reach the outside in ten minutes or so.

“Even without my skills, you’re plenty strong, you know.” Remarked Arthur as he moved his hand and cast multiple skills at the same.

It was an exhilarating feeling to see sharp and long spikes rain down on the demons and impale them to death. With a snap of the parasite’s finger, a huge wave of water came crashing down, engulfing the small huts and flattening the demons and everything in its way.

Eventually, a superior enemy appeared; Maybe it was their chief, or simply a strong variation. Whatever it was, it had a muscular build and, unlike its weak brethren, it wore a set of heavy armor.

“You’re one of the prisoners!” It gnashed its disgusting teeth and leapt at Isabella.

Arthur blocked its charge with Sanguis Barrier before following up with [Infernal Cry], which destabilized and startled the demon.

The deafening demonic cry reverberated across the small camp, striking the weak-willed demons with dread as they fell unconscious.

Their leader, however, stood his ground as he charged again while letting out a beam from his wide-open mouth.

The beam made of sinister and savage crimson light broke through the parasite’s barrier and pierced Isabella’s chest.

Even then, Arthur jumped to his feet while cackling.

“My turn.” Coldly said Lucy as Arthur felt a strong ejection pull him out of the girl’s body.

Isabella, controlled by Lucy, shook her sore arms before manifesting a tornado of raging flames from one hand and a chilling coldness from the other.

The demon, who unleashed another beam, was helplessly engulfed in the combined Ice and Fire, which broke his armor and blew him hundreds of meters away.

“40 points.” Mockingly said Arthur as he wrestled back control of Isabella and picked the sword.

First, the parasite transformed into a mist that shot in the air and then cascaded on the wounded demon, shrouding his vision. Seconds later, a semi-brilliant moon appeared within the thick mist, letting out a resplendent light as it exploded.

The shock wave was so strong that it cracked the earth and finished off the demon in an instant.

Hearing reinforcement coming, Arthur enveloped himself in a circular barrier then glided in the air with the use of [Mist of Decay].

Within minutes, he had distanced himself from the danger and arrived at a lush and humid jungle.

Only when he could no longer hear the pursuers did he stop and ‘exit’ Isabella’s body.

“See how it’s done? Since you got captured while having such strong skills, then you must be new to all of this, yes?”

Isabella looked around her without giving any response. Lucy, on the other hand, faced Arthur with her arms crossed and an annoyed expression.

“I could’ve handled it.”

“Why this much hostility? Are we not on the same team?”

“We’re not. I don’t know you and I don’t trust you. You and her.”

“Survival precedes trust, though. Anyway, I feel the connection weakening, which means it’s time to go.”

Arthur beamed at the two of them while waving his hand.

“Maybe it will be you next time, Demon Lady. I look forward to hearing you ask for help.”

“You-”

Before she could curse him or retort, the two vanished from Isabella’s view. She found herself in the jungle, the same place she had been caught at.

When she was taken to this strange and dangerous world by ‘X’, she expected to fend for herself and survive. However, reality was cruel and merciless, and her lack of knowledge and ignorance about how the System functioned rendered her defenseless and unable to cope with the relentless pursuit of the demons.

When he regained his senses, Arthur was back to his ‘host’, lying on the grass and relatively unscathed. The chirping of the birds entered his ears, making him chuckle as he sat up and looked around.

‘What an odd experience.’

He expected to see a System notification providing much-needed exposition on what he had just gone through, however, no such thing appeared.

‘I need to read more books about Demons, apparently. I don’t know where that place was. Shame I couldn’t possess the corpses.’

He purged his regretful thoughts and started aimlessly walking around, soon locating a horned wild boar minding its own business.

With one strike from afar, the animal was killed and ripe for possession.

Without any hesitation, Arthur abandoned his current host and went into the boar. Although he picked up the magical bag, he had no plans to use a human host for a while.

‘Before heading to the Nemia Academy, I need to become a little stronger. I guess it’s time to go around possessing animals and whatnot.’

Beginning with the boar, Arthur went on a long and arduous hunting spree. Thanks to his high stats, he found no trouble in taking down stronger beasts with just his physical prowess.

He fought a pack of wolves and eliminated them all, then he stumbled upon a huge black bear that was eventually overpowered and defeated.

Just like that, Arthur spent a little over a month increasing his stats and gaining new skills. At the same time, he was making his way to the Western coasts, planning to travel to the famed magical academy using his own means instead of portals or ships.

With Evelyn and Mort went, he didn’t want to expose himself and invite more trouble. As a parasite, as long as he remained careful and avoided interacting with many people, it was difficult, if not impossible for those interested in him to catch his scent.

*TITLE(S) : NONE

NAME : Arthur Bilgart

RACE : Wither Magick Parasite

Lv: 20 (92%)

-

Strength : 431

Intelligence : 220

Agility : 388

Wisdom: 166

Vitality : 292

Dexterity : 270

-

*Skills

Resitances:

Magic Resistance(Passive Lv1🡢2)

Poison Resistance(Passive Lv2🡢5)

Cold Resistance(Passive Lv1🡢3)

Heat Resistance(Passive Lv1🡢3)

Disease Resistance(Passive Lv3🡢4)

Physical Damage Resistance(Passive Lv2)

-Others:

Physical Enhancement(Passive Lv8🡢9)

Full Moon(Passive-Active)

Mana Control(Passive Lv5🡢6)

Long Breath(Passive Lv4)[Fish-type host required]

Possession(Passive LvEX)

Woodworking(Passive Lv2)

First Attack(Passive Lv2🡢5)

Culinary Arts(Passive Lv3)

Survival Instinct(Passive)

Keen Eyes(Passive Lv3🡢4)

Swift Wings(Passive Lv2🡢3)[Bird-type Host required]

Rat Teeth(Passive)[Mammal-type host required]

Warmth(Passive)

Insectile Gluttony(Passive)

Sickening Life(Passive)

Universal Human Language(Passive)

Basic Arman Language(Passive)

Medical Field(Passive Lv4)

Farming(Passive Lv2)

Tenacity(Passive Lv2)(NEW)

Magic Beast(Passive Lv4)(NEW)

Gila Poison(Passive Lv5)(NEW)

Reptilian Transparency(Passive Lv3)(NEW)

Tongue Catch(Passive Lv1)(NEW)

Sharpened Claws(Passive Lv6)(NEW)

-Weapon Masteries

Knife Mastery(Passive Lv2)

Dual Dagger Mastery(Passive Lv2)

Sword Mastery(Passive Lv7)

Axe Mastery(Passive Lv3)

Spear Mastery(Passive Lv1)

Bow Mastery(Passive Lv1🡢3)

-Active abilities:

Vampire Bite(Active Lv10)

Sadistic Torture(Active Lv5)

Blood Succor(Active Lv7)

Corpse Dissection(Active Lv12)

Sanguis(blood) Barrier(Active Lv7)

Tusk Damage(Active Lv3🡢4)

Flight, No Fight(Active Lv3🡢4)

Exoskeleton Defense(Active Lv2)

The Mist of Decay(Active Lv4🡢5)

Wither Touch(Active Lv1🡢2)

Enhanced Spell(Active Lv1🡢2)

Internal Cry(Active)

Lunar Blade(Active Lv5)

Half a Moon(Active Lv4)

Sword Blast(Active Lv4)

Bestial Rage(Active Lv2)(Exclusive to animal-type hosts)(NEW)

Spider Webs(Active Lv3)(Exclusive to Arachnid-type hosts)(NEW)

Acid Spray(Active Lv4) (Exclusive to Bombardier Beetle)(NEW)

Wither Blast(Active Lv1)(NEW)

Magick Sense(Active Lv1)(NEW)

Arthur strolled across the golden sand and enjoyed the brief moment of respite as he bathed his feet in the cold waters. Very much like the rest of the other Seas and Oceans, the Phantom Ocean was riddled with dangers, but only if you delve deeper and aim for the lost treasures and the forgotten ruins buried beneath incalculable volumes of water.

“Now then.”

Arthur pulled the shallow boat and started sailing, but not even a day later, he switched hosts. It was a shame that his belonging had to submerge with him, but that was the cost of traveling at a faster pace.

He managed to catch a thin and relatively big fish that moved at a satisfactory speed. After tying the magic bad tightly to the fish’s back, Arthur possessed it and dove down, heading straight to the renowned Nether Storm Archipelago, in which the Nemia Academy was situated.

The trip lasted for two weeks, but that was only Arthur barely rested. He fed himself on anything on his way, whether it was plants, weeds, or harmless small fish.

Even though he had prepared himself, it was neither comfortable nor pleasant to be stuck inside a fish and swim non-stop for days on end.

Eventually, the exhausting journey came to an end, and Arthur dove into the air as he caught sight of a small port city.

Five days later, on the campus of the Nemia Academy.

A group of students was chatting together as they enjoyed the breathtaking views of the prestigious school. Busy concocting playful pranks and whatnot, one of them, a girl, bumped into someone.

“Hey, look where you’re going!”

“Ah! My apologies! I’m sorry!”

The girl glared at the old man with contempt as she hissed maliciously. She kicked him in the stomach and spat on his rugged and dirty outfit.

“Filth like you shouldn’t be allowed here. Maybe I should teach you a lesson.”

“Don’t bother yourself with lowlives like him, Maria. We’re already late.”

A handsome blond-haired young man intervened and quelled the girl’s anger. In the end, she snorted and walked away, seemingly too disgusted to be in the elderly’s presence.

Once the small group was away, the janitor got to his feet and nonchalantly cleaned the dirt off his butt.

He resumed sweeping the ground with his broom, appearing meticulous and indifferent. However, his eyes were focusing on the back of the young man talking cheerfully to the arrogant girl.

‘Feylord Lernon… we do meet again. I wonder what I’ll find in this nest of vipers and geniuses.’

Arthur chuckled and dutifully did his job without a care in the world, softly humming a tune and barely glancing at the passing students.

"Wowowowowo! Hold on!"

Mort raised his arms in surrender as he raised his head and looked at the stone tower standing atop a steep cliff. What frightened the undead wasn't the tower itself but the equally massive creature on top of it.

It was a majestic dragon with red scales covering its body and a pair of gigantic wings folded on its back. Its crystalline eyes were half-opened as it sized up the talking zombie.

"Imma juuuust... borrow this!"

Mort snatched a small wooden boat before sprinting toward the edge of the cliff. Although the dragon didn't react to him, he still jumped into the raging waters down below. Miraculously, the boat survived the fall and landed upside down.

After he swam back to the surface, Mort turned the boat then climbed on it, gasping for breath.

"Wait... I don't need to breath, do I?" He scratched his head in confusion before excitedly cackling.

"It doesn't matter anyway!"

With gleaming eyes and a beaming face, the blue-skinned undead spread his arms like a maniac and shouted,

"A new adventure for the great Mort! The seas shall be my guide! Hahahahaha!"