The rest of the Masquerade Reverie was uninteresting for Arthur, nevertheless, he stayed until the very end, clinging to a hope that an enticing item might appear.

Alas, all of them were of no practical use to him, so he kept his sign lowered and mouth shut.

It wasn’t that the items auctioned off were necessarily bad, it was more like they were targeted toward the aristocracy and their needs. There were barely any offensive or defensive Artifacts, and the handful of the ones shown were not that great relative to their ridiculously exorbitant price.

After the 10% fee was deducted, Arthur received his 225 Blakin Platinum Coins, all stored in an exquisite and silky black leather pouch.

Sonia Ma seemed to have left early to retrieve the Alchemy Scripture and returned it to its rightful place, which brought some relief to the parasite, who had expected some sort of violent retaliation from her after his ‘stunt’.

Now that he was somewhat wealthy, Arthur wanted to buy a lot of things, specifically a big quantity of Blood Crystals. Not many people knew how to use them, and even Arthur wasn’t particularly experienced in the subject, but he could use his blood and then a bit of Mana Infusion to ignite the crystals, so to speak.

They hold an outrageous explosive damage once triggered, rendering them a deadly trump card. Their effect was so potent that the Vault’s barriers crumbled instantly.

Once the auction was over, Arthur met up with Feylord and Teresa, but Joshua Boulard was nowhere to be seen.

“He escaped.” Muttered the youth as he averted his gaze away.

“...”

Arthur let out a sigh of exasperation as he glanced at the demon girl.

“He literally vanished into thin air! What was I supposed to do?” She shrugged, seemingly disinterested in the whole matter.

‘Leaving the Black Priest in their hands… What was I thinking? Of course he’d escape.’

“He was heavily injured and barely conscious. I don’t know how he did it.” Added Feylord in a futile attempt to defend his incompetence.

“Whatever…” Arthur dismissively waved his hand at the youth.

He had no special plans for the Black Priest and interrogating him would have most likely led to nothing of use.

Sonia might have succeeded in her questioning, but she must have deployed special magical methods, or so Arthur liked to believe.

Moreover, he didn’t have the means to keep Joshua bound and watched around the clock, therefore, such an outcome would have happened sooner or later.

“Is it time? It is, isn’t it?!”

“...”

Teresa Moon returned to her pestering, apprehensively eyeing the parasite and signaling for him to fulfil his end of the bargain.

She changed into a casual one-piece black outfit, but even that wasn’t enough to make her inconspicuous. Silver hair was one of the characteristics of the Demon Royal Family, and the fact that the Princess was studying in the Nemia Academy wasn’t a secret, so most of the passerby’s attention was directed toward Teresa Moon.

Seeing her fiery and impatient gaze and Feylord’s half-doubtful half-hesitant expression, Arthur sighed and took them to the local inn he was staying at.

“What’s this?”

“Payment.”

“I don’t need money. I’ve got enough.”

Teresa, who was constantly grumbling and insisting they fought immediately, shook her head and pursued her lips as she leaned against the door.

When it was Feylord’s turn, he shook his stiff neck and tried to say something but no words came out of his open lips.

“Stop being so shifty and take it.”

Feylord accepted the 5 Blakin Platinum and put them in his pocket. Although he tried to hide it, he seemed to be pleased about earning money, more so because he wasn’t that rich to begin with.

“I…” Words got stuck in his throat as the parasite was piercingly staring at him,

“Will you continue helping me?”

“Depends.” Arthur, sitting on the bed with his arms crossed, sized up the fidgety young man and asked, “Now that you’re no longer a student, what’s your plan?”

“...”

Even though he didn’t reply, Feylord made it clear that he had not thought of a plan yet, which made Arthur chuckle and continue,

“I may be able to hold off the effect of the feather, but I won’t do so indefinitely. I’m sure there are ways to minimize its effect until it is fully absorbed. Try reading some books and maybe you’ll find a solution.”

“Can’t I go with you? I… I promise I’ll be useful!”

“Correction, you need to come with me to use my ability. Wanting to come with me is a bit of a stretch, wouldn’t you agree? Nevermind that. I have not yet decided where I’ll be heading to, so you have a bit of time to think about it. A word of warning, however, I generally go to dangerous places and I will not be responsible for your safety. While I agree that having a helper is a good thing, I don’t feel entirely comfortable with an opportunist like you.”

Feylod nodded once before clenching his fists and lowering his head, seemingly pondering about something.

“What about me?”-Teresa

“Huh? What about you?”

“Me. You. We fight. Also, I want to come with you too.”

“We will fight as promised.”

“And?” Teresa stomped the ground and frowned as she glared at him,

“And nothing. I won’t risk it and take the Princess with me.”

“Why did you say yes to him and not me? I’m stronger and better!”

“Because he’s a nobody… and unlike you, he has a brain.”

Teresa didn’t respond, either because she didn’t have a good counter-argument or she was too frustrated to talk.

The conversation between the parasite and the other was brief and trivial, to say the least. He instructed them not to visit him and wait for him to come to them when the time comes, whether it was to pick up Feylord before leaving or meet up with Teresa for the scheduled fight.

“I’m not your caretaker or friend. We helped each other and you got paid, one way or another. Off you go now.”

Arthur ushered them out of the room and closed the room behind him. Teresa’s complaints could be heard from the corridor, but she eventually kicked the door and stormed away.

Finally with some alone time, Arthur first put him earnings in his new magical artifact and spent most of the next half hour planning his next steps. His sojourn in the Nemia Academy had come to an end and he had obtained what he sought, fortunately. In fact, he obtained a bonus prize valued at 220,000 Gold Coins.

There were a limited quantity of Blood Crystals in the black market, nevertheless, he planned to buy all of it and store it for the time being. Considering how much it helped him get rid of Addy and the mercenaries, they certainly could be used again in somewhat similar situations.

Then again, they were extremely dangerous and Arthur wasn’t that confident in protecting himself against a blast more powerful than the one he triggered in Green’s End.

Then there was the matter concerning the Circle of Damnation and its 12 members, one of which was supposed to be in their custody.

‘I could ask Marco if there are any corpses being sold in the Black Market, but I doubt there would be any considering how much people fear Parasites. Also, it could be traced back to me. Alternatively, I could use this bit of free time to ‘visit’ the Southern Isle and procure a suitable corpse for ‘Last Possession’. Yes, It would do me good to get away from the ruckus and strengthen myself for a short while. After that, I’ll go to the Desert of Commerce and Peace and try to find the Devil Doctor. After all, he’s one of the candidates suspected to be the master of the gargoyle.’

2 days later

950 Kilometers South of the Nemia Isla.

On the Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles.

The Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles were a pair of islands, a big one housing a long rocky mountain range and a small one on which there were a chain of steep cliffs and a bunch of harmless terrestrial and nautical animals.

Rather than sailing on a boat, Arthur searched for a good host and possessed it.

He used a swift medium-sized shark to travel beneath the waves and reach his destination.

The trip barely took 4 hours, and when Arthur emerged and returned to possessing a human corpse, he was on the Northern Coast of Cydia Island, the so-called ‘Big Twin.’

Other than small coastal regions, what faced the parasite was a chain of big mountains from left to right. There were no structures, no boats, and no humans around.

Before recklessly coming here, Arthur did his homework and studied a bit. Admittedly, the knowledge regarding the Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles was scarce and the only repeated mention was the presumed presence of the Mermaids Race on the ‘Small Twin’, South of here.

There was, however, a brief mention of an ant colony inhabiting the base of the mountain range.

‘The Cydian Ants, huh…’

Arthur’s aim was precisely the Cydian Ants, which were different from the generally minuscule ants. These ones were significantly bigger than their counterparts and said to have genetically evolved to adapt to the harsh environmental circumstances.

They changed from prey to predator and their ludicrously rapid reproduction rate allowed them to dominate the Cydian Island. All that was left was for Arthur to find their colony and look for their Queen.

‘The Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles

Author: Entomologist and Archeologist Bernard Kent

Date: Year 21 of the 6th Era.

The Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles were initially ‘buried’ underneath the merciless waves of the Phantom Ocean.

Cydian is a word derived from the Mermaid Race, meaning Ancestral.

The Cydian Earthquake, which happened in Year 2 of the 6th Era, had left the entirety of Astria in chaos with the total casualty being over 200,000, and that was the precursor for the unanticipated surface of the Cydian Mermaid Twin-Isles.

The earthquake targeted the Phantom Ocean, but its reach was bigger than anyone’s expectation, thus laying waste to entire cities.

A fair number of Archeologists and Geologists had visited the islands subsequent to their appearance, but the terrain made it difficult to conduct any proper experimentation or exploration.

The explorable regions were narrow and empty, for want of a better word. Nevertheless, the handful of excavated bones and fossils were enough to determine some intriguing revelations.

For one, the Cydian Mermaid Kingdom, said to have ruled over the Phantom Ocean, had actually fallen long before the Cydian Earthquake, though it is unknown how or precisely when. The excavated bones of the extinct Cydian Mermaid Race date back to the 4th Era, which confirmed the Archeologists’ suspicion that the Cydians were likely to have been ravaged by the Void Vortex that had appeared deep within the Phantom Ocean. Then again, those remain nothing but assumptions based on a multitude of facts. The real truth was never discovered.

In year 14 of the 6th Era, ant colonies began forming within the mountain of the Big Twin, thus forcing all temporary ‘visitors’ to leave.

Dubbed the Cydian Ants, these mutated and highly-evolved insects had adapted to their new home at an exponential rate. Within years, their numbers grew to surpass the thousand mark, and before long, they became the dominant species on the Big Twin.

More worrying was the fact that these ants had an unnaturally strong resistance to Magic and their strong carcasses rendered them practically immune to physical attacks.

The Cydian Ant’s expansion was unabated, but they stuck to the Big Twin and built a true labyrinth of a biblical size. Some Adventurers had tried to reach the end of the labyrinth and see what lay beneath the mysterious isle, but none had succeeded.

If we want to rely on numbers, then the following are the results of the recorded expeditions;

Year 15 of the 6th Era: Of 23 Adventurers, 17 returned and 6 died.

Year 15 of the 6th Era: Of 58 Adventurers, all died.

Year 17 of the 6th Era: Of 12 Advertectures, 11 returned 1 died.

Year 19 of the 6th Era: Of 11 Adventurers, 9 returned and 2 died.

Map of the Nether Storm Archipelago