Chapter 632: The Search
Arthur moved swiftly through the forest, weaving effortlessly between the towering trees and kicking off their branches for an extra boost.
His steps on the trees barely made a sound as he cut through the gaps, heading east.
Along the way, a few flying creatures tried to defend their territory, but they were no match for him. A simple wave of his hand was enough to kill the weak Level 500 monsters instantly.
Eventually, he came across his first group of sentient humanoids.
They were in the middle of a struggle against a massive flaming bear, a Sovereign Realm beast.
The ground was littered with the corpses of smaller bears, and the group of eight were battered, barely able to stand—not just from their injuries, but from something else weighing them down.
Arthur narrowed his eyes, recognizing the red and white uniforms they wore.
Without a second thought, Arthur descended from above, landing with a powerful stomp on the flaming bear’s head.
The beast died instantly, its blood and brain matter splattering across the ground, and the group stared at him in stunned silence.
As they gaped, Arthur jogged his memory, trying to remember where he’d seen their uniforms before.
"Ah, Crim’s Sect. You guys are members of Crim’s Sect. Blood Moon, was it?"
One of the men, recognizing him, managed to speak.
"...you’re the one who was with Crim on the ship."
Arthur nodded, pulling the man up to his feet and the man muttered his thanks.
The rest of the group still seemed frozen in shock, clearly not expecting someone who could casually stomp a Sovereign Realm existence to death.
But Arthur paid them no mind, moving straight to the questions that needed answering.
"Have you seen any others?"
Unfortunately, they all shook their heads.
"No. We were on the ship, discussing our plans, when suddenly we were swallowed by a blinding light. When we woke up, we were here. It’s barely been a few minutes."
The man Arthur helped took a shaky step forward, grimacing from the pressure still lingering in the air as he continued.
"I woke up first, and tried to get everyone on their feet, but we were immediately attacked by monsters."
Arthur glanced around at the scattered corpses, then pointed at a nearby tree, its bark deeply scarred by claw marks.
"Looks like you landed in the middle of this thing’s territory. That’s why it came after you."
Understanding how unfortunate they’d been and how close they’d come to death, the leader of the group stepped forward to thank Arthur once again.
"Forgive my late introduction. I’m Chen Zhou, Core Disciple of the Blood Moon Sect."
"Arthur."
He replied simply, his thoughts briefly wandering. From what he’d learned, Core Disciples were the highest-ranking members within a sect, directly under the High Elders.
’Crim’s a Core Disciple too... This complicates things. I’ll need more influence to handle this properly.’
As Arthur pondered, Zhou posed a pressing question.
"Do you know what happened to us?"
Arthur turned toward him, pausing for a moment before answering.
"I was on the bridge when the ship exploded."
"The ship exploded?!"
One of the group members exclaimed in shock and Arthur nodded.
"Yes, blown to smithereens. I saw the cause of the explosion myself."
He pulled out his star map and activated it to show them the routes.
"This is where we should have gone. But this"—he traced another line—"is the path we were on. We veered off course two days ago.
When I went to the bridge, my companions and I discovered there were two star maps, but before we could do anything, the ship exploded, and space-time ruptured.
My theory is that the rupture saved us. Before the explosion could kill us all, we were sucked into a tear in space and thrown onto this landmass in what I believe to be an Apex world."
"Apex world? Are you saying we’re in an Apex world?"
One of the disciples repeated, eyes widening and Arthur raised an eyebrow at him.
"Have you not noticed the gravity here is far stronger than it was on Denerth Prime? You can barely move because of it."
The disciples looked at each other, realization dawning. Indeed, the oppressive gravity made even standing difficult for them, especially in their injured state.
Arthur was unfazed. He almost didn’t notice the difference as his body had long since adapted to the intense gravity of Aeturn, which made this world’s pull feel like a massage.
As Arthur pointed out, their inability to move properly wasn’t just because of their injuries—it was the world’s weight bearing down on them.
In their injured states, resisting the stronger gravity was taxing.
Zhou looked at Arthur, a tad bit confused.
"But you can move just fine..."
"I’m from an Apex World. This gravity feels more familiar to me than Denerth Prime."
Arthur responded with a shrug as he tossed his star map back into his subspace. Seeing this, Zhou couldn’t help but inquire.
"Mind if I ask how you have that map?"
"I swiped it while I was with Jamie—Demon King Westley."
Arthur responded without hesitation and some of the disciples were visibly surprised by how casually he spoke about a Demon King, but Zhou wasn’t.
Crim had already told him about Arthur’s connection to the Demon King.
"Oh, and if it’s any consolation, Crim’s alive. I don’t know her exact condition, but my token shows she’s somewhere in that direction. I’m heading east to meet up with another one of my party members first."
Arthur spoke while pointing westward before turning around. But as he turned to leave, Zhou called out, desperation clear in his voice.
"Please wait! Can we follow you? I mean, we’re in an unknown place, and it would be better if we stuck together, right?"
Arthur paused, then let out a sigh. Releasing a small portion of his energy, he let it wash over the group.
The overwhelming pressure knocked the already struggling disciples off their feet, forcing them to sit back down under the crushing force.
"You see...time isn’t exactly a luxury I have right now. Quite the irony."
The teen godslayer chuckled a bit before continuing.
"I need to meet up with my companions as fast as possible. Not only are you guys much weaker than me, but I’m also much faster. If I keep moving at the pace I’ve been for the last thirty minutes, you won’t be able to catch up."
He crossed his arms, considering them briefly.
"I could just use spatial gates to travel, but I’m conserving my energy. I have no idea what’s on this place, and as someone from an Apex world, I know that no Apex world in the Cosmos is normal. There’s definitely something strange about this place."
The gravity of his words settled over them as heavily as the actual gravity around them. Lengthy explanation aside, Arthur delivered the cold, hard truth.
"If I stick with you guys, my movements will be slowed. Also, I’m not going to lie; I’m not exactly in the best emotional state right now. I won’t be until I see all my companions are fine, limbs intact, with my own two eyes.
The tokens just tell us they’re ’alive’, not how they’re faring. As such, I don’t have it in me to care for others right now."
He turned to leave again but paused, remembering they were Crim’s sect members. Sighing, he clicked his tongue in frustration.
"I assume that since the master of this territory is dead, the other monsters won’t notice for the next few days or maybe weeks.
You can use this chance to adapt to the higher gravity and ambient energy here. Use your cultivation techniques to recover your injuries; you’re quite hurt from the blast.
Remember, this is an Apex world. The ambient energies here are far superior to anything a Prime World can offer. Sounds like a nice place to cultivate, no?"
Zhou’s eyes widened with realization as Arthur continued speaking.
"My spatial perception picked up something hollow nearby. It’s likely a cave where that bear lived.
You can hide there and cultivate. Take advantage of this opportunity.
Stick together; Your strength in numbers helped you handle the other beasts, except this one. It’ll help you again."
Lastly, he conjured a small orb of energy and tossed it to Zhou.
"This is more for Crim’s sake than yours. Keep this on you. As long as you have it, I’ll be able to track your location. If I find Crim, I might come back for you guys."
With that, Arthur turned and vanished.
Just then, Zhou pushed his companions, who had managed to stand, back down to the ground. Suddenly—
**BOOM!
—the shockwave from Arthur’s departure hit, flattening trees and rippling through the air.
Arthur cut through the atmosphere like a streak of light, moving faster than sound, leaving the group in stunned silence.
This was Arthur’s top speed, achieved without expending a single ounce of energy. All he did was jump with his full strength, and he was cutting through the air at hypersonic speed.
As he landed on a small rock and used it as a platform to boost himself forward again, he used the ambient cosmic energy to scan the surroundings and was met with a surprising sight.
Monsters. Endless hordes of them.
He didn’t detect any signs of civilization, just a sea of creatures. Arthur narrowed his eyes when he picked up on clusters of people scattered throughout the terrain.
"Aren’t those guys from Denerth Prime? So, there are this many survivors?"
His theory of them being spatially displaced before the explosion tore them to shreds became increasingly plausible.
Individuals from various sects were mixed in with one another, unlike the Blood Moon sect members who had woken up in proximity to each other. Arthur observed some groups clashing, driven by instinctive rivalry; they had awakened and attacked one another, believing their rival sect was the reason for their current plight.
Arthur sighed and ignored them all, continuing his blitz through the air until he finally landed atop a mountain peak.
He spread out his aura, scanning for any sign of Hibiki before sighing.
"Just how far away is this girl?"
Hibiki wasn’t exactly a ’girl’, but a 20-year-old woman, but Arthur couldn’t be bothered to correct himself.
The mountain peak he landed on was near the nest of a giant monster bird and it tried to attack him from behind, perceiving him as an intruder to its territory. But all Arthur did was extend his hand and it was caught in a gravitational maelstrom and crushed into a pulp of flesh.
"Hmm?"
As the remains rained down, Arthur examined his palm, coating it in gravity law energy.
"My gravity law energy is stronger. It’s being amplified by my Anti-Divinity, which also feels unusually potent."
Conversely, his divinity seemed weaker than normal, while his destructive powers surged.
"Negative energies everywhere..."
With those thoughts in mind, he kicked off the mountaintop, shattering the peak beneath him, and propelled himself further in Hibiki’s direction.
