Chapter 24: 24. “We’re off to a great start.”

It had been an hour since Arima left and he was still crossing the seas. Even with his extreme speed, he still needed at least three hours to reach his destination. He couldn't teleport because he had no idea where he would appear.

While he was flying, he suddenly spun in the air and broke his momentum forcefully. His sudden brake created a depression on the surface of the water.

There was a giant tentacle blocking his path. And after that, seven other tentacles surged from the water and circled him.

"Damn octopus," Arima said and looked downward. A shadow was gradually getting bigger under the surface of the water and a giant circular mouth surfaced and threatened to swallow him.

"[Superbia]," He called his rifle and pointed it at the behemoth's mouth. "[Gun metuunt blasphemantes]."

Arima chanted and pressed the trigger. A big pillar of dark energy surrounded by lightning pierced through the giant octopus's body and destroyed its brain. The large creature died instantly and his body started floating above the water. Its body measured around thirty meters and each of his tentacles were twenty meters long.

Arima looked at the carcass and pondered a bit before landing on its head.

"{What are you going to do?}" Night asked.

"Normally, his life force should still stay around him for a moment. I thought that I should try that."

Arima placed his hand on the octopus. "[Vita venari]," He chanted and his eyes glowed. He felt his body getting slightly stronger.

"It's insignificant compared to the quantity I received from the Pope. Maybe it was because he was a bearer of a God's power that I received that much at that time," Arima guessed and glanced at the octopus's corpse. He waved his hand and stored him in his storage after freezing it.

While he was using ice magic, he suddenly felt something strange. When he checked what it was, his mind went blank.

"{Arima?}"

"…It isn't only my body and mana that improves, my affinity and ability with elements also change. I just checked. My affinity with light magic increased by at least two-fold and just now my water affinity raised by a few levels as well."

"{Then, doesn't that mean you could gain an absolute control over all elements?} Night was also shocked.

Arima grinned, "This power… I don't know where it comes from but it looks like it will be entertaining. But I think it's only really profitable when I absorb the life force of people as strong or stronger than me." He alleged and resumed his travel.

During his next two hours of flight, he met a few other sea-monsters. He killed them and took their life force afterwards. When he finally spotted firm ground on the horizon, he had already harvested seven large beasts and his water affinity increased by a fold.

When Arima arrived on the continent, he landed on the beach and blew the water and sand away. Wherever he looked, he could only see a rocky area. He wondered if he should scan the continent but gave up on the idea. From what he read, there is people on this continent that are, without a doubt, stronger than him. Apparently, the ranks of the guild can go up to SS and SSS here.

Arima decided to go deeper in the continent. From what he read; this continent is as big as Russia in the old world.

Arima continued to go further in the land for ten minutes until he arrived in a jungle area. He frowned and went inside. He stumbled upon a few insect monsters in there. He could kill them with a single bullet from Ira. Thanks to the orichalcum, the power of his weapons increased by a large amount.

He advanced like that until he found a monster which could resist his bullets. It was giant arachnid. It looked at Arima as if he was its prey. The spider opened its mouth and let out a screeching sound.

"Shut the fuck up," Arima muttered and shot a black beam at the head of the spider which exploded in a rain of light blue blood. He then lowered his gun which still had a few strands of sparking around it.

"I never liked spiders anyway," He groaned and continued to walk until he got out of the jungle. The moment he exited the shadow of the thick trees, he arrived at the border of a barren land. As far as the eyes could see, there was only a desert.

"What the hell is wrong with the natural formation here? Is this the biome generation of a crappy game?" Arima snapped but still stepped on the sand with a serene expression. The reason he was walking instead of flying was to probe the terrains.

When he completely left the jungle's vicinities, the ground trembled and huge amount of sand erupted. Arima couldn't see a thing until the sand fell. His eyes pupils trembled and narrowed when he recognized the thing that pulled that sand. In front of him, there was a giant centipede staring at him and was ready to attack. Its fangs and antennas moved and made a nasty noise.

Arima's expression twitched several times before he teleported away. He reappeared in the sky, almost a kilometer away from the ground.

"{…Is it just me or were you scared right now?}" Night was holding back his laughter while asking.

"…" Arima was silent as he rubbed his face, "You see that thing down there?"

"{Mh? What about it?}"

"Imagine the same thing but a lot smaller. Suppose there's around a hundred of them. Imagine them are crawling at lightning speed while making that noise as they climb your body and-"

"{It's okay! I get your point.}" Night interrupted him before he could say anything else.

Arima sighed and looked at the ground. A normal person wouldn't be able to see the ground, but for him, it was a piece of cake.

"I should have done that since the beginning after all. We're off to a great start," He complained a bit and looked around. He spotted a small town a few dozens of miles away from his position. Right next to the desert.

Arima plunged and flew in that direction with great speed. As he was approaching, his expression drastically changed. He wagged his wings and lightly landed in front of the town's gate.

He looked at the guards and furrowed, "What is this?"

The guards at the gate weren't humans. They were goblins, kobolds, gnomes, golems, lesser undead… In short, they were the monsters classed as the weakest.

When Arima appeared before them, he was still in his dragon form. He stunned the guards but they soon began to shout.

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"Enemy!"

When Arima heard that, his already strange expression changed even more. He heard them talk just now. He didn't really care about that fact particularly. After all, if they could build a town, they sure had a way of communication.

What shocked Arima was that he heard them like actual humans speaking in a fluent English. He began to really think that the God may have given him something more outrageous than he thought.

"{What is all that about?}" Night questioned, confused.

"{Looks like we ended up in the monster territory. Perhaps we deviated a bit too much from our original course while hunting.}" Arima scratched his head.

This continent was special in his territory repartition. Basically, it had three different territories. One of them belonged, of course, to humans and all of the other races. The second one was home solely for the beasts. The last territory was the one Arima was in right now, the monster territory.

Arima ended his resonance and observed the town and the stiff expressions of the monsters guarding it. When Arima turned back into a normal human, a black and red noble dragon also stood next to him. The monsters almost fainted at the sight.

"Hey, if you have a chief, bring him to me. I want to talk." Arima spoke up. He assumed that if he could understand them, then they could also comprehend his words too.

As expected, the monsters became restless when they heard a human speaking their language but they still called their chief. They would have done it anyway.

In just a minute, a strange monster arrived. It was an old looking and small monster with blue skin. Arima acknowledged that monster as a sage goblin, an irregular goblin who is intelligent and magically gifted.

"Why did you ask for me, human?"

Arima smiled, "Nothing much, it seems that books aren't enough to describe correctly the situation on this continent. So, I want to ask you some questions."

The old goblin closed his eyes and inhaled. "Come in," He said and turned his back to Arima as he went back inside the town.

Arima followed him and everyone kept their distance. Night shapeshifted to a wolf again. Lately, he had started to get used to this body to the point he felt like it was more comfortable than his original form.

Arima quickly appraised the housing while following the goblin. They were all made of clay, stone, or wood. It was just some rustic constructions to be honest.

The old goblin led Arima to a house only made of wood. Considering the craftsman ship, it was quite luxurious compared to the other houses. Inside, Arima sat on a wooden chair and the old chief walked around in the room.

"So, what do you want to know?" The goblin asked after throwing a log into the fireplace. He sat down and waited for Arima to speak.

"Well, first, where am I right now?" Arima asked as the goblin's eyes widened.

"From there?" He exclaimed but followed by telling Arima where they were.

This town was named Rolec. It was situated at the rear of the country. The weakest monsters lived here. Apparently, if you go deeper in the continent, you'll find stronger monsters who are battling the humans and the beasts every day. There was what you could call the front lines separating each territory. But it wasn't really a war. It was just something that became natural, fighting at the frontiers.

"So, you guys are the monsters who don't fight and stay in the back of the territory?"

The goblin smiled wryly, "Yes, you could say that."

"I want to ask you something. You are a monster. I won't doubt what I'm seeing with my own eyes. But I never heard of monsters capable to be so civilized."

"You're not wrong, but at the same time you are." The old goblin shook his head, "We monsters are a kind which have a lot of carnal desires from birth. At first, we lived by those rules. But something like that can also be said about humans. If you humans were to grow in the wild, you too would become like us to a certain extent. We became monsters in first place because we were treated as so by others."

Arima reflected about it for a second, "Fair enough." He laid his back on the chair and smiled. He pulled out some sweets from his storage and began to eat.

"What should I do?" Arima mumbled to himself. He glanced at the blue goblin, "Tell me about the motives of each side."

"Motives?" The goblin tilted his head.

"The reason they're fighting against each other."

The goblin mused for a moment before answering awkwardly, "The beasts want revenge against humans because they were being used as living weapons… The monsters also want revenge against humans… And from that, beasts and monsters also fight against each other because they're not always on the same page… I think that's the main reason."

"If you want say something, say it." Arima bit on his chocolate and urged the old man to verbalize his thoughts.

The goblin was silenced. He opened his mouth after a few seconds, "…It's the fault of humans."

Arima burst out laughing and Night sighed, "It's funny. Really," Arima restrained his laughter and smiled.

"It's really hilarious how humans are always the problem of everything." He exhaled lazily, "Why do I feel like the world is telling me to take care of them?"

"What do you mean?"

"Forget about that. Give me every single bit of info you have about the leaders of the humans, the beasts, and the monsters."

The goblin took a crude paper to write on and started telling everything he had learned from his precursors.

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