Numerous waves of fireballs, icicles, shadow balls and earth spears launched from the Fae Masters side, trying their best to combat the literal tsunami of venom sent their way.
The venom from venom spiders didn't use origin essence, and was a biological function that all venom spiders possessed from birth. They had the advantage over Fae Masters in that even if they didn't have Fae, they could still fight.
If this were the start of the battle, then perhaps the Fae Masters from the Kovacs Clan could wipe them all out, but after fighting numerous Baron Ranked spirit beasts, the vast majority of their origin essence had been used up.
The cries of half-melted faces, and the screams of those who once knew them filled the air.
Not only had the Kovacs Clan underestimated the power of the beast tide, but they couldn't account for the existence of a Beast King leading them.
They weren't fighting against a mindless army of beasts, they were fighting against an existence capable of the same level of thought as them.
The Noxious Venom Spider Beast King screeched, commanding the lower Ranked venom spiders to scatter and spread out, trying to envelop Parachenko Village.
Arthur noticed the change in the venom spiders positioning and density before nodding and leaping off the roof.
From the beginning, he had never not planned on killing spirit beasts.
Not only was it a great source of loot, from the amount of resources that these spirit beasts would give, but also Arthur needed to vent.
It had been quite a while since he last got his hands dirty, and not used someone else, or something else to get the job done for him.
Using underhanded tactics and schemes was all well in good in the long run, but there was something about watching the life drain from the eyes of his opponent, as he slightly tightened the grip on their neck that just.... resonated with Arthur.
Immediately he activated his bloodseeker leaf fae and wood essence fae to regenerate his origin essence.
The Elders would take care of the Rank 3 Venom Spiders while the Noxious Venom Spider King would continue to mobilize the lower Ranked spirit beasts to surround the Village.
There were hundreds of venom spiders heading towards Arthur alone. It would be a waste to leave such a tasty snack alone when they practically walked up to his door.
Arthur walked through the streets, moonsword fae in one hand and halberd fae in the other. Metal arms fae had been activated and so had his crocodile tail fae.
One of the venom spiders crawled out from one of the smaller streets in the Village, and instantly saw Arthur, letting out a loud screech before quickly approaching him.
It crawled in a strange and peculiar pattern, similar to zig-zag, but made use of the walls and hanging verandas along the sides of the street.
It leaped into the air and sprayed a thick, green venom towards Arthur.
Despite its strong agility and manoeuvrability, it couldn't adjust its posture mid-air, and its eyes widened as a sharp, metre long blade of moonlight came slicing straight through the centre of its body.
Arthur pivoted his body, letting the severed corpse fly past him as he continued forward.
The cry from earlier had attracted the attention of a plethora of other venom spiders, all of which started to converge on Arthur's location.
He grinned.
"Time to see what a bunch of little insects can do!".
Arthur started jogging, all of his fae still activated as his jog slowly started to turn into a run.
He didn't activate his wind stalker fae, yet his speed was already comparable to Zoya, with his wind stalker fae activated.
The differences in physiques and the additional Blood Fruits caused Arthur's physical abilities to reach Rank 2. Even if he were to fight Leon or Dominic again, without any Fae, there was a good chance that he would win....
Arthur's smile reached his ears as he entered a full blown sprint. His eyes darting in every direction imaginable before locking onto a group of venom spiders trying to enter the house of a mortal family.
His figure flickered, and his moonsword fae slashed out multiple times, cutting those Knight Ranked venom spiders to ribbons as he continued forward.
As he turned a corner, Arthur's pupils shrunk as he thrust out with his halberd fae, using the woodpecker fae in addition with the moon piercer fae to cut straight through a large web shot towards him.
The large moonlight coloured thrust shot forward, piercing straight through the webbing and piercing the Rank 2 venom spider behind it.
Arthur dodged to the side, his footwork being utilised to a degree far more than what he did during the tournament as he weaved through sprays of venom and large balls of webbing his way.
Every time he flicked his sword or waved his halberd, something would die.
Arthur ran, and continued to run through the streets of Parachenko Village, leaping of walls and running over buildings continuously sending ranged slashes and thrusts towards the oncoming venom spiders.
His origin essence continuously depleted itself as Arthur used more and more abilities, but the effects of both the bloodseeker leaf fae and the wood essence fae regenerated his quartz origin essence far faster than what normal Fae Masters were capable of.
Not to mention having the vein limit fae was also a permanent boost to his origin essence regeneration.
Arthur threw his halberd fae, using the woodpecker fae on it as well, piercing straight through the eye of a Rank 2 venom spider. Running towards it he slashed out multiple times in front of him, sending large cuts of moonlight towards another group of venom spiders, creating large ditches from where the moonslices cut through.
Picking up the halberd fae which he had thrown, Arthur heard the cries of a young baby along with the snarls of a venom spider.
Stopping his advance, he paused and entered the house from which the sound had come from and narrowed his eyes at the sight inside.
A young girl, probably only one or two years younger than Arthur used a chair to repel an extremely small venom spider, as it snarled and shot venom towards her as well as the baby behind her.
Arthur raised an eyebrow as he looked at the small venom spider.
Just from one glance, he could tell that it was a spirit beast, although its size and the strength of its venom was nowhere near the same level as any of the Knight Ranked venom spiders Arthur had killed before.
It was.... the size of an actual baby, which was somewhat frightening in its own right, but nothing worthy of Arthur's attention.
"Is it a mutation? Or something else?", he muttered.
Arthur flicked his sword, sending a moonslice towards the venom spider, instantly killing it.
The young girl jumped back when she saw the Fae ability and turned her head towards Arthur, before freezing up as she collapsed to the ground.
When Arthur saw her face, he froze slightly, realizing who he had just saved, and glanced towards the baby in the cradle before turning his head towards the deceased young woman and young man on the other side of the room.
The expression on the girl's face seemed lost, as she gazed at the deceased bodies of her older brother and sister-in-law. They had just had their first child, and they had yet to even name them, since she was born only a few hours ago.
The cries from the baby attracted the spirit beasts and caused them to attack their home, leading to the deaths of her family....
Her eyes seemed wet, yet now tears flowed from them. It was almost as though she were trying to force herself to cry.
Arthur saw the expression on her face and smiled before placing his weapons on the floor and pulling the girl into his embrace.
The sudden warmth that this stranger had shown her, instantly reminded her of the family she had just lost. Without even so much as blinking, the girl clutched at Arthur's shirt, letting out all of her emotions as she cried.
She had just lost her family, her kind, strong older brother who supported the family, and her gentle, motherly sister-in-law whom treated her more like a daughter than a sister.
All she had left, was the baby whom her family created, and who caused their deaths.
The girl threw those thoughts to the back of her mind, before clutching at Arthur's jacket and crying even harder.
She didn't know what hurt more, the realization that the only people who cared about her in the world were now dead, or that she felt that the child was responsible for their death....
On the other hand-.
Arthur smirked as he wrapped one arm around her back, and the other around her head, stroking it slowly. The girl has just lost her entire family, and she couldn't be alone right now, lest she do something stupid, like take her own life or the baby's life.
He lowered his face to her own, as the girl's tears slowly dried up.
He smiled at her, with all the love and affection that a person could possibly give.
"I promise.... I won't let anything bad happen to you anymore".