While Arthur was busy on one side of the Village, caring after the young girl while simultaneously killing all the venom spiders, in the other areas of the Village, other Rank 1 Fae Masters were combating the venom spiders.
Most of them didn't have that much combat experience, and were killed quite easily by the huge numbers of venom spiders.
They didn't have the wide variety of Fae that Dominic or Leon had, nor did they have the same amount of origin essence or origin essence regeneration as Randolf or Andrea.
They didn't even have an amazing combat sense, like what they believed Arthur possessed, and could barely focus on killing one enemy before turning their bodies and realizing there were three more headed their way.
"No! Don't get any closer! Don't you stupid beasts even think about-".
The young woman's voice was cut short, and her screams filled their air before silence reigned over all.
A young eighteen year old Fae Master, at the peak of Rank 1 got cornered, despite being familiar with the layout of the streets and panted, pale in the face as he turned back towards the swarm of venom spiders coming towards him.
Despite his complete lack of any origin essence, the young man gritted his teeth before taking out a Fae, his blood pumping and his eyes dilated, as if under the effects of some sort of drug.
"You fuckers will never take my Village away from me!".
He ran towards them, ignoring the pain that came from venom being sprayed on his eyeballs, and squeezed this particular Fae the moment he got in close towards the group of more than a dozen venom spiders.
A loud explosion resounded throughout the Village.
The Rank 1 Explosive Fae was given to every Fae Master from common birth. In fact, even mortals could use such a fae.
They didn't have any abilities that needed origin essence, and only needed to be squished in order to be activated.
They were one-time use Fae.
When they did activate, even a Rank 1 Explosive Fae could destroy a Lord Ranked spirit beast.
Since it had the capability to annihilate enemies in the realm above its own, some believed that it could kill Rank 6 Fae Immortals so long as there were enough Rank 5 Explosive Fae.
Arthur could only shake his head from side to side, sighing as he watched those idiots get killed only moments after.
If Fae Immortals, even only Rank 6 Fae Immortals were that easy to be killed, then the widespread Fae Formula of Explosive Fae would be restricted by Fae Immortals. Something that was capable of harming them; why would they let such a thing out into the world?
Arthur sighed before pulling the young girl and her young niece towards the Clan Leaders residence.
The entire place was practically empty, but Arthur led the young girl into his bedroom before smiling and patting her on the head.
"Lock the door after I leave. If you hear noises that aren't human, push the drawer in front of the door and then remove the floorboards in the wardrobe. It will lead you down into a saferoom".
The girl nodded furiously, causing Arthur to smile.
He left shortly after and started heading back towards the area where he was hunting.
"That girl.... I think I remember her", he muttered.
It was kind of faint, since he never interacted with her, beyond that one mission in his later years, but he remembered her faintly, as well as what she could do.
The girl, despite her mortal parents, would awaken a talent as a Fae Master.
A first-tier talent at that.
Her Origin Fae was a little hazy to Arthur, but he remembered her winning the new Fae Master tournament for her year. Both of them.
He hadn't exactly planned on "helping" anyone yet, since he needed to wait until after the two beast tides in order to make his decision on whom he would "help", but since such an opportunity had landed right in front of him, why would he refuse such a bounty?
Arthur passed by a group of Rank 1 Fae Masters running away from a group of venom spiders. From just a glance, Arthur could tell that there were at least a dozen times more venom spiders than the small group of Fae Masters and smiled before activating his halberd fae.
A light green coloured wind gathered around his feet, and the ground beneath Arthur cracked slightly as his figure shot forward, heading straight towards this group.
Zoya and his friends suppressed their tears as they heard the sounds of flesh tearing and bones being crushed. They continued to run, sprinting away from the large group of venom spiders which readily gorged on the remains of their friend, whom they had just abandoned.
The young fifteen year old clenched his hand so tightly that it bled, and he cursed his current self for being too weak to help him.
He turned his head back towards the streets in front of him and his eyes widened as a flickering shadow brushed past him and his friends, a huge gust of wind, carrying blood and dust along with it.
His friends might not have been able to see the figure, but Zoya could perfectly.
'Arthur?', he thought.
Zoya and the others paused their retreat as they turned around and watched with eyes wide as Arthur spun his halberd fae around, bisecting a Knight Ranked venom spider without too much effort.
There must've been at least six or seven dozen venom spiders chasing them, constantly shooting webs and spitting venom towards them but-.
"How is he doing that!?!", one of Zoya's friends muttered.
Arthur's expression was cold as his figure spun on the balls of his feet, evading another spray of venom. Making full use of his spinning momentum, Arthur flicked out his halberd fae multiple times, shooting woodpecker fae enhanced thrusts of moonlight towards the venom spiders.
The strength of a Rank 2 Fae, enhanced by multiple Rank 1 Fae was not to be taken lightly.
The thrusts resembled beams of moonlight on a cloudless night. They pierced through flesh, bone, webs and muscle, cutting straight through anything that got in their way.
Numerous venom spiders died instantly, pierced and bleeding profusely through fatal wounds.
Despite using his moon piercer fae to directly kill the venom spiders, Zoya could see how Arthur's moves complimented the capabilities of his Fae, causing his eyes to widen even further.
Arthur's methods of handling swords and halberds never made sense to him, or at least, he never truly quite grasped the essence of what he was saying.
But seeing Arthur now, twirl the halberd around his body continuously, using his movements and the martial arts he had learnt to increase the speed and strength of his weapon.... now it all made sense to Zoya.
"Using martial arts to compliment fae....".
Even when Arthur threw his halberd into the swarm of venom spiders, and switched to his moonsword fae, Zoya could still tell that he was using his body, his own strength to enhance that of the moonsword fae's.
Spinning, twisting, thrusting, slashing, killing.
To Zoya.... it almost seemed as though Arthur was... dancing.
His footwork never once halted.
His posture never once broke.
His eyes were firmly planted on his partner, or partners in this instance.
It may have seemed almost.... beautiful, to Zoya.
His form. His ability. His strength. His technique.
'So this was "Arthur"?', he thought.
The abilities he had shown in the new Fae Master tournament was nothing in comparison to this.
If he wanted to, he definitely could've defeated, or even killed Randolf.
There was absolutely no comparison between them.
It was like watching a child try to cut vegetables for the first time, and comparing it to a chef, who had handled knives for more than several decades.
The confidence. The knowledge. The wisdom.... It was all far too much....
Zoya sighed before shaking his head and pulling at his friends clothes.
"C'mon guys. We need to retreat back to the medical tents. They have one or two Elders there".
One of his friends, still entranced by Arthur's display, just raised his hand and pointed at Arthur.
"B-But what about Arthur? What if he gets hurt while we run away?".
Zoya just shook his head.
"Our current selves cannot even compete against Arthur. The difference between us and him is more than just the difference between cultivation and Fae. We would only just be slowing him down".
The young, hot-blooded teens clenched their fists and showed an unwilling expression.
They knew deep down that they weren't anything special, even compared to Arthur and Randolf, but seeing the actual difference between them, despite being only a few months apart was just....
The group of six sighed before leaving in silence.
Most of them glanced back towards where Arthur was fighting, before sighing once more and heading to the medical tents.
If this was the difference between Arthur and them, then what was the difference between Arthur and someone like Randolf, or Andrea?
Perhaps, they couldn't even comprehend the differences in strength.