****
As soon as the blindfold had befallen upon the bee, it went into panic and opened up
its pores to secrete acid and gain distance from Arthur again.
Unfortunately, Arthur knew it would do this and had the perfect counter for it in mind.
'[Paralyze Imbuing]'
As soon as the skill name echoed in his mind, a crackle of electricity went up the bee's spine causing its pores to shut with a snap.
Not wasting this chance, Arthur released his daggers on the bee with lightning speed.
This time his daggers found their way in, and crimson blood started splattering all over the place and his body but he did not stop for a second.
Finally when feeling he was close enough, he pierced the bee with his daggers and went through from one end to another.
The light from the bee's eyes dimmed and dimmed before finally coming to an end with this pierce.
Even though the bee died, Arthur could not stop to rest any moment.
Now that the boss had died, the labyrinth would start collapsing in an hour and he had to hurry.
His injuries were grave and his mana supply had died out, even more so, his conciousness was fading quick with the pain and the acid's effects.
Arthur quickly plunged his hand into the bee to search for any mana core, and after a minute of searching he found none.
It seems that luck wasn't on his side but he shrugged it off and was quickly disturbed by a rumbling in the ground.
There in the middle of the clearing, a pillar started erecting from the ground which was exactly similar to the one he had seen in the cave.
The only difference was that the pillar was much bigger and it had way more runes engraved into it.
As soon as the pillar erected at full height, blue electricity started crackling on its top.
And with a flash of them colliding, a black scroll appeared on the top and the pillar started emitting a black hue like it had done so in the cave.
Arthur recognized the scroll, after all he had seen a lot of them in the books and had personally been given one by his father.
It was a skill scroll.
Skill scrolls were rewards that were given by a labyrinth to the team or a person upon defeating the boss.
The skills ranks varied upon the rank of the labyrinth and the skills could also be passive or active.
As soon as you opened the seal of a scroll, it would disappear and be engraved into your system but this meant that you could also give skill scrolls to other or sell them.
Skill scrolls were available in a vast amount everyday on the Black Market or you could buy one in auctions.
Even then noble households had a personal collection of skill scrolls, they would give to their main bloodline for obtaining power and the Dukedoms were no exception to this.
But it was a fact that skill scrolls in high ranks such as [Grandmaster] Rank or [Virtuoso] Rank were very scarce and rare, due to labyrinths of these ranks being very rare as well.
But if they were sold, then each scroll would cost a fortune to the person.
Arthur headed limply towards the pillar and with each step he could feel excessive pain and loss of consciousness.
Finally, after a minute and at the brink of losing it he arrived in front of the pillar barely grabbing the scroll.
Arthur immediately opened the seal without wasting a moment to look at the skill's description first and immediately a notification popped up in front of him.
______________________________
Congratulations! You have learned the skill:
[Monarch's Dominance]
______________________________
But his focus was elsewhere right now, he had no time to check the skill when he was just going to faint any moment.
Just as he had grabbed the skill, the pillar had broken into dust and a dimensional portal had opened few meters away from it.
It was just like the one he had opened from the device, shining with a myriad of colors and emitting a deep echoing sound.
He did not care right where he would end up, whether his house, the Stormheart manor, the mountain, in front of the man or anywhere in the world.
All he did know was that he could do nothing about it and would be in the care of the people who would find him.
With weak and slow steps, he barely managed to reach the portal before falling forward into it, losing his consciousness finally.
If he had a shred of consciousness left, he would have seen the new notification that had popped up in front of him just a moment before he lost it.
[System Detection: Skills Compatible!]
[Merging two skills: [Assassin's Apathy] and [Monarch's Dominance] into one skill!]
*****
In a lush and vibrant forest, shadows sped past trees in lightning speed.
Their forms were covered with cloaks and hoods and it seemed as if they were heading towards a specific spot.
The shadows were arranged in a specific manner, and it was as if they knew the forest to the core.
Their speed and stealth was impeccable as to an outsider it would seem as if a breeze was just passing through the forest.
Although not on the level of Blades, and even Arthur, who was a top assassin, they were quite practiced in moving silently.
Soon the shadows came to a clearing and halted as they saw a figure lying on the ground covered in grave injuries.
They jumped down to the spot and kept their gazes locked at the figure lying on the ground, to see any movement or irregular thing that could indicate a threat but they found none.
But they still did not move, rather, their gazes moved towards one of the cloaked person standing in the middle and making way for the figure.
The figure was smaller than all of them and the posture and outline implied that maybe the figure was a female but one couldn't be sure because of the loose and baggy cloaks.
They all looked towards the female figure and she nodded towards them before advancing towards the body.
The person lying on the ground was a boy and his form was anything but fine. His whole body was in a grave condition with bruises and cuts all over his body.
His skin was burnt, seared and swollen in many places and his whole body was covered in blood.
The figure turned the face of the boy towards her and even though the boy was gravely injured and hurt, his face was beautiful like anything other.
Upon seeing the boy's pristine white hair and his facial features, a trace of recognition passed over the figure's hooded face and without a moment's hesitation, she took out a small flask.
The flask had a light greenish liquid in it and the figure took off its cork and quickly poured its contents down the boy's throat.
The injuries of the boy immediately started healing at a remarkable pace and the figure took his head under her arm to help him digest it better.
Under a minute, all of the injuries of the boy disappeared and his body was like nothing had happened before.
Then the figure waited for the boy to wake up.
******
A groan escaped Arthur's lips as he finally showed signs of waking up.
His eyelids opened up weakly and as soon as they did, he saw a figure holding his head in its arms.
Immediately, he remembered his memories and realized that he was in enemy territory.
Quickly using [Abyssal Shroud], Arthur jumped back from the figure, and saw even more of them standing behind the one who was holding him.
It was obvious that they were here to capture him, and so he readied himself for another fight.
His cold, monotone voice broke out without any shred of fear.
"Who are you?"
__________________
Seems like Arthur has been caught in enemy territory according to him.
What do you think?
What will happen?
Please comment your thoughts and suggestions down below and don't hesitate to point out my mistakes please.
Thanks for reading :) :>