Chapter 77: The Unseen Threat

3658 breach attempts, this staggering number was enough to instill terror in the heart of anyone, and how could it not? Only three months had passed since his arrival in this world, and being subjected to this many breach attempts during this very short period could mean only one thing.

Whoever this being was that wanted to reach him, they had been trying to do so since the very first moment he had set foot in this world and were still continuing to do so.

Arthur opened his mouth wishing to speak, but the words refused to come out of his throat. Suspiciously he examined his surroundings once more, and despite finding nothing, the silence of the place and its emptiness only increased his worry.

"Damn." He gritted his fangs so hard his gums bled, and unable to suppress his mounting anger and resentment, he growled loudly, "Stop toying with me, have you not had enough? Leave me alone. Whoever you are, just leave me alone."

His voice echoed through the vast tunnel network for several seconds, then silence returned to descend over the place. It was not clear to whom he was directing his words, whether to the system, or his bloodline, or perhaps some invisible eyes that were watching.

He did not wait to receive any reply, and as expected, he did not get one. He stared at the system screen without blinking for a long time, re-read its contents several times, and in the end all he could do was raise his head to the sky, and press his lips together ruefully.

’Who is doing all of this to me? I had wanted to avoid asking this question, but truly, who brought me to this world? Why me and what do they want from me? And also who is this damned person trying to breach the system? And what is their goal in doing so?’

Many questions and doubts crowded inside his head that was already burdened with several problems, causing him to suffer from an annoying headache, and he also felt nausea and suffocation because of the intense anxiety and unease.

He was on the verge of a panic attack, but his bloodline suddenly activated on its own, and in that moment, an overwhelming feeling of calm washed over him, and all the chaos in his head and feelings disappeared.

At the same time, the system screen distorted for a moment, and when it regained its stability, the number of breach attempts had increased by one, becoming 3659.

Arthur watched that with a kind of indifference, for a strong intuition had come over him, coming directly from his bloodline, telling him that he was currently safe, and all he needed to do was focus on increasing his strength.

’It seems I was wrong about the system, for despite the great damage it has sustained, it is doing everything in its power to protect me. The problem is, how long will it continue doing so? Its condition is very bad, and it may malfunction entirely if I do not do something.’

He did not know the consequences of the system shutting down permanently, and did not wish to know. The system was one of his secret weapons and he had to preserve it by every possible means.

Whatever the intentions of the person or persons seeking to reach him, they were most likely not good and he had to be on full alert to defend himself.

’If peace refuses to settle upon me, and running away will do no good, then why would I remain standing with my hands tied? Damn everything, I am the one who will take the war to the doorstep of everyone who wishes to wage it against me.’

A golden glow appeared in his eyes, and an intense thirst for blood emanated from him.

His words did not come from nowhere. He had grown fed up with all these misfortunes that kept raining down on him from every direction, and because of this, he decided to change his plans, or more precisely, he now had new goals he wished to achieve.

Throughout all the time he had spent in this world, he had only two pursuits, the first being survival which had turned out to be a very difficult matter, and the second was regaining his human form, and fortunately, the latter was possible.

For the spider woman had told him that monsters with strong bloodlines and unique traits usually obtained the ability to take on a semi-human form when they ascended to B-Rank.

Since learning about that, he had made B-Rank his goal, but he had now changed his mind. No matter what the cost, he would continue carving his way through the ranks until he reached the legendary S-Rank.

’The time has come to abandon my passive stance, I will search for the answers myself, and I must also find some way to repair the system or at least make it more stable.’

His thoughts fell silent for a brief moment, then he sighed, ’It seems I have no other choice, I must go to the human empire, but, before that, it is better to stay out of sight for a few additional months.’

Waiting a little was a wise decision, for before taking his first steps toward the unknown, he had to do four important things that would increase his chances of survival.

First, making sure the spider woman was not tracking or monitoring him, for if she captured him again it would be impossible for him to free himself from her.

Second, raising his strength to the maximum possible degree, he had surpassed the D-Rank barrier and had already set C-Rank in his sights. He had to reach it or at least get close to it.

Third, he had to monitor the borders of the human empire, and the humans residing near the forest for some time. Information was very important, and the borders might also be very heavily guarded and he had to find a way through them.

As for the fourth and last matter, or more precisely the most important, he had to find some way to conceal himself, unfortunately, there was no place for monsters in the human world.

Of course, he could wait until he reached B-Rank, at which point entering human cities would become easy in a semi-human form.

But this would require a very long time, two years or perhaps twice that, he did not possess all this patience, and in any case, what he intended to do did not require direct confrontation with humans. There were always alternative ways.

In any case, there was no need to think about the matter further, he had determined his priorities, and had already laid out a good plan to follow during the coming months, this being in the event everything went well.

He sighed again, and without deactivating the effects of his bloodline that had maintained his composure, he reopened the main system interface, casually examined it, and at that moment, he noticed something strange.

[ Mail1?! ]

The presence of the number one on the Mail feature meant only one thing, and given his current circumstances, well, he could not quite determine what he felt about it.

What he had discovered during the past few minutes had made him realize that anything was possible.

With a kind of hesitation, he mentally directed his commands to the system, and opened the Mail feature, and then, he saw, what he had expected, and had not expected at the same time.

[ You have a new message

Sender: Unknown???

???????????????????????????????????????

Good luck ?? ]