Return Of The Strongest Player

If they didn't…

They were not human.

As Arthur thought those words, a smile began blossoming on Oscar's face. His eyes were still fearful, but his body reacted vastly differently to what the former conveyed. Soon, his eyes unfocused.

His facial skin peeled, forming scars that eventually weaved into a pattern. Two lines emerged from below and above Oscar's ears, curving downwards before colliding near his nose. Blood emerged from the torn skin.

Oscar stood still, maintaining a faint smile on his face.

Arthur, sensing the growing intensity of Oscar's power, retreated a few meters. Skofnung remained by his side on standby, and with focused eyes, he concentrated on the changes on Oscar's body.

His entire constitution was shedding.

Arthur watched calmly, yet he felt a sense of anxiety surge from within. The changes in Oscar's body and mind weren't natural. It was as if a being contradictory to human nature was possessing Oscar's body.

Yet, it wasn't the existence itself.

'It seemed the loss affected him quite a bit…' Arthur muttered internally. 'He went ahead and made a deal with a Guardian.'

Guardians were beings affiliated to the Tower Administration. However, their loyalty was not eternal, and they were simply employees of a large corporation that held influence all across the tower.

Guardians, sometimes, were retired players.

There were Guardians that valued their sense of justice, and considered themselves the caretakers of the future generation. However, as Guardians were not mindless beings trained to think a certain way, there were bound to be those who deviated from the path of the righteous.

Some were eventually caught and arrested. Those who performed their activities in broad daylight were bound to be reprimanded.

However, there were some who did dealings from the shadows. They abused their tremendous power, straying away from the righteous path and entering a territory the Tower Administration had named "Fallen Guardian."

Fallen Guardians were renowned across the tower for their malicious deeds and atrocious acts, and were usually arrested and executed once they were discovered. Their kind was condemned across reality.

And it was only natural.

Fallen Guardians were those who benefited from newbies and newer players who hadn't experienced the taste of true power. Their deeds were quickly masked by the veil the Tower Administration possessed.

However, they could not blind those who had the ability to tear the veil apart.

It seemed Oscar, after suffering the humiliation of absolute and utter defeat, had come into contact with a Fallen Guardian. What transpired next was unknown, but the veil–also known as Oscar's human body–was tearing apart.

Soon, what occurred in the shadows would come to light.

"Arghhh!" Suddenly, Oscar's head shot downwards, his chin colliding with his upper chest. Groans escaped his lips, and so did the crimson, viscous substance that usually resided within one's body.

His vitality was seeping from his wounds.

Oscar's eyes were bloodshot, and soon, he raised his hand. With a swift movement, he tore the skin covering his face to shreds, revealing the bones of his skull along with the cartilage previously present in his nose.

Blood spilled.

He then shoved his hand within his skull, retrieving what seemed like his brain. Clamping his fingers shut, he crushed his own brain. Then, a few chuckles escaped his lips before they evolved into demented laughter.

"Kekeke!" The laughter soon degraded into the pitiful screams of the man who'd perished.

But it was soon replaced by the elation of an entirely different entity… one that now occupied Oscar's body. Arthur clicked his tongue, lamenting on the fact that his revenge would not be satisfactory.

Oscar had already died from within.

His body was now a puppet.

Not a single shred of vitality or intelligence remained. Oscar's existence had faded, similarly to how a cocoon becomes worthless once a butterfly emerges from it. Only, the butterfly–in this case–was an ugly clump of flesh.

Once Oscar had died, monumental changes occurred to his body.

His limbs fell off, allowing dark tentacles to replace them. With a swift movement, the existence residing in Oscar's body ripped all the human skin off, allowing its moist, gooey skin to be revealed.

The moist skin was dark, lined with dark-green marks that formed a pattern. It was a tentacled creature that seemed like nothing Arthur had ever seen before. Moreover, it seemed to have intelligence.

"Who are you?" Arthur inquired, maintaining a calm expression, regardless of what his internal emotions were.

"An incarnation of Joel…" The tentacled creature muttered, breaking into deranged laughter. It didn't possess a mouth, but a wide opening through which green spikes that seemed like teeth emerged.

It was a circular opening, located in the center of its body.

"My name… What is my name?" The incarnation of Joel asked, tilted what seemed like its head to the side. 

Arthur didn't respond, letting out a sigh. It was Joel, a reptilian Guardian. The crimson-eyed man assumed Joel was the Guardian for Oscar's batch of newbies, similar to how Dracolius managed his batch.

The difference was that Dracolius had sworn loyalty to the Tower Administration.

On the other hand, Joel was revealed to be a Fallen Guardian a few years down the line.

'So he made a deal with Joel…' Arthur muttered internally, shaking his head while chuckling, as if mocking the dead Oscar. Joel's mere appearance was untrustworthy, yet Oscar willingly offered his life as compensation.

Simply to kill Arthur.

'He was truly stupid,' thought the crimson-eyed man. Then again, the man was probably unbeknownst to Joel's shrewd nature. Appearance was not a factor in whether one could be trusted.

Many species had a similar appearance to Joel, and they were present all across the Tutorial World.

It wasn't too far-fetched that Oscar had made a mistake.

But, willingly offering his life towards such a meaningless cause? Arthur was confident he could defeat whatever stood before him, even if it were a… 'What the fuck even is this?' Arthur let out a chuckle internally.

With a swift motion, he rushed forward with Skofnung's tip aimed towards the body of the incarnation of Joel.