Chapter 178: 175. The king's goal (1): Blood of an unnatural.
Playing trident's target was a sweet but short experience for Jude. It was an actual sport he was never going to play again.
They did a lot more things but most of the time was spent in the arena playing the sport.
One reason why he continued playing was because the competitors beat him every time at a match.
"At least we managed to win once," Jude said with a smile as he laid in his cell.
"Tsk, if it wasn't for your bad skill we would have won from the beginning. Those guys that played with us... We're playing with us." Zur's voice came from his cell, sounding frustrated.
"It was fun while it lasted. I wonder why the guards are taking time to come get me, it's the third day already," Jude said with a tired sigh.
"Has the axis come up already?" Zur said as he looked out of the small window in his cell to see a bright star shaped item above Atlantis which hovered there.
"Damn, it's already the third day." Zur sighed tiredly as well.
"What's the execution like? Do they just behead the person or do they do they have a shooting squad?" Jude asked and Zur furrowed his brows.
"What? How do humans execution work?" Zur asked as his brow raised.
"Well. When someone is given a death sentence there's a firing squadron who uses guns to just end the person's life," Jude explained.
Zur kept quiet as he heard that. He had a shocked expression which Jude couldn't see.
With a gulp, Zur began to speak...
"W- we Nagas... we gather in a grand arena, if the king is involved then at his palace, if not another arena. And then we witness the departing individual's final display of skill and bravery, celebrating their life and accomplishments through combat."
"It's our culture. And now that I think about it, we really do love fighting any chance that we get." Zur mumbled with a sigh and Jude swallowed and then wore a bitter smile.
"So no dying in peace?" He asked as he was really scared now.
"What's that?" Zur's reply made Jude slump on the ground.
'He doesn't know what dying in peace is...' Jude felt a tear flow down the side of his bitterly smiling face.
He couldn't even hurt the Nagas who came to arrest him the first time. He wasn't even able to beat Zur who was arrested by the same people if he didn't use his vampiric strength.
"The guards are even the last of your worries." Zur shook his head as he felt like crying for this his friend.
"There's something worse?" Jude's voice became hoarse.
"The king's knights. They're not usually in the castle but at the edges of Atlantis along with other warriors to fend off the beasts. All of them are in the higher levels of seventh class..." Zur swallowed as he took a break.
"While the king... Is even at a higher level of sixth class, he could even be a fifth class right now."
"WHAT?!!!" Jude shouted out loud and he covered his mouth with his hand.
"You still got that card to open the bars?" Jude asked.
He was already feeling hot, his heart palpating as he got even more anxious.
"I never thought dying would be so terri--"
"I still got the card, why?" Zur said, interrupting Jude who about to start a conversation with himself.
Jude forgot about the interruption and looked at the wall leading to Zur's cell as if he was giving Zur a death glare.
"Why?" Jude said in disbelief. Then he repeated it again.
"Why?"
"Are you seriously asking me that?!" Jude was about to bang his head on the bars of his cell as he felt that he was going insane.
"He's in cell number SS."
Jude heard voices coming from one of the opposite directions in front of his cell and he slumped on the ground.
Two guards came over and they looked inside Jude's cell to see him sprawled up on the floor.
'I wasn't even the one who did it... Is this how things are here?' Jude thought and he began to sweat.
The sound of his cell being unlocked woke him up from his dilemma and then he frowned as he dashed towards the guard.
"I wasn't the one!!" He shouted, his entire body changing.
The guards were shocked as claws extended from his fingers even longer than when he was pretending to be a naga. His eyes glowed very brightly and then he sank his fangs into the first guard's neck and drank as if his life depended on it.
"You vile creature!!" The second guard shouted as he thrusted his Trident towards Jude's eye and he stretched his hand to catch it.
Just before he held it a screen appeared in front of him. But that didn't distract him as he held the Trident that moment and he was surprised as he was able to hold it in place.
[You have drank the blood of an unnatural creature. You have awakened unnatural genes in your body]
[Strength +200, agility +150, stamina +250, mind -50]
Jude didn't even focus on that and the guard which he was into before that was digging into Jude's back with his claws had gone limp and Jude let him go.
The second guard was still trying to retrieve his Trident and he suddenly left it as he went towards Jude with his claws aimed at his chest.
Jude jumped with a spin. He coiled his right leg in the air and when he faced the guard again, he extended his leg, kicking him in the face.
*BANG!!*
For the guard, it only happened in a second. Jude was like a hurricane which extended a hand to punch him into a wall.
Jude's appearance was slightly changed. There were light blue scales crawling from his arms up to his face and his golden eyes' pupils were no longer circular but slit... Like the Nagas.
The guard pressed a button on his waist and then alarms began to ring.
Jude looked at him and then he sped to the guard before lifting him into the air and drinking his blood.
[You have drank blood of an unnatural. Strength +5, agility +2, stamina +10.]