SL Chapter 28 Tiger Masquerading as Sheep
Then there was the man's demeanor. He radiated a feeling of nonchalance even though he was trying hard to convey certain emotions and feelings. He was simply acting for the sake of a goal. A goal none of them knew. And that was enough for Bora to put her guard up against him.
"What do we do with him?" Iris asked as Bo-ram took over the duties of speaking with the man.
Bora' gaze narrowed as she beheld the man, internally warring with herself over what could be done. They could kill him right here. And that would stop whatever plans the man had, but there was also the fact that so far, he hadn't exposed anything that would make him out to be evil. Speculations and suspicions weren't enough to do that. The third option was to leave the man to his devices and continue on. His survival or death would solely depend on himself.
"We need to move on. Plenty of time has been wasted already. Our bodies in the outside world aren't safe." Bora put one foot in front of the other after those words. Whatever mystery the man was holding wasn't as important as her life. They were in danger the longer they stayed within this world. There was also the fact that the people who were killed within this world had supposedly died even in the outside world. She had confirmed it right after they had taken down the panther-like beast.
"I will give you a warning... If you do anything with even a modicum of suspicion, your head will be removed from your body." Bora said as she passed by the man, fixing him with a glare that caused his body to tremble.
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The group continued their trek in single file, with Bo-ram in the lead followed by the suspicious man, then Bora, with Iris bringing up the rear.
Bora took notice of the changed atmosphere within the forest. The sound of dripping blood had become non existent coupled with the gentle breeze. Everything was still. The dull light had vanished at some point with true darkness taking over the place. Through the small breaches within the canopy, stars could be glimpsed hanging within the night sky.
Then came the non existent sound of Bo-ram's footsteps, prompting Bora to look over only to be taken aback by the scene right before the other woman.
The trees had created a border, an invisible demarcation of sorts that gave a glimpse into a massive clearing, where a massive tree rose into the sky, with its trunk having taken up the entire road and street, basically squeezing into the two buildings on either side of the road. Their party still couldn't raise their jaws as they beheld the clearly abnormal phenomenon.
"Wow! I have seen many things in my life... Exotic pieces of art, jewelery, virtual landscapes that could take the breath away, yet this scene has an indescribable aura about it. If someone told me that such a tree could exist, I would most definitely have not believed it!" exclaimed Bo-ram.
"Stay vigilant! This is clearly abnormal!" Bora said after having regained her wits. Her eyes scanned everything. From the ground dug up by the massive tree's roots, to its stem, then up above into the branches. This was an eerie situation. She was now certain that the forest had been birthed from this point, with the massive tree acting as the focal point. For someone to have blocked their way, there must have been something fishy. First, her eyes turned to Bo-ram scrutinizing every micro-fluctuation on her face, yet the woman appeared to have been genuinely surprised. Or was she still acting?
'No no no... Everything else isn't important. What's important right now is finding a way to get around this tree.' Bora thought even as she used her eyes to behold the tree. Different from its lesser counter parts, an energy flow, one of an emerald color was faintly visible on its surface, a sign that it was a spiritual construct.
'Someone probably within the crystal stage...'
Humming entered her ears, causing her to gaze up into the branches, searching for its origin. Then the humming turned into singing, with the voice that came out being far more beautiful than Bora could have anticipated. Yet, for some reason, the man from before turned pale the moment the song entered his ears. It was a sad song, one that evoked feelings of yearning.
'Does he know the owner of the voice?' wondered Bora even as the singing got even more beautiful and ethereal. Bora even got the vague impression that the minor swaying of the smaller trees behind them was related to the singer instead of something a like breeze.
"Who's there?" shouted out Iris as she stood protectively before her. But the singing didn't stop, instead continuing on in its leisurely pace.
Though, for Bora, her attention was being drawn by the nearby man, who was trying to hide the fact that he somehow knew the person singing. He had regained a semblance of calmness, yet his clenched hands, hanging by the sides of his body, were trembling, and his expression was dark, with his face still possessing a modicum of paleness.
The song continued unabated, with Bora having signalled to Iris that she shouldn't say anything more. After a few minutes of the Heavenly song, it ultimately came to an end before the singer spoke.
"I have been waiting for you." In the silence of the night, the words were terrifying, eliciting a spike within Bora's heartbeat.
Then the sound of steps entered everyone's ears, with all turning their gazes towards the origin, upon which all of their expressions turned ugly. What had turned their expressions ugly wasn't the figure stepping down from the tree, but the emerald steps she was creating within the air, using them as foothold for descent.
"A crystal stage..." Bora felt a heaviness settle within her at that realization. 'How could a native have evolved this fast?! It should be impossible!'
The person descending was a young girl with emerald strands of hair falling down her shoulders, with her sharp ears peaking through the cascading hair, exposing her as an elf.
Like how Bora herself had once gazed down at a group of ants during one of her bouts of arrogance, so was the elf doing the same. Her emerald pupils were gazing down at them with a calm, arrogance-filled gaze. As she slowly climbed down step by step, Bora could feel the tension rising within the air. She could practically taste it. This kid was doing this on purpose, creating a shadow of terror within them. Though, even with that knowledge, there was nothing Bora could do to relieve herself of the terror. This was a crystal stage being they were facing! At such a level of power, spiritual energy had reached the level of manifesting outside the body, capable of taking on various forms, only limited by the imagination of the person wielding that kind of power!
When the girl finally reached the ground, with her bare feet stepping upon the uneven ground, whose pavement had long been shattered into fragments, she repeated her earlier statement.
"I have been waiting for you." And this time, Bora was certain that the gaze hadn't been directed towards the entire group in the first place, but on the lone man within the group, the suspicious individual they had just found.
"I knew you would use this route to exit the city. It was the closest, and also the district you were most familiar with, allowing you to easily scheme your way out of any altercations, Slave Merchant Apollot." Her words came out fluently, without the slightest difficulty. Bora even wondered how a child would be capable of speaking such big words without any problems, not to mention the fact that her speech rivaled that of adults.
"Slave merchant?! You piece of shit, were a slave trader?!" shouted out Bo-ram, instantly distancing herself from the man.
"A guy has to make a living somehow. I really wanted to have those exotic eyes of yours. Such beautiful things. Anyway, back to the topic at hand. How did you reach the Crystal stage so fast?" Apollot's entire demeanor shifted, as if he had become an entirely different person. He oozed of confidence and power! His back had become ramrod straight, with the glasses he had been donning being thrown away to the side, where they shattered into pieces.
Bora felt her danger sense tremble at the change in the man, with goosebumps breaking out across her skin. A tiger had been hiding among them, taking itself as a lamb! And they hadn't managed to figure that out!
"Iris! Let's put a bit of distance between us and that man." whispered Bora. They both moved away, creating some distance. What allowed Bora to somewhat breathe out a sigh of relief was the fact that the two didn't seem to care about them.
"I have certain memories of someone whose speaking tone resembles you." spoke the elf even as her body lit up with emerald light.
A book materialized within Apollot's hands, a thick tome with a brown cover, plus the word Bible imprinted upon it.
It opened by itself to the first page and the man spoke...
"The first law of Apollot, Flame spreads like a plague."
Then flames manifested around the man.