A whirlpool of sand began to gather in the sky over the mermaid, merman, and the two oysters. The siblings looked at with a grudging gaze before slowing their pursuit.
The inner world was sensitive to aura fluctuations. Using too much power could sometimes create a sandstorm which was almost always a bad experience.
"But where did they suddenly go?" The mermaid bit her blue lip and snorted.
"Teleported. She could've done that long ago. That bitch was toying with us." The merman crossed his arms and pressed onto his chest in an attempt to withhold the fury that threatened to break out.
The two oysters looked at each other with unwilling gazes, their mouths opened and closed continuously as they chattered in strange sounds. Star pearl was a mutual benefit product for a mermaid and an oyster.
It was the mermaid enslaver's fault! The bastard blew up a large tree and provoked a bunch of crazy bees and snakes on it onto everyone.
They ran for cover and those two slippery thieves took the chance to sneak away!
"Don't let me find you, you mermaid enslaving brutish tyrannical sex fiend maniac!" The mermaid's voice traveled across the forest spanning dozens of miles and echoed in the distant mountains on which dangerous birds made their nests.
The echo also reached an inconspicuous cave that seemed to be filled with bluegrass with glass-like blades and many little fireflies.
"Sexfiend maniac? You fucked a mermaid? You're a fish fucker?" The tree-lady looked at Varian with a skeptical gaze like she was watching a rare species in the zoo.
Varian's lips twitched and he grabbed a handful of grass on the sides. He didn't control his strength and ended up uprooting the grass.
The tree lady's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped. "Oh, fu—"
The mountain they're on shook violently for a moment and the air around the mountain circled around it violently, forming an instant tornado.
"What the—"
A flower covered Varian's mouth and the tree-lady looked at him in a mix of confusion and anger. "The grass is the extending nerves of the creature we're sitting on, dammit! If this one wasn't in deep sleep, it'd be crushing us into a paste."
"A creature?" Varian swept his famine senses but the mountain didn't show the familiar patterns of life force. At least, not enough to be considered as 'living'.
"There are a lot of things that exist only inside the tower! These special mountain creatures are one of them." The tree lady glanced at Varian and narrowed her eyes. "So when you blew up that tree, you didn't know it's the source of growth for those bees and snakes living nearby?"
Varian…remained silent.
"Holy fuck! It was a tree that was just about to hit the ascension period. So we're safe. If it was a mature tree, we'd be chased by half the forest! Even an army of rank 6s can't stop them!" The tree lady rubbed her forehead and muttered. "I can escape but it'll cost me a lot."
Varian leaned against the cave wall and watched the woman go from suspicion to fear to assurance and finally…anger.
"You commoner! Are you an assassin sent to kill me? A spy against the Alliance?" As she waved her hand, a spinning spear exuding a red glow appeared in her palm and pointed at Varian.
Its aura was so powerful that Varian's skin began to crack as soon as the glowing red aura touched him.
'Peak Rank 5 strength? Who is this woman?' He channeled his space powers in case of emergency but acted and spoke calmly. "You teleported us when the bees chased. A tree lady with the power of space is almost more likely a spy than an ignorant in the tower."
"Are you crazy? Why should anyone teleporting be a spy?" The tree lady pushed the spear a bit forward and now it's only two feet away from his neck.
Even with that distance, Varian's back was soaked with sweat and he felt a tingling fear rising up his spine.
Controlling his reactions, he said with a convincing expression. "I might be from a backward province but even I know there are very few space awakeners in the Alliance. In tree people? None."
"Are you really that big of a bumpkin?" The tree lady glared and a few colored marbles appeared between her fingers.
"It's the treasures, commoner. They teleported me. You just happened to be near and got caught up. Too bad for me you didn't become a meal of those snakes. I heard they like crushing bones to powder before savoring them."
Ignoring her taunts, Varian felt a bit stupid for being so cautious about teleportation.
As long as he didn't attack anyone with space powers, it'd be very convenient to teleport in times of danger and claim that it was the work of treasures.
Even though teleportation wouldn't really stop rank 6s from killing him if they put their heart into it, it'd be possible to escape rank 5s.
Maybe he could even attack using his space powers as long as he made a convincing case that it was all treasures. The biggest drawback for faking it was getting found whenever anyone checked your body.
Thanks to the slivers, Varian could hide his powers perfectly and didn't have any issue 'faking' it.
"Why did you act weak and got chased by the mermaids when you could've easily escaped them with your space treasures?" Varian asked.
But he didn't wait for her to answer and continued. "The mermaids were also blabbering about your teammates. So, let me guess, you wanted to put on a show that you were chased. For what? To justify you going missing?"
The arrogant expression on the tree-lady's face dropped and a heavy atmosphere filled the cave.
It took only a moment for Varian to confirm his guess that this woman was playing the role of an 'arrogant young miss' and was up to something.
Her grip on the spear tightened and she stared at him with a tinge of killing intent. "It's bad to delve into others' private matters."
"It's worse to remain silent when you've been pointing a spear at me for the last three minutes."
The tree lady raised a brow and withdrew the spear. "You're not even afraid I'd kill you. Who sent you? My third uncle or my sixth sister? Or my fourth cousin's third wife's brot—"
"Woah, Woah, Woah!" Varian raised his hands and gestured for her to stop. "I'm not interested in or aware of your genealogy. I don't. I'm all here by myself, Princess."
"Princess?" The dull spear once again started glowing and reached Varian's chest in the blink of an eye.
The menacing red glowing from her spear began to fall on his chest and arms. Like a porcelain vase, Varian's skin cracked and blood seeped out of those cracks.
"Hey, stop."
"Let's talk about it."
"Come on!"
When the spear was just a step away from piercing his heart, the panic on Varian's face disappeared and an invisible force enveloped the tree-lady.
Even though the spear was strong enough to seriously injure and even kill a rank 5, its wielder was only a rank 3.
So, when Varian's powers enveloped her without any warning, she froze like a statue and stared at him in horror. But the horror was quickly replaced by anger and even more killing intent.
Gnashing her teeth, the tree-lady tried to swing the spear at him but the powerful weapon only trembled violently and inflicted only superficial damage.
"I don't know who you are." Varian looked into her eyes and said in an almost hypnotizing tone. "But you don't know me either."
"You knew I am a Princess."
"Your arrogant act was so natural that it's obvious. But seriously? There are too many kingdoms and princesses. Even if you're a real princess, it's not too special. For all you know, I could be a Lord yesterday, Duke today, and King tomorrow."
The tree-lady looked at his honest expression and a chuckle involuntarily escaped her mouth. "It's like a beggar telling there are too many trillionaires."
Varian wanted to reply but his body tensed and he instinctively raised his hand to increase the force binding her.
But a strand of the tree lady's long green hair tapped into her belt and a white forcefield enveloped the two.
Then, three white humanoid puppets popped out of her storage ring and encircled him, each exuding strength rivaling a rank 4.
"Fighting me isn't the right choice." The artifact demon sword spun in Varian's hand and hummed in a heavy voice as if agreeing with his words.
"I make choices first and then I make them right." The tree-lady's green hair turned a tad dark and her aura rose up all of a sudden, fighting back against the invisible force binding her.
As Varian was about to counter her, the three puppets jumped at him.
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