Chapter 277: A Hostile Greeting

Tempest Cliff, inside the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance's small ecosystem.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Within one of the rooms inside the Tower of Seclusion, one would be able to find a humanoid made out of light blue energy sitting on the ground. At the moment, multiple specks of light blue light flitted around its body, making one feel that they were looking at an elemental commonly found in forests. On top of that, the aura this being radiated was akin to the feeling one felt from having a soft breeze caress one's skin. Surprisingly, one would also feel relaxed and calm while looking at the being. This being was none other than Horell, the Supreme Guardian of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance.

After Aurus had undergone his process of evolution, the strength of the alliance as a whole had been bolstered to a great degree under the leadership of three experienced leaders. Adding on the fact that the alliance had also leveled up thanks to it, one could say that if the war between Chonk and the alliance had happened once more, the overwhelming victory the alliance obtained would be more overwhelming than before.

As multiple specks of light continued to flit around his body, Horell's sense of vision was currently closed, allowing his senses to sharpen as he focused on improving his combat power. Although he was the Supreme Guardian of the alliance, the strength he had a Pseudo-Animate was now lacking, prompting him to go ahead and seclude himself for improvement as he recalled the strength the three leaders showed.

Naturally, Horell accepted the fact that Herellia was stronger than him. Since she was the leader of the alliance, it would not make sense if she had a level of power less than that of the Supreme Guardian. What urged Horell to go ahead and improve himself was, in fact, the two other leaders of the alliance, which were Harriott and Cermalia.

Since their respective alliances had been destroyed by Chonk, they were fine with becoming Elders of the alliance. But being equipped with the knowledge and know-how they had before that happened, combined with the power of the current alliance, it made sense that they would grow back to their original strength in no time…and that's exactly what happened.

By arduously fighting against Inanimates for over half a week, their power had now returned to that of an X-grade Inanimate. On top of that, it seemed to surpass their original strength as well. At this point, Horell decided to spar with them to see how strong they've gotten, only to find out that their strengths at full power were actually comparable to his.

"As expected from the former leaders," Horell muttered to himself as he let out a sigh. After that, he continued to manipulate the specks of light surrounding his body, understanding their intrinsic nature.

Unfortunately, just as Horell felt that he was about to achieve a breakthrough in his understanding of the blue specks of light, a terrifying aura from afar washed over his body, prompting him to abruptly halt his training session as the feeling he felt from that aura was something he did not ignore.

A feeling of fear and death.

In an instant, Horell opened his sense of vision before going ahead and muttering incantations, conjuring a few magic circles over his hands a few seconds later. He then sent these circles towards the direction where he felt the aura, allowing him to obtain more information about who the being that radiated the aura was. It only took a few seconds for him to collect the information while the being that radiated it was left unaware.

With that information in mind, he hastily sent a strand of energy towards Herellia, informing her that he had important news to tell her. After that, he went ahead and disappeared from the room he was in an instant, appearing in another place not a second later. After repeating that for a couple more times, he had eventually arrived at where Herellia was at.

Greeting him was the sight of a large branch covered in crimson red veins, radiating an aura that took on a shade of crimson red. Even though Horell was not inside the aura, it was enough for him to feel the intense bloodl.u.s.t brought about by the aura. Of course, this branch was none other than the leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, Herellia.

Whoosh!

With the aura surrounding her being dispelled in less than a second, Herellia soon opened her sense of vision before focusing on Horell, who was currently in front of her. Reading the message contained in the strand of energy he sent her, she then went ahead and asked him, "What news do you have to tell me?"

"Probably bad news," Horell replied, radiating an aura of slight fear and trepidation. In response, Herellia replied, "Oh? How so?"

"While I was training in the Tower of Seclusion, I sensed an aura stronger than myself enter the Tempest Cliff," Horell responded to her question. He then continued, "At first, I thought this being was only passing through the Tempest Cliff to head towards another direction. But then, I went ahead and utilized a few spells to predict the being's path."

"Surprisingly, the path that being is taking ends at our base," he added, making Herellia feel like another problem involving the alliance was about to appear once more.

"Did you check what existence level that being is at?" Herellia soon asked after absorbing all the information, with Horell nodding his head as he replied, "Pseudo-Animate, though on the stronger side."

"Hmm…" Herellia mulled over their possible course of action for quite some time. Eventually, she looked at Horell and asked, "Although I could go ahead and utilize the thing I did back in the war, it takes a long time for it to be prepared."

"Do you think you can go and confront that being in my stead?" she added not long after, to which Horell lightly nodded. He then uttered, "Although I'm not sure if I can defeat the being, I'm sure I could stall for time, giving you enough time to prepare that technique."

"As expected of you," Herellia said in response to his statement, letting out a light chuckle afterward. She then pondered over Horell's chances of stalling for enough time, concluding that it would be better if he had access to that certain technique.

Just as Horell thought that the conversation between them was over, Herellia suddenly said, "You know what? To make sure you can stall for enough time, you can use the Supreme Alliance skill."

"Are you serious?" Horell could not help but ask, radiating an aura of slight disbelief. At most, he thought that he would just have to rely on his skills and hope that luck was on his side. But with the Supreme Alliance skill in his arsenal, he was sure that he could stall for enough time. Of course, he did not show his excitement in being the first one to use it in a fight, maintaining his composure.

"Mhm," Herellia uttered before saying, "Don't use it at the start. Only use it as a last resort, okay?"

"I'll keep that in mind," Horell replied as he nodded. He then said his goodbyes to Herellia before disappearing in front of her field of vision. At the very instant Herellia was now alone, she muttered to herself, "I wonder if the alliance would be in danger in front of such a being."

"But now that I think about it, from the information Horell gave me, why do I feel like that aura is quite familiar?"

…

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Whoosh! Whoosh!

With all of his movement speed boosting skills and spells activated, it was a literal breeze for Argentum to tread through the terrain of Tempest Cliff, which he once thought was hard to do if one could not teleport. Nevertheless, even though he was dashing at ludicrous speeds, with the help of his enhanced senses, he was still able to see everything around him in great detail, allowing him to appreciate the landscape of Tempest Cliff, even though harsh winds always blew in the area.

"No other landscape truly beats the landscape of where you came from," Argentum muttered to himself as he let out a light chuckle.

After that, he continued dashing through the terrain, utilizing the system's map to plot out a route that would take him the least time to arrive in front of his destination. Naturally, being the clone of Aurus, the destination he had in mind was none other than the base of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance.

Whoosh!

As a few more minutes passed, the sight of a large entrance soon greeted his vision, increasing the amount of elation he felt when he knew he was getting even closer. Eventually, Argentum stopped running, allowing him to appreciate the sight of the entrance from a few meters away.

"Now I'm seriously back," he muttered to himself with a soft giggle as he looked at the base with an aura of nostalgia radiating from him. Just as he was about to take a few steps to enter the base, his enhanced vision could not help but notice that a being familiar to Aurus had appeared at the periphery of the entrance, its sense of vision focused at him.

Radiating an aura of calm and composure with a hint of killing intent, this being made Argentum feel like he was not allowed to enter the base. But being familiar with the energy of the being a decent distance away from him thanks to his shared memories with Aurus, Argentum could not help but initiate a conversation by saying, "Hello there! It's nice to meet y—"

Unfortunately, before he could even finish his greeting, this being's aura had abruptly changed to that of hostility as its voice resounded throughout the area.

"Who are you?" the being asked. "What's your purpose for coming here?"

"Er…" Argentum hemmed and hawed in response to the being's question, pondering over the approach he was going to use to answer the being's question. Naturally, he knew that this being was Horell, but Horell did not know him at all since Aurus and he had decided to not introduce him before he came back from his journey.

'I wonder why he's so hostile to me?' he thought to himself, mulling over the possible reasons as to why. It did not take long for an obvious answer to surface in his mind, asking himself inwardly, "Is it because my strength is deemed a threat to the alliance?"

"Yeah, that seems to be the most likely answer," Argentum softly muttered to himself soon after. With that in mind, he decided that answering Horell's question politely would be better, making sure that his choice of words did not appear brash or boorish.

Imitating the sound of one clearing their throat to attract Horell's attention, Argentum started his answer with a light bow, briefly confusing Horell. Soon after, he opened his mouth and answered Horell's two questions by saying, "Nice to meet you! My name is Argentum. I came to the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance to meet up with Aurus."

"Aurus?" Hearing a familiar name being said by the being in front of him, Horell could not help but think pessimistically. He thought that this being was out to get Aurus while he was still in the process of evolution. With that in mind, Horell asked in a serious tone, "What is your relationship with Aurus?"

"Hmm…" Since Aurus and he had agreed to not divulge the information that he was his clone before Aurus finished evolving, Argentum decided to answer the question in a way that alluded that the two of them had a very close connection. "Probably blood brothers. That's how close I am with Aurus."

"Heh…" Horell uttered as a sign that he understood what Argentum was saying. But just as Argentum thought that the conversation would end here, allowing him to enter the alliance base without a problem, the aura Horell radiated had intensified by multiple degrees in an instant. Unfortunately for Horell, although it was stronger than before, it was still lacking when compared to Argentum's current aura.

Before Argentum could ask what was happening, Horell took the initiative to start the conversation this time, coldly talking to him as he said, "If any other person were to greet you in front, then you would have already gotten inside. Unfortunately for you, I'm very close with Aurus so I can't let you get in that easily."

"How about this?" he continued. "If you defeat me, then I'll allow you to enter the alliance, as long as you're under my supervision."

Listening to Horell's words, Argentum could not help but think of going all-out from the get-go to get it over with. But then, he thought that this would tarnish Horell's reputation as a Supreme Guardian, so he opted not to do so. Nevertheless, he wanted to know what would happen if the opposite occurred, prompting him to ask, "And what if I don't defeat you?"

"You can't get in. Simple as that," Horell replied in a cold tone, conjuring a ball of energy that radiated quite a terrifying intent of destruction.

"Oh," Argentum said in response to his words before pondering over something for a bit.

Whoosh!

A few seconds later, a ball of blue energy soon hovered over his right palm as he looked at Horell with an aura of expectation. Letting out a light chuckle as he noticed that Horell was ready to fight against him, he said, "Since you're eager to defeat me, how about you attack first?"

"Just don't tell me after all of this that you regret this, okay?"

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