NOVEL WEB Chapter 199: Core's chamber
"Kid, what is a human doing in the middle of our home?" The burly man spent only a few seconds staring at me after my introduction before averting his eyes. Glossing over what I said as if I never happened, the man turned his eyes to Teria.
"Father, it's just like he said. He is not a human from a wingless tribe." Shaking her head, Teria stepped forward, putting herself between me and her father. "There is no grudge between him and our clan. And I have some other things I need to tell you," looking around in a pretensional manner, Teria squinted her eyes as she looked at her father's face again, "just not in such a crowded place."
For a moment, I really didn't know how the situation would develop. Even though I managed to make short work out of all the winged humans that I fought with so far, this man was on an entirely different level.
If I were to compare the faint aura of power that Teria and her colleagues gave away to the tense air around the man… No, comparing the two would be utterly pointless. There simply wasn't a scale allowing me to fully grasp the power that this man wielded. He was incomparable to anything that I saw so far in my life, even the effects of the recurring stones included.
"I understand." After the thrilling moment of silence, Teria's father finally responded. Releasing a deep sigh, he then looked at me. "I won't kill you right now. You can introduce yourself properly now."
Noticeably aware of the impression that anyone skilled enough would have of him, the massive man lowered his hands along his huge waist as if to indicate a lack of harmful ideas.
"Well, if I were to be perfectly honest, that bastard just dupes me with whatever missions he wants, and here I am now, stuck in this world, trying to figure out what those missions even mean. And well, I really go by Marius." With this slight window of opportunity to talk a bit more, I openly revealed my situation.
When I first introduced myself, my only aim was to shock the man for long enough, for the curiosity to seep into his mind. And without any immediate hostilities, I could elaborate on my situation a little more.
"I see." Refusing to comment on my second introduction, Teria's father turned around before gesturing us to follow him. Not wasting any time on waiting, he instantly pushed forward, threatening to leave us behind if we failed to follow.
"Let's go. You caught his interest, so you might see the day after that." Wiping the sweat from her forehead, Teria breathed out before picking up the pace.
As soon as we crossed by the gate, the massive wooden doors were shut close, preventing anyone else from entering the mission. At this point, I could only hope that we would soon get to sit down, as my legs were already slowly giving up. In the end, carrying a girl on my back for an extended period of time was quite taxing.
"We shall talk here." After a few moments of walking, the man who proved that a child didn't necessarily need to inherit a parent's psychique pointed at a small gazebo. Located behind the mansion itself, it stood in the middle of a small refugee.
"A beautiful place." Staring at the small pond filled with pristinely clear water and fish playing inside, at the dense thicket of trees that separated this small place from the rest of the city, I couldn't help but mutter.
"Much appreciated." For some reason, Teria's father took this silent awe personally. "He cultivated this place himself. That tree in the middle…" Leaning over my eyes to whisper, Teria stopped mid-sentence when her father sent her a scolding look.
"Now, tell me why do you think it was appropriate for you to bring a wingless man to the city." Slashing the air with his hand, the man cut Teria's protests before she could even voice them. "I already know he is not of the tribe we fight with. But will the citizens know this as well? What will you do if they start protesting because of your naive actions?"
As I heard this conversation, rather than feeling down due to a rather non-welcoming attitude of the man, I felt warmth spreading through my soul. While I might stand on a different side than Teria's father and Teria herself, I couldn't help but feel jealous of how this man scolded his daughter.
Not because I was some kind of masochist, urged to look for more and more vivid and intense experiences. It was simply because I could see the amount of affection hidden behind each and every single word of Teria's father.
"If you want people to know something, you should attempt to clumsily hide it away." Even though I felt bad for intervening, I had no time to just watch the family drama unfold. All its potential developments aside, every moment I was wasting meant a single moment less before the time freeze would conclude.
"Shut your… Wait, that's actually an idea." Suddenly revealing an uneasy smile, Teria's father proved that he wasn't as simple a figure as I initially assumed. "That's one way to deal with this problem. But still, you said there was something you had to tell me about that man." Turning his head towards Teria once again, I had to wait for a moment before reaching to my pouch.
After all, if I were to do it too quickly and Teria's father would turn his head back my way so quickly that his neck would snap… How could I cheer her up in such a situation? No, it was better to just give the man's neck muscles some time.
"I believe it has to do something with this sacred core here." Pulling out the shiny stone, I presented it for everyone to see. If the atmosphere was tense before, now the air could be cut with a knife. In fact, the atmosphere turned so thick, that I could bet if someone were to leave a knife midair, it would refuse to fall!
"Where did you… No, it doesn't matter." The face of the man darkened. Stepping closer, he extended his hand. "Give it to me now, and I will spare your life."
Taking a step to the back, I opened up the palm of my other hand. In it, locked between the palm itself and my thumb, the recurring barrier stone laid. "Threaten me again, and this entire city will disappear."
As much as I grew to respect this man over the course of the last few minutes, it didn't change a thing. Right now, my priority was to finish the mission as soon as possible, return to earth and take control over my sect. And the first step to do so was to follow the side missions predesigned by the system.
And giving up the sacred core didn't align with this objective of mine at all.
"Father, please, wait a moment." As soon as the stone appeared in my hand, Teria's face turned blank. After all, she already saw what this little piece of strange rock was capable of. What she didn't know though, was that I had all three remaining recurring stones right at my thigh pocket, ready to be used at any time necessary.
"Wait? Are you seriously telling me to wait right now?!" Even though the man didn't shout, his voice was still far louder than the shouts of an average man. With his very own aura etched into every single word of the local ruler, it seemed that his voice alone already reached the stage where it could be called an attack.
"Yes. Because what he needs to do, is to bring the stone exactly where we always wanted to bring it." Pushing through the stormy aura of her father, Teria once again stood on his path. This time, not only did she shield me with her own body, but she also spread her arms out, as if attempting to show that she wouldn't budge.
"What a funny thing to say. Let's test it right away, then." Pulling his aura all back, Teria's father smiled before pointing his hand at one of the trees behind the gazebo. While I wasn't quite sure, it seemed that it was the same tree Teria was looking at when she attempted to whisper something to me before. "If you really are here to return the stone, the holy tree will open itself up to you. If not, it will kill you." With a wide smile appearing on the man's lips, he turned to the side before sitting on the couch underneath the sun shield.
"Well, that won't be the first time I will be risking my life for those stupid missions." Shrugging my shoulders, I moved forward. In a few steps, I passed by that massive man… Yet he did nothing outside of keeping his smile up.
From the looks of things, he really meant to allow me to reach for that sacred tree or something.
"Well, I hope you didn't dupe me into something ugly this time…" Praying silently to that god behind my system, I clasped my fingers around the small sacred core before making another step. Right now, I was already well within the reach of its branches.
And as if it was a curtain unveiling before a theatre play, the bark on the beautiful, blue-colored tree slid away, exposing a small chamber and a pedestal hidden underneath.
"I can't believe it…" Only now did Teria's father acknowledge what was happening right before his eyes. Yet, rather than paying attention to that boring man, my eyes were drawn by the intensely flashing, green light of the 'Reunite the family' side mission.
"I guess it goes here…" The hints couldn't be any more obvious this time. With a single swipe of my hand, the round core found itself atop the pedestal.
And then, a white blanket covered my vision.