32 Reduced Kingdom (1/2)
A loud splash resounded as the person falling had landed in the water. He had fell from such great heights that it caused the entire lake to ripple violently despite containing such a shallow volume of water. Upon hearing the sound of the loud splash, Nanling was alarmed and turned towards the source. Noticing that it was a person, she immediately attempted to conceal her confidential body features with her hands. Glaring at the waterlogged person, she was overwhelmed by a desire to thrash and wring the man.
Despite obviously cras.h.i.+ng into the lake at an alt.i.tude which could easily cause mortality, she didn't even once think of the person being injured. It wasn't that she was a callous person but she was just too far away from civilization to be able to encounter another human being coincidentally and few females were able to tolerate being seen in the nude.
As Guren expelled excess water from his lungs, Nanling rushed forward and attempted to land a powerful kick that could erase the memories from his head. Instinctively ducking, he avoided her kick which shocked her greatly.
”Pervert!”, she shouted in indignation as she continually unleashed air piercing blows.
Stoically holding onto the Concealment Mask, he merely stated, ”If you have time to feel humiliated then why don't you dress yourself instead of allowing further exposure?”
She started to blush a deep red when she realized that she could not counter his logic and hesitantly halted her a.s.sault. She then hastily went towards her clothes while glancing every now and then to see if Guren was peeking. For some reason, she felt disappointed when she found out that the masked man did not even glance at her a single time.
Guren was surprised by the speed of her attacks as it was even faster than Tianli's but he would not underestimate someone who had arrived at the supposed Kingdom of Smiths before he did. Also, maybe she was a Master Blacksmith that could help him. Regardless, he refused to be a victim of such a ba.n.a.l misunderstanding. A voyeur would never have entered the water and remained near the forest. An accidental pervert would have been to incompetent to evade her masterful strikes. He on the other hand was deliberately set up by someone.
Drained of excess moisture after activating Aura of Purification, he then looked towards the sky. After being fully clothed, she asked, ”Who are you?”, with some contempt remaining as she still thought he might be a pervert but his combat skills started to dissuade her from this a.s.sumption.
He ignored Nanling completely and smirked before asking, ”Did you think you could escape that easily?”
Before Nanling could ask for clarification, she then heard a feminine voice pleading, ”I meant no harm, great one. I was only sending you to the Kingdom of Smiths”
”Cut the c.r.a.p. I know you're stronger than you feign to be. Are you trying to guide me to the Kingdom or send me on a treasure hunt?”
Instead of kingdom, it was just a lake in the middle of the forest. As the forest did not even end at the horizon, he could ascertain that it was far removed from any roads or signs of civilization. It was a bit weird that there were no animals coming to drink from the lake but he could correlate the reason being the same as to why there were crushed trees everywhere. This lake was not simple as it seemed.
The nymph sighed with indignation before dropping the pretense and saying, ”This is where the Kingdom of Smiths was. On the best dwarven swords, a gem is embedded. If you follow the glimmer, you will eventually reach the Kingdom”
”How do you know this information?”
”As a former guardian of this forest, I obviously interacted with the dwarves”, the nymph stated before puffing out her chest pridefully.
”Clearly you failed as a guardian. Why else would they leave?”
The comment clearly resonated with her as she froze for a second before a.s.suming an aggrieved expression.
”...An unstoppable monster rampaged the lands”, she started but stopped upon seeing Guren's glowing eyes which exuded intense curiosity.
”It's better to run if you encounter it”, she warned.