Chapter 277 - A Hostile Greeting (2/2)

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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