Chapter 408 - What They Missed (1/2)

As they stood in front of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, Herellia and Argentum looked at each other for a bit, wondering which one of them was going to make Horell come out of the alliance. After looking at each other for a bit more in silence, Herellia couldn't help but let out a light sigh as she said, ”Fine, I'll do it.”

Whoosh!

In less than an instant, Herellia released the entirety of her aura, covering a great portion of the alliance. While doing so, she utilized the control she had honed while she was in the inheritance to amplify the loudness of her voice as she shouted, ”Horell, come out here!”

Swoosh!

Not long after Herellia was finished shouting, a great number of Inanimates at S-grade and X-grade soon arrived at the main hall before making their ways near the entrance of the alliance. Sometime later, the familiar aura of a being soon emanated from the end of the main hall, prompting Herellia and Argentum to look at the being that was coming closer and closer to the entrance.

Eventually, the being had revealed itself, taking on the shape of a humanoid even though it was made out of slightly dark cyan energy. When one looked at the being, they would feel like they would be absorbing more mana, which was true as he seemed to be the embodiment of mana. This being was none other than the current leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, Horell.

As he made his way to the very front of the crowd, Horell instantly noticed the red-haired girl and exclaimed in great surprise, ”Herellia! It's great to see you again!”

Seeing that the beings that were looking for him were actually familiar, Horell commanded those that came to the main hall in order to protect it to head back to where they were previously were, allowing them to do their own things. After all of them had left the vicinity, only then did Horell come closer to Herellia. However, before he could hug her after being separate for quite a long while, another being in the area could not help let out a light cough as he said, ”You're missing someone else here, you know?”

Hearing that, Horell could not help look at Argentum and ask, ”And…you are…?”

”You don't recognize him, Horell?” Herellia said in response, trying her best to hold her laughter. ”You don't recognize Argentum?”

”Argentum?” Horell muttered the name a few times in silence, trying to recall who he was, only to exclaim in shock, ”Wait a minute! That Argentum? Aurus's clone? The one who helped you achieve Animate level? That Argentum?!”

”The one and only,” Argentum replied, lightly chuckling. On the other hand, Horell was left at a loss for words as he knew for a fact that a Pseudo-Animate couldn't become an Animate. ”How…how did you become an Animate?”

Smiling, Argentum answered, ”I didn't.”

”Huh?” Naturally, Horell was quite confused as to what Argentum meant by that. However, not long after, the answer to his question was revealed as Argentum deactivated [False Visage of the Animate].

Swoosh!

Within seconds, the silhouette of a humanoid made out of gray energy appeared in the sights of both Herellia and Horell, with Horell being left at a loss for words from the sheer confusion and awe he felt while looking at Argentum. Unsurprisingly, the first question that came out of Horell's mouth was, ”How…?”

”I've obtained this skill from one of the friends I've made along my journey,” Argentum said before continuing, ”If you want, I could ask that friend to come here and teach you that skill as well.”

”Seriously?” Hearing how he could become an Animate, or at least look like one, Horell could not help but come closer to Argentum and give off the feeling that he was worshiping him, to which Argentum hastily told him to stop. After attempting multiple times to stop Horell, he was eventually successful in doing so as he changed the topic, asking the others as to what changes have happened to them while they haven't met up in a while.

Surprisingly, Horell was the first one to talk, telling both Herellia and Argentum, ”Since the two of you were gone, I've had no choice but to actually do my job as the leader appointed by Herellia. With that, I've firmly established the influence of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, with the surrounding territories and alliances around Tempest Cliff taking note of us as the strongest alliance in the area.”

”Well, that's no surprise,” Herellia said as if it was just a matter of course. ”With a Pseudo-Animate manning the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance and with the other alliances only having X-grade Inanimates at the very most, it's a given that the alliance will eventually be crowned the strongest alliance someday.”

”After being called the strongest alliance, did anything happen to the alliance after that?” Argentum could not help but ask, to which Horell replied, ”Other than a few small skirmishes, nothing much, really. Well, there's the fact that we've increased the number of Inanimates in our alliance to over 500.”

”That sounds good,” Herellia said in response as she nodded in satisfaction. ”As for the few small skirmishes, what do you mean by that?”

”Oh, it's nothing,” Horell said as he waved his hand. ”It's just that a few alliances announced that they were going to war against us. We just took care of them.”

Hearing that, both Herellia and Argentum could not help but look at each other, seeing from their gazes that they've unanimously agreed on one fact. In their minds, Horell has finally found his groove as the leader of the alliance.

But surprisingly, as if wanting to turn their opinions of Horell around, he asked the two of them out of the blue, ”Anyways, when are the two of you going to take my place as leader of the alliance again?!”