808 Awful Singing (1/2)
Upon hearing The Hanged Man, Klein's heart skipped a beat. He had an ominous premonition as he ignored his persona, put down the lantern, and took out two slips of paper. He then crumpled them into a ball and stuffed them into his ears.
Seeing Gehrman Sparrow do it without any questions, Alger heaved a sigh of relief. He reflected on how nice it was to work with an experienced fellow. Even though he was an adventurer known to be crazy, he was someone who followed reasonable instructions. He knew what and what not to do.
Just as he was about to throw the dead rat which still retained some of its warmth at the Illusory Chime Tree to divert its attention, he suddenly saw the shrubs shake as a yellow-skinned, black-striped tiger appeared.
Amidst the melodic chimes, the tiger walked towards the strange tree normally, but its eyes were glazed over. It felt indescribably creepy.
When Alger saw this, he lowered his arm and abandoned his attempt of throwing the dead rat. Resisting the headache, he calmly watched as the tiger walked closer to the tree due to the growing influence of the melody.
It crouched down, raised its right claw, and bared its claws, slicing itself at the neck.
Despite the oozing blood, the tiger seemed to have lost all sense of pain. It continued digging in deeper, engorging the wound before it began to skin itself, revealing a ”naked” body covered in mangled flesh and blood.
The chimes gradually weakened as the branch suddenly came alive. It extended downwards, stabbing into the tiger's sorry, unprotected body.
Alger, who was already prepared, immediately drew his dagger, opened his mouth, and sang hoarsely, ”Break, break, break;
”On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!
”Break, break, break;
”At the foot of thy crags, O Sea!”
His voice had bold overtones, but it was completely out of tune. It was at complete odds with the comprehension of both humans and creatures. It was a jarring boom that had a metallic sound to it. It was filled with the power that left one frustrated and disgusted.
Meanwhile, the Illusory Chime Tree's branches trembled as they retracted like they were huddling together. Following that a melodious chime lessened the terrifying noise to a small extent.
At Alger's side, although Klein had used paper balls to stuff his ears and had converged his spirituality, he immediately felt his forehead's blood vessels throb. He instantly had the urge to kill the singer and destroy everything before him.
Furthermore, his mind had the feeling of being ripped apart. His muscles and vessels were squirming as a result.
Others charge people money to sing, but Mr. Hanged Man's singing charges you with death! Klein lampooned as he resisted the irascibility in his heart.
”Break! Break! Break!”
Every word Alger said burst out like waves striking reefs. Bolts of silver lightning descended in turns, as though in euphoric praise.
As silver flashes lit up one after another, they smote down at the Illusory Chime Tree's surface, causing it to tremble incessantly. Its branches shook in a numb and random manner, making it difficult for it to produce the melodic hypnotic music.
Alger took this opportunity as he threw the dead rat and thrust the dagger in his hand forward.
With a howling wind, invisible blades swooshed over, slicing at the branch at the top and nearest to the Illusory Chime Tree's trunk.
Kacha!
The colorless, palm-sized, translucent fruit fell as it was swept up by a gust of wind and flew into Alger's palm. The tree bark which was covered with eye-like cracks froze as the remaining branches drooped down, having lost their ability to move.
Indeed, as long as you gather the correct intel ahead of time, Beyonder vegetation at the same level is a lot easier to deal with than animals due to its lacking intelligence… Alger took out a golden container he had prepared, and he put away the Illusory Chime Tree's fruit.
Then, he turned around to look at Gehrman Sparrow.
”Let's continue…”
He suddenly stopped speaking as the word ”forward” vanished from his vocal chords.
At that instant, he saw Gehrman Sparrow's cold expression looking somewhat warped. The whites around his brown irises were slightly red, as though he would unleash an attack upon him at any moment.
Alger felt tense as he slowly drew a gasp and completed his sentence.
”Let's continue forward.”
”Let's go,” Gehrman Sparrow replied softly. He first circled around the withered Illusory Chime Tree and walked deep into the dark forest.
He didn't get any bark, branches, or materials that were rich in spirituality, because they were bound to encounter many Beyonder creatures later. Furthermore, he didn't have any so-called storage artifacts. Naturally, he left whatever space he had for worthwhile spoils.