Badump!… Badump!… Badump!… The sound of a heartbeat runs through the forest, one that seems to be heard and received by nature. The forest at this point glowed fully purple, the wind seemed to carry a certain form of purple substance within it, the volume and sea levels of the small puddles, lakes, rivers around the forest seemed to go back and forward, resonating with the heartbeat. All this information was being taken in by a white robed man at the back of the camp. His eyes wandered frantically as if searching for something really important, something he had missed. --The swamp of Despondency doesn't look much like a swamp right now.-- He frowned deeply, placing his hands on his chin. --Even the swamp native monsters, the Xōchipilli orc tribe, weren't spotted. Something is terribly wrong, and I can't find out what--.
"If I noticed it, then he should have". James murmured as he watched a burly dark-haired man approach him. Unlike before, where he wore his white robes, he completely wore a black, fitting, long-sleeve shirt and dark leather pants, with silver-colored iron knight shoes. James narrowed his eyes as if he thought he was imagining something.
"Those are…"James' voice slowly faded as if he was forbidden from continuing any further. "Yes, those are pure silver knight shoes". The dark-haired figure replied,
"Paulio, first of all, why are you wearing your knight boots without your armor, and second of all, is this why you kept borrowing all my Salaries from me?". James' voice slowly rose in slight anger.
"Hey, bro, you rarely use your money living in that shabby court. Might as well spend it for you." Paulio laughed heartily. He scanned James from top to bottom, smiling from ear to ear. "Won't you remove your robe?". He teased James.
"You should have noticed it already, Paulio. This isn't anything like the swamp of dependency". James said as he slowly straightened himself. He had been leaning on the tree, trying to decipher what had brought such a giant transformation to the tree. The normal-looking tree that he had leaned on a few minutes ago had turned into a dark purple tree ten times its size. Its roots, the size of James. He then burnt down, scooping a handful of purple sand and slowly pouring it out in front of Paulio. His face darkened. "This looks more like…"
"…. a forest," Paulio said, a serious expression showing on his face before turning back into his usual sweet smile. "Come on, James, lighten up. We got our little priest here to keep us safe." Paulio said, heavily smacking James on his back, causing James to be flustered. Paulio knew why James had been so stuck up now. Because if their conjecture was right, and this was indeed a forest. Then this indeed would be trouble. The forest was the first step towards forming a domain. Those only of pseudo marquise level and above were capable of. Unlike the Pseudo Domain or the Domain itself, which symbolized a whole new world or reality, A forest was more like a domain that wasn't separated from the world. This is done by injecting the strongman's properties into the environment. The properties are the form of power they use and the interpretation of themselves and their abilities, known as belief. These join to form a forest. The forest was known to be used as a form of Physical representation of the strongman. Allowing one to observe his abilities and make up for them by using the physical environment as its anchor. If this were truly a forest, and by the looks of it, it is. It could be only two types of mages that could do this. Paulio pressed his fingers onto his forehead as he breathed out in exasperation--This just got more troublesome. But judging by the spatial properties of the forest, it seems that the opponent is a pseudo-marquis. --. Paulio breathed a sigh of relief as he was a Baron-level knight of the perfected rank, just a minor level behind Pseudo Marquis. Moreover, he was also an awakened. He could fully take on this opponent.
"I told you many times. Don't call me a priest. I am an assassin." James snorted. He smiled wryly.
"Psshh! An assassin who can't kill his opponents unless they are guilty."Paulio laughed loudly, placing his fingers on his tummy. James chuckled, causing Paulio to pause, peeking at James to see him slightly annoyed. Paulio gathered himself, standing straight, holding back the sparks of laughter that seemed to wantonly flow from his mouth.
Red waves of energy slowly boomed throughout the environment, catching James and Paulio off guard. James turned eyes filled with suspicion, watching into the dark embrace of the forest. Paulio, to his right, looking opposite them, his eyes slowly narrowing.
"Hey, James… Is your buff undone?". Paulio asked softly.
"No. I don't think so. I do feel a faint connection, tho." James shook his head as he watched an approaching figure, slowly dragging itself towards them. It stumbled over a large root half its size. The figure lay unmoving on the root. It then began to twitch slowly as its body jolted. The creature bushed its tummy upward, abnormally bending backward. Its hand still on the ground, it looked like a large human-sized spider. James grimaced. "You know, if I didn't sense that large amount of killing intent flowing from you. I would have laughed, right?" James said sarcastically, his eyes slowly losing their luster. Then the figure slowly raises its body wholly from the back.
"Why is it that you always become the sarcastic one when it comes to killing enemies, James?" Paulio asked with indignation-- That's supposed to be my thing-- he thought. The creature jumped downwards from the root, landing on the ground, stumbling a little. The figure slowly walked passed a pulsating tree, a yellow flash of light slowly revealing an identical figure.
"Damn. I thought we were finally bonding over something back there." Paulio laughed coldly. After all, the man in front of him was someone who had enjoyed the misery of Sebastian with him. The cook! Paulio smiled in amazement.
"Can't believe it, one moment we are enjoying together, laughing our ass off. And the next…."Paulio sighed, his eyes flickered, and his form seemed to become blurry for a moment. The figure stood still for a moment before falling. "…. you are dead". Paulio said with a cold voice as he turned to James. James observed the body on the ground. It shook violently before blood gushed out from its-- head?--. Paulio lifted a circular object, catching James' attention. James observed the features of the circular object with interest. It had dull gray spiky hair that fell toward another circular-looking side of it. It seems to have some marks or scars due to old age. Its eyes were hollow and sunken, almost looking like it was empty, with a shocked expression on its face. James looked to his right. --Maybe it was a mistake-- He thought as he glanced back at the object that looked like the head of the cook. He frowned, watching the somewhat ghastly feature of the cook. In an instant, Paulio had taken the head of the without him being able to fight back. --Paulio's speed is still impressive as usual-- James smiled. Paulio's eyes flickered in excitement. "It seems we have visitors. Why don't we go greet it?" He said as he walked towards the camp.