540 A Sly Higher Up!
Well… I had to say that I didn’t need to go to this new small continent to know which race it belonged to.
Just as I controlled my chariot to move forward, and before it could cross ten miles, I saw something coming up from the distant land.
It was a small piece of land seen from my spot. Just seeing this familiar scene made me inwardly sigh.
“Hectors!” I narrowed my eyes. As the saying went, enemies would meet each other at any corner!
“Hello friend from another world, how may I help you?”
I stopped my chariot while that floating island stopped just a couple of miles away. Yet the voice of Hector was strong and loud, enough to hear it as if he was standing near me.
Unlike most of those I met so far, this dude was an old Hector. Wrinkles appeared on his face, while his hair was grey and scanty.
“Who are you?” I didn’t feel like speaking with him, “you don’t like someone who will fight in the apocalypse.”
“Nice senses… I can now see why all of our promising kids lost in your hands.”
His selection of words to speak about the paragons I killed made me sure of my earlier hunch. This dude here didn’t belong to this apocalypse. He seemed too old to fight in such chaos.
He gave me the impression of being someone with high authority and power. He must be someone of the higher ups of that race.
“You aren’t saying anything?” he asked while seemingly waiting for me to comment or say anything.
“I asked a question, and you didn’t answer it yet,” I shrugged. After all he commented on his feelings, didn’t introduce himself.
“Why wasting our precious little time with things you already are aware of? Right?”
Well… He seemed to hate speaking directly and out loud, the type who loved to go around things without taking a direct route towards any matter.
A sly and hard to deal with kind indeed, the kind I didn’t like to deal with at all.
“So you are a higher up of the Hectors?”
“Correct.”
“And what are you, a prestigious and authoritative person, doing here?”
“Of course to meet you,” he said with such a smile that made me feel more nervous.
“I’m honoured,” I said without any speck of honesty in my tone, “and we already met. Why not turn around, open a portal and return to your high and mighty seat?”
“Not so soon,” he shook his head slowly, “I’m here to either force you to follow us or kill you.” ρꪖꪕᦔꪖꪕꪫꪣꫀꪶ
“Pretty sure of your odds, aren’t you?” I knew he wasn’t bluffing or boasting or bragging… He was indeed capable of hurting me if he wanted.
A higher up in such a mighty race? What did that mean? Frankly I didn’t know the exact answer to it or all the details.
I could guess a few things. For example, he must be one of those mighty paragons who succeeded in controlling their worlds and even ruled over an entire group in an apocalypse.
He also would be someone who fought on the frontline and garnished many victories.
If I, and I didn’t live this much in the current apocalypse, got all these chances, then what about him?
He was a scary figure, and he was here in front of me. Fighting wasn’t an option. Running away wasn’t either.
I had to talk my way out of here, and try to reach a sort of agreement with him so he would stop nagging me later on.
But how? That was the question.
“You can’t blame me for this, you just did too much for our race. Why did a human kid, a kid from such a low race, dared to raise his head high and dream about challenging the heavens? You could have lived your life as other humans, lowering your head and serving others.”
“I’m pretty much sure you are speaking out of experience.”
“Indeed.”
“But such a mighty figure like yourself being here must be on a price, right?” I said before evilly grinning, “I bet you don’t have your full power, not even close to one tenth of it.”
“Kid, don’t test my patience!” once I said it, his face slightly changed, “even if I don’t have my full power, I’d still be able to crush you.”
“If so, then what’s the use of these walls?” I pointed towards the direction of his land, “if you are so sure about crushing me, why do you bother and prepare defences then?”
“That’s precautions against the apocalypse and other races in it, not for you.”
“I bet they are solely for me,” I showed a vicious expression on my face, “there is no other race here who can challenge your people’s authority. Only I did that, and I succeeded so far.”
“Everything has an end.”
“But mine won’t be here,” I took out my heavy weight glaive and pointed it towards him, “if you are here to force me to succumb and lower my head then you will fail. If you are here to kill me, you’ll also fail.”
“You can’t tell without trying, right?”
“And I’m pretty much sure of my odds,” despite him putting on a strong front, something told me this was all a bluff.
He didn’t have the power to force me to do anything. Or else, why would he bother with talking and trying to persuade me with this show? If so, why would he lean towards establishing defences here?
I thought initially to bid my time and leave from here using words. But right now I had the feeling I didn’t need to.
This dude was here to scare me away, as if I’d simply do it without a fight!
“Last chance human kid. Even if you cost us so much, I took special interest in you.”
“Bullsh*t!” I waved my glaive in the air, “let’s fight and settle this. I fought paragons and killed paragons… I fought higher ups before, but never killed one.”