Chapter 200: Black Stalker’s Appearance II

It seemed as though a staring contest had broken out between the two sides.

After the appearance of the Black Stalker, neither it nor any member of the group spoke a word. None of them dared move either. They simply stood there, staring at the grim figure practically looming a few meters away from them.

Even the forest seemed to have quieted.

The wind that had previously rustled through the canopy had died down to a whisper. The distant roars of Animas had become strangely infrequent. It was almost as though the environment itself had become conscious of the predator standing within it and was instinctively attempting to diminish the noise surrounding its presence.

Or perhaps it was simply the silence of a forest waiting for blood to be spilled.

Eventually, Aelric was the one who stepped forward and broke the suffocating silence.

"We meet again, Vael’zhur."

His voice was lax and almost bored.

It was as though he wasn’t standing before what could very well be a death sentence given physical form, but rather an old acquaintance encountered on an uneventful afternoon.

However, it wasn’t the ease with which Aelric initiated the conversation that shocked the group; rather, it was the familiarity.

Regaleon, Veyrath, and Vaelorin already knew that Aelric was deeply acquainted with the Black Stalker from their encounter yesterday. But this was the first time the others were witnessing such familiarity with their own eyes.

However, there was one detail that immediately caught Regaleon’s attention and that was the fact that Aelric knew the Black Stalker’s name.

Yesterday, during their confrontation, there had been no mention of a name.

Regaleon, along with Veyrath and Vaelorin, had therefore assumed that Aelric’s knowledge of the Sauryeans was limited to superficial matters such as their language, customs, and general culture.

Apparently, they had been wrong and it seems that there was a much deeper layer to Aelric’s knowledge; a connection that he had never bothered to explain.

Vael’zhur did not react immediately to Aelric’s greeting. The Black Stalker simply remained where it was, its entire body concealed beneath the dark cloak.

It looked less like a living creature and more like an eerie statue deliberately placed within the forest to add to the sinister atmosphere.

Eventually, the hood of the Black Stalker’s cloak moved slightly. Judging from the movement, it appeared to have tilted its head.

Then a pair of gleaming, emerald slit-like pupils emerged from beneath the shadow of the hood and swept across the group one after another.

The gaze lingered on each of them for barely a heartbeat, yet somehow it felt as though those sinister eyes were stripping away their clothes, their Armour, their weapons, and even the very skin covering their bodies.

Whatever Vael’zhur was looking for, the assassin apparently found it because after completing its assessment, the Black Stalker turned its attention back toward Aelric and spoke.

Its voice was unlike anything the others had heard before. There was a serpentine quality to it, a constant rasping undertone that made every syllable sound as though it had been dragged across a blade.

It was almost like a serpent hissing through a hollow cavern.

"Ⱳe mȇet agaiŋ, Aelrîc."

The guttural language was only partially recognizable as anything human. Its pronunciation seemed to twist familiar sounds into something harsher, older.

"Ꞇa ȝou’vë gøtten strønger sîŋce thë last tîme we fôught."

This was the second time the members of the group had heard the strange language. However, for Regaleon, Veyrath, and Vaelorin, it was the third.

And just like before, they understood absolutely nothing and this inability to understand what was being said was becoming increasingly frustrating.

Kaeloris, however, reacted differently.

An enlightened glint flashed behind his spectacles the moment Vael’zhur began speaking.

For a brief moment, the failed Gnost seemed to forget where he was.

His eyes followed the movements of Vael’zhur’s mouth with almost scholarly fascination. His fingers twitched slightly at his side as his mind instinctively began dissecting the strange sounds.

Had their circumstances been different, Kaeloris would probably have bombarded Aelric with questions. Fortunately, the failed Gnost managed to restrain that scholarly impulse.

Aelric, meanwhile, smiled when he heard Vael’zhur’s words. He turned toward the group before looking back at the Black Stalker.

"Well, as you can see for yourself, I haven’t managed to increase my strength." He gestured casually toward the others before adding. "They’re the ones who did."

Aelric then continued with a small smile.

"You know, if anything, I think celebrations are in order for this little achievement of mine. After all, they couldn’t have done this without me."

Then, with the most inappropriate casualness imaginable, he added. "So how about you come with us to party instead of fighting, hmm?"

Absolute silence descended instantly and the

perplexity of the situation somehow rose another notch.

Several members of the group stared at Aelric as though they had just discovered that he had lost his mind.

If they didn’t know any better, they might have thought Aelric and the Black Stalker were old friends and that he was genuinely extending an invitation to a celebration.

Valmyr’s lips twitched, Kaeloris slowly pushed his spectacles higher and Caelestra looked between the two men with an expression of complete disbelief.

Even Aureleah’s usually impassive face showed a faint trace of bewilderment.

There were dozens of questions they wanted to ask. Unfortunately, none of them seemed appropriate at the moment so they swallowed those questions and allowed Aelric to continue.

After all, he was the only person among them who understood the Sauryean language.

Aelric’s words had obviously been nothing more than a joke but Vael’zhur did not react. Like a corpse that had somehow forgotten to fall, the Black Stalker stood unmoved by Aelric’s attempt at humor.

The smile eventually disappeared from Aelric’s face upon seeing this and his eyes became serious.

"Tell me, Vael’zhur." He started. "Why are you here? Last time I checked, the Crimson Forest doesn’t fall under Sauryean administration."

Aelric’s gaze hardened.

"In fact, your presence here could become a major catalyst for a clash between the two sides. So there must be a good reason for you to be here, right?"

One might have wondered how someone as indifferent toward most things as Aelric could suddenly become so talkative.

But there was a reason.

The Nether Lands was not the completely lawless wasteland that most people in Aetherium imagined it to be. It was dangerous, violent and unforgiving but it was not without order.

Among the intelligent races inhabiting the Nether Lands existed political territories, agreements, borders, treaties, and rules governing interactions between different factions.

The deeper regions were particularly complicated.

Various territories were controlled by different races, kingdoms, clans, organizations, and ancient powers. And the Sanctuary was one of them.

The Crimson Forest fell under its administration. Therefore, another power entering the territory without permission was not merely trespassing; it was a violation of territorial sovereignty.

In the modern world, it would have been comparable to a foreign military force crossing another nation’s border without authorization.

Ordinarily, such an infringement could easily go unnoticed.

If Aelric had never encountered Vael’zhur yesterday, nobody might have known that a Sauryean assassin had entered the Crimson Forest.

But he had seen him. And yet, Aelric had chosen not to report the violation.

Yesterday, he had believed his presence alone would be enough to send the necessary message but apparently, he had been wrong because Vael’zhur was here again.

And this time, Aelric knew there had to be a deeper reason behind it.

The Black Stalker remained calm in the face of Aelric’s questioning. Then its serpentine voice emerged once more.

"Ȋ knøw thë Pacts âŋd Trëatîes."

The strange symbols and angular letters seemed to roll naturally from its tongue.

"But ï am here under a missiøŋ tasked unto me by Lørd Pëŋëmûe. And that missiøŋ concerns hîm."

A pale, almost shriveled finger slowly emerged from beneath the cloak, pointing directly at Regaleon.

The silver-haired Knight’s grip tightened around his Halberd. His muscles tensed as he instinctively prepared for an attack but none came.

Instead, the Black Stalker continued speaking.

"Thîs human has looked upon Lørd Pëŋëmûe..." The slitted pupils remained fixed upon Regaleon. "...and blâsphemed hîm with his actions. For this reason, he must die."

The words that followed were somehow even colder.

"If you surrender this human to me, I will not touch the others. I shall return his head to Lørd Pëŋëmûe."

The moment the Black Stalker finished speaking, Regaleon immediately turned toward Aelric.

"What is he saying?"

For the first time since the conversation began, even Regaleon had lost some of his composure.

Whatever had been said clearly involved him so there was no reason for him to remain ignorant now.

After all, who wouldn’t be alarmed if an assassin suddenly developed a very specific and very homicidal interest in them?

Aelric squinted at Vael’zhur, then he turned toward Regaleon. His hand rose to his temples and he rubbed them slowly.

A long, exhausted sigh then escaped his lips as he said. "You guys have really done it, haven’t you?"

"What do you mean?" Aureleah immediately asked.

Her eyes flicked toward the Black Stalker, which remained motionless, before returning to Aelric with questions evident in her silver eyes.

She had been paying close attention to the two since the beginning of their conversation.

Although she couldn’t understand the context or meaning of Vael’zhur’s words because of her unfamiliarity with the Sauryean language, she had still been able to piece together fragments from Aelric’s responses and body language.

The first thing she had gathered was that some form of political dispute existed between Aelric’s Sanctuary and the territory or power from which the Black Stalker originated.

She didn’t understand the details but she filed the information away and toke note to ask Aelric about it later.

The second thing she had deduced was considerably more concerning.

This situation seem to have something to do with Regaleon; in fact, it has a lot to do with him.

The Black Stalker had barely acknowledged the rest of them but it’s attention had repeatedly returned to the silver-haired Knight. And the moment it had finally spoken about its mission, it had pointed directly at him.

Aureleah wasn’t foolish enough to jump to conclusions. But her instincts told her that her conjecture was probably correct.

Whatever had happened between Regaleon and that Sauryean projection he saw, it had apparently been serious enough for someone to send an assassin into another faction’s territory...