Chapter 808: Awful Singing
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![Excerpt from Alfred Tennyson's 'Break, Break, Break.']"
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.
Besides, having too many things on him would only weigh him down and
prevent him from fully displaying the agility of a Clown.
*Unfortunately, those are materials without any vitality or blood,
making it impossible to enter Groselle's Travels... I can let my
marionette bring them in, but that will be very troublesome and
detrimental to the subsequent exploration...* As Klein sighed,
he calmed his mind, extricating himself from the remnant effects of The
Hanged Man's singing.
This was the most jarring and terrible singing that he had heard in both
his lives!
If The Hanged Man continued for another one or two minutes, he couldn't
guarantee that he could stop himself from beating him up.
*Using just paper balls to stuff my ears and converging my spirituality
can only weaken the effects. There's no way to really block it out...
Even a deaf person can hear it. This includes an "exchange" at the
spirituality level... This is probably the most indefensible attack from
an Ocean Songster. Furthermore, there's no way of dodging it once it
happens. There's only Lightning Strike which can be dodged ahead of
time. This is a rather powerful Sequence 5 as well... However, why does
Mr. Hanged Man's singing feel completely different from Elven Songster
Siatas...* As Klein summarized and analyzed his experience, he
was somewhat puzzled.
At this moment, the lantern-holding Alger, who was walking beside him,
couldn't help but consider a question:
*Even Gehrman Sparrow can't stand my singing. How should I act as an
Ocean Songster...*
In that silent environment, the two quickly proceeded forward amidst
thick trees that appeared to be covered in snakeskin as they approached
the ancient ruins.
With a Seafarer beside him, Klein saved himself the trouble of using
Dowsing Rod Seeking. He focused on watching out for any sudden attacks.
The dark and silent environment resembled a horror story. As the two
proceeded forward for an unknown amount of time, they discovered that
the trees were beginning to systematically become sparse.
This was completely different from the situation back when they met the
demigod-level feathered serpent. The trees there had abruptly become
sparse, while what they were encountering now was a progressive change.
It made them have the misconception that they were about to leave the
dark forest.
"After passing through this zone, we will arrive at the periphery of the
ancient ruins." Alger broke the silence.
He paused and then added seemingly casually, "Based on my experience, it
becomes more dangerous as we approach it. The signs of a demigod
creature I found last time was around here. However, oddly, the
periphery of the ancient ruins doesn't have any signs of Beyonder
creatures. However, I have no idea about deep inside it."
*This is probably because there's an even more terrifying existence
inside the ancient ruins. That zone is its territory, so other creatures
do not dare to approach...* Klein mumbled inwardly.
He had a sense for the danger level of this expedition. He had
previously performed the corresponding divination above the gray fog,
and the revelation he received was that it had its ups and downs, as
well as its problems. However, leaving safely wasn't much of a problem.
After The Hanged Man said that, Klein chuckled.
"You likely know what my guess is."
He didn't say anything further as he entered the zone with sparse
vegetation.
Alger silently walked beside him, increasingly convinced about his
judgment of Gehrman Sparrow: He was calm and crazy!
After proceeding dozens of meters forward, they suddenly saw a pair of
ghostly-blue eyes situated at where the lantern's glow could reach.
It was a black baboon crouched on a branch. Its fur was naturally
curled, and its head grew black crystals. These crystals grew upwards in
a random manner, forming a strange crown.
Upon seeing the black baboon, Klein and Alger simultaneously had the
urge to bow their heads to not look directly at it. They felt as though
it was the ruler of the nearby region, their sovereign.
Sovereign... Alger relied on the excruciating headache which
the Whip of Mind brought him in order to escape its influence as he
hurriedly took a step to the left in an attempt to avoid any direct
clashes. He left the unknown Beyonder creature to Gehrman Sparrow.
They had agreed to it prior.
However, despite walking to the left, he ended up walking forward. His
legs also hobbled as though he suddenly needed crutches.
Subconsciously, Alger drew his dagger, causing sharp wind blades to
swish towards the curly-haired baboon.
At that moment, the baboon grinned.
The wind blades suddenly changed direction in midair, moving in every
direction at random to perfectly avoid hitting the target.
Upon seeing this scene, Klein gave up his plans on approaching through
ordinary methods. His left glove instantly turned transparent as he
turned invisible.
Alger stopped his actions that resulted from his stress when he saw
Gehrman Sparrow in his top hat appear behind the black curly-haired
baboon. The distance between them was less than five meters.
Right on the heels of that, the black curly-haired baboon's body
abruptly stiffened as though it lost control of most of its body. It
even tried hard to raise its palm, trying hard to dig at its eyes in an
attempt to distort something.
And at this moment, Gehrman Sparrow had already made use of this delay
to raise the iron-black revolver in his right hand, aiming the dark
barrel at its head.
Then, without any emotion, the crazy adventurer pulled the trigger.