Chapter 620: Haoran’s Thoughts

Bang!!!

Axel’s figure dropped to the ground for the umpteenth time.

The branch of the tree he had stepped on was corroded to nothingness. Unfortunately, he could not simply run through the grounds of the massive forest, as it was filled with dense canopies of trees and uneven terrain.

Jumping through the higher branches of trees made it much easier to cover a greater distance at once; meanwhile, the 5th phase Elven powerhouse floating in the skies wore an amused look, seeing Arlo fall again and again.

Although it was inefficient, Axel continued in that manner, but then, as he neared the Tribal Homeground of the Bronze Leaf Tribe, he focused on another matter he had overlooked.

Axel was stark naked.

As such, he stopped in his tracks; he mentally commanded a set of rune-engraved clothes from the storage of Prime Nexus to wrap around him.

But, just as expected, within a few seconds. The clothes were destroyed.

Faced with the dilemma, he looked towards Haoran and said, "If you don’t mind, can you summon some of your magical vines?"

Haoran scoffed, "Why? There’s nothing wrong with presenting yourself naked in front of my tribe; they have already seen everything. I’m sure they would think nothing of it."

"After all, we do already see humans as primitive monkeys. So, our opinion of your race won’t really change much."

Unfortunately, the mocking words of Haoran flew over Axel’s head, and he didn’t get the sarcasm due to his emotionless state.

Axel almost considered going to meet the tribe naked, but even logically, it seemed like a stupid decision.

Haoran was not willing to help him with this.

He had no choice but to force the power into a semblance of control, even if it was a temporary measure.

So, Axel attempted to do exactly that and closed his eyes, redirecting all his focus onto controlling the volatile energy of destruction.

In his attempt, the immense strain on his face was evident as he engrossed himself in controlling the erratic power, and, in that moment, he was defenceless, open to attack.

But Haoran merely continued watching with interest; the forcefield surrounding Arlo rippled violently, rushing in all directions, and then all the motion of the invisible energy stopped.

And then it was all pulled right back inside of his frame.

Then the runecaster opened his cold eyes once more; there was a hidden trace of struggle on his face because keeping that destructive energy within his body seemed to be causing slight but continuous damage to himself, not to mention that a great part of his own focus needed to be continuously applied to the destructive energy.

If not, it would simply explode outward again.

He put on another set of rune clothes and waited to see the reaction.

Finally, it seemed that nothing was happening to his clothes again, for now.

Haoran wore a surprised look, unsure of how to feel about the whole situation; first of all, he was immensely surprised that the Human could now suddenly control this destructive energy simply by focusing on it.

But he could see that it took visible effort for the Human to keep the energy under control.

’The Human’s reactions are almost as if he has gained this power not too long ago, and is unaccustomed to it?’ thought the Tribe Leader.

The true reason why he made the forceful suggestion of Arlo staying with his Tribe and offering to take him to the capital alongside them was primarily due to his interest in the unknown form of destructive energy.

His suspicion over everything related to the Human was too great; one of the biggest, which he did not even ask Arlo, was how the human fell from the skies through the gargantuan crack.

And unlike what Arlo suggested, Haoran had a gut feeling that even if he chose to go all out to kill or subdue the human to flesh out all of his secrets, it was unlikely he would be able to do so. In fact, he might be the one on the losing end.

It was a disturbing thought, beyond nonsensical even.

However, the Elven Tribe Leader, throughout his long life, had learned to trust his instincts more than what the surface logic implied.

After all, not a single third-phase human, irrespective of whether they were a fallen seeker or not, should be able to contend against a 5th-phase entity.

That was the absolute truth, or that’s how it should be. But the existence defying that absolute law stood right at the end of his gaze.

So Haoran found a middle ground so that he could observe the human longer and more closely.

Of course, it was likely that Arlo was speaking the truth, that his Soul Sanctum was injured, or that it was part of the truth.

The Human definitely had other goals to accomplish.

Haoran glided down, stood beside Arlo, took in his rune-engraved white-and-blue attire, and asked, "You’re a runecaster??"

Axel did not deny or confirm the Tribe Leader’s statement, opting to remain silent.

Haoran chuckled, not pressing further.

He walked through the ground this time, while Axel followed behind.

As the dense canopy of the Korlen forest slowly thinned on their path, Axel was greeted by a small village, with almost hundreds of small huts built atop the countless branches of the massive trees.

The 30-odd fourth-phase elves who had previously surrounded the unconscious Axel after he fell from the skies slowly jumped down from the trees.

They all wore hostile, alarmed looks, their piercing bronze eyes filled with killing intent, even though Haoran, their tribe leader, had brought Axel to the Tribe.

But it couldn’t be helped; after all, the Elves are used to living in a very close-knit society.

They always view other races with either scorn or hostility.

The Younger brother of Haoran stepped forward and said coldly, "Tribe Leader, with all due respect, why have you brought this dangerous primitive monkey within our tribe grounds?

"Don’t you think you should have him bound at the very least?" questioned Raon.

The Tribe Leader sighed, "I can’t... his powers are quite... troublesome. You have seen it yourself, haven’t you?"

After a pause, Haoran continued, introducing Axel to everyone: "This Human here is Arlo, as you can already presume, he is from the Barren West."

"And Arlo will be staying as our guest for a short while, and he will be travelling with us to the capital," said the Tribe Leader.

Unfortunately, his words seemed only to fan the flames, as the hostility in the eyes of the 4th phase tribe members grew even stronger towards Axel.

The Runecaster, for a moment, looked at Haoran, who gave him a helpless smile...

And then Axel took a step forward; from his figure burst forth a disturbing, inexhaustible amount of killing intent, though the harrowing bloodlust overflowing in the air only remained for a few seconds under Axel’s careful control.

All of their hostile faces changed instantly, even though they had seen firsthand how dangerous the young black-haired human was, how deadly the wave of destructive energy surrounding him was. Still, since the Tribe Leader was present, none of them feared the Human any longer.

But in those few seconds, the world in the eyes of the 4th phase Elves had turned a shade of bloody red, as if their minds had been teleported to a landscape of endless butchery.

And due to Axel’s great control over his killing intent, the bloodlust only affected the thirty-odd 4th phase Elves and Haoran, but no one else.

Even the face of Haoran turned extremely solemn; he could not even imagine just how many powerful living beings this human had killed to acquire such astoundingly intense bloodlust.

Axel chuckled and stated coldly, "I apologise, but I cannot take disrespect just because I am a Human, or because I am from the place you label as Barren West."

Then he emphasised in a soft but friendly tone, to ease the tense atmosphere, "But please understand that I mean no harm. I only wish to go to the capital to acquire a special material, and it was the Tribe Leader Haoran who insisted on taking me to the capital along with him."

With that, the Runecaster laid out the truth of the situation in front of the doubtful Elves; as such, their uncomfortable gazes turned to Haoran, because the Elves previously thought that it was Axel who was intruding on their tribe, which naturally was not the case.

Haoran raised an eyebrow, ignoring the displeased looks of his own people. He thought, ’This Human, as I thought, is not only hiding his immense strength but is also extremely cunning.’

Haoran ordered two of the thirty Elves to go and set up a new treehouse for Arlo on the edge of their tribal home ground, and to get Axel everything that he needed to rest comfortably for the coming week.

Haoran dismissed everyone: "Okay, you lot can go on and do your jobs."