Chapter 412: Familiar Faces

Chapter 412: Familiar Faces

The rustling of leaves was quiet. The wind was weak. A bird’s cry hung in the distance as a small, wheat-colored hand parted the branches, spying on its prey from above. The prey walked closer, pebbles cracking underfoot. It was unaware. The hunter smiled—then leaped.

A little girl was revealed. She had skin the color of wheat, eyes of amber, and a long, dark ponytail fluttering behind her. Her clothes were simple yet elegant, green robes which merged as one with the foliage. She was five years old—and her face was covered by wide, bright smile.

“Got you!” she shouted, falling from the branches onto the passing gymonkey below. The monkey yelped, backpedaling, while the girl landed awkwardly on the bumpy soil. “Ow,” she concluded. “No fair! You saw me coming!”

The gymonkey was confused for a moment. Then, it shrugged and mimed something.

“No way you just reacted on time!” Ebele Eragorn Rust protested with a pout. She rose to her feet and dusted herself off, completely unhurt—though young, she had a slightly tempered body. “You can’t be better than me. I am fast!”

The gymonkey mimed something again.

“You know what? Okay. You are faster, but only because you’re older! Just let me grow a couple of years, and then—kapow! I will get you!”

The gymonkey laughed. She patted Ebele’s head, then handed out a bananarm which the girl grabbed with a glimmer in her eye. The monkey then mimed something else.

“Really!?” Ebele cried out, glancing at the sun. “You’re right! I’m late! See you, aunt monkey!”

She broke into a sprint. The bananarm dangled by her hand as her feet flew over the dirt paths of the Forest of the Strong, crossing trees and streams to reach an open clearing riddled with gym equipment. A massive brorilla was already waiting.

Like every time she saw him, Ebele had to suppress a shiver of fear. This was a hulking behemoth. His massive body stood almost thrice as tall as her, covered in gleaming dark fur with spots of silver. This silver also appeared around his temples—but she knew it was an indication of stress, not old age, because his body was ripe with power. His arms were wide like tree trunks, his legs like barrels, and all corded with thick, iron muscles. Moreover, like all brorillas, just his resting face held a deadly stare.

“Uncle Harambe!” Ebele shouted out, rushing to a stop before him. “Sorry I’m late!”

Harambe snorted. “Where brother?”

Unlike his son, Brock, Harambe had a limited affinity to language. His speech remained impeded even five years into living with the Bare Fist Brotherhood.

“I don’t know,” Ebele replied truthfully.

Harambe frowned. He closed his eyes and released a rudimentary form of Dao perception to cover the nearby forest area. Suddenly, he sprang into motion, grabbing a nearby bananarm and flinging it out like a boomerang.

Seeing that, Ebele remembered to eat her own bananarm.Vissit novelbin(.)c.om for updates

Harambe’s projectile flew between the trees, spinning crazily around itself and producing a shrill “eee” sound. The bananarm left Ebele’s sight, but the sound persisted, growing weaker with time before abruptly changing its mind. The “eee” rose in volume, coming from somewhere above, and it gradually took on the aspects of a little boy’s voice. Finally, the bananarm returned, carrying with it a pale-skinned, delicate-looking, blond boy around whose leg it had gotten entangled.

“Heeelp!” Eric Eragorn Rust shouted, flying in, until both he and the bananarm came to a stop into Harambe’s palm. Harambe frowned at the boy.

“Why are you running?” he asked in broken English.

“I, uh...” Eric hesitated, his eyes growing wider when stared by a brorilla at such a close range. Finally, his mouth flew open. “I don’t want to exercise!”

Harambe sighed. He gently laid Eric on the ground, dusting him off as he spoke. “It only an hour. Good for health. You can play after.”

Eric sniffed. “You promise?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Then I can exercise... I guess.”

Ebele sighed as she saw that. While she loved to exercise and temper herself, her brother was different—he preferred playing or exploring the forest.

Free sub-points: 1

Dao Skills: Meteor Punch IV, Iron Fist Style III, Brutalizing Aura III, Neutron Star Body III, Supernova III, Space Mastery III, Fist of Mortality III, Titan Taunt I

Dao Roots: Indomitable Will, Life, Power, Weakness

Dao Fruits: Fist, Space, Life, Death, Battle

Titles: Planetary Frontrunner (10), Planetary Torchbearer (1), Ninth Ring Conqueror, Planetary Leader (1), Grade Defier

Unexpectedly, however, a man stopped them by the entrance. His cultivation was at the early D-Grade—a small fry to people like Jack, but a titan to the ordinary populace. Him serving as a doorman seemed far too luxurious.

The doorman took a good look at all three of them, inspecting them but finding nothing out of the ordinary. To him, they appeared as factionless peak E-Grades. “Names?” he asked in a bass voice.

“Crock,” Brock said.

“Esmeralda Archenstain,” Min Ling replied, borrowing the first name of her friend on the Cathedral.

“Rack,” Jack said. The doorman gave him a second glance.

“Rack what?”

“Just Rack.”

Min Ling rolled her eyes. The doorman grumbled something under his breath, then noted down their information and let them pass.

“That was weird,” Min Ling said. “Is something going on here?”

“Let’s find out,” Jack replied, grabbing a random customer with a polite but firm hand on the shoulder. “Excuse me, friend. Can we buy you a beer for a quick chat?”

The guy under Jack’s hand froze. He then looked up. Hard eyes met Jack’s—this guy and his entire group looked like hardened veterans, but their bravado melted under a wisp of Jack’s aura.

“Don’t worry,” he pacified them. “We just want information, then you’re free to go.”

The man glanced at his friends, then nodded. He stood up. “I don’t know what beer is, but I have a drink,” he said, raising a tankard filled with some blue liquid. “What do you want to know?”

“Does this place always have a D-Grade doorman?”

The man raised a brow. “You don’t know?”

“You’re testing my patience, friend.”

“Sorry. It’s just that everyone knows about it. We’re at war. Only a few months ago—”

The man kept talking, but Jack was no longer listening. His head had swiveled to the side. Just now, two people with familiar auras had entered the bar. At the same time he noticed them, they found him as well, seeing the disbelief in each other’s eyes.

“Well, I’ll be damned,” Jack said, a bright smile blossoming on his lips. “Gan Salin! Nauja! What the hell are you guys doing here!?”

Gan Salin laughed, his canines sticking outside his lips. “Incredible! I guess war criminals do come together!”

Meanwhile, the random guy grabbed by Jack had noticed he was no longer needed. He sat back down, muttering under his breath, “Weirdo.”