I Reincarnated As A Stick

Chapter 264: End of the Line

After he requested Felix to come to where he and Blob were currently at, Argentum felt a bit more assured about the chances of his idea working. To be honest, this current idea he had stemmed off from the fact that he had unnecessarily punched one of the guards to assert dominance over them. Thinking that at that point there was no turning back, he went ahead and created a plan where he would benefit more from the action that he had done, not hesitating to form a plan wherein the end goal was to kill the leader of Verdant Breeze Town.

At this point, one would normally ask why Argentum would go ahead and do just that, even though he had already obtained the most important item from the town leader’s manor. Well, while formulating his current plan, he could not help but recall Aurus’s memories of the holder of the Tome of the Four Elements in the previous life, eventually recalling that the holder mentioned a few concoctions that would allow one’s perception of the elements to be greatly boosted for a long amount of time.

To Argentum, those concoctions could be considered as the second most important thing after the Tome of the Four Elements since it would allow him to become the sole owner of the tome at a faster rate. He was willing to even become aggressive in his actions, only for it to not happen as the guards were more or less dissatisfied with the rule of the current leader in one way or another.

As for the entity that had just arrived, he was nonchalantly looking at everyone else after activating the Inner Protection Array covering the whole town, of course, this was none other than the leader of Verdant Breeze Town. Quite some time ago, he was at a crossroads as to whether he would show himself in front of these two intruders or not, eventually deciding on the latter after seeing the actions of his most loyal guard. Unfortunately, that loyal guard was sent flying into oblivion, colliding with the stone walls that protected the town.

With that as the result, the leader could not help but inwardly sigh as he pulled out all of the stops in his arsenal, thinking that it was better to be out of resources and have the tome for himself, rather than have a lot of resources and no tome at all.

At first, after he activated the Inner Protection Array, which boosted the strength of the guards in the town to a considerable degree, he thought that they would not hesitate to take the initiative and attack the intruders for his sake. Sadly, things did not turn out in the way he had expected, with the guards remaining in their places although the auras they radiated were now significantly stronger than before. On the other hand, the intruders’ auras just barely weakened, which should have been the second effect of the array, but did not affect the two at all.

“What the heck are you guys doing?!” Feeling that the guards were not attacking the intruders on purpose, the town leader was infuriated in an instant, yelling at the guards without hesitation. “The intruders are right in front of you, ready to be struck down by justice, but you guys don’t even have the balls to attack them?”

In response, the guards remained silent, while Argentum and Blob looked at the current situation with indifferent auras. Although the two of them were certain that they were going to make a move if ever their leader went ahead and attacked them, since nothing was happening right now, it was better to stay on the fence.

After that sudden outburst, the leader of the town went silent for a couple of minutes, waiting for the guards to come to their senses and finally attack the intruders that stole his tome. But unfortunately, just like before, the guards stayed frozen in their positions, not even giving off the aura that they wanted to attack the intruders. Seeing this, the leader went ahead and cursed them for being useless, using extremely colorful words that went beyond human comprehension.

Nevertheless, the guards did not even flinch from those words, only letting out slight frowns at most as they were determined that their decision was correct. Eventually, after a minute of cursing out, the leader of the town had enough, letting out a loud and long sigh of disappointment as he furiously scratched his head in annoyance.

“Since you guys aren’t going to capture these intruders even though they’re just there…” the leader muttered in a cold tone, though his voice was heard by everyone thanks to the manipulation of energy.

“Then I’ll just consider you guys as intruders as well.”

“The verdict…hehe. Of course…”

“It’s none other than death.”

Whoosh!

It was at the moment the town leader was finished speaking did the guards finally feel a bit of regret from what they had just done. Naturally, to every being’s mind, untimely death was something they never wanted to experience, with some of the guards suddenly taking a few steps back as a cold breeze blew over their bodies.

On the other hand, the town leader now held a gaze that was akin to the frost found in tundras, raising his right palm as a large ball of energy was conjured in an instant. A few seconds later, multiple particles of energy materialized around this large ball, heading towards it not long after to be absorbed, changing the appearance of the ball into that which had two sides, a side of pure red and pure blue.

“Blob.” Sensing the threat the ball of energy the leader was about to throw at them, Argentum went ahead and commanded Blob, ordering him, “Use everything you have in your arsenal to not let that ball hit the guards.”

As they heard these words resound throughout the area, the guards could not help but feel that the treatment they felt from Argentum and Blob was far better than what they got from the current leader, who was about to attack them just because they did not follow his orders. At this moment, all of the guards put their hopes onto the duo, wanting to see if a change would happen to this town…a change that only they were a part of.

Whoosh!

Obtaining Argentum’s order, Blob lightly nodded before channeling all of the energy he had in his body towards his legs, charging towards where the leader was floating in mere moments due to the number of buffs he currently had. Unfortunately for Blob, just as he was about to punch the ball of red and blue to disperse it, the leader coldly smiled as he said, “Too late.”

“[Ardent Frost Bomb].”

Bang!

Not an instant later, an explosion that took on the same color as the ball covered both Blob and the leader, hastily making everyone in the surroundings anxious as to what the result was. With a gust of wind blowing the explosion away, the guards could not help but inwardly let out a sigh as they noticed that the town leader was left unscathed, a barrier of translucent light blue energy covering him from the attack. But then, their emotions took a 180-degree turn as the explosion had fully dispersed, revealing that Blob was actually fine as well!

Tightly gripping onto a shield that he had conjured at the very last second, Blob could not help but let out a sigh of relief as he used the force of the explosion to make his way to where he was. Amidst that, he went ahead and said, “That was close.”

Thud.

As Blob landed back at his previous position, the guards unhesitatingly went ahead and cheered for Blob. All of them were in awe and admiration of what he had done, defending against an attack from the town leader, which they could not do themselves. Argentum looked at the guards and Blob with an aura filled with slight happiness, thinking that this moment of camaraderie ain’t so bad.

On the other hand, although he was covered by an energy barrier, the leader of Verdant Breeze Town had a gloomy expression on his face as he noticed that the intruder he sent the attack towards was unscathed just like him. Wondering what was the intruder’s secret to defending such a destructive attack, the leader of the town went ahead and secretly utilized a bit of his energy to inspect the intruder’s conditions…only for his mood to take a turn for the better as he realized that the intruders were not human at all.

‘I’m gonna be rich!’ was the thought he had in mind after his realization.

The reason why this thought surfaced in his mind was that he found out that the being he was fighting against was actually a Pseudo-Animate! As someone who stood at the peak of authority in this town, he had access to a lot of knowledge, allowing him to learn of the existence of Pseudo-Animates, which were used by humans as catalysts for items or materials for powerful equipment. There were also times when they were used as slaves or servants by powerful beings, but one thing was for sure.

Pseudo-Animates sold for a lot of money!

‘To be able to defend against an attack of my level…I could definitely sell him for a few million gold coins!’ he thought to himself as he lightly snickered with malevolent intent. At that moment, the plan in his mind had changed, deciding that the best-case scenario was for him to obtain his tome back and capture that Pseudo-Animate for his own.

“Just to make sure the owner is someone I can go up against…” he soon muttered not long after, sending another strand of energy secretly towards Argentum, who seemed to radiate an aura that he was at ease. Expecting that the second intruder was a human, it gave him a great shock when he found out that the second intruder was also a Pseudo-Animate!

‘So you’re telling me that two inferior beings were able to steal something important from my manor without me noticing?’ Although this thought circulated in his mind, making him think that these two Pseudo-Animates were not some beings one could mess around with, the innate greed he had won over his rationality, looking at the two like they were walking gold coffers as he conjured a larger ball of energy this time.

In an instant, the diameter of this ball of energy had reached the size of 2 exercise balls, radiating an intent of destruction that was far more palpable than before. Soon after, multiple particles of energy manifested and coalesced around the ball, infusing the ball with three elements instead of two this time. It was only at this moment that the guards noticed what their leader was doing, their legs trembling in fear as they did not want to imagine the aftermath of such an attack.

As for Argentum and Blob, Blob hastily used the strongest defensive skill in his arsenal, conjuring a large shield that he wielded as he dashed, with Argentum casting a spell on the shield to make it more sturdy and powerful.

Swoosh!

Just as Blob was in the middle of his jump, the town leader let out a maniacal cackle as he threw the ball at the guards, as well as the two, without hesitation as he shouted, “To think that you two are Pseudo-Animates…the heavens have truly given me great luck!”

“Now fall under my attack and become mine!”

“[Worldly Aquaflame Eruption]!”

…

…

…

“Huh?” Even though the leader was sure that he had thrown the attack towards the guards and the two Pseudo-Animates, no explosion came. The aftermath could not be seen at all, as if the explosion had not happened in the first place. He looked around his surroundings and noticed that the ball of energy he threw was fixed in place. Not only that, but he also noticed that everyone else, the guards, the two Pseudo-Animates were also fixed in place…

As if they were frozen in time.

“Phew. I barely made it.” Just as the leader thought that he might be going mad, he heard a deep yet enchanting resound throughout the area, prompting his eyes to focus onto a rift that was newly made, revealing a man with an extraordinary aura coming out of it.

Complementing the ocean blue irises he had, this man wore a blue suit that would normally be worn by a businessman for a company, giving off the feeling that everything around was under his control. In fact, that was indeed the case. Currently, everyone in the surroundings, the guards, and even Argentum and Blob looked at the newly arrived person, feeling that any movement they made would be seen by the man.

Not to mention, they also felt that the current situation was due to the man’s doing, stopping everything in their surroundings from moving through sheer aura alone. Then again, even though it seemed like everything was frozen, the man in the blue suit slowly made his way towards the leader of the town, a light and amiable smile covering his face as he removed part of the aura he placed on the town leader.

With part of the aura pressing on him now gone, the town leader felt a bit more at ease, though he could not help but look at the man in a blue suit with a hint of fear. Cautiously, he asked in a respectful tone, “Who might this esteemed sir be?”

In response, the man in the blue suit let out a light chuckle, responding, “My identity is not important, but let me ask the same question to you.”

“Who are you, kind sir?” the man asked soon after, to which the leader of the town unhesitatingly replied with a slight bow, “My first name is Irren, esteemed sir. I hail from the Magia family, a family that’s known for their powerful mages.”

“Irren, huh…” the man in the blue suit muttered with a light smile still on his face, taking a bit of his time to look at everyone else, eventually fixating his glance on Argentum. When Argentum felt the man’s gaze on him, it was then that Argentum realized who the man in the blue suit was. He did not say anything in response though, only nodding.

Seeing Argentum lightly nodding, the man in the blue suit looked back at the leader and said, “Irren?”

“Yes?” the town leader replied with a smile on his face.

“Goodbye.”

“Eh?”

Whoosh!

Without hesitation, the man in the blue suit made a horizontal slicing motion with his left hand, instantly decapitating the town leader’s head. The leader did not even realize that his head was cut off, only realizing it as he felt that his consciousness was fading away.

And just like that, Verdant Breeze Town was now a leaderless town.

——–

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