Infinite Realm

"What the hell?" Fudo asked with a confused expression. 

It wasn't unexpected to find an NPC out in the middle of Stone Creek forest or any other resource map. In fact, Sato had previously seen a few players escorting NPCs here before. It was just that, unlike the other NPCs, this one was a bit strange. Most NPCs found in resource maps would have an expression of fear from luckily escaping a monster, or would be wandering around the place battling monsters or searching for something. This one, on the other hand, was just standing still. It didn't look like he was looking for something but rather he was lost. Of course, finding a lost NPC isn't such a problem as if players approach them with the right attitude, they could get a mission from them. The problem was the vibe the man gave. He looked to be lost but also not lost; rather it seemed more like he was waiting for somebody.

"What do we do?" Fudo asked Sato. 

After the goblin event and meeting the Town Head, Fudo became more wary against NPCs. The Town Head, Arman Lagus, looked like a little kid of 12-14 years of age and so one couldn't help but underestimate him. After the goblin event, most of the players were made aware of his amazing strength and so didn't dare to look down on him any longer. As a result of that event, Fudo decided to become more careful when dealing with random NPCs he met otherwise, he might end up offending a peerless expert.

"Why are you getting nervous already? It's just an NPC." Yato grinned at Fudo's behaviour.

"We can just circle around him. There's no need to meet him." Seiichi said. Unlike Yato, he understood Fudo's worries and also felt the same way about this scenario. Hence his opinion of circling around the NPC.

Sato stared at the NPC and tried to see through him.

The NPC was an old man, probably in his late 40s or early 50s. Despite being of old age, the old man was not only handsome, but he looked strong and not as frail as one would expect an elderly to be. He wore an oversized white robe, with gold coloured linings by the edges. On his chest was a mysterious pattern of a golden star that looked like a sun, with a huge white snake that threatened to swallow up the star. On his feet were a pair of brown coloured sandals that didn't look expensive nor luxurious. The old man also radiated a virtuous aura that made him look kind and holy. With a white beard, a scholarly and righteous but unbridled aura around him, the man seemed to be the friendly kind of person despite wearing such luxurious clothing that made him seem like royalty.

If Ink Snow were here, she would surely know who this old man was. He was the weird old man she had met back at the Sahara Desert. Sahara Desert was located on the outskirts of Lavissen Town, stretching so far as to break through the border of the Reiss Kingdom into a neighbouring kingdom, with parts of it even entering the Fallen Heart Kingdom's borders. Though it sounds like it was close, the truth was different. The three kingdoms were separated and at the same time, conjoined at this juncture by the Sahara Desert. However, the size of this Desert was quite unimaginable. So big was it that 2 Russias could even fit inside of the Desert with a bit of space still left for Spain, and this distance was just the explored parts in player maps; there were still unexplored parts of the map! Due to the huge distance, players in Lavissen Town couldn't just traverse this distance and head to Stone Creek Forest in the Fallen Heart Kingdom. As such, it was surprising that the old man was here. Sadly though, Ink Snow wasn't here so Sato's group didn't know the identity of this man.

"Let's walk around him."

Sato decided not to risk facing the man after all, not only was the man's bearing weird, as it was strange to see a royalty-like figure here, but also Sato's instincts warned him continuously. When a person has reached a specific level of strength, their instincts would be developed to such a level that it could alert them of stronger figures. Sato had long reached that level and so, his instincts were developed to sense danger. In the eyes of the others, the old man seemed like a royalty with a friendly attitude. But in Sato's eyes, the old man was like a bloodthirsty tiger in the body of an old man. This bloodthirsty aura was very vague that one wouldn't even notice. This could be proven by the fact that apart from Sato, the rest didn't seem to have sensed it.

Of course, the bloodthirsty aura wasn't the only reason Sato decided to go round the man. In some VR games, it was common to get attacked by NPCs for no good reason. A peerless god-level NPC could just kill a noob player just because he(the player) looked unpleasing to his eyes. Sato felt that this weird old man might do the same to them and he wasn't willing to lose so many Experience points just because an NPC felt that he was ugly to look at.

With that, the team circled around the old man. This wasn't impossible as the distance between them and the old man was at least 150 metres. At this distance, the team felt that the old man wouldn't be able to sense them plus the old man wasn't really looking their way. With all these added together, as long as they tread carefully, they could avoid the old man's detection.

The team then turned around and carefully began retreating, trying not to create any sound while doing so. As they were retreating, the old man suddenly turned to look at them and smiled. Suddenly, everyone felt that blood run cold and their bodies suddenly stopped responding. This sensation only lasted for less than a second before it disappeared.

'Was I imagining things?' 

This was the question on everyone's mind as they wondered whether they were imagining things. But Sato immediately unsheathed his sword and this action stirred the others to enter battle mode. 

"It wasn't an imagination." Sato said as if he knew what was in their minds and so decided to clarify it.

"We've been spotted." Sato said once more while turning back to face the man. 

As the others turned around, they saw that the previous 150 metres space separating them from the old man, had become a 10 metres distance. Everything was still in its exact position; the tree 100 metres back was still was 100 metres back, the boulder 125 metres back was still 125 metres back. Everything was still in its exact position apart from the man. This showed that the man had suddenly covered 140 metres within a second and he did so without making a single sound!

"Tsss." Fudo took in an exaggerated amount of air. Not only was he shocked, but he was also astounded. The same went for everyone else in this group.

"This man…" Yato said as he gripped his sword's hilt tightly with both hands.

To players, covering a few metres or so within a second was possible after all, martial arts had improved considerably than it was in the past. The same goes for the human body and physique. However, to do so without making a single sound was very very difficult, but not impossible. But this was only limited to covering a gap of 3-10 metres. For more than 100 metres, no, forget 100. For more than even 10 metres, this was impossible, much less 140 metres. Unless the old man had teleported, his speed has to be something far, far greater than what anyone had ever witnessed.

"Wow, wow. Relax little fellows. If I wanted to kill you, I would have done so a long time ago." The old man chuckled as he saw the group's battle stance.

Even though he seemed like that nice grandpa across the street, none of them dared to drop their guards down. After a few seconds of deliberation, Sato said to the team.

"Keep your weapons back."

Sato knew that what the old man had spoken was true since if he could cover a 140 metres distance within a second without creating a single sound, he could easily kill them within 3 seconds. However, he was unwilling to trust the man's words as such, he spoke up in the team chat.

"Keep your weapons but don't lower your guard down. Fudo, be ready to use your [Explosion] spell. The rest, whatever trump card you have, get it ready."

Despite knowing that they were not the old man's match, Sato was disinclined to leave his life to fate and die like a lamb. He might as well be on guard and be ready to retaliate. Even if they don't kill the man, injuring him shouldn't be a problem or so he thought. Another reason that he didn't directly go on the attack was that Sato had noticed that the old man's bloodthirsty aura had vanished from him as if it were never there to start with.

"Does this elder require anything of us?" Sato asked amicably and humbly with one hand across his chest as he bowed at a perfect angle of 90°. If one didn't know that Sato had earlier pulled a sword against this man, they would think that he was his servant.

"Haha. Good, good. I like your attitude." The old man guffawed. He looked like he was seeing a clown performing tricks in the circus.

In reaction to his laugh, Sato was expressionless but only he himself knew how many times he had cursed the old man.

"Alright then. In fact, I do need help from you." The old man suddenly said right after he stopped laughing. "Did you happen to see a red twin-horned fox running by here?"

"A red twin-horned fox?" Everyone stared at each other in confusion. 

"No, sire." Sato replied.

"I see. Alright then, it's not your fault. In fact, you could say it's a good thing that you didn't see it." The old man smiled mysteriously. For an unknown reason though, every one of his statements had an 'alright then'.

"Alright then, off you go." The man shooed them away. 

The group stared at each other in confusion but left immediately. Of course, this was right after they bade the old man farewell. Who knows whether he might have killed them if they didn't do so.

As the group had gone far out of sight, the old man smiled. A shadow suddenly dived down from the sky and rested on the man's shoulder. It was a bird that looked like a divine eagle. It was a lot smaller than regular eagles but the aura it suffused showed that it was strong, very strong.

"That kid isn't bad. He managed to have sensed my blood aura. Hai~ Added with the fact that that little fox got away, it seems like I have been getting rusty."

From the way the old man talked, it didn't seem like he was talking to himself but rather to the divine eagle but that sounded weird and silly. The strange thing though was that he apparently knew that Sato had sensed that bloodthirsty aura he suffused back then

"Oh well, that kid isn't bad. His fate seems to be good here. He might achieve great things but who can be sure of that. His pattern shows that he will experience something dangerous but if he survives, he will gain a lot." 

*Caw* *Caw*

As the man concluded, the divine eagle nudged him while making 'caw' sounds like a crow.

"Don't worry, don't worry. I don't plan on doing anything to the kid. I still haven't caught that little fox. Hai~ If Az knew this, he would probably mock me for a 100 years. Having an apostle ranked figure escaping my clutches is really unbecoming of me." 

Once he was done speaking to his pet, the man turned in another direction and began walking forward. 

The strange thing, however, was that there was no sound of his footsteps and neither was there a trace on the floor. It was like the old man never walked there. This was quite inexplicable since the entire floor in Stone Creek Forest was covered in twigs, leaves, and dried roots. It is literally impossible to step on these parts and not produce any sound or trail. Even the number one assassin in the world would still leave behind tracks no matter how small. But the old man didn't. The only explanation would be that either he was a spirit or that he never really walked on the ground, but instead was walking on air. To walk on air just a tiny inch away from the ground in such a manner that one wouldn't notice it, would only prove more that this old man was a peerless expert that shouldn't be underestimated.. But compared to what he had done in the Temple of chains, this was nothing.