Chapter 408: What They Missed  

As they stood in front of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, Herellia and Argentum looked at each other for a bit, wondering which one of them was going to make Horell come out of the alliance. After looking at each other for a bit more in silence, Herellia couldn’t help but let out a light sigh as she said, “Fine, I’ll do it.”

Whoosh!

In less than an instant, Herellia released the entirety of her aura, covering a great portion of the alliance. While doing so, she utilized the control she had honed while she was in the inheritance to amplify the loudness of her voice as she shouted, “Horell, come out here!”

Swoosh!

Not long after Herellia was finished shouting, a great number of Inanimates at S-grade and X-grade soon arrived at the main hall before making their ways near the entrance of the alliance. Sometime later, the familiar aura of a being soon emanated from the end of the main hall, prompting Herellia and Argentum to look at the being that was coming closer and closer to the entrance.

Eventually, the being had revealed itself, taking on the shape of a humanoid even though it was made out of slightly dark cyan energy. When one looked at the being, they would feel like they would be absorbing more mana, which was true as he seemed to be the embodiment of mana. This being was none other than the current leader of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, Horell.

As he made his way to the very front of the crowd, Horell instantly noticed the red-haired girl and exclaimed in great surprise, “Herellia! It’s great to see you again!”

Seeing that the beings that were looking for him were actually familiar, Horell commanded those that came to the main hall in order to protect it to head back to where they were previously were, allowing them to do their own things. After all of them had left the vicinity, only then did Horell come closer to Herellia. However, before he could hug her after being separate for quite a long while, another being in the area could not help let out a light cough as he said, “You’re missing someone else here, you know?”

Hearing that, Horell could not help look at Argentum and ask, “And…you are…?”

“You don’t recognize him, Horell?” Herellia said in response, trying her best to hold her laughter. “You don’t recognize Argentum?”

“Argentum?” Horell muttered the name a few times in silence, trying to recall who he was, only to exclaim in shock, “Wait a minute! That Argentum? Aurus’s clone? The one who helped you achieve Animate level? That Argentum?!”

“The one and only,” Argentum replied, lightly chuckling. On the other hand, Horell was left at a loss for words as he knew for a fact that a Pseudo-Animate couldn’t become an Animate. “How…how did you become an Animate?”Smiling, Argentum answered, “I didn’t.”

“Huh?” Naturally, Horell was quite confused as to what Argentum meant by that. However, not long after, the answer to his question was revealed as Argentum deactivated [False Visage of the Animate].

Swoosh!

Within seconds, the silhouette of a humanoid made out of gray energy appeared in the sights of both Herellia and Horell, with Horell being left at a loss for words from the sheer confusion and awe he felt while looking at Argentum. Unsurprisingly, the first question that came out of Horell’s mouth was, “How…?”

“I’ve obtained this skill from one of the friends I’ve made along my journey,” Argentum said before continuing, “If you want, I could ask that friend to come here and teach you that skill as well.”

“Seriously?” Hearing how he could become an Animate, or at least look like one, Horell could not help but come closer to Argentum and give off the feeling that he was worshiping him, to which Argentum hastily told him to stop. After attempting multiple times to stop Horell, he was eventually successful in doing so as he changed the topic, asking the others as to what changes have happened to them while they haven’t met up in a while.

Surprisingly, Horell was the first one to talk, telling both Herellia and Argentum, “Since the two of you were gone, I’ve had no choice but to actually do my job as the leader appointed by Herellia. With that, I’ve firmly established the influence of the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance, with the surrounding territories and alliances around Tempest Cliff taking note of us as the strongest alliance in the area.”

“Well, that’s no surprise,” Herellia said as if it was just a matter of course. “With a Pseudo-Animate manning the Verdant Blossom Branch Alliance and with the other alliances only having X-grade Inanimates at the very most, it’s a given that the alliance will eventually be crowned the strongest alliance someday.”

“After being called the strongest alliance, did anything happen to the alliance after that?” Argentum could not help but ask, to which Horell replied, “Other than a few small skirmishes, nothing much, really. Well, there’s the fact that we’ve increased the number of Inanimates in our alliance to over 500.”

“That sounds good,” Herellia said in response as she nodded in satisfaction. “As for the few small skirmishes, what do you mean by that?”

“Oh, it’s nothing,” Horell said as he waved his hand. “It’s just that a few alliances announced that they were going to war against us. We just took care of them.”

Hearing that, both Herellia and Argentum could not help but look at each other, seeing from their gazes that they’ve unanimously agreed on one fact. In their minds, Horell has finally found his groove as the leader of the alliance.

But surprisingly, as if wanting to turn their opinions of Horell around, he asked the two of them out of the blue, “Anyways, when are the two of you going to take my place as leader of the alliance again?!”

“You’re already doing a good job, though,” Herellia replied. “There’s no point in changing leaders when the alliance is already developing this well.”

Argentum nodded in agreement, saying, “Aren’t you enjoying the feeling of satisfaction when managing the alliance? Don’t you feel great when one of your moves allows the alliance to prosper even further?”

“Well, I do, but…” Realizing that he wouldn’t be able to make them accept the position of leader again, Horell finally decided to stop forcing it. Nevertheless, he didn’t stop asking them to take up high positions as he told them, “How about high positions? Can’t you two take up any spots on that?”

“The alliance already has elders, no?” Herellia said in response, “If we were to become elders, the balance of power in the alliance will just become difficult to manage.”“Plus, it’s not like we’re not part of the alliance anymore,” Argentum continued where Herellia left off. “We’re still members of the alliance in one way or another.”

Well, the reason why Argentum could say this was because the passive skill he had obtained from the alliance back then while searching for Herellia and Horell had improved after he evolved to Magic-grade Pseudo-Animate, taking on the name [Unified Power of the Alliance (Beyond X-grade)]. Although the increment to it was nothing substantial anymore, it still gave him a small boost in power.

Seeing that they were adamant in not managing any part of the alliance, it was only then did Horell truly give up on coercing the two, letting out a light sigh as he said in a slightly glum tone, “Alright. I’ll stop asking.”

“So, how about you, Herellia? What happened to you while we were separated from one another?” he asked soon after, to which Herellia scratched her cheeks as she replied, “I haven’t done a lot, to be honest. Under one of Argentum’s friends, I learned the basic things that an Animate should know, as well as the powers I’ve gained after becoming an Animate.”

“Since I’ve evolved to the Animate level, I’ve lost most of the skills I’ve obtained back when I was an X-grade Inanimate, only leaving with the basic ability of being able to manipulate blood, as well as increase my mastery over manipulating blood,” she continued. “Nevertheless, I’m certain that I could totally thrash my Inanimate self multiple times with the skills I have in my arsenal.”

‘Well, of course,’ Argentum could not help but think to himself. ‘A single stat point for an Animate is equivalent to 100,000 points for an Inanimate.’ Of course, he kept that to himself.

With Herellia and Horell now done talking about the things they did while they were separated, it was naturally Argentum’s turn to talk about what he did. And well…the things he talked about unsurprisingly left them speechless.

“Oh, you know. I just became the leader of a town and improved it to a level where it’s actually starting to prosper,” Argentum said with the usual air of nonchalance he had. Naturally, Herellia and Horell found it hard to comprehend. After all, when was it no surprising for one to hear that their friend had become the leader of a town?

“Uh…can we head to that town?” Herellia asked after she had snapped back to reality, to which Horell nodded in agreement. In response, Argentum shrugged his shoulders as he said, “Sure, why not. It’s part of the reason why I wanted to meet you two together in the first place. Plus, it’s also part of the reason why I offered Horell the chance to learn the skill I’ve learned.”

Reading between the lines of Argentum’s words, Horell could not help but feel like there was something more important as he asked, “So, what’s the main reason why you two are here?”

Seeing Herellia look at him with a hint of curiosity, Argentum took in a deep breath and asked them, “We all know about Aurus, right?”

“Yeah? He’s your original body and he left the alliance for no apparent reason,” Horell nodded as he replied. “What about him?”

“Well, what if I told you that there was a reason why he left the alliance?” Argentum said in response, to which Horell remained silent, wanting him to continue. As for Herellia, it was her first time hearing this part, so she remained silent as well.

Scratching his head, Argentum then continued, “Although I don’t know how or why he had turned out like that, Aurus had a change of heart and started to kill Animates and destroy their settlements. Even my town wasn’t spared from him. But fortunately, it seemed like he still had a grip over his sanity while he was in my town.”

Seeing the shock on their faces, Argentum continued to talk about Aurus even more. “In any case, the Animates are now calling him The Great Calamity. Well, to be more exact, he called himself that when someone asked for his name. Ever since he started killing Animates and destroying settlements, he has destroyed five villages, ten towns, and three cities. Of course, he didn’t spare the people that lived in those settlements.”

Processing the information that was given to them, Herellia and Horell went silent for quite some time, truly caught off guard by the new information. After some time, Horell couldn’t help but ask himself, “Is it because of us?”

“He wouldn’t go on a killing spree for something like that, Horell,” Argentum reassured him. “The only possible answers for this is because of a skill he has forcing him to become that way, or some external factor taking control over him. Unfortunately, even with my connection to him, I can’t check that.”

“So, is there anything we can do to help out?” Herellia asked after that. “You wanted us to meet up because of that, right? You have a solution in your mind wherein us three could help him out, right?”

Hearing those words, Argentum went silent for a bit, wondering how he was going to phrase his answer. Eventually, he let out a sigh as he shook his head, telling them, “At first, I thought you two would be a way to help him regain his sanity. In fact, even I considered myself into this plan, thinking that us three would be able to do that. But now, after mulling over it for a bit, I’ve come to the harsh conclusion that…”

“We just can’t.”