Chapter 3: Normal?
The group sent by the young king was, in fact, not the only team sent to find that otherworlder, intruding on Gloirian soil, a portion of the elite unit of Heilig was also researching the area.
The unit sent by the young king paled in comparison but realistically speaking, it was first come served regardless of either of the groups strength, Heilig wouldn't risk doing something as absurd as attacking on foreign soil after illegally intruding on said soil.
Gloire may have be in weakened state at the moment due to the revolution and the sudden change of leader but everyone was still aware that it's military power was still strong, in terms of sheer power, only an alliance could bring the surrounding nations to an equal mesure.
While the group of Gloire was composed of nameless nobodies, the Heiligian unit was composed of three of the members of their greatest force.
The first of these two divisions was moving steadiy alongside the main road, it was so so bumpy that even moving on foot could prove tricky at times, they split on both side of the road so as to be able to gaze on each side of the surrounding forest, paying attention to any movement or anything out of the ordinary, luckily for them, this area was almost devoid of anything, only small animals and some ordinary insects dwelled this close to the road, any movements from anything bigger would be immediately noticed.
At one point during their travel on the road, one of them looked ahead for a few moments and too notice of an habitation, notifying the others of it, they decided to head for it, with some luck, the otherworlder had ended up being welcomed in this house.
Arriving before the very tall gate, they hesitated a bit, not because of fear or anything but because they felt awkward just entering someones property all of a sudden.
"Maybe they have a system to be notified when someones at their gate?" mumbled one of them before spotting a box on a pole, it looked like a large birdbox but since it was so closed to the ground, it probably wasn't one.
That person opened the box's small doors and seeing a bell, they rung it without thinking.
The others looked at him as if he was the biggest fool ever for a few moments but someone rapidly arrived, so fast that it almost seemed suspicious.
Opening the door was someone that looked very much like the depiction someone could have of a man from the woods but more dressed.
"Bonjour! How may I help you?" spoke the man with a warm tone and expressionless eyes, immediately setting the tone and making everyone exchange glares with two of the people in the back whispering to one another.
"What was that first word he said?" wondered one of them as the other one tried to imagine what it could be.
"Hum, yes, there has been a number of disappearances recently..." started saying the one at the front before being cut off by the bizarre man.
"Quelle tragédie, I did hear of it, are you perhaps some sort of investigators or are you looking for someone in particular, maybe, someone that is particular?" if they weren't creeped by the first impression, thet were now, he spoke as if he knew exactly who and why they were here.
"Huh, yes, yes, we are looking for a particular person, we think that they may be in the surrounding forest-" the one at the front was once again cut off in her sentence.
"In the surrounding forest you say? I didn't see anyone, I 'patrol' it almost everyday and I haven't seen anyone, dead or otherwise" he said, once again spouting some suspicious things with a lazy smile on his face, since his smile sligtly grew while speaking, they could only guess that it was an attempt at a joke.
"A-" he cut her off immediately this time, anticipating her question.
"Yes, j'en suis certain, you see I have dogs, they are trained and they would have alerted me of anything as unusual as someone wandering around, this forest doesn't have much to offer you see, I am pretty much the only person around here, it's just me and my little sister" he answered her, before slapping his hands together and walking back, preparing to close the gates again.
Not wanting to deal with him much longer, none of them asked anything else and they just watched as the gate closed.
They waited for a few moments but not hearing any footsteps going away, they walked further from the gate and spoke with one another.
"I don't know about you guys but he looks like he eat people" spoke one of them, not remotely joking.
"He should be trustworthy enough" surprisingly spoke another one, taking aback the others as this man definitely didn't fit any part of trustworthy.
"Are you ears for decoration? We heard of this guy back in the city, he is part of the city council and is a part of the roaming doctors, he even worked as a medic an surgeon for a bit during the war with Mawlique" he reminded them, they seemed to have forgotten about the one many people had told them to talk to as he lived directly inside of the forest they wanted to search.
"Oh, I had forgotten, so he's sort of a local celebrity then?" remembered another.
"That doesn't mean every word he says is the full truth though" objected a third one.
"Well, it's not like we can just burst inside for no reason, the home of a doctor and veteran no less, we won't just get reprimanded with we mess up like that" spoke the woman who spoke with the man, so they just went on to search the forest deeper, they couldn't just leave without trying to find that otherworlder.
"What did they say his name was?" spoke one of them.
"They said he was called Ithelisemou" answered the attentive one.
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"I thought this forest was supposed to be harmless but I have been feeling eyes on me ever since we got here" said one the three members of Heilig elite unit, a woman long ears and a skin color that was reminiscent of tree bark.
She was a ranger and the designated scout of this elite group, the fact that only she had been able to notice the gaze spoke quite a bit of their stalkers abilities.
She highly doubted the kingdom of Gloire could have foresaw their arrival and she doubted even more that they had a stealth specialist of this caliber.
She was Farsite or the Fly Striker as they called her, her nickname wasn't among the worst but it didn't quite sound right.
Alongside her, there was Polt, the Unseen Death, one of the luckiest with his title, he was an experienced assassin and well versed in using shadows to his advantage.
As well as Jhorn, the Genocide Knight, a title earned through an obvious manner, he was the only one of the three with no stealth capabilites whatsoever and was mostly present in case things went south.
"Don't worry about it for now, had it been someone sent to spy on us, they would already have enough information by now, it's most likely just a monster" said Jhorn in an indifferent tone, focused on the prospect of a possible battle.
They efficiently searched the forest until night fell, the eyes never ceasing to stare at them, completely avoiding another group of people that was also searching the forest, hearing that they were also searching for the otherworlder, it pretty much settled that the eyes had nothing to do with Gloire.
This fact only deepened the mystery.
The moon was high in the sky, tonight was a full green moon, it illuminated the forest splendidly, allowing for the three of them to see without much difficulty.
As they were going back after searching just about every nook and cranny without finding ever the slightest of clues, the eyes suddenly stopped gazing before being replaced by eyes that all three of them could feel as well as the intense bloodlust that poured toward them.
Each of them immediately got combat ready, being able to fully witness the thing that slowly walked out of the shadows created by the trees.
Dressed in a long, brownish trench coat that seemed a bit worn out and seemingly stained by something dark in various locations, it was also wearing a large hat of a similar color on top of its head, which appeared to be encased in a layer of stone, not leaving anything to see though it and breath through.
The figure, who appeared to be a man, suddenly came to halt upon coming out of the darkness, as if it had just noticed them, it seemed to eye each and everyone one of them from head to toe, fixating on each of them for a few moments before stopping it and raising its right hand, the palm facing toward the back as if it was waiting for someone to hand it something.
instead, a beautifully crafted and shiny hand axe flew out of the darkness, arriving right in its hand, the axe had many features that seemed to have been added for nothing more than style and the luster it gave off under the light of the green moon made it appear like a cheap copy of a weapon a scammer might try to sell to some beginner adventurers.
The three of them however, knew otherwise.
Whatever or whoever it was that stood in front of them was definitely dangerous, they waited for it to make a movement and after but a few seconds of staring, it suddenly rose the axe in the air and charged at them, a simple attack but one that still appeared as incredibly dangerous.
The ranger and assassin dashed away while the knight met the figure head-on, stopping the powerful strike of the axe with his sword without much issue, for the moment, they were equally matched in terms of pure brawn.
The knight moved away as he saw the being trying to grab him with its free hand, usually, the knight would have fought until the bitter end but being on a special mission that required to be somewhat stealthy, he let the assassin cover him with shadows, bringing him away.
The stone-headed being looked around and seemed to lock on a specific direction, it bended its knees as if preparing to jump but suddenly stopped, as if someone had put their hands on its shoulders and told it to stop, it slowly stood back up, staring at the same direction, seemingly hesitating but ultimately walking back into the other direction.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone