The Blorana plains seperated Vylara and Rethia. The yellow grass signified Rethia while the green, appealing, living grass signified Vylara.
Crossing into the green without permission meant certain death. At least that's what Jack was told. He was standing just on the edge of the border; stretching just one measly little tentacle would put him into Vylara.
His slime body was perked on Jeanne's shoulder.
"Are you sure we'll die instantly after crossing that?" Jack asked, eyeing the invisible line with deep suspicion. It felt less like a magical barrier and more like one of those playground games where an imaginary line meant instant doom if you crossed it.
Jeanne smirked. "Go ahead and cross if you don't believe me."
He glanced at Aria but she shrugged, she wasn't from this side of the Inera continent. However she heard the legends of the Veil and she lacked the desire to test them.
Jack felt a little cheeky. Maybe just one tentacle across the border to test this so called Veil.
Deciding to test it, he extended a slimy tentacle from Jeanne's shoulder and brought it closer and closer. But before he could touch it, on Vylara's side a vine instantly grew from the ground, sprouting into a magnificent oak.
A man in silver armor and an emblem of an oak tree on his chest plate was leaning on the tree. He had no hair, not even a single hair. His sword was made of bark.
"Hello?" Jack squeaked, retracting his tentacle quickly.
The tree-armored elf ignored him and closed his eyes.
[Toross, ???] The level didn't show.
"Holy..." Jack couldn't even finish.
"That's a Treanthe guard," Jeanne whispered. She was in awe and terrified at the same time. "They are... more than soldiers."
Aria on the other hand wasn't fazed and pointed her thumb towards the direction of the border town, further down the road. Almost a few hours away.
"We'll go through the official gates," she said.
In response, Toross's closed eyes twitched slightly, acknowledging their decision. He didn't move, didn't speak, a sentinel carved from oak and iron, a living extension of the Veil's will.
The trio started walking again, the tension from their recent battle ebbing into a cautious quiet walk. The border town of Aeridor rose in the distance.
Their walk was relatively peaceful. Aside from the fact that Jack could still see Toross name floating in front of him yet the guy was nowhere to be seen, following them silently as if teleporting from tree to tree.
Buildings that did not belong in a plains were visible, one side screamed nature yet the other was screaming man-made. It was a mixture of two different cultures. An uneasy blend of human stonework and elven curves.
They were still a kilometer away yet Jack paused.
"For some reason I expected more people to be crossing the border. Like at least merchants with caravans."
He hopped onto Jeanne's blond hair to get a better look. His gelatinous weight felt strange on her scalp, but she didn't move him.
"It's not unusual, the church only transports the richest of merchants. And few people would want to leave Rethia, our holy mother is the epitome of generosity," Jeanne said.
Yet there was an underlying bitterness to her words. A hint of irony. She quickly scanned the surrounding area and then continued.
But Aria didn't, instead she stared into the empty town.
"It feels similar."
Her crimson eyes were distant as if remembering a memory. The vampires of Olyria whispering in her mind, a memory she couldn't ever forget.
Jack tilted his head.
"Similar to what? To your hometown?" he asked.
Aria took a deep breath, her sheer willpower preventing any tears from escaping.
"Are you sure we can't enter some other way Jeanne? Asylum maybe?" she said, her tone low.
The priestess put a finger to her chin, "Asylum can only be called on Elven ground by invoking the God of Tree. And it is significantly harder to obtain."
"Stepping on Elven ground without permission is death so how would that even work," Jack interjected, with genuine curiosity.
The trio kept hugging the borderline and made their way closer to Aeridor. Every step made it look more abandoned and eerie. Jack's slime radar started to beep. There was life but it was still silent.
He had to ask the system.
"How to invoke the God of Tree?" He inquired.
The system responded instantly in its usual emotionless tone.
[To invoke the Tree-God, one must physically be connected to the Elven land and chant the sacred verses: Dyonis, protector of Yggradsil, grant me shelter.]
"Simple enough," he thought.
Just as the trio neared the entrance to the border town, the scene in front of them made all three stop dead in their tracks. Fire snakes. They were slithering around the town gates. But only on the human side as the elves on the other side seemed uninterested.
And next to those fire snakes, stood a snow-white griffin. A griffin that was chasing around the snakes like it was a dog playing fetch with a bone. Around them were corpses. The human officials to accept the transaction between Vylara and Rethia were dead.
Some were burned, while others were impaled. Among them was a guard with the same uniform as those back in Cyros.
"What?" Jack said.
Jeanne's face was drained of its color. She quicky grabbed Aria by her shoulder and dashed away from the town. She didn't see the inquisitor so maybe it was safe to assume that this was someone else or just some random magical beast going feral.
The slime on her shoulder was confused.
"Priestess what is it?" Aria tried to push her away but her grip was too tight. The priestess ignored her.
"He's here."
They were back in the grassy plains now when they heard a screeching. The griffin flew up in the sky, its destination was a small pond next to Aeridor. It landed and immediately two people mounted it.
One was the red head. The other had the familiar black coat with the gold cross of an inquisitor.
"No way," Jeanne was sweating, her breathing erratic.
"You said they would take another day," The Slime Slayer voice boomed across the plains, sending shivers down Jack's spine. The griffin started to fly closer to them.
"His excellency Inquisitor Lancel," Jeanne muttered.
Before the Inquisitor could answer his companion, she stretched out her hand; eerie green lines surrounded Jack's body like a sphere.
[The Slime Slayer has activated: Mark of Slime.]
[The Mark of Slime skill will ensure all spells hit their target as if they were at point-blank range]
"Shit," Jack said.
This is why slimes went extinct in Uryen Forest, he thought.
Then the Slime Slayer conjured a vortex in the sky above Jack. It wasn't a pull but the energy swirling above was making Jack' stomach quiver; he felt sick. The vortex was compressing from an oval into one singular beam and aimed itself at Jack.
[Host will-]
He didn't need the system to tell him his fate.
The vortex beam shot at Jack like an orbital beam. He had closed his metaphorical eyes.