A crisp laugh seemed to pierce through the hollow silence between the woods.
But where had the third presence between the woods come from? Both Ben and the Earth Envoy raised their heads simultaneously—and discovered a little girl sitting on a tree at some point, about fourteen or fifteen years old, with slightly curly golden twin tails. She supported her round doll-like face with her hand, looking at him from above with interest; the girl’s eyes were filled with laughter, or rather, her emerald green eyes, like lake water, were full of curiosity—she was dressed in the traditional leather outfit most adventurers wore, shaking her leather boots intentionally or unintentionally.
"Mr. Brand, need any help?" The girl asked, supporting her cheek with one hand, smiling sweetly.
"Who are you?" Ben was startled; this little girl gave him a faintly familiar feeling, and he narrowed his eyes.
"Alorz," the girl replied.
The Earth Envoy let out a low growl, interrupting their conversation. It was obviously unhappy with the unexpected guest’s intrusion, though a hint of hidden danger on the girl’s body made it hesitate to act rashly. It raised its head, fourteen thousand compound eyes constructing the existence of the little girl, while its body sank slightly, taking on a defensive posture.
This action caught Ben’s attention.
"How annoying, interrupting people’s conversation—" The girl huffed lightly—and then jumped down. A giant sword suddenly appeared in her hand; without any extra words, she gripped it with both hands and struck down. Eckmen howled and jumped back; its rock-like front limbs crossed to block the attack. However, with a crisp ’creak,’ the shield layers formed by rock shattered like glass where the sword struck, and further down, the rock-like surface of its front limbs splintered, bronze-colored blood sprayed out from the cracks.
But the sword’s force did not diminish, the blade cut down Eckmen’s front limbs further, hitting its chest. With a loud crash, the giant sword sent Eckmen flying.
At that moment, Ben was dumbfounded.
From the start of the attack, a series of actions were completed in a flash. The girl had just landed, and it was as if in an instant, the previously ferocious Eckmen was reduced to a dead dog; but wait, was that really the Earth Envoy? It seemed even less daunting than the low-level Grey Wolf outside Buqi...
"You are..." Ben hadn’t finished his sentence, his eyes widened as he saw the girl casually toss the giant sword like a toothpick towards the Earth Envoy. After a loud boom, the forest fell silent again.
"..." Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩✶𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
"Such a disobedient kitten, needs proper education to learn to behave." The girl clapped her hands and turned, looking up at Ben due to their height difference: "Do you have any questions, Mr. Brand?" she asked playfully, raising her golden eyebrows.
"Uh... nothing, I have something to do, I gotta go."
Ben wasn’t a fool. Although it looked like his ’kill’ was stolen, firstly with his skill, he had no way to take down the Earth Envoy Eckmen. Secondly, this girl was clearly a forceful character, Ben knew there were many abnormal NPCs in the game, often hiding world-class rare quests. But best not to provoke them if possible.
After all, in the game you could restart, but not here. So he hurriedly bid farewell to avoid huge trouble.
Unfortunately, trouble seemed to have found him—
"Wait," Seeing Ben truly intend to leave, the girl reached out to grab his hem—unexpectedly with a ’rip’—the girl looked at the torn piece of leather armor in her hand in surprise, sticking out her tongue: "Sorry, might have used too much force..."
Ben sighed helplessly and threw the remaining piece of leather armor to the ground. He sighed and then turned, asking: "Do I know you, Miss Alorz?"
"Of course, you even accepted my incredibly precious gift."
"Wait, I don’t understand, what gift?"
Alorz pointed to his backpack.
Ben’s face fell instantly, the Golden Apple couldn’t have gotten into his backpack for no reason, he suspected this early on, just lacked a suspect. He even suspected Roman’s aunt, especially after meeting Scholar Turaman, his suspicion grew. But he never expected it to be... such a little girl?