"Uh-"
"Old man Mo…"
"You shouldn't be harsh on your juniors!", Shin shouted at the top of his voice.
"Huh?", Terran was confused and surprised by what Shin said.
The same applied to Mo, he was also surprised to see Shin call his name and say that.
'How did he know my name?'- that was the first thing that surprised him.
'More than that, how can he call me by my name!?'- that was a much bigger surprise which Mo experienced.
Well, until now, whichever race he met, they would either call him Elder Tree or would call him the Great Tree of Thuren.
Of course, not all knew that he could speak. He was just one of a kind, there were other such trees for sure, but none of them had such intelligence as Mo.
Being a tree or rather a monster with a name is something unimaginable. So one could clearly say how strong a named monster tree would be when compared to other such trees.
He could essentially even be the king of the Elder Trees that would eat beasts by luring them.
Shin finally knew why he couldn't smell anything. Of course, his other senses would have been dulled but thanks to Terran's experience and instincts, Shin was able to prevent the predicament that was to come.
Despite being surprised, the tree continued to dash towards them.
Leaving Shin no choice, the tree tried to corner him after seeing that he was hesitant to jump in the pond.
Wood or Trees were weak against fire so it was common sense that Shin would use his flame wolf emperor form or could just use a fire attack – however, the case wasn't as simple as it seemed.
'I can't use my fire attacks…'
'If I were to use that, then this entire forest might end up getting burnt.'
There were consequences that were to be considered.
Of course, Shin could do one thing, he could scare the tree so that it would just run away, but after seeing its stats and age, he thought that it was better to have a conversation with him.
The main thing that he looked at was the – man turning into a tree – and the intelligence which was higher than him and Terran.
"Please stop, I have something that I want to ask!", Shin shouted.
'I'm sure that Aella was here, after all the tree mentioned about a white wolf stealing…'
Shin was completely sure that it was Aella because other than her, who could trick such a large tree?
'That's why…'
'That's why I need to make him listen to me…', he said to himself again and again because he would get to know about her only after asking him.
But would he really stop and listen to what Shin had to say? Or would he still rush towards him with the aim of pushing them into the pool?
"Please, hear me out!"
"Old man Mo!"
It was a gamble, Shin knew not how such a being would think and behave.
Despite that, he was trying to make the tree listen to him.
"I think I can help you return to your original form!", Shin shouted again.
"…"
The moment Mo heard this, he flinched and was forced to slow down his speed.
Was that something he wanted to keep as a secret or something or did he actually require some help?
Whatever it may be, it helped Shin, and thanks to that, the Elder Tree no longer marched towards Shin.
"Phew, we are safe…", Shin sighed.
He turned to take a look at the water when he found that dead beasts' bodies were floating on them.
The greenish algae were basically growing out of their bodies and for no good reason.
'Is the water so poisonous that all beasts end up dying?', Shin asked himself.
In any case, the tree had stopped now and Shin deemed it to be safe to approach him.
"I'm sorry old man Mo, but I think I wasn't the wolf who stole your fruits…", was what Shin said.
Mo then carefully look at Shin and said, "Yes, you do look white just like the other, but your aura…"
"It's like no other.", Mo said.
'?'
'He can sense my aura despite me using the skill to cover it?', Shin was genuinely surprised when Mo said this to him.
*gulp*
'Looks like there is much more to the tree than what meets the eye.', he concluded.
"Um, so I-", Shin was about to ask about the white wolf that Mo was speaking about.
However he was cut short and Mo asked a question instead, "You said that you can help me in returning to my original form…"
"Can you really do that?", Mo asked.
Well, Shin had said that on a whim and he had absolutely no idea about it.
'I just thought that he would want to return to his human form and I was right.'
'But I don't know how to help him…'
The situation and atmosphere, both could become awkward because of this, however, fortunately, Mo said something else which prevented such an atmosphere.
"So will you really bring me the Reverse Potion?", Mo asked with a raised voice as if he was excited.
"Reverse Potion?", this was Shin's first time hearing something like this.
"Yes, I can only be able to revert back to my original form after drinking the reverse potion…", was what Mo said.
"…"
Although the uncanny situation was avoided, another crisis land upon Shin. He had absolutely no idea about potions.
He knew not about the place from where he could get them either.
"Uh, where can I find them?", Shin asked.
"…", Mo just stared at him when he asked that.
'Damn, was this a wrong thing to ask?'
Yes, it could be proved to be fatal at the moment. Of course, Shin could burn the entire forest for his survival, but yet again, there were many things to consider.
What if he couldn't detect Aella's scent after burning the forest?
What would happen if Aella was still somewhere in the forest? What would happen to Terran?
"Where can you find them you ask…?", it seemed as if Mo was glaring at Shin.
"…"
To be continued…
Updat𝒆d fr𝒐m freew𝒆bnov𝒆l.c(o)m