pfshhhhhh~~~

a burst of one of the tree's purple leaves occurred at the exact same moment the old professor was astonished by what he saw, thus startling him even more and causing him to stumble, lose his balance, and almost fall.

' i swear my heart skipped a beat, now I'm sure of it this world is trying to kill me, yet what a strange phenomena, perhaps it is this world's version of photosynthesis... It needs more detailed studies'

lost in his thoughts, the old professor forgot even the state of terror he was in just a moment ago, his curiosity getting the best of him, now shifting his attention toward that other worldly phenomena, and just simply enjoying its beauty.

" hmm?! "

still, a bit annoyed, Alex looked at the professor and asked

" .... I am sure it not that interesting, to begin with! .... is it ?! " unable to hide the excitement mixed with a bit of curiosity present in his voice.

after listening to Alex, the old professor quickly collected himself and refocused.

" Describe that thing to as. " Ahab ordered in a dead voice.

"..."

"..."

sigh~ ' I swear I am too old for this,.... right now I just want to do some experiments to distress that it..is it too much asked ' the old man thought to himself .throwing a last glance into these particles that were now being sucked by the black leafs

" ehm! "

he cleared his throat, before starting his description " ... it is an approximately 12 meters humanoid ....monster ?! ...creature ?! beast ?!....perhaps Animal !!?.. am not yet sure what's the correct appellation we should be using for that ... thing .....hm?!.." the professor then abruptly stopped becoming silent lost in his own thought.

" is something wrong? " Ahab stoically asked

" oh! sorry, it just that it- it's hideous distorted face .... it corpulence... everything about it.... reminds me of something but I am not sure what ...."

" you mean you are not able to remember something?!.... you ??! " Ahab was genuinely

surprised and for the first time almost looking back.

" being that old sure sucks isn't "

with a smirk on his face, Alex was obviously not gonna miss an opportunity like that to tease the old man.

" no .... it's more like I can't believe it or perhaps it's just that I don't want to .... any way to put it simply it lookalike a bigger version of the ogre we found on earth myths and folklores.. " the professor calmly said not bothered by neither of the comments.

"..."

" ogre ?! ...earth ? " Alex exclaimed

" you mean that ' ogre ' is from earth ? " he then asked.

" All I am saying is that it looks like an ogre, I am not affirming anything .. ...one thing is sure though, we need to dive deeper on that matter.....I don't know what this feeling is giving me... as if something was not natural about it....I think it was caused by that thing stuck in its left arm ...."

" that ogre seems to be followed by....or more like it seems to be attacked by smaller creatures.....tss ..unfortunately I can't do an accurate description of them, their energy signature is way too low, they are trying to use their number to overwhelm it but in vain....they keep disappearing one by one... interesting....some of them seem to be stronger than the others ....hmm? wait for a second they are heading in our direction !!!! these natives have doomed...." the professor kept on describing what he was able to see with the help of his ability.

" What is the approximate Power level of that ' ogre ' ? " captain Ahab asked wanting to know what the threat level they may be facing.

" as I said before, it looks like it is artificially powered up, but for the matter of comparison it is stronger and more powerful than a giant black mantis back on earth... "

after hearing the answer, Ahab took a brief moment to prosses the information he received.

"...how many times stronger ? " he then asked

" more or less x2 " quickly answered the old man

as if he was anticipating the question.

" oh sound fun! told you that group is doomed ...still don't want me to go help? " Alex said throwing a glance at Ahab

"...."

" what? again with that story ! " the old man shouted out of frustration

" stop shouting you old bon you will hurt yourself! " Alex retorted.

" .. listen I know you are young but still don't you even realize what we are talking about ?! you think you could take a thing like that upfront ? !.... ... seriously from all the royal guards they could have chosen to

accompany us, they had to choose this little battle freak ..... " the professor mumbled not waiting for any answer.

" Hmpf... well believe me it's more of a bless than a curse that we got him. in particular ... " for the first time Ahab joined what he considered an unnecessary interaction.

" well perhaps you are right," the professor said

"hmm.. ?"

everyone switched their gaze to the direction of that native group, out of curiosity than anything else. anticipation and curiosity.

" It seems they finally sensed it ... they are preparing for battle..... an imminent Confrontation in 3 min "

the professor who was now once again fully focused said

" Wait! wait a minute ! " he then suddenly exclaimed, with his voice indicating all the seriousness and importance of what he was gonna say.

" Captain Ahab reminds me of the number of members in our team. "

" 5," Ahab said without wasting time by making another comment about the professor's memories.

" 6 you mean ..."

" What is up with you oldbon are you a 'professor' that is not even able to count?! or is it perhaps your ability that is finally getting the best of you !? Me, you, captain Ahab, Anna, big bro jack .... if you count you will find 5 people " Alex said with a tempting tone in his voice teasing the professor.

" enough Alex ! " it was Ahab who scolded him this time.

" ik!..s-sorry " that unexpected reaction took Alex by surprise making him apologize without even realizing it.

' oh! Hahaha well done for you little brat, learn to respect your elders.' the professor thought to himself, happy to see Alex being scolded for once.

"a person is standing in front of that native group, and they are definitely from earth ....I do recall sensing that energy signature back on earth it is the same as that of ... his..his highness ?! " the professor said pointing in a direction shocked by what he was saying.

' what lord Zel? then how come I didn't sense him at all, and isn't it too soon? were there changes to the plans? perhaps complication ' Ahab was lost in his thought processing.

" You think ??..... give me the probability of that person being lord Zel ..not some mere supposition. " he then said with his always cold voice but this time he uncrossed his arms then lay his left arm beside the katana that was hanging in his wrist, indicating that he was ready to take action if judged it was necessary.

" ah sorry....well ehm !....95 % sure: that person has the same signature energy or aura, barakah or whatever you call it in your region ... the Same height, and the most important thing I can consider right now is him having the same spacesuit as ours .... besides all of that he is looking at our direction and waving at us..... 5% probability that this person is not his highness, this error margin is caused by Insufficient data: perhaps a trap from these natives to lure us out. Or from some unknown entity " said the professor

"...hm !? can you repeat what did you just say " Alex calmly said?

" hmm ..?! what? something is wrong Alex ?? " the professor genuinely asked thinking he said something upsetting but upon looking toward Alex he suddenly started to shout: " hey! .....Where are you going, Alex !!!! It is not the time to be childish !!!!!! Captain Ahab stop him !! "

Alex simply ignored the old man's shootings, the atmosphere around him completely changing as if it was becoming thicker and thicker,

the same dusty black energy the professor emitted before was now being unleashed by all of Alex's body,

then little by little, he started defragmenting. it didn't take long for Alex's lower half to completely disappeared, now becoming dusty black fragments.

The light on Alex's eyes once again switched into that of a predator, purposely letting his murderous intent leak,

even though it was not directed particularly toward him, it still sent shivers all over the professor's spine.,.

meanwhile warning them in his rather unique way, and sending a clear message that trying to stop him right now was futile. he continued his defragmentation with now only his head left, with all the rest of his body looking like it was a cloud of dust and on his face a smile, the smile of a hunter who found his prey...

* * * * *

author thoughts: hope you enjoyed your journey up till the 4rth chapter, but I am glad to inform you if it the case it is only the beginning, enjoy the ride, and thank you for reading - AgLd

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