"Um… what's a… what was it… phallus?"
Eren asked Leesha with a puzzled expression on his face. He was sure that he had not been taught this word by the trio of witches who acted as his guides in learning Labhi.
"You…"
Leesha was tongue-tied answering Eren's question. She had a hard time dealing with the fact that her intimidation tactics had been disarmed just by the man's innocent-sounding question. She looked at the head of the coven for help but all she received from Clauria was a shrug of her shoulders.
'Hehe. Erni… I think they mean your "little guy."'
Reen's voice sounded in Eren's head and the next moment "Now I get it" expressions were painted on his face. He chuckled before speaking out loud, addressing Clauria.
"You… lady… seem like the head of the group. I come in peace. May I have a word with you?"
One could see that Eren was irked by the fact that he was forced to stay inside a ritual circle that did not exist anymore. He wanted Clauria to retract her siege on him. All so that he could move freely.
Eren's voice was calm and his demeanor casual when he addressed Clauria. It made Claudia almost agree with him immediately. She was subconsciously drawn by the subtle demonic charm surrounding him. She felt as if her consciousness would get lost in another world if she were to keep staring into his emerald-green eyes.
However, she controlled her emotions and took a deep breath before speaking up.
"Let me get this straight. You interrupted our ritual by barging in here through unknown means. You don't want to share with us where you come from and what you are doing here. There are many oddities surrounding you.
And yet, you still want us to believe that you come in peace. Mister Eren, I'm a reasonable woman. But don't take my rationality for naivety. Still, considering there's no bad blood between us yet, I want us to cooperate.
How about this? I'll use my Skill: Inspect Soul Origin on you. It'd probe your soul a bit. Things would go smoothly for you if you keep your Spiritual Force retracted when I use the Skill. I assure you that I'll tell my subordinates to take a step back and let you go if and when I confirm that you are not a threat to us."
Clauria looked at Eren with a serious expressions after she said what she had to say. She was confident that her proposal was reasonable and Eren had no reason to not agree with her.
After all, he was surrounded by her entire coven. And he did not have Menaka's Blessing on him. That meant he was basically a sitting duck with no way to go. His chances of survival, if he were to not cooperate with her coven, were next to none.
'Tch. There it is again. Another Skill.'
Eren thought to himself and scrunched his nose in annoyance. He wasn't sure what the Skill was supposed to do or what kind of information it would tell Clauria about him. So there was only one way to find out. Plus, he didn't want to aggregate the matters if he could help it. So after much thinking, he nodded before speaking up.
"Alright. go ahead," he said to Clauria.
Clauria flashed a cheerful smile at Eren and looked at her coven members for approval. The others agreed, letting their head decide the course of future action for them.
[Skill: Inspect Soul Origin ]
Clauria didn't waste any more time and used her Skill on Eren right away. Her eyes started exuding an unnaturally red hue as the Skill was activated, allowing her to peer inside Eren's soul.
"Aaaaaaaaaargh!"
All of a sudden the head witch cried in agony. Her eyes started bleeding a mix of blood and tears and her face was contorted in pain. She felt as if her entire strength had been robbed away from her.
The Skill was abruptly canceled. Her entire body turned red as if experiencing some kind of side effects of unknown form and origin. Her legs gave up on her and she crashed onto the ground as if she had suddenly lost control of her limbs.
"Clauria!"
"Sister Clauria!"
"Sister!"
The remaining witches cried out in alarm as they saw the head witch suddenly collapsing on the ground. They all broke their positions and approached Clauria with panicked and worried expressions.
"Demons! Surround this man and don't let him go," Hilbeli ordered the demonic beings while approaching Clauria. She looked at Eren hatefully as if it was him who had done something to her.
The demonic beings, who already had Eren surrounded, tightened their siege around Eren. They had their features hidden because of the black cloaks they wore. However, Eren could see and feel their presence more clearly than before after they drew close to him.
Some of them looked like the Creatures of Wrath. Some of them looked like the Creatures of Gluttony. Others looked like a mix between the demonic creatures and fiends.
However, these demonic creatures seemed completely in control of themselves. They did not like their forms to be unstable, unlike what Eren was used to dealing with whenever he deployed his Sin Series Domains.
'Um... Something tells me they will not cooperate with me now.'
Eren sighed as he looked at the crying and writhing Clauria clutching her eyes.
'Hehe. You think, Erni?'
Reen's voice sounded in Eren's head once again, as joyful as ever. One could tell that she was just happy landing in Labh Salem and exploring the new world through her and Eren's senses.
She wanted to reveal herself earlier. However, the situation Eren had suddenly found himself in was not apt for her. She would have made things complicated for him.
'Damn it. Every time I want to solve something peacefully, something bad happens. Every fucking time.
It's almost as if the boundless cosmos itself doesn't want me to act as the good guy. Either that or the Existential Concept of violence has an unhealthy amount of obsession over me. Or just both.'
