Chapter 271: Jealous.

Booooom!People gathered at the plaza in front of the rift gate were already staring at the disturbance in the half-destroyed inn, when a muffled explosion filled the upper floor with smoke. Everyone instinctively took a weary step back, but a moment later escaped in different directions when something landed in the middle of the crowd and exploded in a similar cloud of smoke.

’Not fair!’ Lee complained to himself picking a larger group of people to mix in, shouting in panic out loud like the rest.

It was basic physics to create a cloud of steam by colliding large amounts of fire and water particles – a trivial technique he should’ve thought of long time ago. But the problem wasn’t the pain he felt due to the imbalance of the elements, although he did. It was the fact that because of the freezing temperature, the steam cloud almost immediately condensed, leaving him with a very short window of opportunity to escape.

Annoyance written all over his face, Lars Teuling appeared on top of the inn. He watched the crowd below, but knew it was impossible to get the cockroach now. Hundreds of people, running away in panic, all looked the same, dressed in their pelt clothing.

"Lars, that’s enough!" A man in red glowing robe said after appearing on top of a building next to the inn.

Two more, also elegantly dressed, stepped out of rifts right after, partially surrounding the old man. These clearly were elemental lords, and the previously escaping crowd suddenly stopped, curious to see the next part.

Lee, standing in the middle of a smaller batch to the side, was also forced to turn around, and pretend to be interested by craning his neck in the direction of the inn.

’Just how stupid are you, people?! Run!’ He inwardly screamed, ’These are fucking elemental lords! If they fight, the whole Stonegate will collapse!’

Fortunately no one made a move yet. Lord Van Graaf was not to be seen, but half a dozen other elemental lords appeared one after another. Obviously, the ruler of Hollowreach kept opening rifts for them to surround Lars Teuling, and by now there were no doubts the old man had lost.

"You have nowhere to run, Lars!" An elderly lady, one of the elemental lords surrounding him, loudly said, "It’s time for you to pay for your crimes!"

"Hahaha! You just want to take over Driftpost, old witch!" Lars laughed in return, "None of you know that Giel Van Graaf killed my daughter after raping her and just now tried to silence me as well! He’s the real criminal! For years he had kidnapped and raped girls around the world, and killed the witnesses of his own atrocities!"

"Let it be, old man!" The crowd below gasped at the words, but while the expressions of some elemental lords turned ugly, the one in the glowing robe, said, "You can make up lies and they might work in any other situation, but you’re talking about Giel. Drop the act and face the punishment like a real man!"

No one expected the old respected elemental lord to be this vicious in his accusations. Almost no one believed him, but there were those in the crowd who disliked Giel Van Graaf for whatever reason, and shouts I knew it! and Let the old man speak! were heard around the plaza.

Seeing his words had found at least few ears, Lars Teuling doubled down with the act. He straightened up, and loudly said,

"Punishment for what? I’ve done nothing wrong! Talk to me when someone rapes and kills your child!"

Lee heard people gasp around him, but what caught his eye was the strange aura around the old man. Surely it was something the other elemental lords also noticed, but no matter how one looked at it, Lars was up to no good.

Lee didn’t intend to hang around to witness the might of a bunch of elemental lords in a closed space underground. Even if hundreds of people were suicidal, he wasn’t.

He began to step back, moving away from the inn. Others quickly filled the space he left, their attention fixated on the top of the buildings. After verifying the elemental lords above were busy with themselves, Lee turned around and worked his way through the crowd without being noticed.

In less than ten breaths Lee was already about to enter a street, when he froze at the sight of a small, two-palm-sized rift appearing right in front of him.

’Lieve?’ He asked in his mind, but after months of practice his body moved on its own as he stabbed with Soulcleaver in the rift.

Lee’s reaction was almost instantaneous, and his swift killing move was so quick, only one person noticed it. Just as he retracted the sword, the rift closed, and while Lee was still processing what just happened, the sight of Lars Teuling suddenly collapsing shocked the onlookers.

Contrary to the crowd on the plaza, elemental lords noticed the tip of the sword appearing in the middle of the old man’s chest, right where his heart was. It was there only for a split moment, hardly reflecting any light, but silently taking the life of an experienced elemental lord.

Lee, of course, sensed he had stabbed someone. Praying he wasn’t played by Lars Teuling, he hid Soulcleaver in the glove, and rushed away, but froze in his tracks when Giel Van Graaf appeared right in front of him.

Even though it was time to heave a sigh of relief, something in Giel’s expression didn’t let Lee relax. His brows were drawn together in a way that sharpened his already striking features, and his lips were pressed into a thin, unmoving line. He didn’t look angry – more like displeased. And Lee couldn’t shake the feeling that he was the cause of it.

"I’m jealous." Giel said, confirming Lee’s suspicion.

Lee had no clue how to answer to not provoke another elemental lord, but fortunately this one wasn’t as angry at him as the previous one.

"The moment she realized she was safe, she said: Save Lee!" Giel said, "Not I missed you! or I love you! No. Save Lee! Who are you?"

"Well ... I’m Lee." Lee said, trying to hold back a burst of laughter.

"You’re the one who sent me the message, right? It wasn’t her?" Giel asked.

"Yea. I invited both Teulings and you while leaving Lieve in the dark. She’s too emotional about anything regarding you. Good thing you followed the instructions, otherwise with how treacherous those bastards were, they might’ve hoodwinked you." Lee said, "Anyway, I’m more interested in how exactly did you spot me?"

"You were the only one running away from the scene! It was impossible to not notice you. Although I can’t believe you managed to get away from him. Lars Teuling was an experienced elemental lord." Giel said, "What baffles me more is your coordination with Lieve. I know I tricked you by opening the rift like she did earlier, but I had to because the spatial cultivators are so weak ..."

"You’re kidding, right?" Lee interrupted. He was shocked and even upset hearing the statement, "Spatial cultivators are the strongest motherfuckers in the world! You just don’t know how to fight!"

Then he realized he let his tongue slip, and added, "Neither you or the old man knew real killing techniques. Trapping another person in a rift is cool and all, but one has to be more proactive to win. I guess that’s why they left Lieve alive and threw her in a rift leading to nowhere. He probably hadn’t stained his hands with blood in his life."

They both felt awkward realizing Lee was currently lecturing an elemental lord, but fortunately, while Giel had no sense of humor, he wasn’t stupid.

"You’re probably right." His reaction caught Lee off-guard, "I learned from Lars a lot, in fact, he was my mentor. I’ve spent the past two decades focusing on the elemental law related to opening rifts. Unfortunately, without it, I couldn’t rule over Hollowreach."

"Rule? Man! You’re working your ass off!" Lee said with a shallow laugh, "You should find someone else to operate the rift gate and manage the things on global scale. Otherwise more Teugling’s will show up."

"Now you sound like Lieve." Giel said, "Except rude. Why are you so rude?"

"Sorry about that. It’s my grandmother’s influence." Lee said, "Sometimes I wish I could curse as elegantly as her ... anyway. Shouldn’t we get off the street? People are staring ..."

Neither noticed how a large crowd had gathered around them. People kept whispering, afraid to interrupt, as well as pointing fingers at the two.