Braman was stunned.
He didn't expect this reaction at all. Everything he imagined would happen didn't happen.
Actually, it was not even his task to give this news to Sam, he just paid a price to get this task so that he can look at Sam's panicky expression and struggle to let go of his design to save his friends and such.
But all that was left to him was a slammed door on his face.
This is frustrating to the point that he wanted to kick open the door and hold Sam by his collar and ask what is wrong with him.
But he controlled the urge and went back to report the matter.
Meanwhile, Sam is looking at the guy from his window and couldn't help but give a cold sneer.
"I didn't even find you to settle scores and here you are trying to get under my skin."
He spoke coldly and he changed his outfit. He wore the black cloak and got ready to deal with this guy. Braman already sent a transcendent stage cultivator to teach Sam a lesson. But since it is not an attempt to kill and just someone trying to satisfy their ego, Sam only killed the guy who attacked him and left Braman alone.
He wanted to teach Braman a lesson, but he forgot about it as he was in a hurry to go to the sea and all.
But now that he is back, it is better to give this guy a reality check.
Sam used shadow mouse to follow this guy.
Braman first went to the school zone where the colleges and other schools are established along with a large residential area within to accommodate the lecturers and some rich students who can afford the home rental.
There Braman went to meet with someone and the shadow mouse followed, but not too far. Just to be sure Sam used the crystal table to take a look at the house and he was surprised at how tight the guard and security is.
Sam wanted to proceed in, but a formation is blocking the entrance of the shadow mouse.
This surprised Sam. This is the first time a formation managed to counter the shadow mouse's shadow form. He activated the crystal table to look at the whole residence and was surprised to find out the tight-knit guard.
The surprise is not just the sheer number of people that are guarding, the surprise is also because of the guards themselves.
The guards are shadows. Sam was surprised once again.
There is another person who can use shadow necromancy in this place. All this while, he didn't manage to meet a single person that can use shadow necromancy, even in the realm of the undead, even if there are any present there, Sam didn't meet anyone. This is the first time.
After coming out of the initial shock, Sam realized his situation and immediately made the shadow mouse get out of this place.
The shadows can perceive other shadows and Sam wouldn't be able to escape easily based on their strength.
The current situation is not extremely favorable.
He let the shadow mouse hide in the corner of the street and waited until Braman came out of the house. Now the following continued once again.
Soon they reached Braman's residence where he started drinking as soon as he entered and started cursing wildly.
This guy indeed had a huge ego. Sam just let the shadow mice do their job once they are here. Since the owner of the house is so involved in drinking and cursing, it is easy for the shadow mice to do their job.
They poured the biofuel everywhere and Sam set it on fire.
The whole building was on fire in a few seconds and Braman finally came out of his daze. All this while he is letting the alcohol take over to let go of his frustrations and didn't let the spiritual energy clear his body off of it.
But now that he saw the flames that are clearly famous for their presence in the deaths of many faction 1 members he became panicky and started moving out of the house.
Sam who is still inside the divine dimension finally came out behind Braman who is escaping and threw a glass bottle of fuel on his right hand.
Braman was so panicked that he is not even using his sense properly.
He looked behind only to see a black-cloaked figure disappear in front of his eyes and he started running out even faster. But in that process, his right hand caught fire. Even though it didn't spread past his right hand, he knew that is not something to be happy about.
Sam left the place along with the shadow mice.
He only did this to give a warning, not to burn the bridges.
This should teach Braman and this third faction a lesson.
They shouldn't be reaching their hands too much. Anyway, these elves are too cunning and greedy for their own good.
Actually, the rumor of the new research in the base was deliberately given out of by Sam himself. His crew leaked the news on his orders to the biscuit factory that was nearby.
Since it would be hard to push this sale forward by himself without raising any suspicions regarding his journey into the sea, particularly when the war became intense right after that.
He would just concoct a story about why they are researching after they accidentally found out that a new research project is coming.
But these guys took a completely different approach than normal. They want to take advantage of him.
After doing what he wanted to do, Sam left the place and went back to his own residence.
At first, he wanted to solve this war problem as soon as possible, but now this tournament thing is going to delay it, and anyway, they will clearly see the threat from the sea is far more dangerous than they thought and then he would release some hints on what products he is making and then make them bend over and give him a great price.
The next day, the situation in the forest is not that different. The trio is still managing to shake off the pursuer and also taking them down most of the time.
The green cloaked team is not acting the like the rest, instead, they are spreading all over the forest and getting a hang of it.
They are scouting high and low as they moved from one place to another as if they are mapping it all.
There are no centaurs in this team, everyone is a humanoid creature. Either an elf or a human.
They are moving like they own the forest and if the trees are helping them move.
Sam doesn't know what they are exactly doing, but for half a day, they didn't fight at all. They just visited all the trees.
But soon in the afternoon, the situation changed. The green cloaked team which comprised of thirty members divided themselves into groups of three and started moving towards the trio from different directions.
Any other contestants that are in their way are being eliminated as each team fought together and the trees are surprisingly supporting them.
The trees almost seemed to have gotten their own mind as the branches, roots and some vines started moving along with the movements of the teams as they supported their attacks from the side.
The audience was amazed by this sudden display of expertise. Even Sam was surprised. It is similar to what Noah used, the blood forest technique in which every time Sam placed his foot on a tree, the branch or the tree itself will move and try to capture Sam in place.
This is a similar technique, but here instead of the manifestation of spiritual energy made forest was replaced by the real forest and instead of one person there are multiple people controlling it.
Even though their primary target is the trio, the green cloaks are not leaving the rest of the contestants alone. They must have thought that they would only be a hindrance to their moves.
So they are cleaning them up casually.
Soon they are near the large group pursuit against the trio.
The thirty members circled the whole group including the trio and started their cleaning process.
The trio managed to escape some of their attacks and with their combined attack, they just pushed through the encirclement and moved to the other side.
The green cloaks were surprised by such a sudden combination attack and didn't expect their encirclement would be penetrated so easily, but they didn't worry.
They decided to clean up the extras before dealing with the trio. Forest is their territory anyway.
Meanwhile, the trio gathered together and started discussing their plan while recovering rapidly.
"What should we do, they seemed to have a great hold of the forest?" Watt asked and Jack also looked at Philip.
"They do have great coordination with forest, with all the trees combined, their team is huge. You guys know what that means right?" He asked them in return and Jack and Watt nodded.
"That means they are the bigger target."
"These people are using all kinds of methods to deal with us. It is about time, we reveal some of our cards as well."
All three of them agreed on what to do and dispersed into different directions.
