Eric wanted to just take a moment for himself and sit down in a corner somewhere and curse his damn self for having jinxed it all.
Really, he did.
But because he had to deal with the current problem in front of him right now, Eric shoved the self-recrimination aside for now and decided to go complain about it another day.
"Hm? An owl mask? What an odd accessory to be hiding your identity with." Eric ignored the injury he had sustained and stared at the male masked owl figure that had thrown the quick and razor-sharp spear at him just seconds ago.
Seriously, he didn't mean it as an insult when he said it was odd.
Eric knew who this person was, which was one of the associates of the individual that they were trying to currently meet, and felt that it was weird for such a person to be wearing a funny looking owl mask.
The individual was extremely strong in the first place after all, so naturally, everyone that knew and had a strong connection with this individual were also very strong as well.
In the novel, although this individual wasn't actually considered a villain as they never tried to kill Aurora even after she tried brute forcing her way into their hideout a couple of times in different regression cycles just to further find information for Aria, this individual had so much magical energy in their body that even Aurora couldn't compete until thousands upon thousands of regressions later.
As such, the owl masked figure in front of him had no need to hide his identity, since most of the time he and the others could just instantly eliminate anyone who might spread news of their existence anyways, and he should know this.
But since Eric didn't have the luxury of thinking about it for now, Eric took out the foldable pocket knife he had brought along with him and got ready to use it.
It was definitely a losing battle for sure, and there was no way in hell he could see himself surviving this encounter, especially when he could barely even survive Aurora at her current pathetic strength, but he wasn't just going to kneel over and die without even trying.
It didn't hurt trying to at least attempt to survive and live to see another day after all.
Literally.
With that in mind, Eric stared the masked figure down and waited for him to make the first move.
It was strange though.
Even after standing still for what actually felt like forever, the owl masked figure didn't move from his spot at all and also just stared at him back.
In fact, when Eric moved the hand that was holding the foldable knife just a tiny bit a few seconds back, he saw the masked figure slightly tense up before getting into a defensive position for some reason.
'Seriously, what's the hold up? I'm going to bleed out to damn death at this point.'
It had Eric finally thinking though.
It was a stupid theory he had in mind... but maybe, just maybe...
The masked figure was scared of him?
"..."
'This might be an extremely stupid idea... but if it works...'
Eric thought about it for a couple of more seconds before going ahead with the dumb plan he made up in his head anyway and took a few steps closer to the masked figure.
And as expected, the moment he started inching closer, the masked figure slowly retreated backwards while staring at the hole on his leg.
'Interesting.'
Eric didn't know what caused him to be feared all of a sudden especially when the masked figure was clearly stronger than him, but he was going to take full advantage of it.
"You know why we're here, right?" Eric nonchalantly questioned.
"..." The masked figure shook his head and continued to be on guard.
"You don't have to lie. Your colleague and lookout, the receptionist, recognized her immediately the moment we walked into the building." Eric pointed to Aria, who was still in shock, and continued, "Besides, I know you've heard everything Miss Aria and I have talked about ever since we stepped out of the elevator. The person we're trying to meet is more than capable of eavesdropping from a very great distance using magic after all."
"You..." The masked figure glared at him but hesitated to do anything else.
"What? Did you really think no one would find out? Just because of all the precautions you guys take to hide yourselves from your enemies? How narrow-minded." Eric shook his head as he tried his best to not think about himself while saying the last part out loud.
At this point, the masked figure was so visibly frustrated that he almost completely forgot about his fear and summoned another spear in his hand and pointed it towards Eric's head.
However, after seeing Eric's cold and laid back expression once more, coupled with the blood still dripping out of his thighs, the masked man hesitantly lowered the weapon and finally began to talk.
"...From your conversation with Aria earlier, we can reasonably infer that you were the one who told her about the accident my friend caused almost two decades ago, and we understand why she would like to meet them. What we don't understand however is how you have come to know so much about us." The masked figure cautiously stated.
"Don't worry about it. I don't think you guys really want to know the answer to that regardless. Ignorance is bliss." Eric answered menacingly and left it at that.
"..." The masked man's eyes twitched slightly underneath his mask after hearing this response but refrained himself from saying anything else.
Truthfully, he still had many questions he wanted to ask Eric, this spoiled brat he thought he understood well based on what he had heard about him and his family, but if there was one thing he had learned throughout his life, it was not to provoke or continue testing people he did not understand.
And Eric was someone he could not even begin to fathom at all.
Especially not after he had tried to kill him with a single shot, only to watch his thigh nearly get blown apart while he acted like it was nothing.
And especially not now, after getting the chance to look directly into those eyes of his...
Ones that seemed ordinary at first, yet the longer he looked, the more something within them stretched beyond measure, until even the thought of resisting felt distant and absurd.
Thus, the masked figure resigned in defeat, looked up at the modern corridor ceilings, muttered some whispers from his mask, and waited.
Almost immediately afterwards, a small burst of wind seemed to have blown past out of nowhere, and the masked man nodded in response.
"Fine, I'll create a teleportation array below your feet so that you can be transported over to meet my friend in an instant. Don't move." The masked figure instructed and began chanting some words underneath his breath.
Eric nodded and folded the pocket knife back into its original shape, and then placed it back into his pocket.
Afterwards, he just stood there and eagerly listened to the masked figure's chants.
This was the first time he had ever heard someone chant a magic spell in all of his past lives after all, and he did not want to miss a moment of it, even though he did not think it was as impressive as some of the other methods people used to manifest magic from magical energy.
Just as the masked figure was about to finish chanting, and a very translucent glow of light began to form just below the corridor ground however...
"I don't want to go anymore." Aria suddenly spoke up.
Hearing this, both Eric and the masked figure couldn't help but turn their heads towards Aria at the same time and gave her a somewhat dumbfounded look.
"Miss Aria, what are you trying to say right now? I don't get it." Eric thought that Aria was talking about something else and slowly approached her.
But just as Eric got closer to her and was about to open his mouth again, Aria suddenly pushed him away, nearly causing him to fall backwards.
"Don't... don't come near me!" Aria shrieked in the most horrific voice ever and hurriedly scrambled away to the corridor walls that was the complete opposite of him.
"..."
"Oh boy."