Dance with the Nightingale-Chapter 70 - 69: Saying Hello?

-Whoosh!!

Freefall.

I always liked how it felt.

That was also the reason that the first stunt I did, after getting used to my magical powers, was a freefall.

It just felt so exciting, so liberating...

And now, thanks to this magical world, I was experiencing it again...

From thousands of meters above, my body fell, following Mark’s, as I closed my eyes and enjoyed the sense of liberation I felt.

Not for long, though.

Exactly five seconds later, I opened them, my tri-colored shining eyes, that kept track of my target as I trailed after him...

Using a bit of carefully controlled wind magic, I adjusted my position mid-air while trying to make the spell seem as natural as possible. Carefully treading behind him at a distance that was neither too close nor too far, a just right distance that I kept on increasing as we got closer to the ground.

Then about a hundred meters above ground level, my target, this Mark guy, started slowing down, creating noticeably powerful air waves as he did.

’Not an foolproof stealth spell...’, I mused, as without creating even a single gust of stray air I similarly slowed down.

And after gliding for a while, here we were, the western district of the city.

Mark landed on the roof of an random house, before he jumped down quietly in the small alley adjacent to the house.

From there on, he didn’t hide.

Turning off his cloaking spells, he walked out of the alley and causally blended with the crowd.

He couldn’t escape from my gaze though.

From one roof to another, I jumped as I followed, my gaze never leaving his back.

And though my actions highly resembled to that of a stalker, causing a wave of embarrassment on my conscience, I just continued.

Continued till we reached a fairly populous square.

Mark entered one of the more famous establishments there, and from the way the owner greeted and chatted with him, I could confidently say that he was a regular here.

’Elista’s Café’, the sign read.

The same place the siblings were talking about.

A familiar place, a ’safe’ place.

Meaning, the perfect place to meet him.

’And coincidently, I have some good starters for him.’, I smirked ominously.

Circling around the establishment, I stealthily sneaked into the back alley of the café. Then taking out a talisman, I slowly charged it up with mana, before sticking it to the back of the establishment with slight hesitation.

’There goes another lot of my money and mana.’, I cringed, reluctantly consoling my bleeding heart to activate the talisman and specify the target.

Bright blue symbols on the talisman grew, a part of them seeping out of the paper into the wooden wall, where they were met with resistance. Resistance from the protection arrays that covered the whole establishment. But before the resistance could grow and the alarm could buzz, the runes turned green, the same color as that of the arrays as they quickly scattered into the building the next moment.

Of course, the actual process that happened didn’t just involve the color of runes changing and was rather complicated, but essentially, what the talisman did was to open a backdoor in the arrays. Through this backdoor, a spell that had already been stored in the talisman, became usable despite the arrays.

And funnily enough the spell had become quite hard to detect due it to having the same mana signature as the arrays.

’Whoever made this talisman really knew his thing.’, I grinned, as the spell engulfed the unsuspecting Mark, freezing him in place…

***

An eventful day, that was how Mark remarked today as he slowly lifted the mug to touch his lips.

’It’s good.’

Mark thought as he savoured the drink that caused a burning sensation in his throat while still somehow tasting sweet.

’A perfect drink for a day like this.’

-Thump

-Sigh

After donning the entire drink in one go, Mark slammed down the wooden tankard on table before asking for a refill and some snacks.

From how he behaved, he would have looked exactly like any another mercenary having a late-night drink, if not for that one thing.

Two of his four hands were moving non-stop, a thin red string intertwined in his fingers, as they kept moving with practiced motions.

Different patterns, complex patterns, beautiful patterns were created by the red string, one after the other as if completely insignificant.

Each pattern occupying the string for less than one second, before the fingers started to move again, but before the disappointment of not being able to see the pattern could settle down... another just as complex, just as beautiful pattern took its place, making the overall viewing experience quite pleasant.

(A/N: It’s Cat’s Cradle.)

But the one who was providing that experience just shook his head and sighed, as if disappointed.

-Sigh.

’As expected, two hands are no good.’, Mark murmured, glancing at the approaching waitress as he ate the snacks with his second pair of hands.

But its not like he could use his dirty second pair of hands and spoil the string.

Nope, dirtying the string was an absolute no go for him.

So, as the waitress got near his table with another refill, he decided, ’Lets make this the last drink for tonight.’

And that’s when something changed.

Instead of going back after placing the drinks on his table, the waitress did something unexpected.

She bit him.

She bit his slightly longer than normal earlobe lightly, as she seductively whispered, "You are so sweet, Mister~ So sweet that I want to eat you up, can I~?"

And hearing that, left Mark dumbstruck. Shell-shocked, wondering about what the fuck was going on, but not for long.

After all, this wasn’t the first time this happened, between his looks, rank and public standing, this scene had happened many times. Each time granting him a pleasurable experience.

It was just that he wasn’t expecting the waitress, whom he thought of as an shy girl, to say this.

"Haha."

A faint chuckle leaking out of his lips, as he swung the red string around his index finger before pocketing it in his pouch.

’Looks like I won’t be sleeping alone tonight.’, He inwardly grinned, teasingly remarking, "Sure, let’s go someplace quiet to see who actually eats up whom~."

With that he tried to stand up, but before he could do so, the waitress pushed him down in his seat again, "Nope, I’m gonna eat you up, right now.", she winked and leaned forward, going for his ear again, biting it with a bit more strength as he could feel it a bit.

At first Mark thought she was being playful, and found no harm in her being so. After all, it wasn’t like a little play-bite could hurt him.

But then, it did.

It did hurt.

But the question was...

’H-how...?’

His eyes widened as thought of another thing, ’Earlier too...just how did she push me down..?’

Then slowly it hurt more, the strength in the waitress’ bite increasing, as he felt a warm red liquid trickle down his ear... Reminding him, that getting rid of her was more important than the ’how’.

He pushed her, his upper left arm grabbing her face as he pulled her apart from his ear, or so he tried to...

As soon as his hand touched the waitress, the strength in her bite increased by hundreds of folds!

-Rip!

-Spew!

-Chew, chew...

A shower of red erupted from his ear. One of his hands instinctively touching it, only to find half of it missing.

That along with the unforgettable sight of her bloody mouth happily chewing the flesh and cartilage of his ear...

His mind just blew out.

Only when the waitress said, "I told you~, I’m gonna eat you up~", that he felt it.

This was too unreal.

The café which was supposed to be filled with people was too quiet.

His friend Elista wasn’t there, nor were there any rowdy mercenaries.

And most importantly, the waitress whom he knew for more than two months now, wasn’t such a crazy bitch.

With that he was convinced, ’This is unreal.’

But before he could act, he felt a tug under his arm. A tug so strong, that his body was thrown up in the air.

Mid-air, he looked downwards, and for the love of his life what he saw definitely made his heart beat faster.

The simple and shy waitress he knew, had her mouth open, drool and blood flowing down the corner of her lips as she licked them while looking at him as if he was a delicious meal.

But that wasn’t all either, her mouth, the same mouth that ate half of his ear just now, grew larger.

It was as if he was seeing a badly drawn comic where the characters ate food in one huge bite, the only despairing difference was, this time he was the ’food’.

And just like it happens in the comics, he too, was swallowed whole.

In an abyss of darkness in which he kept falling, his expression grave.

But not because he was falling, no, absolutely not because of that.

He more or less knew that he was in an illusion, and he also knew the rough way of getting out of here. What made his face grave was instead, ’I don’t know when, or how, I got trapped.’

And that was bad news, especially when he, himself, was an illusion specialist.

Even now, even after figuring out he was in an illusion, he still had no idea from when he or how he was stuck.

Meaning, whoever did this was atleast more adept at illusions than he was.

A realisation that was like swallowing a bitter pill for him.

"Looks like the when and how will have to wait, till I ask the caster himself ."

"NOW!! COME!!"

He shouted, mana erupting from his body, carrying the power of illusion which battled with the power surrounding him.

From then on, the illusion proceeded and the scenario kept changing.

At one instance, he was in a Japanese villa filled with an infinite number of doors, mountain-sized monsters springing out here and there from them, causing him to flee.

At another instance, he was deep in the sea fighting with terrifying abominations trying to drown him down.

Sometimes he was fighting a wave of undead in a graveyard, another times he was a slave fighting for his freedom.

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On and on the illusion continued, the scenario changing one after the another before finally he stood in a small island, the size of a basketball court, with a single palm tree growing on its white sand.

Just like any other island it was surrounded by blue sea, with nothing else in sight.

Of course, there was also something else, something that the worn and torn Mark desperately searched for…

A rectangular metallic banner with pink and white diagonal stripes for the background, having, "EXIT ↓", written on it with the magical equivalent of light bulbs.

-Huff

-Huff

"That was not as easy as I imagined.", Mark uttered between huff’s as he caught his breath.

Then with eager steps and closed eyes, he walked under the banner/gate...

...And the next time he opened them, he saw a youth with light brown hair, chestnut-colored eyes, and peach skin, sitting right in front of him as he cheerfully waved his hand and asked,

"Yo, had a nice time?"