On the surface, however, Lynn naturally betrayed none of his thoughts. He glanced at the girl skipping along behind him and muttered:
"Acting young!"
Crack-
Another lash struck beside Lynn's feet, nearly making him jump.
The girl raised her chin, resting the whip over her shoulder with one slender hand, and demanded, "What did you just say? Say it again!"
Lynn sneered, "I said, at your age, you'd have hundreds of rings if we counted you like a tree, wouldn't you? Yet you still disguise yourself as someone so young. Do you really think you still look the way you did before you fell? Don't forget-you've long since become a twisted monster!"
Lynn's words packed quite a poisonous punch.
The girl, who had been skipping just a moment ago, stopped in place and stared straight at him.
Silence settled over their surroundings.
Her hand slowly tightened around the vine whip.
Lynn kept stumbling forward, utterly unconcerned. Only when the branches binding his wrists pulled taut did he notice that the girl had stopped at some point.
He turned and glanced at the Mother Tree of Desire.
Then the corners of his mouth lifted.
"Oh, did I hit another sore spot? Give it a rest. The way you look in this space isn't the real you. Your true body is still that great tree of flesh and blood. You're the Flesh Origin that embodies desire and distortion. You've already fallen into Hell. Isn't it about time you faced reality? Heh!"
Lynn kept spewing venom.
Kept getting on her nerves.
Making her angry.
Because only then could those projections of past fears slip through her defenses faster.
But to Lynn's surprise, the girl merely stared straight at him, without the fury or murderous intent he had expected.
Then he heard the words