36 – Episode 4. It only takes a moment for things to go wrong. (4)
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Magi.
It was an energy created when a being possessing mana faced death and for some reason was unable to return to nature and remained in the body to rot.
This is sometimes expressed as mana residue in the world, and if another being ingests the body with the residue remaining in any way, it will be infected with demonic energy and die.
For one thing, there were beings who continued to survive by suppressing demonic energy. They were often referred to as ‘monsters’.
If you are bitten by a demon or if demonic energy enters your body, you will become infected and death becomes inevitable.
The Belal worshipers released such monsters into the great forest.
“aaah!”
“aaah!”
Boom! Bang!
The sound of explosions and screams echoes through the El Dorado Forest.
“Hurry and move the injured!”
“Even if your father is here, be careful not to let the monster touch you!!”
“Damn it! “Flame!”
As always, the battle was a series of chaos.
Around you, the heat and death are endless, and fallen comrades are in sight.
This entire series of processes led everyone involved in the battle into a state of panic.
But even in the midst of all this, conductor Marie Tersi did not waver. She shouted, condensing mana into her hands and releasing them.
“Calm down!”
With a single gesture from Marie, the cloudy black smoke dispersed. It was using magic.
“This is our territory! No matter how much we burn the forest and sprinkle demonic energy, they will not be able to defeat us! Trust in your father and fight!”
It raises the falling morale again and raises the spirit of the combatants.
“Inhale!”
Light shines from the bodies of the elves pulling the bowstring on the tree. The arrow contained mana.
Peeing! Peeing!
The arrows loaded with mana flew away to avoid the elves fighting at the forefront and hit the monsters’ vital points.
“Eek!”
While the monsters were crying out in pain, the elves holding swords cut them down.
“Die!”
Phew!
I thrust the sword into the monster’s throat as it opened its mouth.
We were calmly organizing things one by one, but the overwhelming number of monsters pouring in like a flood made it difficult to turn the situation around.
However, it was clearly the elves who led the battle.
“There are many monsters, but move calmly! I will not allow the noble elves to be defeated by unintelligent beasts! “Don’t let anyone die!”
“Yes! Mother!”
Mari continued to share her senses with the animals of the forest and watched the battle, and continued to turn the situation to their advantage by providing magic support to the side where the situation was at a disadvantage.
‘Still, I’m glad. It seems that there are no intelligent monsters. Among the worshipers, there is no one who looks special—’
“aaah!”
It was a moment when Marie was relieved and tried to maintain her pace. Suddenly, the screams of elves began pouring out from everywhere.
“What?!”
She quickly looked at the situation and couldn’t believe what she saw.
“How can those guys not be attacked by monsters?”
I couldn’t keep my mouth shut as I watched the demon worshipers standing among the demons and swinging their swords at the elves.
“Monsters are probably beings that don’t even have the intelligence to differentiate between allies and enemies…… ! “How can you not attack?!”
“Mother! A significant number of worshipers are hiding among the monsters and killing their own people!”
“Don’t panic! “The worshipers are no match for us elves!”
As Marie said, although the elven warriors were taken aback by the worshipers’ raid, they immediately counterattacked.
The worshipers who practiced clumsy swordsmanship were no match for the elves who had awakened mana.
Karey, who was quietly watching the surprise attack become more and more meaningless, sighed.
“It’s much stronger than expected. After all, the elves who have awakened mana can’t become monsters? “You assessed your power incorrectly.”
He hesitantly licked his lips and put his hand into his arms.
“But that doesn’t mean we can go back without any results.”
When Karei took his hand out from inside his clothes again, a dagger was in his hand.
“My mother shouldn’t be on the battlefield. So, how is that any different from her asking you to target her?”
From Marie’s point of view, Karei was in a complete blind spot, so she took aim leisurely and lightly struck with a snap of her wrist.
Peeing!
The sword flew fiercely as if it had forgotten gravity.
“!”
At that moment, Marie’s ears perked up and she heard the sound of a flying sword. Marie turned her head and immediately turned to see the sword rushing towards her, but it grazed her side.
“Ugh!”
While Marie frowned slightly at her pain, a familiar object fell from her arms onto the tree and fell to the ground.
It was a yellow fruit and a green fruit.
She couldn’t believe her eyes as she looked at the falling fruits. She later realized that her bag containing the fruit had been torn.
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“No…” !”
“Mother! Are you okay?”
The elves’ worries were not even considered. Unable to take her eyes off the fruit, she stretched out her hand, but was unable to catch it due to the elf blocking her.
“It’s dangerous to go down!”
The fruit bounced once from the tree that Marie was standing on and fell to the ground, where it was trampled and exploded by the monsters that ran nearby.
“No…” !”
“Mother! “The monsters are suddenly ignoring the elf warriors and coming this way!”
The elf who was continuously reporting the war situation shouted urgently.
“…… What? How much?!”
“It’s everything!”
“What…… ?”
Marie hurriedly looked in the direction from which her dagger came. But no one was there anymore. She gritted her teeth when she realized she hadn’t just thrown the dagger for nothing. Her crackling sound was enough to escape.
‘No way… Was the dagger that attacked me a device to guide the actions of monsters?
“Beral, you bastards!!”
Marie concentrated her mana again as she watched the monsters rushing towards her. Twisting her face grimly, she glared at the monsters trying to bite her.
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“Huh! “Huh!”
Marie, whose mana was almost depleted, felt extremely dizzy and sat down in her seat. She slowly raised her head and gasped as she saw the corpses of monsters piled up like a mountain.
Thanks to them gathering in one place, she was able to deal with the monsters more easily than she thought.
Of course, if she had been alone, she would not have been able to stop the monsters, but thanks to the fact that all of the elves noticed the situation and rallied together, she was able to stop them without significant damage.
“Yuzu.”
“Yes. Mother.”
The elf called Yuzu was already covered in blood. As she had to deal with the monsters that attacked Marie, she had no choice but to be covered in all kinds of blood.
However, it was thanks to the World Tree that it was not affected by demonic energy. Because it was clearly inside a sanctuary, the influence of demon energy was minimal.
“What about those who were injured by monsters?”
“Thanks to my father, I don’t think there will be a problem with magic, but… …. As you can see, the great forest was greatly damaged by the fire, and many elves went to my father’s side due to the monsters and worshipers.”
“Okay. It’s a pity……. What happened to the worshipers?”
Marie wiped the sweat and blood from her face and looked around her. The elves who were not injured in the battle had already set out to clean up the forest.
“We tried to capture the living, but they all committed suicide.”
“They are poisonous guys. “In order to avoid being recognized as an enemy by monsters, he carried a magic bead on his body.”
An elf said, showing a purple orb.
“Destroy everything.”
“Yes.”
Understand!
When the elves broke the magic beads, purple energy slowly leaked out. However, it quickly assimilates with the surrounding air and disappears. The sanctuary of the World Tree had erased the demonic energy.
“Yuzu. “You must have properly recorded what the worshipers are saying, right?”
“Yes. Mother.”
“…… Okay.”
‘If there is a recording of when I killed Abel, I can at least say that I misunderstood. But…… If you really kill me, this recording won’t solve the problem. ‘I will definitely hold you accountable.’
Although Marie was revered enough to risk her own life for the tree of the world, she was clearly someone who knew how to discern between her interests and interests.
That is why she was able to take over her position as the mother of the elves after her older sister.
“Yuzu. Now take a few unharmed elves and go to the academy in Ferrator. There will be a formal entry permit for her from her sister. “I’ll give you that.”
“Why?”
She “Unintentionally gave the order to assassinate Abel Sirius.”
“Now that we have confirmed that Abel Sirius has joined hands with the Beral Church, isn’t there enough justification for assassinating him?”
“No! Even if we have to assassinate, if we do it now, we will lose the cause we have gained!”
It was a situation where even war had to be considered.
Now that the great forest had been damaged, there was no room for war with the empire.
“Okay, listen to me! Go to the empire as quickly as possible! Hurry!”
“Yes, yes! Mother.”
Yuzu responded urgently, jumping straight from the tree and approaching the elves who were cleaning up around her.
‘I hope those guys don’t do anything stupid…….’
Marie closed her eyes tightly and let out a sigh.
* @ *
Yan was troubled.
It was because he had doubts about him after his argument with Abel Sirius.
She had heard about Abel’s notoriety since she was in Daesan Forest. She says that she is a person who is criticized even by people like her for her numerous evil deeds.
However, Abel Sirius, whom Jan watched, was completely different from the rumors.
He had an unusually considerate nature for others. In particular, he clearly observed courtesy towards his elders. Regardless of his status.
And Jan felt that it was the same for them as well.
Even though it was okay to speak informally, it was visible that he always treated me with respect and tried to be as considerate as possible.
Even though he is an opponent who might kill him.
‘If you look at things like that, he’s such a strange person… ….’
She laughed briefly. She
She hadn’t seen his skills yet, so she didn’t know if he was really strong, but she thought he at least had great spirit.
The fact that she didn’t even blink even when the swords were pushed showed her confidence that she could block any attack.
“Ha… ….”
A sigh escaped from her mouth.
Jan knew.
Everything Abel said was the truth, and judging by her behavior so far, she was a person who could be trusted.
So she ends up thinking without realizing it. She thought that if it was Abel, wouldn’t it be okay to trust her at least once?
Still, she could not take that one step.
The reason is that many elves were forced to starve to death because the supplies they had agreed to receive from the Empire in exchange for the fragments of the World Tree were cut off, and her former mother, Irene Tersi, went missing while negotiating with her humans. It was a point.
I still didn’t know anything about her death.
Because the empire consistently maintained that it did not know this, distrust was bound to deepen.
Of course, Jan did not think that these were related to Abel. However, her years of brainwashing that had forced her to distrust humans were holding her back.
“Whoa…” ….”
Jan sighed and looked down below him. In front of the dormitory, Abel was facing Clara and she was chatting happily.
As Jan was watching the scene closely, a strange sound came from among the crew.
Crispy!
“…… Uh?”
“What’s wrong, Nia?”
Nia was the name of the assassin who received the fruit from Marie.
Despite her crew’s questions, Nia did nothing and just rolled her eyes. She noticed that her fruit had burst out of her own pocket.
“Nia?”
“…… “The fruit exploded.”
“!”
The other members also knew what it meant for the fruit to explode, so they could only stare blankly at Nia.
“My mother…… Did you give an order? “Assassinate Abel?”
“Well, I think so.”
Nia took out a piece of her fruit from her own pocket. The sticky juice stained her own hands and pockets, but she couldn’t care less now.
“It seems like monsters have invaded the forest. “As Abel said.”
At Nia’s words, the expressions of her assassination team suddenly darkened.
“But why does my mother tell me to kill Abel? Even though she gave the correct information……. Could it be because of the debris?”
“She told me to bring it at all costs, but… …. It hasn’t been a few days yet, right? “Does she have something urgent to bring?”
“Do you know what happened to your father because of a monster?”
The crew couldn’t help but wonder about Marie’s judgment. And it was the same for Jan.
‘Abel told the whole truth. I also read Abel’s letter to her mother once, but I did not write down any unnecessary information. But why does she ask to kill Abel? My mother…… ?’
Jan could not understand Marie’s judgment, so he did not know what orders to give to the crew.
In the end, she gave up thinking.
I said this, remembering Marie’s brainwashing that had entered my mind like a machine.
“…… No matter what, she absolutely follows her mother’s orders.”
“Well, I plan to follow, but… What about Jonah? What will Jonah do? … ?”
“…… Throw it away.”
“Sister!”
“Captain!”
The crew protested against Yan, who spoke firmly. He couldn’t bear to talk like he was throwing away a colleague who had been with him until now.
“Lower your voice. “Did you forget we infiltrated?”
Yan killed the crew’s spirit. The crew reluctantly keeps quiet.
“It can’t be helped.”
“But… !”
“If you were going to question something like that now, you should have started talking about the assassination squad members who died before Jonah.”
The crew members were silent, biting their lower lips as if they had nothing to say. But as if I couldn’t kill my emotions, blood was leaking from my lips and my fists were shaking.
So silence passed between them.
What broke the silence that had been maintained for a long time was a member who was sitting on the roof looking at the moon as if he had no interest in everything.
“…… But if we kill Abel, won’t we all die too? “The fragments will not be recovered because of Beatra’s divine punishment or something, and a war between humans and elves may begin.”
“I’m sure your mother has her own thoughts.”
Jan wasn’t sure why he said it.
“Thoughts? I guess so. Because my mother always made judgments for the majority of elves. But is it true that we are included in that elf tribe?”
It was a question that struck the core.
They did a lot of dirty work behind her mother’s back, but their existence was never acknowledged.
Because I was born as a dark elf.
Not only the dead members of the assassination team, but also those who are currently alive, were unable to solve the problem.
“…… Miles, are you going to go against her mother’s will now?”
“It’s not that, but…” …. “I’m saying this because Abel treats us more like elves than her mother.”
Miles shrugged her shoulders.
“Honestly, everyone thinks that way? Now that I’m by Abel Sirius’ side, I can eat much more heartily and live warmly. We’re not doing this hoping for something big. “Isn’t that right?”
The other members also shook their heads as if they were affirming what Miles said.
“Besides, I don’t know why she should be hostile towards Abel, who is trying so hard to gain our trust. She is just being deceived, so we can trust her for once.”
“If you believe that, what difference will it make? If we don’t follow her mother’s wishes, we die.”
“You don’t know, right? “Will Abel take us away?”
“Let’s risk our lives on uncertain possibilities?”
“Who said that? “That’s what it means.”
Before the atmosphere got serious, Mile skillfully removed her foot and turned her head in the other direction.
“…… Anyway, tomorrow night, Abel Sirius…… Assassinate First of all, she must absolutely follow her mother’s orders. Okay?”
“Yes. “I understand.”
Even while listening to Miles’ answer, Jan could not hide his discomfort.
‘This…’ … ‘Is this right?’
She keeps thinking about the favors that Abel did for her and it messes with her head. Raised to only carry out her mother’s orders, she found herself confused.
Soon she shook her head vigorously from side to side.
‘There is no need to think about anything else. Because her mother’s orders are correct.’
Even though I was thinking that, for some reason I became afraid of pulling out my sword.
This wasn’t because she was scared of Abel, but because for the first time she didn’t know if what she was doing was really right.
“What are you telling me to do?” ….”
Jan muttered softly and looked at Abel for a long time as he received the shiny piece of wood from Clara.