Ch.128Chapter 128. The Night Sky Before the Final Battle

In the pitch-black darkness of the imperial dungeon, Naidrian lay face down on the floor, powerless.

Days had passed without receiving food or water.

Unable to eat or drink anything since being transported to the capital, she no longer had the strength to move.

Though filth stained her cheek and a foul stench assaulted her nostrils, Naidrian remained motionless.

She was simply one with the dirty floor, clinging to it like an insect.

Suddenly, a light pierced through her vacant, unfocused gaze.

As she instinctively winced, a stern yet anxious voice called out to her.

“You worthless thing. Get up this instant!”

How strange. Why would an Elven Elder be here?

Naidrian turned her head away completely.

Whether that light and Elder were hallucinations or not was beyond her concern.

“I said get up, Naidrian! After worsening the situation to this extent, you still show no remorse!”

“……”

For a hallucination, it was quite noisy.

Perhaps it wasn’t an illusion after all.

Naidrian tried to continue ignoring the Elder.

However, the continued verbal abuse finally touched a nerve.

“Leading the elves to the brink of extinction and now pretending ignorance! You vile, worthless creature. If you had just done your job properly, things wouldn’t have come to this! You’re completely useless!”

“What did I do?!”

Unable to contain herself any longer, she shouted back.

Anger gave her strength she didn’t have before. Staggering to her feet, she slammed her head against the iron bars and screamed out all the injustice she had endured.

“How was I so useless?! You were the ones who forced a bow into my hands and sent me to the battlefield when I was just a scholar! You used me for everything under the pretext of saving our race, but did you ever once praise me? No, you didn’t!”

She kept banging her head against the bars, splitting her skin and drawing blood, but Naidrian didn’t stop.

Her metallic voice was thick with blood and resentment.

“I joined the Hero’s party. I betrayed the Hero to get a piece of tainted land for you. I devoted all my research funds to saving the forest. And what did I get for obediently following you, hoping for your approval? My only investor and supporter was betrayed and arrested, and all my legitimate research was burned and trampled! What did I do wrong? I did everything! Everything I could for the likes of you!”

“Y-you… how dare you speak like that! You’re blaming others for your own incompetence until the very end? I came to give you one last chance, but I see it’s pointless!”

“I don’t need it! I’m finished! I have no reason to live anymore…!”

Naidrian panted heavily, her face covered in blood.

Seeing her like this, the Elder seemed flustered that his usual intimidation tactics weren’t working.

Realizing that a harsh approach would backfire, the Elder decided to try persuasion instead.

“Yes, I admit we pushed you too hard. But as you know, this is about the survival of our race, isn’t it? It’s difficult for anyone to remain calm in the face of such a crisis. Even at this moment, the elven forest continues to shrink.”

“That precious elven forest… you don’t even die without it, yet you make such a fuss…”

The Elder’s temple throbbed at Naidrian’s sarcasm, but he barely managed to control himself and whispered to her.

“This is your last chance. Listen.”

“……”

The Elder swallowed nervously and looked around cautiously, despite knowing they were alone, then spoke carefully.

“I’ve made a deal with the Shield Knight. At tomorrow’s public trial, admit to the Porter’s embezzlement and testify that you were an accomplice. In return, he promised to give us fertile land—different from what we saw before. Do you know how difficult it was for me to secure this agreement?”

“You… you lunatics!!!!!”

“What?!”

“You want me to betray and lie again?! How can you be like this until the very end!!!!!!”

“Y-y-you’ve completely lost your mind!”

It was so unfair.

She never knew she could be such a pathetic, wronged existence.

Naidrian, nearly deranged from stress and regret, rolled on the filthy floor and screamed.

Arsil had been right.

She, who had considered herself intelligent, was actually the most foolish person of all.

“Aaaaaaaaahhhhh!!!!!!!! Get out! Get out of here!!!!”

As she began banging her head against the wall again, the Elder shouted back just as fiercely.

“Fine! You wretched woman! Very well! You’ll be subjected to historical erasure, just like that Pristia!”

“Historical… erasure…?”

When Naidrian paused at the unfamiliar punishment, the Elder smirked and kindly explained.

“For us elves who live such long lives, there is no punishment more severe than historical erasure. Have you ever heard the name Pristia? Of course not. We completely erased her from our records.”

“Whoever that is, it has nothing to do with me…”

“Oh, but it does. She’s your predecessor in historical erasure.”

The Elder moistened his lips with saliva.

“Pristia was the warrior of the Second Hero’s Party.”

“That’s a lie… I heard there were no elves in the Second Hero’s Party.”

“We made it so. We elves denied that race-traitor who betrayed the Second Hero and sided with thieves before the Goddess, subjecting her to historical erasure, thus avoiding divine wrath.”

Despite the blood dripping down her chin, Naidrian’s vision became clearer.

Anger was sustaining her.

“You would subject me… who crawled like a dog and devoted myself… to the same historical erasure as that traitor?”

“It’s a bit different. Do you know how Pristia died? We first pulled her out of the flood alive. Since she betrayed us for the love of a phallus, the Goddess herself brought a monster. One with a member as thick and massive as an ancient tree. We forced it all the way down Pristia’s throat.”

The Elder had started with a smile, but as he recalled the memory, he wiped away cold sweat.

“I don’t know what measures the Goddess took, but… even though her jaw dislocated and both eyeballs popped out, her mouth didn’t tear but stretched to accommodate the monster’s entire member. After taking in such an impossible size through her mouth, her body swelled like a pig, and eventually her lower body burst as her internal organs couldn’t withstand the pressure of the phallus.”

Even after finishing his recollection, the Elder couldn’t smile again.

“Compared to that end, your historical erasure and demise will be relatively tame.”

With those words, Naidrian killed all hope.

It was futile.

What had she been striving for all this time?

What remained for her, who had denied and ignored her sins, blindly rushing forward?

Naidrian decided to let everything go.

“Get out… Erase my history, kill me now, do whatever you want.”

“You refuse to cooperate until the end!”

Clang!

Naidrian lunged at the iron bars with unbelievable speed.

Reaching through the bars, she grabbed the Elder’s collar and thrust her blood-streaked face forward.

“Elder… leave while I’m still letting you. Or would you rather die here with me?”

Meeting her bloodshot eyes, the Elder judged that the archer had completely lost her mind.

Barely able to breathe through the intense killing intent, the Elder freed himself from her grip, extinguished his torch in fear, and fled the dungeon.

After confirming the footsteps had faded away, Naidrian collapsed back onto the floor.

But as soon as her head touched the ground, she heard another voice calling her.

“Naidrian.”

“Leave me alone!!”

Despite her harsh response, the other person didn’t retreat.

The archer sighed and was about to lie down again when a soft light enveloped her.

The warm blood flowing from her head stopped, and some of her strength returned.

Only then did Naidrian recognize who had come to see her.

“Arsil…?”

She raised herself up and clung to the bars.

The archer asked the saint about the Porter’s well-being.

“Have you seen the Porter? How is he? What’s happening? He, he doesn’t seem to be here, and I don’t know where…”

“I haven’t seen Lin either. I can only believe he’s doing well.”

“Ah…”

As Naidrian lowered her head in disappointment and regret, Arsil whispered slowly and deliberately.

“But I came because of Lin. To save Lin.”

The saint’s resolute expression showed no trace of the hesitation she had displayed when facing Rainford.

—

The final night was deepening, and the dawn moon was fading.

“Is everything ready?”

“Yes, everyone has moved into position!”

“If things go wrong, it’s all-out war. We’ll settle everything tomorrow, in just one day.”

Airan and Viscon stood at the front, with Luci and Tigria of the Hero’s Party following behind.

Luci, haggard from lack of sleep, was continuously emanating an aura of resentment.

“Let’s go.”

Rowellina’s forces stepped onto the teleportation magic circle heading toward the imperial palace.

Somewhere under the same sky, within the imperial palace.

Rinasien rested her head on Lin’s shoulder for no particular reason.

“Lin, when are we escaping from here?”

“Probably tomorrow.”

Lin deliberately avoided her head and stood up.

Rinasien, suddenly tipping over, glared at him but quickly softened her expression and acted coquettishly.

“Tomorrow? You’re taking me with you tomorrow, right?”

“Tomorrow at the public trial, I’ll be found innocent and walk out proudly on my own feet.”

“…Do you think that’s possible?”

“It might not be.”

“And if it’s not? Do you have some plan that makes you so confident?”

Lin stretched his body and replied nonchalantly to the slightly irritated Rinasien.

“If it doesn’t work, I’ll just destroy everything and escape.”

At that calm declaration, Rinasien smiled brightly.

“I believe in you, Lin.”

There was one who gazed at the moonlight in this sky,

Shield Knight Rainford.

“Tomorrow, I will end everything.”

[Ha, you’re too confident.”

Despite his words, the Demon God’s voice was full of amusement.

“With this exclusive item you gave me, and these collaborators, I have nothing to fear.”

Then Rainford spoke to those behind him.

“I’m counting on you. Let’s hope everything goes according to plan without any mistakes.”

“You’re the one who better not mess things up.”

In the darkness behind him, three pairs of red eyes gleamed.

“Make Lin despair, corrupt him, and turn him to our side. If anyone deviates from this, I will not forgive them.”

“Don’t worry about that, Denarua.”

Rainford smiled secretly along with the Demon God.

“Everything is under my control.”

Tomorrow, the final battle begins.