Ch.150150. Invasion (1)

After providing the Rabbit Knight Lancelot with his equipment, I spent some time touring this Elven Kingdom.

While I didn’t forget to test and adjust my combat power gained as an Advanced rank, wouldn’t it be a waste to spend all day researching magic when I’ve finally come to the Elven Kingdom?

Therefore, I occasionally took breaks from my magical training to accompany Sophia or my animal friends whenever time allowed, thoroughly enjoying the sights of the Elven Kingdom, which could be considered the finest in the Western Continent.

Ah, of course, I was concerned that the elves might respond rudely and spoil our sightseeing, but this problem was resolved in a surprisingly simple way.

“Let’s go, Gretel.”

[Yes!]

No matter how arrogant and haughty elves might be, they naturally become humble in the presence of an Intermediate magical beast, and elves of Intermediate rank or higher who could guess my level (Advanced) were careful with their words and avoided picking fights.

“Three individuals confirmed.”

“Let’s go, Corin, Gretel.”

[Okay!]

[Yes!]

Particularly, though I don’t know what criteria determined this, certain magical beasts receive treatment almost equal to elves within the kingdom, and these “certain magical beasts” include spirit-beasts like griffins and thunderbirds.

Thanks to this, we could properly enjoy sightseeing together in person rather than just sharing my vision. We moved with the mindset of enjoying ourselves while we could, even if it meant freely spending the funds we had been gradually saving.

One might wonder if I, with memories of modern conveniences from my previous life, could truly enjoy the culture of this Elven Kingdom, but to that question, I would answer:

The attractions and culture of the Elven Kingdom differ in direction from modern amenities.

For example, the theater in this Elven Kingdom is basically performed by veterans who have dedicated decades to centuries solely to acting, which alone would be sufficient as a cultural experience.

But their performances employ magic in production and use all sorts of extraordinary staging techniques, making me think that in some aspects, they might even surpass modern performing arts.

Moreover, elven artists must dedicate at least decades or even centuries to a single field before gaining social recognition. How could the craftsmanship of an artist who has walked a single path for hundreds of years possibly be anything but exceptional?

To put it bluntly, the techniques refined by elves—who possess intellectual abilities superior to humans—over at least hundreds of years reach a level where they can imbue concepts into objects simply through manual crafting.

This means that a statue carved by an elven sculptor over several years might gain intelligence and a soul and move without any magic being applied, or a painting made with ordinary pigments might transform into a passage containing a small subdimension.

Of course, elves who reach such levels of mastery are extremely rare—perhaps one per generation—but nevertheless, the high average standard ensures an abundance of quality cultural experiences.

Any novel randomly picked from the library would be considered a masterpiece by human standards in terms of immersion and writing skill, and the minstrels performing on the streets had reached a certain transcendent state beyond merely singing well.

Besides its culture, the Elven Kingdom was also full of landscapes worth experiencing.

For instance, on one side of the Elven Kingdom, there exists an “Amusement Park City” with facilities comparable to modern amusement parks, featuring not only magic-powered attractions but various other entertainments.

The most representative of these is the water park. Rather than the modern water parks we imagine, it takes a more natural form, but even considering this, it still boasts infrastructure that blatantly challenges the era.

Beyond the water park that draws water from nearby lakes, there are also zoos and aquariums exhibiting rare fantasy world creatures that are worth visiting.

These crazy elves have even gone so far as to exhibit “human cultists possessed by demons” or summon and study creatures from outer worlds dominated by foreign gods.

Of course, the demons are restrained by seals based on their true names, and the otherworldly creatures are confined by some device supposedly created by the elven racial gods.

But to rely on such things and leave the products of cultists unattended?

They’re literally living variables and irregulars, loosely bound yet exploited for profit due to greed, despite knowing the dangers of cultists?

“…Is that really okay?”

“Probably… not.”

Even Sophia, who had been as excited as a child at other attractions and experiences, turned serious upon seeing this.

Leaving cultists—who should never be neglected in this world—unattended was, in my view, simply abhorrent.

And… as if to prove my thoughts correct, an incident finally occurred.

※ ※ ※

The incident happened as we were about to leave the amusement park.

“Shall we go now?”

“Yes. Hecate must be worried.”

Although we were a bit upset after seeing the exhibited cultists, the time we spent enjoying ourselves alone today, leaving all the others behind, could be considered quite excellent.

So the two of us were walking toward the warp gate, a facility on the outskirts of this amusement park, while chatting.

The Elven Kingdom had installed warp gates throughout their realm that could be used as conveniently as public transportation. These were magical tools that enabled the casting of the nature magic my mother occasionally used for travel.

Normally, this would consume an amount of magical power unbearable for anyone below Advanced rank, but by predetermining possible casting points and supporting them with additional facilities, they were able to establish a national-scale system.

The convenience of teleportation was truly indescribable, so Sophia and I were quietly standing in line, waiting for our turn.

“…?”

But… during that time, I suddenly sensed “something” through what might be called a strange wild instinct.

“Something”—something I hadn’t noticed—was stealthily extending its influence to this place.

“Sophia, you…”

“The prophet felt it too, Gregory.”

When I turned my head to look at Sophia, she had also sensed what I had detected through my wild instinct and was looking at me with a hardened expression.

Since coming to the Elven Kingdom, there had only been continuous prophecies of “slight crisis,” so nothing had been sensed in Sophia’s prophecy from the morning before we arrived here.

But it would be foolish to rely solely on that and not respond to the current sense of unease.

So as I sent ripples through the magical power in my body to prepare for any situation, the surrounding tourists and elves also seemed to sense this unease, gradually increasing their murmurs…

-─■■■.

With an indescribably bizarre sound, I witnessed the strange sight of the barrier surrounding the amusement park being corrupted by some strange energy.

[─Germinate!]

Urgently using magical power to protect myself, Sophia… and several nearby elves and tourists.

Immediately after, an energy wave burst from the corrupted barrier and swept through the line.

Those protected didn’t come into contact with the energy wave, and even among those directly touched by it, most who had somewhat strong life energy merely clutched their heads (experiencing headaches).

But… that wasn’t the case for everyone.

“Ah, aaaaa■a■■a■a■■■■!!]

The bodies of those who couldn’t resist the energy wave suddenly began to bubble and swell, and their contents started forming unpleasant and blasphemous shapes.

This was the fate of beings who received the influence of divine entities from other worlds, from the outside, and couldn’t resist.

[Claws of the Nine Hells, Blade of the Dark Night! Now…]

I hurriedly began an incantation to deal with them before they completely transformed into different beings.

Having reached the Advanced level, I should be fully capable of precisely targeting only the victims and dealing with them definitively.

But, unfortunately, I couldn’t do that.

“…That!”

Just before I could complete and cast my spell, ominous magical power suddenly erupted from the dimensional gate beyond, twisting the surrounding magical energy.

While it didn’t cause direct harm, the magical power I had gathered for casting became distorted, and the spell that was about to be cast dissipated, wasting a tremendous amount of magical power.

And… after this irritating phenomenon occurred.

“Oh, they’re coming…!”

“””…!!!”””

From the dimensional gate, countless “red things” came pouring out.