Ch.177Because Nothing Is Eternal

“Mina, did you record the mana reactions carefully?”

“Of course! That’s my job this time, isn’t it?”

In response to Jessica’s question, Mina pushes up her favorite goggles and gives a thumbs up.

The reason Mina barely participated in attacks during the first battle with the green monster was because she was performing a task far more important than combat.

That task was to observe the monster’s changes through her special goggles, the “Magiascope,” whenever other members attacked the monster through various means.

All monsters that maintain life through dark mana constantly emit and consume mana during combat situations.

Especially for types like slimes or golems that control incomplete body structures with a “core,” measuring these changes becomes even easier.

In other words, by tracking the mana fluctuations that occur whenever the monster occupying the lake takes damage and repairs its body, they can determine whether the monster is hiding its core in the lake or if it’s a being maintained by summoning magic—this was the essence of Jessica and Mina’s monster investigation activity.

To have prepared such a solution even before coming to the Night Tree Sanctuary to gather detailed information—Jessica and Mina truly are our party’s twin brains.

“So what are the results?”

“The mana reaction from the bulging part in the middle of the lake, the tentacles, and the water surface are perfectly identical. It’s certain that no specific part alone is the monster.”

“D-Does that mean this entire lake is one giant slime monster?”

“I thought so at first, but if this were a large slime, mana should be released momentarily when it repairs damaged parts, right? But the mana levels detected from the lake have remained constant.”

“That’s impossible for a monster. Whether it’s physical resistance or wound repair, if dark mana supplied from a mana stone affects that area, mana fluctuations must be measurable.”

“Exactly. So there’s only one conclusion we can draw. Both the tentacles and the slime that rose in the center are merely water from the lake being controlled by something else.”

So it’s not that a slime is controlling the lake water, but that even the slime itself is just a creation made of water.

The remaining question is who or what is controlling the lake water to mimic the form of a slime, but Phyllis and Jessica seemed to have already reached the answer.

“…An elemental?”

“That’s the only explanation. No traces of magical formulas were detected, and only a Water Elemental could freely control this much water.”

Water Elemental—literally, a spirit of water.

It’s a magical life form commonly appearing in fantasy works.

Water spirits like undines, nereids, or nymphs vary in their settings depending on the work, but they generally appear in the form of beautiful women.

Looking at the sticky, sour-smelling state of this lake, rather than something beautiful, it seems more likely that a “twisted underworld slime woman” might pop out.

“When you hear Water Elemental, you’d imagine it appearing in clear, clean water.”

“That perception isn’t wrong. However, elementals have an even higher affinity for mana than we elves, making them susceptible to corruption or pollution from curses, sorcery, or contaminated environments.”

“Whether the lake was polluted causing the elemental to go berserk, or a corrupted elemental settled in and polluted the lake—there’s no way to determine that now.”

Regardless of which came first, what we need to do remains unchanged.

Eliminate the elemental hiding in the lake that’s controlling the water to attack us.

The problem is finding a way to locate the Water Elemental hidden in the lake.

“Blindly shooting into the lake wouldn’t accomplish much, and we can’t dive in either, so this is quite troublesome.”

“Can’t you find the enemy with your skill, Will?”

“I’ve been concentrating since earlier, but I’m not getting any particular feeling. If the opponent were directly targeting me, I might be able to detect it.”

Hearing my answer, Mina scratched her head and let out a light sigh.

“Can’t be helped. Let’s head back to the Night Tree Sanctuary to report what we’ve learned so far.”

“We’ll fight the elemental next time?”

“Hmm~ Do we even need to fight it? Since our investigation was successful, couldn’t we leave the rest to the elves?”

“I suppose so… Then as Mina suggested, let’s return to the sanctuary and report our findings. We can decide what to do next based on how our conversation with the Elder proceeds.”

And so we finished our reconnaissance battle with the monster and returned to the Night Tree Sanctuary.

The Elder, Orpheus, and the other guardians at the outpost waiting at the sanctuary seemed quite shocked by the investigation results we brought back.

The reason being that the appearance of a corrupted elemental near the sanctuary itself was contrary to elven common sense.

Originally, elementals are classified as monsters because they have mana stones inside their bodies, but their nature is relatively gentle and passive, rarely posing significant threats to people or animals.

However, when excessively exposed to dark mana near dungeons or special monster territories, they can transform into “corrupted elementals” with distorted attributes and aggression.

In other words, corrupted elementals can only be born in tainted places, which is why it was problematic that one appeared in the lake right next to the sanctuary.

“Well, they have reason to be shocked. It’s like a demon descending upon holy ground—that level of catastrophe.”

“But without acknowledging what’s happening before our eyes, we can’t expect to resolve the situation. They understand that too.”

“…You’re right. Yes, absolutely right.”

The Elder of the Night Tree Sanctuary, Euclid, who had been quietly listening to our conversation, nodded deeply in agreement.

Then, looking around at the guardians and Orpheus seated nearby, he began speaking in a calm voice.

“I had only considered it sacrilegious that a monster had settled so close to our sanctuary. I thought defeating it thoroughly with force was the only way to preserve elven pride. I hadn’t even considered the possibility of a corrupted elemental approaching the sanctuary.”

The Elder’s voice was quite serious as he spoke as if admonishing himself, but honestly, I couldn’t understand why the fact that a corrupted elemental had approached the sanctuary was causing such a significant controversy.

I thought it might be a unique elven sentiment difficult for humans to empathize with, but the answer was soon revealed through the Elder’s subsequent words.

“I must acknowledge it. Our sanctuary’s Spirit Tree is losing its power to repel impure beings, which means the Spirit Tree’s lifespan is nearing its end.”

“…What?”

I unconsciously blurted out in surprise at this unexpected turn in the conversation.

The appearance of a corrupted elemental is directly linked to the sanctuary’s survival?

When I suddenly turned and met Phyllis’s eyes, she nodded slightly before answering my curiosity.

“Will, just as there is no eternal life in this world, the elves’ Spirit Tree cannot be immortal either. Eventually reaching the end of its lifespan and withering is inevitable.”

“I suppose that might be true… but what happens to this sanctuary if the Spirit Tree withers?”

“Without protection from dark mana, they’ll either need to find seedlings of another Spirit Tree and relocate, or perhaps share living space with pioneers like at Cotton Tail Trading Post.”

“What if we drive away the elemental from the lake?”

“Even that won’t extend the Spirit Tree’s lifespan. The corrupted elemental isn’t harming the Spirit Tree; rather, the elemental has appeared because the Spirit Tree’s power has weakened.”

So at this point, defeating the elemental won’t help preserve the sanctuary.

I had expected a happy ending where defeating the monster would revitalize agriculture and allow sweet treats to be produced again, but the reality of the Night Tree Sanctuary seemed to face a much heavier fate than I had imagined.

“Don’t look so gloomy, everyone. As elves, this was something we would face eventually, and even if the Spirit Tree withers, it won’t happen within a year or two. Whether we relocate elsewhere or join pioneer society, we should focus on solving the immediate problem first.”

“You mean eliminating the corrupted Water Elemental hiding in the lake… Forgive my presumption, but is it too difficult even for adventurers of your caliber?”

“It’s an issue beyond combat power. The elemental is hiding in the lake while controlling water to attack us, and we have no way to directly attack it. In battles with elementals, figuring out how to lure the opponent away from their home ground accounts for more than 90% of the strategy.”

“If we didn’t have to worry about the aftermath, we could fill the lake with dirt. If we keep using Seismic Cracker…”

“Stop with the terrifying suggestions, Mina. You’re making the elves uncomfortable.”

The purpose of this request is to restore the water source; making that water source unusable by filling it with dirt would defeat the purpose of eliminating the elemental.

Even if we were to remove the dirt after defeating the elemental, there’s no guarantee we could restore it to its original state.

“Jessica, what about freezing the entire lake with Diamond Dust?”

“I can’t guarantee Diamond Dust would be effective on a lake that’s turned into slime. The ice platform I made for Seti earlier was created by freezing moisture in the air.”

“Besides, ice is just frozen water, right? Would that really be able to seal a Water Elemental’s movements?”

“Mina makes a good point. But if there’s a way to replace the elemental’s environment with something other than ice or dirt…”

“What about the drying spell used for laundry?”

“Dehydration… it might work, but I’m not sure if it could dry up a lake 50 meters in diameter. It would take a lot of time and consume an enormous amount of mana.”

Jessica glances at me as she says this.

In truth, the mana problem could be solved by using that artifact, but exposing an artifact right in front of an elven sanctuary would inevitably be a sensitive issue.

If there’s absolutely no other way, I’d have to ask the Elder to prohibit elves from approaching before deploying the artifact—

“Hmm, completely drying up the water… I might have an idea?”

It seems Mina has come up with a different approach.