Ch.201201. Dusky Night (1)

The forest after dusk was darkness itself.

The woods, already dim from the dense foliage blocking sunlight, strictly forbade even the gentle moonlight from intruding.

We had no choice but to remain in one place.

After finishing simple camping preparations, we took turns standing guard during our rest time until dawn.

Dinner was a modest affair with preserved rations, and the area was illuminated by small light sources created by requesting help from the spirits of other elves.

After flattening the ground and sitting down, the accumulated fatigue began to creep up on me.

‘Sione and Diolia said they needed to talk with Friel a bit more.’

They promised to tell me the important details separately later.

I began evaluating our current situation, recalling the chaos from earlier in the day, and couldn’t help but frown.

‘Neither the monsters nor the Demonkin that attacked us were particularly high-level.’

The movements of beasts—especially those without a shred of reason—are predictable.

Those creatures solely focused on tearing at their enemies’ throats were easy to hunt. This was true not just for me, but for everyone.

Moreover, even when the Demonkin had their arms severed or knives thrust into their hearts or necks,

their persistence in wielding weapons until their last conscious moment might have seemed threatening,

but aside from such fanatical madness, they weren’t particularly impressive.

With proper focus, they could be killed without injury, just as the elves had dispatched those violent beasts without getting hurt.

‘But our side suffered more casualties than expected against such mediocre enemies.’

Three elves died, and two were severely injured.

To make matters worse, the bodies of two were seized by the enemy.

‘Why on earth?’

These elves who could handle spirits, bows, and swords more skillfully than ordinary archers and knights.

How could they allow such humiliation at the hands of those pathetic Demonkin?

The half-demon half-human who greeted us with that infuriating welcome was handled by me, Sione, and Friel. The others only had to deal with the Demonkin.

Were they just for show, like some imposing but ineffective army?

‘…Something’s strange.’

It was strange indeed.

The skills I witnessed during our training sessions before entering this forest weren’t fake.

Those arrogant pointy-eared bastards possessed enough talent and ability to justify their self-proclaimed superiority as a long-lived race above others.

Moreover, their emotions had weathered with age, leaving mostly reason intact. They weren’t the type to lose their temper at enemy provocations and get themselves stabbed.

‘At some point, looking around, three were suddenly lying on the ground, they said.’

While we were focused on the half-demon, an elf fighting Demonkin on the opposite side had reported this.

Not a single elf had been seen getting attacked or falling during combat.

Yet when that damned fanatic ordered a retreat, elves began appearing among the cultists, rolling on the ground.

As if intoxicated by something, they apparently couldn’t properly recognize that their comrades were lying on the ground.

‘Those cultist bastards must have used some trick.’

If they had employed some magical artifice, Sione would certainly have noticed.

But since Sione said she couldn’t detect anything, the mystery only deepened.

And there was one more thing that caught my attention.

“Sigh…”

[…@**, *※**# is interfering……]

“So what exactly is this?”

An unidentified entity that appeared before me again, just like when I was about to summon Tania in the military barracks.

It had created another quest.

I began reading the contents of the newly generated quest.

「Eliminate Danger」

「Eliminate the enemies hiding in the eastern forest. They are demons and numerous descendants… in various places… *※#… @@…」

「Reward: @**, *※**#’s…─, ■■」

The content involved beheading the demons and their remnants hiding in the forest, thereby stabilizing the great forest.

However, unlike before, some of the text was broken, and this time all the reward text was corrupted as well.

My status window was broken. Or rather, some entity was tampering with my status window at will.

“…Tsk.”

I couldn’t feel at ease.

My reliable status window, which had always only conveyed tasks and rewards, objective explanations of situations, was now being interfered with according to someone else’s will.

Wasn’t it becoming a mechanism to guide my actions, placed in the hands of some unknown entity?

So far, it hadn’t prompted actions contrary to my goals, but who knew how it might change. I stared at the status window and closed my eyes.

That’s when it happened.

Thwack!

Something scurried over and smacked my shoulder.

“Hey, Park Shinwoo.”

“…You haven’t returned to the spirit realm yet?”

“I still had something to say before going back. By the way, why are you holding your shoulder like that?”

…No, you just hit me here. You should have hit more gently. Wasn’t that too hard?

I stared at Tania, then lowered my hand from my shoulder with a slight sigh.

As if she had expected this reaction, Tania continued with a chuckle.

“Listen, listen. Don’t be surprised, okay?”

“…?”

“It’s really difficult, but if we do it right—”

Tania dragged out her words, then raised both hands in a victory pose.

“We might be able to bring our Changsik over here too!”

“Changsik? Really?”

“…You like him more than when you saw me again, don’t you?”

“No, that’s—”

“…Let me hit your shoulder one more time, you jerk.”

After eventually landing another hit on my shoulder, Tania began explaining with a prim expression.

According to Tania, unlike the gate that High Elf Edelin forcibly widened, Changsik could come here by lowering his rank to match the gate’s size.

Since Tania remembered the location of this world, she could simply tell Changsik about it.

The downside was that Changsik would come through as a mid-rank spirit rather than a high-rank one.

Unlike Tania, who came through the gate in her original form and naturally adjusted to the environment, Changsik would have to deliberately reduce his rank from the spirit realm to fit through the gate, coming in an already weakened state.

There might be unknown side effects, and at best he would appear as a mid-rank spirit.

Even that might be impossible, as separating or erasing a portion of his top-rank status would be extremely difficult.

“Well, I’ll tell Changsik what you said. Now, let’s go back!”

—Myaang!

“No way. This time I’m definitely going to catch you and introduce you to Changsik. It’s time to go back.”

—Myaa…

“Nope, that look won’t work on me.”

Afterward, Tania and Orna returned to the spirit realm.

The surroundings became quiet again. Sione and Diolia still showed no signs of returning. In the distance, several elves could be seen standing guard.

I closed my eyes while watching them, trying to relieve my fatigue even briefly.

The cold ground and the chilly night breeze—it had been a while since I’d slept outdoors like this, but I could quickly fall into slumber.

Just as I always had in the past.

* * *

I hear phantom sounds.

Between the hooting of owls, the voices of two women conversing.

One woman’s voice coming from beside me from the beginning, and another woman’s voice gradually approaching from the distance.

I could relax because both voices were familiar.

As I was drifting off to sleep, using the faint voices of Sione and Diolia as a lullaby,

I could hear the owner of the voice beside me—Sione—seemingly getting up.

I woke up slightly at the same time.

Well, if it were time to change guard duty, she would have woken me with a shake of the shoulder. Judging by the lack of conversation, not much time seemed to have passed.

If anything important happened, Sione beside me would wake me up.

Then, my nerves inevitably sharpened.

Shing—

I knew the identity of this chilling sound better than anyone.

“…?”

Why on earth was I hearing the sound of a sword being drawn right in front of me at this hour?

My eyes opened instinctively. As I began to focus on what was in front of me with still blurry vision,

Clang!

I could see two figures taking positions with their swords crossed, each aiming at the other’s neck.

“Wait a minute.”

My voice was hoarse from just waking up.

Hurriedly rubbing my eyes and focusing on what was before me, I couldn’t help but scowl.

“…What the fuck is this?”

The harsh words came out in Korean.

That’s how shocked I was.

“Lady Diolia.”

“…Lady Sione, step aside.”

The ones crossing swords and testing each other’s strength were none other than Diolia and Sione.