Ch.212Transcender

It’s burning.

The great willow that guards the sanctuary, the vast forest surrounding it, and the humble homes of the elves built from wood.

Phyllis and Iris’s beautiful homeland, the Willow Sanctuary, had literally transformed into a hell of flames.

“This… this can’t be…”

“How terrible…”

“Is this what the Willow Sanctuary looked like when it was attacked?”

“…No, that’s not right. The Dark Elves did set fire to the forest during their surprise attack, but thanks to the residents’ quick response, the fire was extinguished early. The sanctuary interior was never damaged.”

“So this scene must be either a fabrication by the Dark Elf Transcendent or Iris’s paranoid delusion.”

Iris, stabbed by the dark sword, sealed her own mind to avoid brainwashing.

That means she probably doesn’t properly understand how much damage the Willow Sanctuary actually suffered, and as a result, she might believe the entire sanctuary was consumed by flames.

Alternatively, this could be the Dark Elf Transcendent’s plot to break Iris’s will to resist by showing her precious homeland burning to ashes.

Either way, what we need to do remains the same.

“We don’t need to worry about fabricated illusions. Let’s focus on finding Iris and this Dark Elf Transcendent.”

“I’d like to, but… it seems they won’t let us move around freely.”

“Oh.”

Just a moment ago, there wasn’t a single person moving besides us, but suddenly Dark Elf soldiers appeared throughout the Willow Sanctuary, ready for battle.

One disturbing thing is that all these Dark Elf soldiers have identical faces.

“Seti will take the front, Phyllis in the middle, and I’ll guard the rear. Even though we’re in a mental world, those dark swords are creepy, so everyone be careful.”

“Okay.”

“Of course.”

“OK, let’s go!”

With my command, the battle begins.

It’s a bizarre sight—Dark Elf men with identical faces charging at us with identical swords in identical stances.

It feels less like we’re in Iris’s mental world and more like we’ve entered a virtual reality game.

“Haah!”

*Swoosh!*

Seti at the front swings her spear horizontally, sending out a blade of vacuum. The charging Dark Elf soldiers leap high to jump over the blade.

Their jumps are so flexible and elastic that even Olympic gymnasts would be impressed.

But for creatures without wings, jumping into the air also comes with a major disadvantage.

*Bang!*

*Bang! Bang!*

The first three Dark Elves who jumped are shot through vital points by revolvers and a repeating rifle while suspended in mid-air, and they fall.

The other two who jumped over the vacuum blade with a time delay attempt to attack Seti from both sides, but as if she had read their moves, Seti swings her spear widely to parry both swords simultaneously.

*Clang!*

“!?”

The heavy impact, incongruous with Seti’s petite frame, causes the Dark Elves to momentarily lose their balance.

Seti’s movement just now wasn’t simply deflecting the Dark Elves’ swords head-on—she caught one blade with the crossguard of her spear and swept both swords downward to the left.

Since the force was applied in a completely different direction than what the Dark Elves had anticipated, it’s no wonder their stances collapsed.

*Bang! Bang!*

*Bang!!*

And those enemies who exposed their openings once again lose their lives to Phyllis’s and my guns.

A combination attack that flows naturally without any instructions or signals exchanged between the three of us.

It took barely 10 seconds for the five-member Dark Elf attack squad to be completely wiped out.

“They’re weak… worlds apart from those who actually attacked the sanctuary five years ago.”

“Yeah, they don’t even compare to the ones we met near Atelier or that trio from before. Let’s not waste time with these guys and move quickly.”

“Where should we go?”

“Let’s check the crypt beneath the Great Tree first. Although the Great Tree itself is burning, the crypt is protected by special defensive magic, so it’s the most likely place where Iris might be holding out.”

“Got it.”

Following Phyllis’s suggestion, we advanced toward the blazing willow tree in the central plaza.

Groups of Dark Elf soldiers with identical faces attacked us, but these weaklings who lacked both skill and knowledge of how to deal with firearms were no match for us.

One disturbing thing was that these Dark Elves made no sound whatsoever—not when attacking, not even when dying from gunshots or spear thrusts.

The way they silently charged with murderous smiles and died without a sound made them seem like puppets controlled by someone else.

“We’re almost there! Phyllis, clear out those guys in front of the Great Tree!”

“Understood! Fire Ball {Incendiary Grenade}!”

*BOOM!!*

The four Dark Elves standing right next to the Great Tree were caught in the large explosion of the fireball and sent flying in all directions.

If this had been the real Willow Sanctuary rather than Iris’s mental world, we would never have launched a fireball toward the Great Tree.

With that thought, we approached the burrow beneath the blazing Great Tree and discovered a large magic circle glowing on the tightly closed door of the crypt.

“Phyllis, what’s this magic circle?”

“It’s defensive magic protecting the crypt. The fact that it’s active means…”

“There’s a high probability that Iris is holed up inside.”

“Then were those four just now the Dark Elf Transcendent?”

“No way. Those guys were clearly just regular soldiers like all the others around here.”

Only after answering did I realize that we knew absolutely nothing about the “Dark Elf Transcendent.”

Of course, that’s because Anastasia refused to provide information, saying she “couldn’t reveal anything about the Dark Elf Transcendent with her own mouth.”

However, or rather precisely because of that, we should have been curious about the Dark Elf Transcendent’s identity ourselves and discussed countermeasures for various possible situations.

Hadn’t we prepared so meticulously when facing the Lycanthrope in the Emperor’s Trial?

Yet this time, why did we jump into Iris’s mental world so carelessly, as if we had collectively become idiots, without any curiosity or countermeasures?

‘Could Anastasia have manipulated us? Made us enter the mental world with insufficient information?’

My first suspicion fell on Anastasia.

I wondered if she had used charm, mind control, or similar tricks to prevent us from developing interest or curiosity about the Dark Elf Transcendent.

But thinking about it calmly, I realized such actions would have been meaningless.

‘…No, that’s not it. If Anastasia wanted to put us in danger, she had plenty of better methods.’

She could have lied and said that as a succubus, she could only send men.

She could have answered “yes” to my question about whether we needed to unseal Iris’s mind.

There was no reason for her to choose the unclear and troublesome method of “blocking curiosity about the Dark Elf Transcendent” when easier options were available.

In other words, if someone really did manipulate us to prevent us from being curious about the Dark Elf Transcendent’s identity, it probably wasn’t Anastasia but—

‘Hooo… you suspect. So you’ve begun to suspect.’

“!?”

Just as my chain of suspicions was about to reach some “conclusion,” an eerily sinister woman’s voice echoed, and the surrounding scenery completely changed.

The raging flames, the Dark Elf soldiers surrounding us from a distance, and even the scattered traces of destruction—all vanished as if they were lies, and the Willow Sanctuary was plunged into a darkness as oppressive and heavy as ink.

“What is this…?”

“Phyllis, Seti. Did you hear that voice just now?”

“Yeah. An incredibly unpleasant woman’s voice.”

“I heard it too. Like it was clawing at my chest… a voice that makes you lose your fighting spirit just by hearing it.”

Phyllis’s face was noticeably pale as she spoke, and her voice seemed to tremble slightly.

Seti too had her tail fully raised, displaying an unprecedented level of tension.

I could feel my own heart pounding, but I tried to appear calm as I taunted the empty air.

“I don’t know where you are, but if you want to talk, wouldn’t it be polite to show yourself?”

‘Kuk kuk kuk… how amusing. Saying I should show myself if I want to talk.’

The woman’s voice chuckled as if she’d heard an amusing joke.

That spine-chilling voice that had been echoing through the thick darkness suddenly came from right beside my ear.

“I’ve been here all along.”

“WHOA!?”

Startled, I jumped forward and turned my head to see a naked Dark Elf woman hanging upside down in mid-air.

To be precise, only the upper half of her body was that of a naked Dark Elf woman; her lower half was the body of a large spider, black and shiny like a beetle.

A vicious-looking spider woman. That was my first impression of the Dark Elf Transcendent.

“Kuh… Lightning Bolt {Accelerated Thunder Shot}!!”

*Crackle!*

Phyllis used lightning magic without being flustered by the Transcendent’s sudden appearance.

But the Transcendent simply waved her hand lightly, deflecting Phyllis’s lightning bolt sideways as if hitting away a ball.

“What!?”

“Fall back, Phyllis!”

*Bang bang bang!*

“Hooo, you use interesting toys.”

The three magical bullets I fired at the Transcendent’s head and chest stopped abruptly 10cm short of their target, then dispersed like a mirage.

We could only stare dumbfounded as she effortlessly handled lightning and bullets fired at point-blank range as if they were mere toys.

Even Seti, who would normally be the first to charge in swinging her spear, stood frozen with a look of shock on her face.

“Is that all? Don’t you have any more tricks to entertain me?”

“This one…!”

“If so, I’m disappointed. I thought I might finally enjoy a fight after so long.”

As the Dark Elf Transcendent smiled, time seemed to slow down, and a chilling killing intent in the form of a dense net surged toward us from one side.

Though I could perceive its existence through my skill, the attack was too widespread to either dodge or block.

*Slash!*

“Gah!?”

“Aaagh!”

Dozens of whip-like threads lashed our bodies, and with pain like our skin was being torn off, we were lifted into the air and then violently slammed to the ground.

In the midst of not even being able to guess what had happened, only intense pain circulated throughout our bodies.

“Ugh…”

“Kuh… this is…”

“…If you can’t even block an attack of this level, you won’t even serve as a pastime, let alone a fight.”

She’s strong.

Although we received warnings from Anastasia, I never expected the difference in power to be this great.

“Is… is everyone okay?”

“No… problem. The wounds aren’t as severe as the pain suggests.”

“But if we keep taking hits like this, it could be dangerous…”

As Phyllis said, despite the pain as if our entire bodies had been beaten, we only had shallow cuts here and there with no amputations or major bleeding.

But if we continue to allow these attacks, it’s obvious we’ll eventually collapse from exhaustion while struggling in pain.

“Come now… entertain me a little more. If you show me too pathetic a display, I might get irritated and kill you by mistake.”

As the Transcendent raised both arms, an even denser net of killing intent began to descend upon us from the front.

If we can’t do something about this net of pain—we have no chance of winning this fight.