Ch.31Elven Haim (2)

“Have you heard that rumor?”

“Rumor? What rumor?”

In a village inn, two adventurers were having a conversation. They appeared quite drunk, with flushed red faces, and their breath reeked of alcohol whenever they opened their mouths.

“Ah, how can someone be so slow with rumors? You know! The Church of the Light God received a divine revelation. Something about two monsters that will bring about the end of the world? So the Church of Light declared a holy war until those creatures are destroyed.”

“What!? Is that true!? Hmph, a holy war. I wonder how many more people will die because of such nonsense…”

“Come on, man. I just told you it’s a divine revelation that came after decades, about killing monsters that will bring about the apocalypse. Fortunately, it’s not a war targeting us.”

The two continued talking, unaware that people around them were listening intently.

From tales about a massive sea monster appearing somewhere and destroying a trade route, forcing merchants to find new paths, to rumors about the Holy Knight Bell who hadn’t been seen in public lately.

Though the drunkards’ stories needed to be taken with a grain of salt, their strangely specific details drew others to join the conversation.

“And this is something I heard yesterday… The Empire is on the move.”

“The Empire? They’ve been quiet for the past 20 years. Are they planning to start another war?”

Though one drunk dismissed the idea, the one who brought it up nodded confidently.

“Apparently, they’re moving massive troops near the Elven Forest. The supplies are enormous, and all the mercenaries have gone there. Looks like they’re preparing for something big.”

“Hmph, against the elves? Those folks never leave their forest, and each one is a powerful spirit mage, wizard, and archer. Can they really win?”

“Well… I don’t know about that. One thing’s for sure though—supplies and people keep moving toward the Elven Forest.”

At that moment, a robed figure who had been listening approached the drunkards.

“Is that story true?”

A voice like rolling marbles. The voice was so beautiful, like that of an angel. As he was lost in thought about the heavenly voice, he felt the robed woman’s gaze and hastily nodded.

“Y-yes! I have many connections, so I hear all sorts of things! I got this information while chatting with a merchant the other day! He was complaining about why the Empire wanted so much food and weapons. They asked him to deliver everything to Fort Tordem, the closest fortress to the Elven Forest!”

Was his face red from alcohol or from being in front of a woman?

After he insisted his information was correct, the woman thanked him, handed him a gold coin, and stood up. The sudden appearance of gold drew sharp glances from around the room.

The robed woman left the inn and disappeared into the crowd, leaving behind only the bewildered drunk clutching his gold coin.

* * * * *

A day had passed since I left Fairy Tail. The elven country, Elvenheim, was fortunately not too far away—they said it would take about two weeks to reach.

After a day of traveling through the forest, we finally emerged onto a vast plain. Perhaps the bull’s blood flowing through my veins was satisfied with the open plains, as my mood seemed to improve.

“Well then—now that we’ve left our kingdom, let’s spin the roulette! We’re far enough from our kingdom now, so it should be fine!”

I nodded and turned around to see the roulette still floating behind me, following me.

As I turned with the intention to spin it, the system responded.

-Ding!

—Participant Minotauros “Khan” confirmed the death of participant Doppelganger “Dopl.” Victory to “Minotauros,” roulette finally activating.

The system seemed angry after waiting a month, as its message was slightly different from usual. Fortunately, the roulette began spinning properly.

Whirr whirr whirr—

As the roulette spun at a speed too fast to see clearly, Dopl’s attributes were revealed.

—Devil’s Sleight of Hand

—Struggle

—Pleasure Killer

—Damaged Devil’s Eye

—Mana Circuit

—Touch of Death

—Mana Explosion

These incredible attributes. Somehow only one seemed like a demerit, and even that one didn’t matter much to me.

Killing people for fun? That’s basically what I do anyway, so what difference does it make?

Seeing these amazing attributes, I expected the stats would be considerable too, and I thought I might expect a unique trait as well.

“Moooo? (Want to try stopping it again?)”

“Hmm, no! Come to think of it, it’s not like I can take responsibility, so it’s strange for me to tell it to stop. Let Khan make it stop!”

With those words, I waited for that feeling to come again. Just like when I got a unique trait from the Japanese sword and evolved my own unique trait, I trusted that feeling would come again.

But after 1 minute, after 5 minutes, that feeling never came. Back then, it really felt like a god had come to me, I had that exact feeling…

Finally, disappointed at not feeling what I couldn’t feel, I shouted at the roulette to stop, and it slowly began to halt its rotation.

—Ding!

—Congratulations! You inherit the attribute Damaged Devil’s Eye!

With those words, a silver orb approached me and was absorbed. I wanted to check the information of the absorbed orb, so I opened my status window to examine the attribute.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

【Damaged Devil’s Eye】: Devils can see through anything. Whether it’s someone’s secrets or thoughts. They can see through anything, literally the only beings that can stand against gods. These are the eyes of such beings. However, the eyes of such powerful beings are too much for mortals to handle and have been significantly damaged. You can somewhat predict your opponent’s movements.

= = = = = = = = = = = = =

It was a decent attribute. Being able to predict an opponent’s movements meant I could anticipate their next attack in combat, which was just right for someone like me who lacked combat sense.

—Ding!

—Attribute 【Beast’s Senses】 and attribute 【Damaged Devil’s Eye】 can be combined. Would you like to combine them?

I nodded at those words. So far, combining attributes had never resulted in anything bad, and I believed this time would be good too.

As two silver orbs emerged from my body, Mary exclaimed in surprise, and the orbs spiraled upward into the sky before merging into a golden orb.

That orb entered me and…

—Ta-da-ra-ra-tan!

—Through the combination of attribute 【Beast’s Senses】 and attribute 【Damaged Devil’s Eye】, you have acquired the attribute 【Demonic Beast’s Senses】.

【Demonic Beast’s Senses】: The senses of a demonic beast can detect and respond to all threats coming your way. These senses will assist you as if they were alive, allowing you to respond to threatening attacks coming from your blind spots.

The ability to predict an opponent’s attacks was gone, but I cheered for this attribute that would block attacks I wasn’t aware of.

There aren’t many attacks that can pierce my skin, but if one could, it might take my head off in one blow and kill me instantly.

I was grinning at the fact that I had gained an extra life when Mary looked curious.

“Did you get something good?”

I nodded at her question, and Mary was happy for me as if it were her own good fortune. We walked toward Elvenheim with big smiles.

* * * * *

It only took a week to reach Elvenheim.

I thought it was supposed to take about two weeks, but with my pace, we almost arrived.

I thought there might be some spectacular events along the way, but there weren’t any.

Perhaps the news of me massacring those knights a month ago had spread widely, because people would flee as soon as they saw me. Even when I went to villages or nobles’ territories, they didn’t try to fight me but just ran away.

With no choice, I took some human food, and now my cart was full of fruits, meat, and honey. This honey, which I took when passing through a noble’s territory, was the most delicious food in my life.

As soon as I ate the honey, I felt dizzy as if drunk, my mind became hazy and my eyes unfocused… I thought this must be heaven.

Mary saw my dazed expression after I swallowed a jar of honey and tried some herself… but she said while it was nice and sweet, it wasn’t great to eat plain, so she didn’t touch it much.

Thanks to that, all this honey became mine, and I spent my days eating honey and meat whenever I was bored.

“Finally, Elvenheim! This is your first time seeing elves, right?”

“Moo moo moo, mooooo— (Yes. This is actually my first time traveling away from where I lived.)”

“Hehehe, then you can look forward to it! I’ve only been to Elvenheim once, but there are lots of delicious fruits and the scenery is really beautiful!”

“Mooooo— (Really? I’m looking forward to it.)”

With expectations from Mary’s words, as we descended the mountainside, a massive tree came into view.

“Mooooo? (Is that the World Tree?)”

At my words, Mary rose from my head to look in the direction I was pointing, and moved in front of my eyes, nodding as if to confirm.

Then, rising high into the sky, she screamed.

“Impossible! Why is Elvenheim…!?”

Wondering what was wrong, I called Mary onto my hand and jumped…

Elvenheim was burning.

* * * * *

“Burn it all! Those pointy-eared bastards can’t use spirit magic right now! This is to repay the grace bestowed upon us by our Emperor! We must burn everything and make this forest ours!”

Waaaaaaah!!!!

Soldiers lit oil-soaked stones in catapults and launched them, while mages used fire-attribute magic.

Determined to completely burn down the forest, they even brought magical battalions casting everything from Fireball to Inferno, Explosion, Flame Strike, and various other circle magics.

Behind them, a massive flow of mana was forming.

High-circle magic was being prepared as enormous mana concentrated, and then that mana began to be released.

“Wrath of Heaven”

A single phrase echoed calmly. Wrath of Heaven led the massive flow of mana up into the sky. Then it opened the heavens and began to emit a bright light.

Kwaaaaa———!!!!

A single massive beam descended to the ground, turning everything around it to ashes. The elves guarding the forest sensed the mana flow and evacuated, but the forest couldn’t be saved.

A large part of the massive forest turned to ashes and disappeared, and the land touched by the Wrath of Heaven became scorching earth where no living being could walk.

“Hahaha! Look! That is the power of our Empire’s magic battalion! With this mighty power we wield, there is no enemy who can—”

KWAAAANG———!!!!!

The commander directing from behind was killed by something massive that flew in from somewhere.

The stone was so huge, nearly 8 meters in size, that its enormous mass killed not only the commander but also nearby soldiers.

The secondary damage from the ground impact injured soldiers even further away.

Amid the chaos and collapsed chain of command from the suddenly flying boulder…

Mooooooo—

Only the low bellowing of a bull echoed across the battlefield.