Ch.36Full-Scale War (1)

“Muuuu…”

The soft ground. I was surprised by the cushiony feeling, like a bed, and then surprised again by the giant tree branch visible in my sight.

Coming to my senses, I wondered why I was here. I definitely… Lassis suddenly attacked, and I fought back, then my Frenzy activated, and we kept fighting…

Unlike usual, my memories were spotty, like I’d drunk too much alcohol and blacked out. While I was struggling to recall what happened, something cold touched my cheek.

“Muu!?”

Startled, I jumped up, and a cold object fell. Looking down, I saw a piece of ice about the size of my fist.

“Ah, sorry? Did I startle you?”

Looking down, I saw Lassis there, and seeing her face brought all my memories back.

The High Elf who beat me up and consistently overwhelmed me even after I entered my Frenzy state. Though I managed to counterattack at the end, she took no significant damage, sent me flying, and restrained me with roots.

And then… I passed out from that sudden green wave…

“Mumu? Ummmuuuu?” (Where’s Mary? I don’t see her anywhere…)

As I worried about Mary who hadn’t appeared even after I woke up, Lassis shrugged and shook her head.

“You seem to understand me, but I can’t understand monster language. Could you tell me again when Mary wakes up? She’s in that cocoon over there.”

Looking where Lassis pointed, I saw a tiny cocoon near the World Tree, so small it was barely visible unless you looked carefully.

This green cocoon was pulsating like a beating heart while emitting a mysterious glow.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen a fairy grow. I suppose it’s because she was exposed to Mother’s wave up close.”

“Muu?” (Growth?)

When I tilted my head in confusion, Lassis fortunately seemed to understand and explained.

“Yes, growth. Fairies are a long-lived species that live about 300 years, but most fairies don’t grow and just live out their lifespan. However, some variant fairies enter cocoons to grow and live longer. The Fairy Queen is that type.”

I see. So will Mary become a queen later? I can’t really imagine it…

I tried to picture Mary as a queen, but I couldn’t visualize it at all. While I was struggling with this imagination exercise:

“Now that you’re up, shall we go over there and have another round? Your problem is quite serious.”

“Ummeeee?” (Problem?)

“You’ve been fighting with just physical strength without feeling any threat. If you keep fighting like that later on, you’ll die.”

A chilling prophecy of death.

Since coming to this world, I’ve nearly died when I was young, when I was tied up in nets by what seemed to be knights, when my body was completely wrecked after going berserk with Frenzy, and during my battles with the black fire woman and Lassis right in front of me.

Other than those times, I hadn’t faced many life-threatening situations, so I thought I was quite strong…

“You are strong. In your current state, you could defeat a Master, and in your Frenzy state, you could win even against ten Masters. But if that Frenzy continues, you’ll eventually die, right? So you need to be able to defeat ten Masters in your normal form too. I’ll use Mother’s power to seal that Frenzy power of yours so it won’t activate when you’re in danger.”

Sealing the Frenzy. Indeed, it was a power too difficult for me to handle now, and if I relied only on it, I wouldn’t survive in this divine game board. I nodded, and Lassis seemed pleased as she smiled and patted my leg.

“Unlike other monsters, you have intelligence, so your wildness and instincts are inferior to other monsters. That’s not necessarily bad, as you can avoid traps that catch monsters. But it’s also your weakness.”

“Ummuuu…”

“With your instinct and reason both half-remaining, you spend too much time thinking. When an enemy is right in front of you, you should charge in rather than hesitate. And because your physical abilities are so good, your fighting style is too simple, so I’ll beat you up and teach you how to fight properly.”

With those words, Lassis approached while loosening her shoulders. With cracking sounds, she came toward me.

“Now, it’s time for you to become a beast.”

With those words, her delicate fist flew toward me.

* * * * *

“You still can’t push through!?”

In a room full of commanders, the person sitting at the head of the table shouted while pounding it.

It had been a month since they entered this filthy pointy-eared forest.

At first, when they sealed the spirits, they thought they could push through immediately.

Elves meant spirits, and spirit magic meant elves. But even with the spirit sealing device created by His Majesty the Emperor’s grace, they couldn’t push the elves back.

These damn pointy-ears didn’t use spirits but shot arrows that killed three men with one shot and could pierce through shield bearers when they stood in a line, making it very difficult to form proper formations.

The magic corps only managed to burn part of the forest at the beginning of the war but hadn’t accomplished much since. What good was it for the magic corps to gather power for spells when the elven mages blocked everything?

And the Emperor’s knights weren’t faring any better.

The cavalry charge, which was the knights’ strength, was impossible, and movement was difficult in the forest, so they didn’t get far before being sniped by elves.

When they deployed Masters, they made some progress but were ultimately driven back after advancing only halfway through the entrance.

They had come with great momentum, but they couldn’t even properly break through the forest entrance, making them feel ashamed before the great Emperor.

The only good news was that the special forces had all moved beyond the entrance. As they were personally selected by the Emperor, they were exceptionally skilled and had successfully driven away the elves from the entrance areas.

“How is it that only those personally selected by His Majesty are making progress! How am I supposed to report this to His Majesty the Emperor…”

A month ago, he had told the great Emperor that with the spirit sealing device created by His Majesty’s grace, they could reach the middle part of the forest where the target was located within a month.

The Emperor trusted him and sent troops to wage war against these pointy-eared creatures.

Currently, even the special forces were struggling with the skilled elves they encountered as they approached the middle section.

As a result, the entry routes that were originally assigned to four people each had been changed to two-person teams, and the special forces had nearly reached their goal.

However, they were unable to advance further despite being just a short distance away. Moreover, the area he and the Empire’s great soldiers were responsible for was still stuck at the entrance.

To retrieve all five target objects, they needed to break through as quickly as possible, but at this rate, who knew when they would finish. The pointy-ears would soon start counterattacking…

“Commander, perhaps if we concentrated the special forces in one area to retrieve the objects one by one…”

“If the pointy-ears discover our purpose, they’ll become even more frenzied. If we retrieve them one by one, angry elves might swarm out.”

“Then, what about mobilizing all our forces? We have 10 Sword Masters, the magic corps, the knights, and the soldiers. It might not be a bad idea to advance with full force.”

“I’ve considered that too. But… whenever I try to gather troops for a full-scale mobilization, they launch various spells at that location. It’s as if they know our movements clearly.”

As negative discussions continued about how nothing seemed to work, a messenger brought good news.

“Commander!! Ghost has retrieved two target objects and is returning here!”

At this news, everyone present erupted in cheers.

* * * * *

The World Tree. The mother of elves and the elven deity. Her body was a tree of enormous height that reached the sky, so large that it would take tens of thousands of people to encircle it.

There was a table near the World Tree. Elderly elves and Lassis were gathered there.

“So… these bastards came to take the sealing devices?”

In response to the Saintess’s question, the elder sitting directly in front of her nodded.

“Two have already been stolen, and another is about to be taken, Lady Lassis.”

At those words, Lassis clenched her fist. She didn’t know how these humans had learned about the sealing devices, but…

This incident had crossed the line by far.

She had thought it was just the usual conflict, but to think their goal was to take the sealing devices.

Her green mana materialized, forming the shape of a massive tree behind her.

As the elders in front of her began to feel intense pressure:

“Lady Lassis, may we step in now?”

An armored elf standing behind the elder raised his hand.

Elven Knight.

The strongest sword protecting Elvenheim, the land of elves. They usually never leave Elvenheim, but in situations like this, they are the first to step forward and demonstrate the elves’ wrath.

“Deploy everyone except the minimum forces needed to stay behind. The target is the Emperor’s neck. Understood?”

The elves nodded. There would be no more mercy for those who had tampered with the sealing devices they had risked their lives to create.

* * * * *

“What do you two want to do? Want to have some fun killing humans?”

The elders’ meeting seemed to have ended as Lassis approached Mary and me.

It seemed they had decided to annihilate the intruders, as she was asking if we wanted to go kill humans. I nodded.

“Ummeee—”

“He says after a month of training, he’d like to participate and get some real combat experience again! Is that possible?”

Mary translated my words. She had emerged from her cocoon after a week and showed her growth.

Her height had increased from 30cm to 40cm, her wings had turned white with gold patterns engraved on them.

According to her, her healing abilities had improved significantly, and she was happy that she could heal me better.

Hearing that, Lassis beat me up even more.

Thanks to that, my reflexes, ability to read attacks, and endurance seemed to have doubled over this month.

The Predator Ratel’s unique trait included improved endurance, but the areas where Lassis hit me ignored this trait and caused pain, which hurt terribly.

For the first two weeks after we started, tears rarely dried from my clear eyes.

I was injured so much from Lassis’s “sparring” (more like assault) that Mary’s healing magic improved day by day as she treated me.

And I must have grown from constantly moving my body while getting hit, as I grew from 8 meters to 9 meters. Additionally, the tail that only appeared during Frenzy had grown permanently, making the difference between me and a minotaur more pronounced.

“Will you be joining the battle too, Lady Lassis?”

“No, I must protect Mother. In case of any emergency, I will never leave this place.”

“Then what should we do?”

“Do as you please. Mother’s scent remains on you, so others will accept you as allies. The deployment is in two hours, so you should start preparing soon.”

Busy with other preparations, Lassis waved goodbye to us and disappeared into the World Tree, saying she’d see us next time.

“Well, shall we prepare to go?”

“Mu—— (I’ll train a bit more.)”

While Mary gathered what she needed, Khan continued training until it was time to deploy.

-Ding!