Ch.548Firewood

Perlien fought for about ten minutes, repeatedly getting injured and recovering, but was eventually subdued and bound tightly by tree roots.

While he could somehow counter the forest’s attacks, he didn’t have enough hands to deal with both the forest and the two guardians attacking simultaneously.

‘That was dangerous. If we weren’t in the forest, Carnius might have died.’

Feilandria wiped away the blood trickling down her forehead as she looked at Perlien, who was gritting his teeth while bound by tree roots.

They were more formidable opponents than expected, leaving both her and Carnius covered in wounds. Too much to continue fighting comfortably.

‘…After causing such a commotion, I’ll have to abandon the original plan. I should return to Alvheim.’

The entire forest had been shaken as if by a landslide, so human forces would surely arrive soon.

She didn’t want to face them. No matter how many she killed, they would keep coming endlessly. As humans always do.

“Haa…haa… What should we do with this short-lived species, senior?”

“Well, what should we do? If possible, I’d like to take him with us. The elders would be satisfied if we returned with Olivier’s successor from Otclair.”

Like a chicken instead of a pheasant—if they brought Perlien back like this, they’d likely overlook the failure to assassinate Haschal.

No, they might even be rewarded. For the old elves, Olivier was almost as deeply hated as Carlos the Great.

“Grrrgh…!”

Perlien twisted his body with all his might trying to escape, but the more he struggled, the tighter the bindings became. With his limbs completely bound, there was no way to shake off the tree roots.

“Stop your useless struggling. Do you think you can escape like that? You’ll be dragged to Alvheim and die there. You’ll be recorded as a foolish short-lived being who tried to face us in the forest.”

“…How unfortunate.”

Perlien muttered quietly with his head slightly bowed. Feilandria sneered at him mockingly.

“More than unfortunate, I’d say. You might have it a bit better since you’re male, but it’ll still be hard to die peacefully.”

He would face every imaginable humiliation and pain before finally meeting death. Even his soul and corpse would become nutrients for the World Tree, suffering eternally. That was the meaning behind her mockery.

“Yes, it will be hard to die peacefully…for you.”

Perlien nodded in agreement, clicking his tongue as if things had turned out regrettably.

“…What?”

As confusion spread across Feilandria’s face—

“Sun Sword, Dawn.”

A small sun rose.

—-

Sun Sword.

The power bestowed upon Perlien by Saulite, goddess of sun and life.

It was a flame of extreme heat that indiscriminately burned everything in existence.

– Whoooosh!

It burns.

The forest brightened like midday. A pseudo-sun descended to earth, emitting immense heat that distorted the air.

A sphere of red flames burning everything within a radius of over ten meters. The tree roots that had been binding Perlien’s body had long since turned to ash the moment the Sun Sword manifested.

“The power of fire?!”

Feilandria jumped back in shock to avoid the flames, throwing off her burning cloak. The tremendous heat scorched her skin.

“This isn’t… ordinary fire…! The red flame of Saulite, goddess of life…! The solar flame that destroys everything…!”

Perlien answered through gritted teeth as he straightened his body.

His expression contorted from the agony of his entire body burning and regenerating. The sun burns itself to emit light and heat. The same applied to his power that perfectly mimicked the sun’s strength.

The flames of the Sun Sword slowly burned even its master, while the holy light of life contained within continuously restored the burned flesh.

A cycle of immolation and regeneration. That was the first reason Perlien had hesitated to manifest the Sun Sword. While he wouldn’t die from the flames he created, the heat and pain were transmitted intact.

However, its power was truly overwhelming, worth enduring the pain to cast.

It completely neutralized the World Tree’s blessing that allowed control over vegetation—the trump card the two guardians had played.

What was the point of controlling the forest as a weapon when everything would turn to ash at the slightest touch?

Feilandria broke out in a cold sweat. She thought she had completely subdued him, but it was a fatal misjudgment. She hadn’t anticipated that he would hide such power even when cornered.

‘This short-lived being is far more dangerous than Olivier…!’

In her view, the short-lived being before her was more dangerous to elves than the Great’s Twelve Knights Olivier. At least Olivier didn’t fight while wrapped in a ball of fire.

With Saulite’s power added to Otclair, this was truly a being created to kill elves, no exaggeration.

“Damn short-lived creature…! You were hiding such power!”

Carnius, who had received burns on his left arm from being too slow to dodge, fired arrows rapidly at Perlien, but the arrows, shot like rain, turned to dust the moment they touched the fiery sun.

Perlien, engulfed in flames, began approaching the elves.

That alone made the ground boil and trees and undergrowth burn. The flames spread through air currents, catching other trees and beginning to spread throughout the forest.

He was literally a walking forest fire.

‘I wanted to preserve the corpses as evidence that elves had raised swords against humans… but there’s no choice. I can’t defeat them without the Sun Sword, so I’ll have to give that up.’

That was the second reason Perlien had been holding back from using the Sun Sword.

If he had used the Sun Sword from the beginning, he could have won without such a struggle, but the solar flames couldn’t be perfectly controlled even by himself, making it impossible to leave corpses behind.

“Turn to ashes and disappear…!”

Perlien, transformed like an avatar of the sun, charged at the elves with a fierce roar, spewing flames.

“Carnius! Retreat! He’s too dangerous!”

“You think I’ll let you escape!”

Feilandria gritted her teeth and tried to abandon the fight and withdraw, but Perlien accelerated using the erupting flames as propulsion to chase the elves.

The entire forest began to burn vigorously.

—-

When the Holy State’s army arrived, alarmed by the thunderous noise and massive fire in the middle of the night, the western border forest had already been reduced to smoldering embers and ashes.

“What in the world…”

“Did some fire-breathing monster appear?”

The paladins and soldiers looked in dismay at the barren wasteland that had once been forest. Everything had turned to ash as if a firestorm had swept through. Despite the flames having died down, the lingering heat made it difficult to even enter the area.

‘…I let one escape.’

Standing on the ground where heat haze rippled like a waterfall, Perlien glared regretfully at the corpse that had turned to black powder while healing his severed left arm and pierced thigh with the holy light of the sun.

Carnius, was it? The ashen remains no longer retained even a fragment of their original form. It would be meaningless to claim it was an elf’s corpse.

‘I thought I could catch both of them… I never expected the old elf would use her comrade’s body as a shield. They say old elves are incredibly cunning.’

Perlien had focused on Feilandria, but he hadn’t anticipated that she would cut off Carnius’s limbs and use him as a human—no, an elven shield.

He had turned the betrayed, howling Carnius into firewood, but Feilandria had used that opportunity to inflict deep wounds on Perlien’s limbs and fled at full speed before he could counterattack.

It was truly regrettable for Perlien.

======[ Haschal ]======

After hearing about the Holy Grail, Lacy searched through all of Elpinel Church’s confidential books and discovered one piece of information about the Grail.

The information that there was not a single record about the Holy Grail in any of the church’s literature.

As if someone had erased all related information.

“Maybe you just couldn’t find the confidential documents where they’re hidden?”

“That’s unlikely. In terms of importance, Alhebron’s Divine Extinction also falls under top-secret classification, yet records about it remained intact in the Cardinal’s secret archives.”

…Divine Extinction?

What kind of ominous name is that?

“What’s this Divine Extinction?”

“Hmm… Baron Median, what do you think is the reason the holy city of Alhebron always maintains its pure white appearance?”

Lacy seemed to change the subject with an unexpected question.

Is it top-secret information she can’t share with me? No, that doesn’t seem likely at this point… anyway.

“Isn’t it because of the divine protection? You explained that the city receives such protection because it’s dedicated to Elpinel, didn’t you?”

“It’s actually a bit different. Even when divine radiance descends to earth, human effort is needed to manifest it in visible form. Alhebron’s whiteness is maintained by sacred artifacts stored in underground passages and the miracle of many priests who emit holy light day and night to maintain the city’s purity.”

…Wait, it’s maintained by human labor?

That’s ridiculous. This couldn’t be done by just one or two priests—they’re mobilizing numerous priests to keep an entire city pure white? What a waste of manpower.

“Why waste holy light like that…”

“It’s to make others naturally accept the fact that Elpinel’s holy light covers the entire city as an everyday occurrence. You know this too, Baron Median—divine light can always be used with offensive intent.”

…What?

“Think about it. If the vast holy light that constantly purifies all of Alhebron were used for an offensive miracle, what kind of power do you think it would produce?”

Lacy smiled slightly and lightly tapped the teacup on the table with her fingertip.

“A bombardment technique that concentrates the holy light illuminating the entire city into a single point, annihilating enemies within Alhebron along with their strongholds. That is our church’s ultimate weapon, the Divine Extinction. I only learned about it recently myself.”

…I was speechless. I immediately understood what purpose such a technique served.

So this was why Alhebron, originally an Elpinel Church city, was provided as the capital during the founding of the Holy State, allowing other denominations to establish their main dioceses there.

If they ever turned against the Elpinel Church, they would erase their main dioceses with the Divine Extinction.

Good heavens.