Chapter 259

“I, Max Celtrine, have vanquished the wicked intruder who defiled the forest with blood!”

Max, having slain Kalkus, roared at the top of his lungs.

It was a shout meant to boost the morale of his allies and demoralize the enemy.

Especially for the two battered high elves, his shout would be a surge of renewed strength.

“Huff… Huff… G-Good!”

“Huff… Huff… Huff… Y-Yes, let’s drive out the invaders!”

Hiwyn and the elder’s voices were filled with renewed vigor and determination.

On the other hand,

The Messenger’s face was contorted in a grimace.

“D-Damn it! To be defeated by a mere brat!”

His body trembled with rage.

He was consumed by fury.

Everything had been going so well.

If only those two bastards hadn’t shown up.

Even when they did appear, he had thought he could still complete the mission.

But things had gone horribly wrong.

His head throbbed with anger.

“Calm down! He’s just a walking corpse!”

Natasha shouted.

Her face was creased with a frown, but she was the only one who remained composed.

It was shocking that Kalkus had been killed, but.

It meant that his opponent was also in no condition to fight.

Indeed, the human didn’t look well at all.

His face was pale, his limbs trembling, as if all his energy had been drained.

The two high elves were in a similar state.

No, they were worse.

They looked like they could collapse at any moment.

Three walking corpses.

There was no reason to panic in this situation.

“Just kill one of them already! What are you doing, messing around with corpses?”

Natasha, exasperated, urged them on.

It was understandable, considering that the Messenger, the Heavenly Lord’s confidant, was struggling against a single, half-dead high elf.

If the Messenger had finished off the high elves and helped Kalkus, this wouldn’t have happened.

“What about you, Dark? What are you doing with that high elf bitch?”

The Messenger retorted, not backing down.

Their internal conflict was in full display.

They were a dysfunctional family.

‘…That bastard…’

Natasha’s brow twitched.

He had the audacity to talk back to her after getting shot full of arrows in a matter of seconds.

And who was he to act so cocky?

He was only able to act so freely because of her.

“Just do your job!”

“You should do yours first…”

“Is this mission a joke to you? If you want to quit, quit! I’ll leave right now!”

“…”

The Messenger’s mouth snapped shut as Natasha glared at him, her voice cold with anger.

Indeed, this wasn’t the time for bickering, no matter how frustrating the situation was.

Burning down the World Tree was the Heavenly Lord’s order, a crucial step towards achieving their grand goal.

It was a mission they had to complete, no matter what.

*Grit.*

The Messenger gritted his teeth, suppressing his anger.

He still had strength left.

Bleeding and pain?

They were nothing.

His wounds weren’t fatal.

‘Damn it, I have no choice.’

He would unleash it.

The spirit energy he had been saving until the very end.

He knew it would put a heavy strain on his body, so he avoided using it unless absolutely necessary.

But now was the time.

“Hooo…”

The Messenger took a deep breath and drew upon the spirit energy he had been suppressing.

A new energy surged through his body.

His injured and exhausted body was revitalized.

His eyes glowed white.

So did his hands.

He focused his energy on his fingertips.

He would use these hands to crush the high elves’ throats.

Before that hateful human could interfere.

He glanced at the human, just to be sure.

The human was still struggling to move.

He had roared confidently, but his body hadn’t recovered yet.

This was his chance.

‘I’ll finish off that annoying old man first.’

There was no need for tricks.

Now that he had unleashed all his remaining spirit energy, he would crush them with overwhelming force.

*Thud!*

The Messenger charged towards the high elves.

*Whoosh!*

The elder summoned a wind.

A sharp wall of wind, as sharp as a blade.

It could tear flesh apart.

But the Messenger simply slammed his palms into the wind wall.

*BOOOOOM!*

The wind scattered in all directions, unable to withstand his power.

“Ugh?”

The elder’s face darkened.

He realized that something was different this time.

He hurriedly gathered his energy again.

To stop the Messenger at all costs.

“Huff… Huff… Not a chance!”

Meanwhile, Hiwyn tried to intercept the Messenger with a series of desperate thrusts.

*Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!*

His thrusts lacked power, but they were sharp enough to buy some time.

But the Messenger, without hesitation, simply reached out with both hands and met his attacks head-on.

“Get lost!”

*BOOOOOM!*

Another clash.

Bare hands against a sharp weapon.

But it was the weapon that was pushed back.

“Ugh?”

Hiwyn stumbled back, barely managing to stay on his feet.

But the path between the elder and the Messenger was now clear.

Murderous intent flashed in the Messenger’s eyes.

“Die, you stubborn old man!”

“Gasp!”

Before the elder could even prepare his next attack,

His eyes widened in shock, and his body froze, as if petrified.

*Whoosh!*

A pale hand descended towards him.

The hand of death, capable of tearing through flesh and blood in an instant.

‘Heh heh, finally…’

*Thud!*

“Huh?!”

The Messenger’s body jerked to a halt.

A sharp pain shot through his side.

His eyes instinctively darted to his side.

There,

An arrow was embedded.

Deeply.

“Aaaaaargh! This is bullshit!”

The Messenger roared in fury.

His rage was greater than his pain.

What the hell was she doing, letting him get hit after acting all high and mighty?!

He glared at Natasha, his eyes filled with resentment.

But,

“Ha, it wasn’t me, you idiot!”

Natasha shouted, her face a mixture of frustration and exasperation.

She was still locked in a fierce battle with Hiresia, their eyes locked, their movements a blur.

“Huh?”

The Messenger finally realized that it wasn’t the damn high elf who had shot him, and that it wasn’t Natasha’s fault either.

Then…

His gaze naturally shifted to the only other person present.

At that moment,

“Gah!”

Another arrow was already right in front of him.

The Messenger desperately dodged.

The arrow narrowly missed him.

But it had caught something.

Something small.

The Messenger quickly realized what it was.

‘It made no sound?!’

That’s right.

The arrow that had just flown past him had made no sound.

He wouldn’t have believed it if he hadn’t witnessed it himself.

And then he realized something else.

The first arrow.

He hadn’t even noticed it coming, and that was why he had been hit.

“Y-You bastard!”

The Messenger roared in fury.

“Hmph, did you think I couldn’t do anything if I didn’t move?”

Max sneered.

His lack of movement had been a deliberate tactic, a feint to make the Messenger lower his guard.

Of course, it was also because he was genuinely exhausted and couldn’t move much.

Silent Arrow.

That’s what he had been waiting for.

This new technique he had recently learned from Hiresia was perfect for surprise attacks.

He couldn’t use it against Kalkus, who had been fighting him head-on, but he had seized the opportunity to fire it at the Messenger at the most crucial moment.

Max’s patience, waiting until the very last second, had paid off.

And there was one more thing.

“Y-You… Ugh?!”

The Messenger suddenly started trembling.

He felt a strange, unpleasant sensation spreading through his body.

A curse.

The curse embedded in the Skeleton King’s immense resentment.

That was the true terror of the Marcus Bow.

And that was what Max had been aiming for.

If he was in a bad state, he would drag his enemy down with him.

And he had succeeded.

The Messenger’s face contorted in a grimace.

He was consumed by rage.

He had never been so humiliated since the Red Rain was formed.

He couldn’t forgive them.

He would never forgive them.

“Huff… Huff… Get lost!”

*Whoosh!*

*Thud!*

‘Even a dying fly is buzzing around.’

*Crack.*

Something snapped in his mind.

Kill.

Kill them all.

Kill them all.

“You insignificant insects!”

The Messenger, his emotions reaching their boiling point, took something out of his pocket and threw it at the World Tree.

It was an ember.

The ember of the Great Fire of Destruction.

A fire that consumed everything.

He might get caught in the fire himself, but he didn’t care.

As long as he could burn those bastards to ashes.

*Whoosh!*

The ember was contained in a glass vial.

If the vial shattered upon impact with the World Tree, it would be the end.

Everything would burn.

Everything in this damned forest.

“G-Gasp!”

“Huff… Huff… W-We have to stop it!”

The elder and Hiwyn, sensing the ominous nature of the fire, reacted immediately.

The elder prepared a spell.

Hiwyn leaped forward.

But both of them seemed too slow.

“Tsk.”

Max was also alarmed.

Because he could feel it too.

That this was something that could reduce the entire forest to ashes.

But the distance.

The distance that had been advantageous for his surprise attack was now hindering him.

Even if he fired an arrow, it wouldn’t change anything.

Max imagined the worst-case scenario.

And an escape route.

“Hahaha! Burn, burn! Burn it all down!”

The Messenger laughed maniacally, as if he could already see everything engulfed in flames.

No one could stop it now.

The destruction of the World Tree and the Forgotten Forest.

At that moment,

“Mom! Wake up! You’re going to burn! You’re going to die!”

Hiresia shouted with all her might.

“Hahaha! What nonsense are you spouting?!”

The Messenger scoffed at her words.

The World Tree didn’t move.

No, it couldn’t move.

Its active period had long since ended, and it had been in a deep slumber for eons.

He wouldn’t have come here to burn it down if he didn’t know that.

“Hahahahahaha!”

The Messenger laughed, his laughter a mixture of mockery, triumph, and cruelty.

It seemed like his laughter would continue endlessly.

Until the World Tree was engulfed in flames.

But.

“Hahahahahaha!”

*Grab.*

“Haha… G-Gasp?!”

The Messenger’s eyes widened in horror, his laughter abruptly cut short.

A branch had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and wrapped itself around the glass vial containing the ember of the Great Fire of Destruction.

…It was clearly a branch of the World Tree.

“Wh-What the…?!”

The Messenger’s legs buckled, and he collapsed to the ground, his face pale with shock.

“M-Mother has…!”

“Oh, Mother!”

Hiwyn and the elder’s eyes filled with tears of relief.

“Wh-What the… What is this…?”

Max stared at the scene, his face a mixture of shock and disbelief.

“T-This is…”

Even Natasha was speechless, her face pale with shock.

And the one who had created this shocking scene,

The eccentric high elf, shouted again,

“What are you two doing?! Can’t you see Mom is sleepy and blinking? Catch it!”