Chapter 412

We advanced fiercely.

Striking hard from the rear.

Right now, that was the only option.

It was the way to help our allies and the way to crush the enemy.

However.

This time, the enemy was also in formation.

‘Yes, of course.’

I wasn’t flustered.

A surprise attack that worked once was unlikely to work twice.

They would surely be expecting it.

From now on, it was purely a battle of strength versus strength.

The strong live, the weak die.

That was all there was to it.

“We finally meet again. You damn bastard!”

A familiar face appeared.

The messenger of Red Rain.

He was glaring at me as if he wanted to chew me up and spit me out.

An expression as if his resentment was etched into his very bones.

But I stared back at the messenger calmly.

Even the time to exchange words was a waste.

“All who block the path will die.”

“The one who dies is you, you bastard!”

The messenger’s aura exploded in a jet-black light.

An aura I had never seen before.

“I am not the me I used to be! I have received the Heavenly Lord’s power and have been reborn anew!”

“…”

I felt it.

The messenger’s words were not a bluff.

It was an unusual aura, enough for my senses to sound a warning.

However.

I am not the me I used to be, either.

I raised my sword high.

“Until now, we have had only victory! This time will be no different! Fight for victory! With me! And with everyone!”

“Waaaaaaaaaaah!”

“For victory!”

“With the Savior!”

“With everyone!”

A tremendous roar.

It was a roar brought about by all the victories we had accumulated until now.

No other unit could have possessed such explosive morale.

I too was swept up in that morale, and strength naturally welled up within me.

“Chaaaaaaaarge!”

With my shout, the prelude to the final, fateful battle rang out.

* * *

The messenger.

He had been aiming only for me from the very beginning.

The messenger’s figure rushed straight at me.

A terrifying speed.

But to the current me, it was clearly visible.

*CRASH!*

An intense force collided with my sword.

The messenger’s brow furrowed.

“Hmph, yes. You’ll struggle, of course.”

“It’s the weak dogs that bark.”

“You bastard!”

*CRASH! BANG!*

Strength and strength clashed again.

This time, in succession.

But I didn’t budge an inch.

Like a wall standing in that spot, I received the messenger’s attacks.

I saw bewilderment flicker across the messenger’s face.

Yes, that would be right.

Because it would be completely different from the strength he knew I possessed.

“Ugh?”

“You will die here. Just as you have done to others until now.”

I sentenced the villain to death.

“S-Shut up!”

The villain, with bloodshot eyes, rushed at me.

All his actions felt like a final, desperate struggle to my eyes.

The evil that had committed countless innocent deaths would be judged here.

By me.

My sword cut through the air.

* * *

-Kiki.

The demon’s unpleasant laughter.

Hiresia realized at once.

That there were almost none who could handle that dangerous being.

If so.

Hiresia’s fingers nocked an arrow to her bow.

At that moment.

*SWIIIIIIIIIIIIISH!*

Hiresia heard the air split, a sound that chilled the skin.

Reflexively, Hiresia’s body sank low.

Bending her knees and back.

The fact that she didn’t lose her balance even then showed her god-like sense of balance.

Something cut through the air above her head.

Hiresia knew at once that it was an invisible blade.

Because she had already fought a life-or-death battle with it once before.

“We have to see this to the end, don’t we?”

Natasha revealed herself.

Hiresia’s gaze grew cold.

A being far more dangerous than the demons.

She absolutely could not be left alone.

However…

Hiresia’s gaze flickered back to the demon.

Just in time.

-Kikiki!

The demon charged, its entire arm transformed into a blade.

A fatal threat.

But Hiresia, conscious of Natasha, could not act rashly.

Because she knew that her opponent was not one to whom she could afford to give even the slightest opening.

It was then.

*THWACK!*

A blood-red strike, flying like an arrow, hit the demon and sent it flying.

-Kiuk?!

The demon tumbled disgracefully.

And the one who had done that to the demon was Riviera.

“I’ll take this one, High Elf-nim.”

A tone completely lacking in seriousness, but it was also a more reliable statement than any other.

A faint smile appeared on Hiresia’s lips.

“Thank you, my cute junior.”

“Good to hear.”

Her expression was indifferent, but it seemed she liked it inwardly.

Anyway, with this, Hiresia could also worry less and face the formidable enemy before her.

“Yes, let’s end this.”

*Creeak.*

Hiresia’s hand nocked multiple arrows at once.

* * *

“I see it.”

*CRASH!*

My sword nullified the messenger’s all-out strike.

No matter how fast an attack is, if it’s visible, it won’t work.

“I can see it.”

*BANG!*

I once again forcefully deflected the messenger’s attack.

“Ugh?!”

The messenger’s figure staggered.

A face contorted with frustration.

An expression that showed he couldn’t accept the current situation at all.

I shot a provocative sneer at such a messenger, as if to show him.

“Y-You bastard, I’ll tear you to pieces!”

“The one who dies is you, I said.”

Having seen through his loss of strength, I fully switched to the offensive.

Because I knew it was an opportunity.

*SWIIISH!*

The blade cut through the air without hesitation.

“Tsk!”

The messenger, trying to dodge.

However.

“Too slow.”

*Flick.*

The blade sent a red stream of blood flying.

I had cut him.

“W-What…!”

The bewildered messenger.

Regardless, my attack continued.

*SWIIISH!*

The blade cut again without hesitation.

This time too, the messenger moved his body hastily.

But.

“Too slow, I said.”

*Slash!*

This time, the blade cut even deeper than before.

More streams of blood spurted out.

“Ugh?! N-No way…!”

The messenger, even more bewildered than before.

His face hardened to an ashen color.

It would be so.

He must have thought he had dodged perfectly, yet he was continuously being cut.

The reason was simple.

He was slow, and my blade was fast.

*Swoosh!*

My blade tore through the air at an even faster speed.

The messenger, terrified, instinctively threw his body aside.

However, my blade was faster.

*Slice!*

“Kuaaaaaak!”

A scream of pain erupted.

This time, the feeling at my fingertips was definite.

It was natural.

Because I had cut off one of his arms.

From the severed arm, fresh blood flowed down like a waterfall.

A pale complexion, drained of all blood.

The messenger’s body trembled.

Like a human crushed by an opponent.

“Evil dies here.”

A cold sentence.

My blade did not stop.

*Thwack!*

“Kraaak!”

Cutting off one leg.

*Slice!*

Cutting off the other leg as well.

“Kuaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

*Slice!*

Even the last remaining arm was cut off.

The messenger, sprawled on the ground in a miserable state.

There was not a single grain of sand’s worth of pity for him.

It was merely the price for his numerous sins being returned to him.

A fitting end for a villain.

*Thwack!*

Without hesitation, I severed the messenger’s neck.

There was no time to feel a sense of triumph.

Because the worst calamity still remained.

I moved forward.

* * *

Arrows rained down like a storm, and invisible blades tore through the air countless times.

A suffocating, bloody battle.

The two elves, covered in each other’s wounds.

Their breathing was ragged, and their entire bodies were drenched in sweat.

Both had become stronger than before.

They both felt it.

That the opponent before them was the rival of a lifetime.

“…I want to ask just one thing.”

Hiresia spoke in the midst of the bloody battle.

The enemy who had killed her beloved family.

Normally, no words would be necessary.

Nevertheless, the reason she spoke was because her opponent was also an elf.

“What is it?”

“Why are you, an elf, helping to destroy the world?”

Something she couldn’t understand from the beginning.

Elves were not a race of destruction and slaughter.

That was the same for Dark Elves, the children of the Dark Tree, the Black Moon Tree.

It meant they were not a race that would make such a choice in the first place.

“Because there is no longer any hope in this world.”

Natasha’s answer was calm.

As if her emotions had been worn down and weathered away.

“What does that mean?”

“I have nothing. My mother, my family, they were all burned to death by human hands. Without a single one left. It means I am all alone in the world.”

“…”

Hiresia’s expression hardened.

The Dark Elf race was annihilated by humans?

It was the first time she had heard of it.

However…

She didn’t think Natasha was speaking a lie right now.

The truth.

It might be a thoroughly hidden truth.

By humans.

“Do you think it’s revenge? Perhaps. But I want to be with my mother and family once again in a new world. Back then, when we could enjoy happiness in a peaceful daily life… If I could return to that time.”

Natasha’s eyes glinted with a cold will.

“I will do anything.”

“…So that’s what it was.”

Hiresia nodded heavily.

Then she said.

“Your feelings, they must be feelings I cannot fathom. To you, that might be the right choice.”

The worst tragedy.

If she had experienced such a tragedy, she too might have walked the same path.

Even if it was a path of destruction and slaughter.

No, tragedy had actually struck.

Because she had lost her few precious family members to Red Rain’s attack.

Nevertheless, the reason she was able to stand up again without losing her reason to revenge was because her beloved was by her side.

A world where her beloved, her mother, and other precious people existed.

She would protect that world, no matter what.

“But I cannot condone it.”

Hiresia raised her bow with determined eyes.

“It must be the same for you.”

Natasha also raised her hilt.

Soon.

A bloody battle, with blood splattering, began anew.

* * *

A vision on high alert.

That vision wavered for an instant.

*Dizzy.*

Because she felt a dizzying spell.

The large amount of blood she had shed until now had finally returned as a negative effect.

Not missing that moment, a storm of over ten arrows poured down.

Not just any arrows.

Different directions, different speeds, silent arrows, and even a vicious attack with another arrow hidden behind an arrow.

If it had been anyone other than Natasha, they would have already become a hedgehog pierced by arrows several times over.

Against that chilling and atrocious attack, Natasha had not suffered a single fatal wound until now.

A monster of the sword who, in turn, had inflicted numerous wounds on her opponent with counterattacks.

However.

This time was different.

An arrow.

She had missed a single arrow.

*Stab!*

The missed arrow pierced her solar plexus.

It was a fatal weak point.

Along with the pain, a warm sensation pierced her mind.

Even in the moment her consciousness was about to fade, Natasha gathered all her strength and launched a counterattack.

-Black Moon.

“…Cough!”

Her voice couldn’t even utter the name of the technique as usual.

Because red blood had spurted out.

Nevertheless, a terrifying blow slashed at Hiresia’s neck.

Hiresia’s eyes widened.

Because she hadn’t expected such a powerful counterattack in that state.

A desperate situation.

However, Natasha’s blow rapidly lost its strength at the last moment.

*Flick!*

Blood spurted.

But it wasn’t enough.

To sever the carotid artery.

*Thud!*

Natasha’s body collapsed sideways.

A body trembling as if in convulsions.

Her breathing hadn’t stopped, but anyone could tell.

That it was as good as over.

Hiresia raised her bow with a solemn expression.

An expression not so happy, despite having defeated the rival and enemy of a lifetime.

“The last Dark Elf… Your end. I will remember it clearly.”

“K-Cough, cough… F-Finish…”

Hiresia, as if conflicted about something.

The hand holding the bow was lowered for a moment, then raised again.

As she said, she had decided to end it.

Because she could imagine how painful the world, lived all alone without anyone, must have been for her until now.

“Now, rest by your mother and family’s side.”

Words filled with sincerity.

*Stab!*

Hiresia’s arrow ended Natasha’s life.