episode_0121

The elves had swarmed in.

“You disgusting vermin!… Huh?… What?…”

But.

What the elves had feared did not come to pass.

The grass was unharmed, and the trees stood undisturbed.

So, it was baffling.

“Th-This is strange?…” “Wasn’t there supposed to be an explosion?…” “We definitely sensed a surge of mana!…”

But.

If they had simply admitted their mistake and backed off, I wouldn’t have disliked them.

“What the hell are you doing in our forest?!!”

Anger begets anger.

They were the kind of race that, if displeased, would seize any excuse to attack. Truly insufferable creatures.

‘Even in Prophecy RPG, they were absolutely revolting bastards.’

With demons, you could just kill them all, but elves were infuriating because you couldn’t even kill them.

‘They’re the type you could befriend if you just said the right things…’

The problem was how to befriend them.

You had to accept that humans were an inferior race compared to elves, spend weeks nodding along to everything they said like a sycophant, and utterly discard any semblance of pride—

only then would they warm up to you.

They were the kind of race that wouldn’t budge unless you groveled at their feet. That’s elves for you. A pain in the ass to befriend.

‘Even in the game, they drove me crazy—and now I’m supposed to do that in real life?’

Absolutely impossible.

So.

I only had one option left.

Break them.

…I thought as I spoke with a visibly irritated expression.

“What did we even do?”

“What?! Is that how you talk?!!”

“What exactly did we do?”

“You caused an explosion in the forest and act like you did nothing wrong?!!”

“Where’s the wrongdoing? Did anyone get hurt from the explosion?”

“Th-That’s…”

“Go on. Tell me who got hurt.”

“……”

The elves clamped their mouths shut and glanced around. They searched desperately, looking for anything—anything—they could twist into an excuse to attack.

Nothing. Not a single trace. No signs of burned trees anywhere.

Yet.

The elves didn’t back down.

“Y-You trampled the grass!”

“Grass?”

“You’ve been recklessly damaging the grass, which is part of our forest!!”

“Bullshit. You step on grass too.”

It’s true that elves are a race that loves the forest, but that doesn’t extend to every blade of grass.

If they truly cherished even the smallest plants, they’d starve since they wouldn’t be able to eat any vegetation.

‘What elves actually love are large trees.’

The World Tree is, after all, a tree. They see other trees as its children and cherish them.

But.

Grass? They treat it like weeds.

So for them to gang up and berate us for stepping on grass?

Absurd.

Especially when they themselves are standing on it—hypocrites.

…I explained as much.

“Am I wrong?”

“Grrk…”

“Tell me I’m wrong.”

“Y-You—”

“Me?”

“Y-You rotten bastards!!! The real crime is trespassing into OUR forest!!! How dare you refuse to leave our territory?!!”

“Ah… So that’s how you want to play, huh?”

That part was fair.

Even in human society, entering someone’s land uninvited would get you labeled a trespasser—attacked or arrested outright. So barging into elven territory was a problem.

But.

We were the Hero Party.

We had the clout to say this:

“The one who guided us here is the Goddess of Light, Serena. We move with her permission. What right do you have to order us out?”

“Ghk!…”

Denying it meant denying the Goddess Serena’s authority, but admitting it meant they’d have to apologize for insulting us first.

‘This is why I love fantasy religious settings.’

Drop the goddess’ name, and everything resolves itself.

“How dare you invoke Lady Serena’s name—!”

“No need for honorifics. She’s my pal.”

“You shameless liar!!! We won’t tolerate this any longer!!! By the name of the Goddess of Light, Serena, we shall deliver divine judgment upon you ourselves!!!”

The elves unleashed arrows and spells with murderous intent.

“What are you doing?!!”

Whoooosh!!!

Phinae noona, who had hurriedly geared up, rushed forward and blocked everything with wind magic.

“What is the meaning of this?!!”

“You’re an elf—why are you standing with them?!!”

“That’s not the point! Mind your words!”

“Mind my words?”

“Teacher Cain is a friend of the Goddess Serena! They’re close enough to joke with each other!”

“What nonsense is this?! You actually believe that drivel?!”

“It’s not a lie! Lady Serena herself was furious when you attacked him last time! If you attack again, the entire elven race could face divine retribution!!”

“Tch, tch. This is why half-blood elves like you are pathetic.”

“…What?”

“You expect us to believe a lowly human could ever be friends with the Goddess of Light? Does that sound remotely plausible to you?!”

“That’s not—”

Phinae noona was too stunned to speak.

Well…

Statistically, elves were the superior race.

Higher base stats than the average human, substantially longer lifespans, and generally higher levels and skill proficiencies.

‘Granted, when you live a thousand or two thousand years, being low-level would be weird in itself…’

Either way, they excelled in raw ability compared to humans.

But.

That was only when comparing average humans and elves.

‘If you measure by heroes, the results flip completely.’

Excluding Phinae noona, the strongest elf here was B-rank—mostly C to D-rank otherwise.

Meanwhile, the human heroes in the Hero Party alone included one S-rank and four A-ranks.

Among the eight Hero Party candidates, there was one elf, one dwarf, two beastfolk— the rest were human.

Numerically, humans dominated.

‘And if you factor in other A-ranks who weren’t selected for the party…’

Humans were overwhelmingly stronger.

So.

Calling humanity an inferior race was laughable.

‘Even Serena calls them the “race of potential”—not inferiors.’

Sure, there were more duds among humans, but they also produced more heroes.

Plenty ascended to become angels, even gods.

‘Over 90% of the gods in the celestial realm were once human… That says it all.’

So, branding humans as inferior was an insult to 90% of the divine pantheon.

…But honestly?

What pissed me off more was them calling Phinae noona a half-blood.

So, I gave the signal.

A preparation signal.

With a gesture commanding ice to be summoned, I spoke.

“If Phinae noona is a half-blood, then what does that make you? A quarter-blood?”

“What?”

“Did you not see how she blocked all your attacks with one wind spell? And you still call her a half-blood?”

“Any elf who can’t summon even a single spirit, no matter how flashy their magic, is a half-blood!”

“Oh? And what if Phinae noona did summon a spirit?”

“That’s impossible!”

The elven chief sounded certain.

Well…

He wasn’t entirely wrong.

Elves bond with spirits in childhood—partners for life. Their status in elven society hinges on their spirit’s rank.

Pact with a low-tier spirit? Commoner. Mid-tier? Noble. High-tier? Treated as heroes.

Those who contracted with an elemental king, the highest-tier spirit? They earned the title “Guardian of the World Tree.”

But not a single elf in history had accomplished that—hence why it was considered legend.

Elemental kings weren’t exactly easy to find, and their power far exceeded what elves could handle.

(Records did mention a legendary human who once contracted one, but Serena confirmed it was all exaggerated.)

‘Not even Prophecy RPG had Elemental King contracts. Truly myth among myths.’

Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if elemental kings existed.

But they did.

Serena confirmed it, +elements themselves claimed their king was out there somewhere.

Still, faking a pact was impossible unless you’d actually seen one.

‘Visually, an Elemental King contract would’ve been perfect though…’

I imagined it.

The Elemental King, having rejected all others, choosing Phinae noona. The elves bowing in shock.

Heh. Now that would’ve been satisfying.

…But botching the act risked catastrophe, so I reluctantly scrapped the idea.

Instead,

I made something else.

Whoooosh!!!

At my signal, Alice summoned a massive chunk of ice.

‘Now, add a shadow clone!’

I secretly created a shadow clone and fused it into the ice.

While I sculpted the ice into shape, the clone piloted the construct from within.

Thus, my fake high-tier spirit was born.

“GROOOOAAAAAR!!!”

The Blizzard Dragon.

A supreme elemental born from the frozen soul of a dragon that perished in the Arctic.

Officially high-tier, but its combat capability rivaled even an elemental king’s.

The strongest ice spirit Alice could theoretically contract with, seen only by the luckiest of souls.

But mere appearance wouldn’t fool the elves.

So I prepped another trick.

‘Shadow Link!’

A technique that merged the shadows of the Blizzard Dragon and Alice, sharing their mana.

“I HAVE DESCENDED UPON THIS LAND!!!”

Empowered by the shared mana, the Blizzard Dragon roared confidently as it landed in the forest.

The result?

KWA-BOOOOOM!!!

The forest was obliterated.