The Fall of the High Elf Queens
The Great Forest War was unfolding amid utterly fruitless negotiations. The High Elf Queens, those venomous rulers, might charge with their greatswords at any moment, so the Magic God of Dimensions kept his nerves razor-sharp while opening a divine-realm communication line and launching a furious protest.
'If a Main God’s divine power interferes with mana, I’m at best a 9th-circle master. Every externally manifested spell will be blocked. Just as demonic energy is lethal to Middle World creatures, divine power is lethal to mana. To defeat them I’d need long-chant magic, but those High Elf Queens aiming their greatswords at me won’t just stand there.'
When the High Elf Queens glared at him with eyes blazing with madness, a chill raced down the Magic God of Dimensions’ spine.
'Now I understand why Master told me to avoid them at all costs. That killing intent and fighting spirit are truly vicious.'
He would rather have stayed the 7th-circle disciple hiding behind his master. Yet Granzoa’s giggling tone suddenly turned irritated.
“Oh my! This is too much! Banning my descent for a thousand years over something so trivial? Why be so petty when you’re a male god!”
“I’ll remember this. Just you wait, Granzoa!”
“Yes, yes~! Do try to survive. Ohohoho~!”
The Magic God of Dimensions ground his teeth, severed the divine-realm link, and surveyed his surroundings.
'Five High Elf Queens, each elevated to 8th-circle master level through fusion with their Spirit Kings, have completed their encirclement.'
Behind them came an Orc Lord forging a bridge of corpses, and an Orc Emperor. When the demigod orc opened its mouth and laughed, the Magic God of Dimensions’ eyebrows shot skyward. Even knowing he was a god of light, the creature still joined the war; it was intolerable.
'That lunatic! Has the pig chieftain gone mad? I spared him even though he’s a demigod of the highest god, and he dares crawl out here? Last time he was on excursion he licked his lips at the sight of me, so I broke every tooth and shattered his limbs—looks like his eyes have flipped from the grudge.'
Ten thousand dragonkin, each at least a Holy Dragon, were also present. If this entire force attacked in an hour, could he survive? If the Dragon Emperors were all 8th-circle level, things would get troublesome.
The situation was growing bleak. Then a voice reached his ears.
“Aah! Master, it was fun while it lasted. Farewell, then!”
“Shut up! If I were going to die this easily I wouldn’t have clawed my way to survival all this time. I’ll show you why Root School black mages are the strongest on the battlefield!”
One circle vanished from the black robe. Nine circles glowed upon it, while the tenth left only a faint ring-shaped trace. Having fought this black mage several times in the past, they knew exactly what that phenomenon meant.
'There were seven last time, weren’t there? Those black circles on the robe definitely represent his circles.'
'But now the number of mana circles has decreased. Proof that divine power has reduced his mage circles.'
'So he’s at 9th-circle now? We can win.'
At 9th-circle, the gap with the High Elf Queens empowered by Spirit King fusion was only one circle. Even though they were drastically weakened by the Middle World’s restrictions, they had handled even 10th-circle demon kings. Confidence surged.
Killing intent poured from the High Elf Queens’ eyes as they leveled their greatswords and began inching closer.
Shhhhhhh—! Shrrrrrrk—!
At that moment, a pale hand emerged from beneath the black mage’s robe as though it had never seen light. Yet the hand did not point at the approaching High Elf Queens. The right hand rose toward the sky; the left pointed at the ground.
The High Elf Queens—spirit mages and swordsmen both—hesitated for an instant. Their expectation that he would aim at them had been overturned.
The Magic God of Dimensions did not miss the opening.
BOOOOOOM—! CRACKCRACKCRACK—!
A tremendous explosion erupted from the left hand aimed at the ground, and a shockwave blasted outward. The High Elf Queens were sent flying into the sky like autumn leaves.
“What—?! External-release magic should have been sealed!”
While the High Elf Queens tumbled through the air, something shot from the right hand.
FLASH—!
It was severed human fingers. Five fingers brimming with mana hurtled toward the High Elf Queens’ legs. In the moment they were airborne from the explosion, he struck at the swordsmen’s most vulnerable lower bodies.
“Tch—!”
The High Elf Queens frantically swung their swords to intercept the fingers.
CRACK—!
Of course the fingers were severed. But the price was the immediate activation of enormous magic.
BOOOOOOOM—!
From the severed fingers, the strongest 8th-circle elemental spells manifested in the exact opposite attributes of the Spirit Kings the High Elf Queens possessed.
WHOOOOOOSH—! CRACKLE—!
The Red High Elf Queen fused with the Fire Spirit King was engulfed by Blizzard, the strongest ice magic, and instantly turned into a block of ice.
FWOOOOOSH—! BLAZE—!
Hellfire, the strongest fire magic, slammed into the Silver High Elf Queen fused with the Ice Spirit King, evaporating everything with its tremendous heat.
CRAAAAASH—! BOOM—!
A tidal wave of Nail Stream, the strongest water magic, spun toward the Yellow High Elf Queen fused with the Earth Spirit King, threatening to grind her entire body.
BOOM—! CRASH—!
An earthquake shockwave from the strongest earth magic, Earthquake, ravaged the Blue High Elf Queen fused with the Water Spirit King.
CRUNCH—! BOOM—!
Finally, God’s Hammer, the strongest metal magic, crashed down upon the head of the Green High Elf Queen contracted with the Wood Spirit King.
CRAAAAASH—!
All five High Elf Queens were swallowed by the magic before they could even scream. In a single instant they had been struck by the strongest spells of their own opposing attributes.
RUMBLE—!
With a tremendous shockwave, roar, heat, and cold, the battlefield fell silent for a moment. The other races who had been forging bridges and the dragonkin waiting at the edge of the cavity stared up at the magic tower in shock at the sudden turn of events.
“The High Elf Queens were taken out in one strike!”
Only the black mage stood atop the Survival Magic Tower. Both hands that had pointed at sky and earth were gone past the wrists, and his robe was soaked in his own blood.
“Did they really get all the High Elf Queens?”
“Don’t tell me it was body-sacrifice magic?”
Once they grasped what had happened, every race on the battlefield froze.
'That insane black mage used his own body as a catalyst once external manifestation became impossible.'
'And it achieved its purpose perfectly.'
Every High Elf Queen who had always led from the front lines had vanished. Then the black mage’s voice began to shake the battlefield.
“We never hesitate to sacrifice ourselves for victory. That is why black magic is the strongest. Now do you understand why the Root School reigns supreme on the battlefield?”
The Magic God of Dimensions spoke with confidence, yet his physical condition was at its worst.
'Directional “Bone Explosion” from the left hand shattered their defenses and stances. Then I loaded the strongest 8th-circle elemental spells into each finger of the right hand and detonated them all at once—9th-circle is my limit.'
His head spun and his body screamed even though he had severed his sense of pain.
'It’s been a long time since I fought like this. Was it back in my 7th-circle childhood?'
He tried to sink into the memory, then shuddered.
'Back then, when food ran out and loneliness became unbearable, I suggested negotiations just to talk to someone. They accepted, so I left the Great Cavity and entered the Great Forest—only to walk into a trap.'
When he fell into the High Elf Queens’ trap he had been only a 7th-circle user; he had nearly died for real.
'They charged at me just like now, and I thought my entire body was being carved apart. If my school hadn’t been the Root School I would have died a hundred times over. I was sliced by those enormous greatswords more than hundreds of times.'
The memory replayed of desperately fleeing while the High Elf Queens’ relentless coordinated assault made teleportation impossible.
'If this hadn’t been the mana-rich Great Forest, and if Master hadn’t risked his life to rescue me, I really would have died.'
Since the negotiation for food had failed, his meals afterward consisted of moss inside the cavity or the carcasses of animals that had fallen from the cliffs.
'The childhood spent surviving on fruit I risked death to gather in the forest still makes my teeth chatter when I think about it. Every time I slipped into the forest those lunatics would swarm me, and I had no way to fight back.'
The High Elf Queens had coordinated attacks for so long that once caught there was no chance to counter. Moreover, magic was restricted outside the Great Cavity in the Great Forest. So the only option had been to flee before their encirclement closed using nothing but senses and speed.
'After that, the magic I researched was precisely this body-sacrifice magic.'
Since it triggered spells using one’s own body as the price instead of mana, it was the only high-level magic usable inside the Great Forest.
'And it even works inside a divine-power barrier—how fortunate. Good thing I didn’t take revenge earlier. If this hadn’t worked either, I would have been in real trouble.'
Having reached 9th-circle, the Magic God of Dimensions had partially escaped the Great Forest’s magic restrictions. Naturally, when he had tried to settle old grudges he had already been tricked by Granzoa’s fraudulent contract, so fear of repercussions had stayed his hand.
'The High Elf Queens are also Granzoa’s subordinate sage gods. Yet those damn venomous creatures are classified as extremely good? Even if they’re the light race and subordinate gods of the light god, isn’t this too much?'
Utterly dumbfounded, the young him had even protested to the Main God about what had been done to him.
'No matter how viciously the High Elf Queens act, it isn’t for personal gain—it’s for their race. They sacrificed everything from past to present to bring prosperity to the current High Elf Empire, so they’re extremely good.'
When the Magic God of Dimensions demanded to know why his own karma was at rock bottom despite doing nothing, the answer he received was: “Aren’t you the leader of evil black mages?”
'That’s blatant discrimination! I was completely deflated.'
After that he had fought the High Elf Queens hundreds of times just to obtain a few of the fruits that grew everywhere in the Great Forest. So of course he felt no regret at wiping them out.
'Aah—! That felt so refreshing. I wish I could have seen Granzoa’s face turn deathly pale after losing her subordinate gods.'
Yet a pang of regret also surfaced.
'It’s rare to find High Elves with figures and faces better than succubi.'
Honestly, they had been his first love in childhood.
The Magic God of Dimensions’ heart had pounded as though it would burst the first time he saw the High Elf Queens.
'Master used to scold me when I was infatuated with succubi and female demons, telling me to find a woman who would live only for me instead of those promiscuous demon races. He even showed me a collection of continental beauties through a fantasy crystal, but the Queens were hundreds of times better.'
High Elf Queens who had become sage gods were beautiful.
'Hair and eyes shining brilliantly as proof of their contracts with Spirit Kings, perfectly golden-ratio features unique to elves, long ears fluttering in the wind, explosively swelling breasts, waists that cinched like cliffs, hips that continued in alluring curves, and long, refreshing legs that stretched like rivers—any man would fall for them at a glance.'
Wearing form-fitting mithril armor for ease of movement and vital-point protective gear adorned with demon-like jewels, they charged at him with passionate cries of “I’ll kill you!”—if a man’s heart didn’t waver at that sight, he wasn’t a man at all.
The Magic God of Dimensions had sometimes lost focus watching the rhythm of their large breasts and hips swaying as they swung their swords.
'Thanks to that I don’t know how many times I was cut by spirit swords. But why were they so determined to finish me off? Once you become a high-ranking god you can glimpse others’ fates to some degree. At this rate there was no chance they would become my women.'
After Master died and loneliness threatened to drive him mad, he had endured by fighting them countless times. Through the bond forged by that struggle he could see and feel their fates.
They, who had sacrificed everything for their race, were not happy—they were more miserable than anyone. And he had foreseen that their final end, whenever it came, would be a gruesome death at the hands of a demon king if they never ascended to the divine realm.
'If that was how it would end, then I would be the one to finish it.'
Sage gods who died would become celestial beings under a god’s guidance, and with luck could even become lower gods. Granzoa would accept them as her subordinates, so there was no downside.
'My first loves from the past, whom I fought hundreds of times over a hundred years. Rest now.'
The Magic God of Dimensions spoke with a note of mourning.
“Disappear in peace. You’ve worked hard all this time.”
Yet those words from the black mage reignited the battlefield.
'The High Elf Queens, stronger, braver, and more beautiful than anyone, had been slaughtered in an instant.'
The eyes of the High Elf race, momentarily dazed by the hollow deaths, began to burn with madness and rage.
'Our queens, who led our race to prosperity through eternal ages, are dead.'
Just as bees go mad with rage when they lose their queen, the High Elves were dyed in madness.
ROOOOOOAR—!
Spirit Fury of madness descended upon the eyes of five hundred million High Elves, driving them into a berserk state.
The other races were no different.
UUUUUU—!
Though different races, the High Elf Queens had been respected comrades who fought desperately against archdemons and demon kings whenever the gates to the Demon Realm opened. They were not existences to be killed so meaninglessly and sneered at!
Once a shared consciousness formed, the remaining mental magic unified their minds once more. All that remained in the public consciousness was rage toward their common enemy—the black mage.
Shhhhh—! CRACK—! SNAP—!
The speed at which bridges were being built accelerated dramatically. But the Magic God of Dimensions showed no intention of allowing them to approach, raising his right hand that now ended at the wrist.
“Blood Big Bang!”
The 4th-circle Blood Arrow, which vampires mainly used by manifesting through blood as a medium, evolved into a 9th-circle dark magic and covered the sky with blood.
POP! VMMMMM—!
The blood membrane completely enveloped the magic tower in a one-kilometer radius and grew denser. Countless interference spells from the flustered dragonkin manifested, yet even the Dragon Emperors were only 8th-circle beginners and could not stop it. The other races, driven mad by rage, poured countless arrows and spirit attacks from the bridges, but the membrane only absorbed them.
FWOOOOOOSH—!
Ten thousand dragonkin poured every ounce of strength into their breaths while nagas possessed by the ancient serpent god created water pillars weighing tens of millions of tons to strike the blood sphere. Yet it was not destroyed—only the blood’s density grew thicker.
VMMMMM—!
When the blood became so thick it threatened to drip, cracks formed and an unpleasant noise echoed through the cavity. The moment the other races sensed something wrong and stopped, a massive roar erupted.
BOOOOOOOM—! CRACKCRACK—!
“GRAAAAAAAH—!”
“AAAAAARGH—!”