New Paradise (4)
“Looks like we’ll have to do some scouting after all. We don’t know when or how much bigger a threat might come. To overcome it, we’ll need combat in the end.”
“I understand what you’re saying, but is it really okay with just the two of you? The deeper ant tunnels are far more vast and unknown.”
“No choice. It’s our fated path—if we avoid it, we lose. So we can’t run.”
After the previous battle, which had convinced her that the threats to the World Tree would only grow greater, Serenian set out to conquer the ant tunnels once more—a task she’d neglected since building the barrier. With her reliable ally Leon nearly fully recovered, she intended this as a kind of experience grind. Defeating enemies would allow the World Tree to absorb their essence and grow stronger.
Since the World Tree’s growth was essential even for me, watching and aiding them from outside, I couldn’t object—but I was still worried.
“If that’s the chieftain’s will, then there’s no helping it. The divine spirit will surely lend aid as well.”
I gave a wry smile, set down the radio, and picked up the drone controller. Maneuvering the drone, I flew it over to where Serenian and Leon were gearing up, circling around them. Serenian’s face brightened at the sight—she already had experience fighting alongside the drone.
A two-person team meets the bare minimum requirements.
Serenian grabbed her bow, arrows, and the spear she’d fashioned from syringe needles. Leon, meanwhile, wielded a greatsword made from a broken cutter blade and a shield crafted from a toothpick. Their armaments clearly showed their roles.
Hunters, too, always fought in strict formations as a matter of common sense and survival. The elves seemed no different.
“---.”
Once prepared, Serenian spoke to the boy Ren and stroked his head before departing with Leon. Ren, who would normally have something to say given his usual personality, seemed to sense something in her words; he just nodded and gripped his bow tighter.
My guess was she’d told him to protect the village and the World Tree, sensing his desire to follow. It might’ve been a comforting line, but with the recent confirmation that enemies could invade from anywhere beyond the ant tunnels, she had every reason to feel uneasy.
No helping it.
But they still lacked the strength. It was impossible to watch both sides closely, so I’d have to keep an extra eye out.
They descended the barrier by climbing down, traversed the vast wilderness that seemed endless to them, and finally entered the ant tunnel entrance.
Serenian gave Leon some instructions, and he took point with his shield and greatsword at the ready. Right on cue, I activated the drone’s flash, fully charged.
The drone wasn’t huge, so the light wasn’t blinding, but it outshone any torch, illuminating the dim tunnel depths. Leon glanced back at the drone with a startled expression, then pressed forward.
Here they come.
The ants would have noticed their approach by now. After descending a ways, a massive antenna wriggled from a hole ahead.
In reality less than a centimeter, this ant looked like a monster matching an adult’s size through the drone’s eyes. The worker ants of the colony clacked their jaws and swarmed to punish the elves invading their home.
“---!”
Leon swung his greatsword down on the first charging ant, smashing its head. It seemed a crude weapon made from a cutter blade, but it cleaved the ant’s skull in one blow, proving more than sufficient.
Serenian loosed arrows to support him. She had been a warrior, so that made sense, but even Leon handled the fight with familiarity; like seasoned hunters, they dispatched the ants one by one with ease.
Still too many?
Yet they were slowly pushed back. The sheer number of swarming ants overwhelmed them. Even killing one per arrow or sword stroke, the numerical gap was too vast—especially with the massive mana beast ants joining the fray.
Compared to when she’d pierced through alone with death-defying resolve, there were more now.
As a mana beast ant charged with its enormous, hardened head, Serenian set aside her wooden arrows—which she’d been firing nonstop—and fingered the steel arrows I’d given her with her bow. But she soon lowered them.
The steel arrows were precious and had to be recovered. Instead, she hefted the sharp-tipped syringe spear she’d brought and hurled it at the mana beast ant with all her might.
“That’s far enough.”
She and Leon immediately turned and fled without looking back. The mana beast ant thrashed with the spear buried deep in its head before collapsing, but Serenian had no intention of pushing further today.
A wise choice. Provoking dungeon monsters into a frenzy was risky, so hunters’ basic tactic was to bail at the first sign of trouble.
“I-it’s enough now, Chieftain! The Black Bull is moving!”
“Haa, ha...”
The two elves, who had sprinted nonstop from the ant tunnels, spotted the massive thing rumbling to life in the distance with a roar and collapsed on the spot.
The ants that had chased them out were crushed under the battlebot’s wheels, and the survivors fled back into the tunnels in terror.
“Just as you said—truly horrific monsters. A legion of demons rivaling the Demon King’s forces.”
“You think so?”
“Not bad at all. If the Black Bull just crushes the ones we lure out like this, it’s plenty of harvest.”
“It’s not enough.”
Leon saw hope in this venture, but Serenian felt differently. In direct communion with the World Tree, she knew that catching ants this way barely covered the daily nutrients it consumed.
“Unless we kill far more enemies, the World Tree won’t grow. Even the Black Bull said it can’t protect us forever.”
“S-said? Who spoke?”
“The divine spirit’s priestess.”
Catching her breath and wiping sweat, she revealed Seung-hyun’s existence. Leon was stunned that the priestess serving this world’s divine spirit—confirmed by his own eyes—was human, but her calm demeanor soon convinced him.
“Then in the end, we must conquer that horrific demon den.”
“Yes. And with a queen inside constantly laying eggs and swelling their numbers, even attrition has its limits.”
Serenian already knew of the queen from her prior delve into the tunnels. Leon’s face hardened at the news, but he soon opened his mouth with a resolute expression, as if he’d made a decision.
“We need more power after all. More kin.”
“That’s...”
“Send me, Chieftain. The fearful, the wounded, those who must seek your forgiveness—I’ll bring them here.”
It was a plan he’d been mulling for some time. Unlike Serenian, who’d grown more conservative after blunt rejection, Leon was convinced this flowerpot village—Eden—could appeal to other elves.
“Just give me a little support to show them what this place is and persuade them. I’ll make it work. Above all, we can’t let more like me appear.”
Staring straight ahead, he shared his story of losing his wife to raiders, driving the point home. Confronted with a wound beyond her imagination, Serenian couldn’t refuse.
“What do you need? To bring them here.”
“Not much.”
At her words, Leon glanced between the towering World Tree and her compound bow. He knew what terrified elves under corrupt kin’s tyranny—and what they craved.
“The divine spirit will rejoice if many more elves come to live on this land.”
Serenian, her resolve finally firm, sought one last confirmation. In the herb pot, Seung-hyun—whom she’d approached—smiled faintly at her question of whether more elves could live here, answering of course.
“Tell me if you need anything. Independence matters, but accepting help when necessary is survival too.”
“Embarrassing, but that’s probably how it’ll be. Unseemly to say to the divine spirit, but this land isn’t so vast or perfect.”
“Of course. I get it.”
He chuckled, gauging her words. Knowing this was fundamentally just a pot for one bonsai, he too doubted it could sustain crowds harmoniously. So it would need lots of help.
Maybe new land will open up?
He quietly hoped as much—like how this herb pot might connect to another.
The more usable land, the better.