The Recurring Nightmare of Elion Forest (1)

Author's note: From midway through this chapter, the story shifts to a third-person perspective following the demons. I've marked the transition clearly, so rest easy and enjoy!

Under the bright moonlight, Ellie and I finally parted lips and gazed at each other, tears still shimmering in her eyes.

"It's so... beautiful..." She held up her left hand and smiled at me, radiant as a child.

"If I'd known you'd be this happy, I would've done it sooner."

At my words, Ellie slowly shook her head before speaking. "I'm happy because it was you who gave it to me, Hyun... I knew you'd prepared something at the end, but..."

"I never imagined it would be something like this."

Then she rested her head against my shoulder. I stroked her hair and went on. "There's magic of my own making woven into that ring."

What you might call a cheat enchant.

Enchantment was certainly difficult — but only in the beginning. Once you cracked the underlying principles, there came a moment when you simply knew how it had to be done.

To imbue an object with magic so that it functioned as a true artifact, the treatment had to penetrate all the way into the object's inner structure. That meant knowing everything, down to the behavior of its individual particles and which core material it was made from — so instead, I had applied the magic only to the surface.

Among players, it was a known trick called magic layering.

It was convenient, but it had a flaw: properly enchanted items held their magic for nearly five hundred years, whereas this method really was nothing more than a coat of paint spread over the exterior, so its lifespan was pathetically short by comparison.

About six months, and the magic would fade.

Even so — I was the one who had cast it, and I was someone who could cast magic anytime, anywhere. Ellie would be able to use that ring like an artifact for practically the rest of her life.

Of course, Ellie knew none of this. Her eyes went wide, and she began tapping my arm as if she couldn't believe it was true. "You went through all that complicated processing? Do you have any idea how hard enchanting is...?!"

Well, as a lord, she was hardly in a position not to know that. Most communication tools on the market were enchanted goods, after all.

"Don't worry. It lasts far less than a real enchantment."

"Huh...? There's something like that...?"

When I explained it to her, she stared at me in astonishment. "That's incredible...? No, wait — if people found out about this, there'd be chaos..."

"Still, let's keep it for you alone."

"Yes. Of course...!"

I had been worried the cheat enchant might seriously damage the ring's durability, since it ignored every elemental reaction and side effect and simply slammed the magic straight into the object... but fortunately, we'd been fine. It held up precisely because it was diamond — the hardest substance known — and gold, a metal with high flexibility. Otherwise, I never could have attempted it at all.

Silver would have been worth a try, but wood? Not a chance. When I told her that much, Ellie finally grasped what I meant — and realized there were limits to what could bear it.

"Then... what enchantment did you put on this ring...?"

"Hmm... first of all, once a day, it can invoke my power of life or my power of purification."

I had woven that spell with one intention: if she, or anyone around her, fell into danger — especially if I wasn't there — she would have a means to break through it.

Though, admittedly, the bigger reason was that further enchantments were far more difficult, and I could only fit one spell.

"Still, that much should be enough to use in a real emergency."

"Yes. Thank you..."

Ellie kept turning the ring over in her fingers, again and again.

"Do you like it that much?"

"Of course I do...! You prepared such a splendid ring just for me — you, who even unfurled your domain of authority in case I was sensitive to the eyes of others...!"

She was looking at me with eyes so warm I could practically see hearts floating in them.

Whew... I'm going to get devoured tonight, aren't I...?

In haste, I steered the conversation toward that white flame of hers. If she could learn to pour that flame freely into her blade, Ellie would become the Empire's Sword Master to succeed Tohpaz.

"Ellie, that white flame you unleashed in your fight with the Lord—"

"Ah... that. I can use it. Even now."

Ellie raised her right hand, and white flame bloomed from her palm.

- Whoomph!

Brilliant white fire lit up the dark night, dancing over her palm with a power that was intense yet somehow gentle.

"That's Sword Flame, isn't it?"

At my words, Ellie gave a light laugh and nodded.

In other words, Ellie had reached the summit of an entire nation through swordsmanship alone. And she had ascended to Sword Master at just twenty-four — nearly the youngest on record.

Curious, I brought up her status window.

A skill born when Ellie's trait, Brilliant Light, evolved in the midst of battle.

I lightly visualized the status window and showed it to her.

"Huh? What's this?"

Startled by the translucent window that had suddenly appeared, she listened as I explained that it was a manifestation of my second trait — one that let me see the abilities of myself and others.

"So this... is your second trait, Hyun..."

Interestingly, Ellie was less interested in the contents of her own trait than in the status window itself.

I gently focused her attention on the words displayed there. "Ellie, I'll show you the rest of the status window later... for now, let's take a look at your trait."

"Okay."

And so Ellie was able to read the information about her own trait written in the window.

"Brand-New White Flame That Purifies All..."

What exactly had Ellie realized during her battle with the Lord? When I asked, she opened her mouth in a low murmur.

"Honestly, it hit me the moment I set foot in Haizi Territory: what if my sense of justice was nothing but hypocrisy? I believed I was walking the path of fairness and righteousness, acting justly..."

"But the very me who preached justice — who worked harder than anyone to drive out evil — never even sensed the darkness that had crept into my own territory."

Summed up, her words went something like this.

A lord's position demanded as much sacrifice as the rights it granted, and every single mistake carried brutal consequences. Alice the human could be warm and generous — but Alice the lord had to be cold, decisive, and never, ever wrong.

Worse still, a lord who had failed to notice the darkness festering in her own lands; who, upon entering a blighted territory, could not master her emotions; who took her rage out on the very people she had failed to protect — slaughtering and abducting them.

The conclusion — that they deserved death — would never change. But in the execution of the deed, personal feeling should never have entered into it. Unable to contain the fury overflowing inside her, she had let it spill onto those who had toyed with her.

She had begun to wonder whether everything she had ever done for her territory had, in truth, been wrong all along.

Having one's past self denied — all that earnest effort dismissed — is a misery beyond words. It meant everything she had built until now had turned to foam on the water.

And so these thoughts of Ellie's slowly ate away at her heart.

In other words, from that point on, Ellie had been quietly coming apart.

And yet even then, she had managed to hold on to her sanity — because of none other than me.

More precisely, she said it was watching me cut down demons without a shred of doubt or hesitation that steeled her heart again.

"Evil never disappears. Shadows exist everywhere, after all. But I came to believe that shadows exist because there is light that casts them."

"And the light I imagined — it was you, Hyun. You, who bow to no evil and carry out your own will without faltering. It was because I watched you that I finally understood."

"There are those in this world who may break, but will never bend. It was thanks to you that I could kindle my Sword Flame."

Her conviction might have been hypocrisy — but she never stopped moving. She met the Lord head-on, blade sweeping, again and again.

Without pause, without rest.

And then, watching my back as I crossed blades with the Lord, she finally saw it.

"I realized that everything I've done was never hypocrisy — that the things I had carried out since the past were never wrong... That's why—"

- Whoooomph!!

"I could raise a White Flame like this. Thank you. It feels like all I ever do is receive from you, Hyun."

Beneath the pale moonlight, Ellie kindling her own Sword Flame was, to my eyes, achingly beautiful.

And so, under that one night's moon, we smiled at each other once more and savored a quiet, unhurried evening together.

The next morning.

I had been seduced by Ellie and... hm, no, I won't say what happened next. I very nearly died.

Once, after my first experience, I'd asked her where on earth she'd learned all those lewd words and gestures.

The answer, apparently: all of it was knowledge gleaned from naughty novels.

Which was why she deployed those words and actions without a moment's hesitation.

Naturally, last night was no exception.

I was also grimly reminded that the stamina of a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Sword Expert simply couldn't keep pace with the stamina of a Sword Master.

I found myself wishing this peace would last.

Utterly unaware that a tremendous evil was already closing in on us.

"So. You intend to target Cumul Territory again?"

"I do."

When the man with long silver hair posed the question, the newly minted 10th-ranked demon, Asmodeus, gave a slow nod.

"The rumor that you slew Buer of the 10th rank and seized his authority is famous enough that even I knew of it... but I hardly expected it to be true."

"The weak are devoured. Is that not the rule of this world?"

At those words, the man turned something over in his mind for a long moment — then smiled. With studied ease, he lifted the teacup resting on the table, took a sip, set it down, and spoke again.

"Coming from you, I'm reminded of it anew. Yes — that was the original rule. So many have stopped daring to challenge me that I'd long since forgotten it."

"Well then. Tell me — weren't you also interested in that Successor of the Azure Dragon, Mammon?"

Seventh of the ranked demons, and lowest seat among the Seven Deadly Sins.

His identity was Hyun's highest-priority threat: the 10th... no, the 7th-ranked demon, Mammon.

Mammon snorted. "You want me to join your little invasion? Why on earth would I? I fail to see the reason."

"The Successor's bloodline still lives, after all."

At Asmodeus's words, Mammon's eyes turned murderous, and flames heavy with heat rippled up around him.

"Where did you get that information?"

Despite the seething fire, Asmodeus — unlike in his days as the 32nd-ranked demon — ignored the flames entirely and pressed on. "I am the 10th rank now. Naturally, I know that much."

Mammon snapped his fingers, snuffing out every last flame, and answered. "Let me guess. Taowu told you, didn't he."

Asmodeus had no rebuttal.

After Florence's death, it had been Taowu who poured a measure of power into him — into one who hungered for strength — and handed him the authority he now held. And along with it, a fragment of the knowledge he possessed.

Even as he let that information slip, Taowu had worn a smile so wicked it made Asmodeus's skin crawl.

- As if to say... could you really stand back up after suffering something like this?

Looking back on it now, even after ascending to the 10th rank, the malice Taowu carried — and the evil born of it — was on a level Asmodeus couldn't begin to compare himself to.

All he had felt in that entity's presence was the sensation of being trapped at the bottom of a bottomless abyss, in a pit with no floor.

It was Mammon who cut through these musings.

"Declined. I prefer to savor the delicacies last."

"You think sitting at the 7th rank makes you untouchable?! Why won't you—!"

- Whoooomph!! Crrrash!

Three spears of flame encircled Asmodeus in an instant, one of them driving in until it hovered a hair's breadth from his throat.

In the blink of an eye, Asmodeus hadn't even been able to react, let alone think of a counter — at Mammon's level of skill, he could have burned him to nothing in a single heartbeat.

"That's enough. I do acknowledge you as the 10th rank — but surely you don't imagine that puts you in a position to give me orders?"

"Climbing to the 10th rank overnight has made you drunk on your own importance. Demons with power like yours are scattered everywhere right now. Where do you get off, being so insolent?"

Mammon's left eye ignited crimson, and a fresh scarlet flame was born from it.

"If you want to keep that 10th-rank seat, know your place."

With that, Mammon withdrew the spears of flame as suddenly as they'd appeared and showed Asmodeus the door. "Get out. I'll pretend I never heard this conversation."

"I will remember this."

Asmodeus rose from his chair, vowing not to forget the slight — but Mammon simply lifted his teacup again, unhurried, and resumed his tea.

It was one month before Asmodeus's invasion of Cumul Territory.

Two weeks had slipped by since the affair in Haizi Territory.

We spent one of them visiting Crystal Territory.

Cumul Territory had climbed out of its decline and back onto a path of healthy growth, so we made the trip to deliver the resources we had promised to Crystal.

Sitchurin greeted me warmly, delighted at the sight of a face she hadn't seen in far too long...

But the look on her face when she saw me after seeing Yeon-i was indescribably terrifying. Icy enough to make me wonder whether a sixteen-year-old should even be capable of such an expression.

Even so, between our one-on-one sparring, helping with her training, and talking through her worries, things thawed considerably — the glacial wind died down a little.

Yeon-i even gave Sitchurin pointers on her swordsmanship.

Apparently, one of her masters had been a dagger user.

Judging by the fact that I'd never known that, that master had probably died before Yeon-i turned thirty.

Sitchurin, having learned a whole new form of swordplay from Yeon-i, was absolutely thrilled about it.

The remaining week, Ellie, Yeon-i, and I spent getting acquainted with one another's new techniques — and now we were taking the time to review everything we'd gained.

First, Ellie's White Flame.

Against demons, it was devastating. We visited a village that had been raided by demons, and a single swing carrying the White Flame was enough to burn a high-tier demon to death.

Truly insane power.

But with power like that came a cost: Ellie burned through her mana frighteningly fast.

Fortunately — if you could call it that — Ellie's mana pool was twice that of an ordinary person.

Your mana capacity is fixed at birth; training and discipline can never grow it. A genuinely lucky break.

What good would a new power be if she couldn't use it freely? If it really had come to that, there were mysterious artifacts that expanded one's mana pool, and I'd have gone hunting for one immediately.

Second, Yeon-i's new swordsmanship: the Butterfly Blossom Sword Art.

When I asked about the name, she explained that her family name meant "flower," and her sword reminded her of a butterfly — she'd put the two together, decided it sounded rather nice, and that was that.

"So you."

"Hold on. What's that supposed to mean? That's an insult, isn't it?"

...Anyway. The Butterfly Blossom Sword Art also displayed a speed and power that no other swordsmanship could hope to match.

And once she'd gotten comfortable with Mogley, she simply flew.

Truly, flew — exactly as the word implies.

Strike here and she'd be there; strike there and she'd be behind you. For anyone facing her, it was a style of swordsmanship that could not be more infuriating.

For us, though, she was no match at all — because the art's foundation was the sword, she had to close the distance to deal any damage. And she had no answer to overwhelming ranged attacks.

But if she imbued her strikes with sword energy, she could cut through magic as well — and in the game, she had risen all the way to Sword Master. If she added Sword Flame on top...

I suspected it would produce a synergy beyond anything we'd seen.

And finally, my Descent of the Thunder God.

A skill that drew together my authority over lightning and unleashed its power as if I had truly become the god of thunder itself.

I requested sparring matches with Yeon-i and Ellie to test it.

Just as the status window had promised, the ability to ignore defenses proved an enormous advantage. I was stunned — even alarmed — by the sheer horror of it passing clean through not only Yeon-i's sword, but Ellie's White Flame as well.

The skill's drawback, however, was a heavy one: for twelve hours after it ended, my authority over lightning was sealed.

In other words, I couldn't use the power of lightning at all.

Fortunately, wind and my other authorities still worked fine...

But the lightning authority did nothing beyond struggling to spit out a few stray sparks.

"I'll have to use Descent of the Thunder God a lot more carefully..."

Just as Yeon-i and Ellie were giving their all to adapt to their own new powers, two figures stepped into the training yard — Leon and Edgar — and something about them was off.

"M-My lady..."

Leon, who had received our aid and, at the same time, an exemplary education in butler service, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was now an apprentice butler learning the trade under Edgar.

His little sister Sion, declaring that she wanted to become a knight, had become Edgar's page and was learning the sword alongside her brother.

"Ah, Leon. Yes — what is it?"

Even at Ellie's question, Leon couldn't answer.

But it wasn't that he found the words hard to say — it was closer to sheer agony. Leon was drenched in sweat, his face drained past white into a ghostly pallor.

Seeing him like that, Edgar told Leon ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to go collect himself and gave him some time alone. Then he turned to Ellie and spoke.

"Forgive the discourtesy. Something has happened that, at her age, is rather difficult to bear."

At his words, in a single instant, the entire atmosphere of the training yard changed.

"Five villages of Cumul Territory have been attacked by demons and erased."

"What...?"

We stood there, unable to say a single word.

And what Edgar said next was more than enough to strike straight at Ellie's trauma.

"The location was Elion Forest. The difference from before is that this time, every victim — man and woman alike — was found dead, mummified."

I knew it instinctively.

This was the moment one of our forgotten nightmares had come crawling back.