Too Rough on the Lady?
“Oh, oh. Isn’t this a bit too rough on the lady?”
“Kkuk, hahaha….”
In the VIP viewing box, the head of the Silverrain family shook with uncontrollable excitement.
The premium vintage wine in his hand swirled blood-red.
“Lord, you seem to be in very high spirits,”
One of the attendants in uniform standing nearby said cautiously.
The head ignored the words and instead gestured with his chin toward the massive mana screen floating in the air.
On the screen was the image of the hidden execution ground on the outskirts of the forest—a place ordinary people could never know—where the usual swarm of elves fighting like ants in the central temple were shown fighting.
“Look at these little rats struggling….”
A sinister smile curled the corner of the head’s mouth.
“At first, when they pierced through my proud execution ground, I thought it was impressive….”
The head propped his chin on his hand and clicked his tongue.
“Foolish things. They willingly threw their heads into the tiger’s jaws. Are there really such idiots in this world?”
He stared at the woman standing arrogantly in one corner of the screen, unleashing black lightning from her entire body.
“……You know her too, don’t you?”
“Of course. The greatest monster our family has raised… I heard she possesses combat strength equal to that of a flame hybrid.”
“Hah, equal? Be careful with your words. Such lowly hybrids are not even worth comparing.”
The head’s glare made the attendant hurriedly bow his head.
“I-I’m sorry! I spoke out of turn.”
“Hmph, good. In any case, that place is not an honorable spot to obtain a trophy.”
The head gulped down his wine and ground his teeth.
“It’s a guillotine for that hybrid bitch and the arrogant human who dared to humiliate me.”
The head recalled the face of the man who, just a month ago, had smirked and threatened him right in front of his eyes, telling him to run away.
The counselor of the Holy See, Aris Mardia.
The price for challenging the authority of a noble elf, and moreover the head of one of the five great families, was nothing but death.
He had deliberately instructed not to kill the man instantly, but to toy with him slowly.
To enjoy the most miserable sight of hope being trampled from the highest place.
“That girl, Electra, has no mercy. She will turn Ruby Scarlet into a handful of ashes.”
The head buried himself deep into the sofa with a joyful expression, crossing his legs.
“However, my lord… there is one concern.”
“What is it?”
“If Ruby Scarlet is killed and the flame spirit Ignis sealed inside her goes berserk and forcibly transfers to another elf at will, what then?”
The spirit Ignis. If the vessel chosen by it is destroyed, it instinctively forces itself into the nearest elf whose wavelength matches best to survive.
If it possesses an uncontrollable commoner or an elf from an enemy family, it would become a headache.
But the head merely shook his wine glass leisurely.
“Do you think I would have acted without any plan?”
“……No, I’m sorry.”
“Hmph, don’t worry. I’ve already given special instructions to Electra. More importantly, if we let Ruby Scarlet live now, it would become a long-term grudge for our family. You know that too, don’t you?”
“……I will remember.”
Ruby Scarlet.
The things she and her parents had done to him in his childhood.
The moment the truth leaked out, the honor of the Silverrain family would collapse to the ground, and the head’s position would become precarious.
He had to seal her mouth. Forever. In the head’s mind, only that thought remained.
“Well then, show me. How far your insignificant bond will last.”
His eyes sparkled with cruel anticipation.
On the screen, the wind above the cliff was raging like a storm before a tempest.
♣
……That lightning-wreathed elf.
Clearly not an ordinary match.
Originally, elves generally handle attributes friendly to nature like water, earth, and wind.
But the alien attribute of handling lightning like this woman was as rare and dangerous as Ruby Scarlet beside him.
Crackle, crackle! The space in front twisted, and flames erupted with high-density mana.
If Ruby was the flame of disaster, this woman was the living calamity itself.
Not to be underestimated. No, it would be a difficult fight.
“Who are you?”
Ruby growled with great caution.
She wore the Silverrain family crest on her chest, but her face was unfamiliar to the social circles or tournament rosters.
But the ferocious aura emanating from her was on a different level from the hunting dogs sent by the head.
“Hah… You don’t know my name?”
The woman smiled languidly and snapped her fingers.
Crack, crackle!
Black lightning whipped out from her fingertips like a lash and struck the floor.
The granite floor screamed and burned black.
“What, it doesn’t matter. I’m going to die soon anyway, so what if you know my name?”
“……Hah? Who are you saying that to? Sensei! Help me!”
Ruby called out to him and pulled out the Phoenix Whisper.
In the old days, she would have boasted, “I can kill them all by myself!”
Clearly, as her favorability toward him increased, her reckless aggressiveness had slightly decreased.
Uwoong─!
She gathered mana to create a string and aimed forward.
“Die!”
─Hwaaaaaaaaang!!
Kwaaaaaaaaaaang!!!!!!!!!!
The massive explosion transformed into the shape of a phoenix and shot straight toward the woman.
Although the power was reduced due to poor conditions, the destructive force could crush bones with a direct hit.
But the female elf showed no sign of evading.
“Tsk, this is really boring….”
She gave a short gesture, and the shadow behind her leaped forward.
Kung!
The armored elf who had handed over the invitation at the hotel.
She slammed a tower shield the size of a person onto the floor.
Tower shield? No way.
I smiled faintly and activated the Appearance Change item.
Just like before, I intended to turn that shield into a hologram that could not be physically interfered with.
Defense power 0.
It would become nothing but a worthless shell.
But strangely, the lightning-wreathed woman was laughing.
“Heh? You used that funny thing? Good job. I was just thinking…?”
The lightning-wreathed elf extended her hand and poured black current into the tower shield.
Crack, crackle, crackle───────!
Kiaaaaaang!
The flame bird collided with the tower shield.
The flames, which should have pierced through, scattered as if hitting an invisible wall.
Kwaaaaaaaaang────────!
The flame sphere exploded on the shield surface, but the knight did not retreat even a single step.
Black smoke rose at the moment of impact, and the knight only smiled faintly from inside her helmet.
Ruby muttered to me in disbelief.
“……Sensei, what is this? Why isn’t it working?”
“……”
I was also surprised.
But I soon figured out the reason.
Mana Interference.
The elf using lightning had poured high-density mana into my Appearance Change wave and canceled it out.
It was not simple physical defense, but erasing the effect of my item by the mana itself.
I gave a wry smile.
“……This is desperate.”
“Hah…?”
A sigh escaped Ruby’s lips.
“Just that much? Disappointing… I heard you were the ‘flame witch’… but you can only play with fire, you hybrid.”
The woman walked out leisurely from behind the knight.
“Hmph… That was just showing off! This time I’ll hit properly!”
Ruby puffed out her chest and aimed her bow again.
But I could tell that Ruby Scarlet was significantly weaker now than at the start of the tournament.
It was not just a matter of stamina or mana.
After being drenched in the waterfall, her flames had become as fragile as a wet match.
Clearly, the water from that waterfall was no ordinary thing.
It might have some mysterious property that nerfed the elf’s abilities.
“Stop being so arrogant.”
“Feel it with your body whether it’s real or not!”
Responding to Ruby’s words, her eyes twisted cruelly.
“Anyway, that hybrid bitch… I thought something was up because she was acting like a wet mouse, but her flames got wet too? Yeah, her flames were dirty and unclean from the start.”
“What…?”
“Ah, the smell.”
The woman covered her nose and wrinkled her face exaggeratedly.
“Amid the rain smell, there’s a disgusting burnt smell vibrating. What kind of smell is this?”
She approached Ruby slowly, like a predator hunting prey.
“Yeah… the smell of burning flesh. It’s the smell of someone’s flesh burning, very close.”
Instantly, Ruby’s pupils shook violently as if an earthquake had struck.
─ Piiiiiik.
A tinnitus rang.
Psychological Insight skill warned that Ruby Scarlet’s mental state was rapidly collapsing.
This woman had touched her most gruesome Achilles’ heel.
“You… who are you? What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Why? Don’t you remember? You burned him to death with your own hands. Your father.”
The woman’s voice was low and soft like a snake, but the content was sharper than a blade.
“That voice screaming ‘it’s hot, please save me.’ Haven’t you heard it in your ears? The sound of dad screaming that he burned to death because of you.”
“Shut, shut up!!”
Ruby desperately shot another flame arrow.
But this time, she could not even aim properly.
Attacks psychologically broken were bound to miss.
The flaming arrow grazed beside the woman and faded into nothingness.
“Oh my, your hands are shaking? Scared? Or… because of guilt?”
The woman smiled faintly and extended her hand.
Crackle!
Black lightning fell at Ruby’s feet.
“Kyaaak!”
Ruby screamed and sat down.
It was not just because the attack hurt.
The flash and smoke created by the black lightning.
Within it, she seemed to be seeing the visions of the past she wanted to forget.
“You are disaster, Ruby Scarlet. Wherever you are, it is always burning, and the people you love die one after another.”
The woman whispered like a demon to Ruby’s ear.
“The human man beside you is the same.”
Her gaze turned toward me.
“You will die because of me. Just like your father. You will become a lump of charcoal, screaming in pain as you die.”
“A, aaah….”
Ruby covered her head and shook it.
─ Chijijijijijik!!
Oh no…!
The tinnitus rang even louder.
The red aura surrounding her body was gradually turning opaque dark red.
Denial, despair, self-loathing.
[Warning!]
[‘Ruby Scarlet’ defense mechanism has been activated.]
It had come to… break.
This woman knew Ruby’s past in full detail.
“No… no… I didn’t do it on purpose….”
Her mental state had completely broken.
Fear, guilt, and self-loathing were eating away at her sanity.
The flame barrier she had wrapped around her body had lost its strength and was going out like a candle.
Now she was no longer the great ‘elf candidate’ or the ‘Crimson Position’.
She was just a small child crying in the flames of the past.
“Just die already. That is the way for the world.”
A massive thunder spear was created in the woman’s hand.
A finishing blow.
The knight guarding had raised the tower shield firmly and was keeping me in check, and Ruby had lost her will.
It was truly a desperate crisis.
But I calmly blocked in front of Ruby.
“……Oh, oh. Isn’t this a bit too rough on the lady?”