Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Ch. 48 .｡.:✧ Elvenguard (1) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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In the middle of the lush forest of Elvenguard stood a huge sacred tree, the World Tree.
From the tunnel at the base of the World Tree, the silhouette of a girl emerged.
A white veil covering her face.
And just by looking at her long, light green hair, everyone knew.
The priestess of the World Tree.
It was Mia.
“Priestess. The prophecy…?”
“…”
At this, the white-haired high elves who had been waiting rushed to the entrance and asked the priestess.
But the priestess, Mia, just stood still and shook her head.
Sighs burst out from all over.
“Now is the time we need the prophecy the most! Why is the World Tree silent?!”
“It’s too late now.”
As Mia sighed and stepped forward, a path opened up as if the sea was parting.
And by the time Mia finally emerged completely from the tunnel and came to the surface.
The sky was dyed red.
It wasn’t the sunset or anything like that.
The Great Spirit Ifrit.
The spirit of fire had created a massive flame that adorned the sky.
Mia, who had gone to a spot with a good view, tightly closed her eyes.
It had already been 12 hours since the Great Spirit started growing its spiritual body.
The now scattered spiritual body burned and crushed everything in its path.
Already, a vast area of forest as wide as the horizon had been burned away.
Next was Elvenguard, the city where the elves lived.
And the World Tree.
“What’s the evacuation status?”
“All residents have left Elvenguard. But it’s uncertain if they can reach the nearest city without any stragglers.”
It was a desperate situation.
Elvenguard alone had a population of as many as 100,000.
Just getting from the isolated Elvenguard to the nearest city would be a struggle.
Even if they somehow arrived, there was no way a lord crazy enough to accept 100,000 refugees would exist.
What came after that was an even bigger problem.
The World Tree was an immortal sacred tree that didn’t die.
So even if the tree was completely burned away, the World Tree would sprout and revive somewhere on the continent.
Until they found the revived World Tree, the elves couldn’t stop their arduous march.
Because the elven nation, Elvenguard, had to be built on the spot where the World Tree had grown.
They would become refugees who had lost their nation, wandering for decades or centuries in search of the World Tree sapling.
“I will try to persuade him one last time.”
“We’re counting on you, Priestess.”
“Please…”
They couldn’t leave it like this.
Mia took a deep breath and, encouraged by the countless cheers from behind, stepped forward.
She walked towards the huge pillar of flame that was slowly approaching Elvenguard even now.
“Great Spirit!”
|…|
Thud. Thud.
The Great Spirit’s spiritual body, which had been advancing step by step, stopped.
Mia placed her hand on her chest, inhaled and exhaled once, taking a deep breath.
The fate of the World Tree rested on her single word.
The lives of Elvenguard and the elven people were at stake.
This pressure weighed down on Mia.
Her word choice had to be made carefully.
“Do you still have no intention of retracting your anger?”
|…|
There was no answer.
As if he had no intention of conversing.
Or as if he couldn’t even hear, the Great Spirit just stood still without moving at all.
“Great Spirit! Let’s resolve this through words…”
A heavy voice that seemed to shake heaven and earth.
Right after that, the pillar of flame began to move again.
Once again burning everything it touched, it advanced towards Elvenguard.
“Ah…”
Mia’s legs gave out and she collapsed on the spot.
Firmness was felt from the Great Spirit’s voice.
He probably wouldn’t stop anymore from now on.
It was over.
Everything was over.
“Priestess. Please get up. We must hurry and evacuate as well.”
“But. But what meaning is there for a priestess without the World Tree…”
“We must set out to find the World Tree again. We can’t find it without you, Priestess. Please get up.”
The moment Mia got up, unable to resist the elders’ urging.
Ifrit’s spiritual body, which she thought would never stop again, halted once more.
Was he giving her one last chance?
Mia’s face brightened as she stood up, but soon her expression stiffened.
“No!”
Right in front of the Great Spirit’s spiritual body, burning bright red.
There stood a single human, holding his ground.
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“I thought more than once or twice that it would be nice if it burned down…”
This was the first city that made me want to destroy it completely since the Adventurers’ District.
With all the city’s residents being at least 100 years old, whenever another race showed up, they would pour out nagging, scolding, and nonsense that only crazy old folks would spout.
Listening to that slowly drove a person insane, to the point of seriously thinking that perhaps it would be better for world peace if the elven race disappeared from the world.
“I never thought the day would actually come when it burns.”
But now that Elvenguard was on the verge of being engulfed in flames.
Seeing the people leave with faces full of worry and concern, my heart softened.
‘It’s impossible to stop that now.’
If the Great Spirit’s spiritual body had grown to that extent, a direct confrontation was now impossible.
Even a dragon wouldn’t be able to win against that.
In the first place, even if that spiritual body was destroyed, it didn’t mean the spirit would die.
Spirits were not living creatures, but ‘magical beings’.
Unless the core made of mana was destroyed, they would endlessly create spiritual bodies and revive.
The problem was that the core was inside that pillar of flame.
Attacking the core was impossible.
There was no time to wait for all the energy to be consumed and the spiritual body to collapse on its own.
‘I need to find Kali.’
I had to find and beat up Kali, who must be hiding somewhere.
Because it must be the Heavenly King, Kali, who was controlling Ifrit.
Look at that.
As proof that he was under Kali’s control, Ifrit had completely lost his mind and didn’t even respond to the priestess’s question…
“Huh?”
What’s with him?
How is he talking?
If he was under Kali’s domination, he should have lost his language ability…
‘No way. Don’t tell me it was a misunderstanding?’
I was sure Ifrit was being controlled to destroy Elvenguard.
But it turned out Kali hadn’t even come here.
And Ifrit was doing this nonsense in his right mind?
This is bad.
I thought it would be resolved if I just found Kali and beat her up.
But now there was no way to stop that walking inferno.
‘No. There is one way.’
At that moment, a faint possibility came to mind.
I wasn’t sure if it would succeed.
But it was worth trying.
“Uwaah… That’s the Great Spirit! How are you going to stop an angry Great Spirit? Even if a horde of great mages come, they can’t handle that!”
“I told you there’s a way. But Alicia, I need your help a bit.”
“What? Me?”
“Let’s go. It’s a chance to become the hero who saved Elvenguard.”
“Aaaaah! W-wait a minute! You want to go into that pit of fire? If you want to die, die alone! I can’t die yet! There’s still so much food I haven’t tried!!!”
Drag, drag, drag.
Grabbing Alicia’s wrist, she was easily led.
But she seemed to trust me quite a bit, as she didn’t resist to the point of lying down.
“Hic…”
The moment we approached quite close.
Ifrit’s spiritual body stopped and briefly made eye contact with us.
It was like looking at a tsunami made of fire.
That’s how huge and magnificent it was.
It seemed like the flames would engulf us at any moment and turn us into white bones.
Sweat poured down like rain.
My whole body felt like it was burning.
Alicia was already sticking her tongue out, looking extremely distressed.
…Undecided, perhaps because her body originally had almost no moisture, didn’t seem to be suffering much.
“Hmm. It really doesn’t work.”
Whish.
I tried throwing a stone into the pillar of flame.
But due to the intense heat, it couldn’t penetrate inside and just bounced off.
As expected, I needed Alicia’s help.
“Undecided. Throw it well. You know.”
“…Okay.”
I took off my necklace and handed it to Undecided.
The necklace with an ominous glowing mana stone.
In this operation, Undecided’s role was as important as Alicia’s.
If it failed, I would lose Tay’s latest mana stone.
“This distance should be enough. Alicia. I’m counting on you.”
“This will only provoke the Great Spirit’s anger more…”
“Trust me.”
“Eek!”
Nodding my head, I sent her a meaningful look.
Alicia frowned and threw a tantrum for a moment, then put the mana stone ring I gave her on her index finger.
And then she stretched out her hand forward and chanted a spell.
“Spirit of the Wind. Grant me the power to punish the wicked…!”
Boom!
With an ear-splitting explosion, a gust of wind shot out forward.
It was thousands of times more powerful than what Alicia had used on the thugs before.
The gust of wind directly hit Ifrit’s spiritual body, piercing through the flames and passing right through.
In an instant, a huge empty space was created in the center of the pillar of flame.
“…Hng!”
Not missing that moment.
Undecided’s eyes glowed red as she grabbed the necklace string and started spinning it.
Then she jumped into the air, spun around once, twice.
Swoosh…!
She threw the necklace forward.
The necklace, which had flown at maximum speed thanks to Undecided’s rapid rotation, made it into the empty space.
But that empty space was instantly filled with flames again and returned to its original state.
“Uwaah! He’s even angrier!”
The pillar of flame, which had turned blue at some point, grew even larger.
But there was no need to worry.
No matter how much a spirit’s spiritual body was destroyed, as long as the core was intact, it was a magical being that revived endlessly.
In other words, if the core was neutralized, the spirit’s spiritual body would also be subdued.
And what made up a spirit’s core was mana.
Coincidentally, the latest black mana stone Tay had made had the additional effect of absorbing mana.
‘Now if the mana stone activates its effect and absorbs the mana?’
The moment the mana stone embedded in the center of the spiritual body emitted an ominous light.
An ugly cry echoed.
And Ifrit’s core was sucked into the necklace without resistance.
Whoosh…
The spiritual body that had lost its core collapsed.
The huge pillar of flame lost its form, flickered, and disappeared.
Before I knew it, all that remained in front of me was a pile of white ashes, as if snow had fallen.
Walking into it, a pleasantly crunchy sound echoed with each step.
I found it.
My necklace.
The metal parts were all melted, charred, and twisted into a mess, but the black mana stone was in its original state.
“It worked out well. Right?”
“Just what are you, really…?”
I had made an amazing discovery.
As long as I had this mana stone, no matter how high-level the opponent was, as long as it was a magical being, I could capture them all.
In simple terms, it was like a Master Ball that caught all legendary Pokémon and whatnot.
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[T/N: bro isn’t just catching heroines anymore he’s moved on to spirits…]