Chapter 1013: Let Us See Off the Sun Rock Elf Race!
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 1013: Let Us See Off the Sun Rock Elf Race!
"Kill! Sun Rock Elf Academy is right ahead! You all know what I want to hear!"
"Trample the academy gates! Burn the World Tree!"
As the earth-shaking roars echoed over the Sun Rock Elf Academy, the students within had already fled.
Not every transcendent academy was like the Witch Academy, which used a curtain wall to isolate itself in an independent space. The Sun Rock Elf Transcendent Academy was built directly beneath the World Tree.
As we drew closer, the full majesty of the Sun Rock World Tree finally revealed itself.
Its massive, rugged trunk, along with its sprawling root system, towered high above the ground.
Many of the academy's buildings were built into the tree itself, but this Sun Rock World Tree was vastly different from the vibrant, life-filled World Trees I knew.
It had few leaves. Looking out, one saw mostly gnarled branches. The entire tree possessed a dark red hue, like solid rock. Countless branches guarded a sun-like halo of light atop the main trunk, where innumerable elven runes manifested and swirled before eventually merging back into the glow.
When we broke through the final line of defense behind the academy, what greeted us was not a fierce counterattack, but the most helpless defeat of a small transcendent academy.
Of all the Sun Rock Elf students the academy had educated, not a single one stayed to defend their Mother Tree with their life.
The ones blocking our path weren't the students.
They were... the Sun Rock transcendent mentors.
There weren't many of them. Leading the group was the Dean of Sun Rock Elf Academy, an exquisitely beautiful female elf with deep brown skin.
Standing behind her were the only remaining transcendent mentors of this small academy—a total of... thirty-seven.
Fewer than fifty people supported the entire operation of a small transcendent academy.
In elf academies, the students who served in the World Tree Guardian Team were nominally called teaching assistants, but in reality, they performed the same duties as mentors.
This was an unavoidable reality. Before the Main World possessed world repair techniques, there was a limit to the number of transcendents it could accommodate. For a small, neglected transcendent academy to be allocated a few dozen transcendent slots was already considered a massive act of charity by the top academies.
After all... it’s not like they couldn't teach with that many, right?
At this moment, the transcendents of Sun Rock Elf Academy had gathered together under these dire circumstances.
Before the war letter was issued, no one had imagined that a single Little Witch would be the one to push their entire academy to this point!
"Stop! In this academy war, we, the Sun Rock Elves... admit defeat."
The Dean at the head of the group looked at the crowd before her with a complex expression, her gaze finally landing on the Little Witch leading them.
After uttering the word "defeat," it was as if the elf had aged several hundred years in an instant.
Transcendents could age too. While it might not be easily detectable in their features, the aging of the mind would inadvertently affect one's outward appearance.
Faced with her posture, I didn't give her an ounce of face. I pointed my Book in the Box right at her nose and began to curse:
"You say you're defeated and that's it? What right do you have to dictate my decisions! War isn't something that ends just because you say you're defeated and offer land and reparations!"
"Sisters! Tell me, did we trample their academy just to hear them say 'we're defeated' with their own mouths?"
"No!"
"We want to see rivers of blood!"
"Trample the academy gates! Burn the World Tree!"
The people behind me responded fiercely to my questions, their voices a roar against the arrogance of these transcendent elves.
They were venting the fury they had been suppressing, and they hungered for the glory that was right before their eyes!
Everything about this moment forbade them from uttering a single word of retreat.
Some were lightly injured, their clothes torn; others hadn't even had time to tidy their messy, damaged outfits. Even though they had steamrolled their way here in a total stomp, there were still many students who had been heavily wounded.
The pre-arranged magic killing arrays and the highly lethal alchemical items—which of those hadn't dealt them fatal blows?
The only reason they could still stand here was because of their powerful immortality and the massive stockpiles of recovery potions, mental restoration potions, and berserk potions in their storage equipment.
As our voices spread, the faces of the transcendent elves turned exceptionally grim.
These people were all just quasi-witches.
And yet... the elves didn't dare to act. The moment they laid a hand on them, the transcendent witches would descend and slaughter them instantly!
In the beginning, everyone thought this was just the Witch Academy playing house. But with the fall of Sun Rock Elf Academy, the Witch Academy was sending a message.
They were playing for keeps!
Using the Qunluosen Wasteland as the fuse, they had established a rule: student conflicts must remain student conflicts. The moment transcendents intervened, the witches would suppress them with thunderous force!
Didn't the Three Top Academies hold the lifeblood of the Main World?
Fine. The Witch Academy wouldn't clash with you directly. Instead, the Witch Academy's students would dismantle your affiliated academies.
Go ahead, use your threats like basic attacks. The more you use them, the more openings you leave.
And the less deterrent power your methods will have.
The "boiling frog" strategy was the most agonizing. The top academies wouldn't commit mutual suicide with the witches just for the sake of an affiliate's survival.
So, if Sun Rock Elf Academy dies today, and another nameless transcendent academy dies tomorrow, when will you actually dare to truly turn against the Witch Academy?
The destruction of the Sun Rock Elves was merely the beginning of the disaster for small transcendent academies.
The most dignified way for them to leave was for two small transcendents to go to war and "perish together."
"You... you! Are you not afraid we will strike you down? The gap between transcendent and extraordinary is not a threshold you can cross! Killing you would be as easy as turning my palm!"
"If you dare to kill us, what happened at Qunluosen Wasteland will be your fate! Or is your face worth more than those sour-faced wizards?" My aura didn't lose an inch to this Dean. After all, going to Dean Mei's office was like going home for me.
So, a mere Dean of Sun Rock Elf Academy? Who did she think she was?
"Back then, with the Wizard Academy, our Witch Academy respected them as a top academy, so we paid reparations. But you... my defeated Elven Dean... you can only pay with your lives!"
As I finished speaking, the elves were flushed red with rage, yet not a single one moved against me. It was clear how much they dreaded us.
"Must you truly be so heartless? The Sun Rock Mother Tree is the faith of the Sun Rock Elves. If you insist on burning the World Tree just for a hollow title, then we will stake our lives to keep you all here forever!"
"Let me correct you. This is merely an offshoot of your Sun Rock World Tree!" I couldn't have cared less about their threats.
"Then let me remind you as well... there isn't a single transcendent witch following behind you. We are not joking with a bunch of children!"
As the Elven Dean finished her sentence, a slight commotion rippled through the crowd behind me.
Though it was a tacitly understood fact, having it called out meant they had stepped on the enemy's bottom line.
If the enemy went mad and killed them instantly—killed them so thoroughly that even a resurrection spell couldn't bring them back—then they were finished!
The fear of death is an instinct for any living being, and I didn't blame them for it.
After all, they were never soldiers who followed orders, nor were they disciplined troops. They were just a group of students living in the Witch Academy who had joined a club.
They still had their whole lives ahead of them.
Without an education in sacrifice and glory, the fact that they could cast spells on a battlefield without hitting their teammates was already a job well done.
However... I also wouldn't allow them to interfere with my decision.
The transcendent elves were right. This time, no transcendent witch had followed us. If a transcendent witch came here, the nature of the conflict would change.
The reason the academy was so unconcerned was naturally because a significant portion of the witches knew that the only important "Little Witch" in this so-called No. 0 Special Combat Sequence was merely a clone.
As for the other students... they weren't important.
Even if they included the original child of destiny Tan Han, a large number of volunteers for the self-generated mana experiments, and many upperclassmen.
The transcendent witches, as a whole, didn't care.
The reason was simple: they weren't transcendent witches yet. The attitude of transcendent witches toward prospective students had never changed.
At most, they would just look after the more active students a bit more during the academy war.
"Sister Xiao Han! Let me do it! I'll go burn the World Tree! If I get killed by these transcendent elves, you must make the Dean put the heads of these thirty-odd transcendent elves in front of my grave as a souvenir!"
Just as the transcendent elves thought we would back down, a voice from the crowd made their expressions turn ugly once again.
"Good! What is your name? You should know that if a transcendent kills you, even a resurrection spell won't work! Do you regret saying that?" I turned to look at the person in the crowd.
I was truly surprised to find someone so unafraid of death in this group.
In an instant, I knew her name, her information, and many other things.
But her name... it was more meaningful if she said it herself.
"My name is Lin Xian! I'm not afraid of death! When I asked you to use their heads as an offering for me, Sister Xiao Han, I was already prepared for permanent death!"
Everyone looked at the girl named Lin Xian with shock. Their gazes held confusion, doubt, and disbelief, but also admiration, envy, and awe...
"Hahaha... Good! Well? Elves! Do you still intend to hold onto your broken tree and resist to the bitter end?" At that moment, I turned my spear back toward the enemy.
"It's just an offshoot. Your faith won't collapse just because one offshoot burns to ash. If you stay here, you'll only be exploited by those hypocritical Forest Elves of Afuhemi. Why don't I give you a dignified end? I'll burn the source of your enslavement with a single fire... The Main World is not a place for you Sun Rock Elves to covet. Don't blame our Witch Academy for not giving you a chance sooner!"
My words pierced their nerves, one by one.
In the beginning, they had carried the hopes of the Sun Rock Elves and the offshoot of the World Tree, coming here only to follow in the footsteps of Afuhemi.
But after arriving, they saw no hope. Just as this Little Witch said, as far as the eye could see, there was only endless exploitation, followed by becoming pawns in the games between transcendent races.
As transcendents themselves, they couldn't even qualify as a pawn for another transcendent. The one negotiating with them was merely a Little Witch.
How ironic...
One could hear many things between the lines of her speech. This person was no longer just a student or a teaching assistant.
Indeed... she was a genius who had been granted the title of Honorary Little Witch!
A genius who had mastered the ability to kill transcendents while still in the extraordinary stage.
Even as the Dean of Sun Rock Elf Academy, she didn't dare touch the void rifts rippling across the girl's body.
They had already reached a dead end.
The only reason they were still holding on was because no transcendent witch stood behind these students.
But even so, they didn't dare to act. They had already lost everything.
Yet, the pride of an elf wouldn't allow them to stand by and watch their faith be burned to the ground by a group of students who weren't even transcendents.
And yet, it was also because of that elven pride.
The words just now—enslavement, exploitation—had wounded them more deeply than anyone could have imagined.
There was no turning back.
Leaving the Main World was what this Little Witch had said, but it also represented the will of the transcendent witches!
But how were they to leave?
How would the Afuhemi Academy ever allow them to depart?
They seemed to have many choices, but in the end, they had none.
"Everyone... we have been in the Main World for over a thousand years. We have established Sun Rock Elf Academy no less than five times, and each time it was destroyed by academy wars. Now that the tide of the Main World is turning and the ambition of the witch race is laid bare, how can there be room for us to stay..."
"Dean!"
"Dean, why would you say such things?"
The group of transcendent elves looked at the elf in charge in shock, unable to understand why she would speak this way.
Sun Rock Elf Academy had made it this far, and this Dean's position had never changed. This was naturally not just because she was the strongest, but because of her immense prestige.
"We have no choice... or would you rather be lectured by a Little Witch again? Has the backbone of the Sun Rock Elves been bent so far by the oppression of the Afuhemi Forest Elves that it can no longer stand straight?"
When she finished, all the Sun Rock Elves understood that this Elven Queen, who had led them time and again, was not joking.
Their end would only be one thing—the Elven Homecoming.
By offering everything they were as Sun Rock Elves back to the World Tree offshoot, their elven wills would be anchored by the offshoot and return to their homeland.
The Main World was never their ancestral soil; how could they die in a foreign land?
If their wills ever awakened again, perhaps they would be birthed anew by the Sun Rock Mother Tree as fresh individuals with new forms.
This was the most dignified end for an elf; all past grievances would be wiped clean.
The truth was, they could not, and would not, return home in such a pathetic state.
Death is the shroud of dignity that covers all living things equally.
"My thanks to the Little Witch Yang Yuehan for being willing to grant us such a dignified opportunity. I apologize for the arrogance of those students before."
"I accept your apology on behalf of the Witch Academy. Since you choose a dignified end, we will naturally grant it to you. After you depart, we will see you off in the most blazing of ways." I looked away from the data on the Sun Rock Elves and met the Dean's burning gaze, giving my promise.
Their so-called "dignified end" was exactly as I had anticipated. Things were proceeding unexpectedly smoothly, and I felt a slight shift in my initial stereotypical impression of the Sun Rock Elves.
It couldn't be helped; anyone would feel a sliver of respect for a life that faces death calmly, never to be seen again.
In the end, their fate was sealed simply because their territory bordered the Witch Academy's lands.
It seemed the grievances these small transcendent academies suffered in the Main World were even deeper than I had estimated.
"Si... Sister Xiao Han?"
At this moment, someone spoke up in a small voice, as they didn't quite understand the current situation.
Why, after being lectured, was the other side thanking Sister Xiao Han?
With a snap of my fingers, I shared certain information via a forced pop-up to the knowledge seeds of everyone present.
After a few seconds, I spoke again: "Let us, as representatives of the Main World natives, see off the Sun Rock Elf race!"