Chapter 221
Chapter 221
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 221
Chapter Title: Transcendence (1)
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Tymer, who had been sprinting tirelessly, finally stopped once he confirmed that the pursuers were dead. He set down his comrades tucked under his arms and collapsed flat on the ground.
“Ugh! I’m gonna die!”
Everyone was utterly exhausted.
The other two sprawled out on the ground as well, steadying their churning inner energies caused by internal injuries.
“That sniper just now was definitely Sir Harris, right? I’d heard so much about him, but seeing it firsthand... yeah, his reputation is well-deserved!”
“...Yeah, same energy.”
A terrifying long-range shot that blew off the lycanthrope general’s upper body in just two strikes.
It was a killing blow they couldn’t even sense until it hit and exploded.
Not just them—even most others would leave this world without realizing they were dead.
“To think he’s already at that level... Well, come to think of it, he never seemed ordinary from the first time we met! Especially that song back then—it’s still stuck in my head. Guess we won’t get a chance to jam together anymore?”
“He’s a high elf now...”
Tymer nodded regretfully.
Band music had started booming in the Elven Kingdom, and he’d joined sessions here and there as a drummer, but nothing matched the thrill of his first jam with Harris.
“More importantly, Miss Sapiron was amazing too! An upper spirit at that critical moment—no way we saw that coming... Huh? Wait, you don’t look good. You okay?”
“...I’m fine, just... overdid it a bit.”
“No, you look terrible!”
Truth be told, she was far from fine, just as he said.
Thanks to the success of that risky gamble, they’d taken out the enemy and survived, but the aftermath crashed over her like a tidal wave. Now she couldn’t even twitch a finger.
“At least we didn’t die, so a little rest and I’ll recover soon... Urk, blegh.”
Another gush of blood poured from her mouth like a waterfall.
Her pale face turned corpse-white.
“Let’s get her to the rear medical tent first. We barely saved her—no way we’re letting her die now.”
“Her internal injuries are severe... My healing magic can’t handle it.”
Tymer and Curie grew serious and hurriedly prepared to transport Sapiron to the rear.
Just as they were about to move.
Swishhh—
A strangely loud rustling of leaves echoed from the branches of the World Tree looming over their heads.
“Huh?”
“...?”
It was a familiar sound to elves who lived alongside trees, but the eerie resonance within it felt off from the norm.
...No, on second thought, it wasn’t entirely unfamiliar.
All three here—and even some elves from Drasha—felt a nagging sense of déjà vu.
But before they could pinpoint it.
~♪
From the sky beneath the World Tree’s branches.
A song spread across Drasha, the entire Elven Kingdom... perhaps even beyond.
No lyrics.
Just pure melody.
No instruments either—only natural sounds accompanied it.
~♪
Yet the beautiful heavenly tune from the sky blended fantastically with the whispering wind, fluttering leaves, and creaking branches—creating a “song of nature.”
“No way.”
“...Yeah.”
No need to question who was behind it.
They’d just been talking about him.
“...Harris.”
Sapiron, who’d been vomiting blood nonstop, murmured the name softly.
Her twisted insides began stabilizing astonishingly the moment she heard the song.
‘I felt something back then too.’
Pure natural force resonating with the World Tree, soothing her from within.
That song had long surpassed its former level.
And naturally, Sapiron wasn’t the only one feeling its effects.
“Grr, catch those falling back! We can’t let them into the interior... Huh?!”
“A song... from the sky...”
“...Ah, the sound of heaven... I was gonna confess to her if I survived, but dying like this... Huh?”
Everywhere the sound reached.
Front lines or rear, in the heat of battle or wounded and withdrawing—all elves of the Elven Kingdom... and high elves too felt its influence.
The tide of battle shifted dramatically.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ The Melody of Harmony spread everywhere via the World Tree.
~♪
Riding the World Tree’s power amplified it far beyond normal use.
‘...Though maintaining it is a real strain.’
Harris closed his eyes, placed both hands on the massive trunk, and used Heir of the World Tree and Nature Assimilation to resonate the humming from his mouth with the tree.
A method only he, with his abnormally strong connection to the World Tree, could employ.
The tree didn’t actively assist—some limitation perhaps—but it subtly accommodated his intent, making the task easy.
‘Probably because I was born from its branch. That’s why my assimilation with nature was always deeper than others.’
Of course, it let him grow fast, so no complaints.
He was reaping the benefits now.
The sound vibrations from Harris flowed through the World Tree, amplifying endlessly before radiating out through countless branches.
Not true speakers, so lyrics were impossible—pure humming melody only.
‘But the amplification outweighs the loss. No issue.’
He sensed the ground situation through the radiating energy.
The Melody of Harmony not only strengthened elves fighting lycanthropes and giants but excellently healed the wounded too.
And for Harris’s overwhelming impact that flipped the battlefield in an instant, the World Tree repaid with commensurate karma.
Whoosh—
Something surged from the branches at his feet, raced up his body, and burst from his crown.
The barrier there shattered, sucking in external energy into his mind.
A sensation of crown and soles connected as one.
...Then unity with nature, the universe, the world itself filled his body.
“Haa—.”
Whoosh—
A gust whipped up with his single breath.
Pure natural phenomena dwelled in his every movement—no magic involved.
Hans had become death itself from the abyss, transcending it via the Immortal King’s Heart laden with eons of evil karma.
Heinz 2nd had absorbed millennia of vampire bloodlines, transcending their origin.
Harley, as a living being, endlessly pursued potential and evolution, finally transcending biological limits.
And Harris, after countless unifications with nature, had half-assimilated with it, transcending phenomena...
‘Oh no... suddenly everything feels like such a hassle...’
A profound lethargy, on another level, began dominating his body.
He’d barely crossed the mental limit to force movement.
If the main body were intact, reallocating mind and support would fix it, but now he relied solely on resources allocated to Harris alone.
🧠 MIND HUB CONFERENCE — Heinz 2nd Strictly speaking, nature assimilation is no different from mental corruption. And you built transcendence around it—natural outcome. — Hubert A side effect of exploiting that trait for rapid growth. Makes sense—not all high elves could grow like that. If they could, the World Tree would’ve transcended them all long ago. — Howard Wait! Firewood supply?! You can’t be satisfied without it anymore! Hey, snap out of it! Gimme my firewood! — Harley Krahahat! Let’s go! To the desert! Smash ‘em! Great Chieftain! — Heinrich Wait...! — Hannibal Strauss Tch, fine, I’ll... The conference in his mind suddenly grew noisy, but Harris—now finding everything a hassle—focused only on the immediate reality.
‘Still.’
Nature is infinitely static, yet dynamic.
Grass and trees simply grow in place; water and wind merely flow by the laws of the world.
Existing by fixed principles in their spots—that’s their essence and providence.
‘Gotta deal with those first.’
Amid the lethargy filling his body, Harris felt savagery spreading. He slowly raised his bow, Themis.
Resuming the paused humming.
Rumble—
Natural forces around the World Tree churned wildly, surging toward him.
He clung to reason, set targets, and tuned the energy to exclude only those foes.
Nature isn’t always benevolent and gentle.
Once enraged, it can erase civilizations from the earth.
That’s a natural disaster.
And soon.
The natural disaster shaped in Harris’s hands took form and shot like a hail of arrows to one spot.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ “Keeek! Ahh, this is bad! Real bad! Kikikik!”
Lycanthrope King Baukalacas twisted his face in a grotesque laugh.
Even now, connections to subordinates scattered everywhere were severing one by one.
Most fatal: the ‘expulsion’ unit—core to the plan—wiped out before reaching the World Tree.
They’d been ritually veiled from elven senses and personality-reconditioned long-term for this mission alone.
‘And Supellia, sent as backup, croaked first! Krahat!’
Until the white giant summoned, he’d been certain of success, but the elves’ preparations exceeded years of intel from him and the revolutionary.
“Kihihihik!”
Yet despite eons of effort to destroy Enamel Continent going to waste.
He just laughed maniacally.
As kin died, as arriving elf reinforcements encircled him, and...
Even now, propping himself on arms with his lower body gone.
Rumble—
Another thunder-like roar from the World Tree.
He could regenerate most losses in seconds, but that sniper’s damage regenerated excruciatingly slowly.
Still, at that reduced rate, a minute for full recovery...
“Keeek! They’ve come in droves!”
But his encircled foes wouldn’t give him that time.
One high elf critically wounded and evacuated, others injured too, but new forces outnumbered.
If he dawdled without proper recovery, that mystery sniper at the World Tree would pierce him again.
An enemy of equal caliber.
‘Damn revolutionary always drops the ball on key intel! Said no transcendent would show for years.’
No escaping this, no matter how he thought.
Success would’ve perfected lycanthropes via contract and let them make these fat pigs taste despair!
‘What a shame.’
Still, from lowly soldier to knight, then king thanks to the revolutionary at death’s door—not bad.
“Krihyahaha! Come on, pigs! Let’s play more!”
But easy death didn’t suit him.
Boom!
He slammed the ground with both hands, lunging at encircled foes.
~♪
But legless against elves empowered by the mystery song? Too much.
Rumble—
“Kihihahat!”
Ultimately, the last lycanthrope king was swallowed by natural disaster.
Dying, leaving not even name or hide—just a single crystal.