High Elf
Sparring, my ass.
Why the sudden killing intent?
Elspier's shrunken pupils fixed on me intently.
The moment our eyes met, the hairs all over my body stood on end.
It's coming.
Elspier, cloaked in green energy, kicked off the ground lightly.
Truly lightly.
As if no strength was behind it at all.
But in one leap, he was already behind me.
"……!"
Clang!
I barely reacted in time, spinning around to block Elspier's wooden sword swinging at my head with my right hand.
A clear, ringing sound, like striking an empty tin can.
But I couldn't let my guard down.
It's coming again.
The thorns I'd seen rising from his wooden sword earlier were writhing, ready to burst forth.
I glared wide-eyed and immediately summoned mist over my right arm.
Smoke - Muyeong (Mist Shadow)
Grrrk.
The thorns halted just before my eyes.
If I hadn't blocked, they'd have pierced right through.
The moment I opened my mouth to tell him to ease up a bit—
"You little shit……!"
Elspier poured green energy into his sword in an instant.
Boom!
The black mist coiling around his wooden sword exploded outward in all directions, overwhelmed by the blinding green light.
The green energy flared brilliantly right in front of me.
The recoil shoved me straight back.
"Guh."
It hurt like hell.
Felt like my guts were all jumbled up inside.
I forced down the something rising in my throat and glared at Elspier.
He pulled his sword back, assuming a stance, then dragged it upward along the ground.
My hairs stood on end.
Cold sweat dripped down.
A thick emerald mana trailed his sword's path, forming a crescent shape.
As if time itself slowed, instinct told me:
That attack couldn't be blocked with Smoke.
Even if I did, my right hand might survive, but the body behind it would crumble.
So then.
Smoke - Muin (Mist Blade)
Counterattack.
Before his sword could fully rise, I slashed my claws toward Elspier.
Five blades hurtled at him.
They'll hit.
Hit before his sword comes up fully.
But.
"……No way."
The black mist blades crumbled to dust without touching him.
My eyes trembled violently.
He hadn't done anything special.
Just.
Brushed against the deep green mana flowing from his upward slash.
And the black mist evaporated.
Gritting my teeth, I stepped forward.
Synchronization Rate 2.1%
Yeah.
Muin not working was a shock.
But listen.
My strongest weapon is this right hand itself, right?
Elspier's sword had nearly reached above his head.
The completed crescent sword beam.
An attack Smoke couldn't block hurtled toward me.
Slicing the ground, cleaving the sky.
Fired straight at me.
Can't dodge.
At my speed, I couldn't fully evade that incoming sword beam.
Even if I did, I'd still take damage.
So no dodging. Block it.
I can block it.
Not with Smoke.
Just the Black Dragon.
This right hand alone.
An attack like this.
Synchronization Rate 2.2%
I can block it.
"Graaaah!"
Squish, squelch.
Blood sprayed.
From my right shoulder, not my arm.
From the legs bracing my body.
From veins and arteries all over.
Blood burst forth where it couldn't hold.
But I didn't fall.
I won't fall.
Natural Healing
My common skill wouldn't allow me to collapse.
I didn't give up thrusting my fist toward that colossal slash.
And the result.
"Haa…… haa……."
Elspier's slash, which seemed utterly unblockable, shattered completely.
Right after smashing the slash, I kicked off the ground and halted my fist just before Elspier's face.
Elspier's shrunken pupils slowly returned to normal at the Black Dragon fist frozen before him, and he dropped the wooden sword from his hand with a clunk.
"……I lose."
Thought I was really gonna die.
With Elspier's surrender, strength drained from my legs, and I collapsed to the ground.
Elspier scratched his cheek, summoned green energy, and approached me.
"Wanna come here? I'll heal you."
No energy left to speak.
I silently leaned toward him.
Healing energy seeped into my bones.
Finally regaining some strength, I let out a long sigh.
"I win, right?"
"Guess so."
Elspier murmured softly as he healed me.
"Sorry."
"For what."
"Meant to test you but got too serious."
"……."
I narrowed my eyes at Elspier.
What the hell.
Multiple personalities or something?
Contrary to my guess, Elspier gazed intently at my right hand.
"That right hand. What the hell is it?"
"What about it."
"The moment I faced it, I lost my reason."
Lost his reason?
I stared at him, urging more details.
Elspier just chuckled at my gaze.
"The instant I sensed that ferocious aura from your right hand, my body moved on instinct."
Hmm…… so.
In simple terms.
It was because of the Black Dragon?
The moment I activated Black Dragon, Elspier went weird.
And the reason was my Black Dragon activation.
Ferocious aura?
I couldn't sense it at all.
Now healed enough to move, I raised my right arm and rotated it.
But to my eyes, there wasn't even a hint of any ferocious aura.
The right arm in my vision was just a grotesquely beastly thing.
"……So we can just leave this place like this?"
The surroundings were wrecked from our spar.
Even if it's a clearing, is it okay to leave it?
Elspier found my question amusing and snapped his fingers, restoring the ruined terrain to normal.
"Better now?"
"……."
It worked…….
I nodded silently.
"And first off, sorry. Had to check if you were a human with power."
"Check if I had power?"
"……Only a human could awaken Elpinire."
What the hell does that mean.
I tilted my head, and Elspier chuckled.
"One request, human. No, Han Mir."
"You know my name?"
"I'm her mother's guardian, after all. Got more influence than even the chief and elders."
Elpinire's way down there.
Elspier laughed throatily, looked around, and scratched his nape.
"The request: Awaken Mother's blessing in Elpinire."
"Uh, sure, but."
"But what?"
"What's Mother's blessing?"
"……."
Can't help with something I don't know just because you ask.
At my objection, Elspier clapped lightly and spoke.
"Right. Elves can't receive Mother's blessing?"
"……."
This guy's a bit off too.
Is it okay for someone like this to be a guardian?
"Story's long, so let's go to my place."
* * *
Elspier's house was right in front of that clearing.
He entered the cozy, if narrow, house and offered me not tea…… but a milky liquid.
"Broth?"
"My special brew. Tastes great. Try it!"
Tastes good probably, but I don't want to eat anymore.
I brushed it off with a smile and stared at Elspier.
He set down his slurped broth and slowly spoke.
"Mm. Anyway. Among elves, only High Elves have 'El' in their names."
"……Really?"
All the elves I'd met had 'El', so I thought it was tradition.
"And High Elves aren't born to parents like regular elves."
"Then?"
"Once every few decades, maybe centuries. Mother shakes her branches. High Elves are born from the fruit that falls then."
Don't bullshit me.
Even Park Hyeok-geose was said to hatch from an egg.
But a person from fruit?
Make sense, I wanted to say, but Elspier's face was dead serious, unlike before.
"So all High Elves are strangers yet family. That's why we call the World Tree Mother."
"……Okay. So what's this Mother's blessing?"
"As I said, High Elves are born from World Tree fruit. So they each inherit talent resembling Mother in a specific field."
Elspier placed his hand silently on the table.
The processed wood writhed, twisting into grotesque shapes.
"Cool, right? Just infused normal mana."
"This?"
"Mana is life's force, and Mother the World Tree keeps it pure. I just have more of it, like her."
Even dead plants mistake it for life when infused with elf mana, master of plants.
Elspier just used that trait in combat.
"Chief and elders each have one talent like Mother. But Elpinire hasn't yet."
"……Don't tell me the chief not lying to her was also—"
"Bingo."
He grinned at me like I'd caught on quick.
"High Elves usually awaken Mother's blessing around age 10. But Elpinire's over 20 and hasn't grasped a hint."
Elpinire, who took up guardian duty for her lost family and holds the position of next chief.
Burdens piled high on her shoulders, yet no blessing.
That made her anxious.
"Wait. Why must Elpinire be chief?"
"Simple. Fruit for future chiefs isn't normal."
Regular High Elves from pink fruit.
But destined chiefs from golden fruit, like Elpinire.
So she's fated to be chief, like it or not.
"Chief, me, and Elcid elders judged her trauma from childhood blocked the blessing. You know about that trauma…… right?"
I nodded silently.
Elumia had already told me.
"So, request, Mir. Help Elpinire find her blessing with your human power."
I looked at Elspier, now standing and bowing from his chair.
Now I get it.
From Elumia, Elses-to, Elspier.
All the elves.
The real reason they were friendly to me.
"Haa……."
I sighed long and eyed my bag in the distance.
Stuffed with food from the market earlier.
"Not a fan of taking gifts and then clamming up."
"You mean……."
"Yeah."
I was in a position needing this guy's approval anyway.
No option to refuse.
Elspier's face lit up at my casual reply.
And then.
The notification for completing the 6th floor condition popped up in my vision.
But the system didn't stop there.
Right after confirming 6th floor clear.
7th Floor
[Earn Recognition from the Forest Guardian, Elpinire]
The 7th floor condition appeared immediately.
I nodded at the system alert.
As expected.
Now I understood why I couldn't leave the tower from the 5th floor.
Floors 1 to 4 were like an elevator, going up level by level.
But from the 5th floor, the tower's floors became a ramp.
From 5th to my current 7th, maybe higher.
All floors connected seamlessly, undivided.
And unknowingly, by fulfilling 'conditions,' I'd been climbing the tower myself.
Probably can't exit till I reach the top.
So where's the end of Evergreen Tower?
Like Tutorial Tower, 10 floors?
Anyway, hope I reach the end soon.
That's the only way out.
Thought it'd be quick, but this might take a while.
Hope Seong Yu-mi hasn't tried contacting me.
I smacked my lips with complicated feelings.
That night.
Naturally staying at Elspier's, though not tired at all, I hit the bed and passed out instantly.
And had an excessively vivid dream.
"……."
A dream of the World Tree and Elcid burning.
Elves facing extermination.