Chapter 55
Chapter 55
Chapter Hero 55
The moment I chose the elf faction, my body was enveloped in green light and transported to another place.
In front of a massive tree emanating incredibly intense power sat a blonde woman with long ears wearing a crown.
"Thank you for answering our call, Hero."
I understood how I would be joining as an ally. It seems we're going with the classic hero summoning.
"Being a hero means... you called me because there's something you want me to do, right?"
She nodded.
"You understand quickly. We are elves, children of the great Divine Tree, and we are currently facing our greatest crisis in a war against the dwarfs, who are rapidly destroying nature and ruining the world."
'Humans are good at that too...'
It seems in this world, dwarfs are playing that role.
Certainly, destroying nature to gather materials for making better equipment would be an inevitable necessity.
"So when we asked the Divine Tree for a way to overcome this situation, it summoned you, Hero."
Well, the World Tree made a very wise choice indeed. If the summoned hero is me, there's no way we can lose.
"Honestly speaking, making you win the war isn't difficult. As long as there's appropriate compensation."
I released plenty of the noble bloodline aura from my Primordial Blood. It was to gain the opponent's reverence.
The World Tree was definitely something like an avatar of the elf god, full of divinity inside, which meant the elves were also those who serve transcendents.
When I emitted the aura of a martial artist who had reached the peak of Harmony, mixed with Primordial Unity energy, the elf couldn't hide her expression of shock at all.
"Ah... Ahhh..."
She even knelt down and pressed her head to the ground, performing a dogeza.
'I didn't intend for it to go this far..?'
Seeing her wearing a crown, she looks like the elf queen, but with her head pressed down like that... don't I look less like a hero who came to save them and more like some kind of conqueror?
But since this route seems like it could get me more things, now that it's come to this, I'll go all the way.
"Yes. Elf Queen. I have descended to this place personally for the elves, having received the Divine Tree's request. But the price will never be light, so bring forth the most precious thing you possess. Then you shall be victorious in war."
I adopted the concept of being another transcendent's avatar who descended to this land having received the Divine Tree's request for the elves.
She nodded and began trying to remove her clothes.
"I understand. I, Iraniel, Queen of the Elves. For the sake of the elves, I will gladly offer this body of mine to the Hero...!"
"Wait. Stop there."
I interrupted and made her stop at this shocking situation.
'Cut the crap right there. Damn.'
I asked for compensation and suddenly she's trying to make me an adulterer. Isn't this woman completely insane?
"Didn't you clearly say to bring forth the most precious thing we possess...? In Elvenhiem, the most precious thing would be me, Iraniel, a High Elf..."
Normally when you ask someone to provide compensation, they'd think of giving material things, but she thinks of offering her body first - seeing this, she doesn't seem like an ordinary crazy woman. She's definitely not in her right mind.
But I can't say I don't need such things, so I decided to speak in a roundabout way.
"I didn't want something that precious. After I leave, you must continue to protect this place as the Elf Queen, so you shouldn't carelessly offer your body. That will be sufficient for me."
I pointed my finger at the fruit hanging on the World Tree.
Then she made a disappointed expression and picked the fruit to hand it to me.
'Why is she making a disappointed expression? If it was resolved with fruit instead of her body, shouldn't she be happy?'
"Here it is, Hero. Please accept this and save the elves."
"Don't worry. I will definitely win."
Looking at the level of compensation, my heart swelled with the desire to win for them.
[World Tree's Fruit (Legendary): A precious fruit that grows only once every thousand years from the World Tree, which is the avatar of the elf god. If fully consumed, new abilities can be obtained.
① Ancient Vitality: When consumed, Strength, Agility, Stamina, Mental Strength, and Intelligence increase by a minimum of 0 to a maximum of 5 depending on individual skill and compatibility.
② One Loved by the World Tree: If the power contained in the World Tree's Fruit is fully absorbed, the World Tree's love settles in the body. Acquire Trait: Child of the World Tree (S).]
Although the total stats it raises is less than the Black Dragon Heart, having it raise stats evenly like this was more valuable than purely raising only magic power.
'I can balance things out. This is perfect, right?'
It was exactly the kind of elixir I needed, with my magic power having suddenly risen like crazy all by itself.
Moreover, if I absorb it completely, I'll probably gain abilities from a different category than what I've obtained so far, and I was curious about what kind of abilities it might have.
"Ah. And do elves have an aversion to black magic by any chance? Something they absolutely cannot accept?"
I asked just in case, since there's no ability like it for large-scale warfare. She shook her head.
"We do have an aversion to it, but not to the point where we cannot accept it. We hate dwarfs more than black magic. If you use black magic, Hero, I'll inform the elves in advance through telepathy."
"Good. Do that."
I immediately rushed outside.
Like a damn fool, I tried to receive compensation first in case they'd run off later, but somehow the power balance had already tilted.
[Current Power Status Elves 20 : Dwarfs 80]
I ran like crazy toward the castle walls, and the elves, having already heard the situation through Iraniel's telepathy, weren't surprised by my presence.
'High Elves must have special abilities.'
Seeing how she spread telepathy faster than my running speed, she must have abilities like large-scale telepathy.
Thanks to that, there was no need for explanations.
Looking down below the castle walls, I saw countless corpses rotting away, and I smiled at the sight.
It was truly a battlefield made for me.
I draw up my magic power.
Intense magic power like that of a Black Dragon spread across the entire battlefield, and those who had already lost their breath began to gain strength and rise from their positions.
Skeletons, ghouls, zombies, and other strong individuals were even born as higher-grade undead like Skeleton Warriors, Archers, and Mages.
I consumed more than half my magic power with that necromancy just now, but it was fine. I already recover magic power quickly, and thanks to the Dragon Heart, I recover magic power even faster.
"Wh... What is this...!"
"Elves! You bastards! Now you're even borrowing the power of black magic!"
"You'd even shake hands with demons to win!"
'I'm not a demon, you bastard.'
The dwarfs facing the corpses screamed in shock.
There were also dwarfs making absurd accusations toward me in between, but I just ignored them.
"Hero, are you perhaps... a Dragon..? I heard that a Black Dragon that descended from the Demon Realm in the past showed this kind of power..."
One of the elves nearby asked. It seems a Black Dragon had descended before and caused havoc.
"Think whatever's convenient for you. What's important is that I'll make you win. I'll handle the top, so you focus on defending the gate more thoroughly."
"...Understood."
The elves defending the castle walls trusted me and all went down below.
Since the situation would rapidly worsen if the castle gate was breached, it would be much better for me to cover the top alone while the rest blocked the entrance.
The dwarfs trying to climb up using ladders were immediately kicked down by me the moment they reached the top.
"Good work climbing up. Well then, farewell."
"UWAAAAHHH!"
The dwarf fell with a scream and became a corpse.
That guy also soon became our ally through necromancy.
When I occasionally saw dwarfs with powerful strength disposing of corpses, I concentrated debuffs on those guys.
Most of them seemed not to have trained their resistance diligently, as they were helplessly affected by curses and debuffs.
'Are they idiots? Why didn't they train their resistance?'
This is why people need Han Yeong-min's mindset.
You need to always have the heart to train resistance so you can stand firm even in situations like this.
Every time dwarfs died, I used necromancy to increase our forces and absorbed their potential through Predation, causing my crafting-related abilities to rise steeply.
Blacksmithing and Magical Engineering, which had been stuck at Intermediate Level 1 within All-Mastery since I had no occasion to use them, were gradually increasing in proficiency.
If they continued to rise like this, All-Mastery's level would probably increase from just these two skills' proficiency alone.
It was a complete bonanza.
"Friend. Thanks to you, I became a noble... thank you."
I didn't forget to give another surprise thanks to the Demon Dragon.
If that guy hadn't willingly given me his heart, I'd still be down there going BUNGCHU-BUNGCHU.
[Current Power Status Elves 30 : Dwarfs 70]
The tilted power balance was not only restored but became even more advantageous.
Necromancy only consumed a lot of magic power for the initial summoning, requiring almost no magic power to maintain, so I recovered more magic power than I consumed.
This time I headed toward where the dwarfs were clustered and gathered magic power in front of my mouth to fire a breath.
The first time firing a full-power breath without anyone's interference.
They tried to block it with shields imbued with magic power, but breath was something that was hard to block even with Reinforced Qi.
"KRUAAAAAAK!"
The dwarfs in the area melted along with the ground, leaving not even corpses behind.
"You really were a Dragon after all..."
The elves nodded, thinking their prediction was correct, while the dwarfs felt terror at the breath's power, with some even losing their will to fight.
Of course, Han Yeong-min was thinking different thoughts while watching that scene.
'Ah. This way no corpses remain so I can't revive them with necromancy. I should restrain myself with the breath.'
If the dwarfs had heard this thought, they would have treated him like Satan.
[T/N: dogeza- a very deep prostration or bow, typically performed as a gesture of extreme apology or supplication. ]