Chapter 58
Chapter 58
Chapter 58 Elves' average
'The World Tree's Fruit is also Legendary-grade, and Ur is also Legendary-grade, so this... was this originally a reward from the Dwarf side?'
Certainly, when starting the trial, they said the rewards would differ depending on which faction you choose.
That means there's a very high probability that this gift my dear friend Gromdain left behind would have been the reward I would have received if I had chosen the Dwarf faction.
There's definitely a possibility it's not, but if the hypothesis is correct, then I made the right choice this time too.
If I had chosen the Dwarf faction, I would never have been able to obtain the World Tree's Fruit.
'With the Elves' personality, they would have definitely eaten the fruit and fought to the death. Absolutely.'
I still remember the Elves' advice from earlier that if I took Gromdain hostage or killed him, I could easily end the war.
From what I saw, the Elves were the type who would stuff it in their own bellies with the mindset that they absolutely couldn't give this away, rather than offering the World Tree's Fruit to end the war.
Remembering my friend's final advice that you can't trust the pointy-ears, I crossed the second line of defense and headed to the final location where the remaining Dwarves would be waiting.
There, the Dwarves were already holding up white flags.
"His Majesty told us in advance. If the enemies make it this far, surrender without delay. We have lost."
With that declaration, a message appeared.
[You have cleared the 7th floor trial of the Testing Floors Hell difficulty for the first time.]
[Rewards are enhanced.]
[You have successfully obtained the surrender of the opposing faction.]
[Rewards are greatly enhanced.]
[You are currently receiving a penalty.]
[Rewards are very greatly enhanced.]
[Rewards have reached the highest level.]
[Rewards from floors 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 are stacked.]
[Would you like to receive the rewards?]
[Yes / No.]
'Obtaining the opponent's surrender was an enhancement condition?'
If I had chosen the Dwarf faction, and the Elves hadn't given the fruit or surrendered, just how much loss would I have suffered?
Keeping in mind that each choice I make can greatly influence future events, I checked the additional messages that appeared below.
[This is a trial where you can obtain additional rewards. A portal will form when all time has passed or when the player desires.]
[Remaining time: 23 hours 59 minutes]
It seemed they were giving time to obtain special rewards like the World Tree's Fruit or Ur.
I was disappointed that I couldn't upgrade my Traits since there were no special entities, but I was fortunate to have something like this.
'I think I've eaten all the big stuff, but there might be other things.'
And it was an opportunity to keep my promise with my friend.
"Elves. Now that we've won the war, what are you going to do with the Dwarves?"
I asked just in case, since they might treat them humanely enough that I wouldn't need to worry.
The Elf who had been by my side the longest answered confidently as if wondering why I would ask such a thing.
"First, we'll gather the dwarfs who can serve as artisans in one place. They'll be very helpful to us."
This part was reasonable so far.
"And then?"
"We'll kill all the rest. There's no point in keeping alive those who can't help, since they'll just waste food."
As expected, these bastards aren't normal. But you can't judge the whole by just one person. I looked at the Elf next to me, and he also chimed in.
"That's right. Dwarfs who aren't artisans are worthless, so there's no meaning in keeping them alive."
'Ah. Is this the Elves' average?'
If I left these guys alone, it seemed like the Dwarves would be massacred before I even left.
I killed many too, but at least I killed Dwarf warriors who were prepared to die, but these guys are talking about massacring all civilians because they're useless.
They told me they were tearfully accepting Black Magic to stop the wicked Dwarves, but it turns out they were the ones who suited Black Magic the best.
I can't predict how many Dwarves will die if I don't intervene. I need to stop this first.
"Don't do that."
"Pardon..?"
It seems they didn't understand what I meant.
"I mean don't kill the Dwarves."
The Elves made expressions as if asking whether that made sense.
"If food is the problem, you can just tell them to figure it out among themselves, right? I don't think there's any need to kill them."
They even came up with ridiculous excuses, as if they had some murderous instinct that wanted to carry out a massacre no matter what.
"The dwarfs we spare might start a rebellion..."
"Didn't you just say that Dwarfs who aren't artisans are worthless? Surely the great descendants of the sacred tree wouldn't be afraid of a rebellion by worthless ones."
Only after saying that much did the damn Elves finally back down.
"Understood. If the dwarfs don't show any particular resistance, we'll spare those who aren't artisans as well."
"Good."
'They're the killing machines. What the hell?'
I didn't know it would be this difficult to ask them to spare some civilians. Really.
After that, I searched hard to see if there was anything else worth taking as a reward, but there wasn't really anything more worth taking in terms of physical items.
But among non-physical things, there were plenty of things to take. There were more than enough things that were better than physical items that disappear after use.
Representative examples included things like this:
"First, when drawing out the desired temperature with the bellows..."
Blacksmithing, which I had learned superficially from Tutorial Skills and then grown only through instinct.
I received more systematic and professional teaching about it. Having them organize into knowledge what I had only vaguely understood made my head feel clearer.
[Superior All-Mastery level increases.]
Perhaps because I had gained the Dwarves' potential, I absorbed their teachings like a sponge.
[Skill: Emergency Repair (Lv.1) acquired.]
I was also able to learn the skill that Gromdain, who had been fighting me earlier, used to instantly restore his hammer.
"You're the first person other than a Dwarf to learn this technique... As expected of someone His Majesty acknowledged..!"
It's a skill that consumes Mana to restore the durability of equipment you touch. While it's not a very meaningful ability for me since I mainly use martial arts, it wouldn't hurt to have.
'Combat isn't something I do alone, right?'
The big merit was being able to repair my companions' equipment right away when it gets damaged.
I'm not yet at Gromdain's level where durability is perfectly restored the moment Mana is infused, but if I raise my proficiency, I'll be able to catch up quickly.
Honestly, even if I could follow half of that, it would be very useful.
"How about this? This?"
"Let's learn this too!"
Since I was absorbing the teachings very quickly, the Dwarves got excited and seemed to forget the fact that I was their enemy, doing their best to teach me even one more thing.
'To think they tried to massacre such kind friends...'
Elves really can't be trusted.
[Skill: Overdrive (Lv.1) acquired.]
This is also the skill I saw earlier that makes equipment go berserk to temporarily boost the equipment's performance to insane levels.
When this skill is used, even the active effects contained in the equipment are amplified, which is why Gromdain was able to show such an absurd level of combat power increase earlier.
Instead, when the skill's duration ends, the equipment's performance permanently decreases or gets destroyed, so it had to be used on disposable equipment or as a last resort.
'It might be good to make separate buff equipment for Overdrive and do switching?'
I can add equipment buffs on top of Black Magic buffs + Holy Art buffs + Magic buffs.
Of course, the burden on the body would be severe, but if I could endure it, I would be able to exert very great power.
After spending such enjoyable time with the Dwarves, I moved to the Elf faction this time.
'Why is the atmosphere like this when we won?'
The atmosphere was strange. We clearly won the war and were having a victory celebration party, but I could feel some kind of sinister malice seeping through here and there.
One of the Elves offered me a cup containing alcohol.
"Hero. This is the most precious wine among the Elves. Would you like a drink?"
It was indeed a very fragrant wine, as if it wasn't a lie that it was the most precious wine, fragrant enough just from the smell.
But Han Yeong-min, a professional poison sommelier, couldn't be fooled.
'There's... poison inside?'
And it was filled with extreme poison that could make an ordinary person vomit blood and die the moment they drank it.
I could reveal that I noticed the poison's presence by telling him to take a sip first, but I didn't bother to do that.
It seemed like drinking this would produce a more interesting reaction.
"I'll have a drink. Alcohol suits a day like this."
I took the cup, clinked it with the Elf next to me, and drank the alcohol GULP GULP.
I felt a stinging sensation in my throat due to the poison, but the alcohol itself tasted very good.
And the poison absorbed into my body was instantly subdued by Supreme Comprehensive Resistance.
Originally, it seems to have an effect that restricts Mana like Dispersing Merit Poison, but the detoxification was already finished.
But the bastard who gave me the alcohol couldn't possibly notice this fact and immediately shouted toward the surroundings.
"He drank the poison! Everyone attack!"
The reaction of the Elves in the audience was half and half.
Half were the type who were surprised and flustered by the sudden situation, and the other half were his companions who immediately tried to attack me using Spirit Arts or Archery.
At least I could tell that not all Elves were involved in this act, and I lightly blocked all attacks by surrounding my body with Protective QI.
"Mana..? I confirmed he drank the poison, but how..?"
"That level of poison doesn't even reach my liver. Friend."
I decided to stop the act now. The trial was already over, and since the bastards who betrayed me appeared, there was no need to keep up the atmosphere anymore.
'If you guys could break through my resistance, it would have been the Sichuan Tang Family, not Elvenhiem. You bastards.'
I immediately generated poisoned bone blades and used concealed weapon techniques toward the bastards who attacked me.
"KRAAAK! Poison... poison!!!"
"KHEUK..."
They either died instantly with blades stuck in their throats, or died in agony from poison with blades stuck in their bodies.
Of course, I deliberately kept alive the bastard who first gave me the poison. I needed to ask what was going on.
"Hey. What's this situation right now? Why are you doing this?"
But he had no intention of opening his mouth, so I immediately used Bone and Muscle Torture to inflict tremendous pain on him.
With the pain of bones twisting throughout his body and muscles being squeezed, he couldn't even let out a proper scream.
When I released the Bone and Muscle Torture, he immediately clung to my leg with tears flowing, starting to plead.
"I... I'll tell you... Please stop..."
"Yeah. Speak up. Why did you do it?"
I was really curious about this. The reason for doing this to a war hero who won a war that seemed absolutely unwinnable.
"I... because you told us not to kill the dwarfs... I thought you became their lackey..."
'Fuck. I didn't tell them to go under the Dwarves, I just told them not to kill them, but lackey is what...'
It seemed like that wasn't the only reason either.
"There are other reasons too, right? You can't fool me, so tell me everything."
When I spoke while emitting the Aura of Supreme Bloodline to the maximum, he told me other reasons while terrified.
"I... I didn't like that Iraniel-sama was showing interest in other races..."
It seems he liked Iraniel. But didn't he hear that I gave her the cold shoulder? And this wasn't even the end.
"What's next?"
"Next, it was my turn to receive the World Tree's Fruit, but I was angry that it was taken..."
'Is this really the Elves' average?'
Now I'm curious how low this can go...