The True Master of Greenery
Yes.
It had been so vast it seemed ready to seize the world itself—so vast that it had been invisible. Only after standing face to face, locked in confrontation, could she finally grasp it. The sheer, absurd scale of that desire.
But mere size of desire alone would never have driven the elves to such horror.
The desire… is alive…?
It moved. That colossal desire. Something that seemed the amalgam of hundreds, thousands of desires. It surged like a wave, taking shape as if it were a single living being—and it was looking straight at her.
She had never heard of such a thing. Not even from the Elf Queen.
"Auryll! Fall back! Before you are infected by the Desire!"
Aruwen. The Elf Elder cried out at the top of her voice.
Elves despise beings of desire. Their desire defiles the elves. It infects them and makes the unthinkable happen—things like bearing children with humans.
But a Laurel Warrior would never be infected by desire. The problem was that man.
"You strike first, and now you treat me like a plague."
That man's desire was on a different plane from any other human's. What kind of desire was that? How intense must it be to grow so vast, to take living form like that? That man was the natural enemy of the elves. The moment he set foot in the Primeval Forest, the elves would be doomed.
Crack!
Auryll bit down hard. Her mouth split open, blood ran, and at last she recovered her senses.
"Master of the Laurel!"
Rustle!
Laurel leaves burst across Auryll's entire body—like wings, like a helm, like armor. She had become a true Laurel Warrior. Auryll raised her sword. The blade grew longer, sharper, and fixed itself on the man.
Whoosh—!
"Tch."
The man clicked his tongue softly and raised Winter. At the same instant—
CLANG!
"…?!"
With a single stroke, Auryll's entire body was thrown back. Her wrist tingled far worse than before. Was that man stronger than her—even in her perfect form as a Laurel Warrior? He barely seemed different from the woman called Serengeti.
Clang! Clang! CLANG!
She moved like lightning, yet could not leave a scratch. It was as if he read every one of her movements. Auryll bit her lip.
The duration…!
A technique akin to awakening. Naturally its duration was short. After roughly thirty more exchanges, Auryll's awakening faded.
Impossible! There can't be a human stronger than me when I'm awakened!
She could not believe it. She had been told otherwise. The Queen had said there would be no equal among humans. But those words were wrong—because one stood right before her now.
"Ah…"
A human stronger than herself. The gap in raw ability was not large. She did not think she lagged in weapon skill either. And yet she could not reach him. She simply could not win. Once Auryll's awakening faded, she could no longer move.
Thud.
In that state, the man slowly approached her.
"S-Stop!"
"Auryll! No!"
The elves cried out. But Auryll could offer no resistance. She could only slowly accept the man's hand.
"P-Please… stop…"
She barely managed to open her mouth and beg him to stop, but the man did not stop.
Thud!
At last the man's hand touched Auryll's head. In that instant—
Swaaaaaaah!
The man's impossibly vast Desire began to infect Auryll. A desire so hideous it made her skin crawl crashed over her entire body like a tidal wave.
I quietly placed my hand on Auryll's head. At once the elves began to scream as if they were going mad.
…They're treating me a bit too harshly.
At this rate I felt worse than a plague germ. I could not understand why the elves reacted that way just from looking at me. So, half in jest, I had put my hand on her head. And then—
Randolph's Desire begins to influence the elf Auryll.
High Druid of Great Nature
Dominates the Laurel of the elf Auryll.
…Hmm?
The moment I laid my hand on the elf's head, along with the infection of desire, my evolved Hidden Trait—High Druid of Great Nature—began to activate.
Elf Elder Aruwen was flustered by the sudden human voice calling her name. Because of that she failed to stop Auryll from charging out, and could only watch as the two collided in an instant.
That desire…
There was another reason she could only watch. She knew the moment she saw it. The desire radiating from that man was fatal to elves—not merely opposing, but a lethal dose. A foul desire that infected and twisted elves. But she had never even heard of desire existing at that level.
A living, moving desire!
Even an elder who had lived long ages had never seen such a thing. Pitch-black desire, alive and moving, seemed to look right at her. She could not meet its eyes.
Ah.
But there was a way to escape such desire. Awakening. If one received the Laurel's blessing, it was possible—for a short time.
Laurel Warriors are warriors taught directly by the Queen.
Elf warriors had ranks. Among them, Laurel Warriors were Stage 6—elites among elites, taught by the Elf Queen herself. And among Laurel Warriors, Auryll ranked in the top three. A stage considered to have no equal among humans.
Sword Gang. A Stage 7 warrior…!
And yet—Sword Gang bloomed from the human's blade. Sword Gang was a secret art only Stage 7 and above warriors could manifest. The ultimate weapon usable only by warriors chosen by the World Tree. From Stage 7 they were called World Tree Warriors, and naturally only a bare handful existed even among elves.
Among humans? Well, how could humans, capped at Level 10, ever reach the stage of Sword Gang? Especially humans who had never received the blessing of a lofty being like the World Tree. The only way for them to grow stronger was limit-breaking using the Goddess's corpse—a method so barbaric and primitive it made one want to vomit.
I naturally assumed no human warrior had reached Stage 7.
Was it because he possessed desire of that magnitude? Then the Sword Gang he had seized would not have been won by proper means.
If it came down to pure skill, Auryll couldn't lose.
Auryll was a genius of effort. Even among Laurel Warriors, she yielded to no one in skill. If that human man had obtained Sword Gang through twisted desire, facing Auryll would be too much for him.
…
That should have been the case. …What was that? He received the attacks of the Laurel-awakened Auryll far too easily—as if he had read every one of her strikes. Before they had even exchanged thirty blows, Auryll's awakening was cut short.
That was Auryll's sole weakness. Her awakening duration was extremely short even compared to other elves—because her Laurel leaves had not grown. Because she did not properly possess the Laurel's blessing, the Laurel's talent.
"N-No!"
With her awakening broken, Auryll was seized again by the sphere of desire. Unable to move, the man simply reached out his hand. In that moment—
Guooooooooh.
Desire crashed over Auryll. It opened its maw and swallowed her whole.
"Auryll!"
"No!"
The elves let out deep sighs. Aruwen was no different. Auryll would not be able to withstand that desire.
If I'd known, I would have brought World Tree Warriors…!
It was a blunder. But how could she have known such a human existed? She bitterly regretted the moment she had left the Primeval Forest, confident that this force was enough—more than enough. Only World Tree Warriors could control desire of that absurd magnitude. Had they come together, they might have prevented this disaster.
Then it happened. Something utterly different from her expectations began to unfold before her eyes.
"W-What?"
"Auryll's Laurel…!"
"I-It's growing?"
The state of Auryll, who had been consumed by desire, began to change rapidly. Young Laurel leaves all over her body were suddenly growing at explosive speed. But how? The only beings who could grow Laurel simply by placing a hand on a head were the World Tree and its guardian, the Queen. Yet even the Queen could not produce growth of that speed. And Auryll was… the type whose Laurel growth had been extremely slow. How could that man achieve growth even the Queen could not manage?
"Master of Greenery…"
Ah. Only then did she understand. That man was the Master of Greenery who existed in Basrak Forest—the one they had been searching for, the one the Queen herself had ordered them to find, the one who had climbed the Rift Tower. She had wondered by what means a human had become Master of Greenery. But seeing this, she understood. Because that was… no mere human. A higher being—one greenery itself would acknowledge as master.
I've heard of a race that could do such things…!
Neither dryad, nor elf, nor human. A legendary race. Only beings of higher rank among those called masters of all nature could work such a miracle.
But weren't they already a vanished race?
They were a race spoken of only in legend. They had existed even before the continent rose into the sky, yet all were said to have been wiped out by Ruin.
"Ahh!"
Auryll was equally astonished. Her Laurel had never grown no matter how hard she tried. She had believed it purely a matter of talent. She had lived half in resignation. But now Auryll was experiencing a miracle. Laurel leaves that had never grown in her life were sprouting across her entire body—more brilliantly, more beautifully than anyone's.
Auryll turned her head and looked at the man. Then the man slowly lifted his hand from her head. At the same time, the growing Laurel leaves began to wither away.
"No…"
Auryll let out a sigh, her pupils trembling wildly. Leaf growth she had never reached no matter how hard she tried her whole life. She had seen it, experienced it before her eyes—and everything was returning to how it was.
Yearning. It was a desire that took priority over any other emotion. Auryll was now dominated by desire—a taboo for elves, because an elf must always remain detached, together with nature. Without realizing it, Auryll reached out her hand. Even seized by desire, she could not forget the sensation she had felt while growing. That lifelong-yearned-for moment still would not leave her mind.
"…Auryll, stop."
But Auryll's yearning could not reach him. Aruwen, the Elf Elder, had stepped forward and come right up to her. She had stretched out her hand to restrain her so she would not be devoured by desire. Then Aruwen looked at the man and bowed her head deeply.
"…I apologize. My child has committed a discourtesy."
"E-Elder!"
"How could you bow to a human like that…!"
The elves were stunned.