Land of the Elves
Land of the Elves
To a priest of the Predator, a self was a privilege rarely granted.
When one was granted, it was always as part of an operational parameter.
Such was the case for the Forest Keeper Aslan had faced, and for Chimera before its rampage.
To the Predator, a self was nothing more than a tool. So if a true self awakened, it meant one of two things.
Either autonomous action had been authorized for a high priest, or a situation beyond the Predator's intent had occurred.
Chimera was the latter.
Chimera's self was one the Predator had never planned to awaken.
The trigger for that awakening was just as unusual.
Paradoxically, it happened through a brush with death.
Nine years ago, Chimera had faced Aslan.
She had engaged him to kill and devour a hero, as was her function, and at the end of that battle, she met her death.
More precisely, she was brought to the brink of it.
Aslan's blade had pierced her core.
The core served as the vessel for life support, the storage for divinity that defied natural law, and the fuel source for moving her colossal body.
For a priest of the Predator, the destruction of the core was synonymous with death.
For Chimera, with her exceptionally massive body, this should have been absolute... but as her core shattered and her soul began to leak out, her self began to awaken.
The Predator's lock on her ego, already breaking down from the core damage, was the first thing to go.
As Chimera regained her self, she became fixated on the first thing she saw.
Like a newborn chick imprinting on the first creature it sees as its mother.
What she saw was Aslan.
Or rather, it was the truth about Aslan.
As her soul seeped away, slowly being pulled toward the Predator's true form, Chimera glimpsed a vast, immense existence.
A presence infinitely small yet overwhelmingly vast, diffused everywhere.
The true creator of this world.
Everything in this universe was an artificial construct, shaped and born from that being's hands.
All except for one.
Aslan.
An uncreated being.
An existence that had materialized as if by spontaneous generation.
This world was a trap designed for him.
Chimera became obsessed with that fact, and she envied him.
She wanted that uniqueness for herself.
Not knowing it was a hunger born from losing everything, she blindly fixated.
To achieve that obsession, she devoured any soul she could find to sustain her body.
Persistently, even after the Predator's support and connection were severed.
All to one day devour and steal Aslan's uniqueness.
In the end, she only failed.
Chimera's soul faded like dying embers. Slowly, like a fire going out.
No one knew the truth of it.
Not even Aslan, looking down at her broken form.
A pitiful wreck, beheaded and heart-pierced by Fay's blade, collapsed in ruin.
Aslan caught a glimpse of the human within it and felt a strange emotion stir, his lips parting silently.
Nothing he said would reach her now.
Why she had been so fixated on him, why she had called his name until the very moment of her death.
He couldn't even begin to guess.
[Main Quest Completed]
[Hunt the High Priest Chimera and protect the Land of the Elves]
He only let out a sigh once he saw the system window declaring the matter concluded.
"Is everyone alright?"
When he belatedly turned his head and asked, Richard shrugged as he shook out his right hand. He winced slightly, perhaps in pain, but seemed to be bearing it with effort.
"My hand got a bit crispy, but I'll be fine soon enough."
Or I can just find a mage from the Restoration School.
The nonchalant remark carried the distinct aftertaste of a noble upbringing.
Aslan shifted his attention from Richard and looked to the others in turn.
"I'm fine. Except for being a little lonely since you haven't hugged me in a while..."
"Looks like you're fine. You did well."
"Yes."
Perhaps cheered by the praise, Ereta grinned broadly.
Her face, resting on her hand, had a gentle, relaxed expression with no sign of injury.
Even if she had been hurt, she would have healed quickly.
His gaze shifted to Rumel, Angie, and Fay.
When he looked to Rumel first, everyone's eyes momentarily converged on her.
Rumel was holding her head, and she flinched at the sudden attention.
"Ah, I'm alright. It's just... my head hurts a little..."
Her head. She hadn't taken any direct hits, so there was only one likely cause.
"A concussion, probably. You took that shockwave and went flying... Sit down and rest for now."
At his gentle smile and words, Rumel fiddled with her braid, looking regretful. Angie, who had been watching Rumel, turned as she felt eyes settle on her.
A flicker of surprise crossed her golden eyes.
"Huh, me too?"
"Yeah."
"Ah, what's the point of asking me? I heal on my own, don't I? She's the same way."
"She has a name. It's Fay. Even with a bigger body, Angie is still an idiot."
As if the hatred she'd shown while beheading Chimera moments ago was a lie, Fay casually picked a fight with Angie.
"Well, I'm no mage, but everyone looks fine. If I had to worry about something... it'd be those guys and that thing over there."
Angie breezed past Fay's comment and continued.
It was hard to tell if her larger body had given her more composure, or if it was a side effect of her sudden growth.
Offended at being ignored, Fay pouted and kicked repeatedly at Angie's shin.
Angie snorted and started playing footsies with Fay. Having already grasped what Angie had meant, Aslan let them squabble and turned his head.
The elves were in the direction Angie had pointed with her chin, and the hole in the sky was where her eyes had indicated.
Snow was piling up.
Aslan lifted his head and saw the elves approaching timidly from behind.
Sure enough, the worries centered on the elves and the possibility that this space itself might have been compromised.
If Aslan had been completely ignorant of the game's plot, the worry might have lingered a little longer.
But as long as the remains of the God of Nature and Creation were intact, there was little to fear. Looking up, he saw the hole in the sky gradually closing, pushed shut by a warm breeze.
"There's nothing to worry about. The God of Nature and Creation is a powerful deity. It will likely recover on its own. And if we leave immediately, there won't be any chance of the elven lands being found."
The Land of the Elves was a place that could not be entered without an elf's presence.
The reason Chimera had been able to invade was essentially because Aslan's group had entered.
The sooner they left, the less the risk of exposure. So there was no real issue. If there was one remaining concern...
'Chimera.'
Specifically, Chimera's items.
A glance at Chimera showed a form vastly different from its original appearance.
In the game, Chimera was an enemy that dropped unique items.
A suit of power armor that granted a +8 size bonus to Strength and Health, wearable proportionally to the user's total mana capacity.
But now, having discarded size for the ability to spew plasma, he had no idea what kind of item might be produced.
The extent of the damage was also a problem. Fay's intervention had made for a quick fight, but the only parts left on Chimera's body were nearly shredded wreckage.
The core that had spewed plasma was gone, the gauntlets that controlled it had fallen off, and the nozzle-like flight apparatus was destroyed.
It was uncertain whether anything salvageable remained.
"Certainly more manageable than that maniac we fought before. It's a bit of a shock that no one's asking how this old-timer is doing, but I'm alrigh—"
Perhaps feeling left out, Tiyamal approached and rambled on, but Aslan ignored him and walked toward Chimera's corpse.
At a cursory glance, there was indeed nothing worth taking.
The visual module had stopped working, and the chest area, where it had been pierced, showed that the core and the entire drive assembly connected to it had been torn out.
A combustion device linked to the core seemed intact, and the gauntlet on the ground wasn't in bad shape, but Aslan's expression was inscrutable as its exact use was unclear.
'What am I even supposed to use this for...'
Its defensive value was negligible, having been damaged even by the standard medium crossbow Tiyamal had fired.
But a strange intuition prickled at him—a feeling that something might change if he touched it. Despite his doubts, Aslan followed the instinct and reached out his hand.
"...Ngh?!"
And as his Dragon-king hand made unwitting contact, a crackling current crawled up his arm, making him grimace.
"Aslan?!"
"What, what's going on?"
His companions' flustered voices swirled with worry as they rushed over. Drowning them out, a mechanical voice filled Aslan's mind.
[Top-Level Operator: Dragon-king]
[Access of relevant operator confirmed.]
The voice resembled the Predator's mechanical tone.
Before Aslan could even determine if it was authentic, he felt his mana flow surging out from his Dragon-king hand of its own accord, spreading over Chimera's entire body.
'What's... happening?'
Alarmed, Aslan quickly seized the reins of his mana. Having reached the realm of the superhuman, his magic tried to cut the flow under his control.
[Additional operation execution impossible. Transitioning to Transformation Plan. Transferring relevant operator's primary armament to Top-Level Operator: Dragon-king.]
[Please input desired armament: ___]
He stopped at the voice that followed.
It was akin to a command prompt.
A phenomenon where sound seemed to solidify into text, hovering in his mind as if awaiting his input.
Rapidly assessing the situation, Aslan looked down at his Dragon-king arm.
He now had a sense of what was happening.
The soul distortion caused by the transplanted Dragon-king arm had clearly led to him being identified as the Dragon-king.
Aslan thought so, and his thought was about half right.
What Aslan didn't know was that Chimera had been abandoned by the Predator ever since its core was damaged and its lock released.
There was no way it would have received any information updates or support, which was why it had recognized the Dragon-king as a high priest based on nine-year-old data.
If Aslan hadn't damaged the core back then, he would have lost his arm again, or Chimera would have self-destructed.
This was an opportunity.
Aslan hadn't grasped the full context; unaware of the whole story, he had simply acted on a gut feeling driven by Luck.
And Aslan, who had never missed an opportunity in all his years living in Geladrion, spoke at once.
"Large bow."
He muttered the words without even answering the questions about whether he was okay. As his companions cast dubious looks and moved closer to pull him away—
[Please input desired armament: Large Bow_]
The blinking message closed, and Chimera's body began to transform.
With a whirring, clanking, and whining—strange sounds of metal twisting, meshing, and connecting—Chimera's body rapidly reconfigured.
"Nngh...!"
Simultaneously, a current crawled up his Dragon-king arm.
Aslan gritted his teeth against the violent electricity racing along his nerves.
The jolt was powerful enough that losing consciousness or letting go of Chimera would have been unsurprising, but Aslan held on.
Purely thanks to the Indomitable perk of his Fighting Spirit, which nullified status effects.
The scattered electrical damage was healed by the Pillar of Creation, a function of Purity, so even as the current made him groan, Aslan continued Chimera's modification.
He actively channeled his mana to boost efficiency. As the transformation accelerated under the torrent of mana, his companions moved to help, raising their weapons.
"I'm fine—so stay back!"
They flinched at his shout.
"But Aslan...!"
Some still tried to intervene, finding it dangerous, but before they could, it was all over.
Crackle... crackle-pop!
The current scattered, passing through and off Aslan's body. Five minutes had passed, feeling like an eternity.
Gasping for breath, Aslan finally held the completed bow in his hand.
A large bow, looking like something Tiyamal could use. Wiping the cold sweat from his brow with the back of his hand, Aslan looked down at it.
It was indeed a bow, yet characterized by an oddly futuristic design.
Having been forged from an entire high priest of the Predator, it boasted a sleek, streamlined curve.
There was no sense of it being crude or lacking.
The seams etched into the bow's body glowed with a faint golden light, and even a gentle warmth emanated from them.
A bow of dark gray metal.
Distinctively, peculiar protrusions extended from the sight window on the riser all the way to the nocking point on the string.
As Aslan panted, studying these design features, a voice pushed into his ear.
[Wearable annihilation-destruction operation assistant operator, Chimera.]
[Locally procured energy: Plasma emission function via mana installed.]
[Emission type: Arrow]
[Remaining energy 12%. Proceed with firing test?: ___]
Plasma emission function. Emission type: arrow.
That could mean only one thing.
Aslan raised the bow and aimed at the sky. His companions, surprised by the sudden action, let out questioning murmurs and watched.
"Yes."
It was the bow that responded to his murmured voice.
The golden glow along the seams flared like kindling fire, and between the arrow rest and the center of the string, plasma churned and bloomed to life.
"Uh, that? That's the bastard's... from before..."
Angie's stunned voice confirmed it—the arrow now nocked on the large bow resembled the javelins Chimera had been hurling.
Aslan gazed at the arrow and then drew back the string.
The plasma, which should have burned flesh and melted bone at the slightest touch, yielded to the motion and was pulled back.
Under the control of the flowing electromagnetic field, the plasma seethed docilely. And without hesitation, Aslan released the string toward the sky.
—Thrummm!
The plasma launched, the drawn string vibrating. A golden arrow took flight.
Precisely through the slowly closing hole in the sky it slipped—
—and detonated with a roar that thundered across the heavens.
A blazing sun, as though a second star had risen. Aslan watched it, then slowly lowered his gaze to meet Tiyamal's eyes, lit up with the rapture of having discovered a treasure.
Only his tail, thrashing wildly, could fully express his emotion.