Chapter 202
Chapter 202
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 202
Chapter Title: The Place Swept by Flames (1)
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The aftermath of the disaster that struck the elves' city, Hesiliad, was unprecedented. Rebuilding this devastated wasteland of ashes to its former prosperity would likely take decades, if not more.
But the damage was restored far faster than anyone could have imagined.
――――― Woooom...!!
The World Tree, which had withered and seemed on the verge of death, had fully regained its power.
Hesilia, the deity overseeing nature and respite, used her authority to restore all that had perished. She reverted the forests scorched by flames, rebuilt the ruined structures from their stumps, calmed the naturalized guardians, and extinguished the lingering fires. The traces of the catastrophe vanished like a fleeting daydream amid the turquoise mists.
Of course, the most crucial restoration was reviving the World Tree's roots to seal the 'rift'... though few knew of that fact.
The recovery of Hesiliad wasn't solely due to the World Tree. The non-naturalized guardians and surviving elves also poured their efforts into restoring their homeland.
And there were some utterly unexpected allies.
The first of them were the spirits.
- Crunch, cruuunch...
- Plop, plip, plop...
"Ugh! Wh-what the heck? Out of nowhere?"
"Th-those things... aren't they spirits?"
Spirits of trees, sprouts, rainwater, mud... Ancient beings thought long extinct suddenly appeared, reviving the destroyed vegetation and restoring the environment. The spirits demanded no payment, merely occasionally devouring strange wisps of sky-blue smoke drifting in the air.
The elves found this selfless aid peculiar, but in truth, it was akin to settling a debt. Their true nature was the 'Infernos'—the hellfire spirits that had incinerated the great forest—purified by the World Tree's blessing...
And the second were the dark elves.
Splat, thwack! Craaack...!
- Krgh, kuaaaargh...
"Hah, hah... Th-thank you for saving... uh...?"
"Y-you people...?"
"......"
Elves chased by naturalized druids, or those buried under collapsed debris or isolated—many among them were rescued by their former kin, the apostates who had turned their backs on the World Tree and whom they had shunned.
Turning their backs on the bewildered survivors, the dark elves vanished into the shadows like phantoms. They hadn't offered aid for honor or praise. It was simply an act of respect toward a certain boy druid, for whom they had risked their lives to protect his apostle...
Thanks to the cooperation and efforts from all quarters, Hesiliad regained much of its former appearance in a mere ten days or so.
Washing away the grief for the fallen would take even longer... but the elves' complexions had brightened considerably. The knowledge that all things were recovering, and that Mother World Tree brimmed with vitality more than ever, gradually cleansed the stains left by the disaster.
Once they had the mental space to consider other matters, the first question that came to the elves' minds was this:
Just what was the culprit behind the catastrophe that burned the great forest and Hesiliad?
"It had to be those demons scattering that hellfire, right...? The ones that looked like massive burning giants..."
"No, the point is, who the hell unleashed those demons? Mother World Tree's roots are right there in plain view—do you think that many demons just dropped from the sky?"
"It was definitely a dragon! I saw it with my own eyes, trying to burn even Mother World Tree!"
"Well, obviously the celestial gods were enraged... Everyone saw the sky turn black, the sun flash, and stars rain down, didn't they?"
Opinions varied wildly, but one point they all agreed on: who held the answer to that mystery.
The forest tyrant-slaying basilisk killer, who had vanished into the World Tree only to drop from the skies on the day of doom... a certain barbarian warrior.
"No doubt about it! He's always been at the center of everything! He knows all about what happened!"
"Right? So how about our brave elder goes straight to that clearing and asks him?"
"Wh-what are you saying? Ahem, I should go fix some damaged roofs..."
But no one dared to inquire.
The warrior, already exuding a menacing aura, now radiated an impenetrable oppressive darkness since the day of disaster. After a few elves fainted just from glimpsing him from afar, the southern clearing where he often appeared became an absolute no-go zone, even more so than the basilisk's valley.
That's why, at dusk one evening, when a certain woman headed straight for that clearing, the citizens of Hesiliad who witnessed it gasped in unison.
"Uh...? Sh-shouldn't we stop that woman...?"
"Hey, miss! Th-that's a place you can't go! Come back here!"
"Damn it, another corpse to clean up..."
The braver ones rushed into the forest to intervene, but by the time they arrived, the woman was nowhere to be seen.
"Huh...?"
"Hm? Hey! Wh-where'd she go?"
The elves looked around in bewilderment, as if possessed.
From distant underbrush, a pair of bright yellow eyes flickered away like fireflies.
A clearing overgrown with dense trees and weeds.
Beneath the shadowed sunset glow, a stoic giant sat on a rock, tending to his gear.
He oiled and wiped the red blade. Bent iron bars to mend his worn pauldrons, and fiercely sharpened the wavy axe head on a whetstone. The grating sound—whether honing the edge or pulverizing the stone—scraped harshly at his heart.
Watching him, Ilenia parted her lips with a troubled expression.
"......I wouldn't even know how to console your grief."
"......"
"I'm sorry. It's a cliché, but truly, no words of mine would bring comfort, so I haven't visited until now... Still, to leave unspoken my regards to the one who bore such a heavy burden to save the world... would be an even greater rudeness, so I've come like this."
"......"
Kadim had for the first time asked Melissa to stop her, and only after more than ten days since her death did he not rebuke the visiting woman. He paused briefly, exhaled lowly, and resumed sharpening his axe.
Ilenia suddenly spotted fresh bloodstains on the jet-black axe below and inquired curiously. The response was this:
"Forest tyrant beasts or whatever, and similarly transformed guardians. I've been roaming around cleaning them up. Now the elves won't get hurt while scurrying about to restore the forest."
"......"
She had thought him secluded in despair... but her assumption was dead wrong. Ilenia stared vacantly at the man who wouldn't cease fighting even now.
"By any chance... the one who razes the world... ah, no, Lady Melissa's body... where is it laid to rest?"
"Burned it."
"Pardon?"
"Ignited flames with my blood and burned her in those fires. Even the ashes were scattered, so now fire and wind are her grave."
"......"
The most fitting final rite for the woman who had become flames and ashes.
Ilenia solemnly nodded. After a moment of silent condolence, she reported the events in Hesiliad during his absence.
"As you know, the rift's core has safely closed. However, the apostle said that restoring beyond the roots consumed more of the World Tree's power than expected... so the deferral of doom is realistically between 20 and 30 years."
"To minimize chaos, it'll be announced publicly that the 'World Tree Warden' remains unchanged. It wasn't a position paraded openly to begin with, so even if dark elf Apostle Lilia succeeds her, it shouldn't cause issues."
"The cause of the great forest and Hesiliad's burning will likely be declared a demonic assault. The Infernos were convincing enough as demons, so no major problems there either. Thus, no need to worry about Lady Melissa's actions being exposed or her honor tarnished."
Ilenia continued with more positive developments: the hellfire spirits purified, elves regaining their sacrificed blood to restore lifespans, promoting exchanges between elves and dark elves...
But Kadim's expression darkened further instead of improving. All those restorations were also evidence of someone's misdeeds.
Silence thickened into the murky remnants of twilight.
Ilenia finally continued, having spotted something on Kadim's neck.
"That marking... did Lady Melissa leave it before her passing?"
"Yes. A spell to ward off heat and cold."
"I see... Yes, though her final actions bore regrettable flaws... her care for you was genuine..."
"She didn't leave just this. Look."
Interrupting, Kadim suddenly stomped the ground fiercely.
―――――― Kwaaang, craaack...!
Dust billowed, and the earth split wide, sinking. Ilenia nearly toppled from the violent tremors. A calm explanation followed toward the woman gaping in shock.
"I've regained nearly all the power from when I slew the archdemon. At least 80%... no, 90%. As you said before, killing beings stronger than me boosted my 'realm' immensely."
"......"
"I said I'd bear it myself... but I never imagined Melissa's unquenchable flames would truly temper me."
The priestess of the Forgotten God froze in daze. The war god's berserker, as if to mock his repairs, wiped the dusted throwing axe on his pants and hefted it.
"Anyway, Melissa's dying words keep nagging at me."
"......"
Words about slaying the elves' god and becoming the new one.
Kadim had initially dismissed it as nonsense. But upon reflection, it wasn't. Humans' 'realms' explode upward when slaying far superior beings—a fact proven by how killing Melissa had elevated him so.
In other words, if taken to extremes, a human slaying a god might truly 'transcend' into divinity...
"Coincidentally, those around me, under the guise of revelations, keep goading me to kill gods somehow."
"......!!"
Her unfocused yellow eyes shook. The deepening void in his pupils pierced hers.
"Tell me. If I follow the revelation and slay the 'fake Elga' to gain godhood, what then? What do you lot plan after that?"
"......"
"What is Gordon scheming through me?"
But Ilenia wasn't looking at Kadim.
Her yellow eyes were fixed in stunned fixation on the western sky—the sun still clinging to the horizon long past sunset.
"Ka-Kadim...!"
Too late by the time she screamed and reached out.
A brilliant beam turned the area into midday.
――――――― Craaash... boom!!
'Heavenly Judgment' pierced Kadim dead center.
Ilenia's face drained white.
"......N-nooo!!!'"
'Heavenly Judgment' brooked no resistance. Even dragons suffered grave wounds from direct hits; mortals mostly died or took fatal injuries.
Her survival of one at Galentana Academy had been pure luck—grazed while using the hideout's shadows as buffer. But this was a clear, unbuffered strike.
An inexcusably fatal blunder. My god, exposing revelation's warrior to the 'watching eye'? She should have come after dark, steered the conversation carefully, prepared a hideout... Ilenia's mind bleached to the blinding flash filling her vision.
Yet somehow, Kadim neither took a fatal wound nor died.
"......Huh?"
He merely broke a light sweat, grimacing so veins bulged on his forehead.
"This... that damned eye's heavenly judgment?"
"......"
"......Fucking hurts. Definitely not surviving a second."
The warrior raised his axe haft, glaring at the sun as if to split it. The 'Blessing of Fire and Ice' on his neck pulsed with murky light.
Wooong, whirrr, woooom...
Ilenia stared blankly at the absurd sight before snapping to and rummaging her bag.
Fwoosh!
She unfurled scraps of 'Nightshadow Blind'. As the area darkened, she opened a warp rift and yanked the man inside.
Groooowl...!
By the time the black veil fluttered down, nothing remained beneath.
In the distant west, the sun—blazing like an angry watcher's eye—finally sank beyond the horizon.