Recycled Trash (2)
All elves followed their leader, Agentress. That raised a natural question. Why had Elcidoir ended up separated from Agentress and her group, landing alone in reality?
The answer was simple. Because he was strong.
No matter how chaotic the Arcana Continent had become with demons running rampant, no one had dared stand in Elcidoir's way.
“A Blood Elf...? An elf like that exists?”
Elcidoir had repeated countless battles. He had reached a new realm unknown even to Agentress—or himself. Among elves, he had specialized into the most combative sense: a Blood Elf.
The supernovas flinched.
“Th-that's not the point right now, is it?!”
“Elcidoir... that crazy elf bastard!”
“Hold on. Why the hell did that guy suddenly show up here?!”
Their panic didn't last. Elcidoir wasn't the type for mercy—or patience.
His eyes scanned the gold mine's structure. A red aura flowed behind him.
“Whoever you are, choosing a place like this for a meeting? Your intentions are obvious. A deep spot with only one entrance. If things don't go your way, you planned to kill everyone and seal it off, right?”
The supernovas stirred at Elcidoir's words.
“What the hell is that guy on about?”
An awkward silence fell. Then some supernovas' faces drained of color.
No, but hearing it now...
It wasn't nonsense.
Why had they chosen the underground gold mine in the Yusra Kingdom, of all places? The world was full of spots beyond prying eyes. Even unpopular rifts barely had a couple of low-level players inside.
Definitely easier to clean up afterward.
Run into someone unlucky? Kill them before they could escape—no problem. Clear the rift after the meeting, and no evidence remained.
But a gold mine? Even if their target was Harcon Kingsguard, who was staying in Yusra, it was inefficient as hell. Plus, Kinber's example as a cautionary tale.
Did the Five Stars really have some other agenda?
But there was no time to grill the Five Stars now. Not for the remaining supernovas.
A dropped torch on the ground. In its light, Elcidoir's form emerged.
“You're definitely more rotten than that one.”
He took a deep breath and chuckled.
“Thanks. For sparing me any pesky guilt.”
Swoosh—
With elven grace, he accelerated. Not cutting through the wind, but riding it.
Elcidoir sliced smoothly and swiftly through the supernovas. No questions asked. The movement of a hunter.
Just as Hoyeol treated demons. Elcidoir treated humans as prey.
Or more precisely...
Stab!
...as trash to hunt.
“Uwaaaaaagh!!”
A dozen supernovas collapsed in an instant. Elcidoir stared at them blankly.
At the backs of those fleeing toward the deep mine, opposite the entrance.
A cold voice echoed.
“No learning ability, I see?”
The line oddly resembled someone else's, but Elcidoir remained oblivious.
He simply stepped forward.
Thud. Thud.
“Sp-spare...”
Stab!
Something felt off. He'd expected it to be fun.
Stuck in that boring garden all this time.
[Hierarchy of Blessing]. With the blessing of his mother, Hoyeol, Elcidoir couldn't rebel.
But that arrogant human had seen some change in him. The order to stay in the Garden of Dignity had been lifted.
Stab!
So this was his first sword in ages, his first slaughter in delight.
Thinking back to his past self, this moment should have been pure joy. Their screams like cheering crowds, their blood sweet as wine.
“Kuh... ughhh...!”
But it wasn't fun.
Blood was just blood. Screams were just screams.
Only then did Elcidoir realize it. His lips curved faintly.
“This is awkward.”
The trash collapsed in the garden came to mind. Staring at flowers and plants day in, day out—had that enriched his sensitivity?
Maybe he wanted to atone for his sins, just like that trash.
But Elcidoir knew.
Harcon.
—How's your mood today, Elcidoir?
The palace maids.
—Sorry, Sir Elcidoir. But you cleared your plate yesterday?
Good. So yesterday's meal suited your taste!
And Lee Hoyeol.
—One day, you'll grasp your pride.
Maybe I...
...truly wanted to walk with them. Near their bright light. Even drenched in blood, it might not show.
Forgetting the weight of the countless vengeful spirits clinging to his ankles.
He might have hoped.
But Elcidoir wasn't deluded.
“Know your place.”
Realizing they shone so brilliantly meant realizing those whose lives he'd taken could have shone too.
Elcidoir had awakened to that.
Stab!
So he wouldn't walk with them. He'd just follow from afar.
Even unclean hands had their uses.
Like now.
If you're the sword of light, Harcon.
I'll be the sword of shadow.
One so secretive, cruel, and sharp—even Lee Hoyeol wouldn't know.
Thud. Thud.
Elcidoir entered the mine's depths.
They'd used their heads, at least. Traps triggered the moment he stepped forward.
Whoosh!
They poured down on him.
“N-no way...”
But Elcidoir allowed not a single counterattack. As the final bastion crumbled, despair etched the supernovas' faces.
And with it, they had no choice but to notice. Among the supernovas, the five blazing brightest: the Five Stars, the Oseong.
But.
“...?”
No matter where he looked, they were gone.
The supernovas' bewilderment showed plainly.
Elcidoir spoke.
“Cut and run, huh. Whatever.”
They'd be too broken to move for now.
Just remnants to clean up.
Elcidoir advanced on the supernovas.
Someone asked him.
“...I-is this Lee Hoyeol's order?”
Elcidoir countered.
“You think so?”
“...!”
The supernova shut up.
Only Lee Hoyeol in this world could control an Elcidoir like that. Somehow, he'd reformed him.
But.
Lee Hoyeol ordered us attacked...?
Unbelievable. Recalling his actions, it couldn't be.
“Th-then why are you...?”
Elcidoir continued.
“Because you showed yourselves.”
“...!”
“Because you dared reveal your presence.”
Even giving irredeemable trash like him a chance proved it. Lee Hoyeol would have shown mercy if they'd admitted their wrongs and found their pride.
Elcidoir swallowed a laugh.
Not for nothing he likes flowers.
Sees the world too beautifully.
But trash knows only trash intentions. As kin, Elcidoir could vouch.
Once trash crosses the line, it'll cross again anytime. Wash the past and be reborn? He'd grab such fools by the collar.
Beat them down and show them the sins dragging their ankles.
“I always said know your place.”
In that sense, the adventurer Kinber, passed out in the garden, appealed.
He'd raced to the Golden Palace half-dead with news of Harcon, begging no forgiveness.
Seems we could have a decent partnership.
Adventurers had their own perspectives.
With Kinber, he could process trash more efficiently.
Elcidoir swung without hesitation.
Of the supernovas, only the escaped Five Stars and Kinber survived.
The grand Star Council ended thus.
Elcidoir shook off the blood and muttered.
“With the great event so near, better keep it quiet.”
Soon, the Mage Tower portal to Arcana would open. Thanks to Yunak Seus's sacrifice.
He didn't want attention on that noble act scattered by these trash's end.
Rumble-crash!
So he collapsed the mine.
In other nations or lands, a sealed mine might cause issues, but this was Yusra. Gold mines everywhere.
No one would know of their deaths.
“Trash deserves a trashy end.”
Elcidoir turned his back on the mine.
By now, the vital energy surging in the Garden of Dignity should have revived Kinber.
Time to interrogate... no, graciously converse.
The early escapers. The Five Stars. Oseong.
Elcidoir had no intention of letting them live.
*
Ryu Ojuncheon gazed at his true Five Stars.
“You've worked hard all this time.”
The class that grew by dominating and devouring others: Monarch.
The supernovas were elites raised by that exact method.
The implication was simple. The Five Stars hadn't risen within the supernovas.
The supernovas existed because of the Five Stars.
One of them, Baek Seongryun, bowed.
“We have executed your command and returned.”
Long tails get stepped on eventually. The Five Stars planned to sever their unnecessary ones.
Hence the absurd target at the Star Council: Harcon Kingsguard.
The lion heart knight, reverse scale of Lee Hoyeol and the Holy War Alliance.
Ryu Ojuncheon asked no more.
“I trust you. You've handled it well, as expected.”
“We are deeply grateful for your faith.”
The Five Stars bowed in unison.
...No need to report?
But among them, Baek Seongryun couldn't shake his unease.
He couldn't fathom what happened at the Star Council.
Kinber. Why did that guy...
Act so contradictorily?
Kinber was probably dead by now. Even if he escaped the mine somehow, the supernovas' net would catch him.
But Baek Seongryun didn't dwell.
...No, that's beyond my purview.
Precisely, he couldn't.
His blind loyalty to his lord wouldn't tolerate such muddled thoughts.
Soon, Ryu Ojuncheon declared before the Five Stars.
“Word that the supernovas targeted Harcon will spread soon. Lee Hoyeol won't sit idle. That's our moment to enter the Arcana Continent.”
As soon as a few hours, perhaps.
Ryu Ojuncheon was fully geared. Ready with the Five Stars to enter via connectors anytime.
He waited calmly for that moment.
Regrettably, it never came.
Not hours, not days. Not even when Harcon walked on two legs again.
Breaking news poured in.
—Hero of Reversal Harcon Gains New Legs...!
Nam Taemin: “No issue standing on the battlefield now. He's even more agile than before...”
Ryu Ojuncheon asked the Five Stars.
“Explain what happened.”
“...”
“What went down at the Star Council?”
No one could answer.
That day's truth was buried with the collapsed mine.
Yet it hadn't vanished.
No need to dig—it approached on its own.
At the same time.
Garden of Dignity.
“...That's my guess.”
“So the Five Stars are tied to Cheonha Tongil?”
“Well, need proof to be sure.”
“No, that's enough.”
Elcidoir shook his head.
Proof? Pointless pursuit. Overkill for trash.
“Even if not, doesn't matter. Cheonha Tongil's the same trash anyway. Might as well sweep them together.”
Cheonha Tongil. True rank 1 guild.
To dismiss them so lightly.
But Kinber didn't take it lightly. He knew Elcidoir had the power.
And it wasn't a joke.
So Kinber laughed too.
“Agreed, pointy-ears.”
He stood, continuing.
“So we head to their den. China.”