19
19 - Escape
I mindlessly cut off the arm of the guy who shot the arrow as he tried to draw his sword. Then I thought, 'Oh no'.
'The civil servant said to unconditionally run away when meeting elves.'
But I ended up fighting. I couldn't help it from the beginning. How could I run away without fighting against someone charging at me to kill me?
The Dark Elf whose arm was cut off retreated with an expression distorted by pain and fear. Jin-woo rushed at him as if he wouldn't let him escape.
"Stop!"
A fellow who seemed to be his companion stepped forward to block Jin-woo.
The sword in his hand aimed for Jin-woo's neck. However, Jin-woo's gaze wasn't on his sword.
Only at one place. Toward the flames of those guys burning in the shape of tangled roots.
Seuling!
Jin-woo's sword pierced through the chest armor of the guy blocking his way and cut the flame. He was already dead with that.
Even the corpse falling naturally felt slow, so he pushed it aside and headed toward the Elf whose arm was initially cut off.
"Hi, hiiik!?"
Seeing Jin-woo charging like a demon, he tried to resist as much as possible with his remaining arm, but it was useless. Even his remaining arm that blocked the front was cut off, and eventually, the sword was thrust into the flame in his chest.
"Whew."
He kicked the corpse and pulled out his sword.
The flames absorbed from the two Dark Elves settled within Jin-woo. Much more flame than when he had been catching only rats these past few days.
But his mood wasn't good. No matter how different the race, killing beings similar to humans made him feel uneasy.
'It's not murder... Though it's a bit much to say that.'
Of course, he didn't kill humans from the same Earth. But Elves are also intelligent beings and can communicate, just with a different language. It's just that they're too aggressive.
He couldn't say he felt good about killing such beings with his own hands.
But what could he do? They tried to kill him first, so they should have been prepared to be counterattacked.
"Bulkar, are you safe?"
"You're amazing. No, incredible."
Looking at Bulkar, he was staring this way with astonished eyes. It seemed he couldn't believe the scene he just witnessed.
Dark Elves are even more ferocious among the already aggressive Elves.
To think he'd finish off two such Dark Elves in an instant!
However, the next moment, Bulkar's expression hardened. Just as he knew to put down gold coins when meeting Jin-woo, he also knew how to deal with encountering Elves.
"Jin-woo, follow me. Run away immediately."
"Run away?"
"Kuk! Please, bandage here."
Bulkar forcefully grabbed and pulled out the arrow lodged in his shoulder.
True to a Dark Elf's aggressive arrow, it had a harpoon-like structure that wouldn't come out easily once lodged. When he forcibly twisted and pulled it out, flesh was torn and blood gushed out.
Bulkar took out something like sticky ointment from his inventory pocket and smeared it thickly on the torn flesh. Then he took out bandages and handed them to Jin-woo, who wrapped them tightly.
"Let's go! Quickly!"
After finishing the treatment, Bulkar urgently pressed Jin-woo. Jin-woo had no choice but to follow without understanding why.
Bulkar, who returned to their dwelling in one breath, stuffed all the belongings there into the inventory.
'What's going on?'
Perhaps seeing Jin-woo's curious expression, Bulkar explained.
"Elves are coming. Very many."
"Coming?"
"Many, many."
What Bulkar heard about dealing with encounters with Elves was to run away first. But what if you couldn't run away and had to fight? What if you could win the fight and kill them safely?
Even then, he was told to run away regardless. Elves never leave their compatriots' deaths unattended. They said Elves would definitely come back to the place where their compatriot died.
"Crazy."
Jin-woo unconsciously spat out Korean instead of Elvish.
They're already fast-footed guys that aren't easy to run away from, and even killing them is dangerous?
"#$@^#$! %&#@!"
Words Jin-woo didn't know poured out of Bulkar's mouth. He didn't know the meaning, but somehow he seemed to understand the intent. Even with unknown foreign languages, you could somehow understand curses.
"Sorry. For killing them."
When Jin-woo apologized, Bulkar waved his hands.
"No, you did well. Those guys are just crazy."
Bulkar, who had stuffed all his long-used tools into the inventory, told Jin-woo to quickly escape.
***
Jin-woo and Bulkar passed through complex caves heading to the surface.
When asked why he was leaving his territory underground to head to the surface, he said there were various reasons.
The biggest problem was that there were no Blue Portals here. To find one, he'd have to dig new tunnels and wander around the entire underground, but trying to find Blue Portals that might or might not exist somewhere underground while digging tunnels was crazy.
Dwarves are good at digging ground, but it's not something to do while being chased by enemies.
Moreover, the means to procure food and water were limited, so it wasn't good conditions for a siege. Just staying put would only lead to dying of thirst.
Besides that, there were plenty of ways to torment enemies hiding in caves, such as lighting fires outside to fill the cave with smoke.
"Go out and find it. Blue Portal."
They had no choice but to find a portal and escape as quickly as possible. Jin-woo nodded to show he understood Bulkar's words.
At the same time, he thought it was ironic.
'I was chased by an Elf in the first Gate too and wandered looking for a Blue Portal.'
As a result, that black-haired Elf had no intention of killing him, but he didn't know that at the time. Not knowing how long that whim would last, he wandered aimlessly looking for a portal.
The situation was different, but something similar happened this time. The black-haired Elf chasing him had just changed to Dark Elves.
Fortunately, the path to the surface wasn't complicated. Bulkar had originally made his dwelling considering accessibility to the surface.
"Here."
They came up to the surface without much time passing.
The two who came up immediately surveyed the surroundings. No one was there. Bulkar sighed in relief and relaxed his tension.
But Jin-woo didn't relax.
'They're there.'
They're there. In places that can't be seen.
More precisely, there aren't any close enough to be visible. Quite far away, at a distance where they could barely be caught by Jin-woo's ki sense, about two flames could be felt.
The problem was that there was no guarantee those guys were the end.
'There might be more further away.'
Jin-woo's ki sense that detected blue flames wasn't narrow, but it wasn't tremendously wide either.
"Carefully."
When Jin-woo warned in a low voice, Bulkar's expression hardened, and he nodded.
Jin-woo asked.
"Where is the Blue Portal?"
"......"
Bulkar shook his head at that question. Jin-woo's complexion darkened. If he knew the portal's location, he could somehow break through to that place.
But if he didn't know, he'd be chased by Dark Elves for an indefinite period.
'Can't be helped.'
But what else could he do? If he didn't know, he had to find out.
Jin-woo and Bulkar faced each other and nodded. Even without saying it in words, their intentions matched.
The two wandered through the forest looking for a Blue Portal while continuously maintaining ki sense. But after going for a while.
Pubuubuuk!
Several arrows flew and lodged at their feet. Naturally, both their steps stopped.
"......This way."
Having no choice, they changed direction and took another path. If the previous direction was crossing a stream, this time it was going up along the stream.
But after going for a while again.
Pubuubuuk!
Arrows flew and lodged again.
Having the same thing happen twice, their intentions became clear.
'They're guiding us.'
They were guiding Jin-woo and Bulkar into their territory.
The blue flames caught by Jin-woo's ki sense were sometimes two, sometimes three. Sometimes they exceeded five, showing there were quite a lot of them.
"%&#@."
After being guided by arrows several more times, Bulkar couldn't stand it and spat out curses. He was very curious what level of profanity it would be compared to Earth's curses.
The guidance became increasingly blatant, with a continuing feeling of falling into an ant lion's trap.
Night came like that.
The two naturally stayed awake through the night with their eyes open. They couldn't know when they might attack.
"Jin-woo, are you safe?"
After the sun rose, Bulkar, who had been watching the east, asked. Jin-woo, who had been watching the west, nodded that he was fine.
It was okay not to sleep for about a day. Thinking to try escaping by targeting a gap today, the two left their position.
Today too, the enemies were still there, luring Jin-woo and Bulkar somewhere.
But there was no attack today either.
'What's this?'
After another night passed like that, Jin-woo realized their purpose.
They weren't simply guiding them somewhere. That was like a bonus, and their real purpose was different.
'Are they trying to tire us out?'
They were guiding them, but not attacking immediately also meant they wanted to drain their stamina.
Then if they continued being led around, they'd never see a good outcome. Finding a Blue Portal in an area already controlled by enemies was also a distant task.
"Bulkar. Let's run."
"What!?"
Bulkar was flustered by Jin-woo's decision. Right now they were surrounded by Elves. Multiple Elves with bows.
Jin-woo's words meant to break through that.
But Jin-woo's answer was simple. It was an unfavorable fight, but even if unfavorable, confronting them now had the highest chance of winning.
Having said that, Jin-woo himself charged out first.
***
Two days ago.
The presence of compatriots who went to rob the Dwarf stuck underground disappeared. It meant they died in an unexpected accident. Or they might have been defeated by the Dwarf.
Benvil, the leader of the Dark Elf bandit group Black Thorn Band that mainly operated in the Primeval Forest, instructed his subordinate.
"Two compatriots died. Go retrieve their souls. I'll watch the nearby entrances."
According to what Bulkar heard, Elves always come for revenge when compatriots die in the Gates.
That was a kind of survival strategy for them and also a strong bond that valued compatriots' safety.
That was common knowledge among other races, including Bulkar, but the truth was slightly different.
Their necessity to confirm compatriots' deaths wasn't about camaraderie or anything. It was to retrieve dead compatriots' souls.
"You know without me saying, but we must retrieve them. With Mother World Tree and the entire race already withering, even two souls are precious."
"Understood."
Elves' birth is somewhat more mystical compared to other races. No, not just birth but including death, the entire cycle itself could be called mystical.
When they die, their souls return to Mother World Tree and are purified cleanly within it. Then they become new souls and are born in the form of flowers and fruits.
A soul circulation system centered on the World Tree. There was a reason why they worshipped the Mother World Tree as their only god.
However, souls began withering at some point. New souls being born were clearly fewer than dead Elves' souls.
Accordingly, Mother World Tree was also gradually withering, so all Elves were now facing a crisis of species survival.
Therefore, even white-skinned Elves and black-skinned Elves, who were originally hostile, joined hands. The White Elf Queen and Black Elf King dramatically reconciled, ending their long antagonism, and both sides were working to save the World Tree.
In such a situation, they couldn't leave compatriots' souls in otherworlds like this Gate.
Moreover.
"You guys prepare, too. The moles will come up soon. For Mother World Tree, we need to bring even one more new soul."
Just as Jin-woo and other Earth humans entered Gates to obtain ingredients and magic stones, and Dwarves entered Gates to mine rare minerals, the Elves entered Gates to obtain souls.
Not low-grade souls of grass or irrational animals either.
They definitely needed intelligent beings' souls. High-purity souls that could be poured into the World Tree as nutrients to make new buds bloom.
"They came out. Guide them to the base."
After waiting for a while, the moles came out of the cave entrance. One Dwarf and one human.
'A human?'
According to investigated traces, there were only traces of one Dwarf coming and going, but a human?
He was puzzled but didn't care much. Since he also frequented Gates, he knew well the characteristics of this otherworld.
Probably when entering, he randomly fell into the underground cave.
"They're trying to escape by another path. Shoot."
"Yes."
At Benvil's gesture, subordinates shot several arrows to block the human and Dwarf's front. It was a warning that they'd shoot to kill if they went further this way.
'It's better to capture them alive if possible.'
What they needed were new souls. Not souls that only circulated among themselves, but completely different souls transfused from outside.
However, using non-Elf souls as World Tree nutrients to make them born as new Elves required some processing.
It didn't matter if they killed and brought them, but if they could capture them alive, nothing could be better.
"Maintain distance. While we're at it, endlessly torment them so they can't rest comfortably."
They carefully maintained distance while guiding them. But then.
"Boss."
"Did you return? You retrieved the souls well, right?"
The subordinate who went to collect dead compatriots' souls returned. When asked if he properly finished the job, the subordinate's expression was strange.
"The souls... Aren't there."
"What? Not there?"
"Yes."
Though Benvil asked back at the impossible situation, the subordinate's answer remained unchanged.
The subordinate also had a frowning expression as if such a thing shouldn't happen. At a time when every soul was precious for the withering Mother World Tree, to lose as many as two.
This way, even if they captured the human and the Dwarf they were currently chasing, it would ultimately be a loss. Losing two Elf souls and gaining two other races' souls that needed processing would be a loss, wouldn't it?
Then the image of that human suddenly flashed through Benvil's mind.
A human who suddenly appeared when there were no traces when investigating the Dwarf's traces.
'High-level work like handling souls is too much for Dwarves who just play with stones.'
Then the culprit was definitely that human.
Benvil's eyes blazed with the thought that he must, absolutely must catch him to retrieve compatriots' souls.
Especially now, there was a white-skinned Elf at the base. An annoying woman who was impressive with her long black hair cascading down, said to be a knight serving the queen.
White-skinned elves, though they were in a cooperative relationship now, were those who had been antagonistic for a long time. That alone was already irritating, but among them, especially those nobles and knights whom Benvil particularly hated.
At a time when such a person was present, he couldn't show an unseemly appearance. Before performance or anything, his pride as a Dark Elf wouldn't allow it.
'Absolutely cannot let him escape!'
With eyes filled with strong will, he looked at the back of the human running away in the distance.
Even watching from this distance, he felt dizzy. He was certain. It was definitely an evil being, like a black magician who played with souls and bewitched minds.