92
092 ― Proposal to Join
A massive sword was lifted. And it fell.
Falling through the air, cutting through the atmosphere, it looked like some meteor was falling.
The Elves had already begun evacuating, and the Orcs abandoned their siege and everything else, fleeing in all directions. Jin-woo also gladly accepted the advice of the God of Moonlit Forest and immediately ran.
Kuguugugugugung!
The sword that fell, shaking the atmosphere, split the forest. No matter how much it was protected by the divine spirit's energy, it was useless.
This side was merely receiving minor assistance with weak power, while that side was the divine spirit himself descending.
The forest was split in half with a single stroke, and the trees were either cleaved in two or uprooted and sent flying. Just from the aftermath of bringing down the sword, Moonlit Forest was completely blown apart. To this extent, even the temple would have been completely destroyed without a trace.
"Aaah!"
There were Elves who couldn't escape in time. Elves who had run as much as they could but couldn't go far because they were carrying patients on their backs.
Debris such as uprooted trees and exploded rocks poured down on them. Jin-woo, who was near them, hurriedly stepped forward to block and grabbed his sword.
The sword he grabbed this time was not the white gem sword but the Ego Sword.
'Can you do it?'
―Kiing!
An answer that he wasn't sure of, but would try. That response was the correct one. In the current situation, there was no luxury to be weighing this and that.
The rusted and chipped sword wasn't suitable for cutting anything; but instead, a spirit contractor dwelt within it. The wind spirit. Green clusters of light gathered and bloomed like an aura around the blade.
He swung it toward the debris pouring down from the explosion's aftermath.
The air split, and the debris that had been swirling around instead scattered outward. The newly arising wind current centered on where Jin-woo had cut pushed away all the debris and protected the Elves.
The Elves behind held their breath as they watched that scene. The back of the human who had deflected a disaster-like situation with a single sword stroke.
"What are you doing! Hurry up and run!"
Jin-woo's shout woke them up. The Elves who came to their senses hurriedly fled, and Jin-woo also assessed the situation and withdrew.
As soon as he disappeared, the flow returned to normal, and trees and rocks came pababak crashing into that spot.
Soon after, the aftermath subsided. No more debris flew over, and the shock wave, like a heat wave, also disappeared.
The Elves who had crouched down to avoid it lifted their heads one by one. On the other side, there were surviving Orcs too, and they also cautiously stood up.
Jin-woo didn't lower his guard and watched the God of War, or more precisely, the next movement of his arm.
Fortunately, the arm wasn't raised again.
'Did he run out of time?'
The arm released the sword and went back into the crack. The sword went down into the ground like a ghost, similar to when it was drawn, and the crack quickly shrank and eventually closed completely.
Even after that, no one could make a sound for a while. No one knew how long such silence continued.
"We, we're alive..."
Eventually, with someone's muttering, the silence was instantly shattered.
"We're alive! We're alive!"
"Damn! I really thought I was going to die this time! Really, really!"
The joy of survival welled up, and the entire area instantly became chaotic.
At this moment, neither Elves nor Orcs fought. The first reason was being intoxicated with the joy of survival, and the second reason was that they didn't even have the strength left to fight.
Eventually, the Orcs scattered in all directions. Graktar, who had been commanding them, was dead. Uncontrolled Orcs prioritized their instinctive senses and judged that avoiding this place was the right thing to do.
Since they had repelled the enemy, it was as good as victory. But the Elves couldn't rejoice with peace of mind.
"We did survive, but..."
"The forest..."
Moonlit Forest, which had embraced them, was now difficult to recognize in its original form. If a stranger saw it, it would be difficult to even deduce that it had once been a forest.
Moonlit Forest was an existence that protected them, provided food, and shared nutrients. With the forest gone, they had to worry about the nutrition they would consume starting tomorrow.
"Excuse me, who is the leader who was governing this place?"
Then Rona stepped forward. Jin-woo stepped back and didn't interfere in their affairs.
"That's me. Who are you?"
In response to Rona's words, the one who appeared was April. She looked at Jin-woo behind her with wide eyes but didn't immediately speak to him.
Everyone wanted to settle this situation for now.
***
The surviving Elves gathered to check the personnel and tend to the wounded. And some of them collected the dead and contained their souls. To return them to the World Tree and honor their spirits.
Rona and April were sharing each other's situations and discussing future matters.
"A knight of the royal palace! Did you come to rescue us?"
"Actually, rather than saying I came to rescue, I just followed this person."
"That's also surprising. To think a knight of the royal palace and a Master know each other."
Somehow, Jin-woo had naturally ended up between the two. While gathering food to distribute to the hungry Elves, he couldn't help but get involved in the conversation.
Since Rona was also an Elf who didn't eat much, she didn't have that much food in her inventory. On the other hand, Jin-woo prioritized food above any other items in his inventory, so his inventory was filled with food to the level of a decent supermarket.
There were things he had bought and stockpiled in advance, and he had been carrying around food ingredients he had directly gathered while crossing Gates without selling them.
He released all of that without compensation so the hungry Elves could eat their fill. As a result, it wasn't completely without compensation. With that, Jin-woo's influence in the Elf group became quite strong.
"April. How are Poldere and Golong's conditions?"
"Poldere has minor injuries, Golong's wounds are very deep. Probably, long-distance flights will be difficult for a while. But since Poldere is taking good care of him, there shouldn't be any threat to his life."
Poldere poured all the nectar he had been keeping as spare lives onto Golong. Not stopping there, he went around looking for Elves who had remaining nectar and bought them all at high prices.
Since the situation was what it was, there were many who didn't want to give up the precious healing medicine, but Poldere poured out all the money he had earned and magic items, pressing his head to the ground and begging.
Both the fact that he, being a merchant, vomited up all his wealth, his desperate attitude, and moreover, the fact that Golong was injured to save them, quite a lot of nectar was gathered.
Since all the nectar gathered this way was being used for treatment, Golong would be able to recover quickly.
"The other Elves are also regaining their strength thanks to the food Master provided. Many have already died, but... At least we can retrieve their souls, so it's fortunate in misfortune. When we return, I will offer these souls to Mother World Tree and honor their spirits."
"Yes, do that."
"Hmm..."
Rona glanced at Jin-woo. She had already heard that the God of Moonlit Forest was the World Tree.
Looking at what April was saying, they seemed to know nothing at all, but would it be okay to talk about this? Since it was difficult to judge alone, she looked at Jin-woo, but Jin-woo also didn't seem to have any intention of talking about it.
Actually, the reason Jin-woo didn't talk about it was also the will of the God of Moonlit Forest herself.
[ The God of Moonlit Forest asks you to keep it secret. ]
'Why? Wouldn't morale rise more if we told them? That they must protect it somehow?'
[ That's why I don't like it. ]
If it became known that the God of Moonlit Forest was the World Tree, the Elves' morale would pierce the sky. They would say they must protect Mother World Tree no matter what and would jump into any difficulty without hesitation.
Religion was an element that transformed soldiers into being more bold and aggressive than anyone else. But she said she disliked that.
'Then let's keep it secret. I'm sorry about telling Rona. It was because of that guy, the Dark Elf King.'
The God of Moonlit Forest answered that it was unavoidable, so it was okay. The conversation with her came to a temporary end, and for now, he focused on future matters.
"What should we do from now on?"
"..."
"..."
At Jin-woo's question, both Elves fell silent.
It was a problem that couldn't be easily answered. Where should they go now that Moonlit Forest, the only shelter in this desert, had been crushed?
Rona, who had come to the 3rd floor after a really long time, naturally didn't know, and even April, who was almost a native, had no words to answer.
"Would there be another forest somewhere else?"
"It would be difficult to find a place that could be called a forest. Maybe an oasis at most."
"For now, it would be good to look for even that. Once everyone regains their strength, let's move."
There was no solution beyond that, even if they worried about it now.
Since staying in this place was of no use, let's move first.
Fortunately, Rona and Jin-woo joined the group. While they alone would have been somewhat unreliable military strength, just the two of them joining made it considerably reassuring.
Even those seeing Rona for the first time, if told she was a knight of the royal palace, no Elf would doubt her skills. Among knights, only those who were special, stronger, and more noble could become knights of the royal palace.
In the first place, being a knight recognized by the stubborn High Elf elders in the royal palace meant being an elite that ordinary people couldn't even dream of.
Jin-woo's case was the same. Most of the Elves here were those who had stayed long in the 3rd floor.
Naturally, they knew about Jin-woo dropping the Temple of Sky and accumulating nearly 200 million contribution points in Moonlit Forest.
To the Elves present here, he was even more famous than Rona.
"This is shameless, but could we ask both of you? If we move by ourselves, many more casualties will surely occur."
April asked with a dark expression, and Jin-woo and Rona nodded without much consideration.
Rona, as a knight of the royal palace, was to protect her compatriots, and Jin-woo, having received a request from the God of Moonlit Forest.
Even without the request, they wouldn't have abandoned people in danger.
"Anyway, let's rest well for now and discuss more about which direction to head. Do you know what's around here?"
"Shamefully, I don't know well. I know the vicinity, but what we know is only desert."
"Does that mean we need to go farther..."
It didn't seem like it would be a journey that would end in a day or two.
It was just recently that he had been marching, leading the Elves of Belen Village, and this kind of thing happened again.
It seemed like he had a deep connection with Elves. He had always been involved with Elves since he awakened.
Having settled things for now, Jin-woo also rested. He needed to get his body and mind in top condition, and moreover, he had various things to ask the God of Moonlit Forest about the God of War he had directly witnessed.
After about two days had passed like that, the group's condition was also somewhat adjusted. Since they were all those who had been active in the gates, they recovered their strength quickly too.
Just as they were repeatedly discussing whether to start moving now, there was a visitor.
It was a small crow, but unlike ordinary crows, it was a crow with five eyes and thin claws growing at the tips of its wings.
That was a monster.
―I have come from the Temple of Light.
A heavy voice, completely different from its appearance, flowed from the crow's throat.
A messenger sent by the God of Light, commonly called the God of Light and Dawn.
―If you don't have a proper place to go, how about coming to our side? We are always recruiting strong individuals to deal with the God of War's schemes. Of course, we will also protect those who are not strong.
It was an unexpected proposal to join.