ALL NOVEL Chapter 393
The numbers are on our side.
Even though there are some big guys mixed in, the size from above looks pretty similar, but in reality, I had about 15,000 on my side.
But just because we have half the numbers doesn’t mean we’re at an advantage.
The enemies weren’t just ordinary bipedal creatures.
“Wow, the variety of toys I’ve gathered is impressive.”
[What do you think? Isn’t it amazing? This is my collection—feel honored to witness it!]
What the hell.
I swallowed the curse that almost burst out of my throat back down. If this idiot was just some weakling, I would’ve drop-kicked him right in the face.
Being unnecessarily strong…
“It’s going to be a real mess soon. But that wouldn’t be fun.”
[Huh?]
I fiddled with the game board a few times.
The devices that I had prepared in advance with Hecate. As I moved the pieces, changes began to occur down on the ground beneath the tower.
[Ohhhh.]
“Someone will need to show courage against monsters, someone will have to engage in bloodshed with kin of different skin colors, and someone will need to clash with the sun and the moon. A wizard against magic.”
I linked the observer’s words with mine and dropped them one by one.
We couldn’t allow the enemies to synergize. I didn’t know how united they were, but at the very least, it was to our advantage to tear them apart and scatter them.
At least the dragons breath wouldn’t rain down on the elves fighting each other.
“It’s going to get a lot more interesting now. Oh, and I should mention… don’t interfere. If the toys are playing, we shouldn’t be getting in the way.”
I delivered the line I had prepared like a villain from a novel while keeping an eye on him. Fortunately, the outsider starved for this game didn’t react at all, merely looking down at the ground beneath the tower with interest.
[Yeah, that’s right…]
He seemed completely entranced.
I sighed and fiddled with my waist. Unfortunately, Rue was down there, so all I could touch was the feel of my belt. I had left Rue to someone else.
Because Rue’s abilities could become a huge variable anywhere at any time.
I directed my gaze toward the forest where the elves had been transported. Signs of the first skirmishes were showing up.
[Elves against elves? That’s an interesting matchup!]
‘I hope Grandmother does well.’
I had arranged several tactics in the forest to actively utilize Grandmother’s abilities, so I just hoped the elves could handle those dark elves quickly.
I watched the elves, who had just begun to engage, with a worried look.
———————
“Are those… kin?”
“Not sure.”
The Bear Drummer’s question was met with a shrug from the Angry Wolf.
They had the same long ears but were fairies with chocolate-colored skin. They were observing the elite elves with sharp eyes.
White skin. Long ears.
The aura of the spirits emanating from them.
The energies that they had lost long ago were provoking the feelings of the chocolate-skinned elves.
“Just when we were playing with that bastard’s toys… something like this happens?”
The lifeless eyes began to regain their spark.
Instead of resignation, hatred and anger began to rise in their eyes.
Those who have lost everything can only resent those who have not lost.
They awakened repressed emotions while gazing at the beings who had kept everything they had lost.
“Is it saying we need to make those silver-skins realize what life is like without the World Tree’s blessing?”
“I like that part.”
The Dark Elf charge leader, Flowing Shadow, sneered. Her distorted left face twisted as she radiated a fierce aura.
The other Dark Elves were no different.
A race born under the World Tree inevitably experiences such things if they do not receive their mother’s blessings. The fear and despair of having lost their mother, who had grown rotten over a long time, were fully captured in their hands.
The scimitars in their hands and the crossbows in the other promised to spread their hatred.
“I don’t want to follow that bastard’s orders, but… this time is an exception.”
Now that they had a suitable target for their rage, they could set aside their anger for a moment. They raised their crossbows all at once, justifying their trained frustrations.
The elves watching this looked at the Dark Elves with strange expressions.
“An elf with a crossbow.”
“Isn’t that not an elf?”
An elf with a crossbow?
How can an elf, who is supposed to wield a bow, actually hold a crossbow? Of course, it was tannish brown skin, but that didn’t mean they stopped being elves.
They might look a bit misshaped, but that’s quite common among warriors, right? Therefore, the elves’ focus was drawn towards the crossbows in their hands and the ominous aura they radiated.
“Angry Wolf. Since we can’t ascertain the enemy’s numbers, we will adopt a defensive approach during the engagement.”
“Got it. Everyone! Positions! Defensive formation!”
At her shout, the trained elites, who had come to protect the Queen, moved in perfect synchronization.
The Queen, who should guard the World Tree, wasn’t here, but there was someone to take her place, so the elites regrouped around her.
“…Here we go.”
Maria stared straight ahead, fiddling with her husband’s chin in her arms.
“I hope the other kids do well.”
This side was doing better at least. For one, the Dark Elves were roughly the same number as the Elves, and they didn’t look that strong outwardly.
But the foes the humans had to deal with were excessively powerful.
Could they truly overcome it without their grandson’s help?
“…I feel like I’ve gotten unneededly meddlesome. Right?”
Even without her physical form, her partner, who had stayed by her side all along, gently patted her with its stubbly arm as if to console her.
“…Thank you.”
Her brief gratitude turned her gaze upwards.
A rain of arrows was filling the sky. At its end, red flames were surging.
“Fire attacks from the forest.”
The Bear Drummer clicked his tongue in disbelief, realizing that the absurd situation of the same kin firing fire arrows from the forest had come upon him.
An arrow for each arrow.
“Intercept everyone!”
An arrow for an arrow.
Like true elites, the elves’ bows moved from their backs to their hands in an instant, seizing arrows and drawing back their strings. The action was completed in less than a second.
Their arm muscles tightened, and the power of water spirits began to be infused into their arrows. The Dark Elves were receiving a blessing that only the children of the forest could use, which they had lost forever.
Soon after, arrows left their bows, cutting through the air. The white arrows collided precisely with the arrows fired by their cursed kin, creating small explosions.
It was a spectacle only natural-born archers among elves could display.
“Annoying.”
Flowing Shadow sharply glared at the elves who had easily blocked her preemptive attack. Nothing pleased her. There was no way her targets of hatred would look fine.
She silently raised her hand and commanded another volley to be fired.
Thus continued the meaningless war of attrition. At least from the elves’ standpoint. The Bear Drummer watched as the elves counted their remaining arrows, keeping a lookout at the enemies.
Countless arrows fell to the ground between the two forces, breaking. Despite being arrows made of branches from the World Tree, the Dark Elves’ arrows surprisingly yielded a result of nullification.
‘I don’t know what they are made of.’
On the surface, they only looked like slightly darkened branches, but their nature was completely unknowable.
Still, it was time to wrap up the reconnaissance phase.
Wouldn’t it be better to deal with the enemies as quickly as possible and join the other side? The Bear Drummer quietly drew his sword from his waist.
A sword brimming with the energy of the World Tree.
It was a creation from when the Johan Empire crafted their armaments in part. Though it was roughly made, it could surely claim to be the best weapon on the continent.
“Vanguard, raise your swords!”
The Angry Wolf raised her sword high in time with the Bear Drummer’s actions. Naturally, those who had taken on the role of the vanguard among the elites raised their weapons.
“Are you going to try close combat with us?”
Flowing Shadow laughed at them.
They were the ones who had sharpened their martial skills to survive more than anyone else. After all, nothing made for better prey than children who had lost their mother.
Although they had arrived at a point where they were nothing more than the outsider’s toys after killing and taking everything to survive, they hadn’t forgotten their roots.
Because there were things they had to do resolutely to survive.
“Kill them all.”
The distance that hadn’t seemed to close was now getting closer.