Science/Magic

At the same time when the news about the location of the Heart of the Forest spread.

In a certain forest, a woman was seated on the crown of a giant tree.

The woman was not a human, but a beautiful elf; and the tree was not a normal tree, but a Great Tree.

In fact, this was the oldest great tree in the world. The original great tree, and the origin of the following great trees.

The elf was seated on the crown of the tree with her eyes closed, and she seemed asleep. Her face had a peaceful and gentle expression, like an otherworldly fairy.

Strangely, her breathing seemed to resonate with the rhythm of the tree as it swayed with the wind.

It was as though the woman was the tree, and the tree was her.

Just at that moment, a male elf approached the tree.

The elf kneeled before the tree and lowered his head respectfully before speaking.

"Greetings to you, Your Grace."

[… Do speak.] An ethereal voice came with the wind.

Strangely, the voice seemed to come from the tree instead of the woman. In fact, the woman was still asleep.

"We received a piece of news just now. A Heart of the Forest has appeared."

[A heart of the forest? Are you sure?]

"Yes. According to our sources, the heart was originally in the hands of the elves from the Boerner Forest. However, they lost it in certain circumstances before they managed to locate it again. Now, they are trying to transport it to the Boerner Forest, however, the news about the Heart was leaked out."

The elf then explained to the woman all the information he got.

The tree seemed to sigh after that.

[… I see. It looks like the situation is a bit complicated. Sigh, why did the kids of the Boerner Forest did not tell me about the heart? It would have not been so troublesome then.]

"… They most likely wanted the Heart of the Forest for themselves."

The woman sighed again. [I thought so.]

To elves, Hearts of the Forest were very precious treasures. They could greatly improve their war potential, increase their territory, and strengthen their economy.

It was a strategic resource.

But just like humans, elves were not completely united.

They were divided into forests. Each forest was a kind of elven country, with a different ruler and slightly different customs.

This woman had a high status among the elves, but she was not part of the Boerner Forest. It was normal that the elves of the Boerner Forest didn't tell her about the Heart.

However, that decision ended up complicating everything.

If she would have known about the Heart from the start, Slaughter wouldn't have dared to snatch it.

[Well, it's not too late yet.]

In the next instant, the woman opened her eyes.

The wind blew, and the trees swayed; even the sunlight seemed brighter than before.

It was as though the world itself was happy to see the woman awake.

"Tell me the location of the Heart." The woman's clear voice reached the elf's ears, making him dazed.

But he quickly snapped out of his daze with a fluster and told the woman the location of the Heart.

"The people holding it were seen in Armero City."

"Perfect." The woman nodded. She then took a step forward, and her body disappeared.

In an instant, she left the forest, appearing dozens of kilometers away.

By this point, her gentle and ethereal aura had disappeared completely, being replaced by a cold and sharp feeling.

She seemed like a goddess of war marching towards the battlefield, ready to kill even gods if they dared to stop her.

Because she was someone that even gods feared.

One of the world's three Irregulars.

"The Great Elven Queen." A man's voice suddenly sounded.

"Come out!" The queen stopped abruptly and bellowed, making the world tremble.

A second later, a man appeared in front of her.

Strangely, the appearance of the man was fuzzy, as though something was stopping the Great Elven Queen from seeing it.

The eyes of the elven queen shrank violently.

"Zero." She spat out that name with a wary expression.

"Long time no see you, Your Grace." He said indifferently.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as mana surrounded her. Every particle of mana in a dozen of kilometers gathered around her, creating a violent vortex of mana able to destroy everything in kilometers around her.

But even after witnessing such a fearsome display of power, Zero remained indifferent.

"I'm here to stop you, of course." He replied.

The eyes of the Elven Queen narrowed.

"… I see. So this is your doing, huh."

"You can think so."

"What are you planning, Zero?"

"You don't need to know that. You only need to know that I won't allow you to interfere unless you are ready to fight me. However, just a Heart of the Forest should not be enough to make me your enemy, right?"

The expression of the elven queen became solemn.

She stared at Zero fixedly, and the vortex of mana became bigger and bigger. She seemed like she was about to attack him.

But one second later, the mana around her quietened down and returned to normal.

She then turned around and teleported back to the Great Tree.

"Leave. I don't want to see you in the territory of the elves." Her voice reached Zero's ears.

He nodded calmly and turned around.

"Very well."

One second later, his figure disappeared.

The Great Elven Queen returned to the Original Great Tree and sat on the crown of the tree again. She then closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

However, her mind was filled with waves and storms.

She was the Great Elven Queen, one of the world's three Irregulars, and someone that dared to face even gods fearlessly.

But even then, she was not confident about surviving if she fought Zero.

...

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