“The western gate has fallen! The enemy is pouring in!”
“The eastern gate won’t hold much longer! There are too many of them!”
The Root Watchers of Serendel’s inner fortress shouted urgent reports without pause.
They read the flow of information in real time through the surrounding vegetation and analyzed the battlefield constantly.
Now that most of their forces had been pulled back to the inner fortress, holding the outer walls was proving impossible.
The attackers had prepared for this moment, and worse still—the moderates and neutrals were striking from both sides simultaneously.
In the command chamber at the center of the Root Network, the inner fortress commander gave orders with arms folded.
“Pull the troops back. Abandon the outer wall and fortify the inner fortress. Lower the partition walls to stall them, and have the druids raise barriers of trees and roots to block the roads.”
“But they have more druids than we do.”
“Even so, let ours buy us whatever time they can. This fight will be decided by how long we endure.”
The signals flowed instantly through the roots, and the outer defenders immediately began retreating.
Perfect coordination.
They received constant updates through the root network, and orders were relayed without delay.
This was what made the elves superior to any other race within the forest.
“Withdraw the defenders from the southern gate too. We won’t need them there anyway.”
“Yes, understood.”
All of this—the command chamber, the shifting situation, the chaos of the battlefield—
Ventmin Lifret was watching it all through the World Tree.
“Fools.”
Her voice was thick with disdain as she muttered at those who moved to pull her down.
Did they truly think she acted out of personal ambition?
How laughable.
Everything she did was to make elves once again the supreme race of this world.
Elves, by nature, possessed long lives and unmatched beauty.
They were in tune with nature, easily contracted with spirits, and could perceive and wield the energy of life itself.
In the past, elves had been the idols of all races.
If any race could be called closest to the divine, it had been them.
But as the centuries passed, things had changed.
Elves had not advanced.
Not that they had been utterly stagnant—over the years they had created new things.
But all of it remained bound within the Living Forest.
Meanwhile, the world beyond the woods had changed far more quickly.
Where elves took one step, the other races had already moved leagues ahead.
Ironically, their very longevity blinded them to the urgency of life.
They had been born with much and therefore never knew the hunger of those without.
That hunger—
was the very engine that drove others forward.
It was the source of development.
And elves had forgotten it.
“Elves have forgotten how to grow strong.”
Would endless training in spirit arts truly make elves great again?
While they communed with spirits, humans who once rode horses now drove armored cars, and those who once loosed arrows now fired cannons and rifles.
And if the world was already like this, how much further would it change in a hundred years more?
Ventmin sought to stop it.
Her plan was to awaken the World Tree fully and transform the entire continent into forest.
In a way, her intent resembled that of Ella Plante.
Both had recognized early the limits of their race and sought ways to prepare for the future.
But their approaches were diametrically opposed.
Ella Plante believed the World Tree should be expanded, that elves must live in harmony with other races.
Learn ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) what others offered, correct what was flawed, and move forward together.
Ventmin, on the other hand, believed elves must stand atop all races.
Why should those born with everything ever stoop to meet lesser races eye to eye?
That was nothing but humiliation of elven pride.
Ventmin had decided:
If elves could not advance as others had, then she would simply drag all other races back centuries, even millennia.
From the age of industry, steel, magic, and magitech—
back to the age of hunting and gathering.
A return to the primordial.
For the future of her race, her chosen path was to rewind the rest of the world into the past.
Absurd as it sounded, it was not entirely impossible.
“With the World Tree’s power, it can be done.”
Even now, she wielded less than 1% of that power.
Yet it was enough to grant her the highest authority within the forest.
She did not dream of full control.
Even half would suffice to bring the elven kingdom to unparalleled glory.
And the final key to that power was the blood of Plante—Sedina Roschen.
“Yes, it exists. The access authority to the World Tree’s depths, the one Ella Plante carried away.”
At first, she thought Sedina might know where it had been hidden.
But with the situation unfolding now, there was no time for such games.
“So the outer wall has already fallen. The east still holds, but the west... Ambella Burke, you’ve grown much stronger.”
Ambella Burke had once been hailed as the strongest warrior of the elves.
Her personal prowess was formidable, but her command on the battlefield had been what truly led her allies to victory.
Five centuries ago, when House Burke was pushed to the frontier, she had thought their strength diminished.
A hundred years ago, when they bore the brunt of the racial war, she thought they would never recover.
But she had been wrong.
They had grown stronger through those trials.
Like steel hammered in the furnace of hardship.
Steel—how strange a word to use for elves. Yet when looking at Ambella, it was fitting.
“And she dares to draw all eyes to herself like this.”
Ventmin scoffed.
So blatant an attempt to attract attention.
Did she think Ventmin wouldn’t notice?
“Still, not a bad attempt.”
Her gaze turned to the man hidden among the soldiers flooding through the broken gate.
Were it not for her watching the battlefield from the palm of her hand through the World Tree, the presence of John Doe would have posed a serious threat.
But since she knew, it changed everything.
The danger John Doe represented lay in being unseen.
So long as she kept her eyes on him, his tricks lost their edge.
“And the last child of Plante is making her way toward the cradle as well.”
The inner fortress, close to the World Tree, was also within her palm.
She could read every passage, every labyrinthine corridor, every garrisoned soldier forming defensive lines.
The outer wall might have fallen, but this place was different.
This was the last and strongest bastion.
“And once the final key arrives...”
Ventmin smiled, pleased at her vision of the future.
Then her eyes flew wide.
From deep beneath the ground came the roar of a colossal beast.
“What was that?”
* * *
Hans grew uneasy.
Through the rats gnawing the roots, he had learned that the battle outside had finally begun.
Perhaps because of the urgency, Sedina was being led deeper into the inner fortress.
But the path was too convoluted. At this rate, they would lose her.
Hans was still worrying over what to do when Alex drew his sword.
“Wh-what are you planning to do?”
“You know where the young miss is, don’t you?”
By “young miss,” Alex meant Sedina.
“I’m still on her trail, but... what do you intend?”
“They’re planning to use her for something—awaken the World Tree, wasn’t it? Then of course we have to stop them.”
“But...”
“Did you forget? Our job is to rescue the young miss. With the leader absent, the decision falls to us here.”
Hans hesitated, then sighed heavily and ruffled his hair.
“Haaah. Even so, how do you intend to climb up once we get past these roots?”
Instead of answering, Alex turned his eyes on Bellaruna.
They had made it to the root’s lower reaches, but were still buried beneath the inner fortress.
“Bellaruna. Haven’t we climbed pretty far already?”
“Yes, y-yes.”
“Up there—can we break through?”
Hans’s eyes widened when he realized what Alex was suggesting.
Bellaruna fell silent, running quick calculations before giving her answer.
“It... it might be difficult. We’ve come right below the inner fortress, but its structure is like a labyrinth, and the ground above is reinforced. A-and the World Tree’s feeder roots are holding everything firm...”
“In other words, my strength alone isn’t enough?”
“Th-that’s right.”
“But what about a full bombardment from the Spirit Beast?”
After a moment of thought, Bellaruna nodded.
At that level, it might just be possible.
“Just tell me the position and timing exactly.”
“Wait—what about my opinion?”
Hans muttered in protest, but Alex cut him off flatly.
“This is the only chance.”
“...”
“You came all the way here to rescue the young miss too, didn’t you? Then as her senior, show us what a senior ought to look like.”
Hans let out a deep sigh.
“In the end, I always get stuck with the losing role.”
“That’s what seniors do—yield for their juniors.”
“...Fine. Let’s try it.”
Hans drew out the Spirit Beast’s fang he had carried with him.
Though tension gripped him, he felt no resistance.
At least when he transformed into the Spirit Beast, unlike the Beast of Jévaudan, he kept his reason and wasn’t swallowed by savagery.
And thanks to being tormented by Grander, Hans had learned how to control the Spirit Beast’s power.
“Here I go.”
Shunk.
Hans stabbed the fang into his own palm.
Bellaruna and Alex instinctively stepped back.
Hans’s body swelled and burst outward, his frame covered in a coat of dazzling white fur.
In an instant, his human form expanded into that of a stag.
The sacred Spirit Beast, crowned with golden antlers, descended into the underground roots.
Hans lifted his head, blue mana burning in his eyes, staring upward—
at the World Tree’s feeder roots blocking the ground above.
His mouth opened wide, gathering a surging radiance tinged with azure.
[Cover your ears. It will be loud.]
A blinding light exploded in the dark underground cavern.
A pillar of blue pierced straight through the roots, erupting toward the surface.
* * *
The beam Hans unleashed tore through the earth and roots, opening a vast channel into Serendel’s inner fortress.
At the end of that channel were Sedina and the elves escorting her toward the cradle.
From beneath them, a colossal surge of power roared upward, and a flash of blue light streaked past their eyes. Panic spread among them.
All but the gray-haired elf at the front.
“An enemy.”
His voice was flat, devoid of emotion.
Moments later, a figure leapt up through the hole torn in the floor.
“A... human?”
It was Alex, clad in artifacts and gear, both swords drawn, blocking their path.
The elves wavered in shock.
What was a human doing here?
Not on the outskirts of the forest, but in its deepest heart—Serendel, the elven capital itself.
And at a time of war, when the fortress was sealed tighter than ever.
Yet a human had burst in from nowhere.
“S-senior?”
Sedina’s eyes went wide as she saw Alex.
She had never imagined he would come to rescue her.
‘Wait. If Alex-senpai is here... then the other one...’
In her mind flashed Ludger’s image.
Her hands clenched tight.
Her teacher had come all the way into the elves’ forest for her sake.
A flood of guilt mingled with overwhelming emotion surged in her chest.
“Do not act rashly.”
A low, heavy voice cut through the moment, seizing control of the air around them.
“L-Lord Bereborn.”
“It is only one human. Kill him and be done with it.”
“Oh? Judging from your tone, you must be an elf of some standing.”
Alex smirked at the gray-haired elf called Bereborn.
“You. You know me, don’t you?”
“...”
“Why the silence? We saw each other in Rederbelk, didn’t we? That day, when you kidnapped our young miss and fled from me without looking back.”
Alex remembered.
When Sedina had been abducted, and the Lumenis Church had interfered.
He remembered who had kidnapped her, who had obstructed them.
And one of them was this gray-haired elf before him.
The one who had taken Sedina that day in Rederbelk.
“No wonder you were so quick on your feet. You’ve got skill, I’ll give you that. And yet you crawl into the human world just to kidnap girls? Did you leave the noble pride of elves in the dirt behind you?”
“You insolent human! How dare you speak so to Lord Bereborn!”
The others could not bear it, that the one they revered was being insulted by a mere human.
They charged forward in rage.
Alex glanced at them, then clicked his tongue when his eyes met Bereborn’s beyond them.
If he cut these ones down here, he would be the one at a disadvantage.
“Too bad. You’re not my opponents. Scram, rabble.”
“Trying to run away?”
“Run? No—you’re the ones who should.”
With a mocking grin, Alex stepped back to widen the gap.
Emboldened, the fortress soldiers rushed to press him.
And that was their mistake.
From directly beneath their feet, an eruption of energy blasted upward.
A second flash of azure tore through the marble floor, sweeping the elves aside.
And then, with a crash, a great white beast bearing golden antlers burst out of the ground.
“T-the Spirit Beast?!”
“It’s the Spirit Beast!”
While the elves floundered in shock, Hans—fully transformed—let loose a rain of mana shells upon them.
In that instant, Bereborn moved.
He lunged, slipping into the opening Hans revealed, his blade slashing toward the beast’s neck.
But before steel could touch Hans, Alex’s sword met it, knocking it away.
“Your fight is with me.”
“....”
Bereborn’s cold eyes locked on Alex.
Alex only sneered back.
“You’re not going to run away again this time, are you? Kidnapper.”
“...I’ll kill you.”