The appearance of the Wind Elemental Lord brought overwhelming astonishment.
Could that creature be the one Suruna had mentioned before—the very being he’d spoken of?
“Wait, are you saying that thing’s on our side?”
Helia asked with a flicker of hope in her voice.
If the Wind Elemental Lord were their ally, nothing could be more reassuring.
But at the same time, that possibility was also terrifying.
An Elemental Lord was, in the truest sense, a being at the pinnacle of nature itself.
If such an entity unleashed its full power, it would inevitably bring immense consequences to the ecosystem—whether for good or ill.
That was why most Elemental Lords rarely left their domains.
They were nature incarnate, and their attachment to preserving it ran deeper than anyone’s.
In other words—
When an Elemental Lord moved, it meant something had gone terribly wrong for nature itself.
As everyone quietly arrived at that same thought, Suruna spoke.
“He’s not on our side. If he were, he wouldn’t have shown up here in the first place.”
“Then you’re saying he’s our enemy?”
That single question made everyone tense.
Considering that each Elemental Lord was essentially a living natural disaster, the Wind Elemental Lord was quite literally a breathing typhoon.
A typhoon alone could cause nationwide destruction.
If it narrowed its range and amplified its force, it could easily summon a hurricane.
“Relax. He’s not an enemy either. Not yet.”
“Not yet?”
“That one’s different from the other Elemental Lords. While the rest only care about the world’s natural balance, the Wind Elemental Lord is the opposite.”
“How so?”
“He’s the only Elemental Lord who ever made a contract with a human.”
Everyone froze as Suruna revealed a truth none of them had known.
“Even an Elemental Lord, in the end, is a spirit. It’s not impossible for them to form a contract with someone who can truly resonate with them.”
“Then who was it?”
“The Saintess Arkenis.”
The woman who was long dead and gone—the strongest member of the Church in her era, and the one everyone revered as the true Saintess.
“The Wind Elemental Lord was the contracted spirit of Saintess Arkenis. After she vanished, he fell into slumber and never woke.”
“No way... even for a Saintess, to form a contract with an Elemental Lord—that’s insane...”
“They have emotions too,” Suruna continued quietly. “They can think, rejoice, and grieve—often more purely than humans. And among all Elemental Lords, that one in particular was the most capricious.”
Wind symbolized freedom.
It blew everywhere and flowed wherever it pleased.
It never stayed still.
The Wind Elemental Lord was not bound by the obsessive compulsion to ‘protect nature’ like the others were—
Because he was the wind itself.
“To him, what mattered more than the vast sky and pure air of this world was a single girl with eyes the color of the heavens.”
“Wouldn’t that make him dangerous?”
Violetta asked carefully.
“If he was contracted to the Saintess, wouldn’t that make him your enemy, Great Demon?”
“True,” Suruna chuckled. “We fought countless times. You have no idea how many times that bastard nearly killed me.”
His casual tone made everyone’s expressions twist in disbelief.
If that was the case, wasn’t the Wind Elemental Lord here to kill him right now?
“But it’s different this time. He won’t kill me. To be precise—he can’t kill me.”
His tone brimmed with certainty.
And indeed, the Wind Elemental Lord, though visible above, wasn’t taking any action.
“After losing his contractor, he fell asleep and swore not to act until she appeared again.”
“...But he’s awake now.”
“Because someone else has appeared—someone who inherited the greatest power Arkenis once possessed.”
Ludger realized who Suruna meant.
“Rine...”
“That’s right. That girl. The one I was searching for at Seorn—the one who inherited the Saintess’s power, [Eye of Judgment].”
“Weren’t you trying to find her for some purpose?”
Ludger had known for a while that Suruna was looking for Rine.
The Eye of Judgment had been the Saintess’s unique gift. Suruna, as the Great Demon who once fought her, had every reason to seek it.
Though he had concealed it, in the end, Suruna had discovered that Rine bore the Saintess’s gift and had even approached her.
Yet, surprisingly, he had never harmed her.
On the contrary—he had even nudged her toward awakening.
“For what purpose?”
“Well, let’s just say I’ve got some... personal history with those who inherit the Eye of Judgment.”
Suruna deflected lightly, a subtle way of saying he wouldn’t explain yet.
“Since the wielder of the Eye has awakened, the Wind Elemental Lord also woke from his long slumber, acting according to the contract. Still, what he’s doing now—unleashing his power like that—is his way of staying neutral while watching the situation unfold.”
Neutral.
That word made Ludger frown.
Rine was still in Seorn—surely she had nothing to do with this holy war.
Then why had the Wind Elemental Lord come all the way here?
‘Does that mean Rine’s involved in the war—on Salesin’s side?’
But if that were the case—
Why hadn’t the Wind Elemental Lord attacked them yet?
Why was Suruna so calm in the face of a being that should have been hostile?
‘So the reason the Wind Elemental Lord hasn’t turned against us must lie here. And Suruna knows it—that’s why he’s so composed.’
If it wasn’t an enemy, at least that was one less problem.
Because if an Elemental Lord had turned hostile, Ludger would have had no choice but to open the Celestial Gate.
The Fire Elemental Lord had been manageable—thanks to the Earth Elemental Lord diverting the magma flow, it had vanished on its own.
But the Wind Elemental Lord—one that ruled the skies—was a different story entirely.
How could anyone fight a living hurricane?
‘And if I open the Celestial Gate here, Lumenis will intervene directly.’
He could only open it before because Lumenis was unaware of his existence.
That secrecy had allowed him to borrow the power of other gods beyond Lumenis’s reach.
But that was no longer possible.
After he had used that power once, Lumenis had become fully aware of him.
Now, the instant he opened the Gate to draw divine power, Lumenis would be the first to intrude—asserting control over that channel.
Other gods might be swayed through persuasion or threats, but Lumenis—who sought to make him a puppet—would never listen.
‘Better to avoid using it entirely. Or at least limit it to the first stage of the sealing technique.’
With battles still ahead, conserving power was crucial. The fact that the Wind Elemental Lord hadn’t attacked yet was a blessing.
“So what exactly is he doing here, then?”
“Seems like he’s... observing,” Suruna replied.
“Observing?”
“As the former contractor’s guardian spirit, he can’t stand idly by—but he’ll limit his involvement to the bare minimum.”
“The bare minimum?”
“Relax. He won’t affect the ground below.”
Suruna smirked faintly.
“But the sky’s another matter.”
Rumble—
The Wind Elemental Lord spread all of his wings wide.
The dark clouds covering the Holy Nation of Bretus multiplied, spreading beyond the island itself.
“You asked how we’d deal with aerial assaults earlier, didn’t you? That’s your answer.”
Suruna turned to Caroline.
“The Crusader fleet’s sky routes are sealed. The Wind Elemental Lord has denied them passage.”
If what he said was true, then this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Over two thousand airships—stopped cold by a single Elemental Lord.
That meant nearly half of the enemy’s total force was now immobilized.
Of course, even the remaining half was still powerful enough to crush them completely—
The difference was still that between a dwarf and a giant.
“This’ll do.”
Though the Wind Elemental Lord’s sudden appearance had been unexpected, the outcome wasn’t bad.
Caroline crossed her arms and nodded in satisfaction.
“Just blocking their air fleet opens up so many possibilities. You said we just have to hold out, right? Then we can do it.”
In her mind, the battle map unfolded rapidly.
From the third checkpoint city to the first—
If they used the terrain well, they could definitely slow the enemy’s advance.
“The path to the citadel isn’t wide. To reach it, they have to pass through the checkpoint cities.”
They could have tried to flank, but that wasn’t feasible.
The surrounding paths were too narrow, and moving such a massive army around would take far too long.
Create a new path?
That would be even better—splitting their troops would only buy more time for this side.
The Theocracy of Bretus had never prepared for foreign invasion—
Not because they were complacent with power, but because the terrain itself made defense nearly absolute.
“You all heard that, right? I’ll take command. I’ve got the most battlefield experience here.”
“Hah! That’s rich!”
The one to retort to Caroline’s bold claim was none other than Ambella Burke.
“Hey, you little human.”
“What? Little human?”
A vein bulged on Caroline’s forehead.
The Monarch Mercenaries gasped sharply.
Their leader—addressed like that? Ambella had just said what no one else dared to say aloud.
Caroline’s hair rippled with fury as she glared daggers at the elf.
“And you are what, exactly? You are an elf, right?”
Ambella, with her mane of wild hair and feral grin, looked more like a beastkin warrior than any elf.
A towering woman with thick muscles and an eyepatch over one eye—
There couldn’t be another elf in the world so mismatched with her own race’s elegance.
“What’s a barbarian doing here?”
“What did you just say? Barbarian?”
Ambella’s face twisted viciously.
Her glare alone was enough to make other elves tremble, but Caroline met it head-on without flinching.
It was like watching a savage bear and ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ a feral lynx bare their teeth at each other.
“Something not to your liking, barbarian?”
“Oh, plenty. You expect me to trust the defense to a little brat like you? Might as well hand a bow to a child—it’d be less ridiculous.”
“I’m the leader of the Monarch Mercenaries—and a Sixth-Circle mage. My squad has never lost its top ranking in the mercenary world. We’ve fought in multiple wars and civil conflicts across nations.”
Caroline thumped her chest proudly with her fist.
“No one on this battlefield knows how to command troops better than I do.”
“Uooooooh!”
The Monarch Mercenaries shouted in unison in support of their commander.
“Ha! So that’s all? You call that experience? I’m Ambella Burke, matriarch of the Burke family—guardians of the Elven Kingdom’s borders! A hundred years ago, I defended the realm myself during the Great War. Siege warfare? My clan is the best in the world at it!”
“Wooooaaah!”
The Burke elves roared back in pride.
The two groups glared at each other, the tension between them ready to ignite.
With pride like theirs, such clashes were inevitable.
“Siege defense doesn’t suit small-unit tactics. Elves have their own way of doing things.”
“Hah! That kind of talk might work in grand-scale wars. Look around! Our troops are a fraction of theirs—we need to strike and retreat like guerrillas!”
“Every soldier here is elite. Do you really think you can command them the same way you do ordinary mercenaries?”
Crackle!
Sparks practically flew between Caroline and Ambella.
Unable to bear it any longer, Suruna stepped in to mediate.
“Now, now. Calm down, both of you. You both make good points. It’s not about who’s right—it’s just a difference in tactics.”
“Oh.”
Sedina, who had been anxious that Ambella might actually start a brawl, let out a quiet sound of admiration.
Even if she had betrayed the organization, back when she was Second Order, she’d often wondered what the Zero Order would truly be like.
To lead such a vast secret organization undetected, he had to be a master at handling people.
That hope lasted all of three seconds—until Suruna opened his mouth again.
“When I have to listen to two incompetents argue, it just pisses me off. So shut up and listen to me instead.”
“What did you just say?”
“You bastard!”
And just like that, chaos exploded again.