The elf girl, dressed in a simple farmer’s outfit, let her dazzling blonde hair flutter in the wind. She leaped upward, stepping on the towering yew tree.
“Clara, you can keep up, right?” “Oh—☆”
Chasing after her, I jumped from tree to tree, ascending as if in a classic game.
Tap, tap—!!
While I jumped up step by step, Anna raced vertically up the tree as if gliding.
She looked like a beautiful elf girl straight out of a comic book.
‘Well, she is an elf maiden, but her image has been so tied to a cult so far…’
Seeing her in a more elven manner for the first time in ages, I felt a sense of nostalgia. But the distance between us quickly grew, making it hard to even keep her in sight.
Tap, tap—!
Despite my superior running speed, it was tough to keep up with Anna, who was now far ahead. Elves must receive some sort of buff in plant zones.
Just before reaching the top of the tree, Anna aimed her bow. The green ether at the tip of her arrow shimmered brilliantly, like the leaves of a plant.
“[Yggdrasil]—!”
Fwip—!
The arrow sliced through the air fiercely, embedding itself in the fifty-meter-high coniferous tree that had sprouted from the ground. Instantly, another towering yew tree grew upward from that spot.
Rumble—!
Another tree grew diagonally atop the vertically rising tree.
Like an endless series of hash marks, trees kept growing on top of trees.
After several repetitions, the trees formed a ladder reaching all the way to the sky. The farmland we had been fighting on was now a tiny speck far below.
It was a scene straight out of the fairy tale <Jack and the Beanstalk>, though what we were chasing wasn’t treasure, but a dragonfly.
‘It’s amazing this isn’t collapsing… I guess it’s because it’s made from an ether skill?’
Logically, the trunk should have collapsed under its own weight at some point, but Anna’s ether skill kept it intact.
Anna fired another arrow at the trunk.
“Grow! [Yggdrasil]—!”
Fwip—!
Another tree sprouted from the end of the trunk.
We were now close enough to the giant dragonfly to attack. Yet, despite clearly seeing us approach, it didn’t flee.
‘Why isn’t it running? We could attack it right now.’
If it doesn’t dodge, it’s going to get hit. Even if it does dodge, I’m still going to hit it.
“[Blue Sweet Macaron]—☆”
I swung my greatsword at Goin, who was now within striking distance. The pink slash, infused with ether, surged toward him.
Boom—!!
A heavy strike shot through the air.
[Kuh…!]
The price of not actively dodging hit him. He barely avoided the attack but sustained damage, with part of his outer shell getting cut, along with some of the many horns sprouting from his body.
The brown dragonfly flinched and quickly flapped its wings to ascend. The long, translucent wings made a sound like a massive drone.
“We’ve got you now!!”
Anna fired her arrow at him, the green-glowing projectile fluttering like a fish as it flew toward Goin.
Swoosh—!
The arrow barely missed the dragonfly’s enormous eye, causing Goin to stiffen in shock.
He was clearly panicked at a glance.
‘I thought there would be more to him, but he really came bare-handed…?’
Not entirely bare-handed, as he had brought an infinite regeneration cheat, likely a result of Jinsu-kun’s machinations. But even that was pitifully weak.
Pingchang, ever since ancient times, is a creature that becomes utterly sadistic toward weaklings. The spirit of a sadist was slowly rising within me.
‘Completely weak♡’
The spear and greatsword, forged by Rota’s magic, responded to my call.
-Pathetic—♡ -Idiot—♡
“Pathetic, pathetic—♡ Go die—☆”
I jumped onto the trunk and spun like a whirlwind.
A strike imbued with the mockery of two girls. The [Blue Sweet Macaron], which had been surging like a wave, now spiraled toward Goin.
This technique was dubbed the Sadistic Whirlwind Spear Art. An attack that provided a 25% damage bonus against pathetic losers, it rode the pink ether wave toward the dragonfly.
-Pathetic♡ -Pathetic♡
Swish—!
The Sadistic Spear Art surged upward like a pink tornado on the ocean, tearing at the dragonfly’s wings.
‘If only we were a bit closer, I could’ve sliced him clean through…’
But even that level of pressure was enough to shake the coward mentally. He was weak, both physically and mentally.
[Kuh?! You, you insolent inferior being…!] “Pathetic, pathetic—☆ All you can do is fly, you idiot—♡ Go die—☆ Hiding behind your sister’s skirt, summoning things like a coward—♡” [I’ll tear your head off myself—!] “Aha—☆ Even your threats are pathetic♡”
The thoroughly provoked coward roared and charged toward me.
‘Finally, the taunt worked.’
It seemed that with my cute Pingchang looks, I needed to provoke multiple times for it to work. Everything has its pros and cons.
Goin closed the distance in an instant, his sharp stinger aimed at me as he stretched out his long body, charging like an arrow. It was his only close-range attack.
“That won’t work—!”
But his charge was blocked by the glowing elf girl’s suppressive fire. Five green ether arrows, fired simultaneously in a fan shape, homed in on him like guided missiles.
Swoosh—!
The coward, flying like an arrow, panicked.
He might be able to fly like an arrow, but real arrows still terrified him.
[Argh—?! Damn it!!]
He zigzagged through the air like a circus act, dodging this way and that.
But with his wings torn, he couldn’t reach his original speed and failed to avoid two of the arrows. They struck his long body.
Splat—!
Blood spurted from where the arrows hit, followed by an explosion tinged with green ether.
[Khh…!]
Despite being a dragonfly, he panted and trembled. Yet, even in that moment, he spat slime from his mouth and hurled it at us.
From within that sticky slime, chaos insects the size of bears emerged and charged toward us.
Hiss—!!
Typical of a loser, resorting to predictable tactics. No wonder women don’t like him.
…
‘Did I always have these kinds of thoughts?’
Ever since I awakened the rainbow vision, it felt like my blood sugar level had skyrocketed.
“…”
But for now, I had to deal with the loser’s summoning spell.
Once again, I used the Sadistic Whirlwind Spear Art to send the creatures into the sky. Explosions of pink ether burst from my body.
-Pathetic♡ -Pathetic♡
Screeeech—!!
A storm created by a spear and greatsword.
The juvenile chaos insects caught in the pink tornado were shredded without a sound.
Those that didn’t ascend were pierced by Anna’s arrows and fell to the ground below. The chaos insects that plummeted to the far-off trunk below died with a splat.
Thus, the summoned chaos insects were completely eradicated.
[…]
Goin, who had witnessed this, made a guttural sound while maintaining a barely safe distance.
[Damn it, they said there was only one to be cautious of…!]
He looked as desperate as a support player left to defend a lane alone against two fully equipped heroes.
But Goin didn’t flee.
[D-Damn it… How long do I have to keep doing this…?!]
“…”
We alternated between sword strikes and volleys of arrows, and Goin, unable to withstand the mounting damage, flew higher into the sky.
“…”
I thought he would disappear into the distance, but instead, he just hovered nearby, staying out of range of our attacks.
‘If he’s going to flee, why doesn’t he just flee completely?’
As I carefully observed him, I realized why Goin was lingering.
“…!”
From below, it was hard to see. But even though he had the high ground advantage, there were conditions he had to meet.
He had to maintain a low altitude flight to avoid crushing the chaos insects he summoned, keeping a precise distance from his target.
‘So just throwing them randomly wasn’t an option. If he can’t hit us, the hit-and-run tactic is pointless.’
Just by Goin pulling up slightly to avoid us, the chaos insects he summoned were crashing into the ground and shattering, unable to keep up with their regeneration.
Splat—! Splat—!
The poorly regenerated creatures couldn’t be used effectively.
The longer our battle continued, the weaker the summoning waves became.
‘At least the ones fighting below will have a chance to catch their breath.’
All that remained was to take down the dragonfly. If he was this vulnerable, it was definitely possible.
…
And I’d been feeling it for a while now.
‘This guy…’
Anna murmured beside me, still aiming her arrow. She seemed to have reached the same conclusion.
“Doesn’t it seem like he’s stalling for time?” “…Yeah.”
We exchanged glances.
Once again, we were on the same page.
“Should we go big?” “Yeah—☆”
We didn’t know why he was stalling.
But we knew we couldn’t let it happen.
“Now!” “Now—☆”
If that was the case, then we had to change the situation with our most powerful skills. Ether be damned; we had to unleash everything we had right now.
Anna drew her bowstring, forming a massive ballista-like green ether arrow.
I stabbed my greatsword into the tree trunk and raised my spear, slowly wrapping it in a spiral of pink ether.
Rumble—!!
The air vibrated, resonating with our power.
The tree trembled and swayed.
[…!]
Sensing the impending danger, Goin, who had been flying overhead, was visibly shaken.
[This… This is…!]
Realizing he couldn’t hold out any longer, he tried to flee at full speed.
[Damn it, damn it, damn it—!! Damn it all, how much longer—!! I’m at my limit—!!]
But…
In that split second, in the world of rainbow-colored vision, with heightened senses, everything predicted that our attack would hit.
In less than 0.5 seconds, in that slow-moving time, we completed our preparations.
“[Yggdrasil]—!!” “[Pink Lemon Sorbet]—☆”
Pink and green.
The spear and the massive arrow.
The two ether-powered attacks shot toward the trembling dragonfly. And without giving him a chance to escape, they hit their mark.
Rumble—!!
[Kuuuh… Aaaah—!!]
The dragonfly thrashed between the two pillars of green and pink light. In a desperate attempt to escape the inescapable attack, it struggled frantically.
Its wings were torn.
Its exoskeleton peeled away.
Blood gushed from its long body.
As I sensed the battle’s end drawing near and prepared to deliver the finishing blow…
“…!”
A sight beyond belief appeared in my rainbow-colored vision.
Massive fangs.
Eyes burning like flames.
A mane filled with darkness.
You’ve done well, Goin. From here, I’ll take over. A black crack appeared in the air.
And it rapidly expanded into a massive hole.
He’s coming.
“Anna! Get out of here!” “What…!”
Instinctively, I grabbed Anna and jumped down from the tree trunk. At the same time, I heard the sound of the tree trunk being torn apart.
Craaaack—!!
Even as we fell, I caught a glimpse of the shattered remains of the green tree trunk formed by the ether skill. The pieces crumbled and fell.
An overwhelming pressure struck me in the pit of my stomach.
Even amidst the shock of the fall, I could distinctly sense the killing intent.
“Kuh…!”
As we plummeted, I struggled to lift my head.
“That’s…”
Perched atop the tree trunk we had fallen from was the enormous head of a wolf, casting its shadow.
Grrrr…!
A massive maw, capable of swallowing the moon, bared teeth as large as a human torso, biting into the tree trunk.
The remnants of a wolf that proclaimed itself a god in myth.
It emerged from within the robes of a man dressed in black. Though it was tangled up in the shadows of his robe, only its head emerged, glaring menacingly.
The man who had summoned the wolf’s head pulled back his black hood, looking our way. His eyes glowed as if they were submerged in the depths of an abyss.
“…!”
The Prophet’s eyes widened as he saw my face while I was holding Anna, falling.
“…You.”
You.
…
The face was all too familiar.
Although the right side of the face was twisted from burns.
It was still a face I could never forget.
“…!”
That face was mine .