Meanwhile,
The Regressor merely watched things unfold from the sky. Standing above everything else, he could see everything within the battlefield but Yu Jitae’s eyes were fixed on Kaeul.
Would Kaeul know, he wondered.
Healing magic. Combat magic. Immense mana output. Military life. Volunteering. All those ‘failed experiences’ and things she tried to voluntarily learn as well as bringing in the baby chicken surprisingly all had a common factor.
– If I knew this would happen…
After the parrot flew out of the cage.
Left alone, BY cried for days and nights before finally coming to herself. In that vacant and intoxicated state, she repeatedly mumbled.
– I shouldn’t have asked for love.
With trembling hands she wrote down the next lyrics while ruminating about her life.
A life that had been spent chasing after love. But at the end of that not-so-short life, upon realising that she wasn’t suited for receiving love, BY at last realised what the type of life she should have led was.
– I should have given more love…
– I should have treasured it more…
– Given more love before it left…
Back then, Yu Jitae could not understand those words no matter how much he pondered and in fact, that was still the case until recently.
But now, he had an idea.
– I should have loved more…
Some existences lived in order to be loved, but there were also people that became complete by giving love. Those that protected a nation, its people, the world and every individual – those who lived for the sake of others.
People referred to such beings,
As ‘Guardian Deities’.
That was the common factor in everything that Kaeul had done on her own volition. Without anyone telling her anything, she was already on the path to becoming a guardian deity.
With his eyes fixed on Kaeul, he thought to himself.
Yes. You can do it.
There is no need to feel powerless or be discouraged.
Do not falter. Trust in yourself.
Trust in what you think is correct.
She had ended three of her lives with her own hands already.
Isn’t that more than enough experience in crumbling from powerlessness?
The one soft-hearted gold hatchling;
At last, it was time for her to be saved.
*
The poison of King Bees had a neurotoxic nature to it.
One of the spirit beasts bled from every hole on its face while one of the beastmen convulsed, unable to breathe properly. Them bleeding and vomiting in pain was vividly etched into the golden eyes.
Below the shades of the tree, into that pandemonium, her magic descended as a gleam of hope.
Magic was the manifestation of will and thus those with a selfless nature tended to be better at using healing magic.
Even though she had never met them before, Kaeul’s wish for those suffering in pain to recover was carried by her violently enormous flood of mana and was conveyed down to everyone.
And what happened as a result made Kaeul doubt her own eyes.
The tiger beastman stopped convulsing; the blood that had been endlessly flowing out of a giraffe spirit beast’s neck stopped. A wound that was so large in comparison to the small body of the rabbit spirit beast rapidly closed.
As the injured slowly raised their bodies and began to follow someone’s order to hurriedly escape the area,
The World Tree’s military each raised their voices and roared in joy.
—-!
—-!
Listening to all those cheers with her two ears, Kaeul turned blank for a little.
She thought she wouldn’t be able to do it. Because she wasn’t able to do a single thing properly.
Her first failure was disheartening. It hurt more due to all the effort she had put in. It forever remained in a corner of her memories so Kaeul had to consciously avoid the memories of that time.
However, whenever her mind crumbled and bad thoughts surfaced up; whenever a sense of defeat and a sense of powerlessness rose to the surface, Kaeul could not stop those memories from floating back up.
I’m, really trash…
As she repeated failures, she slowly became used to them. I won’t be able to do it no matter how hard I try. All my effort will be betrayed anyway. All those thoughts slowly made Kaeul more and more timid.
When was the last time she had wholeheartedly laughed and chattered? She realised that she had always been half-awkwardly smiling recently.
She was always anxious.
Always sorry.
Even though she had always been problematic, no-one pointed fingers at her. And since it was her that always betrayed those kind-hearted people, Kaeul had always been pointing her own fingers at herself.
Isn’t it time for you to finally start getting better…?
Why are you so stupid…
Why can’t you do anything properly…
Those had been the questions constantly going through her mind.
And yet what was happening underneath right now? All those spirit beasts and beastmen that had been convulsing and vomiting blood were slowly standing back up and moving.
Kaeul looked at her two hands.
She could not stop them from shivering.
I, I can do it.
I can do it as well…
The chains that had been binding her snapped. At the start, it was on an impulse due to the danger Chirpy was put in, and was out of anger but it was now different.
Even someone like me, can do it.
Raising her head, Kaeul looked at the sky. The state of the war was still far from victory.
Through her military life with Team Lair, Kaeul learned how to assess the progress of a war. In a disadvantageous turn of tides, the plunderers that had been aiming to invade the World Tree changed their attitude. At a glance, it was impossible to understand what their goal was.
They began to throw their bodies to all sides, attacking everything in their sight without any order.
“What are you doing! We must stop them!”
“No. It’s not a simple attack. We need to understand what they’re after!”
“And what are they after!”
The reason behind their actions were difficult to grasp and they seemed to be flying around without a clear objective, solely for the purpose of destruction.
One of the King Bees attacked a beastman soldier that was on a flying spirit beast, while others randomly attacked the unarmed spirit beast civilians.
In Kaeul’s eyes, it was a strange flow of events.
It was then.
The sensitive nose of a dragon picked up a peculiar scent. Is it poison? No, this is…
Kaeul thought to herself.
Most monsters communicated through visual and olfactory measures. They warned others by making themselves look bigger or marked one’s territory with urine.
More intellectual beasts like goblins and gray wolves that formed groups communicated through sound, just like humans.
However, King Bees were different. King Bees were able to carry out complex communications through chemicals that other species could not even sense. It was a communication that no-one should be able to pick up without receptors like them.
It was the power to share an explicit common goal in a short period of time.
Through pheromones.
Although dragons did not have the chemical receptors like King Bees, they did have the power of interpreting the will behind the mana that formed those pheromones. Kaeul quickly began to analyse the will hidden within the ‘peculiar scent’.
She infiltrated through the outer disguise. The moment she analysed the first command of the Queen Bee embedded within, Kaeul widened her eyes.
[Mass Suicide]
Only then did she realise what the King Bees were trying to do. Raising her mana to the limit, she soared into the sky.
“Uhk—!”
Now that the tides had turned against them, the Queen commanded them to carry out a purposeless massacre. Pheromones had yet to reach the distance. She had to kill the Queen Bee immediately and stop the signal before it caused any more chaos.
[Magic Arrow (A)]
A large missile rushed through the sky but the Centurions interrupted it. Despite their large bodies exploding from the strike, the Centurions threw their bodies in and protected the queen.
Charararak!!
The excessive use of mana overheated her heart. In a situation like this, she would not be able to shoot a dragon breath even if she were to undo the polymorph.
Kaeul was already close to her limit. Never in her life had she scraped up so much power.
“Kuhuk!”
“S, stop them!”
Meanwhile, the King Bees continued with their attack. Each had their own target and fell towards the unarmed and weak spirit beasts with whatever method of attack they had with them. “Ahhkk-!” “Noooo–!”
There were some deaths that she could not stop.
It was a chaotic war.
Chemical signals allowed a group to carry out complex orders. Ants building their house underground immediately knew where they had to go, and what room they had to make as well as how to make them.
King Bees were the same. After the simple command of [Mass Suicide], a separate yet complex pheromone was again spread by the highly intellectual Queen Bee.
The queen’s command was renewed inside Kaeul’s mind.
[Aim for the young spirit beasts]
[Gather the attention of those flying bugs (flying spirit beasts)]
[Strike the branches of the World Tree and break them]
[Isolate the unwinged spirit beasts between the branches and the roots]
[Expand your stomachs (with poison) and explode yourselves]
It wasn’t a simple suicide explosion. With intellectual means, they were trying to carry out the most efficient explosion.
Such a specific expression of hostility caused Kaeul to have goosebumps.
[Magic Arrow (B)]
[Magic Bullet (B)]
Kaeul shot more spells in a hurry. They flew towards the queen but could only kill those that were protecting it.
[Blink (A)]
Despite her repeated attempts, they were all blocked by the Centurions so this time she moved through dimensions to attack from different angles. However, it was not enough to go around the enormous bodies of the Centurions.
She was in a hurry. Even at this moment, the queen’s command was spreading far and wide, changing into more and more complex orders.
“Kuuk! Damn it!”
“What in the world are they after?!”
“Stop them first! Stop them! Save those that weren’t able to evacuate yet!”
The death throes of the dying spirit beasts could be heard.
Pandemonium.
It was like hell on earth.
Kaeul looked at the watch but the existence that had given her power once did not react this time.
That was when she felt several gazes coming her way. They were from the mythical creatures – the commanders of the military. Looking at Kaeul, they were eagerly wishing for something.
Those gazes struck her at the back of her head.
Despite meeting each other for the first time, they were already relying on her and were expecting things from her. Kaeul soon realised that it was because the head commander of the military had died from the sting of a Centurion.
She could sense her position and her role and so she immediately stopped attacking the Queen Bee. Kaeul realised that she had the right to lead every soldier in this place.
Kaeul thought to herself.
And came to a decision.
However, in that instant, she doubted herself. Because standing in front of people and gathering their attention was what Kaeul had to avoid at all cost. She again felt a shackle flying in, suppressing her by the neck.
‘Do not stand in front of a crowd…’ That was the supreme order given by Yu Jitae and was a shackle that had been binding an elephant from youth. It was difficult for it to break through even after becoming an adult.
That was when she suddenly felt a warm gaze, that seemed to have guessed what was going through her mind.
<[Keeper of the Clock (SSS+)] gazes down at you.>
Dragons had a certain level of comprehension regarding ‘transcendent authorities’. The eyes of a being that had evidently exceeded the realms of a human that could possibly even rival the status of the Ancient One was on her.
An existence like that was watching over her, with a warm gaze filled with encouragement.
Therefore, Kaeul decided to trust in herself one more time. Getting rid of the fear that suppressed her throat, Kaeul squeezed the mana out of her heart and yelled with a scream.
[Every mythical creature leading the army, heed my words—!]
Dragon’s Voice – a power that forces every creation.
Kaeul remembered the way commands were given out in the military.
[Every operation regarding the protection of the World Tree will now be under my command–]
She remembered the names of the spirit beasts that she had learned from school that existed in a corner of her unforgetting memories.
At the same time, she reflected on the analyses of the pheromone that was constantly being updated.
[Mountain Lord, go down and protect the young spirit beasts—]
The winged tiger.
[One-horned Beast, do not be deceived by the King Bees! Protect your ranks and those nearby–]
The one-horned white horse.
[Jiao, protect the branches of the World Tree and do not let them be broken–]
Large snakes and others.
Kaeul continued giving out orders.
[The objective of the King Bees is mass suicide–]
[Stop the poison from spreading as best as you possibly can–!]
After finishing with the commands, Kaeul felt a severe insufficiency in mana that made her gasp for breath. She had to overuse Dragon’s Voice to send her voice across while embedding coerciveness into it.
Kaeul blocked her mouth in an attempt to stop herself from throwing up. She then wiped her mouth as blood smeared her hand.
Her mind felt dizzy and her vision wavered.
However, when she raised her head again, she found the mythical creatures following her command and moving in perfect order.
The aggression of the King Bees was efficiently obstructed once their goals were seen through and their meaningless offences were no longer threatening. The tides turned yet again as the plunderers fell into confusion. Even though the queen updated its orders from time to time, Kaeul also gave further orders in response.
Two dragons that were watching the situation unfold from a distance clenched their hands and cheered.
The exceedingly efficient commands that only dragons could give in the world created a new flow in the once chaotic battlefront.
The flow was now completely in their hands, as they struck back.
Kaeul trusted in herself.
And everyone believed in Kaeul.
“Block the Centurions–!!”
Just like that, the large spirit beasts and the mythical creatures all cooperated to block the Centurions and hinder their movement and Kaeul, who jumped through dimensions, finally found a gap. As a golden arrow squeezed out of her fingers and explosively shot through the air,
The falling light finally popped the head of the Queen Bee.