#220
Lycanthrope (5)
How can I express this feeling?
It is simply infinitely vast and infinitely distant.
The universe spreads out like a meadow, and the stars flow like rivers.
They were looking down at the continent from a great height and quietly observing what was happening on the ground.
And Harris, who glimpses the scene, also looks like an absolute person looking down on Marge's miniature garden….
"Huh!"
But the sense of omnipotence is only fleeting.
In an instant, he was thrown out of that sensation, stumbling around holding his head with a pounding headache, and soon collapsed onto the branch of the World Tree.
I wasn't aware of it, but at some point, I was breathing heavily without realizing it. A soft
wind
passed by as if soothing him, who was covered in sweat.
My heart, which had been racing like crazy due to the tidal wave of information that went beyond the limits of my mind in an instant, slowly calmed down, and only then was I able to see the situation fully.
'Wow, I was surprised.'
Harris took a deep breath and slowly looked around.
This is on the high branches of the World Tree.
Below, the scene of Drasha, still at war, unfolded.
'…I really don't have time to be like this.'
Harris stood up, clutching his still shaking legs.
The shock was so severe that he would not recover quickly even though he was attached to the World Tree, but the current situation was not so good for him to relax due to his poor health.
It was only for a moment that he glimpsed the world tree's gaze, and even then, his capabilities were lacking, so all that was left in his mind was a fragment-like abstraction.
Because I was able to recognize quite a bit of some of the ranges I saw first.
As far as the Drasha area where the World Tree is located.
'Thanks to you, I think I know roughly what they want.'
A plan in which a leader who has reached transcendence personally leads all the elites of a race to attack.
The goal was to prevent the World Tree from interfering any further with this Enamel Continent or even Outerica itself.
'I still don't know what they gain by doing that.'
The World Tree, through its incarnation, created a continent and protected other races, including elves, and became burdened with more restrictions by interfering excessively with the earth.
The incarnation that has taken root here in Drasha has become both a proof of its power and a weakness.
'I can't let that happen.'
The World Tree was the root and pillar of the Enamel Continent.
If things go as they want, the ground will slowly collapse except for the central area, which was originally an island, and eventually all of it will sink into the sea.
A continent that had existed for thousands of years was to be completely destroyed.
"Whoa—."
Harris took a deep breath and used "Observer of the Milky Way."
At the same time, all the information about the Drasha area was sucked into his head, as if analyzing data observed by satellite.
From the fight between the Lycanthrope King and the High Elves, to the infiltration unit quietly approaching this place taking advantage of the commotion of multiple wars taking place in the city, and…
'Let's start there first.'
Squeak –
Themis, a bow made from the branches of the World Tree, was bent, and the natural forces coming from all directions came together and formed a single arrow.
Perhaps due to the influence of the World Tree, which was still vaguely connected, the power of the spirits began to dwell in the arrows with more force than usual.
'Now that I think about it, I think we need to come up with a good name for this technology.'
When that thought suddenly occurred to me, recommendations such as 'Elemental Sniper' and 'Demonstration in Silence' flooded my brain in the conference room, but…
'…Hmm, now that I think about it, it's annoying. Let's just call it a spirit poem for convenience.'
Even though there was a lot to worry about, I thought worrying about coming up with a cool name would just be a waste of energy, so I just ignored it.
And at the same time, those foolish thoughts came to an end.
A silent arrow that no one recognized, buried in the mighty presence of the World Tree—.
It was shot to one place like a beam of light.
***
"Ugh."
"Hahaha…what the heck…."
Just 5 seconds.
Not only were the spirits summoned by Shapiron and Timer Curie torn apart and reverse-summoned, but it also took a while for those who resisted to get hit one by one.
Although they were among the top students at the academy, they were only intermediate level spirits and could not even meaningfully resist the lycanthrope general.
"Hmm, at first I was thinking of killing him right away… Wouldn't it be better if the elf's blood was fresh?"
Despite the difference in rank, the reason they were still safe was purely because the other party was worried about the situation in their hands.
'I have to find a way… a way…'
Could it be because it was a desperate moment?
Shapiron's thoughts began to flow faster than ever.
But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't see a way out.
The opponent is a master-level strongman.
He was on the same level as a respected forest keeper in elf society.
But there's no way they can deal with them since they're only students!
'…iced coffee! Why is such a big guy here!'
I was so angry at the absurdity of the gap.
If I had been able to summon at least a high-level spirit, I would have been able to at least try to escape.
'…Harris is already waiting high up there! You said so confidently that you would overcome it, but ended up falling so far behind? Is this Shapiron Silvesti?'
She bit her lip as she touched the ring on the middle finger of her left hand.
A ring made from a branch of the World Tree that was given to him by his father Lafori when he became a high elf.
Thanks to this treasure that helped her grow, she quickly faced a wall and these days, she was making various efforts to overcome it…
but it seems she didn't have time to choose only the safe method.
'Maybe this won't be enough.'
She calmed the shaking inside, and as secretly as possible, she gathered natural power and slowly pushed it into the ring to stimulate the energy inside.
Her energy, which had been infinitely stable, began to slowly squirm and take on an aggressive stance due to her barrage like an awl.
'If I pull this into my body and explode it all at once…'
My parents would probably scold me a lot if they found out, but even if it had the best results, it was a dangerous method that would cause internal damage to the point where I wouldn't be able to move for a while.
Still, wouldn't it be better than doing nothing and dying?
"…Tsk, such a useless thing. After all, it would be better to just have fun and get it over with. "If necessary, we can use the gardeners' blood."
However, her secret resistance was discovered by the other party not long after she attempted it.
No matter how different the energy systems were, if the gap was this large, it was meaningless.
"Then goodbye."
With those words, a breathtaking murderous spirit comes out.
She approached Shapiron and his group and swung her right hand with sharp force.
Toward your own back.
Kwaaaaang—!
An intense explosion that erupted in an instant.
However, perhaps because all the energy used in the attack was concentrated in one point, the shock wave that spread in all directions was not that large.
"Ugh! "What is this all of a sudden!"
She, who had barely managed to react just before the attack arrived, gritted her teeth as she looked down at the cross section of her body that had been blown away, starting from her right hand and ending with her right lung.
If my reaction had been a little late, wouldn't my head and heart have been completely lost?
'An ultra-long-distance sniper shot with this much power from a distance where no one can sense its presence. 'Are you a high elf?'
King was dealing with all the guys here, so it was probably someone who had been out and came back.
There was really no time to waste now.
Wood clatter!
Her body, which had been taking on human form for covert actions, was instantly covered in fur, and in the blink of an eye, she took on the form of a giant werewolf measuring 3 meters in height.
The upper half of his body was still empty, but with his current regenerative power, it wouldn't be long before he could recover.
It wasn't that big of a problem for her, just that she was a little off balance right now.
'Is the direction of attack towards the World Tree? Damn, I'm over the moon about taking a stealthy approach with this. Since this has come to an end, it would be better for me to draw attention by making a big fuss so that other guys can approach it easily.'
In an instant, a complicated thought crossed her mind.
In fact, he was assigned to this task because he was less impulsive than other generals, but secret action was a mission in which he was not confident enough that he was doubtful about it.
Of course, a workaround was already prepared, and if you think about it calmly, it was a problem that could be easily resolved.
'however.'
However, a mixture of dark magic and madness swirled fiercely through my body to recover from the injury that caused half of my upper body to be blown off.
An uncontrollable anger began to well up in her head.
'…Okay, I'll have to deal with those idiots who are the cause of this situation.'
As she was wary of the direction from which the sniper shot came, she turned her gaze to the elves who were running away with a cruel smile on her lips.
As they were elites, they devised individual countermeasures even in crisis situations and took action as soon as an opportunity presented itself.
Timer, who had less internal injuries as his main focus was ranger rather than elemental magic, quickly ran forward with the other two women at his sides, and Curie, who had learned magic, used auxiliary magic to support him even though she was coughing up blood.
In the meantime, Shapiron just kept his eyes closed as he continued to do what he was doing.
'You can't fire an attack like this so quickly! First, after killing those kites, let's head to the World Tree!'
Also, if the elves were dealt with cruelly, it would be possible to provoke the sniper.
If you can distract its emotions like that, it will be more helpful in hunting.
After completing the calculation quickly, her legs swelled to their fullest extent.
Kwaang—!
I quickly caught up behind them, who had already grown quite a distance away.
"Huh! No, they're chasing us like this because they said we did something wrong!"
Timer, who had been running diligently, cried out in contemplation, but the giant werewolf simply rushed at him fiercely with blood-red eyes shining.
"Khaha! "Die, you bugs!"
And it was at that time that Shapiron, who was being lifted like a piece of luggage, opened his eyes.
As soon as she opened her mouth, she ignored the blood gushing from her throat and shouted as if she were yelling.
"Anemos!"
The connection was shaken by the shock of being reverse summoned, so she should not have been able to summon for a while… The name of the intermediate wind spirit she had contracted with.
However, the World Tree ring shining on her left finger easily ignores such trivial issues.
Whiiing—!
A high-level wind spirit shining like an emerald was summoned to the spot.
"Blow it away!"
Whoa!
And the harsh wind that arose according to her will blew towards the werewolf that was close behind.
"Khaat! That's it! What?!"
The use of physical force solely to impede movement, not an attack.
No matter how high-level the spirit was, it was still insufficient to deal a significant blow to the general from the front.
The best you can do right now is probably just shake your posture and float in the air for a moment like you are now.
But in the current situation, it's only for a moment.
"uh? Now wait! How can this be so fast…!"
To her, floating in the air in a disheveled state.
The beam of light departing from the World Tree was enough time for the silent messenger to arrive.
Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck!
This time, accurately enough to blow off heads and hearts.
***
"…what? "Are you stupid?"
Harris, who had been identifying the enemy in real time as the "Observer of the Milky Way," lowered his bow with a look of hesitation.
I never thought I could defeat a general-level enemy with just two attacks.
If he had been hit by a sniper with this much power, it would have been enough to hide his appearance as much as possible and take evasive maneuvers, but he never expected that he would divert his attention to something else in that situation.
'…Well, he's a lycanthrope.'
Isn't their temperament with anger control disorder so famous?
Even if he died right away, he couldn't have tolerated losing the prey that was right in front of him.
This time, however, he actually died.
'Without Shapiron's help, it would have been difficult to defeat him so easily. I never thought I would summon a higher-ranking spirit.'
If this attack had not been completed, the Academy classmates running away would have been in considerable danger.
Fighting while protecting others at this distance was still difficult for him.
'Not yet… I mean.'
Immediately after dealing with the bastard, he could feel the blessings of the World Tree penetrating his body and knew it intuitively.
It really isn't that far away now.
'Let's first deal with the dangerous elements that approach secretly.'
These guys are hiding with 'something' that is lethal just by approaching the World Tree.
He had prepared so thoroughly that even he would not have noticed if he had not been in sync with the World Tree.
I could have told the gardeners guarding this place and left it to them, but I couldn't give up the public value triple event to someone else!
Harris felt the energy in his body quickly recovering due to the influence of the World Tree, and continued to fire spirit poetry.
'Ah, I think it's still a little lacking.'
As I was shooting arrows so excitedly, I was able to cleanly intercept all the approaching guys, but it still seemed a bit lacking to fulfill the karma needed to overcome the wall.
'Then I guess I'll have to support Steele… or the others, and deal with the generals. The sooner you deal with the strong guys, the more favorable the situation will be.'
With that in mind, Harris again used the "Milky Way Observer" to analyze the chaotic battlefield at a glance.
Now, the four high elves are being pushed back to a dangerous degree, the master-level strongmen on both sides are fighting on equal footing, and the damage to the elves continues to occur.
'…We must hurry before the high elves completely collapse. Since they are highly mobile, ranged attacks using spirits will not be very effective, so it would be best to deal with them one by one by sniping… Huh?'
At that time, a strange feeling suddenly crossed his mind.
All this time, he thought of himself as a simple spirit archer, but in fact, didn't he have one skill that really shined on such a large-scale battlefield?
This is the "Melody of Harmony," which I have consistently used as self-strengthening whenever I fire a spirit poem.
'No, wait. Is this really going to work? If only I could amplify this a little more…'
His eyes slowly turned to the side after quickly analyzing the situation in less than a second.
To the huge amplifier that covers the entire Drasha battlefield… no, to the World Tree.