part0018

“Yes, Your Majesty! The creature at the border! It killed all of the scouts we sent to investigate it and is heading this way as we speak!”

The king stared at the messenger without blinking. He’d just ordered the commander to pull out the scouts and to not aggravate the monster any further, but it seemed that he was a step too late. The monster, which easily suppressed several sylphids, was currently headed toward the ancient city of Aerith.

The king turned to the elves guarding the temple. “Escort the priestess to the shrine underground.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

The guards saluted and started moving toward the priestess. “Forgive us, Priestess Siofra,” guards said reluctantly. “But you’ll have to follow us to the underground shrine.”

The priestess glared at the guards and they immediately took a step back.

“Father, are you telling me to seek refuge at the shrine while our warriors are risking their lives protecting the kingdom?” Priestess Siofra said unhappily.

The king said softly, “Please understand. We cannot risk losing the only Priestess of the Kingdom.”

“No! I’m not going to the underground shrine!” the priestess declared resolutely. “And these guards will not heed your orders, Father. They serve the temple, they serve God Gaia. They’re not yours to command.”

The guards looked at each other, their eyes filled with uncertainty. They wanted to move the priestess to the underground shrine and secure her safety, but they couldn’t go against her commands.

Seeing the determined gaze of his daughter, King Melandrach knew he couldn’t persuade her any further. Moreover, in terms of hierarchy, he was a rank lower. He sighed. “Then, one thing. Please promise me one thing, Siofra.”

Hearing King Melandrach call her by name, she understood that right now, he was speaking to her not as the king of the nation but as a father.

“If the situation becomes too dangerous, you will flee to the underground shrine.”

The underground shrine was where investiture and enthroning ceremonies were held. Moreover, it was where the voice of the Gods was best heard. Protected by the roots of dozens of elven oaks and the defensive talismans created by their ancestors, it was the safest place in the entire kingdom.

“Under the name of God Gaia,” Priestess Siofra clasped her hands together, as though in prayer, “I promise to flee to the underground shrine should the situation become too dangerous, Father.”

The creases on the king’s brow loosened upon hearing these words uttered under the name of their God. Together with the priestess and her guards, they left the temple and went toward the royal palace.

“The status of the army?” said King Melandrach. The officials flocked toward him the moment he entered the royal palace. They bowed respectfully at the priestess first, before giving their reports to the king.

“The western garrison is currently in a fierce battle! The warriors are doing their best to prevent the monster from coming to this city! But it’s only a matter of time before all our warriors stationed there are annihilated, Your Majesty!”

“We should mobilize the guardian golems!”

“Please give us your orders, Your Majesty!”

The entire royal palace was in an uproar. Numerous elves were seen running here and there, as everyone did their best to assess the current situation of the battle. King Melandrach’s ears twitched as he found this pathetic. It seemed that several centuries of peace had weakened the elven race.

“Commander Khuumal,” said King Melandrach.

“Your Majesty.” The commander placed his hand on his chest and bowed his head.

“The creature heading this way. What kind of monster is it?”

The commander’s face turned grim. “A gigantic, flying monster with seven heads, My King. After receiving the report from the scouts, we immediately searched our archives for any information regarding such a beast. We believe that it’s an Earth Scylla.”

A roar was heard outside, followed by a loud explosion. Flocks of birds flew out of the elven oaks as the ground rumbled for several seconds.

“Your Majesty! An urgent report!” A palace guard came running toward King Melandrach. “The western garrison has been destroyed! We’ve lost contact with the warriors stationed there!”

The elves in the palace who heard this shuddered. The western garrison had not even lasted against that monster. Another roar from the outside was heard.

“An Earth Scylla,” mumbled King Melandrach.

King Melandrach had heard of the existence of such monsters before when he was still young, but never in his wildest imagination did he think that he would encounter one. As far as he knew, their species could only be found in the lands of Marut.

What was such a monster doing here, of all places? And why was it attacking the Kingdom of Elves?

“Commander Khuumal, I am giving you full authority over the guardian golems and the royal guards. Kill the Earth Scylla.”

“As you command!” said Commander Khuumal.

The commander immediately headed out and gathered the warriors of their kingdom.

Along with the priestess and several palace officials, King Melandrach went to the peak of the royal palace. From this vantage point, he could see almost half the city.

“Y-Your Majesty… that is.” A palace official pointed toward the western part of the city. Several dozens of gigantic elven oaks had been blown to smithereens, and a portion of the elven city had been set ablaze. Black smoke continued swirling up into the sky as a gigantic seven-headed monster continued firing spells toward the ground, one after another. Balls of fire, lightning, and wind continued raining down on the city.

Although they couldn’t see it clearly from a distance, they were sure that the elven warriors stationed in that part of the city were currently fighting the monster for dear survival.

The palace officials couldn’t imagine how they could possibly win against that monster. If it didn’t have seven heads, they would have mistaken it for a dragon.

“F-Father!” croaked Priestess Siofra. “At this rate, our city! The entire kingdom will be destroyed by that monster!”

The priestess trembled not in fear, but in rage. She couldn’t bear seeing the city she grew up in being destroyed in just a single day. With her keen hearing, she could even hear the faint screams of her people from far away.

“The guardian golems and our warriors will protect us,” said King Melandrach in a calm voice.

Although King Melandrach said this, he still couldn’t help but feel anxious deep inside. Even from this distance, he could feel the absurdly massive amount of mana from the seven-headed monster.

Surely, the guardian golems that had been protecting this kingdom since the time of their ancestors would be able to deal with that monster, right?

After destroying the western garrison of the elven kingdom, Blackie immediately entered the ancient city of Aerith.

“Hey, aren’t we just supposed to investigate the forest?” said the seventh head in draconian language. There were doubt and uncertainty in its voice.

“That’s right,” said the fifth head. “He wouldn’t reprimand us for destroying this city and killing these elves, right?”

The third head sighed and shook its head, as though it had long given up on convincing its brothers.

The first head snorted. “God Evander told us to investigate the forest, that’s all. He didn’t tell us not to kill these pesky insects who repeatedly tried entering our sacred ground!”

The first head opened its mouth and spat out a ten-meter ball of fire. Although the warrior elves below dispersed to evade the attack, the fireball still engulfed dozens of them at once. The elves couldn’t even scream as the ball of fire immediately reduced their bodies into ash.

The ball of fire also set an elven oak ablaze and the fire started licking the wooden bridges connecting it to the nearest elven oaks. All of the houses around the Scylla were currently blazing with flames.

“And these maggots attacked us first,” the first head said in justification. “They dared to fire their arrows at us. Those fools.”

Initially, Blackie planned on capturing several sylphids to interrogate them. But the moment it grabbed hold of one of the spirits, the elven scouts contracted to them started attacking the Scylla like madmen, without regard for their lives.

One thing led to another, and Blackie eventually ended up killing the elven scouts. It also ended up annihilating everyone stationed in the western garrison.

Well, their master—The Dragon Devourer—had told them back then: “If it blocks your path, just destroy it. Why waste your time taking a detour?”

Blackie had lived by this philosophy since then.

Blackie could still remember the grinning face of its master after it destroyed an entire nest of Gryphons in Marut. Those words and that smiling face were forever embedded in its memories ever since. Now that it had thought of it, the master was right. Didn’t they manage to get out of the labyrinth in the Forbidden Region by boring a hole through all of its floors?

“These elves are quite persistent, eh?” said the fifth head as it looked at the largest elven oak in the city.

More than a thousand elves came pouring out of the colossal tree located at the heart of the city. Each of them carrying swords and bows. Their cavalry unit, composed entirely of warriors riding their elks, assumed the role of the vanguard.

And as though the army wasn’t enough, four fifteen-meter large humanoid golems rose up from the ground, near the entrance of the royal palace. Numerous runes were carved on the golems’ bodies, each of them glowing with an azure hue.

The warrior leading the vanguard pointed his sword at the Scylla. He roared, “Proud warriors of Aerith! Protect our kingdom! Charge!”

The elven warriors roared, their eyes filled with resolve.

“Protect the kingdom!”

“For the kingdom!”

The archers located at the back of the army started firing their arrows at Blackie. Despite the distance, their arrows flew toward the Scylla with great accuracy. As expected of elves.

Blackie snorted and cast a simple barrier spell to fend off the attacks.

The vanguard army started speeding up. Behind them, the guardian golems also started running toward the seven-headed monster.

It was only a matter of time before things completely blew up into an all-out war.

“I think this is enough of a warning for these elves,” said the third head. “Unless they’re fools, they won’t dare snoop around our sacred ground after this. Let us head back.”

Thankfully, the other heads agreed. They also thought that killing any more than this would be quite drastic.

The third head amplified its voice using magic. It spoke in the language of humans and elves. “You brought this upon yourselves.”

The elven warriors halted in their tracks. They hadn’t expected the seven-headed monster to be capable of human speech.

“Let this serve as a warning.”

The Scylla stared at the warriors below for a moment, flapped its wings, and flew in the opposite direction. Without another word, it disappeared from sight.

Even after the Scylla was gone, the warriors remained there, staring in the direction the seven-headed monster had disappeared. The words the monster uttered were few, but they were more than enough to instill fear among their people.

It was basically telling them to stop investigating that part of the forest—where the clumps of mana were first detected.