"Oh my? I didn't expect to see a weed right after arriving. How lucky I am!"
Looking at the Elf in front of her, Jibril revealed a smile of pure joy.
The smile on her face was innocent to the point of being adorable.
But in Think Nirvalen's eyes, this girl before her was more terrifying than demons from hell.
Whether it was the geometric halo above her head or the white wings at her lower back, they clearly indicated the opponent's identity.
Flügel—the war god's claws capable of easily annihilating an entire Elf nation's military force.
For most races, the existence of Flügel was no different from the Grim Reaper.
Even though Think Nirvalen was a rare genius among the Elves, the only Octal-Caster in history who could use eight spells simultaneously, she still had absolutely no qualification to face the Flügel before her.
Forget about Heavenly Smite—even a normal Flügel was an insurmountable enemy for her.
Not to mention, there were two Flügel before her, and encountering them was equivalent to death itself.
If the two Flügel only made her feel terrified, then the black-haired, black-eyed young man behind them was enough to make her tremble in fear.
Although she had never seen him before, nor sensed the aura of an Old Deus, there was probably only one existence in heaven and earth who could be revered as master by the Flügel.
"War God... Artosh?"
Think's face turned pale, her whole body trembling.
This was no longer a matter of her personal safety, but the possible extinction of the entire Elf race.
The War God's recent activities had spread throughout the world, and the Elves had naturally observed his movements. Although they didn't know what the War God had been doing, the fact that he began moving after over ten thousand years of silence was enough to attract worldwide attention.
Forest God Kainath was worried that the War God would act against other Old Deus, which was why he had specifically convened a meeting earlier, having them develop spells to determine the War God's movements. The elders had taken on this task wholesale, ultimately assigning it all to Think.
She had previously cursed those old fossils for only knowing how to delegate responsibility layer by layer. She hadn't expected that before spell development even began, she would encounter the real deal.
"Y-Y-You... what do you want with me?"
She immediately knelt down without hesitation.
Whether enemy or not, one should maintain maximum respect when dealing with unreasonably powerful Old Deus.
This wasn't to demonstrate the Old Deus's majesty, but purely to preserve her own life.
Think lowered her head to the lowest point, her eyes hidden in shadow but gleaming with light, obviously thinking rapidly about the other party's intentions.
Facing this sensible behavior, Jibril let out a light laugh.
"My master isn't Artosh-sama! If you call the wrong name next time... I'll kill you!"
The killing intent, gentle as a breeze, immediately soaked Think's back with sweat.
She couldn't understand Jibril's meaning. Wasn't the Flügel's main god Artosh?
She also couldn't understand Jibril's logic. Even if the other party wasn't the War God, you should at least tell me the name, right? Otherwise, how could I possibly get it right?
However, she deeply understood one thing: the strong don't need to reason with the weak.
So—
"Yes! I understand!"
She clenched her fists, choosing to swallow her anger.
"Very good. It seems that among weeds, there are occasionally those whose heads can be used. I'll ask you one question. If you can answer honestly, I'll consider sparing you."
Jibril nodded with satisfaction and spoke thus.
"Yes."
Think immediately nodded, though her expression showed slight confusion.
Flügel generally had no interest in Elves. Even when killing, it was just casual action, like poking an ant nest—they wouldn't plan carefully.
So what question would be worth their special inquiry?
The answer was soon revealed.
"Where is the Elf shrine?"
Jibril immediately asked.
"..."
Hearing this, Think's eyes widened, her expression suddenly changing.
The Elf shrine was built together with the royal capital. By asking this, they wanted to know the location of the Elf race's capital and main base.
It seemed her worst fears hadn't been wrong—they were really coming to destroy the Elf race!
With the Flügel's power, they could easily destroy their main base. If that happened, the entire Elf race would lose over seventy percent of their strength and completely decline.
If she told them the correct information here, the Elf race's tens of thousands of years of accumulation would be destroyed in an instant.
If she deceived them here... well, it seemed she couldn't deceive them. After all, the Elf capital wasn't far from here. The Flügel could find it in half a minute of searching, and the Old Deus didn't even need to search to see it—she just didn't know why he wasn't speaking.
Thinking carefully, she wasn't particularly loyal to the Forest God or especially loving toward the Elf race. Rather, those elders mostly gave her negative impressions.
She wasn't the type to value others over herself either.
So what was there to hesitate about?
Just as she made up her mind but still hadn't spoken, Ryuga spoke.
"Tell the truth."
The words of a god possessed extremely strong binding power. A human magician's will could not resist it, nor could the Elves.
Under this compulsory command, all of Think's previous struggles became pointless. Her body involuntarily made sounds.
"The Elf shrine is one hundred kilometers behind me. That is our Elf capital."
"So close? It seems we came to the right place!"
Jibril immediately showed an excited smile.
"Then, Ryuga-sama, let's go!"
The two Flügel girls and the suspected divine being quickly disappeared from the spot.
For those who could manipulate space at will, one hundred kilometers was no different from being right next to them.
Watching the direction the three had left, Think's face was pale.
Caught off guard and exposed to the gaze of two Flügel and one Old Deus, the Elf race's future had almost only one path—destruction—with no other choice.
Although she had no feelings for the Elf race and even less goodwill toward Forest God Kainath, seeing that everything from her past was about to turn to ash, she finally stepped out of her genius's halo and once again recognized this cold, realistic world.
"Ryuga-sama, was it..."
She deeply remembered this name, then turned to walk in the direction she had come from.
If the Elf race was going to be destroyed, she should witness its destruction with her own eyes!
Using multiple spells to accelerate herself, easily breaking through several times the speed of sound, Think returned to the Elf nation in just a few minutes.
However, what appeared before her was completely unexpected—not ruins, nor mountains of Elf corpses.
On the contrary, this capital was still as peaceful and prosperous as when she had left.
Looking at the bustling Elves, Think was somewhat bewildered.
"What's going on?"
With the Flügel's spatial transfer ability, shouldn't they have arrived here long ago?
Why did this city look like nothing had happened?
Not only had it not been attacked, there wasn't even a hint of panic or alertness, as if they hadn't noticed enemy invasion at all.
"Think Nirvalen, can you explain why you used emergency authority to summon us here?"
A stern and aged voice rang out.
The elders summoned by Think's emergency communication device all looked at this overly arrogant new-generation Elf with unfriendly gazes.
"If there's no suitable reason, even if you are the Flower Crown praised by Kainath-sama, you must follow the rules for punishment. In the worst case, you'll lose the authority to directly issue emergency communications to the elders."
The atmosphere of seniority was extremely severe within the Elf race. Even though Think was the unique genius of all Elves and had made many unimaginable contributions, she could only remain subordinate to the elder council, constantly under their control.
Looking at these old people reeking of decay, Think's gaze was very cold.
The authority to issue emergency communications?
Hah! As if it were something good. Originally, these people wanted to monopolize the success of the spells she developed, which was why they gave her communication authority. Now they were acting as if she were begging them.
She had long grown accustomed to these annoying attitudes, so she had no intention of getting angry at the moment.
"Are you certain that nothing abnormal happened just now, that you detected no signs of intrusion?"
She questioned them with a firm attitude.
"Think Nirvalen, watch your tone when speaking to the elders!"
"Outrageous!"
"We received no signals. What do you mean?"
The elders had varying attitudes—some thought she was being alarmist, others were dissatisfied with her arrogant manner.
Think completely ignored these old fossils' attitudes.
"Tsk, that's not right!"
According to logic, any large-scale spirit reaction shouldn't escape the detection range of the spells she personally compiled. If those two Flügel had come, the spells should have given warning.
Since the spells didn't react, it meant they indeed hadn't come.
What was going on? Could they have gotten lost?
Impossible... wait!
Recalling the question Jibril had asked earlier, Think suddenly widened her eyes.
The other party had asked about the location of the Elf shrine, not the capital's location. It was only because the two places were together that she had been confused.
If the enemy's target wasn't the Elf capital, then what was their target?
What existence would be worth a suspected Old Deus-level being taking action?
Realizing this, her face turned pale. She directly slammed the table hard, glaring at the other elders.
"Where is Kainath? Where is Kainath-sama? He might be in danger!"
Upon hearing this, the elders were all shocked.
"What are you saying?!"
"How is that possible? How could Kainath-sama be in danger? Our main god is invincible!"
"Flower Crown, can you take responsibility for your concerns?"
They had initially wanted to pursue Think's attitude problem, but no matter what attitude, when it came to their divine lord's safety, it all seemed insignificant.
War God Artosh hadn't taken action for over ten thousand years. In some elders' hearts, Forest God had replaced War God as number one in the world, so they didn't believe Think's words. But in this world, there were ultimately more sensible people, especially when it came to their own lives and property.
If Forest God were truly the strongest, they wouldn't be suppressed by the Flügel.
So upon hearing Think's words, they all panicked.
However, according to Elf customs, disturbing the main god without cause was also a sin.
No matter how worried they were, someone had to take responsibility before they dared to inquire about the divine being's condition.
And the person to take the blame, aside from Think who had raised this concern, could be no one else.
Seeing the elders' meaningful gazes, Think knew exactly what they were thinking.
Normally she might have mocked them, but she didn't have time for that now.
"All responsibility falls on me. We'll go see Forest God right now!"
She said decisively.
Unlike War God Artosh and Forge God Ocain, Forest God Kainath rarely appeared before the Elves.
Even the elders needed to gather everyone to meet him.
Sometimes Think felt that the Elves' problem with putting on airs probably inherited from Forest God Kainath himself.
With someone to take responsibility, their efficiency immediately improved.
Before long, they arrived at the Elf shrine.
To Think's relief, the shrine hadn't been destroyed.
Could it be that she had really worried too much, and the enemy hadn't come at all?
However, without final confirmation, she still couldn't feel at ease. At her insistence, the elders took up their symbolic staffs and initiated the ritual to contact their god.
Soon, a blurry light and shadow appeared above the shrine. The specific content within the light was unclear.
At this moment, a vague voice rang out.
This tone sounded somewhat unfamiliar to the elders, but strangely familiar to Think.
"Who?"