Chapter 835 - An Elf's Specialty is Distortion (2)
Smack it on the head?
No, that's something that bastard Rem would do.
Ragna would just put a knife to its throat and threaten it, and Audin would unconditionally shout to pray to the Lord.
'Enki…'
What about my fiancé?
He was a man who always found an answer.
A man with high resolve and a shining will.
A man who throws himself into uncertainty and pulls out the best possible result.
She had watched such a man from the side and had reached the present.
'I can do it too.'
Shinar momentarily expanded her own world.
Her thoughts accelerated, wandering in search of an answer.
If she maintained the same attitude, on the opposite side of what the demon was saying, the phantom beast's mind would break.
Wasn't it already in a state of being as weak as it could get?
She finished her thoughts and whispered to the Salamander.
"Hate. Be angry. It is fine to be furious."
Now it was the parasite's turn to be at a loss for words.
What is this mad elf doing now?
Should she consider it an honor to hear such an impression from a demon?
She didn't know.
The demon was momentarily speechless, then continued its words more forcefully.
"...Hate, hate. Erupt."
Now that elf was helping it.
If so, he just had to use that.
Shinar spoke as if to help him, but then changed only the last words.
"And divide yourself. Do not keep the hatred within you."
Those words reached the Salamander.
Shinar's thought was simple.
She had found something useful among what she had seen and learned from Enkrid, and had applied it.
The breakwater swordsmanship used two lines of thought. It was an idea that came to her in comparison to that.
If it's so difficult that you can't choose, what about dividing your body in two?
The phantom beast in this world has no physical form.
So it should be possible.
It was also a thought that she could have because she was an elf.
And if it doesn't work?
She could think about that when the time comes.
Was all of this a coincidence or fate?
Shinar decided to believe it was fate.
She and the Salamander had something in common.
The demon had awakened its mind, but just as humans feel more familiar with humans of a similar skin color, the Salamander was also more drawn to the elf who held vigor.
And so, the phantom beast followed her words and succeeded.
The clumped mass within the Salamander broke off.
The Salamander had gathered its hatred, made it into a mass, and dropped it.
She could see it taking shape and charging at the party.
Shinar, who had entrusted her consciousness to the fire cloud, watched it all.
She could see the first fire-form being blown apart by a single axe-strike.
"A wicked thing like you?"
Rem must have spat out such words.
She couldn't hear them from here.
They just looked as small as the palm of her hand.
The parasite of heat was surprised once by what the elf had done, and surprised a second time watching the beings below fight.
The things it was sending now were things from the Salamander's memory.
In other words, things that had driven the phantom beast back with force.
In the past, the level of knights and magicians was higher than now, and the beasts were also stronger.
Some beasts would bite and rampage against knights.
The level of monsters?
That was needless to say.
The parasite of heat had not lived for a long time, but he too knew of those times.
What the Salamander was spewing out now was a memory of that time, but it was just crumbling without even buying any time.
It was no match at all.
They crumbled one by one with a single blow.
The demon was not flustered nor angry in that moment.
It just corrected its thoughts.
'Beelrog did not die by luck.'
It was not for nothing that he had heard the word 'demon.'
Getting angry and annoyed that things had gone wrong was something he could do later.
What he had to see now was reality.
The demon saw reality and heard the voice transmitted by the main body with which it shared consciousness.
'There is nothing more to be done.'
The moment the thought-form realized that, it began to crumble and scatter slowly like a rotted piece of cloth.
Just because it was gone didn't mean they could do anything about that phantom beast.
Even if it had separated its hatred and divided into two, was there a place for the phantom beast to live?
There was not.
Therefore, that phantom beast would continue to suffer like that.
In the end, it would be reduced to a servant of the demon.
It would bow its own head, asking for an end to its suffering.
It would become so.
For that reason, he was about to leave, adding a chuckle to his will, when his eyes met the Dragonkin, who had momentarily become a spectator.
To be precise, they had recognized each other.
The reason the Dragonkin had sent his mental body here was simply to remember that bastard demon.
And if he died?
Then he would die.
A Dragonkin originally has no great attachment to life.
That is why they were beings that should not be made an enemy.
A race that would risk its own life and do its best to kill the one who had interfered with its duty.
"Memory complete," the Dragonkin replied to that laugh.
There was not a trace of a smile on this side.
The demon felt an unaccountable chill.
Shinar saw the demon retreat.
A black smoke that scattered into dots.
The one who had been whispering to the Salamander was gone.
Below, Enkrid, Rem, and the others cut and crushed all the fallen fireballs.
Now what, what should be done?
A Wood Guard is made of wood, and a Dryad is made of leaves and dew.
And this phantom beast had a body made of flames.
However, the Salamander had no parts made of flesh and blood.
That is why it is difficult for that phantom beast to live in this land.
Because it is a land where it is not permitted to live.
All it could do was to endure by falling into a forced sleep, hoping to one day return to its own world.
—Peace.
The Salamander's wish digs into her heart.
Shinar felt it.
At the same time, she realized that there was more she could do here.
If a human's specialty is adaptation, a dwarf's is manufacturing.
If a Frog's specialty is inquiry, a giant's is strife.
If a beastkin's specialty is survival, a Dragonkin's must be tranquility.
And an elf's specialty was distortion.
The ability to distort the truth in order to not speak a lie is rooted in their racial characteristics.
'That phantom beast wishes to return to its original world.'
'I cannot grant that right now.'
'The reason it wants to return is not nostalgia, but because it needs a sanctuary.'
'A peaceful space would be enough for a phantom beast's sanctuary.'
Also, the phantom beast had never wanted destruction.
It had never wanted slaughter.
Shinar whispered in the ear of the Salamander as it cut off and separated its hatred.
That she would provide a space for it to play.
Half of it was impulse, and the other half was naturalness.
The Salamander had transformed into a blazing fire lizard.
An elf's specialty is distortion.
What if she could make it so that a being that could normally only feel peace in its own world could do so in the elven city?
It wouldn't work with a simple method.
She would have to give this being something to eat and rest to its heart's content.
What does this thing eat?
She couldn't just give it ordinary fruit.
A Dryad eats only morning dew its entire life.
It would be similar to them.
The Salamander eats flames.
'What is more fundamental than that?'
Shinar thought, from an elven perspective.
'Vigor.'
The source is the same, so to be more precise, it would eat magic.
She could have it stay in a forest full of vigor and have it move in exchange for that vigor.
The inspiration came like lightning, and she followed that inspiration.
"A world made only of vigor."
It was not the world it had originally lived in, but she would construct it in a similar form to the one it lived in through distortion.
Just as the witch Esther opens her world of spells, she could do that.
The method?
It was not difficult.
She already knew of a few such places within the elven city.
Elves live an eternal life.
When it is time for them to accept eternal rest, they finally scatter into vigor.
Their bodies and minds scatter into vigor and permeate the entire city.
That is the final hidden strength that the elven city of Kiraheis possesses.
There is a space where they throw their bodies when they scatter into vigor.
A place called the Forest of Eternal Rest.
She could make something similar to that.
'Only with vigor.'
Among that, she just had to provide a place with flames.
'If we need beings who are with flames.'
They would be sufficient to handle such a space.
Among the elves, there are those who are familiar with steel and fire.
They handle both vigor and fire at the same time.
It was a method inspired by that.
At one time, she had hated and detested fire because of the demon, but the elf who had overcome it had made fire her friend.
'Come with me.'
And so, Shinar guided the phantom beast to the elven city.
To the fire lizard suffering from pain, there could have been no sweeter proposal.
It was a temptation that it could not have refused even if it had been the demon's proposal.
Enkrid saw the fireballs in front of him clump together and transform into the shape of a person.
In the time it took to raise Dawnforged, the fireball had transformed into a form with two arms and legs. Its build was as large as Audin's, and it held a sword made of fire in its right hand and a shield-shaped fireball in its left.
It was the last of the Salamander's hatred.
The fireball, transformed into a fire-form, takes a step.
It gauges the distance and swings its sword.
It was a classic strike to the crown of the head.
BOOM!
The sound follows the movement.
The flames form various lines, confusing his vision.
Enkrid raises Dawnforged at an angle, blocks the fire-blade, and takes three steps back.
It was just outside the blade's range.
He had even calculated the range of the flames attached to the blade.
Then, the fire-blade cut horizontally through the space he had been in.
The blade, which had been falling vertically, had bent straight, parallel to the ground, and had charged.
Enkrid turned his body to the side and used Dawnforged like a shield to push and deflect the opponent's blade.
Ch-r-r-r-r-ring.
Fireballs larger than a fingernail scattered in all directions.
Pa-ra-rak.
Enkrid's cloak moved on its own and blocked the fireballs.
'Because its body is made of fire.'
It could probably perform such a wild movement regardless of whether its joints were broken or not.
It had swung its sword down from above its head and then bent it to slash.
Of course, he could do it too if he tried, but…
'Do I have to?'
A moment ago, its joint had bent in the opposite direction.
So it had become an unexpected blow.
It is difficult to gauge an opponent's skill with insight alone.
Why?
Because it doesn't fight in a normal form.
It effortlessly performs movements that a human cannot.
It's not just dangerous because it's a mass of fire; it should be called a fire-form with outstanding skill.
'All those with unusual bodies must be similar.'
What if it were a monster that walked on many legs instead of two?
It would show even more bizarre movements.
Enkrid was lost in thought for a moment, then blinked.
For a moment, it seemed as if a blue light was emanating from his eyes.
It was a light that was visible because his resolve and will were boiling over in his body.
It was as he was forging the blade of that resolve.
"Let's switch if it's too hard."
"Brother, I can show you a technique I recently developed."
"If you're not going to cut it, then get out out."
In order, the words of Rem, Audin, and Ragna.
Only Jaxen was silent.
Instead of speaking, he took out a weapon from his hand and equipped it.
It was a weapon presumed to be a relic, so it gave off a chilling feeling.
Though the area was filled with flames, it was a claw that felt a faint chill.
A claw is a weapon that resembles a beast's claw.
Three blades that held a chill were attached to the back of Jaxen's hand.
Enkrid, instead of answering, swung his sword.
BOOM!
Dawnforged strikes and breaks the fire-blade.
Then the opponent raises its shield.
A fireball shoots out from the shield and heads for his face.
Enkrid rotates his body half a turn.
Seeing this, Jaxen's eyes lit up.
A long, long time ago, he had taught him how to block an unexpected blow that stabs at close range.
He had told him to twist his shoulder to narrow the target area, and at the same time, close the distance to attack the opponent.
"It's difficult."
"I wouldn't be teaching it if it were easy."
A very long time ago.
It was something he had taught him in passing in the days when that man was acting as a squad leader.
Enkrid used the technique from those days naturally.
It was a movement as if he had trained it for days.
It was proof that he had not been negligent in his daily training.
That made Jaxen proud.
Then, Enkrid grabbed the ricasso of Dawnforged with his left hand and the hilt with his right, and thrust the blade upwards like an oar rowing a boat.
The way he swung the sword was something he had learned from Ragna, and the way he planted his left foot and used the elasticity of his entire body was Audin's.
Finally, it would be fair to say that the headbutt to the head of the man-shaped but mere fireball was Rem's.
BOOM!
The flames explode in front of his forehead.
'Indules, ironclad, Indules, ironclad, Indules, ironclad.'
Enkrid repeated internally, adding his will.
And so, he burst the opponent's fire-head with his forehead, made a gap by pulling back his left foot, and with the sword now held only in his right hand, he unleashed a high-speed slash.
The blade, striking down from above, drew a blue light and cut through the Salamander's hatred.
BA-BOOM!
The compressed air exploded, and the bisected flame scattered embers in all directions.
The wildly exploding flames set fire to the surroundings.
At some point, the fire cloud in the sky had disappeared.
Enkrid swept his hair up, and his burnt, broken hair scattered like black dust.
And the Dragonkin, who had just woken up, said from behind.
"The elf has done an impressive thing."
It was a matter related to his duty.
That is why he spoke.
At the same time, Shinar had also just opened her eyes.
Enkrid looked into her eyes.
Her eyes seemed to have a mix of orange in their usual grass-green.
"But is this thing dead?"
Even Rem was unsure.
The moment Enkrid had cut the creature, the presence he had felt from above the fire cloud had completely disappeared.
"I didn't kill it," Enkrid replied.
Just before he had swung his sword, he had heard Shinar's voice.
'It's okay to cut it.'
That's what she had said.
As soon as the two of them finished speaking, a small flame gathered where Enkrid had cut and created a fist-sized lizard.
The lizard flicked a fiery tongue in the air and then retreated.
It then scattered like a mirage.
Enkrid could not know the phantom beast's movements or its will, but there was something he could faintly feel from the disappearing lizard.
'Gratitude.'
Well, that's what it felt like.
***
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