Chapter 359 |
Killing intent overflows from the surroundings.
Perhaps it’s because they’re the Elf Special Forces who can freely roam the outside.
It feels like being repeatedly pricked with thin, sharp daggers against the skin.
‘I thought they would come eventually, but.’
I never expected them to come this quickly.
Didn’t they say it would take quite some time just to convene the council and select who to send out?
While Rudger thought he had foolishly believed Bellaruna’s words, he couldn’t shake off his remaining doubts.
The place they had traced Bellaruna’s trail to wasn’t the capital.
It was Leathervelk, and they had come right to Royal Street.
“Do you have some business with me? I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’ve never done anything to warrant enmity from elves.”
He tried speaking in case there was room for dialogue, but there was no response.
The eyes visible through the gaps of their pulled-down green hoods were filled with an expression that completely rejected any conversation with him.
It wasn’t professional consciousness about not mixing words with enemies.
Rather, there was a strong intention of looking down on him.
‘Come to think of it, they said elves despise humans while looking down on them.’
Elves are a race born with many advantages over humans from birth.
Lifespan, appearance, affinity with nature, talent for magic and spirit arts.
Their bodies are so light they don’t even leave footprints when stepping on leaves.
Elves call humans short-lived species, or inferior species.
That discriminatory thinking must have gotten worse as the Elven Kingdom became a closed society.
“Well, this is something.”
Whatever the case, Rudger couldn’t avoid this fight.
Finally, with a small sigh, Rudger pulled out his staff.
No sooner had he drawn out the staff decorated with a raven ornament than an arrow flew from the elf behind him.
-Swoosh!
It was an ambush targeting his blind spot, but Rudger had already noticed it.
As he lightly tapped the ground with his staff, magic activated and the earth shot up.
The arrows stuck into the earthen wall one after another.
Normally the bow should have broken, but the arrows were embedded up to their shafts in the wall and quivered.
Not only was the speed faster than bullets, but the power was far greater.
This meant that the elves here were quite elite.
‘There’s energy imbued in the arrows too.’
The arrows didn’t just fly normally.
Whether they borrowed wind magic or the power of wind spirits, they carried tremendous rotational force without any air resistance.
‘This makes them harder to deal with than gun-wielding gangsters.’
While gangsters can mostly be subdued with one Silence of Fire, those who openly shoot arrows are different.
‘Plus there are ones engaging in close combat too.’
Rudger slightly tilted his head back.
Right after, a sharp thin sword swept through where he had been.
Silent and fast, it was an attack that came before he could deploy defensive magic.
This was a tactic they could take knowing he was a mage.
These elves knew very well that you should never give a mage time to implement spells when facing them.
The elf warrior who made the attack was holding twin swords.
The elf crossed their arms, then pressed Rudger again while swinging brilliantly.
Rudger thought about dodging but decided against it, thinking there would be no end if he kept dodging, and raised his staff.
The elf showed a sneer seeing this.
‘A mere mage dares to engage in close combat against a warrior?’
-Clang!
The two thin swords collided with Rudger’s staff.
The elf tried to slash Rudger along with the staff but frowned at the resistance felt at the sword’s edge.
Right after, a sword stick was drawn from Rudger’s staff.
The elf threw their body backward instinctively, before they could even process what they saw.
-Slash!
The hood they were wearing split in half.
The elf who landed backward touched their forehead after seeing their torn hood.
Their face turned red realizing their face would have been split vertically if they had been just a bit slower.
Those trembling eyes were asking how a mage could have such a weapon.
Rudger clicked his tongue as if disappointed.
“I thought I could take down one with this.”
It was a surprise attack launched when the opponent let their guard down but that elf avoided his attack with just their innate reflexes.
Indeed, is this what it means to be a race different from birth?
Perhaps feeling Rudger’s attitude was provocation directed at them, the elf shouted with veins popping on their neck.
“Attack all at once!”
The elves with bows all shot arrows at Rudger simultaneously.
Though they were using bows, their rate of fire was reminiscent of guns.
Rudger shot upward with a grappling gun in his left hand and his body floated up to where the rooftop was.
The elves were momentarily confused, perhaps not expecting such a tool.
However, being rich in combat experience, they immediately chased after Rudger, jumping up toward the rooftop while stepping on the building’s outer wall.
They were so fast that no sound could be heard as they stepped on window frames, brass pipes, and external stairs and just as the elves who reached mid-air were about to swing their swords.
They saw Rudger’s body being enveloped in shadows.
-Swoosh!
Rudger’s shadow-covered body condensed into a tiny point and disappeared in mid-air.
“Wh-where?”
“Where did that short-lived one go!”
The elves floating in the air were bewildered.
Their opponent had suddenly vanished in mid-air.
This couldn’t be just concealment. Elves who could read wind currents could instantly find hidden opponents.
Right after, massive magical power began surging beneath their feet.
…!!!
The elves who looked down turned pale.
Rudger, who had risen from the shadows of the dark alley below, was aiming a spell formula at them.
[Surging Flames]
-Whoosh!
Hot flames shot strongly toward the sky.
It instantly engulfed the elves floating in the air.
Even with their agility, there was no way for them to dodge in mid-air without footing.
“Hmm.”
Rudger narrowed his eyes looking at the scene beyond the completely extinguished flames.
The elves who took direct hits from the magic were fine.
No, they weren’t completely fine. Unable to completely nullify the flame damage, their robes were scorched in places.
They weren’t in great condition either, probably due to the shock from the heat.
However, it was quite unexpected that there wasn’t a single casualty.
‘It’s because of the spirits.’
Spirits made of water and wind were protecting the elves.
It was the spirits’ power that had blocked Rudger’s magic just now.
“I see. So you don’t fight alone either.”
The elves’ expressions crumpled as if they had heard Rudger’s muttering.
They seemed to feel conflicted about having to bring out spirits against a mere short-lived species.
Regardless of their feelings, Rudger moved to find his next target.
Those floating in the air all held swords and were close combat specialists.
The ones with bows were still on the ground.
The eyes behind the raven mask quickly scanned the bow-wielding elves.
Sensing danger, the bow-wielding elves quickly retreated backward.
“Keep your distance!”
“Cover fire!”
The archers didn’t forget to shoot while retreating backward.
However, Rudger, who was wrapped in [Aether Nocturnus], didn’t bother trying to dodge the arrows.
The black shadows covering his body swung their large arms a few times, and the arrows imbued with nature’s power shattered helplessly.
Rudger’s body shot forward and instantly caught up to the fleeing elf.
“Wh-what!”
The elf was quite shocked that a human had matched their footwork.
However, the surprise was brief, and they immediately shot covering arrows.
The arrows were helplessly deflected by the shadows.
The elf gritted their teeth and called forth a spirit.
A translucent bird revealed itself and the elf shouted toward the spirit.
“Friend! Repel the enemy!”
Though the elf shouted so, the spirit remained silent.
“Friend!”
They shouted again, but the spirit didn’t move an inch.
The elf was about to ask what was wrong, but closed their mouth seeing the spirit’s reaction.
‘The spirit is…afraid?’
How could this be? A spirit, a being of great nature, afraid of a human of all things?
But right now, there was no other explanation for the spirit’s reaction.
-Shunk!
At that moment, the black shadow’s blade pierced through the spirit’s body and instantly forced it to unsummon.
The elf’s complexion turned pale seeing Rudger who had already approached within reach.
“H-how could a spirit be…to a mere human…”
“If you’re going to summon spirits against me, you should have called at least mid-rank ones.”
Rudger grabbed the frozen elf’s neck and lifted them up.
“Y-you short-lived scum!”
The surrounding elf companions shot arrows at Rudger.
However, [Aether Nocturnus] moved on its own and deflected all the arrows.
The bow-wielding elves gritted their teeth and summoned spirits, but the summoned spirits all became terrified upon seeing Rudger and couldn’t do anything.
Rudger smiled at such elves.
Though he was wearing a mask, the light in his round eye holes curved like crescents, so he was clearly smiling.
“Get out of the way!”
At that moment, Rudger’s body shook once with a delicate shout.
Wondering what happened, he looked down to see tough tree roots had broken through the solid ground and grabbed his ankles.
“A druid?”
Elves inherently control spirits and additionally handle swords or bows but occasionally there are elves who are exceptionally good at handling nature’s power and magic.
Mages and priests in elven society.
Humans call them druids – those who handle indigenous sorcery, magic, and mystical powers.
The druid had both arms stretched toward Rudger.
The tree roots squeezing Rudger’s ankles climbed up his calves and bound his entire body.
“Short-lived one! Release our companion at once!”
The druid threatened Rudger to release the elf whose neck he was still gripping.
Were they thinking of killing him otherwise?
It was laughable. They came here planning to kill him anyway, even without taking hostages.
“Fine. I’ll let go.”
Rudger said that while gathering magical power in the hand gripping the elf’s neck to enhance his physical abilities.
When he applied force with his enhanced grip strength, the elf’s neck bent limply to the side with a crack!
Rudger dropped the now-dead elf then he turned to the druid and asked.
“I let go as I was told. So, who’s short-lived now?”
“Kuh…! Die!”
When the druid drew up magical power, the tree roots squeezed Rudger’s body with enough force to crush even steel.
However, it only made Rudger yawn.
As long as [Aether Nocturnus] was protecting him, mere tree roots like this couldn’t do anything to him.
When Rudger applied force, the tree roots snapped helplessly.
The druid gritted their teeth and cast a new spell as a giant flower bloomed behind them and soon scattered green powder in all directions.
As soon as the powder touched him, strength was rapidly drained from his body.
Conversely, the elves touched by the powder seemed more energetic than before.
The druid sneered at the staggering Rudger.
“With a body like that, you can’t do anything…”
-Bang!
The druid’s forehead snapped backward.
The surrounding elves stared at the fallen elf with dumbfounded expressions.
“Too talkative. Didn’t expect this, did you?”
Rudger mocked the dying druid while holding a black revolver.
Who would have imagined that a mage using a sword was funny enough, but he would even pull out and shoot a gun here?
When the druid who cast the spell died, the bloomed giant flower quickly withered.
The green powder floating in the air disappeared too.
“Uwaah!”
“Die!”
At that moment, the elf swordsmen who had recovered on the rooftop dropped toward Rudger.
Without giving the elf swordsmen a glance, Rudger said.
“About time you came out.”
Who was he talking to?
The elf swordsmen wondered about this but didn’t pay much attention to it.
They were thinking of cutting off this short-lived one’s limbs first.
However, before they could swing their swords, something huge flying in and pouncing on them was much faster.
It was too slow to see what was flying in and judge with their eyes.
The same went for speed.
That huge man had flown in faster than sound and passed by them.
An intense gust of wind swept through the alley, and the light-bodied elves were caught up in it.
Even Rudger might have fallen if Aether Nocturnus hadn’t fixed itself by driving both arms into the ground.
“Quite a flashy entrance.”
Rudger looked back.
There stood a large beastman with flowing white hair.
It seemed he still hadn’t completely lost his excess fat, as his overall build was still round.
But considering his movement just now and the pressure he was currently giving off, who could laugh at him?
“Pantos.”
When Rudger called his name, Pantos turned to look at Rudger with an expressionless face.
In his eyes that had been filled with tedium until now, there dwelled the wildness of a warrior facing battle after a long time.
“Clean them all up except for their leader.”
Pantos smiled as if he had been waiting for just those words.