#216
Lycanthrope (1)
Harris, who had suddenly ended up leading the investigation team, did his utmost even in the midst of it all to pursue a life of indolence.
By now, he had entrusted even the act of moving itself entirely to Pascal, the wind spirit, and was traveling while hanging limply in midair.
Since he and the spirit were connected by the mind anyway, controlling his movements with thought alone wasn’t particularly difficult.
‘It counts as spirit arts training, too.’
Pascal, the wind spirit, was still only at the high rank.
The only highest-rank spirit he had was Watt, the lightning spirit, so this could be called a good opportunity in its own way.
Of course, to those around him, it probably looked utterly unbecoming of the dignity and decorum of a High Elf, but who cared when it was this comfortable right now?
And besides training, he had a reasonably valid excuse.
That he was attempting to become one with nature in this state in order to feel the will of the World Tree once again.
Wasn’t that the very reason he had set out on this investigation in the first place?
‘Though I haven’t gotten much out of it so far.’
Whether that sensation he had first felt had truly been an illusion or not, there had been no real progress to speak of since that day.
Nor had any special revelation descended from the World Tree.
But just a short while ago, while he was floating in midair, lazily… no, doing his utmost to deploy “Natural Assimilation”—
At the very edge of the vast breath of nature he could feel, he detected an extremely subtle sense of incongruity.
It was so faint that it would have been impossible to notice without Harris’s insane level of immersion.
At the time, the other elves happened to be scattered in all directions conducting their investigation, so he headed to the place alone, intending at least to assess the situation…
And what he discovered there was that group of over a dozen lycanthropes.
Suspicious fellows, each with a strange red pattern engraved on their chest as if they were performing some ritual, surrounding a makeshift altar at the center and staring at the rift of the Abyss that had appeared above it.
-Heinz II: So those are lycanthropes. I heard their movements on the Ion Continent had noticeably diminished over the past few years. It seems they secretly migrated to Enamel.
-Hugo: No, more importantly, isn’t that the Abyss? It looks dangerous…? Wasn’t the Enamel Continent supposed to be safe because of the World Tree’s influence?
-Harris: …Ah, I really hate this…
Among the education Harris had received as an elf was the story of the birth of this Enamel Continent.
A legend like a myth from thousands of years ago.
At first, the other races had lived together on the Ion Continent as well, but for some reason, they came to need a new home without humans.
A benevolent god, taking pity on those who wandered with nowhere to go, sent his incarnation down to the earth.
That was none other than the sapling of the World Tree.
That sapling turned Enamel Island, which had merely been somewhat large, into a vast continent capable of accommodating all the other races.
And at last, several nations were born, including the Elven Kingdom that protected the World Tree at the center, with the migrated races as their foundations.
‘They said that’s why the Elven Kingdom is at the center, and why elves are respected by the other races as well.’
Of course, since it had happened thousands of years ago, proper records had not survived, and for some reason, even the traditions of the High Elves—representatives of the long-lived races—omitted the details, so it was impossible to know how much of it was true.
Still, at the very least, the existence of the World Tree and its influence were facts plainly visible to the eye, so few denied them.
And he had heard that thanks to the World Tree, which was no different from the pillar and root supporting the Enamel Continent, they had been able to avoid at least the aftereffects of the two Immortal King invasions…
-Hannibal Strauss: Hooh, so that is how they weaken the boundary with the Abyss. This is my first time seeing it in person. Quite a unique method.
At that moment, the greatest expert in this field, who was watching their ritual through Harris’s eyes—
The Immortal King himself kindly diagnosed the situation.
-Hannibal Strauss: They are not opening a direct hole. If I had to compare it to something, it would be closer to the scars currently left throughout the Ion Continent. From the looks of it, small branches or leaves of the World Tree were used as offerings in the process. …And those brands on their bodies are quite extraordinary.
Well, if it had truly been a passage connected to the Abyss, there was no way such a small number of people and such limited preparations would have sufficed.
Nor would it have been possible to work so covertly as they were doing now.
‘The problem is their intent in doing something like this on the Enamel Continent, and in the territory of the Elven Kingdom at that.’
Still assimilated with nature and hiding his presence, Harris let out a small sigh.
There was no need to think deeply about it; it was plainly obvious they did not have good intentions.
It seemed he had run into something troublesome.
‘Still, I suppose it’s fortunate I found them before things got any bigger? How they prevented Lady World Tree’s intervention is something we can find out from now on.’
Of course, that was something to be resolved on a national level.
There was no guarantee that they were only pulling tricks here, so perhaps all the other races on the Enamel Continent would have to step forward.
‘Now that I’ve grasped the situation, my work is done. No need for me to suffer alone for no reason! I’ll leave the rest to other people…’
However.
The instant he made up his mind and tried to pull back—
Sniff? Sniff, sniff—
Among the group of over a dozen, one werewolf nearly three meters tall, standing in front of the altar, sniffed the air—
Then turned his head and looked straight at the place where Harris was hiding with gleaming, vivid yellow eyes.
“Ah, damn it.”
Before Harris’s quiet lament had even finished—
Kwaaang—
With an explosive boom, a vicious hand closed the distance in an instant and surged toward him.
***
Vampires and lycanthropes were alike in that they were rejected by other races, but as their dispositions were entirely different, their circumstances also differed greatly.
Unlike vampires, who possessed strong reason except when seized by the impulse to drink blood and thus steadily increased their numbers by hiding in the shadows of human society, these werewolves ran wild at the slightest provocation, as if their entire race suffered from anger-management disorder, making coexistence utterly impossible.
In the end, aside from a few who drifted through criminal organizations as enforcers or worked as war mercenaries, they were driven one by one to the frontiers…
And their numbers also shrank to a pitiful extent compared to vampires.
Even if all the remaining members of their race were gathered together, they would not amount to even a single vampire clan like the Eupersh Clan.
“Kikikik, well, well~ As expected, things in this world never go the way you want, do they? In any case, that Revolutionary fellow was so confident he wouldn’t be discovered, but you really have to hand it to him for being so useless. Tsk, tsk.”
Atop a towering tree.
A man sitting on a branch near its crown looked toward one side of the forest and cackled madly.
It was so far away that it could not even be seen from here, but such a thing was no obstacle at all to checking the condition of a subordinate under his command.
“It’s a little early, but… since we’ve already been discovered, there’s nothing for it!”
He roughly raked through his hair, then slid off and leaped down from the tree.
Tuuung!
And after a not-so-short time in the air, the one who lightly landed on the ground was—
A massive werewolf well over three meters tall, with not even a trace of human appearance remaining.
Awooooooo—
He drew in a deep breath and howled toward the sky.
At that strange resonance, whose meaning could not be understood by anyone but his own kind, black shadows began gathering around him one by one.
“Is it finally starting? I’ve waited so long, King! Let’s move at once!”
“Grrr— There’s still plenty of time left. Are we really moving now? If it’s too early, many of them may not be ready.”
“If King has judged so, he must have a reason. Khuhung!”
Among those who approached, three especially large werewolves stepped forward and growled.
“Krihihik! Cartrophe got caught properly. Seems he’s in the middle of one hell of a fight.”
“Grrr— That idiot finally did it. Could a High Elf have moved? Then there really is no time. There’s no guarantee the ones in other places won’t be discovered too.”
The one who had shown a somewhat skeptical reaction to the King’s brief addition immediately grasped the situation and nodded.
Once they had been discovered, speed was life in this matter.
When everyone seemed to have accepted it, the King looked over the subordinates gathered around him and slowly nodded.
Of the eight general-class, the three strongest; over fifty knight-class and the rest of the rabble.
On top of that, once things began, the others scattered in every direction would immediately respond as well.
…And more than anything else, he himself was the greatest fighting force.
“If we’re lacking, then we’ll make do lacking! We have already endured long enough! Khakhak! Let’s go! To burn the World Tree whole!”
Uoooooo—
Awooooooo—
He was the leader of this last “Wolf Pack,” and the final king of the werewolves, whose title had now become nothing more than a name.
The Lycanthrope King, who had taken it upon himself to play the clown in the Heaven-Defying Oath.
***
As lycanthropes were a race often compared to vampires, their hierarchy also bore some similarities.
If vampires were divided into Sacred Blood, True Blood, Pure Blood, and Remnant Blood, with Servants and Slaves as exceptions—
Lycanthropes were divided beneath the king into the ranks of general, knight, warrior, and soldier.
As their rank names suggested, their identity lay solely in pure combat power.
And without the various abilities or unique techniques such as blood magic that vampires possessed, they were focused entirely on the physical aspect.
However, sometimes, the simpler something was, the more efficient it could be.
Their strength, agility, durability, magic resistance, and regenerative ability far surpassed vampires of the same rank when it came to a head-on fight.
…And Harris was acutely experiencing that in real time.
Not that he had particularly wanted to.
Kwarurung—!
As though lightning had struck from a clear sky, blue sparks once again burst out noisily.
“Khuhuuung!”
The pitch-black, charred monster that sprang out from within them instantly stepped on the surrounding trees and lunged at Harris, who was floating in the air.
On top of that, when Harris dodged to the side with the wind spirit, it even kicked off the air itself and altered its trajectory to follow him.
‘Ah, this is really annoying!’
The lycanthrope before him was, no matter how he looked at it, general-class… in other words, an individual equivalent to a Master.
Though its level could not be compared to Stav, the captain of the Imperial Guard who had given Hesperon so much trouble not long ago, the fact that it was a troublesome opponent for Harris, who had only recently become a High Elf, did not change.
Pajijijik—!
“Graaaagh! You fight like a coward! If you are a man as well, then face me openly!”
Of course, it being troublesome did not mean it was an opponent he could not defeat.
‘What nonsense is he spouting?’
He could understand that reaction, having been beaten for over thirty minutes straight.
This place was a forest, and even one in the Elven Kingdom, with the World Tree close by.
And Harris had “Scion of the World Tree,” “Natural Assimilation,” “Observer of the Stars,” and “Call of Nature”—a whole array of skills specialized in affinity, enough to burden him with the serious side effect known as laziness.
With Decibel, the sound spirit, he sealed not only the creature’s sensitive hearing but even the vibrations touching its skin.
With Pascal, the wind spirit, and Kali, the fire spirit, he blocked its sense of smell and heat detection.
On top of that, by mobilizing all the spirits to create light and dust, he even interfered with its vision, so the creature, trying to find Harris after his presence had vanished by blending with nature, could only be one beat late every time.
‘And at our level, the difference of one beat is fatal.’
Right after another wave of aftermath passed by—
In the extremely quiet time created by the activation of “Hypersensitivity,” he took out Themis, the bow made from a branch of the World Tree.
“Whoo—.”
If Hesperon had moved at this speed, the muscles throughout his body would have ruptured, but for Harris, a High Elf, it was not a great burden.
Pajijik! Hwareureuk—!
Hwiing! Woooong—
As he drew up his power, natural energy slowly gathered around Harris, and the moment his right hand pulled the empty bowstring, the surrounding natural energy was sucked in and formed a single arrow.
One breath ended.
The lycanthrope resisted violently once again, and Harris roasted him with lightning again.
On the second breath.
He gathered natural energy once more, compressed it, and combined it with the existing arrow.
“Graaa! You bastard!”
As expected, the creature rebelled, but it had no real meaning.
He repeated that simple process several times.
Pajijijik!
On an arrow that seemed to be made of lightning—
Hwareureuk—
Compressed flame was placed into the arrowhead.
Hwiuuung—!
Then, immediately after wind and vibration wrapped around it—
“~~♪”
Along with “Melody of Harmony,” the arrow fired through “Fairy Archery”—
———!
Crossed the air like a ray of light, without a single sound.
And to deal with the creature that had already been weakened after being beaten for dozens of minutes—
That was enough.
***
Since the sentinels he had called with Decibel, the sound spirit, immediately after the fight began had surrounded the area, it was not difficult to sweep up the remaining lycanthropes in one net.
They were powerful foes, including two knight-class and five warrior-class, but the sentinels were also an elite combat unit of the Elven Kingdom, so they had no reason to be particularly outmatched.
As the situation was thus being settled, Harris, following Hans’s advice, destroyed the still-incomplete makeshift altar…
《The World Tree gazes upon its child.》
Immediately after the rift of the Abyss closed, he was able to face an extremely familiar system message.
‘Huh?’
Following that, the warm energy he had felt once before began at the tips of his toes and surged all the way to the crown of his head again.
‘…Now that’s one impressive quest reward.’
The first time he had received this had been at the first summit, when he had faced Hans and gained the qualifications of a High Elf.
There was no change as drastic as that time, but he had no complaints whatsoever.
Whoooong—!
Because thanks to it, Pascal, the wind spirit, was able to become his second highest-rank spirit after Watt.
Harris closed his eyes and expanded his senses as much as possible.
With his increased natural energy and affinity, the range he could perceive had also become much broader than before.
Of course, the laziness that surged in as a side effect had grown far greater as well.
Still, this much was still plenty manageable, so if it was this sort of sponsorship, he would welcome it anytime…
‘Wait… Could this be an experience booster event?’
At that moment, such a thought suddenly crossed his mind.