#55 Elf (3)
Change of plans.
Originally, he had intended to rampage around as best he could, and if things looked truly hopeless, escape by canceling the summons…
“U-Um…”
The elf girl the Elven Kingdom and the Church of the Main God were searching for. ‘I can use this situation, can’t I?’ His mind began spinning at once.
It was a chance to kill two birds with one stone: raise Harley’s reputation and allow Heinrich to render a service to the Church.
“Mm! My name is Harley. In any case, miss, you want to get out of here, don’t you?”
“…Yes!”
The stench of dark mana was growing stronger.
An enormous number of enemies were pouring out from deeper inside the cave.
“Then excuse me for a moment!”
“Huh? Wuhyah—!”
He slung the axe in one hand onto his back, tucked Cecily under his arm, turned around, and dashed off.
The muscles in his legs swelled, and his body accelerated with explosive speed.
“Hnguuuu—!”
Cecily, hanging at Harley’s side, squeezed her eyes shut.
She was still clutching the tree branch to her chest.
“Come to think of it, miss, what’s that branch? Something precious?”
As he moved toward the entrance at high speed, he asked her during the brief moment of leeway he had.
At a glance, it did not look particularly special.
“Huh? Ah, this is… a branch of the World Tree. Thanks to it, I was able to make it safely from inside to here…!”
Though the wind striking her face made her frown, she answered sincerely.
He had wondered how she had managed to escape from the depths, where the sacrificial ritual was in full swing, all the way to where Harley had been. It seemed the World Tree had helped her.
He did not know how that branch had ended up in the hands of the girl who had been the sacrifice, though. ‘Come to think of it, the situation was so urgent I just passed it over, but she’s following me very obediently.’
From their first meeting until now, Cecily had been friendly toward him the entire time.
Even though she had every reason to be wary.
A muscular, naked man she had encountered in a black mage’s lair.
Not only were blood droplets spattered all over his body, he was even holding twin axes in both hands, dripping with blood. ‘Ugh, even I’d be scared out of my wits.’
Of course, it was a style he personally found satisfying, but he was aware that, objectively speaking, it was not exactly aesthetically pleasing.
And yet, in that situation, she had merely shrunk back a little. ‘Now that I think about it, didn’t they say that once someone obtained the qualifications of a High Elf, they would receive the World Tree’s guidance?’
It was said to show them the way so they could safely reach the place where the World Tree was.
Apparently, the World Tree had judged Harley to be the only way out of this situation. ‘If it cooperates like this, it’s convenient for me. But that thing around Cecily’s neck…’
Once again, Master Hans, the expert in dark magic, quickly produced an analysis. ‘A sealing magic tool using dark magic. It’s quite high-level. It would be dangerous to forcibly remove it with strength. If it were Hans, he could dispel it, but…’
To dispel a magic tool, one needed delicate work controlling mana, and Harley had no such ability. ‘I understand it perfectly in my head, but I can’t actually do it myself.’
It was probably because of that thing that Lafori, a High Elf, had been unable to locate Cecily. ‘Judging from how it responded as soon as Harley came in, the World Tree seems to have known Cecily’s location.’
Well, though it was not on the level of the Main God, the World Tree was also a divine being worshiped by the elves.
There were probably other restrictions that prevented it from telling them directly.
“Ha ha ha! At this point, none of that matters!”
He could feel dark mana surging behind him like a tidal wave, but the cave entrance was already right before his eyes.
Once he got outside, they would not be able to easily catch him as he fled with his monstrous stamina.
Just then.
He felt something rapidly approaching from beneath the ground again.
Unlike before, it carried clear killing intent.
The problem was that the direction it was coming from was the outer forest they were heading toward…
Kwaaaang—!
And that the bulk of the thing that burst up from the ground right at the entrance was large enough to block the entire cave.
“Do not stand in my way!”
But Harley paid it no mind and charged even faster at the giant worm blocking the entrance, the Earthworm.
“Hiiiek—?!”
He spun Cecily, who had been tucked under his arm, around and properly embraced her, securing her so that she would receive as little impact as possible…
Puuung!
Then he launched himself into the air and dropkicked the creature.
[Guooooong—!]
The Earthworm writhed from the impact.
However, because of its massive weight and the rest of its body fixed into the ground, not even the slightest gap opened at the entrance.
Harley, who had been bounced backward by the recoil, landed softly on the ground and let out a wry laugh.
“Hoo hoo… I thought things were going a little too smoothly.”
No matter how he looked at it, it seemed he would need some time to break through the entrance.
And that also meant he could not avoid fighting the ones flooding in from behind him.
“Miss, get a hold of yourself. Looks like I’ll have to get ready to fight now.”
“Hueegh~ Yes?”
While she was still bewildered, suffering from dizziness after all the violent movement, Harley had already finished his preliminary preparations.
He set Cecily down and, with his sharp claws, tore a long strip of the leather connected like a cloak to his black panther helmet.
He cut it down the middle into two strips, then cut the upper parts of both sides so they would extend longer.
“Now, come here!”
“Y-Yes!”
Then, holding Cecily to his chest, he wrapped the two strips of leather around her like a cocoon and firmly secured her to his body.
The leather that had covered his back was so large that he was able to wrap it around her completely, leaving only breathing holes so she could not see outside at all.
Like a baby wrapped in a swaddling cloth, a small leather bundle clinging to a huge mass of muscle… no, an elf girl. ‘This should be better for protecting her than carrying her on my back. It’s magic beast hide, so it shouldn’t tear easily under ordinary circumstances.’
Even as Harley finished preparing for battle and gripped an axe in each hand, the Earthworm remained in place, merely guarding the entrance without moving.
Its movements could not be considered those of an instinctive monster.
It was definitely being controlled by someone.
“Ha ha! Then let’s get started in earnest! I’ll smash you first!”
Harley poured out his energy without holding back and raised his “Bio Aura” throughout his body.
To break through the entrance first before dealing with the others.
***
“What? What did you say, Sir Heinrich?”
The saintess asked back, sounding flustered.
The reactions of the others around them were no different from hers.
Archbishop Latius and the paladins, of course, and even the elves, including Lafori.
“That person named Cecily. I believe I know where she is right now.”
But Heinrich resolutely repeated what he had said despite those gazes.
“Hmm… Do you perhaps possess a blessing that tracks a specific target, sir?”
Archbishop Latius asked cautiously.
It was certainly hard to believe.
How long had it been since the High Elf of the Elven Kingdom brought it up, and he had already found their objective?
But right now, even the time spent bickering like this was a waste.
“It isn’t a blessing, but I can definitely sense her. The presence of an elf with light green hair and orange eyes, someone named Cecily. However, she is currently in a very dangerous situation.”
At those words, the atmosphere of everyone present changed completely.
The elves looked urgently at the saintess and the Church’s high-ranking members.
From their perspective, they had no way of knowing how much trust they should place in the sudden words of someone who appeared to be an attendant.
The saintess looked quietly at Heinrich, then turned her gaze back to the elves with a serious expression.
“Sir Heinrich can be trusted. He is someone even the Main God has taken an interest in. If he sensed that, then there must surely be a definite reason.”
“We will follow the Church’s judgment.”
When the elves nodded with stiff faces, she sprang up from her seat and looked at Heinrich.
“Then let’s move right away. Where is it?”
Her eyes, meeting his straight on, were filled with trust.
“The northern mountain range on the border of the Tulk Kingdom in the western part of the continent. If we use the gate to travel to the Tarak Temple in the County of Aonia, we should be able to greatly reduce the time.”
“Let’s talk as we go.”
They all rose from their seats at once and headed at a brisk pace toward the place where the gate was.
Even then, the saintess gripped her holy symbol and murmured softly before turning back to Heinrich.
“I’ve prepared it so the gate can be used immediately. Once you arrive, you should be able to move right away.”
“Sir Heinrich Landguard. Do you perhaps know the exact location?”
“If we get close, I believe I can move there immediately with my ‘blessing’… But for now, all I know is that it is somewhere north of the Steel Citadel.”
Everyone here was moving under the premise that Heinrich’s words were true.
The saintess’s wholehearted support must have had a great influence.
Now, so long as he repaid that faith, his credibility within the Church would rise greatly.
Having hurried along like that, they soon arrived at the place where the gate was.
Though in the midst of it, there was a brief, minor dispute.
“Saintess, you cannot go.”
“Two paladins, one archbishop, and on top of that, a High Elf are going. Is there truly any need for the saintess to go as well?”
“Ha ha ha! Please leave the heretics to us!”
The saintess, who had been naturally trying to move through the gate, had been stopped by the Church’s personnel.
Her cheeks puffed up ever so slightly, but perhaps because she wished to maintain her dignity in front of the elves, who were outsiders, she could not offer any objection.
Since this had been decided in haste, there was no time to assemble additional personnel, but even with only those present, their fighting strength was more than sufficient.
“If we know the location, we alone will be enough.”
When the High Elf Lafori added this confidently, she had no choice but to give a small nod and step back.
However, it was not as though the saintess had nothing to do.
Woooong.
—Though it was not as far as the Kingdom of Thalia at the western end, the distance between this place at the center of the continent and the Tulk Kingdom in the west was no trivial matter.
An enormous amount of divine power was required depending on the travel distance, so the saintess’s help was absolutely indispensable if they were to move there in one go right now.
“Then, everyone, please return safely.”
“Do not worry. There should be no major problem.”
To the saintess’s worried farewell, Heinrich answered with a serious nod.
With their current strength, they should be able to finish the matter without suffering any particular damage. ‘The only real problem is whether we can make it in time.’
For now, Harley could endure well enough on his own, but if they began pouring out their full strength, there was no telling what would happen.
The signs of that were starting to show.
***
“Hu ha ha ha!”
Harley laughed fiercely as he drove his axe into the head of the dwarf monster, the Gremlin, charging at him.
The area around him was already so packed with all kinds of corpses that there was nowhere to step.
From monsters he had already hunted while passing through the forest to unfamiliar creatures he had never seen before, and as an added bonus, the black mages’ underlings as well.
He cut down the ones charging at him, again and again, but monsters continued to swarm in from the forest on every side. ‘It’s good that I got out of the cave, but…’
He had managed to break through the Earthworm blocking the entrance, but in the process, the black mages had caught up to him.
The even bigger problem was that the black mages were specialized in controlling monsters.
As befitting the northern mountain range, which was overflowing with monsters, the synergy between them was beyond imagination. ‘They must have taken that into account from the beginning when they made their nest here!’
It was not only the monsters they called in from the forest that were a problem, but also the ones the black mages had summoned separately.
These creatures had all sorts of completely unfamiliar characteristics.
One fortunate thing was that perhaps they did not want the sacrifice to be harmed either, because they did not deliberately attack Cecily.
Of course, that did not mean he could use her as a shield.
There was no guarantee that the attacking monsters would follow their orders as thoroughly as robots.
It was merely that an unspoken agreement had formed between them to be careful of each other. ‘Still, if this goes on, things will get troublesome. Harley’s strength is his recklessness, charging in without caring for his own body, but in this state, his movements are bound to be restricted.’
If he set Cecily down and fought, they would snatch her away at once, and if things continued like this, the moment his energy ran out, he would wither away and die.
Heinrich’s party, who had arrived at Tarak through the gate.
Though they were coming at high speed with the aid of the wind spirit summoned by the High Elf, they still needed a little more time to arrive here. ‘Good. Since it’s come to this, I’ll go all in.’ Just then, he spotted a black mage off to one side, wholly absorbed in controlling the monsters.
He was surrounded by monsters serving as guards and had even deployed a defensive barrier, but…
“Huuup!”
Dense aura gathered along the axe blade in Harley’s right hand, and as his waist bent, he spun once in place.
The trail of aura, drawing a great and beautiful circle through centrifugal force, became—
Sweeek—
—Crack!
“Guhh—!”
It shot out like a missile, smashed through the barrier, and buried itself in the black mage’s body, sending him flying through the air until he vanished from Harley’s sight.
The monsters faltered for an instant as their control was suddenly released.
Harley did not miss that opening. Bursting into wild laughter once more, he plunged into the gaps between them.
Splurt—
—The axe in his left hand continued to trace elegant lines as it ravaged the enemy, while his monstrous right hand tore out the monsters’ hearts along with their magic stones and diligently carried them to his mouth.
Energy replenished without pause, and stamina overflowed.
At this rate, he could hold out all day.
Of course, the enemy would not simply let him.
Kaaang—!
A spear suddenly flew in, and he knocked it away with a sweep of his aura-clad claws.
When the ambush failed, the man holding the spear hid once more among the monsters.
“A lycanthrope? No, something’s different… a mutant?”
A voice came from one side, but—
Clang!
An arrow shot in from the opposite direction struck the flat of his axe and bounced away.
“Considering our control doesn’t work on him at all, it doesn’t seem like he has monster blood mixed in.”
The moment those words were spoken, another attack came flying from yet another direction.
Of course, even amid all that, the monsters continued to rush him without end, making it enough to drive anyone mad. ‘Ah, these bastards fight dirty.’ Offering his opponents the highest praise, Harley moved his body without a moment’s rest.
As the battle grew more intense, he no longer had the leeway to hold back and had to use 「Body Mutation」 without restraint.
“Khehehehe.”
The muscles of his entire body swelled ferociously, while shark-like teeth jutted out and his jaw grew more developed.
His eyes, nose, and ears had long since abandoned their human shape. ‘Is this all right? He’s already a child who’s a bit troubled at heart.’ As the fight continued, Harley could feel his body being dyed in madness.
He had been laughing nonstop for a while now, too.
Since he could control it at any time, there was no worry of him causing an accident, but he would rather avoid ending up like Hans, unable to show himself in front of other people.
It was while he was worrying over that for a moment. 《The entity has fulfilled the conditions and gained enlightenment. Skill 「Wildness」 acquired.》 In an instant, his senses were overturned.
At the sudden sense of dissonance, he faltered briefly—but his body moved on instinct alone.
His head snapped to the side.
Graaaind—!
A sword that had flown in, aiming for that brief opening, was stopped between Harley’s saw-like teeth.
And only after the axe swung from his left hand without delay split the attacker’s body in two did he fully understand 「Wildness」.
A skill that moved solely on instinct, maximizing aggression.
Yet even so, it did not forget the techniques engraved into the body.
It was freer and rougher, but without a doubt, it was based on the axe techniques and hand-to-hand combat he had used until now.
Harley lowered his body in an instant, his nose and ears twitching ceaselessly…
Paat—
—Crack!
“Ghk!”
In the blink of an eye, he slipped between the monsters and twisted the neck of the spear-wielding man with his right hand.
The information his reason had dismissed as insignificant had not escaped his instincts. ‘…This might actually be all right?’ The method of using 「Wildness」 differed greatly from the way he had fought until now.
After all, his greatest strength was that he could judge situations and calculate his movements with a cool head no matter the circumstances.
Like playing a game, he perceived and responded to every variable from a third-person perspective with overwhelming mental power.
But that method did not suit Harley.
To fully utilize a body that had devoured and evolved through countless monsters, he needed a new method of combat—one that was not human.
Just like now.
And above all. ‘I can control its activation!’ He could even regulate it so that all of Harley’s madness was poured entirely into 「Wildness」.
Like a berserker who went mad and rampaged only in the battles where it was necessary! ‘With this much, holding out until support arrives should be more than enough, right?’ The time limit they did not know about was steadily drawing near.