◈ Chapter 352. Recyclable Trash (2)
All elves follow their leader, Argentress. Then a question naturally followed. Why had Elsidor fallen into reality alone, separated from Argentress and her party?
The reason was simple.
Because Elsidor was strong.
Even if the Arcana Continent had been thrown into chaos by demons.
No one had dared to stand in Elsidor’s way.
“A Blood Elf……? There was such a kind of elf?”
Elsidor had repeated countless battles.
He had reached a new realm unknown even to Argentress, and even to himself. Among elves, he had become one specialized in battle instinct.
A Blood Elf.
The Supernovas flinched.
“T-That’s not what’s important right now!”
“If it’s Elsidor……. That’s that crazy elf bastard!”
“Wait. Why the hell did that bastard suddenly come here?!”
Their confusion lasted only a moment.
Elsidor was not merciful, nor was he possessed of overflowing patience. His eyes swept over the structure of the gold mine. Behind him, a red aura began to flow.
“I don’t know who it was, but choosing a place like this as a conference hall. The intention is obvious. A single entrance in a deep location. If the desired result doesn’t come out, you’ll kill them all—isn’t that it?”
At Elsidor’s words, the Supernovas were shaken.
“What the hell is that bastard saying?”
After an awkward silence, several of the Supernovas’ faces began to turn pale.
‘No, now that I hear it…….’
It wasn’t complete bullshit.
Why, of all places, did it have to be the underground gold mine of the Yusra Kingdom?
There were countless places in this world where the eyes of society did not reach. Even an unpopular rift, for instance, would have at most one or two low-level players inside.
‘That would definitely make cleanup easier.’
If they happened to run into someone by bad luck?
There would be no problem if they killed them before they could run away.
And if they cleared the rift after the meeting ended, no evidence would remain.
But a gold mine?
Even if their target this time had been Harkon, who was staying in the Yusra Kingdom, it was terribly inefficient.
On top of that, there was the negative example Kinver had shown them.
‘Did the Five Stars really have another purpose?’
However, at this point, the remaining Supernovas had no leisure to question the Five Stars.
A torch fallen to the floor.
Soon, Elsidor’s figure was revealed in the firelight.
“You’re certainly more rotten than that man.”
Huuup.
Elsidor took a deep breath, then smiled.
“Thank you. For making sure I don’t feel even a shred of guilt.”
Swish—
He accelerated with the distinctive movements of an elf.
He was not cutting through the wind as he advanced.
It was as if he were riding the wind forward.
Elsidor crossed through the Supernovas with smooth yet rapid movements.
No questions asked.
Those were the movements of a hunter.
Just as Hoyeol treated demons.
Elsidor, too, was treating humans as prey.
No, to be precise…….
Thuk!
It would be more accurate to say he was treating trash as prey.
“U-Uwaaaaaaagh!!”
A dozen or so Supernovas collapsed in an instant.
Elsidor stared with a dry expression.
At the backs of the Supernovas fleeing deeper into the mine, in the direction opposite the entrance.
A cold voice rang out.
“Do you have no ability to learn?”
The line he spat out bore a strangely close resemblance to someone else’s.
As expected, however, Elsidor did not realize it.
He merely moved his feet.
Step, step.
“S-Spare me……!!”
Thuk!
Something.
It was a strange feeling.
Because he had thought it would be enjoyable.
‘I’ve been stuck in that boring garden all this time.’
[Blessing Hierarchy].
Elsidor could not rebel against Hoyeol, who held Mother’s blessing. However, that arrogant human had apparently seen some change in him. He had withdrawn the order for him to remain in the Garden of Dignity.
Thuuuk!
Thanks to that, this was the first time in a long while he had held a sword and enjoyed slaughter.
Considering his past actions, this moment should have been even more enjoyable. Their screams should have been like joyous cheers, and their blood should have been as sweet as wine.
“Khhhhh……!”
But it was not enjoyable.
Blood was blood.
Screams were nothing more than screams.
Only then was Elsidor able to realize it.
The corners of his mouth rose faintly.
“This is troublesome.”
He thought of the trash collapsed in the garden.
Had his sensibilities grown richer because he spent every day staring only at flowers and plants? Perhaps he, too, wanted to settle his past wrongs, just like that trash.
But Elsidor was aware.
Harkon.
—How is your mood today, Elsidor?
The palace maids.
—I’m sorry, Lord Elsidor. But yesterday, you emptied your plate cleanly, didn’t you? I’m relieved. So yesterday’s meal suited your taste after all!
And Lee Hoyeol.
—One day, you too will come to understand pride.
‘Perhaps I…….’
Perhaps he had sincerely wanted to walk together with them.
If he were near the bright light they gave off.
Perhaps even the blood he had been drenched in would not be visible.
Forgetting the weight of the countless vengeful spirits clinging to his ankles.
Perhaps he had hoped for that.
But Elsidor was not mistaken.
“I must know my place.”
Just as he had learned that they were beings who shone brilliantly, he had also realized that those whose lives he had taken could have been beings capable of shining just as brilliantly.
Thuk!
That was why he did not think of walking together with them.
He would only follow from afar.
Even hands that could never be washed clean had their uses.
Yes, like now.
‘Harkon, if you are the sword in the sunlight.’
Then I will become the sword in the shadows.
So secretive, so cruel, and yet so sharp.
A sword that even Lee Hoyeol himself would not know of.
Step, step.
Elsidor entered the depths of the gold mine.
Had they used their heads in their own way?
The moment he stepped forward, all sorts of traps activated.
Fwoosh, fwoosh, fwoosh!
They poured down toward Elsidor.
“I-Impossible…….”
However, Elsidor did not allow even a single counterattack.
When their final line of defense collapsed, despair settled over the Supernovas’ faces. At the same time, they had no choice but to search for them. Among the countless Supernovas, the five stars that burned especially brightly, the Five Stars.
And yet.
“……?”
No matter how they looked around, they could not see them.
The Supernovas’ bewilderment showed plainly on their faces.
Elsidor opened his mouth.
“Did they cut off their tails and run? Well, it doesn’t matter.”
If he had smashed them this thoroughly, they would not be able to move for the time being.
Then all that remained was mopping up the remnants.
Elsidor advanced toward the Supernovas.
Someone asked Elsidor.
“……I-Is this Lee Hoyeol’s order?”
Elsidor asked back.
“Do you think it is?”
“……!”
The Supernova closed his mouth.
In this world, the only one who could control an Elsidor like that was Lee Hoyeol. Though he did not know how, it had been Lee Hoyeol who corrected and reformed Elsidor.
But.
‘Lee Hoyeol ordered him to attack us……?’
He could not believe it.
If he recalled the path Lee Hoyeol had shown.
He knew it was impossible.
“T-Then why are you doing this to us……?”
Elsidor continued.
“Because you tried to stand out.”
“……!”
“Because you dared to show your presence.”
He could tell just by the fact that Hoyeol had given even an irredeemable piece of trash like himself a chance. Lee Hoyeol, even if they were people who had aimed for his life. If they admitted their wrongs on their own, he would have shown mercy so they could find that damned thing called pride.
Elsidor swallowed a laugh.
‘It’s no wonder he likes flowers.’
He saw the world far too beautifully.
But only trash knew the minds of trash.
As one of their own kind, Elsidor could guarantee it.
Trash that had crossed the line once could cross it again at any time.
They would wash away the past and be reborn?
If there were such bastards, Elsidor intended to grab them by the collar. He would beat them down to the floor and show them. The wrongs that would be clinging to their ankles.
“I’ve always said knowing your place is important.”
In that sense, the adventurer lying unconscious in the garden, Kinver, pleased him. He had run all the way to the Golden Palace half-dead to deliver news of Harkon, and he had not clumsily begged for forgiveness.
‘It seems we may be able to have a not-bad relationship.’
An adventurer would have an adventurer’s own field of vision.
If he was with Kinver.
He felt he could dispose of the trash more efficiently.
Elsidor swung his sword without hesitation.
The Supernovas.
Among them, the only survivors were the Five Stars who had fled, and Kinver alone.
Thus, the grand conference of stars came to an end.
Elsidor shook off the blood and muttered.
“With the great undertaking right before us, we should avoid making a disturbance.”
Soon, the path to Arcana would open through the Magic Tower’s portal.
Through Yunaxus’s sacrifice.
Elsidor did not want the attention that should be poured upon that noble sacrifice.
To be diverted to the end of this paltry trash.
Ruuumble—Crash!
So he collapsed the gold mine. If it had been another country or land, the damage from a sealed gold mine might have been enormous, but this was the Yusra Kingdom. Meaning, gold mines were scattered everywhere nearby.
No one would know of their deaths.
“Let trash meet an end befitting trash.”
Elsidor turned his back on the gold mine and walked away.
Let’s see. With the life force surging in the Garden of Dignity, the unconscious Kinver should have awakened by now. He needed to interrogate him……. No, he needed to have a generous conversation with him.
The ones who had cut off their tails and run early.
The five stars.
The Five Stars.
Elsidor had no intention of leaving them alive.
*
Liu O Junchun looked at the true Five Stars.
“You have worked hard all this time.”
A class that grew by ruling over and devouring others, [Monarch].
The Supernovas were elites raised by directly imitating that Monarch’s method of cultivation. What that meant was simple. The Five Stars had not distinguished themselves within the Supernovas. It meant the Supernovas existed because the Five Stars existed.
One of the Five Stars, Baek Seongryun, lowered his head.
“We have carried out our lord’s command and returned.”
If a tail was too long, one day its true form would be stepped on.
The Five Stars intended to cut off the unnecessary tail trailing behind them.
That was why they had named an absurd target at the conference of stars.
Harkon.
They had named the Knight of the Lionheart, who had become like the reverse scale of Lee Hoyeol and the Holy War Alliance, as their target. Liu O Junchun did not question the Five Stars any further.
“I believe you. If it is you, you must have handled it well.”
“We are overwhelmed by your trust.”
The Five Stars lowered their heads in unison.
‘……Do we not need to report it?’
However, among them.
Only Baek Seongryun could not shake off his unease.
Because he could not understand what had happened at the conference of stars.
‘Kinver, why did that man.’
Why had he behaved in such a contradictory manner?
Kinver should be a corpse by now.
Even if he had somehow escaped the gold mine.
He could not have completely shaken off the Supernovas’ encirclement.
However, Baek Seongryun did not think long about it.
‘……No, anything beyond that is not within my domain.’
To be exact, he could not.
Blind loyalty toward his lord.
It did not allow thoughts that would cloud Baek Seongryun’s mind.
Soon, Liu O Junchun declared before the Five Stars.
“The news that the Supernovas are targeting Harkon will soon spread throughout the world. Lee Hoyeol will not sit by and watch either. That will be the moment we enter the Arcana Continent.”
It meant it could be within the next few hours at the earliest.
Liu O Junchun had finished arming himself from head to toe. So that, together with the Five Stars, he could enter the Arcana Continent through the access device at any time. Liu O Junchun calmly waited for that time.
Unfortunately, however.
The time Liu O Junchun waited for did not come.
Hours, days, no.
Not even until the moment Harkon was able to walk perfectly well on his own two feet.
Breaking news poured in.
—Veteran hero Harkon gains new legs……! Nam Taemin says, “Standing on the battlefield is no longer too much for him. If anything, he has become even more agile than before…….”
Liu O Junchun asked the Five Stars.
“Explain the entire course of events to me.”
“…….”
“What happened at the conference of stars?”
However, there was no one who could answer.
Because the truth of that day had been buried along with the collapsed gold mine.
Yet the truth of that day had not disappeared.
Even without digging it up, it was approaching on its own two feet.
At the same time.
The Garden of Dignity.
“……That is my speculation up to this point.”
“So this thing called the Five Stars is connected to Cheonha Tongil?”
“Well, if we want to be certain, we’ll need evidence.”
“No, it’s enough.”
Elsidor shook his head.
Evidence? How pointless.
It was excessive trouble wasted on trash.
“Even if they are not connected, it does not matter. Cheonha Tongil and its members are the same trash anyway. We can simply think of it as cleaning them up together while we’re at it, can’t we?”
Cheonha Tongil.
The undisputed number one guild in the rankings.
To think he would regard them so lightly.
However, Kinver did not take it lightly.
Because he knew Elsidor had more than enough ability to do exactly that.
And he also knew it was not a joke.
So Kinver smiled as well.
“I agree, pointy-ears.”
As he rose from his seat, he continued.
“So we are going to the bastards’ den, China.”