◈ Episode 360. Do Flowers Bloom Even in Forsaken Lands? (3)
Blood Elf.
If a Blood Elf was merely one who had gone mad for blood and slaughter.
Then why had the World Tree arranged such a fate for one of her own bloodline?
Regrettably.
Those who could raise that question.
No longer existed in this world.[Blood Elf, “Elsidore,” appears.]
Because the Supernovas who had first witnessed that message had been buried deep beneath the Yusra Kingdom. If so, another question would follow. In this moment, how did a Blood Elf appear to them?
A desperate struggle.
The players of China, standing against the overflowing rifts.
They looked at Elsidore as they gasped for breath.
“What kind of movement is that…….”
“Forget the movement, what the hell is that power in his swordsmanship? No, not even a full minute passed before he cleared a rift! Different dimension doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“More importantly, why is he helping us?”
A bitter laugh escaped.
“Who knows. Well, the message says he’s a Blood Elf. Maybe becoming a Blood Elf made him grow up or something? Anyway, thanks to him, we’re alive. Now if we can just do something about these wounds…….”
The player thought of his own torn, ragged belly.
A monster’s strike that even level 300 [Rare] grade equipment had failed to block.
It was a serious wound, but he should be grateful just to have survived…….
“Huh?!”
It was gone.
The wound.
Only a single crimson thread-like strand of blood rising from the body where the wound had been remained, allowing the man to guess for what reason his injury had healed.
“……!”
Because that crimson thread was connected to the Blood Elf, Elsidore.
Elsidore realized, if only faintly.
Something was different.
The sensation of being drenched in blood.
It was not the ecstasy he had felt then.
From the blood that had only been sticky and reeking of iron, he could feel warmth.
Warmth, warmth.
“Ha.”
Elsidore laughed softly.
Because it was similar to the warmth he had felt from his mother, the World Tree.
Elsidore looked at the red aura wavering around him.
To be precise, he gazed at the blood of the surrounding area gathering toward him.
It was something he could see and still not understand.
Why, from humans he had considered less than insects.
He could feel the very same warmth as his mother’s.‘Well, whatever.’However, Elsidore did not think deeply about it.
Was it because that warmth felt unfamiliar?
Was it because the monster before him was irritating?
The reason did not matter.
“What I must do does not change.”
What mattered was the command from Hoyeol.
To make flowers bloom in the land where the weeds had been pulled.
Because of that, Elsidore did not realize.
That what was more important than anything for flowers to bloom was a gentle temperature.
That thanks to warm blood having set the proper temperature.
Elsidore himself had begun to bloom, to come into full blossom.
Kinver crushed out his cigarette beneath his foot and raised the corners of his mouth.
“You can do it when you try, knife-ear.”
That day, hundreds of casualties occurred in China.
With fifteen rifts alone having collapsed, most of them were people who had died inside the rifts while trying to stop rifts on the verge of collapse. However, there were no civilian deaths.
-Elsidore changed his class to Blood Elf?!
-Is “changed his class” even the right expression?
-Anyway lol it was no joke-For real, who would’ve known? That blood-crazed psycho elf would turn into a Blood Elf with constant wide-area healing lololololIt was thanks to the flowers of blood pouring out vitality.
Elsidore’s exploits announced that spring had come to the frozen land.
Of course, it might still be too early for other flowers to bloom.
However, Elsidore was quite satisfied.
“This land is warm.”
Because at this moment, the warmth he felt was real.
Step, step.
There were those who approached such an Elsidore.
“We have come to express our gratitude on behalf of China’s players…… no, adventurers. We bear no ill will. If our presence displeases you, we will withdraw at once.”
They could not even raise their heads.
Their excessively respectful attitude made him realize what kind of infamy he had spread throughout the world of adventurers. So Elsidore did not forget to know his place.
Even if he had bloomed as a flower.
That flower had absolutely not bloomed by its own strength.
Elsidore turned his back, leaving behind a single sentence.
“Convey your thanks not to me, but to Him.”
“By Him, you mean……?”……
Hesitation.
Elsidore’s feet stopped.
The Chief of the Magic Tower, the Dark Dragon, a single ray of light in the boundless darkness…….
He had so many titles that even choosing one was not easy.‘They still don’t sit well on my tongue.’Moreover, to immediately speak those names aloud was unbearably embarrassing, considering his past sin of having called Hoyeol an arrogant human bastard all this time. So Elsidore added indifferently.
“There is only one person whom I would call Him.”
Yes, for now, that was enough.*AAU Branch Directors’ Meeting.
The Republic of Korea Branch Director, Park Minjae, had a hard time holding back his laughter.‘Their expressions are something to see.’Only a single day.
It was no exaggeration to say AAU had climbed onto a roller coaster of upheaval. The sudden destruction of Unification Under Heaven. Because of that, China had been unable to handle the rifts and was in a state of crisis, on the verge of national collapse.‘I suppose they were all expecting quite a lot in different ways.’Thinking that, at last, they would be able to exercise AAU’s influence.
But as they watched China.
The wishes of those who had been salivating did not come true.[Blood Elf Elsidore Saves China!][Elsidore: “Everything is His will.”][Close Coverage: Why Did Lee Hoyeol Save China?]……
This time as well.
Because there was Hoyeol, who had calmed the situation in a way that surpassed everyone’s expectations. The London Branch Director, Baker, opened his mouth as if deliberately making the sour-faced branch directors hear him.
“As expected of the Chief Administrator of Yusra! He informed us that he would be absent from the branch directors’ meeting in order to prepare for entry into the Arcana Continent. Yet in the midst of being so busy, he even pacified the Unification Under Heaven incident.”
Park Minjae played along appropriately.
Because he found them displeasing and irritating.
Certain branch directors who changed their attitudes whenever it suited their interests.
And the countries entangled with them.
“Is that all? I never dreamed he would completely transform that troublemaker Elsidore. It certainly seems that tending plants in the garden is good for one’s emotional state, doesn’t it?”
Slide—
Park Minjae’s gaze swept across the conference room.
For reference, Park Minjae’s nickname during his Cosmo days had been “madman.”
A total lunatic who would even lunge at the CEO.
“I wonder if we should bring a few flowerpots into the conference room too. No, that might not be enough. For some people, it seems like we may need to remodel their branch director’s offices into botanical gardens altogether.”
The Korean spicy flavor.
Perhaps they had choked on Park Minjae’s blatant remark.
“Ahem.”
The faces of several branch directors flushed red, but that was all.
Because getting angry would only mean they had done something worth being pricked by.
Park Minjae carefully studied each of their faces.‘A new phase will arrive soon.’The portal to the Arcana Continent will open.
Before that vast land of opportunity, shallow pride would surely waver.
It was bitter, but not something shocking.
Because that was what humans were by nature.
Park Minjae shrugged.‘Well, my pride and composure, too…….’Perhaps they also originated from the fact that the Chief Administrator of Yusra was Korean like him. So Park Minjae did not harbor any useless sense of superiority.
He merely kept one thing in mind.‘You may know the depth of ten fathoms of water, but you cannot know the inside of a person’s heart.’Hoyeol had so much on his plate.
In the future, there would inevitably be many occasions when he could not attend the branch directors’ meetings. Therefore, Park Minjae intended to keep his eyes even wider open for Hoyeol’s share as well.
They were busy enough moving forward. They could not afford to be stabbed in the back.*The lobby of the Magic Tower.[Target Coordinates: Arcana Continent]
“I-It’s up!!”
Cheers burst out from the players who had been camping in front of the portal.
At last!
It had opened, the portal leading to the Arcana Continent.
Messages appeared one after another before Park Hwigang’s eyes.[For two entirely different worlds, knowledge and power encompassing both worlds were required. The one who achieved a feat bizarre beyond measure did not even leave behind his name, but that great achievement shall never be forgotten.]
What kind of beings were explorers?
A single piece of a map.
Sometimes, they were people who tracked the location of treasure from rumors drifting through taverns. And Park Hwigang was a League Explorer who could be called an expert even among explorers.
To him, this sort of riddle was a piece of cake.
“As expected of Hoyeol-nim!”
Even after establishing the great achievement of connecting reality and the Arcana Continent.
As though it were something only natural.
This integrity, leaving not even a single name behind.
“If it were me, I’d have engraved my name first. Every time they used the portal, my name would be imprinted on the players! You think that’s too attention-seeking? Come on, that’s nothing new. I stream because I’m an attention seeker.”
There had been unavoidable circumstances behind Hoyeol not leaving his name behind……
But naturally, neither Park Hwigang nor the players could possibly guess that reason.
On top of that.
-More importantly, are you really going in right away??
-I hope the stream doesn’t cut offㅠㅠㅠ-At least record it for us, Hwigang
-Yeah, upload it to NetTube, we’ll watch all the replays!!
They could not bear to be lost in thought at the mere entrance of the portal.
Because they were too curious about the Arcana Continent that lay beyond it.
Of course, Park Hwigang did not hurry.
“First, I’ll check the exact coordinates! Hoyeol-nim also warned us that the Arcana Continent is dangerous! Even before the Cataclysm, it wouldn’t have been strange to die a sudden, screaming death outside the castle walls…….”
Now, even the fence provided by the Empire had collapsed.
As if that were not enough, incomparably more demons than in reality must be lying in wait, coveting their bodies. As that fact came to mind, realistic concerns descended upon the players ahead of entry.
“……
More importantly, will there even be lodging?”
“Lodging, my ass. He said the only city that could be called intact is the imperial capital, Antonium, didn’t he? We just have to pray we drop somewhere near Antonium.”
“I can handle anything else, but I need to sit down to use the bathroom.”
The path to the Arcana Continent was opening.
Those who had been excited only by that fact and had failed to consider practical issues were flustered. At this rate, just as they had done in the Zero Mountains, they would have to set up base camps and operate on the continent as well.
But their worries lasted only a moment.
“Anyway, we’ve got to go for broke, don’t we? If worse comes to worst, we’ll just return.”
At last, the player at the very front stepped into the portal.
At the same time, the scenery of the destination appeared in his mind.
It was unmistakably alien, so it had to be the Arcana Continent.
“……
Huh?”
He had definitely heard that there were no proper cities or territories left on the current Arcana Continent. Even the imperial capital, Antonium, had suffered the humiliation of its walls collapsing.
Yet it felt alien once again, in a different sense.
“Wh-why is it so glamorous?!”
No, it was beyond glamorous; it was dazzlingly resplendent.
Just what city was that vast territory and grand mansion supposed to be?
Before the eyes of the player who held that question.
At last, detailed information about the destination appeared.[Target Coordinates: Arcana Continent
- Claudi Territory]
“……
Wait, if it’s Claudi, then surely?!”
It was too great a family.
To remain hidden, buried by the passage of time.
Claudi was beginning to reveal itself.