Chapter 98 - Even if We Look Different from Each Other (1)
Artpe's party passed through the Gate to arrive in Tiata. When they arrived, the sound of an explosion in the distance assaulted their ears. In an instant, Artpe assessed where the spell had originated. He grinned when he found the source of the Mana.
"It's Regina. She's doing her part well."
"Regina is attacking the Elves!?"
As always, Maetel misunderstood his words in the oddest way. He flicked his fingers on her forehead. Then he turned to look at the Gate. A stream of humans were exiting the Gate, and he waited for them to get in line. The king of Daitan asked Artpe a question.
"What are we going to do now, magician?"
"First, we'll have to take care of the humans that are rushing towards us."
Artpe pointed his finger, and the king could see a large number of soldiers and knights rushing towards them!
When the king of Aedia and his party escaped through the Gate, they were able to move in stealth since their party was small. However, Artpe's party wasn't trying to be stealthy. They were moving people on a large scale. Of course, Tiata would notice!
"Maetel."
".....Artpe, why does your expression look as if you are trying to say, 'I choose you!'?"
Artpe's education had born fruit. Maetel's competence had improved a lot. Artpe felt pleased. He nodded his head as he yelled out his words.
"I choose you! I want you to break them as gently as possible!"
"You are too much!"
"In fact, I want you to face Tiata, while we go visit the Forest of Eternity. Ah. If possible, don't kill them."
"You sound indifferent! You are too much!"
The gist of the current situation was to shed as much blood of their 'enemies'. In the end, a very few number of humans had manipulated Daitan, Aedia, Tiata and the Forest of Eternity. The rest of the humans were blameless in this matter.
Artpe wanted to get through this as smooth as possible. Such line of thinking had brought about the God Flush being used, so it was ironic that he was having such thoughts. He decided to ignore it.
If the trouble within the Forest of Eternity spread, there was a possibility Tiata would become involved. What if an absolute power drew away the gaze of Tiata…. He would be able to stop Tiata's involvement at the root. Moreover, if the Elves escape the Forest of Eternity, Maetel would be able to subdue them without doing too much damage!
"You arguments are falling a bit short······."
"No, it isn't like that."
Artpe immediately gave his denial, but in truth, Maetel was correct. He was trying to leave her behind, because unsavory things were happening within the Forest of Eternity. He wanted to solve it without getting her involved.
This was a situation that he couldn't end cleanly. It wasn't something he could end without injuring someone. However, it wouldn't be like his past life. Artpe had already taken several measures, so there wouldn't be a tragedy like before….. Still, Artpe didn't want Maetel to get involved in what was going on within the Forest of Eternity.
"Please, Maetel. This is my wish."
Artpe firmly took both hands of Maetel. He moved in close to look into her eyes as he made his request. She knew Artpe was trying to evade answering her question, yet she inevitably became fooled by him!
"Yes. Leave it to me!"
This was why he liked uncomplicated woman like her. Maetel unsheathed her bastard sword as she charged forward. Artpe had an expression of a bad boy as he turned around. The king of Daitan was dumbfounded as he replied.
"She is a powerful warrior, and I also heard that she is a hero. However…. Will it be possible for her to stop the entire dukedom by herself?"
"Yes."
"Hoo-ryahhhhhhhhh!"
Right on cue, Maetel used her Bash skill to roughly impact on the ground. She destroyed the entire corridor where several thousand soldiers and knights were running across. They were all buried in one go. The king shut his mouth when he saw this. In certain aspects, the sight of Maetel was scarier than Artpe's magic.
"I told her to minimize the casualties. It seems she is going to pull back only when they are on the verge of death."
"Her power has already transcended the realm of humans…..."
"Later on, the Demon King's army will experience her power ad nauseum. It'll be in your best interest to focus on the growing your elite troops."
"Now that you mention it, you are a hero! I just realized that there is a possibility that the Demon King will make his appearance!"
The king was able to say such rude things as if it was nothing. Artpe glared at him then he turned around.
"Let's head out."
There were tens of thousands of knights, magicians and other audiences following him. Artpe blew a hole in the wall enclosing the palace. He led everyone out through the hole.
"How come destruction follows everywhere you pass through!"
"The Mana is overheating! Let's hurry!"
The Forest of Eternity was pretty far away, but the distance was easily overcome by the humans in Artpe's party. They had the ability to do so. It was as Artpe had boasted. Maetel was able to block the advance of Tiata by herself. Artpe and his party quickly exited Tiata, and they arrived at the border of the Forest of Eternity.
At that point, the other's in the party had noticed it. They realized that there was a ominous energy permeating the forest. There sensed Mana being opposed by a curse and black magic. Everyone in the party grinded their teeths when they felt it.
"This is the energy we felt within the king's secret room."
"We might be too late!"
Not everyone came here with the thought of protecting the Elves. They just couldn't allow someone to break their biggest taboo of using black magic against a race capable of rational thought.
They were fully aware that such magic could be turned against humanity too.
"If you think this is too late, then we are couple months late. Don't worry about it."
Artpe increased the speed of his Float spell as he put his party at ease. It didn't matter if they were early or late. This was something that was supposed to happen, and it wasn't something that could be blocked easily.
However, there was one important point. Artpe held a trump card that could nullify everything that was done here.
[Nyaa, nyaa nyaa nyaa nyaa, nyaa nyaaht nyaahahhh!]
"All right. I get it, so calm down. …..we have to wait a little bit. If we heal the wound before it gets infected, their sense of caution won't develop."
Roa was being unruly. She wanted to immediately eat all the energy permeating the forest. Artpe calmly soothed her as he spoke to her. There was another reason why he had kept Maetel away from here. He was afraid Maetel would discover his black heart.
"Isn't that called image management, oppa? You really treat her with a lot of love and care."
"You are already aware of it, so it can't be helped."
If he wanted to end this situation cleanly, he should have sent Roa with Regina to Tiata. However, Artpe hadn't done that. If he solved everything at the get go, others wouldn't be able to gain anything from this situation.
The people of Aedia and Regina had to see this for themselves. They had to come their own realization. They had to see the true nature of what they had done, and they had to find their own path forward.
"If we do this, we'll have an easier time later on."
"This is already a tiresome situation for you, oppa. Even if you push others forward, there will come a time when oppa will have to solve everything."
"Be quiet, you dork."
"Ooh-eeeeee."
Both of Artpe's hands were mushed against Sienna's cheeks, yet she was enjoying it. Somehow, he was able to have a little fun in this situation, but he started to hear whispers.
'He has two women…..'
'He's a hero, yet he's fooling around with two girls…..'
He stopped what he was doing.
"I feel a magical energy coming closer to us."
"Is it perhaps the Mana of the Elves?"
It was the correct answer. The disturbance that was occurring at the middle of the Forest of Eternity had agitated the Elves. They were on the move. Currently, their bodies were being dominated by the Emotion Amplification curse. Of course, they would go crazy when they found tens of thousands of humans within their forest.
"We found them! They are humans!"
"Kyahh. They showed up before I could say anything."
The voices of the Elves rang in the ears of Artpe's party. The voices indicated that a battle would be imminent, and several dozen arrows appeared from between the trees. Of course, all of them were blocked by the Holy Barrier activated by Artpe.
Since his identity as a hero was exposed, there was no reason for him to hide his other skills. He didn't hesitate as he used a spell that wasn't associated with the Magician Class.
"Kook. There are several hundred Elves within the forest….. Unfortunately, we can't just surrender to them. Everyone get ready for battle….!"
"You don't have to!"
He interrupted the king's speech as he chanted out another spell. It was none other than a Fire spell..
"W...wait a moment…...."
"Human, let's talk!"
"Go!"
In a flash, the Fire spell had become as big as a full moon. In a flash, it left Artpe's hand, and it detonated in a far away portion of the forest!
"Ooh-ahhhhhhhhk!"
"The forest….the forest is burning!"
"How much Mana does he have? It is just a simple Fire spell, yet he created such a terrible disaster! We won't forgive you, human!"
It didn't matter if the Elves wanted to kill Artpe or not. In a flash, several dozen trees started to burn, and the fire started to spread to other regions! The humans were taken aback. The Elves were so horrified that they had stopped attacking. At that moment, Artpe yelled out in a gallant voice.
"Do you want to fight us or do you want to extinguish that fire! If you choose to extinguish the fire, we won't attack you!"
"Koohk! Wicked humans!"
"You are craven!"
Artpe had gone for the low blow by holding the forest hostage! They were witnessing a hero threaten the Elves, and it was effective!
"Koo-ooohk….. You wait and see, human!"
"We won't forget this!"
"Ooh-ahhhk. The fire is spreading! Hurry up everyone!"
The most important thing to the Elves were the forest. It was where they lived. Their fighting spirits were amplified, and they were filled with the will to kill humans. However, the forest was burning in front of them. There was no way they would let the forest burn in front of them even if it meant letting the humans go!
"Wow. Look at them ebb away like a low tide. It seems they are well aware of the importance of the forest. As expected, the Elves received a fantastic upbringing."
"······where did you learn all these cheap tactics?"
The king of Daitan had been getting ready to fight the Elves. He sheathed his sword, and he asked the question with a despondent voice. Artpe didn't answer him. He just grinned as he stepped forward.
Afterwards, groups of Elves kept appearing at irregular intervals to stop the party of humans. However, Artpe create a new fire ball each time, and he set fire to a portion of the forest.
The Elves were horrified, and they ran off to put out the fire. Artpe's party was able to travel through the forest at high speeds. Those that were following Artpe had been prepared to get into a fight, and they looked liked idiots right now.
"Humans!"
"Eh-eet."
"Ggoo-ahhhhhhk!"
Artpe loaded a fireball on each hand, and he ran through the forest as he set it on fire. It was a truly brutal sight. He had already damaged 30% of the Forest of Eternity, but no human or Elf had been killed in the process. In some ways, it was truly a peaceful method.
"I don't know why I'm having such bitter thoughts······."
"You guys think the process is important. You guys are under a delusion, because of this wrong mindset. From now on, you should try to fix that mindset….. Ah."
Artpe had been calculating the most effective way of chasing off the Elves that appeared from anywhere and at anytime. However, his feet suddenly came to a stop. The humans, who had been busy chasing after him, naturally came to a stop as if by magic. The two fireballs burning atop his palms disappeared as if they were a mirage
"We are here. This is the World Tree."
"World Tree?"
When the king of Daitan gave his reply, the trees that were blocking their view was obliterated by a brilliant explosion magic. Artpe created winds using his magic, and he pushed aside the debris as he walked forward. The rest of his party found out what Artpe had been talking about.
"You bitch······! Do you plan on going against your master!"
"You aren't my master."
Several adult humans were fighting against a small girl. It was a cowardly sight.
Artpe's party caught sight of the fierce magical battle, and…..
"My god······."
"How can a tree grow so big? Even if it endured the passage of untold years, how can this be!"
"Ah ah ah. This is…….."
The girl had her back against a truly giant…...
From the surface of the ground, it was over 300 meters in height. A tree of ridiculous size was standing tall.