The elves of the Great Forest were having another peaceful day.
True to their nature as long-lived beings, they were always relaxed, and their lives were generally full of comfort and leisure.
They had lived for so long that it was common for them to brush off even a hundred years without much of a care, saying something like, “Things are quiet these days,” and going on as usual.
For them, the biggest recent issue was the 3rd Princess’s bold actions.
The 3rd Princess, still quite young, had suddenly come up with a plan to venture into the human territories, and the elves lightly dismissed it with comments like, “The princess is still so naive.”
It was also around the age when elves, nearing 100, would start to feel the urge to leave the confining forest, so they thought, “Ah, the princess must be that old now.”
But when rumors began to spread that the 3rd Princess had even overthrown the elders and was now recruiting participants to secretly infiltrate human lands by forming a guild, the elves started to stir.
“Really? Are we actually going to start interacting with humans?”
Whispers of this began to spread among the elves, and they split into two groups with differing opinions.
One side questioned whether the elves should even extend a hand to the lowly humans, historically and traditionally considered beneath them, while the other side argued that it might not be a bad idea to at least start some sort of exchange with humans.
Of course, even though they were in fierce disagreement, it was all very civilized—those in each camp would gather, enjoy tea, and have casual discussions like, “Is this really okay? I’m not so sure…” “Well, maybe it wouldn’t hurt to try?”—so it was essentially just idle debate.
While these two camps were engaged in their tea-filled debates, the 3rd Princess had already set her plan into motion.
And about three weeks after the plan began…
An unexpected disaster was heading towards the Great Forest.
Felix had missed one crucial detail that he couldn’t fully grasp.
The illusion magic surrounding the Great Forest was primarily meant to prevent others from discovering the World Tree and the elves’ dwelling places. However, if someone crossed its boundaries, a signal magic was also activated, alerting them immediately.
This meant that from the moment Tene entered the outskirts of the Great Forest, their identities had already been exposed.
Elves were a species that generally lived for at least a thousand years.
Thanks to their long lifespans, they had the habit of continuing their training and research throughout their lives, pushing the limits of various skills.
Swordsmanship, archery, magic, and so on, were constantly honed, and elves around a thousand years old, on average, were capable of defeating a dozen strong adult warriors unarmed.
And these were the beings filling the Great Forest.
However, even they had an enemy they couldn’t face—dragons.
As soon as Tene breached the forest’s boundaries, the elves were exposed to a tremendous shockwave, causing 324 of them to lose consciousness, 103 to experience convulsions and seizures, and more than half of the elves in the Great Forest to freeze in terror.
Yet, among them, there were those who quickly regained their senses—the elders who had lived for over three thousand years.
They quickly gathered those who could still move and began their resistance.
The refined magical essence they had cultivated over millennia soon took shape and shot into the sky, followed by countless spells weaving through the air.
The magical barrage was so dense with mana that even brushing against it would turn most living beings to dust. The power of these spells was so immense that even a Demon King would find it hard to survive a direct hit.
But…
“Direct hit confirmed!”
“Got it! What’s the status?”
“…The target is intact! It’s still descending!”
“My god…”
“We’re finished…”
“An eternal darkness is coming…”
“World Tree, what should we do…?”
Despite taking a direct hit from all those spells, Tenebrix Nox, flying toward the Great Forest, remained unharmed and continued descending.
“Keep firing! We have to drain its power somehow! We must protect the World Tree!”
In the face of such a dire situation, El Grisa Noten Geos, the third finger of the Elders’ Council, shouted desperately, spitting with each word.
Though he had realized that magic was useless, there was no way he could stand by and do nothing.
‘I don’t know why the Eternal Darkness awakened so suddenly, but what matters now is protecting the seed of the World Tree! For that, I can gladly offer my life!’
“Listen up, everyone! We will sleep here today! Before we join the World Tree, at least let us fight with the pride of an elf!!!”
Noten Geos understood that this would likely be his grave, but he did not hesitate. He encouraged the younger elves, urging them to fight to the end.
As long as the seed of the World Tree existed, the elves would not be extinct. If they could take it and flee, the bond of the elves would continue.
And so, under Noten Geos’s speech, the elves, each carrying their resolve, clenched their staffs tightly.
“Second barrage! Prepare… fire!”
“Wait!”
Just as Noten Geos was about to signal the second barrage, one elf hurriedly ran up to him, stopping him.
“The third princess’s messenger, hu…! Orders to stop the firing immediately, hu…!”
“…What? Are you sure the third princess gave that order?”
“Yes! Hu…! And…! She also instructed us to temporarily release the barrier and guide the landing safely… huff…! I’m dying!”
Breathing heavily, the messenger, covered in cold sweat, managed to deliver the rest of the message before collapsing to catch his breath.
“Ah… Elder, what should we do?”
“Do we fire or not?”
With the message spreading, the elves who had their staffs aimed at the sky were left in confusion, unsure of what to do next as they awaited further instructions from Noten Geos.
“…Everyone, cease fire! We will follow the third princess’s orders.”
After some time spent in indecision, Noten Geos finally accepted the third princess’s command and called off the attack.
Hearing this, the elves quickly lowered their staffs, exchanging shocked glances as they looked at each other.
The rumor that the third princess had taken control of the Elders’ Council was true.
Even the former royal family had been wary and cautious in front of the council, but it was truly shocking to see Noten Geos, the third finger of the council, immediately obey her order.
“Quickly clear the area and twist the illusion magic so we can safely guide the landing.”
“Understood…”
With the barrage halted, the elves hurriedly began preparing to receive the black dragon, but their legs trembled, and some of them dropped their staffs in nervousness.
[….Kkeu, is it over…?]
As the barrage of magical artillery, which had been raining down intensely, finally subsided, Tene slowly opened her tightly shut eyes and muttered.
“Wow, wow, really…! Wow…! Hah, really…! I… oh… wow…!”
“Oppa, are you okay? It seems like your speech circuits are completely wrecked.”
“You… you…! Wouldn’t you be okay if it were you!? We would have died if it weren’t for Tene!!!”
Behind her, Rosaria, who had been holding her breath, screamed as though she didn’t even want to think about what had just happened.
The countless spells had flown like shells, shaking their eardrums and making their vision spin from the sheer force of the magic barrage.
If Tene hadn’t absorbed those attacks, they would have been turned to dust without even being able to make a sound.
“Still, Tene was here. She’s a dragon, so she wouldn’t be pierced by that level of magic. By the way, elves really specialize in elemental magic, huh?”
“You, sometimes you really are like a crazy person… no, a madman. I really feel bad for Tene.”
Ignoring that, Felix, who was grinning as he analyzed the elves’ magic, was met with a serious response from Rosaria.
[…Huh? Look over there! Over there!]
“What’s that? It looks like they’re calling us.”
“After shooting all that magic, now they’re…”
At that moment, Tene sent a signal, and Rosaria, who had peeked her head out, looked below.
The dense forest, which had been like a thick jungle just moments ago, suddenly rippled, revealing a wide plaza.
And in that plaza, the elves were gathered in a tight circle, like ants.
“What… what is this? Shalrey? Shalrey?”
“Ugh…?! Ugh… Mom, I’m sorry… I was wrong… ugh…!?”
“Snap out of it!”
“…Huh!? Am I… am I alive?! I’m still alive, right?!”
“You’re alive, so look at that.”
Rosaria, who was tilting her head in confusion, shook the unconscious Shalrey, who was mumbling and drooling, to wake her up and said,
“Ah… that’s the plaza in Helio Forest where we elves live… It looks like everyone’s gathered there. But the illusion magic is undone? What’s going on?”
“Does that mean they want us to go down there?”
“It seems so. We tried firing the barrage, but it was useless, and since they haven’t countered, it looks like they want to talk first.”
“Ugh, they should have done that before firing the magic! These guys just…!”
“Honey, still… we showed up out of nowhere, and we brought Tene, so I think it’s understandable. I had expected something like this might happen.”
“No, what?! You knew about this?!”
Rosaria responded in shock to Freya, who had calmly stated she was expecting this situation.
“I knew Tene was strong, and when most people face an overwhelming fear they can’t resist, they’ll fight back at first, but eventually they’ll accept it.”
“There might be some commotion, but I figured they’d eventually talk things out. By the way, they’re giving in faster than I expected. I thought there would be more chaos, like earlier.”
“…Did you intentionally not tell Shalrey or the elves who are knocked out to prepare in advance?”
“If we don’t give them time to prepare, we can gain a bigger advantage.”
“…….!”
“This… human…! They’re terrifying…”
[Should we just go?]
Upon hearing Freya’s calm response, as though everything had been planned in advance, Rosaria and the adults were at a loss for words. Shalrey, realizing why they always warned about being cautious around humans, found her hands and feet trembling uncontrollably.
“Well, we’ll have to go to find out. Let’s go!!”
At that moment, Darián shouted, and Tene slowly began to descend, lowering her altitude.