Chapter 34: The Green Forest , The Deepest Part(2)

The first thing Avalli noticed when she arrived in the darkness where she couldn’t see even an inch ahead was that the air around her had changed.

Without a moment’s hesitation, she used ‘magic’ to regain her vision.

The place where Avalli was standing was still in the forest.

She couldn’t tell if it was inside the Great Forest or somewhere else, but at least the trees around her were a completely new type of thing.

And she could quickly identify the identity of the strange air she had felt in the darkness.

‘… Blood.’

There were many trees that had been snapped in half or uprooted.

And in the vicinity of the traces of destruction, dried red marks were invariably visible.

This wasn’t blood from a human body.

If that much blood was to be extracted from a human body, there would have to be a massacre of hundreds or thousands of people.

I guess the owner of those bloodstains was probably a demon.

Did someone summon a demon to this place and kill it?

Or did the demons summoned to this place fight each other?

The traces of destruction were too extensive to be the former, and the bodies that should have been there were nowhere to be seen to be the latter.

So what on earth could it be?

Although she confidently used spatial magic, fear settled in her mind in just a few minutes.

A person’s courage is not necessarily proportional to the strength she possesses.

This is why there are often those among the common people who are called ‘heroes’.

Memories of the past when she was thrown into the middle of the great forest came back to her.

She thought she had overcome it, but she didn’t think it would catch up with her so quickly.

Avalli’s limbs began to tremble.

She started- ‘… Let’s take a look at the situation first’.

She hated getting caught up in something so terrible without even knowing what it was.

It was even worse if it affected not only her alone, but also the vulnerable residents of Asha Village.

Avalli bit her lip and picked a nearby tree and climbed it.

It was an application of a technique from a ninja manga she had read as a child.

She was able to defy gravity and run up a perpendicular wall just by steadily and evenly discharging her magic power under her feet.

“…… Wow.”

Avalli let out a small exclamation as she finally reached the top of the tree.

The moon, which felt even more than when she was in Asha Village, lit up the peak of the densely rising forest.

The beautiful scenery calmed her down a little.

Avalli concentrated her mind and figured out her location.

Unlike three months ago when she had suddenly fallen into this world, there was now one clear landmark.

It was her clone that had been created in Asha Village for camouflage.

Since the connection through ‘magic’ was continuous as long as she was in the same world, she could at least figure out the direction, even if the distance was difficult.

“It’s further east.”

The direction of the clone had not changed since before the teleportation.

The clone would still be in Asha Village to the west, which meant that Avalli was still in the Great Forest.

And Avalli’s guess was correct.

She was now further east than where she had first fallen, in the deepest part of this Great Forest.

More precisely, it was an area that bordered the eastern end of the forest.

Her gaze, which had been constantly thinking and scanning her surroundings, naturally turned to the east.

“…… There’s something.”

She had clearly discovered something foreign.

The silhouette of a gigantic tree distorting the perspective, as if tens, hundreds, or even thousands of surrounding trees were combined.

Near the silhouette, a faint light could be seen twinkling.

If it wasn’t a forest fire, then it was definitely evidence that someone was there.

The thought was short.

Avalli ran east, stepping on the heads of the tall trees.

***

The summit of the World Tree.

The priestess, who had cleaned up her body, carefully moved toward the sacred spring located exactly in the center of the summit.

With each step, her ears stood out between her blond hair.

Anyone who saw her appearance would be reminded of the name of a race from a fairy tale book from long ago.

Elves.

The fairies that protect the forest.

The long-eared race, known for their pride and contempt for other races, surprisingly knelt down respectfully as soon as they reached the edge of the spring.

Only after her forehead was pressed against the ground did the elf priestess carefully open her mouth.

“Lord Sylvain.”

The answer did not come back.

However, as the water trembled faintly, she knew that her words had reached the Transcendent in the spring.

“Darkness is coming again today.”

It had been three months since the darkness from the east began its invasion, breaking the silence of hundreds of years.

The elves were fighting desperately to protect their sacred ground.

The difference in power between the invaders and the elves was obvious, but the front line never gave way.

This was because the Transcendent was guarding this World Tree.

“You guys never get tired. It would be nice to take a leisurely rest on the night of the full moon.”

Sylvain approached the priestess in a tired voice.

She emerged from the spring dripping water, and soon opened her mouth in a languid voice.

“I ask you today as well.”

“Yes, Sylvain.”

As soon as she heard the order, the priestess stood up and began to politely tidy up Sylvain’s body.

Her naked body, without a single blemish and well-proportioned, was like a single sculpture.

On her beautiful body, pure white hair that looked like pure white snow clung to her, soaking wet.

This was also the reason why the elves who worshipped beauty truly loved their leader, Sylvain.

“You are beautiful today as well, Sylvain.”

“Don’t say such disgusting things. Or are you planning to touch the real woman’s breasts while giving her obvious compliments?”

“Ah… no! I never intended to do that.”

The priestess, who had been hit hard, quickly shook her head from side to side.

Sylvain covered her mouth with one hand and smiled mischievously at her flustered appearance.

“If you want to touch me, you can. But right now is not convenient.”

“That… that’s why Sylvain. You didn’t mean to-“

“Do you not want to touch the real woman? If you want, I can do that much.”

“No!”

The priestess shouted with all her heart, forgetting that this was a holy place.

“Yes. How nice of you to be honest.”

“Haha, I owe you so much, so it’s not that difficult.”

“That… that…”

Sylvain whispered into the priestess’s ear, who was confused as to how to respond.

“Thank you. Just say that.”

“… Thank you.”

“Come to my bedroom when the sun rises tomorrow. Haha… I guess I can look forward to fighting tonight.”

The priestess’s face turned bright red at Sylvain’s sly words.

Even in the midst of all this, the priestess did not forget her own duties and safely finished tidying up Sylvain’s body.

After she even dressed him, the priestess bowed her head toward Sylvain and stepped back.

“… Haa.”

Only after the priestess completely disappeared from Sylvain’s sight did a light sigh escape Sylvain’s lips.

Her anxious expression showed no sign of the composure she had just moments ago.

‘I’m going to die.’

The balance in all directions had already collapsed.

The guys who were supposed to guard the north and west had already lost themselves long ago.

It was fortunate that the stone-like man in the south was still intact…, but the two of them had clear limitations.

They were even calling the central demons to the front lines and using them with all their might, but in the end, it was only a temporary measure.

The offensive wasn’t that threatening yet, but Sylvain thought it would take at most 10 years.

Within 10 years, the cradle of humanity would be engulfed in war again.

“What on earth are those three sisters doing?”

Sylvain puffed out her cheeks and let out a small complaint before moving on to do her duty.

The attacks continued without tiring every night, and if Sylvain didn’t participate in the battle, countless elves would lose their lives.

Sylvain had grown quite attached to this race over the long years, so she didn’t want to see that anymore.

At that moment, when she was secretly hoping that tonight would pass safely- she felt something approaching the World Tree at incredible speed.

“… West?”

And the direction wasn’t east, but west.

Enemy? Ally?

Sylvain had not allowed a single army to pass through the Great Forest, so it was likely an ally.

It was impossible for a mortal man to move at that speed.

In that case, it was probably an angel sent by the goddess, or one of her old acquaintances.

Whatever it was, Sylvain was secretly relieved that he could finally relay the news to the center-

“Gyaaaaaaah!” -and the intruder crashed into the center of the spring with a shrill scream.

Splash.

Sylvain stared at the gushing spring, dumbfounded.

From what Sylvain had glanced at before crashing, the intruder was no angel at all.

Nor was he one of the few people on the entire continent capable of traveling the Eastern Forest alone.

So who was he?

“Excuse me.”

The silver-haired girl, her whole body soaked in water, opened her mouth.

“Could you… save me?”

She flapped her arms and legs desperately to keep from sinking into the spring.