Martial Elf

“…Damn it.”

As a leader of the elves, Demis had always maintained his dignity, but harsh words slipped from his mouth.

Yet, no elf around him pointed it out.

Once again, horrid things crawled through the cracks of the crumbling city wall that had first been breached.

Unlike the previous giants, these creatures varied in size; some emitted cold air while others even breathed fire.

Demis looked around.

Since he was born, the number of elves he had shared his life with had greatly diminished.

Most of the corpses scattered throughout the forest were those of giants who had been swept away in the advance, but there were also the bodies of elves who had been cut down by massive swords while fighting the giants.

His heart ached, yet he coldly assessed the situation.

‘Are there about two hundred left… But around thirty of them can’t continue fighting.’

Atira, who had been healing the injured elves, was now exhausted.

Those thirty would find it difficult to return to battle.

Initially, there had been over three hundred giants, but it seemed there were now fewer than fifty.

‘…But there’s hardly any area left to call a forest.’

The once lush forest had been ugly hacked down, and the ground was turned to a mess.

The spirits that had joyfully aided the elves at first now seemed uncomfortable amid the aura of death that filled the clearings left behind by the encroaching forest.

‘…There’s no strength left.’

It was one thing to face the fifty remaining giants, but if they had to fight the approaching entities behind them, victory would come close to mutual destruction.

“Phew-!”

Pallas was slaughtering the giants up front, but he couldn’t block the onslaught with just one hand.

He raised his head to the sky.

‘…Mother.’

It seemed the situation there was not good either.

It didn’t seem easy to hope for assistance.

As he gazed at the advancing beings born from the giants’ blood, Demis’s eyes filled with anguish.

◈ ◈ ◈

“We must take action.”

Priegoss, watching everything from the high spire of the Grand Temple, spoke up.

While leaving the situation coordination to Saraswati, Alia, who was also controlling the situation with Pohelrn, couldn’t respond to Priegoss’s words.

Excluding the chaos caused by the intruders, Pohelrn was already in utter disarray.

Outside, transcendent beings beyond comprehension fought as if the world were ending, while inside, giants were visibly breaching their defenses, causing upheaval everywhere.

Some humans were trying to breach another’s gate unlawfully and escape, while others seized the opportunity to commit arson or theft amidst the chaos.

The biggest problem, however, was that the soldiers brought from Mutuk were causing issues as they slipped out of control.

If they were ordinary citizens, it might be one thing, but having murderers who had killed enemy soldiers on the battlefield joining in the turmoil was dangerous, so Priegoss’s soldiers and the Harmony Guards were doing their best to hold them back.

Under normal circumstances, he would have beheaded all of them without hesitation if they were unrehabilitateable, but now he was troubled because of the ominous giants approaching over the city wall.

Perhaps there was a chance they could be useful.

‘…Is this too naive of a thought?’

Just a while ago, they had been enemies killing each other on the battlefield, and although they were sworn foes, the thought of fighting together against a common human enemy might be overly idealistic and naive.

If he were to lead his soldiers forward, there would be no one left to restrain Mutuk’s troops.

‘…In the end, do I have to kill them all?’

Confronted by the great enemy of humanity, the giants, he faced an ironic situation where he had to eliminate fellow humans.

If only he had faith.

If only they could unite, refusing to flee in front of that common enemy, the giants.

‘…If only we had just a little more time.’

They might have been able to unite through sufficient rehabilitation.

But.

‘It would be impossible, unless a miracle occurred.’

Yet Priegoss had already received miracles beyond what he deserved up to this point.

There was no place to wish for further miracles.

Now, he had no choice but to step forward and hope to create miracles himself.

No matter how it ends.

“Alia. Prepare yourself.”

Priegoss made the decision to head into the fray.

◈ ◈ ◈

Contrary to Priegoss’s thoughts, Alia’s mind was growing more complicated.

‘…If Priegoss steps out, there’s a high probability… he might die.’

The elves were indeed remarkable.

They had almost annihilated giants of similar numbers and still retained some strength.

But their numbers had certainly decreased, and the forest that had hidden the elves and allowed for swift movement was now nearly gone, and above all, the momentum of the enemy climbing over the city walls was unusual.

It seemed difficult for the transcendent beings fighting the giants outside the city walls to intervene here.

She had heard that Araya, who had faced Terato initially, was reported to be alive but still unconscious.

Araya’s assistance was not something to expect at this moment.

Then the human soldiers would have to act, but even if they had learned martial arts from Araya, they would be as ineffective as toy soldiers compared to the giants and elves.

Even with over 500 men, could they properly face even a dozen giants head-on?

Even with the holy warriors and Harmony Guards residing in this Grand Temple, it wouldn’t be easy to handle double that number.

And at that point.

‘……’

She didn’t even want to think about it, but Priegoss would die.

“Alia. Prepare yourself.”

Looking back, Priegoss’s eyes were filled with a determined expression.

Alia was in turmoil.

Part of her wanted to secretly open the gates and escape with the humans escaping outside.

There were dangerous beasts and monsters outside the city walls, but surely, with Priegoss, who had learned martial arts, and his close aides, they could survive.

But having watched Priegoss for so long, Alia knew he would never make such a choice.

‘That’s why we were together.’

But she couldn’t just let him die.

However, simply saving Priegoss had no meaning.

Even if he lived, that Priegoss would just be a shell.

Receiving the gaze filled with belief from Priegoss, Alia etched an intention in her heart while also letting go of a lingering regret.

Alia quietly closed her eyes and touched her lower abdomen.

‘What a shame… When I first knew, I was really happy.’

“…? Alia?”

Looking at Alia, who suddenly fell silent, Priegoss asked with a puzzled expression.

‘…Would the past me know? That I would cultivate these feelings when I looked at that foolish creature from far in the east.’

“Alia, are you feeling unwell?”

The weak human, concerned about her well-being despite being the queen of nightmares.

When they first met, he had looked at her with a face full of wariness, as if he were facing a monster, ready to wield his sword at her throat at the slightest odd behavior.

‘It took years just to open his heart a little.’

Despite being a nightmare who invades the minds of others and makes them dream, she ended up giving him dreams instead.

“I will prepare. But could you wait a moment?”

“The time is urgent. Even if we leave here now, those giants and monsters are already clashing with the elves.”

“I have a thought.”

“What is it?”

“I’m going to use the method originally planned for Deus Ex Machina.”

“…Isn’t it still impossible?”

“Recently, with the support of Saraswati and Gal Dragon, I found a way.”

Seeing Priegoss’s confused expression as if saying ‘suddenly?’, Alia lightly smiled.

In truth, there had been methods available before.

However, the cost to choose those methods had been far too high, so she had not attempted them.

But now she had to choose.

“…Hmm. Then, I’ll leave it to you. You’ve… never disappointed me.”

Sensing something in Alia’s strange mood, Priegoss made a nuanced expression.

“Yes. Then I will prepare.”

With that, Alia briefly bowed and looked at Priegoss’s face.

As if she intended to etch that face into her memory.

“…Is something on my face?”

“No.”

With a faint smile, Alia turned her body.

There was much to prepare.

And everything was for you.

Priegoss.

Your story is not going to end here.

◈ ◈ ◈

Before the massive burial mound in the Grand Temple, a gigantic figure was kneeling.

Around this massive figure, a thick mist billowed.

“Silv.”

The giant, a saint of the new religious order, Golb rose, exuding a tyrannical aura, and spoke toward his brother who was far away.

“I’ll be back.”

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