Chapter 37 – Preparation (3)

The distinct features that ordinary humans could not approach were definitely those of an elf. But it was a bit strange. The fellow’s skin was grayish like a corpse.

‘She looks a bit different from what I used to see.’ While Velloc felt doubt, perhaps the fellow was the same, as she tilted her head and opened her mouth.

“Are you really a human? My arrows aren’t that easy to deal with.”

Perhaps because she spoke from high up in the tree, her voice resonated loudly despite being quiet.

“I’m also curious about the reason for your bluish-purple skin color, but I don’t think we are in a relationship to share such questions.”

Velloc said while looking up at the ambusher.

Of course, his two eyes did not wander from the bow. Because he knew her terrifying skill well.

‘That bitch climbed really high. How do I catch her…’ While Velloc was racking his brain, the ambusher smirked. She lightly swept her hair. Silver threads softly swayed.

“Dark elf.”

“Hmm?”

“Fallen elf, a traitor who clung to the fiends of the underground, one who lives with the thick darkness as a companion instead of the dazzling sunlight. I don’t care which of these you call me.”

“Why do you say ‘demon bastard’ in such a roundabout way?”

The dark elf shrugged her shoulders and took Velloc’s sharp words in stride.

“Well, it might all look the same in your eyes. By the way, what truly great skill. I thought it was a perfect surprise attack. No wonder the three guys before me were defeated.”

‘Three guys?’ A strange light flickered in Velloc’s eyes.

“You pursued me all the way from Loben. Is that it?”

“Yes, Baphomet’s soul fragment came to me and told me. Saying there was some monster-like human. Certainly, your military power is amazing. I didn’t expect you to defeat even Caraxus before I could join. But…”

The dark elf grinned. Her mouth ripped wide open, and her beautiful face instantly distorted.

“Shall I tell you an interesting fact? I am merely a scout. Right now, countless armies of hellfire are following behind you. Even death will not save you. Because you will suffer endlessly with even your souls captured.”

‘She’s blowing excellent information on her own.’ Velloc smirked and brushed off the demonic elf’s fierce threat.

“Are those your last words?”

Velloc raised his sword. Even though the knight took a battle stance, the elf remained calm. Leaning against a tree dozens of times her body size, she looked down.

“Don’t you know that just as my arrows cannot reach you, your sword cannot reach me either?”

Although she fell to the abyss and lived in darkness, the elf was a born hunter. And this was atop a colossal tree located inside the forest. With the mage elsewhere, unless he had wings, he could not harm her.

She intended to drag out some time like this and harass them until the main force arrived. Rallying a pack of wolves for a few days should do. If not, they would meet their end by her hands…

While the dark elf was thinking so, Velloc, taking a short deep breath, swung his sword.

Crash!

The ground vibrated and a roaring sound rang out. But the elf snorted.

She knew the destructive power of that greatsword well. However, this old tree that had lived for thousands of years was several times larger and sturdier than that sword.

Would an axe swung with full strength by a giant even leave a scratch?

The fallen elf Ellen ridiculed the ignorant knight.

“What a useless effort… Huh?”

Ellen was flustered. Leaves showered down, and her vision was shaking here and there.

Soon, her body also tilted. The ground was getting closer.

“What the hell!”

Ellen, who realized the situation, opened her mouth wide. The old tree that had lived for thousands of years was falling down with a single strike.

Forgetting the composure she had until just now, Ellen quickly jumped. Her slender body flew through the air, and fortunately, she was able to climb onto a neighboring tree before it was too late.

In that moment, the old tree completely collapsed. Along with a sound incomparable to before, a cloud of dust rose up.

Ellen could no longer afford to be leisure. Taking out the bow at her waist, she quickly fired.

Swish!

Although the piece of iron that flew cutting through the darkness seeped into the dust, the scream Ellen expected did not sound. Rather, the tree she was perched on began to tilt and fall once again.

“Shit!”

Jumping once more with a curse, Ellen moved to another tree. She now forgot about launching a counterattack and quickly moved her legs.

The moonlit elf flew between tree and tree like a monkey.

Her beautiful face was scratched by twigs and bushes, turning into a mess. But Ellen did not care. Now it was not a hunt, but a struggle for survival. Did she run like that for a long time?

“Pant, pant. Crazy knight bastard. This should be enough, right?”

Catching her breath, Ellen glanced down. Soon, her eyes were dyed with terror. A crazy woodcutter was approaching, wielding a greatsword instead of an axe.

Crash!

With a single strike of the guy, the tree shattered without fail. Ellen moved her feet again, but eventually fell to the ground like the end of a trapped prey.

“Aaaack!”

Even in the midst of that, the trained elven archer performed a breakfall to minimize the impact. However, she could do nothing about the knight who stood before her with fierce eyes.

“Ha… ha. Hello?”

Ellen, whose hair had become a bird’s nest, pulled up the corners of her mouth. At the same time, the moment she tried to draw the dagger at her waist, Velloc kicked her.

“Ack.”

As the steel greaves struck her abdomen, Ellen, whose breath was choked, rolled helplessly on the ground and twitched.

If someone from afar saw this situation, it was the very picture of a bandit knight bullying a pitiful elven woman. However, Velloc did not care about such things. So he raised the greatsword in his hand and struck the lying elf with the flat of the blade.

Along with the sound of bones snapping, Ellen screamed as if tearing up. The reason Velloc did not finish her off right away was simple.

Since the pursuers of the archdemons were chasing them, he planned to dig up some information from this bitch. In the darkened forest, the bandit knight’s voice echoed coldly.

“Let’s begin. Will you open your mouth only after I cut off your limbs? Or will you spill it obediently?”

The dark elf, who moved limply because her bones were broken, turned her gaze to look at Velloc.

Unlike earlier, her red eyes no longer flickered. The appearance of a hunter targeting prey was also gone. They were just settled down enough to assimilate with the surrounding darkness.

Velloc knew this. It was the eyes of someone who had given up on everything. It did not seem like a proper answer would come even if he asked. Did he hit her too hard?

“Heh… hehe. Are you curious? Then…”

Crash!

So, cutting off the elf’s words, Velloc swung his sword. The elf’s face, which had been somewhat decent to look at, instantly became a bloody mess. Black blood surged up, and he leveled up.

“Hmm.”

Velloc stroked his chin. The interval between level-ups was gradually growing longer. This time, he had to kill the soldiers and ghouls in Hameln, the demon Caraxus, and the dark elf to level up.

Come to think of it, why did this bitch not speak inside his head but spit it out vocally? Did each demon have a different type? How close had the pursuers of that guy Astaroth come? What was their scale? Doubts welled up, but there was no longer any entity that could answer him.

Shaking his head to brush off his thoughts, Velloc entered his inner world.

He intended to keep the skill points saved for now and only allocate stat points. Velloc pondered for a moment which of the countless stats to invest in, but as expected, he invested in Strength this time too.

‘If I touch this and that halfway, it will become a mishmash.’ This was also a teaching from his hometown.

Velloc smiled warmly. Because his muscular strength, which was now bordering on that of a monster, guaranteed the certainty of survival even more.

Roughly wiping the blood on his sword using the elf’s torn clothes, Velloc moved his steps. Returning to the camp, it was indeed a mess.

There was not even room to step due to the dozens of wolf carcasses. Some of them had their entire bodies charred black, as if they had caught fire. The only intact spot was where the shield Cara deployed was located.

‘It seems they killed them all.’ Feeling the squishy touch of the flesh stepped on, Velloc approached the party.

“Is everyone okay?”

“Are you okay?!”

“It seems you solved it?”

Questions returned as questions. Adel, who was gasping for breath on top of the wolves’ corpses as if tired, and Cara, who looked in a slightly better state than her, turned their heads. Velloc spoke as he sat down heavily near the bonfire.

“So-so. I killed the archer. She was a dark elf.”

Cara widened her eyes.

“A fallen elf… As expected, it was a pursuer of Astaroth. But they were too fast.”

“She said she pursued me all the way from Loben. According to her, Astaroth’s army is following behind us.”

Velloc said as if it had become troublesome.

“An army…”

Adel hardened her face, while Cara muttered, “Hmm,” lost in thought, and then spoke again.

“She might have grandiosely expressed it as an army, but their scale might not be that large.”

“Why do you think so?”

When Velloc asked, Cara, who swept back her hair once, spoke her thoughts.

“Listen. Of course, in Hameln, the church was completely occupied by demons, but they aren’t fools either. They won’t just keep taking hits. If the demons are running wild like this, they must have initiated action.”

Velloc recalled the order’s army they had encountered before arriving in Hameln. ‘Hmm. Indeed, they were trying to do something. Though the problem was they went to the wrong place.’

Cara continued.

“It hasn’t been long since those bastards reappeared on this land. But if you calculate the damage they’ve caused in the meantime, it’s enough time for the floating rumors to gain certainty and for the kingdom to define the underground fiends as enemies.”

Velloc nodded as if he understood.

“So you mean since they’ve taken enough hits, the church and kingdom will move in earnest?”

“Yes, so those guys will also watch themselves. No matter how great an archdemon is, he won’t be able to move an army on the main road at will.”

Adel chimed in.

“Then the possibility of them launching attacks with a select few is high.”

Cara nodded.

“Unless they are crazy, they definitely will. But… can we even handle that?”

Cara’s face darkened.

Just now, the party struggled even against the spirit-type demon in Hameln and the dark elf archer.

What if the two of them had pounced at the same time? The party would have been wiped out without a doubt. No, although Velloc might have been safe, she and Adel would have definitely died. For things to be tangled up like this from the start. Cara let out a sigh.

Seeing that, Adel’s mouth was itching. She wanted to shoot a word back. However, even she knew the seriousness of the situation, so she could not open her mouth.

‘Are the entities called demons this mighty? No, this is not the time to have such thoughts.’

Adel shook her head to calm her rising anxiety. Getting scared during the Oker fief time was enough. She just needed to become stronger.

Since there was a way now. Recalling the goddess’s prayer book in her bosom, Adel asked.

“Lord Velloc. What will you do now?”

Despite the desperate situation, Velloc’s expression barely changed. It was only slightly frowned.

Whether it was thanks to the skills he possessed, the mental strength strengthened by beating up demons, or his composure as a leader guiding the party, anything was fine.

The archdemon’s minions. He did not know how scary they were, but he was gradually getting stronger. If they ambushed, he would just kill them as they came and turn them into experience points.

Velloc spoke with an unwavering voice.

“There is no change in the plan. We are going to the Flowing Forest. But we will need to increase our speed a little. Even if we have to overwork the horses…”

‘Wait, come to think of it… I don’t see the warhorses.’ Velloc, stopping his words, flinched and looked around. Then, among the carcasses of the wolves, he saw their means of transportation, which had turned into lumps of meat.

“I-I am sorry. I couldn’t afford to pay attention to the horses…”

Adel bowed her head in shame, and

“Sorry, I was also distracted…”

Cara also shook her head.

“Damn it…”

Velloc held his head. Nothing in life was easy.