In the heart of the Gaisenfall Great Forest, at the plaza near the foot of the tainted Great Spirit Tree, where the air was thick with evil energy.
Multiple magic circles, gleaming with a slimy, fresh blood-like hue, unfolded, casting a vague, eerie light from below.
Robed skeletons… liches chanted spells in chorus with voices that sent shivers down the spine, tapping their staffs on the ground at regular intervals.
In the center of the magic circle, Liellamires, barely clinging to consciousness, sat somehow and offered prayers to the new moon.
It was a ritual to turn one’s soul into darkness, to become a Dark Elf.
René watched from a room entwined with vines clinging to the Great Spirit Tree like fruit.
The room, too, was tainted with evil energy, blackened and partially destroyed as if torn apart, with red liquid dripping from the vines composing the room like blood.
“A month…? We’ve been there for that long!? Subjectively, it felt like only half a day.”
As soon as the elderly gentleman ghoul, who seemed to have added the term “impudence” to his vocabulary, began his report, René was taken aback.
“Wait, what about the battle? The Imperial Army was supposed to arrive, right? If a month has passed since then…”
“Allow me to explain in order. First, upon the disappearance of Princess-sama and Mialanze, we immediately withdrew our deployed forces. Regardless of who the opponent was, it was judged that in this state, reducing our allies’ numbers would be futile.”
Alastair, kneeling, frowned.
It was a situation where it was permissible to assume that the crazed elves had launched some sort of attack. If that were the case, it would be more prudent to temporarily retreat from the forest itself rather than engage in battle with the Imperial Army.
“…The elves suffered a crushing defeat. No, it would be more accurate to say there wasn’t even a battle. This frontline became a fatal defeat, and the Imperial side began a full-scale invasion into the Gaisenfall Great Forest. The elves could only barely launch guerrilla attacks from among the trees against the invading enemy soldiers, but even that was not effective… As they were using their strength to seal Princess-sama, the power of the forest weakened, and the elves were forced into even greater hardship.”
Listening to Alastair’s matter-of-fact explanation, René felt more like burying her head in her hands than feeling Schadenfreude towards the elves.
She had already gleaned a rough idea of the situation from Liellamires, but the intentions of the “ancestors” dwelling in the land veins of this realm where René was captured were so mechanical, so single-minded in their purpose, that they abandoned everything else.
“After that, the elves engaged in desperate delaying tactics. Engaging in combat to delay the enemy’s invasion is something done with the expectation that the situation will improve over time…”
“I heard about that from Liellamires. They said, ‘Defeat the “Rose Princess of Hellrage” and take her power. For that, one month is necessary.'”
“Is that so.”
“In the end, it was all a big lie. The elves’ ‘ancestors’ seemed to be fine as long as I was defeated, and it didn’t matter what happened to the forest afterwards.”
“All the elves were deceived… I think something related to the great spirits is happening with the land veins of this forest… It’s a mystery why they would try to capture or defeat me on the night of the new moon. Normally, they should avoid it, as it’s a time when my power is heightened. We’ll have to wait for Everis’s analysis on that.”
René looked around the darkened forest.
As she wasn’t in a particularly elevated position, she couldn’t survey the forest, but all the branches and leaves appeared as black, twisted trees tainted by malevolence. Her entire field of vision was so black that it seemed as if everything was completely obscured.
Now that the land veins had been corrupted, it shouldn’t be dangerous to be in this place, but until then, it would have been like stepping on a landmine.
That figure of light, too, was not a sacred magic but something “unique to elves”, as René had thought…
“I interrupted the conversation. Please continue.”
“Ah, yes. …Because the elves control the land veins, this forest is strong. The Imperial side understands this, and they have begun to gradually cut off the ley lines of the forest through rituals, disconnecting them from the control network centered around the Great Spirit Tree. Already, about 28% of the entire forest is under the control of the Imperial Army. The reason the elves lasted a month under such circumstances is because the Imperial Army aimed to minimize casualties and advance steadily.”
Alastair spread out a map of the Gaisenfall Great Forest and the surrounding three countries on the blackened ivy floor.
The areas of the forest were shaded in from the upper right in sequence. These were the areas the Empire had conquered.
Rather than aggressively pushing towards the center, they were gradually encroaching from the periphery, as seen on the map.
“For a month to pass and not much progress… it’s rather unexpected. They’re not rushing the attacks but taking their time to take control of the land veins…”
“Even though it’s only 28%, it means it becomes increasingly difficult to resist with an accelerating pace. If they take 40%, it’ll all be over in a week. If the elves were to fight alone, that is.”
The nearly undressed witch climbed up the giant vine path and took over the conversation.
It was Everis, who had been leading the ritual for the Dark Elf transformation on the surface. She pulled up a nearby chair and sat down, crossing her legs in a pose that minimized the surface area of her attire. Her lush thighs intertwined, asserting their elasticity.
“Everis. Is the ritual over?”
“I’m not really needed for it. …It’s about to end, though. Since Princess-sama’s first ritual, shouldn’t we celebrate? After all, from now on, it’ll just become routine rituals, devoid of any sentiment.”
“Understood.”
René felt the flow of magical energy woven by the ritual converging below.
She leaped from the hole in the wall, holding down her dress skirt for a free fall.
With the air resistance against her long hair, she adjusted her floating head and landed softly, absorbing the impact.
Standing before Liellamires, who had been offering prayers, René conjured a cursed crimson blade in her hand.
Like a king conferring knighthood, René placed the sword’s edge on Liellamires’s shoulder.
Without any surprise at René’s sudden descent, Liellamires remained still.
“In the absence of peace on earth and justice among men, there shall be no gods in heaven.”
“Yet, we believe there is a path for us.”
With a strong voice amidst her struggling breaths, Liellamires said.
“…Good answer.”
René changed the direction of the blade by 90 degrees and thrust it into Liellamires’s shoulder.
“Tss…!”
The blade sank in.
From that wound, Liellamires began to transform.
Existence itself was being rewritten. The meaning of her existence was being overwritten.
Her beautiful skin, reminiscent of white wood, began to darken into a dusky hue. Her emerald eyes, once like jade, transformed into a sharp, shining golden color like stars.
Her tangled green hair faintly darkened. While elves typically had green hair, Dark Elves could have black or silver hair, or they could retain the same green as elves.
With the sound of bones crunching, she trembled as if enduring intense pain. Her body structure was undergoing slight changes. While elves were usually delicate, she now appeared sturdier and more powerful.
The liches surrounding the magic circle simultaneously struck their staffs, and at the same time, dark-colored light rose from the magic circle, enveloping Liellamires as if entwining her, binding her, and then exploding.
Silence fell, and Liellamires looked at her discolored hands in disbelief.
“…It’s over, isn’t it?”
“It’s just begun.”
Liellamires straightened herself and placed one hand on her chest while opening the other hand to show René.
She seemed relieved. The impurities etched into her body became power, and the malevolence pervading the forest drew out her strength.
“Let’s go. First, we need to make this forest mine.”
The undead who had been observing the ritual cleared the way.
As René started walking, Liellamires also stood up, firmly planting her feet on the ground to follow without stumbling.
