Episode 169. Combat and Persuasion
Elves were generally long-haired, regardless of gender.
However, Hougen, who stood in front of me, had a bald head that stood out even among long-haired people.
Short-haired elves are rare, but even if I’ve seen them occasionally, Hougen was the first to go bald.
You don’t know how surprised I was in the game.
“Did you defeat Foram?”
Hugen with a cold expression met my eyes and asked.
I nodded, and before I had time to react, his kick came flying.
Perong!
It kicked with a sound like a drum beating.
If it wasn’t for the instinctive blocking that came from his fighting talent, his stomach would have exploded.
“Elder! Stop!”
Aimir immediately tried to intervene.
However, Hougen slowly approached me, as if he had no intention of stopping.
“You’re arrogant when it comes to human subjects.”
A little risky.
I fixed Galakshur.
It wasn’t empty words, but if I was distracted even for a moment, I could have died.
“Do you know who I am and raise a sword?”
“So you’re saying just die?”
“It’s also cheeky.”
Fighting!
As Hougen kicked the floor, an optical illusion appeared as if the ground was being pushed.
And in an instant, in front of me… ….
Quaang!
The sound of a cannonball exploding was heard even though it was clearly blocked with a sword.
Probably because of Hougen’s unique swordsmanship.
‘Spirit swordsmanship.’
Elves’ unique racial characteristic elemental magic.
A skill that was extremely rare among humans was passive to elves.
Hougen was an elf who mastered all the four most representative elements.
The move from a moment ago must have been an attack using the Earth Spirit and the Wind Spirit.
“quite.”
Hugen showed a faint expression of admiration.
However, I was able to deal with it because I had already guessed that he was using spirit-based swordsmanship.
“Whoa.”
I took a deep breath and focused.
I knew Hougen wouldn’t kill me anyway.
I am now the status of an invited guest in Lastilia.
A person of Hugen’s level could not have known that.
If so, you won’t die even if you hit it hard.
‘Because opportunities to fight against Auror Masters aren’t common.’
This time I moved first.
Swoop.
ghostly movements.
The foot or divine method written on Master’s selfless sword felt a little more assimilated to nature, but gradually changed into my own way.
“hmm?”
Hougen let out his doubts and lightly dodged my attack.
However, my sword relentlessly pursued him.
character transformation.
flexibly.
Kang!
Finally, Hougen, who drew his sword for the first time, crossed swords with me.
Hougen tried to remove his sword, but my sword entangled in him like a coiling snake.
“Lord Remnant.”
His sword reversed the movement of my sword.
Then, with a strong repulsive force, the swords that were facing each other fell apart.
However, I, who had expected it beforehand, once again used the nature conversion of the selfless sword, and this time rushed at it with great speed.
‘Melee.’
Recently, I had a lot of fights with strong opponents, so after thinking about it, I remembered the fighting techniques I had learned in my previous life.
Learning how to use the sword and body here, I realized that there is no shortage of modern martial arts.
Although the use of mana made it possible to move and move incomparably to the previous life, it was necessary to transform… ….
‘Caught.’
Suddenly, Hougen grabbed the collar of his sleeve, as if he didn’t know I was going to use my hands.
It was a bit inconvenient as he was holding a sword in one hand, but I pulled his sleeve and knocked him off balance.
Aww!
The sleeves that could not withstand the force were torn, but as I intended, Hougen swayed for a moment and his sword was lost.
But my attacks didn’t end there.
It would be embarrassing to call pulling the sleeves a martial art in the first place.
I then tried to grab the opponent’s body with my left hand and swung the sword with my right hand.
todak!
Pod!
In the blink of an eye, several hands went back and forth, and a fierce melee battle unfolded.
As I persisted, Hougen did not back down and confronted me, as if he had finally agreed to join me.
From a certain moment, I just moved my body without saying anything, but my head felt like it would be overloaded with the ongoing number fight.
Awesome!
“hmm….”
And in the end I did it first.
Huang!
As the wind blew in and obscured his vision, he saw Hougen, who had stepped far back, fitting his missing shoulder together.
“This is an interesting technique. It’s similar to the technology of humans living in the south of the continent, did you come from there?”
“no. It is a technique I have created.”
“You made it?”
Although I was able to pull out his shoulder, it was only possible because he suited me.
In the first place, if he had only swung his sword while using his specialty, spirits, he wouldn’t have been able to get close to him.
‘No. It would have been over a long time ago if I had used an aura.’
He inserted his sword as if he had no intention of fighting me any longer.
I wondered if it was over, but I was a little surprised by his next words.
“Are you Deshurn’s disciple?”
“That’s right.”
It wasn’t surprising that Hougen knew Deshurn.
It’s only natural that the place where Deshurn wanders is closer to non-human beings than humans.
“They said they wouldn’t take disciples, but the time is running out.”
Is it Master’s story?
Come to think of it, Deshurn had never made a disciple even in the game.
He was a mysterious NPC, so it was difficult to meet him even if he wanted to meet him, and even if he met him, he was not a person who could get anything out of it.
“Are you okay?”
Knowing that the fight was over, Amir cautiously approached me and asked.
I nodded and found the missing foram.
“The people who attacked me?”
“I went for treatment at first, but we will investigate soon. I will defend Adrias, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
To be honest, if I had met in a place other than Lastilia, I would have killed him right away, but it’s a bit regretful.
Even if he dies, the corruption of the World Tree won’t go away, but it will reduce the trouble.
“The sixth star of the wind.”
“Your elder.”
“I will take this guy.”
Aimir and I were a little taken aback by Hougen’s words.
“It doesn’t matter where you stay anyway, does it?”
“Yes, but….”
Amir gave me a worried look.
By the way, is there a star called country?
It doesn’t even matter.
“All right. I will stay at your house.”
“My name is Hugen Cordalbe Kraxia. If the name bothers you, just call him Elder.”
He just said what he had to say coolly and then started walking somewhere.
Then Amir, who became rather impatient, spoke to me.
“First of all, there were a lot of rudeness today. I’ll see you again tomorrow, so have a good rest until then.”
“yes. see you tommorow.”
Even after the conversation was over, he still couldn’t leave his seat, leaving behind Amir, who was looking at him with concern, and pursued Hougen.
I don’t know why he’s taking me to his house, but it doesn’t sound like bad intentions.
The place where they arrived after Hougen was a large tree reminiscent of Merkur’s house.
The only difference is that the house was built on a long branch of a tree rather than inside a tree.
‘How do I go up?’
The moment I was contemplating whether I should climb the tree, Hougen said.
“Do not resist.”
As he finished speaking, something wrapped around me.
As Hougen advised, he did not resist, and soon his body rose and began to ascend into the sky.
“Are you a spirit?”
I asked, but Hougen didn’t say anything, just looked somewhere.
It was in the direction of the World Tree.
“Elder, there is something I want to ask you.”
“You’re bothering me. Did Deshurn bother you too much?”
“yes. Master always answered questions.”
“I am not your master.”
“I will ask anyway. Is there something wrong with the World Tree?”
Hougen, who had been motionless during the climb, had a change.
He looked back at me with an annoyed look and then sighed.
“I’ll go home and tell you.”
Reaching the tree branch was quick.
This type of movement would probably be impossible for non-elves to dream of.
It’s possible because everyone, regardless of gender or age, is an Elementalist.
The house was modest.
It was the same at the house of High Priest Hegriu, but somehow all the high-ranking nobles live frugally.
“Sit down, I have something to tell you.”
The only place to sit in the small house was a chair at a table that looked like a table, so I sat there.
Hougen then began to unload the car himself.
“All the elves seem to like tea.”
Again, there was no answer.
After a while, Hougen, who had brought tea in a kettle, sat across from me.
“Drink to drink.”
Hougen, who poured tea into his own cup, said bluntly.
I poured tea into my cup without hesitation.
This tea is known as a tea that can only be found in Lastilia, but it is a tea leaf that will no longer be available when the Fallen World Tree scenario begins.
‘Among humans, it’s not expensive, but it’s not for sale at all.’
Perhaps a high-ranking aristocrat of a marquis level or higher should be able to speak about it once in a while.
At least I drank it for the first time at the High Priest’s house.
I’ll take a little bit of this if possible.
After drinking tea for a while, Hougen finally opened his mouth.
“Are you confident in your abilities? You can’t be afraid of a subject who hasn’t even become a great warrior.”
“If you are a great warrior, do you mean Auror Master?”
“okay. If you were about your level, you would have known that I was a Master, but why did you rush at me like that?”
Of course I did it because I knew it was you.
It was because the move was based on the calculation that an elf, an elder of the Kraxia family and holding the position of an elder, could recklessly kill a human who was invited as an oracle.
“I wanted to stick with it. It’s the first time I’ve seen an Elf Aura Master.”
“You are crazy.”
He dismissed it in one word and drank tea again.
And then he said one more word.
“The one who can’t live up to my name and die.”
“It is not. I’m going to enjoy it without a source.”
Hugen, ignoring my words again, turned his head and looked out the window.
As I followed suit, I turned my gaze to see the World Tree there.
It was so large that only the beams of the trees could be seen, like a brown wall.
“It should have sprouted the year before last.”
“It’s definitely a vague question.”
It was obviously a big problem, but it was an ambiguous thing to say that it was a very serious problem.
That’s why the elves’ reaction was strange.
“There is a lot of talk among the elders about you right now. In the countless long history that has been going on since ancient times, humans have never been allowed to have the world tree.”
“What do you think of the oracle, Elder?”
“I understand the trust in my head. But the thought of humans stepping into the World Tree makes me feel sick.”
is that enough
But I can’t blame them for their emotions.
I can roughly understand why a decision has not been made even though the trust has been granted.
Probably the biggest reason is that they don’t think the problem with the World Tree is as serious as they thought.
“Elder, what if the problem of the World Tree is more serious than we thought?”
“It is certainly not an ordinary matter that the time for sprouting has passed. But that’s a big enough problem to involve humans… ….”
“Even if the World Tree is dying?”
In an instant, a sharp shiver ran through his neck.
It was more frightening because it was a calm and refined feeling rather than a killing blow that weighed down the whole body.
“Disciple of Deshurn, be careful what you say.”
“Didn’t you ever think about why the oracle had been handed down? If it was something that would naturally be resolved over time, why would I have come this far?”
“What do you want to say?”
“I have to go to the World Tree.”
I spoke with confidence, ignoring the increasingly strong life.
“If I go, Rastilia will survive.”
