As I dodged backward under the immense pressure of mana overflowing from Oberon’s divine gray eyes, one of the elves rushed forward in sheer terror.
“My Lord, the Sublime One will be furious!
You must not use this power here, otherwise a—”
The soldier couldn’t finish his sentence.
Completely losing her mind, Queen Titania severed the elf’s head from his torso with a single, swift motion and tossed it aside.
I was entirely focused on evading Oberon’s relentless, air-slashing, lethal sword strikes.
Oberon burst into a manic laugh as he intensified the mana density around his blade, doubling its thickness and range.
“How long do you think you can run, you wretched human child?!”
Relying entirely on my reflexes, I slipped through his strikes.
Just as Oberon swung his sword directly to part my head from my neck, I ducked under the lethal blade with millimetric precision.
Feeling cold sweat on my back, I exhaled deeply.
“Ohh…
That was way too close,” I muttered.
Right at that moment, Oberon abruptly stopped and retreated at high speed.
Sensing that something was wrong, I looked up at the sky.
The pitch-black night sky suddenly began to churn with a blindingly bright, emerald-green wave of mana.
A relieved smile appeared on my face.
“Seems like Enwoybi took my letter seriously,” I said, leaping back a few meters and loosening my stance.
Seeing Enwoybi slowly descending from the sky atop a massive magic circle, I muttered, “Finally…” Just then, someone teleported right in front of me with a flash of light.
I raised my katana out of reflex but stopped when I saw Ramia extending a friendly hand toward me.
“Are you alright, Master Kaan?” she asked anxiously.
Meanwhile, Oberon launched a massive burst of mana toward us from a distance.
Shoving Ramia hard by her shoulder, I pushed her aside, and we both barely evaded the lethal spell.
Turning to Ramia, who had collapsed onto the ground, I warned her sharply, “Don’t lose your focus!
This isn’t your peaceful palace!”
She nodded quickly and got to her feet with an agile movement.
By then, Enwoybi was gracefully descending to the ground through the runic circles in the sky.
Seeing this massive threat before him, Oberon gritted his teeth and roared, pointing his sword at him: “King of the Elves…
What are you doing here?!”
Enwoybi cast a haughty glance mixed with disgust at the elves on the ground.
“No entity that makes deals with those winged parasites above has the audacity to speak directly to me,” he said.
Then, raising both hands into the air, he activated a massive Area of Effect (AoE) spell.
Ramia immediately stepped in front of me, crossing her arms, and shouted, “Master, this is one of his newly developed destructive spells!
You might not withstand the direct impact, allow me!” With that, she wove a multi-layered, thick mana barrier around us.
Since I had already pushed my stamina to its absolute limits while dodging Oberon’s holy sword strikes, I didn’t object to her protection.
As we waited for the spell to detonate outside the barrier, the sky reached a level of brightness that could blind anyone, as if thousands of lightning bolts had struck at once.
I had to shield my eyes with my hand.
Immediately after, a deafening shockwave rippled out.
The explosion was so devastating that the gargantuan, untouched elf forest surrounding us turned into a flat plain within seconds.
As Ramia slowly lowered the barrier, Enwoybi spun his staff and drifted down from the dust cloud.
Coming over to us, he rested his staff on his shoulder and smirked.
“See that, Kaan?
This is a spell I newly developed by splitting magic molecules, similar to how nuclear bombs work in the modern world.”
Coughing slightly and brushing the dust off myself, I let out a dry laugh.
“That was insane…
Nice work,” I said.
Then, to gather my energy, I let myself drop to the ground in a controlled manner.
“Let’s rest a bit, I’m exhausted.”
Standing right above me, Enwoybi pointed the tip of his staff at the independent barrier behind me—the one holding Luna.
“What’s the deal with this elf, Kaan?” he asked directly.
“Long story…
But she’s with me,” I replied shortly.
Enwoybi took a step back and raised his eyebrows.
“An elf…
More like a beautiful elf of the opposite sex, right next to you?
I wonder…” he smirked.
Picking up a stone from the ground, I lightly tossed it at his leg.
“Do you think this is what we should be talking about right now, Enwoybi?
Can’t you see the state I’m in?” I said.
Coughing slightly, Enwoybi wiped the mocking expression off his face and assumed a serious tone.
“To be honest, when I first received your letter, I didn’t know what to do.
Truth be told, I was even a bit scared.”
I shrugged.
“But you made it.”
He kicked my shoulder lightly with his foot and laughed.
“What do you mean ‘I made it’?!
You literally wrote in the letter, ‘I will fight Oberon alone in a narrow valley, I probably can’t win, pick me up on the way.’ Did you forget how dangerous of a boss Oberon is, kid?
Even back in the game, we would form at least three full raid parties just to go and kill him.
What were you thinking, going in all by yourself?”
Getting up with support from the ground, I said, “You’re exaggerating, mate.
Look, it’s over and done with.”
Enwoybi shook his head, turning toward the smoking horizon.
“It’s not over…
Oberon literally used Titania as a living shield.
He managed to escape in that chaos, albeit heavily wounded.
But due to his exposure, he will likely be executed by them soon anyway.”
I fixed my eyes on the horizon he was looking at.
“Are the entities you refer to as them really…
angels?” I asked.
He nodded, confirming it.
“Anyway, we will discuss these matters in detail during the meeting at the Sun City.
Can you fly?” he asked.
I nodded in approval.
Enwoybi then turned to Ramia and commanded, “You shoulder that unconscious elf.
And…
break that collar around her neck, Kaan.
You know I don’t like elves being treated like slaves in my presence.”
Grumbling slightly, I walked over to Luna.
“Alright, alright, we’ll break it,” I said, using my raw physical strength to snap that heavy, stat-reducing collar in two and toss it to the ground.
Ramia carefully took the unconscious Luna onto her back, and the four of us rose into the sky, taking flight.
Enwoybi drifted over to my side in the air and whispered, “Seriously, who is this girl?”
Without turning to him, keeping my eyes fixed straight ahead, I spoke: “Things are a little…
actually, a lot complicated, mate.”
Hearing this, Enwoybi let out a long, boisterous laugh in mid-air.
As he laughed, even Ramia in the back began to giggle, making me turn around.
Don’t mock a guy!”
Enwoybi kept spinning in mid-air flips around me.
“I mean, I can say she looks beautiful but…
how should I put it, she looks a bit odd next to someone like Kaan, doesn’t she, Ramia?” he said, looking to Ramia for backup.
Ramia nodded in agreement and spoke up: “Master…
This elf is the sole heir, the princess, of the rebel Ice Elf tribe that never offered their allegiance to us.
Did you know that?”
I nodded calmly.
I already knew that.
Enwoybi stopped in front of me, halting my flight, and warned, “Ice elves are proud to the death, Kaan.
Keep your eyes on her so she doesn’t take her own life out of broken pride when she wakes up.
Be careful.”
Pushing him aside lightly, I continued to fly.
“She won’t kill herself,” I said firmly.
From behind, Ramia asked curiously, “How can you be so sure, Master Kaan?”
I shrugged.
“Very simple.
First, I will threaten her entire race with genocide, wiping her tribe off the map…
And then, I will steal her heart.”
The moment Ramia heard this, she turned flushed with anger.
Flying rapidly, she stopped right in front of me, blocking my way.
“You are truly a blockhead!
An idiot who doesn’t understand a single thing about emotions, master!” she snapped, kicking my knee hard before furiously accelerating ahead.
Enwoybi threw his hands open and laughed out loud.
“That was the most absurd, most terrible romance idea I’ve ever heard in my life, mate…
But to be honest, I liked the genocide part; at least it gets rid of enemies completely.”
I cast my gaze downward, beneath the clouds.
“I’ll find a way…” I muttered.
Throughout the journey, Enwoybi’s mocking and endless jokes continued.
After hours of flying, our city finally appeared on the horizon with its gargantuan walls.
“We finally made it,” I said, taking a deep breath.
Enwoybi waved his staff, casting a high-level invisibility spell over all of us.
“I don’t want to deal with anyone while entering the city, Kaan.
You know I have a massive reputation, a name in this world.
I won’t let anyone say the great Elf King was summoned to his feet without a legion, without an army,” he said proudly.
I let out a loud laugh.
“Look at the ego on this guy,” I said as we passed right through the walls.
We dived straight into my room in the mansion.
As soon as the invisibility spell broke, Enwoybi threw himself directly onto my large bed, spreading out completely.
“Man, this bed is incredibly comfortable, Kaan,” he murmured.
Meanwhile, I collapsed onto the couch out of exhaustion.
Noticing that Ramia was still standing in the back with Luna on her back, I straightened up.
“You guys sit down and rest, I’ll go talk to Ermo and come back,” I said.
Just as I reached for the doorknob, the door suddenly burst open from the outside with great speed and slammed right into my nose!
It was Ermo.
He practically bypassed me, not even noticing that I was holding my nose, and walked straight toward Enwoybi lying on the bed.
“Whoa, my Enwoybi!
Welcome!
Scatroj is still on his way, he’ll drop by soon too.
I’ve set up a top-tier mansion for you guys, and the portal room is ready right below!” he said enthusiastically.
As Enwoybi began giggling on the bed, Ermo turned his head back to see what he was laughing at.
At that moment, he saw me holding my nose with both hands, tears streaming from my eyes.
Instantly catching onto the situation, Ermo jumped next to me.
“Kaan!
I’m so sorry, mate, I seriously didn’t see you behind the door!”
Wiping the blood trickling from my nose with my hand, I brushed it off.
“No problem,” I said, lying down on the remaining edge of the bed.
Enwoybi straightened up slightly to make space for me.
Ermo and Enwoybi walked over to the balcony of the room, chatting.
Meanwhile, Ramia leaned toward me and whispered, “Master…
What should we do with this elf, Luna?”
After staring blankly at the ceiling of the room for a while, I thought about it.
“Tell Velmora to take care of her personally.
And finally, leave the balcony open on purpose.
That way, you can also catch up with Velmora for a bit,” I said.
Ramia bowed respectfully and left the room, taking Luna with her.
Realizing I was alone in the room for a moment, I grew bored of the bed, opened the balcony door, and went out, grabbing the shoulders of the intensely chatting Enwoybi and Ermo from both sides.
“What are you two talking about without me, so secretly?” I asked.
Enwoybi chuckled slyly.
“I was telling Ermo about the crap you pulled.
Just wait until Scatroj arrives, he’s going to mock you too,” he said.
I rolled my eyes.
“I’m sure he will, he never misses a chance anyway,” I said, leaning against the iron railings of the balcony and staring into the distant city lights.
“How fast time passed…
Look how far we’ve come,” I muttered with a sigh.
Enwoybi slapped my back, snapping me out of it.
“Kid, you haven’t even been to Scatroj’s and my lands yet!
Remember how the two of you used to team up and mock me back in the game?
But look, it turns out all those tactics and systems we built actually work in this real world,” he let out a huge laugh.
The three of us began to laugh at the memory of the old days.
Wiping a joyful tear from my eye, I said, “Who could have thought it would turn out like this, that the game would become reality?
If I knew everything was going to be real, I would have bought dozens of legendary assistants and slaves with all my gold in the game,” I lamented.
Enwoybi looked at me with meaningful, deep eyes.
“If you had bought those assistants…
you probably would have never met Luna like this, Kaan,” he said.
Rolling my eyes again, I walked back inside and lay down on the wide couch in the room.
Ermo approached me and sat down beside me.
“Oho, you already mentioned Luna to them, Kaan?” he asked in surprise.
As I nodded my head, Enwoybi called out from the balcony, “Ohoo, mentioned her?
He did way more than that!”
Ermo coughed lightly, trying to fix the situation.
“Just…
Nothing else?” he asked, looking at me.
As I nodded in approval, Enwoybi dropped the bomb from behind: “Of course, of course, totally companions…
Back in the day, you and Velmora were also ‘just companions’, Ermo, let me remind you.”
Ermo scratched the back of his neck in embarrassment.
“That’s…
a past tense suffix, mate, old history,” he muttered.
Right at that moment, the smile on Enwoybi’s face suddenly froze.
His eyes fixed into space, and he quickly turned to us.
“I just received an urgent message from Kaju.
They don’t want to enter the city, because of that past incident…
Scatroj says, ‘Come here, to our border camp, we will pass to the mansion through our own private portal from here.’ What’s the plan, boys?”
Scratching the back of my neck, I sighed.
“This guy just has to make us spend our remaining mana,” I grumbled.
Ermo patted my shoulder lightly to comfort me.
“Don’t stress, mate, everyone teleports themselves and their assistant, it won’t break the magic array.
We’ll pass through easily.”
Enwoybi picked up his staff, stood up, and smiled.
“We just got to the city, but I’m down to leave right now.
I’m excited to lie down and drink wine in that top-tier mansion Ermo mentioned.”
I nodded in approval.
Ermo clapped both of our shoulders and stood up.
“Alright boys, let’s meet downstairs in the portal room then,” he said and left the room.
While they went down, I headed toward Luna’s room one last time before leaving.
When I reached her door, my hand hovered over the doorknob for a while; I searched for the courage within myself to enter.
Finally, taking a deep breath, I burst the door open and stepped inside.
I walked directly toward the bed, but there was a heavy silence in the room; the bed was completely empty.
Right at that moment, along with the cool breeze brushing against my skin, I noticed the balcony door was wide open.
Hurrying to the balcony, I saw faint, glittering, small ice crystals on the stone railings.
The moment the collar was broken, the girl had gathered her magic power and escaped.
A strange, bitter smile appeared on my face.
“So that’s how we want to play…
Alright then, Miss Luna,” I muttered.
Leaning against the railings, I was lost in deep thought for a while, staring at the empty plain.
I was startled out of it by the door being forced open noisily.
It was Ermo.
“Come on, man!
Everyone is waiting for you downstairs, what took you so long?” he shouted.
Walking into the room and toward the balcony with me, he must have noticed the ice crystals and the emptiness.
Catching onto the situation instantly, Ermo’s eyes widened.
“Did you really just let her go, Kaan?
You’re going to regret this later!”
Completely ignoring what he said, I threw myself directly down from the balcony railings.
Activating my levitation spell in mid-air, I lightened my body and landed softly on the ground like a bird.
Below, I saw Enwoybi, Ramia, and Velmora waiting, ready.
Ermo landed right next to me using magic as well.
Enwoybi extended his hand forward, opening a massive, blue transition portal.
Everyone began to pass through in turn.
Ermo shook his head and was the first to cross the portal, followed by Velmora.
Just as I was about to step in, Ramia came up from behind and suddenly grabbed my arm tightly.
With an interrogating look in her eyes, she asked, “Master Kaan…
Where is Luna?
Why isn’t she with you?”
I shrugged indifferently.
“She left.
It was her own choice, I respect her decision,” I said coldly.
Ramia fixed her eyes directly into mine, practically trembling with anger.
“What do you mean you respect it?!
Do you have zero confidence in yourself, master?
How can someone just leave the woman he loves, the woman he values, like this, purely out of his own cowardice?!” she snapped.
I raised my hand slightly to silence her.
A dark smile appeared on my face.
“You’ve got it wrong, Ramia…
She didn’t leave me.”
Then, with a slight laugh, I stepped into the portal without looking back.
The moment I passed through the portal, Ermo’s roaring laughter greeted me.
We had emerged right in the middle of a secure zone surrounded by a massive human military force.
Before us, Scatroj and, standing a few steps behind him, Kaju were waiting for us.
Scatroj was talking to Ermo in a low voice with a bewildered and serious expression.
The moment they saw me, they both went silent.
Ermo nudged Scatroj’s ribs with his elbow and pointed at me.
“Go on, make your explanation now.
I’m listening,” he said.
Not understanding what was going on, I looked at Kaju in the back.
When Kaju also bowed his head apologetically, I realized things were turning strange.
Walking with large strides toward Scatroj, I said, “What’s up?
What’s with the mystery, what are you guys talking about?”
Scatroj stood up from where he was sitting, a strange seriousness on his face.
“Follow me, Kaan,” he said.
Then, he turned to Ermo in the back.
“You guys hang out with Enwoybi for a bit, we’ll be right back.”
Not understanding, I whispered behind Scatroj, “What’s the matter, man?
Did you get threatened by some lizards on the way or something?” I teased, laughing.
Scatroj smiled slightly but didn’t turn back.
“Nah, man…
You’ll understand what it is yourself in a bit anyway,” he said.
We stopped in front of a massive military carriage at the back of the camp, completely covered with a thick, black tarp.
Scatroj stopped and pointed at the tarp.
“Open it,” he said.
With great hesitation and on high alert, I reached for the tarp and pulled the cover down with one powerful tug.
My jaw dropped completely at what I saw.
As a shockwave surged through my entire body, I couldn’t believe my eyes.
Frozen in place, I turned my head to Scatroj.
“How the hell…
This…
How is this even possible?!”