Volume 4, Chapter 94 – The Unextinguished Fire

It felt like only a minute or two, yet also like an infinite amount of time had passed. The rampant mana and piercing blue light that had been drifting in the void finally dissipated, and a pitch-black world filled with small fragments appeared before Fia’s eyes. Judging from the eye-shaped patterns remaining on the surrounding fragments, this seemed to be the product of the Elf God’s body petrifying after being shattered.

I wonder if I can use these for alchemy.

As there were too many fragments in the void, and it was unknown how long it would take to collect them, Fia stopped paying attention to them. Right now, it is more important to check the situation outside. She could come back here with her companions in the future if she had the chance—if she could come back at all.

“So… how do I get out?”

Fia twisted her neck and looked around. Even with the death of the Elf God, this space had not changed. A raging wind howled past her ears, and the high temperature from the collision also made her clothes smell of burning. She couldn’t help but think that if not for her natural immunity to fire, anyone else would have been roasted alive.

Should she try to get out as before, by giving a command to the Holy Tree? But the Holy Tree was formed by drawing on the Elf God’s power. Now that it was dead, the tree probably wouldn’t listen to her commands anymore.

And then.

Crack.

As if it had heard the wish in her heart, the pitch-black void, as if it had been punched hard by someone, was suddenly covered with countless bright cracks. In the blink of an eye, the cracks had spread throughout the entire space. With a crackling sound, the void shattered, replaced by the star-filled outdoors.

“Where is this?”

To be able to look up and see the full moon and the stars meant that she had left the inside of the Holy Tree. However, there was no sign of the tree in her vision. The whistling wind brushing past her ears and the extremely high vantage point told Fia that she was standing on a high platform.

To be precise, an altar.

The giant altar was at least a thousand meters above the ground, its diameter not much different from that of the main trunk of the Holy Tree. The ground was covered with faded golden runes and ancient elf script. These texts, in a certain pattern, all converged towards a towering, lusterless pillar in the center that looked like countless sieve tubes gathered together.

In addition, around this towering pillar, there were many shorter, gray stone steles covered with arcane patterns.

Fia soon realized where this was.

This was the golden altar, the opposite of the dim one. According to the Elf God, this was the original, extremely large magic barrier constructed by the Saint with its permission, and also the main trunk that formed the Holy Tree. When she had first arrived, this place had been filled with a brilliant and sacred golden light. Now that the Elf God was dead, the barrier, having lost its source of mana, naturally lost its function. The reason she didn’t see the Holy Tree must have been because of this.

The disappearance of the Holy Tree was both a good thing and a bad thing. The good thing was that it would no longer destroy Blossom by uprooting itself. The bad thing was that without it, the lands of the elf race would no longer be fertile, and they would lose a powerful support. In addition, the basis for same-sex procreation would no longer exist. Silvar would surely be plunged into great turmoil.

Although, as long as she had the foundation of absolute violence, Silvar would not be destroyed, it was better to avoid a situation where the people were destitute.

At this thought, Fia, who had shrunk back from the cold high-altitude wind, looked towards the center of the altar.

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If she were to inject an amount of mana equal to that of the Elf God into it, would the Holy Tree grow back?

It probably wouldn’t work.

Fia denied it in her heart.

She could not, like the Elf God, stand here forever and output mana for the tree. And from the current situation, with the Elf God dead, the tree had disappeared, which meant that it needed someone to continuously input mana. To try would be futile.

Perhaps she shouldn’t have killed it directly. To beat it half to death and keep it as a battery might have been the best result. A pity it was all hindsight now.

She should go down first. The Elf God had made such a big commotion, and she had also stayed in the tree for a considerable amount of time. Her companions should be worried—before that, she had to change her clothes.

The duel with the Elf God had not only left her skirt full of small holes, but the fabric at her right arm and navel had also disappeared after being grazed by the brilliant pillar of light. She had no interest in standing before people in a crop top.

Quickly changing into a purple formal dress suitable for winter, Fia sprouted golden wings from her back. However, her feet had just left the ground when a figure intertwined with silver and deep purple descended beside her.

“Fia, are you alright?”

Along with a gentle, concerned voice, Claire immediately grabbed her wrist. Fia felt a warmth in her heart, and at the same time, couldn’t help but feel a sense of helplessness.

“Ah, yes, I’m fine. I’ve already dealt with that thing.”

“Dealt with it? That thing is?”

In an instant, Claire’s expression became strange, as if she had seen something incredible. Even the hand holding Fia’s trembled.

“It’s just as you think.”

Fia feigned a relaxed shrug.

Deicide ¹ The act of killing a god , especially the Elf God who protected the elves, felt like it carried the weight of a grave sin after a little thought, so neither of them said the words “Elf God.” Although the Elf God had wanted to kill all the elves in the end, including the Alexia family, before the Saint had committed his act of betrayal, it had properly protected them.

Of course, this “properly protected” had to be taken with a grain of salt. Just as Helian would mix lies with the truth to confuse people, perhaps the Elf God had also hidden some information from her.

Claire’s brow furrowed slightly, her clear, emerald-green eyes filled with worry.

“We had better change that thing’s name. If the ordinary elves find out that you have committed Deicide, causing the Holy Tree to disappear, those people will surely rebel against you.”

“Mmm, we’ll have to make up a good story. I’ll tell you the detailed process when we get down. Besides, when did the Holy Tree disappear? How long was I inside? How is the situation outside?”

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“The Holy Tree disappeared after it was hit by that blue pillar of light.”

Claire patiently explained to Fia.

After Fia had entered the Holy Tree, it had, as if it had been frozen, stopped uprooting itself, and the frantically spreading cracks had also stopped. Yelido and the others had all breathed a sigh of relief. However, the tree had only been quiet for less than half an hour. Just as everyone thought the storm had passed and it was time to count the casualties, it had suddenly been pierced by a blue pillar of light that shot out from within. The vast and terrifying mana fluctuation had not only torn the tree to shreds in an instant, but had also flattened some of the houses in the Royal Castle that were closer to it. If not for the tree absorbing a lot of the power, perhaps none of the houses in the entire castle would have been spared.

Fia didn’t need to think to know what the blue pillar of light was. It was the maximized enchanted spear in its [Overload] state—she hadn’t expected her mana to be so powerful that it could tear the entire Holy Tree to shreds through the void.

But this couldn’t be helped either. Heaven knew how powerful the last strike released by the Elf God at that time was. If, because she had been too conservative, she had lost her fighting ability and had released it from that dark space, then besides the unknown-strength Claire, no one would have been a match for it. It would have been a disaster for the entire elf race. For some buildings to be damaged was already a great fortune. After all, the opponent was a god.

As for the situation outside, although the disappearance of the Holy Tree had caused everyone to be terrified, it had also made them breathe a sigh of relief. The original tree had the air of destroying the world. For it to suddenly disappear meant that it would no longer fall towards Blossom. The city had escaped a catastrophe.

After explaining this, Claire’s grip on Fia’s hand gradually loosened. She bit her lip lightly, her beautiful face filled with a complex, unspoken emotion.

Fia instantly became nervous.

“What’s wrong?”

“…Our original plan is going to fail.”

“What plan? Isn’t the Elf God already dead?”

“It’s on Clark’s side. He and Yelido have run into each other. Both of them are down there. Although Yelido hasn’t paid him any attention because of the matter with the Holy Tree, a face-to-face conversation is only a matter of time.”

According to the original plan, Clark should have, after being discovered by the guards who had rushed over, fought for a bit and then faked his death by falling into the Abyss. However, because of the tree’s unusual movement, Yelido, who had rushed to it, had happened to run into him.

What a cruel joke.

Fia secretly clicked her tongue.

With Yelido’s almost crushing strength against him, it was impossible for him to have the spare energy to create the illusion of being seriously injured and falling into the Abyss to his death. The result would most likely be him being killed on the spot. Not to mention, Claire, who was supposed to have gone to support him, was now by her side. Even if he really did fall, the outcome would only be him falling to his death and then being swallowed by the chaos of the primordial continent.

Now she could only take it one step at a time.

“Let’s go down quickly. Use illusion magic, so we’re not discovered by my Father.”

“Mhm.”

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Holding Claire’s warm hand, Fia quickly came to the edge of the altar and leaped down.

◇

“The Holy Tree… has disappeared?”

“The Holy Tree is gone!”

“Who destroyed it!!”

Looking up at the giant stone platform that soared into the clouds but was now dim, everyone below the Holy Tree was dumbfounded. The sudden disappearance of the golden giant tree that had protected the elf race for tens of thousands of years brought a huge shock to all of them.

Relief, anger, and panic were the three main emotions in their hearts.

They were both relieved to have escaped a catastrophe, and uneasy about the future of Silvar.

By the starlight that sprinkled across the land, one could see the destruction caused by the tree’s uprooting. The area around it was full of rubble. Clumps of earth, rocks, and the roots of plants were mixed together. And the Royal Castle in the distance was as if it had been stepped on by a giant, with some buildings razed to the ground.

“How could the Holy Tree disappear…”

People looked at each other, not knowing how to react. Both the tree’s unusual movement and its disappearance were unforeseen situations. The hundreds of Imperial Guards on the ground and the magic-casters in the air could only look around, searching for Yelido’s figure.

However, Yelido was just looking down at Clark, who was standing straight there, his red eyes, identical to Fia’s, filled with anger and hatred. At this moment, he was like an enraged lion, about to rush up and duel him at any moment. However, he suddenly snorted coldly, suppressed his impulse, and shouted at the guards and mages who were looking at him.

“Clean up the battlefield! Rescue the injured! Third, Fourth, and Fifth Imperial Guards, go into the city and appease the residents! Magic-casters, send a portion of you to check the situation underground!”

“Yes!”

Finally receiving his instructions, the stunned crowd quickly sprang into action. In just a moment, only the mages who were checking the extent of the disaster were left under the tree. Most of the guards were pouring into the Royal Castle in an orderly manner.

It wasn’t until this moment that Yelido finally walked up to Clark with steps that were filled with pressure. Facing the extremely complex-faced Clark, who had one hand on his long saber in a combat stance, he said in a low voice that was clearly suppressing his anger.

“If you are still a man, then follow me.”

“…You’re not going to kill me?”

Clark’s azure eyes were filled with both surprise and hesitation.

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“If you continue to be a coward, I will kill you.”

Then isn’t following you my only choice?

Clark quietly tightened his grip on his long saber and followed Yelido, who had his back to him.

He did not know that Yelido would be here, and he vaguely felt that this was all just an accident. Because the Holy Tree had unexpectedly had an unusual movement, he had unexpectedly run into him. It was not a trap deliberately set for him by Fia.

In any case, the current situation was the worst possible. Perhaps after seeing the tree’s unusual movement, he should have chosen not to cross the Abyss. However, there was only one Seed of Hope that could cause an abyss. Without Helian, he alone could not do it. To have missed this opportunity meant there would be no next time. He could only take a gamble.

As a result, he had lost the gamble. And it was the worst ending. He would die at the hands of Yelido, who had the grudge of having his wife stolen.

Tsk.

Recalling the grudge, Clark’s hand on the hilt of his saber turned pale. His eyes, looking at Yelido’s back, filled with hatred. Now that Yelido had consumed a large amount of mana to suppress the tree, and its disappearance meant that his blessings might also be gone, now was the best time for revenge.

Take advantage of his weakness with his back turned, and finish him off with the fastest sword draw.

Yelido’s detestable head and body would be cut in two, and blood would gush from the stump of his neck like a fountain. The feeling of hot blood splashing on his body would be incomparably satisfying—Clark imagined such a scene in his mind.

But he just kept holding the hilt of his saber and did not make a move.

Just as Yelido had said at the beginning, if he was a man, then he would walk forward and follow him. He did not know what he was going to do, but from the moment he had followed him, he had acknowledged his statement. He was not a coward, but a man of integrity. Yelido could have summoned the guards and mages around the tree to surround and kill him, but he had not made this logical choice. Therefore, if at this moment he were to kill him by relying on his pity, it would be tantamount to admitting that he was a coward.

Everyone had their own bottom line. He, Clark, would not do such a despicable thing—not to mention that the princess might just kill both him and Veronica on the spot.

To kill Yelido was certainly important, but to be worthy of Veronica was just as important. Even if he only had two years left, he would not concede here.

They walked forward in silence.

When the two of them had arrived at a deserted and exceptionally quiet, wide open space, Yelido slowly turned around. Under the moonlight and the cries from the distance, Yelido, half of his face hidden in shadow, exuded an immense pressure. He asked in a deep voice.

“Was it Dofi who helped you in?”

“No. I flew over from the other side of the Holy Tree myself.”

His expression did not show a single flaw. Clark raised his chin and answered.