Chapter 75 - The War Between Humans and Elves – 3 [End of Volume 3] (1/2)
The War Between Humans and Elves – 3 [End of Volume 3]
As the woman said, a total of seventy-four people entered the dungeon. The one who I allowed to escape earlier wasn’t among their numbers. ‘Must’ve abandoned his guild and bailed so he could live.’ I wasn’t particularly surprised that had been the case, and I suppose it was a better outcome. This way, the story would spread once, the tale growing more terrible with each telling. A small, but potentially fatal distrust between humans and elves growing.
Not that it would be a bad thing for humanity as a whole. Although many would die here in this dungeon, it would make it clear to the rest that elves were an enemy of the human race. Thus, humans would be warier of them in the future. Given the elves’ prior actions, that wouldn’t be a bad thing for humanity’s survival. I wasn’t on the humans’ side, however. It was just that both the elves and the humans were currently my enemies, and by pitting them together, I could consume them more effectively.
If all elves were like Mireina, this wouldn’t be necessary for me to do. ‘If only Rain’s hatred didn’t extend so far…’ I shook these thoughts from my mind and kept running. I could consider this stuff later; now, I needed to focus on ending this fight.
“I issued commands to leave a force on the first floor.”
“Sir…”
I went straight for the head of the snake first, ambushing the guild master who was easily over level 160. He was covered from head to toe with metal armor, a large shield in hand, but his defenses were no match for my Demon’s Claw that benefited from a top-level Surprise.
[You have gained 750,132 experience.]
[You have received 3,982 gold and 29 silver.]
[You have acquired the items in the opponent’s inventory, which includes…]
The black smoke swallowed up his severed head before it could hit the ground. The rest of the body was a bit too strong to devour immediately, so I disappeared instead.
“…!” It had taken such a short amount of time, the humans following the guild master stopped in their tracks. A cold silence overtook the group for just a brief moment before being shattered by the man who appeared to be the second in command.
“Form C!” The guild troops immediately split up into groups, assembling into a formation that would fare better in the narrow spaces of the first floor. They were all silent as they moved, trying desperately to pinpoint my location with their own sensing skills. Or so I thought. Several wizards began to chant and raise their hands, releasing their mana. I could see weak magic spreading out over the area. They were trying to fill the entire area with mana so that they could sense where I was. It wouldn’t matter how great my skills were; if I activated magic within their net, they would undoubtedly sense me. I jumped forward with Ubiquitous.
“There!”
Several attacks flew past me and slammed into my alter ego, destroying it without a trace. At the same time, I sliced the neck of the closest wizard. Magic immediately began to well up below me from the ground, but I was able to narrowly avoid the attack using Ubiquitous again. I hid myself using Surprise and Fairy Tales, waiting for the magical bombardment to cease.
“How many are there?”
“Don’t scatter! Group up!”
They were much more prepared than the previous humans I wiped out, working in tandem to anticipate my next attack. But, observing them, I could tell that there were guild masters among them that were serving as the core of the guild alliance. No doubt, the troops would be in disarray if they were taken out.
“Master, our troops…”
“We need to prepare for the worst.” It didn’t matter what they had to say or how they prepared; I brought my sword down again at the side of a warrior who left the group for just an instant.
[You have gained 530,918…]
I brought my sword back to strike again, but I could feel a momentary point of resistance as it moved through the air. I barely had time to realize what had happened before the tiny trap set up, a burst of dazzling light pouring out around me. A lot of mana had been poured into it, enough to blind even a high-level monster. But it didn’t affect me, who had resistances above the highest levels.
“Quick!” The warriors rushed me, assuming I had lost my vision. I effortlessly slid past their attacks, piercing through one’s neck with my sword. My Demon’s Claws were flailing about, stabbing, and cutting through them.
[You have gained…]
“Fuck!”
“Pull back!” I thought additional magical attacks would be on their way, but they weren’t. The faces of the humans around me were full of horror, hesitation filling them.
‘If I fight back now, maybe I can get a hit in…but I might kill an ally.’ That was no doubt the thought going through them, the one I had been hoping for. It was good to see that my plan was working.
“Hey!”
“Don’t attack, pull back quickly!” Of course, I still needed to be careful of the enemy’s counterattack. If one of them managed to clip me, they would use that to seize the advantage over me and keep the pressure on. I had been dominating the fight until now, but I was dancing on a razor’s edge the entire time. If I wanted to instill my enemies with fear, my every move had to be perfectly coordinated. I was slowly chipping away at the enemies.
The mass haunting on the 6th floor came to my mind, the swarms of advanced monsters. I wasn’t confident that I could deal with them at the time, so I used Surprise and Fairy Tales to the max. I was feeling that same sort of tension now. These enemies lacked the destructive power those advanced monsters had, but they had various unknown abilities and tactics they could rely on. I couldn’t be too vigilant against them. I had to continue to hide from them, sliding my blade into the gaps they revealed, taking care not to fall into a trap along the way. ‘This is fun.’
“If you can’t find him with detection, use your mana!”
“Fuck, are all elves monsters like this?”
“There is a reason they hid away. Shit…!”
What really differentiated humans from monsters was their ability to adapt to the situation. To consider the options, the risk versus benefits, and change tactics accordingly. Right now, this group was weighing the situation, considering what they could do to succeed where the much larger advance force had failed. I would continue to attack them, gaining ground inch by bloody inch and slowly digging away at their formation from the outside.
But they were starting to catch on.
“Fuck, how many do we have left? We can’t keep this up.”
“The elves all look very similar…”
“Has anyone killed one yet and gained experience?”
A stillness overcame the group, during which I claimed one more life.