IRE Chapter 26

“Over there is the Dragon’s Head Pass.”

It was quite moving to see a scenery I had only seen in the game in real life.

In the game, the Elven Forest was nothing more or less than an invaded territory, and now it was simply the home where I had settled down, so I didn’t feel much excitement, but the Dragon’s Head Pass gave me a refreshingly new feeling.

“That’s where the Dark Elves are, right?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

The chances of the Dark Elves establishing a residence in the Dragon’s Head Pass were fifty-fifty. There were times when I went to hunt Wyverns and ended up unfairly meeting the Dark Elves, resulting in a game over, and there were also times when I went to exterminate the Dark Elves but ended up massacring the innocent Wyverns.

To think I would encounter them like this.

I wonder if they would also feel a fresh sense of emotion seeing me in reality.

But probably not.

“From here on, please be cautious in your actions. We don’t know when or where we might run into them.”

At this, we all nodded our heads, quieted our presence, and moved forward.

The Dragon’s Head Pass, as if boasting its own rocky mountain nature, made the climb arduous with its characteristically rugged terrain.

To the point where even if there were professional mountaineers from my previous life, it would have been challenging without sufficient equipment and preparation.

However, we were nothing short of a group of superhumans that couldn’t be described with ordinary terms, and such terrain couldn’t halt our progress.

After climbing the mountain for a while, our breathing gradually became ragged.

“Irian. Are you sure they’re really here?”

I asked Irian, who was leading the way, in a low voice.

I knew we had to be quiet, but from what I had constantly observed from behind, I couldn’t find any traces.

The fact that I couldn’t find any traces simultaneously meant that everyone here had failed to discover any clues.

After all, there were no Sentinels here with better tracking skills than mine.

Irian seemed to have sensed that as well, as he made a confused expression.

“That’s… right. According to the scouting report, they definitely came this way.”

“Is there any guarantee that the scouting party members weren’t caught by them?”

“…Of course there is. That’s impossible. The thing is, they only observed from a distance and returned, so there’s no way they could have been detected!”

Irian shouted in a tone that lacked self-assurance.

However, realizing that deceiving himself was pointless in the current situation, he soon made a look of dismay.

I, too, finally drew my bow, feeling an ominous sensation that had been lingering for a while.

“Something feels off.”

I straightened my lowered body and restored my lowered voice to its original state.

To the flustered Sentinels, I shouted in a low voice.

“We need to run! Hurry!”

At that moment…

Thwack!

An arrow that had silently approached without leaving any trace of penetration pierced through the head of the Sentinel at the very rear.

Enraged by the silenced arrow shot, I shouted.

“It’s an ambush! Everyone, take cover!”

Even in the midst of that, I didn’t forget to take care of my mother.

“Mother, this way!”

I hurriedly led my mother and took cover behind a rock, but even while taking cover, arrows continued to fly, cutting off the lives of two Sentinels.

Glancing at the direction the stealthily flying arrows were coming from, I noticed they were being shot from the top of the rocky mountain cliff.

Only then did I come to my senses and realize the location where we were positioned.

We had entered a valley with cliffs on both sides.

Damn it.

Was I so focused on the lack of traces that I failed to notice we had entered a place perfect for an ambush?

But even so, how could none of the seven elite Sentinels accompanying us have noticed?

It doesn’t make sense.

Clicking my tongue, I shouted loudly while taking cover with my mother.

“Irian! Are you alright?!”

“Yes! I’m glad Eldmir is safe too!”

“Damn it. They knew! They knew the scouts were tracking them! That’s why they set up this trap in advance and ambushed us like this!”

As I shouted through gritted teeth, Irian also yelled in a cold voice, having grasped the situation.

His voice was heavily laced with guilt and responsibility.

“I’ll break through. Please provide cover.”

“Wait, wait! Irian. We haven’t identified all the enemy positions yet. They could be targeting us from the opposite cliff as well!”

Arrows were continuously being fired from the left cliff based on the entrance, but the opposite cliff was silent.

It’s better not to have any hopeful speculation that the Dark Elves’ ambush was only carried out from one side.

They may be staying still for now, but there’s no telling when other bastards might pop out.

I clenched my teeth.

Wiping away the cold sweat and applying force to my trembling hands.

The hand gripping the bow was still shaking.

I widened my eyes and slapped my arm.

Stop shaking.

I said stop shaking.

If I tremble in a place like this, the me who fought eight War Hammers single-handedly back then would laugh at me.

Don’t shake over this level of danger.

It’s not like my mother’s life is at stake.

Mother is fighting alongside me.

How can I claim to trust my mother if I’m shaking and afraid of something like this?

I bit down hard on my molars until my mouth bled.

Tasting the coppery blood in my mouth, I shouted in a rough voice.

“Irian. Please provide cover. I’ll fight them. In the meantime, lead everyone and escape.”

“Don’t be reckless, El!”

Grasping my mother’s hand that was tightly holding my arm, I shouted.

“There’s no other way, Mother. This is the only way!”

I raised the hand holding the bow and pointed to the cliff where the arrow barrage had ceased.

“They’re waiting for us. Now that we’ve fallen into the trap, we’re not hunters but prey. We’ve lost. We need to run away!”

“Then we can all escape together. If you’re going to sacrifice yourself, I’d rather…”

“It’s not a sacrifice, Mother!”

I desperately shouted, cutting off my mother’s words.

“Every time something like this happens, I keep asking you to trust me. It’s no different now, Mother. Trust your son.”

I have no intention of dying in a place like this.

Until I see our race survive the Great War and witness the process of my mother becoming happy, even if I die, I’ll come back to life.

I won’t die.

Absolutely not.

At my words filled with unwavering determination, my mother’s eyes wavered.

After a moment of silence, she spoke.

“Son. The feelings of a mother who has to watch her child risk their life, who has to do such a thing… It’s truly miserable.”

“…Even so, please. Just as there are no parents who wish for their child’s death, there are also no children who wish for their parent’s death.”

The reason I’m staying here is simply because I’m the strongest.

There’s no other meaning.

This isn’t a sacrifice or anything else, but merely the most rational method derived from a cold calculation.

“I’ll live, Mother. Even without your worries, I want to. Do you think I would commit such an unfilial act?”

“Your mother will also…”

“Mother.”

I spoke firmly.

“Right now, it’s better for me to fight alone.”

It may sound cruel to my mother, but that was the right answer.

Mother staying here would only be a hindrance.

Only by staying alone can I fight them at ease, buy some time, and escape whenever I want.

Perhaps understanding that, my mother made a pained expression.

My heart also felt as if it would tear apart at that expression, but I didn’t change my face.

“Yes, I suppose so.”

Mother placed her hand on my cheek.

She made a wistful expression with a bitter smile.

“Don’t die. You’re a son more precious to me than my own life.”

“…Don’t worry, Mother.”

I placed my hand on hers and smiled.

“I’m the person who fought eight War Hammers single-handedly and won. There’s no way I’ll die in a place like this, at the hands of mere traitors like them. Unless an army swarms in.”

As I grinned with a confident smile, Mother finally managed to form a smile, albeit with difficulty.

“I won’t wait long.”

“I won’t make you wait long either.”

Leaving those words behind, I leaped up from my spot.

“Come!! I’ll make you pay the price for daring to show me such a worthless act of ambush!”

As soon as I charged out, arrows were fired.

The moment I saw them, the world flowed like a slow-motion video.

In the frozen time, I identified a total of 22 arrows.

Their locations were beyond each rock on top of the cliff.

In the slowly flowing vision, I faintly saw the shapes of hands and bows.

22 arrows flying from the front.

And finally, numerous arrows flying from the rear as well.

Gritting my teeth, I twisted my body and leaped into the air.

My horizontally laid body rotated rapidly.

Arrows rain down between my arms and legs.

Feeling the arrows brushing past and grazing my clothes, I nocked an arrow on the bowstring.

Inhale.

Hold.

“You bastards are nothing more or less than the ones I want to exterminate, both in the game and in reality.”

Elves with dark skin, contrasting with the typical fair complexion of elves.

The symbol of corruption, the proof of depravity.

Dark Elves.

However, apart from that, they didn’t provide any other significant impressions.

Just a thought that they were bastards who needed to be killed, reinforcing my conviction.

I curled up the corners of my mouth.

My two feet, touching the ground again, bid farewell to the earth once more before even finding balance.

“You think you can catch me with those measly arrows?”

I drew the bowstring.

Once again, I felt arrows flying from behind.

I imbued my will into the arrow that flew towards the rear as well.

The fired arrow, as if it were alive, rode the currents of the wind as if they were its own, deflecting about ten arrows.

It couldn’t deflect all the arrows, but it was enough to evade them.

“Run, Irian!!”

“Kuk… Stay alive. We’ll definitely come to rescue you!”

With those words, Irian, my mother, and the four surviving Sentinels simultaneously dashed out.

“Glory to the forest!!”

Irian and the Sentinels roared the slogan.

They also shot arrows towards the ambush on the cliff, but they were all blocked by cover.

I shot down the arrows fired at them with my bow.

“Where are you diverting your attention, leaving me behind?”

I started running.

It was the first time I ran with all my might outside the forest.

The rocks seemed to push me as my body swiftly advanced towards the cliff.

Startled by the unexpected speed, the bastards revealed themselves in a fluster and began sniping at me.

Arrows from the opposite cliff also started targeting me entirely.

“Hyaaaah!!”

I kicked off the ground towards the cliff.

The cliff was high.

To the point where it was impossible to climb it all with a single leap.

That’s why I kept running along the cliff.

“What the?!”

“El Lure, oh my god. He’s a real monster.”

I heard the Dark Elves’ astonished voices.

They had already emerged from their cover and were aiming their bows at me from the edge of the cliff.

As I sprinted and climbed the cliff, I started shooting arrows at them as if I had been waiting.

“Kuh-heok?!”

Before they could shoot their bows, the two arrows that flew out pierced through the heads of two of them, from the chin upwards.

Leaping towards their falling corpses, I used their bodies as stepping stones to make consecutive jumps in midair.

“Huh-eop!”

The Dark Elves gulped as they watched me reach the top of the cliff in an instant with two leaps.

I grinned savagely at them.

“I told you.”

Kicking and breaking two fired arrows with my feet, I used the recoil to rotate in midair.

Landing while rotating with an arrow nocked on the bowstring, I shot the arrow before even assuming a stance.

Ignoring the Dark Elf who collapsed with a scream, I tripped another Dark Elf approaching with a dagger and pushed him off the cliff.

“I’ll make you pay the price.”

“You monster-like bastard!”

“Who are you calling a monster, you soulless trash?”