LRIC Chapter 84

Do-joon looked at Luin. He was a beautiful man just like the other elves. He somewhat resembled Eldora, yet somehow also seemed different.

Do-joon recalled what Luin had just said.

“Making a fuss over one dead goblin? If I knew it would be like this, I should have just tossed it on a mountain somewhere before coming back.”

There was no need to look further. It was clear that this elf had killed the baby goblin.

From the way he was grumbling, it didn’t even seem like he had any intention to hide that he was the culprit.

Still, just in case, Do-joon asked him.

“Were you the one who killed that goblin?”

“What? ‘You’? Watch your mouth, you piece of fertilizer.”

Luin scowled, looking displeased by Do-joon’s words.

He was an elf who worshipped the World Tree and was born and raised from its branches. To him, the ‘outside’ was nothing more than a pile of nutrients for the World Tree to grow.

Of course, the same applied to the humans living in that outside world.

There was nothing special about him.

It was a common attitude among the young elves who were born without knowing of the World Tree’s past and the history of its corruption.

“……”

“What, got scared?”

Luin snickered as he watched Do-joon silently staring at him. He then answered as if throwing him a bone.

“Yeah, that’s right. I killed it. So what are you going to do about it? Was that little goblin your family or something?”

“…No, monsters are our enemies too.”

Do-joon answered after a slight pause.

As he said, monsters were basically enemies. Even if this village was a bit special, that didn’t change the fundamental relationship between humans and monsters.

“Tch, how dull.”

Luin curled his lips as he looked at Do-joon.

He was going to back down anyway, yet he still tried to act so indifferent. Seriously, humans were so weak yet always acted so arrogant for some reason.

When Luin was young, back when the World Tree was established in its previous location, he had seen humans before.

Those bastards who held their heads high even as they were captured and brought in.

But after a short while, they all ended up groveling on the ground. He still clearly remembered the adults cackling as they watched that sight.

Meanwhile…

“Grrr…”

The goblins had surrounded them at some point.

They were filled with hostility. Although they had encircled both of them, in reality, that hostility was only directed at Luin, excluding Do-joon.

Luin licked his lips. Things were getting interesting.

His hand reached for the sword at his waist.

“Hey, human. If you’ve got no business here, get lost. I’ll play with you later.”

Nael had told him not to cause a commotion, but so what? They had come here certain that Vulcanus was gathering his forces anyway.

Wouldn’t she not scold him too much if he said he was going to take care of those forces in advance?

Right then, Do-joon opened his mouth.

“No.”

He casually reached into his bosom. Pretending to take something out, he drew a dagger. In truth, it was an item he had taken out from his inventory.

Its option was:

[Additional Option]

– Spirit Affinity –27Lv

A knife crafted by gathering some of the many failed attempts Hwang Hyun-woo had diligently made.

“I do have some business here. I have something I want to test out.”

Do-joon said as he pointed the knife at the bastard.

Yes, this was a test. He simply wanted to try out the new minus spirit affinity option he had obtained.

It wasn’t as if he had drawn his blade because of a single goblin.

He glanced at the dead goblin’s corpse for a moment.

“Stupid fool.”

Luin laughed absurdly as he saw Do-joon holding a weapon. What was wrong with this guy?

He shook his head from side to side. He really couldn’t understand the thought process of other races.

Conversations with other races were never easy after all. There was always one thing that transcended race and was universally understood. Not something complicated like dialogue, but something simple.

“Aier.”

Power.

That was the best.

As Luin muttered those words, droplets the size of pinpricks began to form one by one around him.

The moisture in the atmosphere gathered to create a dense stream of water.

Luin grinned as he looked at the goblins surrounding him and Do-joon who was pointing a knife at him.

Soon…

“Kill him.”

At his signal, the water droplets began to shoot out like bullets in all directions.

***

Unlike Luin and the others, Nael stayed overnight at the castle.

Although Vulcanus, the owner of the castle, was exuding an unpleasant air and pressuring her nonverbally, she paid him no mind at all.

After waking up in the morning, she went to the kitchen in the castle, took out some tools and tea leaves and brewed herself some tea.

“Would you like a cup?”

Vulcanus cracked one eye open. But he soon closed it again as if uninterested.

“No need. You only brewed enough for yourself anyway.”

“Oh my, you could tell.”

Clink.

Nael sipped her tea alone, savoring the flavor for a moment before finally speaking.

“So, have you decided to tell me the location of the Divine Fire?”

“Absolutely not.”

Vulcanus refused immediately. It was a question he had heard several times since yesterday, but his answer was always the same.

The Divine Fire was like a heart to him, the Fire Spirit King. No, it was even more important than that.

If something happened and he were to perish, a new Fire Spirit King would be born. The Divine Fire served as the core and cradle for the birth of the next generation’s Spirit King.

In other words, the Divine Fire was a symbol of his power, his heart, and the life of future generations to him.

“How troubling.”

This was why the other monarchs, including the Water Spirit King, were having a hard time.

They couldn’t recklessly kill or destroy Vulcanus, even if they could. The bigger issue was that even if they did kill him, a new Spirit King would simply be born.

Without knowing the location of the Divine Fire, doing anything to Vulcanus would ultimately solve nothing.

Vulcanus knew this well too, which was why threats had no effect on him whatsoever. There were limits to the pressure that could be applied.

“I’ll say it again, we have no intention of destroying or eliminating the Divine Fire. It’s not something that can be destroyed even if we wanted to in the first place. The monarch simply wants to thoroughly manage it to prepare for any eventualities.”

“Eventualities, you say.”

“For example, the dark elves staying here. As you know, they are a race that has lost both the greatness of the World Tree and their pride as elves, crawling on the ground. There’s no way they could endure in this land after losing the love of the Mother. That’s how pathetic they are. But if you were to cooperate with them, the story would change.”

The power of the dark elves was far from a match for the light elves.

Their numbers were small to begin with, and they were a race living sneakily in the shadows after losing the blessings of the World Tree. They were insects not even worth fighting.

However, those insects were not just insects, but pests.

Pests with the unthinkable, unfilial goal of burning down the World Tree.

And the Divine Fire, that primordial flame, might possess the power to possibly achieve that goal.

“Not a chance. I have no intention of handing over the Divine Fire, be it to those bastards or to you lot.”

“Vulcanus. Words alone guarantee nothing. Wasn’t that what you said before?”

Nael said, raising her head. She then saw Vulcanus’ eyes looking at her, having opened at some point.

The moment she saw that, she felt as if her heart had stopped.

“…Do you think I’m someone who would change his mind so easily?”

He wasn’t exerting some immense energy or physically threatening her. He was simply staring at her fixedly.

That was all, yet she felt an immense pressure. It was as if some enormous chain was wrapping around her and dragging her deep underground.

Nael swallowed dryly.

As expected, even after losing his power, a monarch was still a monarch. Not an easy opponent to face.

‘What should I do…?’

Nael felt a cold sweat run down her back as she carefully chose her words. Normally, she would have responded eloquently, but the unexpected attack had left her mind blank.

Right then…

“……”

Vulcanus furrowed his brows.

Shortly after, Nael also felt something.

The energy of water spirits could be felt from outside. And not just revealing their presence, but the energy when they were seriously using their powers.

This was perfect timing. Nael jumped to her feet.

“It seems something has happened. I’ll go take a look.”

Nael hastily opened the door and left the audience chamber. Only an empty teacup sat on the spot she had been sitting.

“She ran away.”

Vulcanus muttered to himself before closing his eyes again.

***

The water droplets shot out like bullets.

The goblins surrounding Luin, especially those at the very front, collapsed after being hit by the droplets.

The water droplets pierced through their hide and tore through their flesh like real bullets fired from a gun.

However, they had no effect on Do-joon.

Swish!

He swung his knife in a large arc. The knife itself had no options besides the minus option, but mana was coiled around it instead.

The dense and delicate mana control he had learned from Kalish and refined through his duels with Cheonseong.

Mana trailed behind like an afterimage following the trajectory of the knife.

The water droplets that collided with that afterimage instantly froze and fell to the ground. The sound of hail falling and splattering rang out.

“Tch! In that case…”

Luin clicked his tongue as he saw his attack being blocked. He swiftly moved his hand to his waist to draw his sword.

However…

“Ack!”

The very next moment, Do-joon was right next to him.

Do-joon had instantly closed the distance with Maelstrom. He pressed down on the hand Luin was using to draw his sword, pushing it back in.

Luin tried to put strength into his arm holding the sword, but he couldn’t shake off Do-joon’s hand.

“Wh-when did you…?”

Luin was shocked.

There was definitely quite a distance between them, so when did he get so close? And why couldn’t he draw his sword?!

Do-joon had the advantage in both strength and speed.

Luin’s mind momentarily went blank. His instincts sought out a way to respond, but there was no time to think.

While pressing down on Luin’s sword with one hand, Do-joon had the knife in his other hand already aimed at Luin’s neck.

Thanks to his battle experience, Luin didn’t pathetically squeeze his eyes shut, but he couldn’t react either.

In the end, all he could do was watch as the blade rushed towards his neck.

“Aaaahhhh!”

He let out a scream to leave this world at that moment.

“Stop!”

Someone intruded.

A woman who cut through the horde of goblins in an instant and flew over. An elf with deep blue hair.

It was Nael Lockade who had been staying at the castle since yesterday.

“What is going on here?!”

She shouted as soon as she arrived.

Just what kind of situation was this?

The goblins collapsed and bleeding around them were most likely Luin’s doing with his Aier. But Luin himself had a blade pressed against his neck.

And the one holding that blade was a human from the ‘outside’?

“Let go of him, human. And explain what happened.”

Nael said sternly. No, it was a warning.

“Th-this bastard suddenly attacked me, Captain! I’m being wronged!”

Luin yelled at the top of his lungs, his head tilted back as much as possible to avoid being stabbed. Judging solely by his voice, he sounded like the most wronged victim possible.

“Is that true?”

Nael asked, looking at Do-joon. Do-joon glanced at her for a moment. But he didn’t say much.

Of course, he didn’t relax his posture either.

Nael furrowed her brows at that sight.

“Human. Put that knife down for now. I’ll warn you in advance, there won’t be a third time.”

Two warnings.

Nael was telling him. The next time wouldn’t end with just a warning.

In fact, a blade made of water was aiming at Do-joon’s head from above. It looked ready to strike down like lightning at the slightest movement.

Do-joon slightly raised his head and saw that. His knife slowly lowered.

“Phew…”

Luin sighed in relief as he watched the blade move away. Nael also had an expression of having one less worry.

Immediately after…

Squelch!

Do-joon’s knife, which had lowered to Luin’s abdomen, pierced into his belly.

“Urk!”

It didn’t end there. Mana weaved into the knife like threads. Soon, that mana…

Bang!

Exploded from Luin’s wound.

An application of Maelstrom. Gathering the air and detonating it through the knife.

“Humaaaan!”

Nael’s eyes turned bloodshot as she saw that.

Do-joon frowned and leaped backwards. The blade made of water crashed down on where his head had been like a guillotine.

Kwang!

The guillotine fell and left a deep mark on the ground. It was a massive fissure that looked like it had been caused by an earthquake at a glance.

As Do-joon withdrew his body, Nael caught Luin.

“Damn it!”

Luin’s wound was horrible.

The knife had not only stabbed him, but a small explosion had also occurred inside, so there was no way the wound could be fine.

However, the fortunate thing was that the one here was not a contractor of another monarch, but the contractor of the Water Spirit King.

The monarch governing water, which had symbolized life and order since ancient times, had the ability to heal wounds.

Nael placed her hand on Luin’s chest and began infusing energy.

But something was strange.

The wound was healing. It was healing, but the regeneration was slower than usual. Significantly slower at that.

‘Why is this happening?’

She furrowed her brows. This was the first time she had experienced something like this.

Luin’s wound was terrible, but thankfully not deep. It was obvious. Do-joon’s objective was to test the option, which was why he had stabbed the stomach instead of the neck.

But why wasn’t this wound healing properly?

However, there wasn’t much room to think. Since the treatment wasn’t completely ineffective, she should focus on this for now. The questions could be pondered later.

A short while later.

“Ugh…”

“Luin! Luin, are you alright?!”

After the rough treatment, Luin opened his eyes hazily. The first thing that came into view was the captain. And the next thing he saw was…

“Human!”

The insolent human who had put him in this state!

“Aier!”

As soon as his body had somewhat recovered, he summoned his spirit.

Soon, water droplets began to form just like before. Luin’s face twitched.

‘This time, I’ll pour it all on you, bastard!’

It was different from before. Unlike earlier when he had aimed at the goblins as well, this time he would target only that bastard.

Giving those instructions to the spirit, he shouted.

“Kill that guy!”

However, strangely enough…

Nothing happened.