Rampage (2)
All the elves residing in the village were being exploited for hard labor.
They were forced to carry huge boulders from the mines with nothing but a single rope, or made to handle poisonous herbs with their bare hands.
Or they would have to offer their own vitality as a sacrifice to produce sacred stones.
Or be forced into battle whenever dangerous monsters appeared.
No elf was exempt.
All the elves were being ruthlessly overworked in this hellish labor.
Yet, the supervisors had not a shred of sympathy.
This was simply returning the atrocities that the elves themselves had once inflicted.
"Serves those damned bastards right!"
"Exactly! Because of those guys, my father had all his vitality sucked out and now looks like so kind of mummy!"
All the supervising humans were victims of the elves.
They hurled verbal abuse and cursed at the suffering elves.
No one stopped them.
On the contrary, others would even join in.
"Do you know how excited I was when I first arrived at this village, relying on those guys? It feels like just yesterday I was hope-filled, thinking I could live here in peace."
"I only ca here after barely escaping the bandits with my life, too. But maybe I should have let the bandits catch . You know why?"
It might have actually been less hellish to be caught by bandits than to live here.
That's how terrible this place felt to them.
That's how much hatred for the elves had grown.
"Your father turned out like that? I lost my son. He died because he couldn't survive the side effects of the fruit those guys fed him!"
The look in the eyes of the person saying this was bloodshot.
That fierce hatred was so intense it startled even the other supervisors who heard it.
"I ran until my feet bled to find a safe place for my son in this village. And this is what happened. We might be freed now, but... it's not enough."
Now the positions of elves and humans had been reversed.
But even that didn't feel like enough.
They wanted to give the elves the sa hell in return.
"If those guys have kids, I want to kill them just the sa!"
"Th-that's...."
"Weren't you hurt too? Our families were hard by them—shouldn't the sa happen to their families to be fair?"
Considering all the atrocities of the elves until now, it wasn't wrong.
For them to taste hell was their own doing, their just deserts.
Even if the sa thing happened to them, there was nothing to argue.
But what is considered just can all too easily beco distorted.
"You don't actually intend to throw even their children in there, right?"
When soone next to him asked that, he replied,
"There's no reason not to."
"..."
Such a ridiculous answer left the person speechless.
Had the grief of losing a child made him this extre?
"No matter what, there was even a ti when monsters were thrown at people—even the 7th Legion did that, you know? Isn't it the sa thing? Are you saying you'd do that to the kids?"
"..."
Faced with the accusation of being unhinged, the man who lost his child couldn't answer.
An eye for an eye? It made sense.
But to throw the children into the sa hell?
That, too, made sense.
"You can't do that to the kids even if you wanted to now."
"That's true."
Fortunately, no one crossed the line like that.
There were only adults among the elves left in this village.
"I'm sure soone like you was expected to appear. It was a wise decision."
It was the Imperial Court's special task force that saved them from the elves.
If they hadn't co, they would have ended up like their lost families.
"Whatever else, we should thank the special task force."
"Of course we should."
"By the way...."
As they walked through the underground labor camp, they ca across soone.
"Who's this child?"
"Judging by the clothes, she's from the Holy Nation."
They looked at the sleeping Pram and wondered.
"Since she's a Holy Nation girl, should we ss with her a bit?"
"Let's wake her up first."
Just as they were about to touch Pram—
"Don't lay a finger on that child."
Just then, Andrew Weissman stopped them.
At Andrew's voice, they froze like ice.
"S-Swordmaster...!"
"What brings you here...?"
"I just finished taking down all those from the Holy Nation, though I didn't play such a big role. But with this, everything is resolved."
The Hero Bellain and the Holy Nation Crown Prince Tyrone were both kneeling in front of the special task force.
Even his own children, who had joined the Holy Nation, had been cut down by his own hand.
Consud by his grief, Andrew had wandered, rembering sothing forgotten and coming here.
This girl, Pram—she was from the Holy Nation as well.
So he ca to watch over her.
"So, let's get going, then—"
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!!
That was when it happened.
As the World Tree collapsed, both humans and elves were shocked into silence.
"... What the...?"
Andrew, too, wore a dazed expression.
...
At the sa ti, Pram began to awaken.
She now had golden eyes she'd never possessed before in her life.
****
Silia, Kelian, and Rio had overco death so many tis.
There were tis they'd been stabbed dozens of tis, or suffered life-threatening wounds with holes through their limbs.
For those with the 7th Legion, these were common trials.
Of course, surviving ant they'd overco it all and attained their natural strength.
That was why they held their places on the special task force.
"Guys, are you okay?"
"Well...."
But even these monsters of the special task force faced the worst possible situation.
"Is that... really the young master?"
Rio muttered blankly, watching as Louis's gaze turned wild, his body transforming into sothing monstrous.
"Big Sis, what about your spell?"
Rio asked Silia for reassurance.
Right now, their only hope lay in the torture spell held by the officers.
But—
"It's not working...."
"No, it's gone."
Silia and Kelian's spells had vanished.
What could have happened?
Could it be related to the destroyed World Tree?
[Th-That's...!]
[It's a bit different in form, but it's been such a long ti...!]
A voice ca from the sword Silia held.
The ancient Heroes sealed within the sword recalled horrifying mories.
[Chaos Dragon...!]
The reason they had co to be called Heroes.
The worst disaster in history, which had nearly destroyed the continent, had now taken the shape of a human.
[I won't say anything else.]
Feeling the power, Frederick said briefly,
[Run, right now!]
[I agree. If you want to live, flee! Before that guy notices you!]
Mirianne agreed completely.
They knew full well just what kind of being the Chaos Dragon was.
But despite their warnings, Silia replied,
"Have you two forgotten who that is? Do you really see him as the Chaos Dragon?"
[Yes, child. I understand what you're saying.]
[You can't abandon your comrade, right? It's a good mindset. Truly worthy of our descendant.]
The two were deeply proud of Silia, their descendant.
They felt that they had built the right relationships in the past.
[But even the Chaos Dragon is an exception.]
[You know very well what we're trying to say.]
[Take your ancestors' advice, please just stay put.]
[We don't want to lose our descendant.]
And then Kelian grabbed Silia's arm and said,
"They're right. At this rate, we're all dead!"
When unleashing his true power, Louis was a monster who could tear apart even the Great Devil.
Now, that power could turn on them at any mont.
"But if we leave things as they are, everyone in this village..."
Soone would have to die.
And simultaneously, Louis would beco infamous as a murderer.
Whichever option they chose, only the worst outco awaited.
"Krung...."
That was when Louis looked their way.
The Louis who had lost reason had the look in one's eyes of a predator gazing at prey.
Their bodies froze.
Louis ca closer, staring intently at Silia.
"..."
"..."
Silia's body wouldn't obey her.
She couldn't even draw her sword to resist, nor could she turn and run.
But standing still was just as precarious.
In that mont, caught in the paralyzing dread of only the worst possibilities, cold sweat dripped down her face.
"Uh...?"
Louis ignored Silia.
He simply walked past the special task force group.
"What was that?"
Of course they were bewildered.
"That guy could always find anything with his demonic sense of sll and hearing, so why's he acting like this now?"
"Is it because he's lost his reason?"
[From what we can see, it seems he just isn't interested in you.]
[The creature's focus right now doesn't seem to be on any of you... or even 'humans'.]
If the two Heroes were correct, then there was no risk of being killed by Louis for now.
"Does that an we're safe even if we attack?"
Kelian tried fishing for a response.
That was when—
"Then we should attack right now!"
Bellain suddenly leapt up with an eager look in his eye.
Just as Rio and Silia rembered, 'Ah, this guy was here too.'
"Die!!"
Bellain unleashed a swing imbued with aura at its utmost—a power he'd never drawn out before.
CRACK—
At the sa ti, his blade shattered.
"Huh?"
Bellain's arm went flying.
And behind where his arm had been, there was nothing left.
No buildings, no river, no mountains—they all vanished, turned into a canyon.
Even the sky had split in two.
All just from a casual swing.
"Arghhhhh!!"
As Bellain scread, his arm lost, the next attack was set to strike him again.
"Heek!!"
For the first ti in his life, Bellain sensed the terror of death and scread.
His life flashed before his eyes.
"Phew... thank goodness I wasn't late."
Louis's second punch missed.
Andrew had suddenly reappeared, saving him just in ti.
"You fool. I completely sealed your strength by striking your vital point. Trying to fight with just a thread of aura got you into this ss."
"Ugh...."
Bellain gave a painful groan in lieu of gratitude.
"Grandfather! Watch out!"
At that mont, Louis glared at Bellain.
As Silia shouted, it looked like Andrew was in mortal danger.
"Huh?"
But Louis simply ignored Andrew, just as he'd ignored them earlier.
"Why the heck is that guy doing this?"
"Is he only killing those who attack him?"
For now, if they didn't attack, they seed safe.
Charging recklessly would end up with them like Bellain.
"But Grandpa, why did you co back?"
"Because... of that child."
Andrew pointed to soone running toward them.
It was the supervisors from the labor camp, one of whom was carrying Pram on his back.
"Why is Pram here...?"
"Look closely at this child. Doesn't sothing seem strange?"
Just as Andrew said, there was an unusual aura swirling around Pram.
A golden magic power enveloped her body.
"Not only the sudden collapse of the World Tree... this all seed odd, so I brought her. But what's with that boy?"
Andrew couldn't understand why Louis was acting this way.
But it wasn't the ti to explain.
It was impossible to know what Louis might do next.
...!!
Just then, Louis stared at Pram, carried on a back.
As he caught sight of her, Louis's strength began to rampage.
Rumble, rumble, rumble—!!
The ground split and the sky darkened with overwhelming magic power.
Ordinary people, powerless, collapsed in panic at the supernatural phenonon that seed as if a god was furious.
"Hiiik!!"
Eventually, Pram, still unconscious, fell to the ground from the supervisor's back.
And in an instant, Louis charged toward her, pouring the sa strength that monts ago had blown away Bellain's arm into his movent.
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