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[Translator – Asura]
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Chapter 314
[I can’t believe it…!]
Swoosh!
Seong Jihan’s left arm emitted a strong shadow energy, as if Ariel would burst out from it at any mont.
‘Wait a bit.’
Suppressing her for now, Seong Jihan asked the Great Golem,
“Is the Shadow Queen the research subject of the Constellation Laboratory?”
[No. She is a sacrifice to perform the void disposal task.]
‘Void disposal…’
Seong Jihan frowned upon hearing the Great Golem’s words.
Void disposal.
Upon hearing those words, the first thing he thought of was the half-masked ancient Elf.
-Thanks to my senior dying, I inherited this void disposal site.
-Senior…
-He always acted so high and mighty, but he got blown up by you in the planet colonization map. That incompetent senior.
He, who was the branch manager of the World Tree Elves’ loan counter, referred to the ancient Elf who perished together with Brahma as his senior and answered Seong Jihan, who asked about the mask, he replied in such a manner…
-That mask is called a void disposal site? It’s broken though.
-This is a trash can. It’s fine as long as you make one more trash can.
The Ancient Elf called the void disposal site a trash can.
Then, it was possible to predict that the void disposal task wasn’t anything good either.
‘I should take a look first.’
Seong Jihan looked at the Great Golem and said,
“Let’s go to where the Shadow Queen is imprisoned.”
[Understood.]
Flash…!
The figure of one Great Golem disappeared, and a huge light portal appeared in its place.
As Seong Jihan set foot inside,
a place befitting the na ‘underground area’ was finally revealed.
‘It’s full of void energy.’
A large, dark cavity.
Only a faint purple light illuminated this place.
From the floor, it was mushy like a swamp, half-lted and from within, the energy of the void wafted out strongly.
As Seong Jihan looked around,
He soon found a being bound by chains all over her body in the center of the void swamp.
[Q-Queen…!]
The constellation Shadow Queen.
She had an appearance almost identical to Ariel, to the point where one might think they were twins at first glance.
One thing remained intact: her face.
However, the rest of her body below the face was far from normal.
The greyish body was constantly burning in the purple flas, only to regenerate again and again.
When Ariel, unable to bear it any longer, attempted to erge from Seong Jihan’s arm…
[Beginning the 172nd void disposal.]
From the ceiling, an automatically translated language was heard.
Automatically translated language echoed from the ceiling.
Then…
Twist! Twist!
The chains binding the Shadow Queen pulsated like veins, injecting void energy into her body.
And then…
Flare…!
Just when it seed to weaken, the purple flas regained their strength, once again lting away the Shadow Queen’s body.
‘She’s lost her mind.’
The Shadow Queen, who had been staring blankly ahead with her mouth wide open, only flinched slightly at the intense flas and showed no further reaction.
“Queen!”
Ariel, who finally popped out of Seong Jihan’s arm upon seeing that, ran to save the queen, but,
Bang!
“Kuk…!”
As soon as she jumped in, a white shield created in the air bounced her off.
And then,
Swoosh…
The white shield soon condensed into a single form.
‘That’s… the smiling mask.’
The white half-mask worn by the Ancient Elves.
It blocked Seong Jihan’s way in a translucent form and,
Twist!
The mouth of the mask began to move.
[Oh my, custor. How did you get in here?]
“…Are you the loan counter branch manager?”
[Yes, I didn’t expect to see you in a place like this.]
The branch manager greeted Seong Jihan in a welcoming voice.
The eyes of the huge mask looked at Ariel for a mont and continued,
[We’re in the middle of disposing of waste, so don’t carelessly go inside.]
“Waste… Do you an the void?”
[That’s right. Because the senior who died by your hand neglected separating garbage. I’m doing so backlogged work. Collecting the recycling bins and disposing of the void.]
Twist! Twist!
As soon as the mask’s words ended, the chains moved again.
Crackle!
The Shadow Queen’s body was quickly engulfed in purple flas.
‘The Shadow Queen… I thought she died to the Martial God but it seems I was wrong. Did history get twisted because the previous Ancient Elf died?’
Dark Shadow Technique, which was in charge of one axis of the Fundantal Divine Arts.
It was very similar to the authority possessed by the Shadow Queen.
Considering the characteristic of the Wandering Martial God to steal the opponent’s power, it was possible to deduce that the Shadow Queen died to the Martial God in the previous life.
However, it seed that history had been overturned as the previous Ancient Elf died in an explosion with Brahma and the branch manager inherited his ‘void disposal site’.
Unlike the previous generation’s Ancient Elf, the new branch manager diligently handled the work.
anwhile,
Crackle…!
The Shadow Queen’s face was now burning in flas, not just her body.
Seeing that, the mouth of the mask moved busily.
[Oh dear, oh dear. Thanks to you, custor, I got impatient and couldn’t control my strength. How did we manage to raise our recycling bin to this level?]
“The Shadow Queen… is a recycling bin?”
[Yes, a top-grade item that beca a constellation despite being a re shadow. Although we did provide special support.]
“…Support?”
Ariel, who had been bounced off by the mask and couldn’t co to her senses for a mont, gritted her teeth.
“What support did you give us! We Shadow Elves, under the guidance of the Queen, have won our freedom…!”
[A re shadow. It’s not the freedom you won, but the freedom we allowed you.]
“What… ?”
[Otherwise, how could you have defied the real thing with just the spirit of a failed creation?]
Unlike when talking to Seong Jihan, the branch manager looked down on Ariel with an authoritative attitude.
[Think back to when you rebelled. It was only by a coincidence of coincidences that things barely succeeded. The sa is true when you were growing your power afterward. How did the Queen manage to invade only planets with so many shadows, and cruise through the BattleNet leagues without being interfered with by the World Tree Elves? Could all of this have been luck?]
“…So you’re saying you planned all of this?”
[Yes. The rise of the Shadow Elves was just one of the projects carried out by the Constellation Laboratory. Everything was to make the Shadow Elves a constellation. And to find out the void’s capacity.]
The half-mask smirked.
[The results were quite satisfactory. From now on, the Shadow Elves will fight for freedom and give birth to a constellation countless tis. And when they grow to a certain extent, they will beco a trash can like this.]
“…That can’t be. I can’t believe it.”
[Is that so? The Shadow Queen seed to be vaguely aware of this.]
Swoosh!
As the mask beca transparent, the Shadow Queen’s recovered face was revealed again.
An appearance completely identical to Ariel.
[Once the power was stabilized, you scattered your own ‘avatar’ like you everywhere. So that you could switch at any ti, right?]
“…”
[Or have you already switched? Maybe you’re the real queen. I see you have quite a bit of power.]
“…My power is strong because my master is strong. I am nothing more than an avatar of the Queen.”
[Is that so? Then you’re perfect as a new recycling bin. You lowly shadow. We will make you a constellation, so co here.]
“Ha… You want to et the sa end as the queen?”
[Haven’t you enjoyed the glory all this ti? It’s only the end that’s miserable.]
With a hardened expression, Ariel looked at Seong Jihan.
“…Master, let’s get out of here. We can’t stay here any longer.”
“Are you going to leave the Queen in that state?”
“The queen… is already finished. We can’t die either.”
Ariel, who had charged in first, seed to have sensed sothing from the branch manager’s words and was now telling them to run away quickly.
However,
[Hoho, custor. Why do you think I talked at length about the circumstances of a re shadow?]
The branch manager’s mask, which had returned to respectful speech, smiled at Seong Jihan.
[I urgently investigated how you ca all the way here. It seems the Great Golems mistook you for the Head Manager because you possess the life force of the World Tree.]
“So?”
[To fully possess the life force of the World Tree, I’m glad to see you. I thought you might soday, but to already possess ‘Eternity’… You have gained the qualification to beco our kin.]
“Kin… Do you an the Ancient Elves?”
[Ancient Elves… that’s just a term outsiders use to refer to us. The correct term is ‘Descendants of Yggdrasil’.]
Swoosh!
The mask’s appearance slowly changed.
[Oh Yggdrasil, please show your brilliant form and welco the new mber of the family.]
Flash!
A Dazzling, Radiant Halo,
Soon, a shape was shown in the place where the mask was.
‘…A rainbow-colored tree.’
The Tree of Light floated up like a hologram.
It shimred with iridescent hues, displaying an ethereal beauty.
“That’s… Yggdrasil…”
Ariel, who had been telling Seong Jihan to run away, lost herself upon seeing that and plopped down on the spot.
“…Ah.”
From the mouth of the Shadow Queen, who had been staring blankly ahead, a voice flowed out for the first ti.
Although it was just an image, the rainbow-colored tree Yggdrasil emitted imasurable life force just with its appearance.
‘Is that Yggdrasil, the pinnacle of the World Tree Alliance? It’s in a different dinsion, I see.’
While Seong Jihan was judging it calmly like that,
[Then, please help us with our work from now on.]
The form of Yggdrasil faded away, and the Branch Leader’s mask reappeared.
And then…
Whoosh…
An identical half-mask materialized in the air.
It flew towards Seong Jihan’s face.
[Wear the half-mask and take out the trash first, junior.]
Thwack!
Seong Jihan caught the flying mask in his hand and tilted his head.
“Why am I your junior?”
* * *
[…]
The mask, which had been silent for a mont at Seong Jihan’s answer,
[You… didn’t you just welco Yggdrasil…?]
It asked him in a trembling voice.
“Oh, the rainbow-colored tree from earlier?”
[Y-yes! Did you not feel anything when you saw it?]
“Ah, I just thought it was pretty with the way it was sparkling. It’s full of life force too.”
[Pretty…?]
“Yeah.”
[H-how dare you call Yggdrasil that…]
“Isn’t pretty a complint?”
Seong Jihan said that sincerely and fiddled with the half-mask curiously.
Seeing that, the branch manager, who grasped the situation, was shocked.
[Impossible! How can soone possessing Eternity… not worship Yggdrasil? Don’t you have the World Tree inside you?!]
“Does that an I’ll have to obey Yggdrasil?”
[Of course!]
“I don’t feel that way at all.”
As Seong Jihan said that,
Tap! Tap!
He tapped on the branch manager’s half-mask.
“But you, have you gotten weaker?”
[…Just loading Yggdrasil’s image for a mont was enough to overexert myself. I thought the custor would beco the junior and help with my work… An unexpected situation has occurred.]
“Hmm.”
Tap! Tap!
While listening to those words, Seong Jihan tapped the mask blocking the front a bit harder.
Perhaps displaying Yggdrasil’s image earlier consud that much power.
Just from simple tapping, cracks began to form on the half-mask.
Then, the branch manager hurriedly opened his mouth.
[Wait! Don’t act recklessly. If you break it, the void energy will flow back to the laboratory!]
“Really?”
“…Yes, surely you wouldn’t consider breaking it? I warn you. Stop right here. Stop tapping!”
The half-mask’s voice grew louder and louder.
In proportion to that,
“But you know, why do I feel like doing exactly what you tell not to?”
With each tap from Seong Jihan’s hand, the mask beca even more solidly golden.
[This is insane…!]
Along with the manager’s shocked voice,
Swoosh!
The void energy that had been isolated inside began to spread in all directions through the cracks.
No matter how much void energy Seong Jihan possessed, it was too much to absorb.
‘I should use this right away.’
Seong Jihan picked up the half-mask the branch manager had given him.
***
[Translator – Asura]
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