3 bar menu

Volume 11 Chapter 324

The World Tree’s True Form

　

「W-What are you saying……」

｟Ah? Did you not hear me? The last task is for you is to kill that elf with the longsword over there. That’s what I said｠

　Hohoh.

　So it’s come to this.

｟Well, Pops over there looks strong too, hm. You with the longsword could also try killing him if ya want？｠

「Wha!?」

　Dairon frantically moved away from me.

　His reaction was perfectly reasonable. I’d also want to take my distance if I saw someone slice apart orichalcum before being told they might target my life.

「Do you want an elf’s body or something？」

｟I don’t care if it’s an elf or not. As long as they’re strong. I want a body that can move around freely. In order to obtain that, it needs to be a strong, enduring body to which I can move my consciousness to｠

「……I see」

「Elnor. Y-You can’t be──」

　Once I put my hands on Hakoku, Dairon also clasped the sword at his waist.

　Of course he would. He has something to protect after all.

　But as for me, I have nothing to protect.

　So I can die.

　If anything, I want to die.

　So I thrust Hakoku into the ground.

「Dairon, please kill me」

　I spread my arms wide, expressing my will to be attacked.

「W-What on earth are you suggesting!?」

｟Oh, so you’ll be the one to die, then?……Welp, works out fine for me, I guess｠

　This dude was behaving all regal a minute ago, and now he’s starting to speak a lot more casually. What gives?

　Is he fed up with trying to play the part of the World Tree?

　But I should make him tag along for just a bit longer.

「Dairon. You are the grand personage who will become the king who unites the elves. I will most certainly die, right here, for the sake of the future of the elves」

「…………」

　Dairon silently unsheathed the sword.

「Elnor, sorry. I……」

　He raised his sword overhead, and then──

　He swung it completely at the World Tree.

「I cannot kill you！」

｟──Hah!?｠

　A voice of astonishment broke out from the World Tree.

　The slash flew from Dairon’s sword into the gigantic Tree’s trunk, inflicting a small wound.

「I am Dairon Alheim. I am the one who will become king of the elves! I am not some vermin who hurts his own kind just from being enticed by a tree!!」

　Ah, I’m glad……

｟……Heeh, is that how it is. So you don’t need the fruit from the World Tree, I take it｠

「Actually, I’ll steal that fruit from you right here right now」

　I’m so glad that Dairon’s a cool guy.

「Elnor, sorry for bringing you into this! If possible, get yourself away from here and run as fast as you can!!」

｟You think I’d let you? Everything under these branches is my domain of control. You who call yourself an “elf king”, I’ll steal your memories like the sucker you are and feed those memories to the World Tree for its nutrition. You there with the longsword, I’ll have you become my body｠

　Ahh……

　I’m glad that・this faker taking over the World Tree・is such a piece of junk.

　Thanks to that──

　Now I can ・threaten him with all the power I have・.

　The Elder Dragon’s mana was still flowing from under my feet.

　The mana particles were released one after the other into the air.

　The current body I have isn’t fixed status, so that also means the amount of mana I can release all at once is large.

　In a few seconds, I was able to diffuse magic covering the entire region of the Forest of the World Tree.

　I changed all that bountiful mana・ into flames・.

｟──ngh!?!?!?｠

「T-This is……」

　The World Tree lost its voice, and Dairon could only gape at the scene that unfolded before him.

　The forest surrounding the World Tree had begun to fiercely burn.

　I was the one who set fire to it.

　That’s because this forest is of no use to the original World Tree.

「Hey, World Tree」

　I walked over to the World Tree, even as my own body was clothed in powerful flames.

｟W-Wha-What have you done, you pest!? Dii, D-Did you do all of this! M-My forest!!｠

「I sure did. You wouldn’t just hand over the fruit……so it’s all your fault」

　My flames changed the nuisance of a forest into a scorched earth within ten seconds.

　Now that the flames had run out of things to burn, they assembled around me.

｟W-What is going on……how is it possible that an elf could handle・ flames of that caliber・!?｠

　In the first place, elves were a race loved by wind and water mana, whereas they had difficulty bringing out any kind of aptitude in fire elemental magic.

　So normally, there were no elves who could handle this scale of fire.

　This was thanks to the fact that I, Haruto, was inhabiting this elf’s body, and also thanks to the Elder Dragon making it easier to change the nature of mana for me.

「I am Elnor. The Elf of the Embers」

　I gathered all of the flames in my right hand.

　My right arm was now covered in flames of extremely high temperature and pressure that were able to melt even crimson ore.

「I’m about to・hit you・with this」

｟！！！！｠

　The World Tree was in a state of violent unrest.

　Give it another push, maybe?

「Hand over your fruit」

｟W-Wait! Please wait!! Fruit comes only once every thousand years｠

「Yeah, so you have one right now, don’t you? This year will have been a thousand years since you last bore fruit. So I’ve come to take said fruit」

｟T-That’s──｠

「What’s the matter? Are you unable to get it?」

　Now, how will this punk respond?

｟……I-It was a demon｠

「Ahhh? A demon, you say?」

｟Y-Yes, a demon. It came and took all of the fruit. So there isn’t any left, you see｠

　Hmmm.

　Is that right.

「……I see」

｟D-Do you understand! Everything is that demon’s fault!!｠

「Oh, I understand all right. If you don’t have fruit──」

　I upped the firepower in my right hand as I walked directly to the World Tree.

「Then that means I can burn you up, right」

｟──ngh!?　W-Wait! Wait wait wait! Stop it, don’t come near me! Don’t you dare!!｠

「But if you don’t have fruit, then you’re pretty worthless, right?」

｟I’ll give you as many l-leaves, as many leaves as you want! You can take the branches too!! So don’t come any closer to meeeee!!｠

　Tree roots came up from the ground to attack me, but I flung them away with my flaming hand as I continued my walk.

｟Stop it, go away go away go awaaaay!｠

「I don’t need your leaves, your branches, or your roots at all. Give me your fruit. Show me……your value. Or else──」

　I had made it to a hand’s reach away from the tree’s trunk.

「I’ll burn you to ashes」

　Saying this seemed to have an effect.

・Something・leaped out from the World Tree.

　Leaped──maybe it felt more like it was “thrown out” of the World Tree.

　At the same time, numerous red fruits fell down at my feet.

Alright!

　Looks we got ourselves some World Tree Fruit!

　By the way, that・something・that was thrown out of the Tree had the shape of a human.

「Guh, you b-bazzdards, how dare you──」

　That thing quickly looked at Dairon and I with clear killing intent in its eyes, so I touched it with my right hand before it could try anything.

　The flames of my right hand──the flames that would completely devour any target that I designated, had now migrated to this humanoid thing, setting it on fire.

「GyaaaaaaaAAA!!!」

　This might be our enemy, but I couldn’t help but feel sorry for it since it had a・ridiculously overpowered・regeneration ability.

　It wouldn’t be dying anytime soon.

　But I’m sorry to say that the current me is ・incapable・of giving you an easy release.

　I continued to gaze at the・demon・until the flames burned it down to the ground.

「Phew. Well that’s over. Dairon──Ah-」

　Looking over at Dairon, I saw the sword of exorcism next to him──Hakoku was stabbed into the ground.

「…………」

　I figured I’d just pretend I didn’t see that.