Chapter 55

Chapter 55

Part 54

He had decided to accept the power of a god.

The Elves, who had originally worshipped, believed in, and followed only the World Tree, had sought help from a god.

"The king used the World Tree's power to establish contact with the gods."

And he succeeded in obtaining divine power.

"With the power of a god, the king became overwhelmingly strong and managed to drive back the armies of the Demon Realm."

"Several Demon Kings were killed, while most of the others suffered fatal injuries."

"The demons' forces were also greatly reduced."

However, that decision ultimately proved to be the worst choice they could have made.

After all, the divine power bestowed upon the king was...

"The power of an Evil God."

Not even the king had known.

He hadn't known that the divine power he had received belonged to an Evil God.

In fact, he hadn't even realized that the god who had approached him was evil in the first place.

Had he known, the king would never have accepted that power.

"Eventually, the king received the Evil God's power and went mad... becoming a Remnant of the Evil God."

"Afterward, he was sealed in the deepest part of the World Tree's root system."

"The World Tree's power was needed to seal away the Evil God's power."

"In the end, we succeeded in sealing him by drawing upon the World Tree's power. But as a result, the World Tree could no longer give birth to Elves."

Even now, the seal was being maintained by continuously drawing power from the World Tree.

That was why Elves had continued to survive through natural childbirth.

"..."

Clench.

After learning the truth, Eilen bit her lip and tightly clenched her fists.

Anger welled up inside her.

She was furious with the demons who had invaded Alvheim.

And she was equally furious with the Evil God who had deceived their king.

Of course, losing the World Tree's blessings hadn't shortened the Elves' lifespans.

It was true that they had become weaker than their ancestors, but they weren't so weak that they couldn't survive.

Still, learning that Alvheim had endured such a painful history filled her with anger.

She turned her head.

"Can you really... solve that problem?"

Eilen looked at Yugeon, who was standing with his arms crossed.

She didn't particularly want to ask how he knew the truth.

All she wanted to know was whether he could really eliminate the Remnant of the Evil God.

"Yes. I can eliminate it."

"That's impossible."

One of the elders frowned and shook his head at Yugeon's answer.

Why hadn't the Elves eliminated the Remnant of the Evil God ten thousand years ago?

Was it because they had been weak?

Not at all.

If anything, they had been stronger than the Elves of the present day.

Yet there was a very good reason they hadn't been able to destroy the remnant.

"The Remnant of the Evil God is immortal. And you're claiming that a human can eliminate it? That's absurd."

"Then why don't we put him to the test and see whether Yugeon really can eliminate an immortal being?"

"Are you suggesting that we release the Remnant of the Evil God from its seal merely to test that claim?"

"..."

Eilen fell silent at Erlad's words.

What she had just suggested was far too immature and reckless.

"Once the seal is broken, it can never be restored. None of the Elves alive today possess the power necessary to create a seal of that magnitude."

After all, the Elves of ten thousand years ago had possessed the World Tree's blessings.

Every Elf had been powerful back then.

But that was no longer the case.

"Therefore, we cannot believe your claim."

"I don't understand why you've used the promise of an alliance to make us discuss these matters, but..."

"We will overlook this because you saved Eilen. You should return home now."

The elders pressed their fingers against their aching foreheads.

However, Yugeon continued looking calmly at all five of them.

"There should be another remnant whose seal you could break to test my ability."

"What are you talking about...?"

"Ah!"

One of the elders suddenly nodded in realization.

There was another immortal thing sealed away in Alvheim.

Although, to be precise, it was questionable whether it should even be called a living being.

There was something else.

"The Evil God's Ear."

The ear that the Elves had severed from the Evil God ten thousand years ago was still sealed away.

It wouldn't divide or multiply if left alone.

However, it continuously emitted evil energy, which was why they had sealed it.

"And as far as I know, that ear is also immortal."

Even when they had attacked it with all their strength, they couldn't destroy it.

Throwing it into lava hadn't worked, either.

No matter what methods they had tried, they had been unable to eliminate the Evil God's Ear.

"And the seal on that ear is something the Elves of today can still recreate."

The seal placed on the ear had been constructed partly using ordinary magic.

Even with their present abilities, the Elves were capable of casting it again.

"..."

The elders fell silent at Yugeon's words.

"Tell your king everything we've discussed today. Then I'll prove my ability by destroying the Evil God's Ear right in front of you. I'll show you that I possess the power to kill even an immortal being."

Yugeon reached into his Subspace Bag and took something out.

He handed it to Eilen.

"A phone? Why are you giving me this...? It won't work here anyway."

"It's a phone enchanted with spatial magic. You can use it to contact Woojin directly."

"You've used one for the past few days, so you know how it works, right? Whenever you call, it'll connect to my phone."

Woojin shrugged.

By modifying spatial distortion, he had managed to make something like this possible.

"Contact us as soon as you receive an answer from your king. I'll come back."

Yugeon turned around and left the building.

Mincheol, Hwarin, and Woojin bowed to the five elders and said their goodbyes to Eilen before following him.

The reply came sooner than expected.

Two days after Yugeon returned home, he received a text message from Eilen.

The king wanted to meet him.

However, Yugeon sent a brief reply.

[Something has come up here, so I think I'll be a little late. I'll head over as soon as I've taken care of it.]

Yugeon chuckled after sending the message and put his phone down.

It was certainly important to establish an alliance with the Elves.

However, that didn't mean he intended to let them use the alliance as an excuse to push him around.

"We're supposed to be equals. We can't afford to put ourselves beneath them."

He had no intention of placing the Elves beneath humanity, either.

Doing so would inevitably lead to disaster in the end.

However, both sides needed to stand on equal footing.

The Elves will probably believe they should hold a higher position than humans.

Even if forming an alliance was essential, Yugeon had absolutely no intention of accepting that attitude.

Of course, that didn't mean he intended to blindly take humanity's side in every situation, either.

"Pardon?"

Seunggil, who was sitting across from him, looked up when he heard Yugeon muttering to himself.

"It's nothing. I was thinking about something else."

"Ah, I see. Shall we continue, then?"

Seunggil, who was sitting in front of a laptop, looked at Yugeon with bright, eager eyes.

They were currently at the Awakener Association's headquarters.

After returning from Alvheim, Yugeon had handed over the footage he had recorded there, along with an account of his successful journey to another dimension.

Of course, he hadn't told the Association everything that had happened.

He had simply reported that, with Eilen's help, they had entered a city and met the five elders who governed it.

That was the extent of his report.

"So this enormous stingray-like creature in the video is called a Ravion?"

"Yes, that's right. It was surprisingly stable."

"Oh, how fascinating."

Seunggil repeatedly expressed his amazement as he watched the footage.

The surrounding scenery was particularly breathtaking.

If it looked this beautiful on video, how much more incredible must it have been in person?

"Really... Thanks to you, Korea has been in something of a celebratory mood lately."

Seunggil smiled faintly at Yugeon.

Yugeon, who seemed detached from worldly affairs and showed little interest in public attention, might not have realized it.

But Han Yugeon was currently the most famous person in the world.

Simply opening an online community would reveal millions of posts about him.

His defeat of Baruoden.

His victory over the world's number-one Awakener.

His declaration that he wouldn't become a Great Star.

And now, dimensional travel.

Of course, the hottest topic of all was still the Monster Waves.

Everyone wanted to know how he had managed to predict when they would occur.

Seunggil checked his watch.

"By now, I'm sure everyone is watching the footage."

He suddenly felt the urge to check the internet.

It had been an hour since they had sent the video to other countries.

By now, officials in those countries had probably watched it two or three times and passed it along to their affiliated media organizations.

"It's truly an extraordinary achievement."

"Achievement? Hardly..."

Yugeon shook his head with an indifferent expression.

Stopping a Monster Wave without allowing it to cause significant damage?

That was something that could reasonably be called an achievement.

But what was so extraordinary about traveling to another dimension and simply looking around?

"I don't think the rest of the world sees it that way."

Seunggil smiled and shook his head at Yugeon's indifferent reaction.

After all, people were naturally drawn toward those who shone brightly.

"Ah, there's also something I need to discuss with you today."

"Something you need to discuss?"

Yugeon's expression became noticeably serious as he looked at Seunggil.

It had nothing to do with Alvheim.

Seunggil moved the laptop slightly to one side and prepared to listen carefully.

[Next Monster Wave]

[Date: September 15, 2055]

[Boss Appearance Location: Mexico]

There's roughly fifteen years left.

The interval before the next Monster Wave was longer than he had expected.

However, he couldn't trust that information completely.

He had already experienced the predicted date changing.

Of course, the ability would immediately inform him whenever the date changed, so he would still be able to respond.

But I can't simply trust what's written here and do nothing.

That was why now was the perfect time to tell them.

About the bosses.

"Some people have probably already figured it out, and I'm sure plenty of others have their suspicions. After all, it's happened twice in a row."

"..."

Seunggil was quick-witted enough to understand immediately what Yugeon was referring to.

The Monster Waves.

And more specifically, a particular type of creature.

"Every Monster Wave has a boss."

"...Just as we suspected."

Seunggil nodded with a serious expression.

It was exactly what the Awakener Associations of various countries had been speculating about.

A special creature.

No.

A boss.

"The Associations in other countries have suspected it, and so have we. We thought there might be some kind of special creature involved."

"That's understandable. We've now experienced two waves in which the same thing happened."