IRE 27

chapter 27

“That path is the Dragon’s Head Way.”

Seeing a scene I’d only ever seen in the game in real life was unexpectedly moving.

The Elf Forest in the game had always been just an invasion area—nothing more, nothing less—and now, since elves actually lived there, it didn’t feel special. But the Dragon’s Head Way felt genuinely new and different.

“So the dark elves are over there, right?”

“Yes. That’s correct.”

Dark Elves were a race I had a complicated history with in the game—sometimes they tormented me horribly; other times I’d tormented them. Maybe that’s why thoughts of them filled my head now.

‘Would seeing Dark Elves in real life feel nostalgic too?’

Probably not. I wasn’t that sentimental.

“From here on, be careful with your movements. We don’t know when or where they’ll run into us.”

We all nodded and moved silently.

The Dragon’s Head Way, as if to prove it really was a rocky mountain, had such a harsh terrain that the climb was grueling. Even a professional mountain climber from my past life would have found it difficult without proper gear and preparation.

But we were not ordinary people—we were effectively superhumans—and that terrain didn’t stop us.

We climbed for a long time, and gradually our breathing grew heavier.

“Irian, are you sure they’re here?”

I asked Irian, who was leading, in a low voice.

I knew we had to be quiet, but I had been watching the rear and hadn’t seen any trace of them.

If I couldn’t find a trace, it meant none of us had found one. There were no Sentinels better at tracking than I was among us.

Irian seemed to feel the same confusion and made a puzzled face.

“…Yes. Recon reported they came to this area.”

“Is there any guarantee the recon team wasn’t caught by them?”

“…Of course. That couldn’t have happened. They only observed from a distance and returned. There’s no way they were discovered!”

Irian said it without much conviction.

But he soon made a hollow expression, perhaps realizing that lying to himself now would do no good.

I, too, had been feeling a growing sense of dread and finally took an arrow from my quiver.

“Something doesn’t feel right.”

I straightened and raised my voice back to normal.

To the flustered Sentinels I hissed lowly, “Run. Now!”

At that moment—

Thud!

A silently fired arrow—one that left no noticeable wound in the terrain—pierced the head of the Sentinel who had been at the rear.

Startled and enraged by the lethal, stealthy shot, I shouted, “It’s an ambush! Everyone, hide!”

I didn’t forget my mother in the chaos.

“Mother, this way!”

I dragged her behind a rock for cover, but arrows continued to fly, cutting down two more Sentinels.

When I glanced where the arrows had come from, they came from the top of the cliffs on the rocky mountains.

Only then did I fully register where we had come to: a valley flanked by cliffs on both sides.

Damn.

We’d walked right into a perfect ambush site, blinded by tracking the trails. How had no one noticed?

Yet—seven elite Sentinels together and no one saw it? That made no sense.

I clicked my tongue and, still behind cover with my mother, called out loudly, “Irian! Are you okay?!”

“Yes! Eldmir seems to be unharmed, thank goodness!”

“They knew from the beginning! The recon noticed someone following them! That’s why they prepared this trap and lay in ambush!”

I ground my teeth and yelled. Irian, having realized the situation, answered in a steady voice loaded with guilt and responsibility.

“I’ll clear a path. Cover me.”

“Wait, wait! Irian, we haven’t identified all enemy positions. They could be aiming at us from the opposite cliff too!”

Arrows had been firing continuously from the cliff on the left side (relative to the entrance), but the cliff across from it was quiet.

Hoping the Dark Elves had only ambushed from one side would be wishful thinking. They might be waiting silently to spring more suddenly.

I clenched my teeth. Wiping cold sweat from my brow, I gripped my shaking hands tight.

Don’t shake. Don’t you dare.

If I trembled here, the me who once fought eight Warhammers alone would laugh at me. Don’t tremble over this.

My mother’s life wasn’t automatically on the line—she would be fighting with us. If I were going to be afraid and quake over this, how could I ask my mother to trust me?

I bit down until my gums bled.

The suddenness of the situation only tightened the cords in my head. I had to think—what I could do right now.

With a metallic tang in my mouth I shouted in a rough voice, “Irian, cover me. I’ll fight them. Lead everyone away and run!”

“Don’t be reckless, Er!”

My mother grabbed my arm tight. I seized her hand back and cried out, “There’s no other option, Mother. This is the only way!”

I raised the bow-bearing hand and pointed to the cliff where arrow fire had stopped for a moment.

“They’re waiting for us. Once we’re trapped, we’re prey, not hunters. We’ve lost. We have to run!”

“If everyone runs, there’s no problem. I’d rather—than have you die—this mother would—”

“It’s not a sacrifice!”

I cut off my mother’s words and shouted desperately.

“Every time something like this happened, I told you to trust me. It’s no different now. Trust your son.”

I had no intention of dying here.

Until our people survived the species war and my mother was happy, I would get through this alive. I would not die—no matter what.

My resolve shook my mother’s eyes. She fell silent for a moment before saying, “Son, a mother who must watch her child risk death—what she feels… it’s unbearable.”

“…Please. Just as no parent wishes their child’s death, no child wishes their parent’s death.”

I was staying because I was the strongest among us—nothing more. This was not sacrifice; it was the most rational calculation.

“I’ll survive, Mother. I want to live for your sake as well. Do you think I’d be so unfilial as to throw myself away?”

“Then this mother will go with you…”

“Mother.”

I spoke firmly. “It’s better if I fight alone right now.”

It might sound cruel to her, but it was the truth. If she stayed, she’d be a hindrance. If I stayed alone, I could fight freely, stall them, and escape at any moment.

She wore a pained expression but understood. My heart tore, but I kept my face steady.

“…Yes. Perhaps that’s right.”

She placed a hand on my cheek, gave me a bittersweet smile and a tender look. “Don’t die. You’re more precious than my life.”

“Don’t worry, Mother.”

I placed my hand over hers and smiled. “I’m the son who once beat eight Warhammers alone. I’m not going to die to a few turncoats here—unless they come in swarms.”

Seeing my confident grin, my mother managed a smile.

“I won’t be gone long.”

“I won’t keep you waiting either.”

With that, I sprang up.

“Come!! I’ll make you pay for this cowardly ambush!”

As I rushed out, arrows flew.

At that instant the world slowed like a slow-motion recording.

In the frozen moment I counted twenty-two arrows. The shots came from behind various rocks on the cliff. In my slowed vision I could make out a hand and a bow.

Twenty-two arrows were coming straight at me, followed by many more.

I clenched my teeth, twisted my body and launched into the air.

I spun horizontally midair. Arrows rained between my arms and legs.

Feeling arrows brush my clothing, I nocked an arrow to my string.

“You’re nothing more than vermin whether in a game or reality.”

Dark-skinned elves—skin black rather than the pale elf tone—symbols of corruption and proof of impurity: Dark Elves.

Aside from that label, I had no other feelings—just certainty that they were enemies to be killed.

I curled the corner of my mouth.

My feet touched the ground, only to leave it again for another leap before my weight settled.

I used one of the closing gazes on me as a foothold and pushed off, flinging myself forward and muttering, “You think you can catch me with those arrows?”

I inhaled and held back.

The string of my bow drew.

Beyond the flurry of arrows I sensed more bolts coming. It didn’t matter.

Their arrows carried nothing but blind killing intent and followed their gaze. My arrows were fired from will and image.

The arrow I loosed rode the currents of the wind as if alive.

One arrow against a dozen might seem pitiful, but against them one was enough.

Rat-a-tat-tat!

The arrow, moving as if guided by an unseen hand, slashed through the sky and deflected nearly ten incoming shafts.

It was a strange, almost mystical sight. The Dark Elves who’d been aiming to end my life seemed taken aback and instinctively paused.

I didn’t miss the opportunity and fired again while shouting, “Run, Irian!!”

“Hah… We’re alive. I’ll definitely come to rescue you!”

With that shout, Irian and my mother and the four other surviving Sentinels bolted.

“For the Glory of the Forest!!”

Irian and the other Sentinels roared.

They shot arrows at the cliff ambush, but their shots were blocked by cover. I shot down incoming arrows aimed at them.

“Why are you turning your attention away from me?”

I started running.

It was the first time I’d sprinted flat-out outside the woods. Rocks seemed to push me; my body flew toward the cliff.

The unexpected speed startled the enemies. They panicked and started aiming to snipe me. Arrows from the opposite cliff joined, all focused on me.

Instead of returning fire, I ran faster.

“Haaaah!!”

I accelerated as if leaving afterimages; arrows began to stick into the air behind me.

A speed too fast even for Dark Elves to track was a speed even most Sentinels couldn’t keep up with—but such speeds couldn’t be sustained long.

As the cliff drew near, I pushed off with all my might.

The cliff was high—impossible to scale in a single leap—so I ran up it, using it to keep my momentum.

“What the—?!”

“El Rur, my god, a true monster.”

I heard the Dark Elves cry out in horror.

They’d scrambled out from cover and were now aiming at me from the cliff edge.

Running up the cliff I began firing at them as if waiting for this exact moment.

But I had already released two arrows aimed at them before they could shoot.

The two arrows pierced two of them cleanly through the skull from chin to brain.

Two bodies with brains impaled dropped below the cliff.

Using one of the two nearby bodies as a stepping point, I added explosive force to my leap and used the other corpse as a shield.

With that single leap I closed the distance to the cliff top in an instant.

“Hup!”

Many Dark Elves on the cliff sucked in air.

There were those who had been preparing to shoot at me before the two had fallen, others lined up behind them, and those still coming up to take aim—some were simply getting in position to fire with them.

Even as they scrambled, the front ones tried to shoot at me.

I smiled fiercely at them.

“I told you.”

I tossed the two arrows I’d fired earlier—the ones that had killed the first two—straight at the shooters.

The bodies pierced by those arrows flew like projectiles toward the archers who had aimed at me.

Those hit by their friends’ bodies screamed and collapsed, and I landed swiftly, kicked them, and sent them over the cliff.

Seeing two more comrades die in an instant, the Dark Elves drew back their bows more tightly.

But did they know?

There’s no situation more pressuring than an arrow loosed right in your face—but also none so familiar to me.

Drawing arrows was not only their domain.

While I hurled corpses and kicked down pinned Dark Elves, I put all my will into another shot.

“I’ll make you pay.”

“You monster!”

“You call me a monster—what about you, the trash who sold their soul?”

The arrow that greedily swallowed my will flew at them.