Dwarves – 4
[Kohohohohoh!]
“A giant ogre…”
“Damn it!”
Everyone in the lot responded to Cain’s yelling as he stepped forward, feeling the overwhelming nature of his fierceness and physical power. At that moment, I extended my senses to the limit to keep an eye on the Elakatra and the One Flag, who were too confused to move properly. Anyone at that moment could see their exchange of glances, noticing the link between them.
The Elakatra reacted violently towards the dwarf, acting as if he had to kill them if it might destroy their image amongst the humans. I thought it was because of their arrogance, but after seeing Lee Minha, I changed my mind a little. They were acting on purpose, taking the villain’s role to temporarily make One Flag stand out. He attempted to force the dwarves into a battle where the One Flag had to confront them.
All of this was to be realized through their power, speed, and stealth. If the dwarf’s neck were taken before anyone could respond, this place would’ve turned into a battlefield no matter what. How many times did an accident lead to war in history? The dwarves wouldn’t be able to maintain their sense of reason in front of the death of a colleague, and humans were no different. The dwarves were too strong to be ignored, even if they did fall short of the Elakatra. If the humans didn’t fight back in such a scenario, some of them would be killed.
Thus, One Flag would intervene as the Elakatra wanted. It was impossible now, however, because of me. They didn’t anticipate that their movements would be blocked. Few strong beings existed above ground, after all. The situation continued to be distorted, and the Elakatra’s movements fully ceased. Cain moved before the One Flag had come up with an alternative, which made everything simple and clear. Protect the dwarves. That had to be my primary goal here.
[Ooh, oh oh, ooh!]
Cain continued to cry out as if he had lost all reason, stepping forward with a sorrowful voice. Not even the members of One Flag could block his steps, having to withdraw. This was the moment I completely took over the initiative. Cain stood tall, standing in front of the dwarves. Lee Chan-yu waved his hands, monsters popping out of the air to surround the dwarves. The dwarves held their weapons up with expressions of horror, but soon realized they weren’t hostile.
“As long as they don’t harm us, they have the freedom to do what they want, correct?” I asked Lee Minha, ignoring the Elakatra.
“Yes. So, we need to talk to them.”
“Hmm.” If I gave them a chance to control the situation with the dwarves, the elves would eventually get the chance to run wild. They would only back down once the dwarves were firmly in the hands of One Flag.
“You cannot be the representative of this country. You aren’t even Korean. I don’t know where you were kicked out from, but you aren’t from here.” Was that how he was going to play it? That was my only weakness here. My identity was unclear, but certainly, I didn’t look Korean on the outside. So if this were happening on Korean soil, there would be those who felt I had no place here.
“Rebellion is allied with Erkindra!” Han Jia spoke up. The others were overwhelmed by Lee Minha’s magical power and strange momentum, but she still spoke courageously.
“He is representing Erkindra’s position, and thus belongs here.”
“An unknown person representing an alliance…has your pride fallen through the mud?”
“Pride is nothing compared to being unable to protect these people. We have much more precious things than pride.” I couldn’t help but think how well her words were spoken. Erkindra was a group of people with childish thoughts, starting with my younger sister, its guild master. It was a group of fools with unrealistic ideals. But that’s why they could protect and change others. They preserved the values that humans were losing and made them remember what they had lost. They held the potential to change these twisted humans.
“That certainly is the case.”
“Considering that One Flag was in charge of the hunt for the fallen, it cannot be entrusted to them.”
“I agree.”
“Erkindra…”
The air began to change. The people who had been considering the dwarves as something to catch or use were changing their minds. That was in part thanks to the contempt they had against One Flag. However, I didn’t think the situation would be resolved so easily. I moved Cain to protect the dwarves, but not specifically to protect them from the Elakatra or One Flag. What would be the best way for them to achieve their goals now that things had become complicated? The response came as if the Elakatra planned it.
[Kiiiaaah!]
That was the intrusion of a third party.
“Chaos Soul?!”
“Fuck!”
Elakatra could control the Chaos Soul at will. It was only natural they would summon one here to reinforce their position.
“At a time like this…!”
“Find out what the other cities are like, and whether they need help!”
The humans began to react to everyone’s cries, and the Elakatra fit in alongside them. To me, knowing the whole story, however, their poker faces seemed so fragile that they would break at any time. I could practically see them laughing behind their masks of stoicism.
“I have to protect my home!”
“Move, everyone! Move!”
In front of this crisis was the problem of the dwarves. Lee Minha smiled at the guilds who had to protect Incheon and began to move away. If they ran to face the Chaos Soul here, it meant playing according to the elves’ wishes. However, if you didn’t move, it left room for criticism that the dwarves had priority over humans. No matter how they moved, they would be playing according to the elves’ plans.
[Kiaahhhh!]
Chaos Souls appeared in the air, and I stepped towards it. I moved with Ubiquitous, activating Reaper while creating an alter ego so that the others wouldn’t notice my disappearance.
“What do we do?”
“Move! There’s more than just one or two of them!”
Rebellion and Erkindra were in a similarly precarious position, as not confronting the Chaos Souls would contradict their beliefs. That was what the Elakatra was waiting for. There was a third Elakatra who appeared without anyone but me noticing. They had an unconventional means of transportation, much like my own probably. While the other two went to the battlefield, the third would move in to finish things off. They moved toward the dwarves that were being protected by Cain and the monsters. I was running with the others, but my alter ego reacted to him.
As I had predicted the intervention in advance, I let the mana flow from me and activated the power of Reaper. Cain covered the dwarves and turned to aid my alter ego. He used his new magical power, flinging his sweat at the elf with a great force.
“Huh?!” The elf’s movement stopped temporarily, and his long sword faltered. My greatsword moved in the shadows, and with my newly reinforced magical power, I had no issue in slicing through his neck.
[You gained 1,938 experience.]
[You received 93 gold.]
Only
The role of alter ego didn’t end there. If they figured out they failed, they would send reinforcements sooner or later. I had to get rid of their targets here. The alter ego moved, receiving more than half of my mana to activate Lunatic Trickster on itself. I was using high-level magic that only became possible after evolving into a Belkena Predator. It amplified the effect of magic that it came into contact with. A door opened on the ground, pulling in all objects standing on the ground near it. Everyone who was there, except for Cain, disappeared into it.
At that moment, the Elakatra noticed the dwarves disappear, but didn’t know who caused it. One Flag was just as clueless, as they left the clean-up to the elves. The other humans were too busy fighting the Chaos Soul to notice them.
[Kiahahahah!]
“Rebellion, it’s too strong…!”
I quickly reached the front line, summoning Canis to ride on. As flashily as possible, I swung my sword with enormous magical power, creating a huge hole within the crowd of Chaos Souls. No one could deny I was on the battlefield now. At the same time, my alter ego was elsewhere in front of a different sight.
“You’re back, Fate.” Rain greeted me as always before turning to smile at the flabbergasted dwarves.
“Welcome to Fate’s castle, everyone.”
It was my turn to attack the Elakatra now.
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