Chapter 57 – The Magic of the Elves
As the young man headed towards the depths of the forest, people began gathering in the tribal grounds while casting various spells.
Unaware of those Elven activities in the forest, the young man goes through the forest while looking at the measuring instrument. Then, his surroundings unexpectedly shift.
The ground moves and roars as earth scrapes by earth, until a huge earthen hand appears. The trees shuffle noisily, as the thick trunks bend like whips. Golems made of rock climb from the ground.
The young man thickened his defensive barrier in a hurry, and measured the magic remnants around him. But no matter how he used it, he only picked up the remnants that were released from his own defensive barrier.
As he was busy handling the measuring tool, a giant stone golem approached and raised its huge fist.
This golem was the pride of the Elven people, the weapon that had buried orcs and armies alike. No shield nor armor could stand a blow from this stone golem. Yet in front of one, the young man kept his calm.
「If I was just a kid wearing ordinary clothes, then I’d definitely be toast.」
The Elves manipulating the golem in the depths of the forest smiled.
The golem swung its fist down, the gigantic stone fist slamming into the young man’s defensive barrier, creating an explosion of dust and dirt which fluttered around them. And as the debris cleared up, there laid a corpse of a young man crushed flat… or at least there should have been.
「Is this supposed to be the ancient stone golem that was handed down? The attack power is pretty weak… and it’s surprisingly fragile.」
Yet when the smoke cleared up, the young man stood unharmed,
No, he wasn’t just fine, he was more than fine. The stone fist that hit the young man had shattered, and the arm that held the stone fist had shortened.
When they saw the young man unharmed the Elves were astonished and began to panic.
「What happened!? Why is he safe!?」
「Did it miss!? Did it fail!?」
「In the first place, why is the fist broken!? Just how tough do you think that fist is!?」
「Tha- that’s a coincidence!! It must be!!」
「That’s right, it’s just a fluke!! There’s no other answer!」
「Hey!! Send the other stone golems as well!」
With that they hurried to send the other stone golems. Supporting them were those that manipulated the earthen hands and the whip-like trees.
The serene woods became noisy. Many stone golems surrounded the young man, fist after fist striking him. A large trunk bends, and whips towards the young man from the sky. Grass growing at his feet try to entangle him.
These were the desperate attacks of the Elven people, but no matter how much they attacked the young man did not receive a single injury.
In contrast, the young man was rather happy. The measuring tool had finally picked up magical remnants. Furthermore, through large scale detection magic the origin of these magical remnants became clear.
(I finally found it. The source of the magic must also be the settlement of the Elves.
Even while using this much magic, it only creates this tiny amount of magical remnants… I suppose the rumors were true after all.
Perhaps it’s because their magic differs in some way to the magic we use… but regardless, how can there be magic that barely gives off magical remnants?)
「This.. Is something I definitely must investigate…」
His eyes burned with the soul of a scholar. It was a waste of time to mess around any longer.
The young man wielded his wand and circulated magic power into the magic circle. The spell activated and unleashed a powerful attack magic around him.
It took only a moment.
It looked as if his body was shining for that moment, and after that, the golems, the moving trees, and the earthen hands were all blown away.
No longer able to move, the golems collapsed as ordinary stone. The earthen hands returned their soil to the earth. The trees flew far and pierced far into the ground.
The combat spell blew everything around the young man away, creating a flatland in the woods.
After confirming the enemy’s defeat, the young man headed towards the source of the magical remnants. The Elven people who were watching him were in great turmoil.
「Kill that kid! No matter the means!」
「Then what are you suggesting!? Do you think we should throw more golems at him!?」
「He has desecrated our sacred forest! We must get rid of him!! Else our ancestors will never rest in peace!!」
「What did that kid do in the first place? It looked like something close to our magic…」
「Fool! Magic is a secret technique only we can use! As if those outside barbarians could wield it!」
「Hey! He’s heading directly for the village!」
「What!? It’s true! How did he find us!?」
「Hurry up and gather everyone!! We must do whatever we can to attack that thing!!」
All who could fight in the village gathered and prepared their mana..
The young man, who was heading for the Elven village, used search magic to investigate his surroundings. It was then that he discovered something huge which was approaching him with considerable speed.
「Eh? What is it this time?」
That thing reached him only a minute after the young man noticed it.
It was a giant stone bird.
This stone bird was flying in the air, creating gusts of wind while flapping its stone wings.
「This is… this is similar to our cutting edge siege golems prototypes!
Did the Elves develop this thing?」
While the young man was busy being impressed by this magical wonder, the stone bird opened its large beak and roared.
The cry let out a destructive shock wave..
He hurriedly raised his wand and strengthened his barriers to the highest level.
The shock wave tore at the land, erased the water from the river, and approached the young man while crushing trees. The young man clenched his teeth and glared at the bird while clutching his wand.
The shock wave smashed into his barriers and sent him flying into the air, but he adjusted himself quickly and summoned a barrier at his feet. Jumping with the barrier as a foothold, he created a great distance between him and the bird.
When his feet were back on solid ground, the stone bird opened its beak wide open again. At that moment, the young man raised his wand and shouted,
「Now!!」
Taking full advantage of the opportunity, he cast a powerful barrier magic inside the beak of the bird. The next moment, the bird exploded, creating a rain of pebbles and rocks.
The young man’s strategy was simple.
The stone bird, unaware of the barrier the young man deployed, would fire the same powerful shock wave as before. Therefore, the shock wave would be stopped by the barrier. All that force, with nowhere to go but backwards, would recoil. With the force displayed earlier, there would be no way the rock bird could withstand the recoil at point blank range.
The young man watched the rain of stone with excitement, ready for whatever surprises the Elves would send at him next. It was an honest and innocent wish to play around with powerful magic..
…But his expectations were betrayed. The resistance of the Elves was over. The rock bird was the strongest force they had.
When the Elves learned that their strongest force had been destroyed in a battle of just mere minutes, they fell to the floor tiredly.
????
The Elves were too prideful.
They were the first new human race to create magic.
They were the strongest in the era where magic was theirs and theirs only.
But that did not last.
As the strongest, they scorned the people living in the outside world as barbarians, and ceased all interactions.
As a result, they did not know that magic stronger than theirs was developed in the outside world. In fact, they didn’t even know that magic was developed at all.
Of course, they too were developing their own magic. Stone golems have dramatically improved in their performance, and that stone bird was a new invention.
But the progress of magitech outside had far surpassed that.
The Elven village, which had lost their greatest ace, only had a single path in front of them.
The Elven elders let the women and children escape into the forest while gathering the men. Armed with nothing but hunting bows, they stood guard at the entrance to the village, awaiting the arrival of the young man.
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