The lush forest of Elvenguard.
In the very center stands the massive sacred tree, the World Tree.
From the tunnel carved at the base of the World Tree, the silhouette of a girl emerges.
A white veil covering her face.
And just by seeing her long, pale green hair, everyone knew.
The priestess of the World Tree.
It was Mia.
“Priestess, what about the prophecy…?”
“…”
At that moment, the white-haired high elves that had been waiting rushed to the entrance and asked the priestess.
But the priestess, Mia, simply stood there shaking her head.
Sighs echoed from all around.
“This is the time we need the prophecy the most! Why is the World Tree silent?!”
“It’s too late now.”
As Mia sighed and took a step forward, a path opened up as if the sea had parted.
And as Mia finally emerged completely from the tunnel, the sky was dyed red.
It wasn’t just a sunset.
The Great Spirit Ifrit.
The essence of the fire spirit, a massive flame embroidered the sky.
Mia opened her eyes wide as she stepped into a place with a good view.
It had already been 12 hours since the Great Spirit began to grow its essence.
The now rampaging essence burned and crushed everything in its path.
An area wide enough to fill the horizon was already in flames.
Next was Elvenguard, the city where the elves lived.
And the World Tree.
“What’s the evacuation status?”
“All residents have exited Elvenguard. However, it’s uncertain if they will reach the nearby city without any casualties.”
It was a desperate situation.
The population of Elvenguard alone reached a staggering one hundred thousand.
Just getting to the nearest city, isolated as it is, was a burdensome task.
Even if they manage to arrive somehow, no insane lord would take in that many refugees.
The aftermath would be even worse.
The World Tree is an immortal sacred tree.
Even if it burned away to its roots, it would sprout and revive somewhere on the continent.
Until the revived World Tree is found, the elves could not stop their grievous march.
The elven nation, Elvenguard, must be established where the World Tree grows.
They would be reduced to refugees searching for a sapling for ten or a hundred years.
“I will persuade one last time.”
“Please do, Priestess.”
“Please…”
They couldn’t leave it to chance.
Mia took a deep breath, motivated by the countless cheers from behind her, and stepped forward.
She walked toward the massive pillar of flames slowly approaching Elvenguard.
“Great Spirit!”
|…|
Thud Thud
The essence of the Great Spirit, advancing step by step, halted.
Mia placed her hand on her chest and took a deep breath.
The fate of the World Tree rested on her words.
The lives of the elves and the Elvenguard were on the line.
This pressure weighed heavily on Mia.
She had to choose her words carefully.
“Is there truly no intention to quell your anger?”
|…|
There was no response.
As if there was no thought of conversation.
Or perhaps as if she wasn’t even being heard, the spirit stood still, motionless.
“Great Spirit! We can resolve this with words…”
|You’ve been given plenty of chances.|
A heavy voice shook the earth.
Right after that, the pillar of flame began to move again.
It advanced toward Elvenguard, burning everything it touched.
“Ah…”
Mia’s legs gave way, and she collapsed.
A firmness could be sensed in the Great Spirit’s voice.
It seemed it wouldn’t stop now.
It was over.
Everything was over.
“Priestess, please get up. We must hurry and evacuate.”
“But… but what significance does a priestess without the World Tree hold…?”
“We must seek the World Tree again. We can’t find it without you, Priestess. Please stand.”
Overwhelmed by the elders’ insistence, the moment Mia raised her body, the essence of Ifrit, which she thought would never stop, halted once more.
Was it giving her one last chance?
Mia’s face brightened as she stood up, but quickly turned serious.
“No!”
Right in front of the blazing essence of the Great Spirit, stood a lone human.
*
“I’ve thought a few times about wanting it to just burn away…”
This was the first time I wanted to smash a city since the adventurer district.
All the residents of this city were at least a hundred years old, so whenever another race showed up, it was always filled with nonsense from grumpy old folks.
Listening to that slowly drives a person mad, and I couldn’t help but seriously contemplate if the elves disappearing from the world might actually aid in world peace.
“I never thought the burning day would come.”
But when Elvenguard was on the verge of engulfment in flames…
Seeing the worried faces of people lined up leaving, my heart softened.
‘Stopping that is now impossible.’
If the essence of the Great Spirit has grown to this extent, a head-on confrontation is hopeless.
Not even a dragon could win against that.
Even if we destroy that essence, it doesn’t mean the spirit is killed.
Spirits are not living beings but ‘magical beings.’
Unless we destroy the core made of mana, it will endlessly generate its essence and revive.
The problem is that the core is somewhere within that pillar of flame.
Finding a way to target that core is impossible.
And there isn’t enough time to wait for it to exhaust its energy and collapse on its own.
‘I need to find Kali.’
I had to capture and overpower Kali, who was hiding somewhere.
She was likely the Four Heavenly Kings controlling Ifrit.
Look at that.
As evidence of being under Kali’s control, Ifrit hasn’t responded to the priestess’s inquiries at all…
|You’ve been given plenty of chances.|
“Huh?”
What is that?
How is it talking?
If it were under Kali’s control, it should have lost its ability to speak…?
‘No way. Was it a wild goose chase?’
I thought Ifrit was being manipulated into smashing Elvenguard.
But the truth was that Kali hadn’t even come here, and Ifrit was just having a ball.
This is bad.
I thought just capturing Kali would resolve everything.
Now there’s no way to stop that walking sea of flames.
‘No. There is one way.’
A faint possibility appeared in my mind.
I wasn’t sure if it would succeed.
But it was worth a shot.
“Waaah…! That’s a Great Spirit! How are we supposed to stop an angry Great Spirit? Not even a great mage could handle that!”
“There is a way, I assure you. But Alicia, I need a little help from you.”
“Me?!”
“Come on. It’s a chance to become a hero who saved Elvenguard.”
“Ahhh! Wait a second! You want to jump into that inferno? If I’m going to die, I’ll die alone! I still have so many foods I haven’t eaten yet!!!”
Shwoosh shwoosh shwoosh.
I tugged at Alicia’s wrist, easily leading her along.
But it seems she trusts me to some extent, as she didn’t resist too much and even flopped down.
“Ugh…”
As we approached closely, Ifrit’s essence stopped and momentarily met our gaze.
It was like facing a tidal wave made of fire.
So grand and enormous.
It felt like flames would engulf us at any moment, turning us into white skeletons.
Sweat poured down like rain.
My entire body felt like it was on fire.
Alicia was already so distressed that she was sticking out her tongue.
…Mijeong didn’t seem too troubled; maybe because she’s always been low on moisture.
“Well, this isn’t going to work.”
Whoosh.
I threw a stone into the pillar of flames.
But the intense heat caused it to bounce back instead of going in.
I definitely needed Alicia’s help.
“Mijeong. You need to throw it just right. Got it?”
“…Okay.”
I took off my necklace, adorned with a mana stone emitting an ominous light, and handed it to Mijeong.
This operation was just as vital for Mijeong as it was for Alicia.
If we fail, we’d lose Tay’s latest mana stone.
“This distance should be fine. Alicia. I’m counting on you.”
“Isn’t this just going to further aggravate the Great Spirit’s wrath…?”
“Trust me.”
“Ahh!”
She nodded and gave me a determined look.
Then, Alicia scrunched her brow, acted all pouty, and finally put on the mana stone ring I’d given her.
She extended her hand forward and began chanting the spell.
“O spirit of the winds, grant me the power to punish the knaves…”
Boom!
With a sound that could tear eardrums apart, a powerful wind swept forward.
It was thousands of times more powerful than what Alicia had used before against the thugs.
|Oh no!|
The gust slammed directly into Ifrit’s essence, piercing through the flames.
In an instant, a massive void appeared right in the center of the pillar of flames.
“….Huh?”
Seizing the moment, Mijeong’s red eye light shone as she grabbed the necklace’s chain and started spinning.
Then she jumped into the air, making one, two full rotations and…
Swish!
Threw the necklace forward.
Thanks to Mijeong’s rapid spin, the necklace shot through the void at maximum speed.
But that void quickly refilled with flames.
|You insignificant bugs!!!|
“Ahhh! Now it’s even angrier!”
The pillar of flames turned blue and began to increase in size.
But there was no need to worry.
Spirits can infinitely revive as long as their cores remain intact.
In other words, if we disable the core, the spirit’s essence can also be subdued.
And the core of the spirit is made of mana.
Coincidentally, Tay’s latest black mana stone has the ability to absorb mana.
‘If I activate the stone’s effect to absorb mana…’
The moment the mana stone buried deep inside the essence began to shine ominously.
|Huh?|
A horrid wail echoed.
Ifrit’s core was sucked into the necklace without resistance.
Woosh!
The essence that lost its core began to collapse.
The massive pillar of flames lost its form and flickered away, leaving only white ashes as if snow had fallen.
As I walked inside, a pleasant sound of footsteps echoed.
I found it.
My necklace.
The metal parts were all melted, charred, and twisted into a mess, but the black mana stone was just as it had been.
“Things worked out. Right?”
“What on earth are you… for real?”
I discovered an incredible fact.
As long as I have this mana stone, I can capture any magical being, no matter how high their level.
To put it simply, it’s like a master ball that can catch all legendary Pokémon!
