novel[11th Round] Favoritism
| ← Ch.172 | Ch.174 → |
It was a very strange sensation. I had always lived modestly because I clearly knew my abilities and limitations. After all, anyone could become strong enough if they remained in the Fantasy World for as long as I did.
But now, that perception was about to change slightly. Even when Lanuvel in the 1st playthrough said, "You are the chosen hero!" I didn't think that I was special.
I am an Earthman kidnapped into a Fantasy World by chance. I was like a victim of a psychopath who would attack anyone for no reason. However...
"I feel like a genius from birth, huh?"
The sense of omnipotence makes you feel like you can do anything if you put your mind to it, just like the protagonist in a novel, who succeeds unconditionally even if he pushes through with mistakes and without thorough preparation. Is fortune following me?
For me, now, even a 1% chance was no different than a 100% chance. As my abilities rapidly increased, my options increased, and with so many options to choose from, it became difficult to choose the next plan. Should I say that these are pleasant worries?
"Drug hero, what are you doing? Quickly release this chain! If you just go and fail to keep your promise, I'll curse you forever!"
I was awakened from my thoughts by the First Spirit. She felt a change in me, but she didn't seem to care much.
"Can't you bear it for a while?"
"It is similar to a human diet. You can bear it when there are only bad things around me, but when delicious things surround you, it becomes painful."
"Do you know about dieting?"
But she was a spirit, right?
"I am the First Spirit. I have lived more years than humans can fathom. I've seen more than five hundred princesses go on a suicidal diet to take care of their bodies ten days before their wedding. Including the sight of them becoming common middle-aged women due to 'yo-yo' dieting and pregnancy after that. Hmm. Elves are very free in that respect. No matter how much they eat, they won't gain weight."
In the modern world, obesity was considered bad, and it had a very bad effect on health. However, here, there was no sin in gaining weight if you eat a lot. This was because it was a survival strategy to store nutrients in the body. Conversely, it was a problem that the elves didn't gain weight no matter how much they ate.
If they broke their regular diet, they would soon suffer from malnutrition. They couldn't eat ahead of time like humans and skip a meal or two.
Anyway, I touched the demonic chain that bound the First Spirit.
Burst...
That alone broke the chain.
Level 1 → Level 1872
I drained all the experience points. The demon's chain was strengthened by absorbing the experience points of the bound target. And as I quickly drew in the accumulated experience points like this, it lost its function and form. So far, so good.
If there's only one thing that's bothering me...
Swoooo-
A strange force was trying to pull my soul somewhere. Its power was still weak, but I couldn't help but be bothered about it because it hadn't happened before. When the First Spirit was released, she moved to lay comfortably over my head.
"As a reward for keeping your promise, I will give you good information. There are so many things you can do if you are loved by nature. But they say it's not good to overdo anything, right? The same goes for this one. If the love of nature goes too far, you will be absorbed as a part of it. That's why I couldn't become infinitely strong even after eons of time, and the fingers of the drug hero tricked me."
"No, that seems to be a separate issue..."
"It's the same! I saw it!"
"Oh, yeah. I get it, so don't rub your ass on my head!"
I was appalled that it was possible. I think that's why love is so scary.
"Being absorbed into nature and becoming one is, in a sense, the same as euthanasia, so be careful. Ah! I forgot to tell you how. You have to be able to control your power. The greater the love, the greater the power to borrow from nature, but the higher the chance of being absorbed."
"...What about favoritism?"
"Heehee, heeheehee...!"
Suddenly, the First Spirit began to let out a strange-sounding laugh as her shoulders and hips shook.
"What?"
"It's so surprising! Favoritism! Nature's beloved beings are as many as the stars in the universe, but that means you're getting a particular interest! Of course, favoritism doesn't last forever. But while you are favored, you can do anything. Including annihilating the First Angel! With your life as the price, though."
"It's too expensive!"
"Isn't that cheap from others' point of view? Heeheehee!"
I want to kill the Fantasy God, but I don't want to die together with them.
"Anything else to pay attention to?"
"Lower your abilities as much as possible. It may have been helpful before, but the skills and levels that come from nature are just the bondage that fuels your demise. If the allowed abilities for you are a hundred, you can only use fifty for attack if you use fifty for defense and support, right? So give up defense and support and invest your hundred into attack! Don't worry about the defense. Those favored by nature won't die even if the galaxy explodes. Never."
"Hmmm..."
"You don't seem to believe me."
"It's not an easy decision to make."
Fluttering.
I flapped the wings of the righteous hero that sprouted from my back and soared upward. This was the basement of the palace garden of the Elf Kingdom, but my head never collided with the hard ceiling.
Dukdukdukduk-
The ceiling cracked during the earthquake. The Earth Spirits didn't help out unnoticed. The will of the universe was expressed in harmony with my actions. I escaped to the ground through the large crack that formed.
How about Lanuvel that I left down there?
It was none of my business.
"It's great to get the attention of nature. In the aftermath of the earthquake, the palace was split in two. It's so cool!"
"Do you have any other advice?"
"I'll give it after you give up your abilities."
"Hmph."
My purpose in coming to the Elf Kingdom had been achieved. Although the achievements I found through enlightenment were too great to be evaluated lightly, in the first place, I didn't come here with high expectations. The next item on the schedule was...
"Hero, you can't leave Lanuvel behind!"
"...I forgot."
Lanuvel in the past wouldn't have noticed even if I disappeared, but Lanuvel in this 11th playthrough was an archmage with many Transcendental Realm Skills.
...Lanuvel, an archmage? It was a very unexpected turn of the century setting.
"Hero! Hero! It's a big deal! There are about five hundred heroes that have already been summoned or scheduled to be summoned, and among them, there are more than fifty heroes that Lanuvel needs to summon! I might die from overwork!"
"It's something to celebrate."
I wish she would die.
"Will you help me?"
"No. I think this is the end of our adventure. Lanuvel, thank you for following me throughout the day. Let's not see each other again."
"Boo..."
Lanuvel glanced back at me as she pretended to leave. It seemed like she wanted me to hold her back, but I ignored her and headed for the royal palace, the heart of the Elf Kingdom.
"How dare a human set those filthy feet in my palace...!"
There was an elf running wild along the way. It wasn't difficult to find the incumbent Elf King. He was locked up in the safest place in the royal palace, the treasure troves while giving orders.
? Race: Arch Elf
? Level: 9999+
? Job: King (Reputation → Leadership↓)
? Skills: Spirit ZZZ Archery S Swordsmanship S Dignity A Politics A...
? Status: Outraged
His ability was insignificant even after the buff. Although his level was high, he wasn't much different from before, where he had nothing to see other than the Spirit Skill.
"Oh, my..."
It became a little troublesome for me, who only wanted to pick up Tears of the Elf King, one of the Great Three hidden treasures of the Elf Kingdom. There was nothing more to do with this kingdom or the elves.
Whoop! Whoop! Whoop!
The elves, which were sealed with spirits, fired a volley of arrows at me, but all those arrows missed my body. Despite the hundreds sailing toward me, not a single one reached me.
Wouldn't it be more difficult to deliberately miss? It was a sight suspect of blatant manipulation beyond luck. On the other hand...
"Ouch!"
The Holy Sword Nucleon slipped from my hand, cut through several elves as if harvesting them, and finally came to a stop inside the Elf King's chest. There were even some elves who tried to evade. However, they sprained their ankles or collided with their colleagues so that they couldn't avoid the Holy Sword.
"I-I can't die like this...!"
The Elf King cried out with blood welling in his eyes. Then he was enveloped in bright light.
What is it? Self-destruction?
"He is reincarnated as a spirit."
The First Spirit, lying on my head in a lazy posture, explained with a soft tone. I watched the scene with interest. My usual self would have attacked as soon as I realized it was unusual, but I couldn't feel any tension now.
It was a pity that I had no popcorn. The splendid royal clothes fell from the body of the Elf King, who was moving halfway out of the material world. His exposed body gradually changed. The jawline of the Elf King, who had a masculine body shape and appearance even though he was skinny, was growing thinner, and his shoulders narrowed.
Not only that.
"Aah...!"
I lamented as I watched the Elf King silently. This was because the precious thing to men deteriorated and shrank, eventually disappeared completely, and became a bare mountain. That didn't mean he became a woman.
There was nothing there.
"Drug hero. Spirits don't exist in the first place. The spirit of light who rejected it became an angel, and the spirit of darkness became a demon. The same goes for you. But that guy's spirit-friendliness comes from a forced oath. The Transcendental Realm is too much for an idiot who is not even an F-Class in the first place."
The First Spirit calmly explained. The spirit-friendliness of the elves wasn't normal. Therefore, no matter how high the grade was, it couldn't fully draw out its power. Of course, it was still possible to scratch the surface.
Like the Elf King, who was reincarnated as a spirit.
? Race: Arch Spirit
? Level: 9999+
? Job: King (Reputation → Leadership↓)
? Skills: Earth ZZ Earthquake Z Farming Z Dignity A Politics A...
? Status: Outraged
The body of the Elf King was emitting a soft ocher color. He was reincarnated as an Earth Spirit, so there was a big change in his skills. However, the Level ZZ effect of the Spirit Skill, which I thought to have disappeared, continued to appear even after reincarnating.
Flash! Flash! Flash!
The elves who fell with my Holy Sword were reincarnated as spirits. They were reborn with one of the five attributes of the spirit and gathered around the Elf King like an army.
Was it time for the second round? No such event occurred.
"Kneel."
As the First Spirit spoke, the situation ended. When he was reincarnated from an elf to a spirit, it was no different as if he surrendered. Therefore, Elf B didn't reincarnate as a spirit until the moment he died. Because if she did it, he would become a slave. But the stupid Elf King...
His eyes were wide open, and he was confused. He seemed to have just discovered the spirit lying above my head.
"The descendants of Elfheim are so stupid...it's unfortunate, but what happened to the lineage of such clever elves..."
The First Spirit made a complicated expression as if recalling an old friend.
"What do you plan to do next?"
"What do you want to do with the elves, drug hero? It was you who saved me. So I will give you the right to decide."
"Hmm. It's a world that will disappear anyway..."
*
I freed the spirits from the rule of the wild elves, and the Elf Kingdom was newly reorganized. Spirits were nobles and Elves, the commoners. The elf executives and royalty who had suppressed the spirits were demoted to slaves, living or dead.
"You take care of the specifics."
An ideal form of the government was completed in which commoners (elves) rule the country and nobles (spirits) just play quietly. Could this be true democracy?
"Drug hero, apologize to democracy immediately."
"What did I do?"
"You're a natural sciences major, aren't you?"
"So?"
"I knew it."
We were moving west of the Elf Kingdom. Lanuvel said that I should defeat the Five Great Disasters starting from the Eastern Continent. Still, I decided that it would be inefficient to go back to the other side of the Elf Kingdom located west of the Central Continent.
So I rescheduled it to the Western Continent.
? The disaster of the Western Continent: Subjugation of the Wraith King Shakespeare (0/1)
He was a friend with a unique hobby, defiling the body and soul. We hadn't met since the 1st playthrough, so it was like we were reuniting after almost 50 years. I also wondered how strong he had become.
A huge mountain range was blocking me from the front. Let's call it the Elf Mountains! The Central Continent and the Western Continent were cut off by the Elf Kingdom and the Elf Mountains.
"Elf Mountains? That's not the name I know..."
"I made it that way."
"I get it. A drug hero is a drug hero, after all."
"What is this spirit saying?"
The moment I was just about to cross the Elf Mountains.
? Peek: Cadet Kang Han-soo, are you busy right now? I did my best to find out, and I thought you should know. It's a real big deal!
My secret friend came back with some information.
| ← Ch. 172 | Ch. 174 → |