Demon King

Rookie’s Battleground (3)

[You have entered the Rookie’s Battleground.]

[Protect yourself from the covetous touch of your partner.]

I quietly opened my eyes and gazed up, greeted by a cloudless sky and a bright sun. I knew that it was all fake. ‘Still nice though. I haven’t seen the sky in months.’ Even the phony sun was a comfort to see, the light pleasant on my skin. I took in a deep breath and savored the fresh air, much different from the stagnant air of the dungeon or Jinma’s Tower, or even the cozy air of the store and the sweet air of the Garden of Nak. It felt refreshing to breathe it in, giving me enough energy to feel like I was prepared to wage an epic battle.

‘Let’s keep moving.’ The guidelines here were simple, almost too much so. I just had to stay alive here for twelve hours, and then I could leave. This place was much different than the dungeon or the tower. There was nothing to do here, no end or purpose.

‘Although I don’t know if just leaving this place would be enough.’ Rain had said the elves could leave to this place and would return periodically. ‘Will I too return to this place because I will grow to miss it? No, of course not.’ Even though its original purpose may have faded, every elf was still tied to the Rookie’s Battlefield, by its power to draw all elves to it.

Absolute proposition.

That was the price to be paid for using such power, whether it be through magic, technology, or divine intervention. The elves had entered this cage to protect their souls, and as I had evolved into a Crimson Elf, I became caught up in it as well. I would probably be required to return to this place every once in a while myself. ‘It’s not too bad, though.’ I was in danger everywhere I went anyway, so at the very least, training in more diverse environments would probably be advantageous.

‘Well, I can’t afford to stand still here.’ An hour had passed. I had to get to work in this world. Killing, predating and growing. The environment here would probably be more unpredictable than that of the Black Palace or the tower.

“Go away, you monster!” I heard a scream ring out across the plains, the voice coming from further ahead. Far ahead was a massive bull, much larger than I had been when I was a bugbear. It had red leather-like skin, with black lines scrawled over it like a tattoo. Over its face, I could see a hazy human face, distorted by pain. It was a familiar face, surprisingly enough. But it took me a second to recognize it. ‘Wait, wasn’t that…?’ It looked like the third-generation Korean conglomerate I had read about in the news. I think they were in an accident caused by drinking and had quickly vanished from the mainstream.

[Ahhhhhhhhh!]

A noise that directly wormed into my brain and afflicted me with pain rang out. ‘Madness noise!’ It was a skill I had as well, but it wasn’t particularly useful in dungeons. It was a great hindrance in battle, and the whole party would suffer damage from an enemy that used it. But in using it, there was a high likelihood you would catch your own teammates in the attack and alert enemies to your presence.

“Get away! Go find your partner!”

[Gwooooaaah!]

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The words of the elf further enraged the monster, who especially seemed aggravated by the word partner. ‘That solves that mystery.’ This monster appeared to be the result of an Earthling soul transforming. I wondered where the monster’s body had come from, but I figured that wasn’t important right now. From what I could tell, though, these two weren’t partners. The elf being attacked was female, whereas the monster was male. From my understanding, they couldn’t be partners.

‘But then why is he attacking this elf? Is it attacking all elves indiscriminately because it became a monster? Does it have no sense of reason left, or can this monster take over any elf’s body if it destroys their soul?’ There were too many things I didn’t know. I needed to gather more information, and perhaps the best way to do that would be to get involved. After all, was there any chance this monster could beat me? Or that this elf would catch me off guard? ‘No, there isn’t.’

I pushed any worries out of my mind, rushing forward. The bells hanging about my waist with a string shook and silently rang out. They were able to raise the alarm if someone tried to surprise me and could be used to narrow the distance. The skill was at a low level still, so it wasn’t possible to leap across a large distance at once, but it, fortunately, had a short recharge time so I could use them successively. This was probably one of my most useful skills, especially now that the amount of mana I had increased significantly.

[Kagagak!]

After the fifth jump, I landed upon the monster’s head. With a flurry of blows, utilizing my power attack skill, and my new speed, I penetrated straight through the monster’s head and its wide-open jaw with my Blood Shadow before it could continue making that annoying sound. The elf, having been only seconds away from being devoured, looked up at me with wide-open eyes. She was a stunning woman with strong features and tied-back blonde hair. Still, she wasn’t much to look at compared to L.

“Is it…?”

“Quiet!”

[Ah…ah….ah…]

With both hands grabbing onto the handle of Blood Shadow, I slid it out of the monster’s head while simultaneously injecting mana into it. Flames soon consumed the monster’s head; its head cleaved in half.

[Huh…uh….!]

As if the monster hadn’t even noticed that deadly blow, it began to exude a black light all over its body. A shock hit me as if it were bypassing my body and slamming directly into my soul.

‘It really could kill a soul and rob a body this way.’ I was a bit amazed by the elves’ effort to avoid the Great Fusion, resulting in the death of so many Earthlings. Were these monsters miracles created by human anger or longing? Or were they God’s retribution against the elves who had resisted the Great Fusion? And, for that attack…well, I was already used to battling with my soul.

[Kyaaghhhhhh!]

I pushed my aberration resistance to the max and repelled the Black Soul’s attack. The energy that tried to invade my soul was burned away by the mana now boiling inside me. My sword flashed out, severing both the body and soul of the monster before me. It let out a grim scream, but it didn’t faze me. If you wanted to live, you had to hurt others. The elves knew that when they created this place. ‘Just like them, if I wanted to survive, I had to kill you.’

[You gained 301,892 experience]

[You acquired 1 gold and 30 silver.]

[You have acquired a Fragment of the Fallen Soul.]

The monster was dead. I felt both bitterness and joy at the fact that the experience far exceeded the amount I had expected and put the acquired item into my inventory. Since becoming a Crimson Elf, my inventory space had increased a bit. Now I had thirty-six spaces of inventory, plenty of carrying capacity.

“Wow….” The female elf was staring at me blankly as she muttered this, but I didn’t pay her any mind. Instead, I took a deep breath to clear my attention and my mana after that attack. Thanks to my training with L, I was able to cope with it a lot more naturally, but the monster’s final attack had been rather shocking, and traces of it lingered.

“Thank you! I didn’t expect to run into someone so strong here!”

“I’m not that strong.”

“You’re much stronger than me! You’re so cool, really!” The elf had a bright smile as she thanked me. I responded with a nod, raising my hand to examine it. ‘It works.’ The hue of my skin was white as snow, much like this elf standing before me. One of the products I had bought from Rain was the cause of this, the two earrings dangling from my ears. They were called the Enchantment of Illusionary Dreams.

[Enchantment of Illusionary Dreams (380/380) – Rarity: Ancient. Changes the wearer’s appearance at will. Extreme change is impossible. It cannot be destroyed by any artifact or skill below the Epic level.]

Thanks to this, I was seemingly the same as any other elf. It wasn’t possible to change a bugbear to look like a human, fortunately, but it was plenty enough to make a Crimson Elf look like a regular elf. ‘It just makes my skin look white, I suppose.’ Artifacts with simple effects were harder to detect, making it perfect for this situation. The price of it made me want to cry thinking about it, though. Over 10,000 gold.

‘No wonder he didn’t tell me about this artifact sooner. I would’ve been desperate to get my hands on it to look human again.’ I had been desperate then, but it wasn’t like the artifact would’ve done what I had wanted. It could make a Crimson Elf look like an elf, but transforming from one species into another? I just had to wait until the day where I could return to human society without needing to rely on artifacts.

Rain had also given me a splendid dagger that would allow me to deceive and kill the elves. He was always so gentle in manner, but he had used such intense expressions when describing it. I could only imagine how terrible his true feelings towards the elves were. But, looking at this elf, the impression I had gotten from Rain appeared to be far from what I perceived now.

Only

The elves wanted to live and thus made the Rookie’s Battlefield. That was what Rain had told me, and it was to be expected. ‘Everyone has the right to struggle for survival.’ I had no desire to try and distinguish between the good or evil of trying to survive. Everything was a battle for survival, and the elves had decided to kill so they could save themselves. They lacked strength and had to take it so they wouldn’t die. The only truth that I believed in was that. ‘If you are strong, you survive. If you survive, you become stronger. That is the truth of this world.’

“Are you with others? The wind of Eutinus will come soon, so if it’s alright with you…why don’t you come with me?”

“The wind of Eutinus?” I mulled over the sound of these words I heard for the first time. They sounded important, so I nodded.

“Yes, that sounds good.” I felt bad for Rain, but I couldn’t sympathize with his hatred of the elves. For now, I needed to interact with the elves and gather more information about them. Were they really arrogant people who were proud of themselves above all else? I had to judge it with my own eyes. If they became an enemy…

‘I can just cut them down.’

“Ah, I forgot my manners! I am Mireina.”

“Pleasure to meet you. I am Caesia.”

For now, it looked like I had a companion.