The Extra Strategist’s Royal Road Chapter 156
Claire and Julia immediately questioned Anton, who was guarding the hole.
Anton was only perplexed.
“No, the safety has already been secured. Please don’t worry too much and just wait.”
Since going there with many people could create unnecessary risks, Anton calmly calmed them down.
Anton was also puzzled as Eonia was screaming desperately.
Since the hole was pierced, she was experiencing even worse auditory hallucinations than the last time she visited this place.
Olaf, who couldn’t stand it anymore, mediated.
“Mr. Anton. If it’s that safe, wouldn’t it be okay to let a few people in? If we just confirm Ars’ safety, everyone will calm down.”
“Hmm…”
“Bisketa is here too, right? Then it can’t be that dangerous, right? We just need to confirm that.”
Anton looked at the responsible person, Yovis. Yovis shook his head ambiguously.
“We’ve secured immediate safety, but I don’t want to cause any further problems. And since Sir Wade said he’ll be out before noon, why don’t we just wait?”
It was a reasonable argument, so they calmed down for now.
At that time, the soldiers of the search party came up for lunch.
Olaf brightly asked them about the safety.
The soldiers glanced at Yovis and said, “The ground and ceiling are both sturdy. There are no toxic substances either. As long as you don’t carelessly touch anything, it should be fine.”
“See? They said it’s fine!”
Yovis remained unwavering. For him, who handled things according to the order, Wade’s orders were the top priority.
“Since you know it’s safe, why not let us in?”
Both ‘It’s safe, so let us in’ and ‘It’s safe, so keep waiting’ were valid arguments.
If Eonia wasn’t screaming and writhing, Olaf would have just gone along with it.
‘There’s no other way. This Yovis guy is stubborn!’
Olaf gave up and shook his head, but at that moment…
“Then, what if I give the order? Won’t you listen even then?”
“Princess Melodie!? I’ve heard you were coming, but…”
“Haha.”
Melodie smiled at Estelle as if handing it over to her, then said to Yovis,
“I’m also interested in the relics of the elves. If it’s that safe, I’d like to go in and take a look too.”
“Th-that is…”
Melodie is a princess. Her rank is much higher than the guest, Ars.
That’s when Anton sighed and chimed in. “Yovis, it’ll be fine.”
“…Understood. Then only a few will be allowed to go in.”
The selected group consisted of Melodie, Estelle, and Ilya, who tagged along as Melodie’s escort.
The three of them started descending the hole with the help of the officer.
***
The book left behind by the elves.
I was listening attentively to the content that Bisketa was reading.
–We are disappointed in this world. The complete coexistence with humans as claimed by the gods ultimately proved impossible. As their numbers grew, humans became more arrogant and selfish. As if they thought they were the only sentient beings, they shunned other races. We tried to continue our hope by exchanging with the united nation of Fensillon, but they instead tried to kidnap our elves. We have decided to completely give up hope for this world.
Give up hope for this world?
Coexistence with humans as claimed by the gods?
There were many keywords that caught my attention.
–Some elders reflected that our attitude might have been the problem. That we had imprisoned ourselves in the cage of the Kuravel Kingdom, and never really had the intention to coexist with humans from the start. It’s not an entirely wrong statement. But it’s not entirely right either. After all, the pure-blooded elves of the Florand tribe, who had seceded advocating active coexistence with humans, came to us asking for help. Now they say they’re sick of it. We have decided to put our final plan into action.
The final plan. That phrase kept echoing in my ears.
–The power of the division barrier set up by the gods was absolute. Within this barrier, the power of pure magic was greatly weakened. It was difficult to even use simple magic, let alone accumulate magic. After hundreds of years of research, we finally realized one thing: the deeper underground, the weaker the influence of the division barrier. So we built this training ground deep underground and began training magic there.
Bisketa, who was reading this part, also tilted her head.
“Division barrier, huh…”
“So this was a training ground.”
The elves had been training magic here. For their final plan, as they call it.
‘The final plan…?’
As I was pondering that keyword, there was a commotion behind me.
“Melodie!? Why are you…?”
Estelle and Master Ilya were also there. The guide, Yovis, sighed deeply and explained the situation.
“Oh dear, Eonia… Okay, I’ll let them know it’s safe.”
“Yes.”
Yovis went back up to the surface.
I conveyed to the three not to leave the safe area, then returned to Bisketa.
The three of them started looking around the area.
***
The atmosphere on the surface was tense.
This was because Eonia’s screaming was becoming increasingly intense.
She was struggling as if trying not to be possessed by someone.
Lysithea, who couldn’t stand it anymore, tried to take her out of here. Especially since Yovis had just confirmed Ars’ safety.
But at that moment, the voice Eonia had been hearing suddenly cut off.
“Ah…!?”
Eonia’s mind cleared, but she felt even greater anxiety.
The fact that she could no longer hear the voice meant, she thought, that it had shifted its target to someone else.
“Lord Ars!”
Eonia rushed into the hole. Yumir also felt the danger and followed her.
They had rushed in so quickly that Yovis couldn’t stop them.
The party was thrown into confusion by this sight.
The first to move was Gaspar. Since Yumir had gone in, he followed as well.
“Damn it, I don’t know! I’m going in too!”
Olaf followed behind, and the other companions also headed towards the underground relic.
Sophia also had curiosity about the relic, so she and Gunther slipped in as well.
Only Rutger and Anton were left on the surface.
Rutger judged that someone should remain on the surface, and Anton agreed.
***
The book, which seemed to be a kind of diary, was not very long in content.
Bisketa and I had reached the latter part.
–The time has finally come. We are on the verge of our final plan. Since we don’t know how the division barrier will affect it, there is certainly a possibility of failure. I’m not sure if this method is really right. But I think this is the only way. As soon as the elves of the Florand tribe arrived, we executed the plan. But the elves of the Florand tribe made a request. They asked us to leave a message about this place, in case other compatriots still on the continent come.
‘Compatriots’ means other elves or those with elven bloodline.
Eonia came to my mind.
‘Could it be that the voice Eonia heard was…’
Bisketa also seemed to be thinking the same, as she quickly read the next part.
–We accepted that request and cast an enchantment with a compulsive element. You who inherit the blood of elves, may our voice guide you. This is a place where magic is naturally restored by the ley lines. In time, you too can follow in our footsteps. I will reveal the details of that enchantment.
At that moment,
“Lord Ars!”
It was Eonia. A line of other people followed behind her like sausages.
“What’s… Why did everyone come!?”
“My lord, are you alright!”
“Yumir, you too! I said it’s fine! Fussing like this, really.”
Suddenly, Bisketa frowned and turned her gaze to Lysithea. “Lysithea, you said you were from the Florand tribe, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct. But?”
“Do you have elven blood mixed in?”
Lysithea shook her head. “I don’t have any memory of my parents telling me that.”
Bisketa let out a sigh of relief.
‘Wait a minute.’
There was one more person whose blood was mixed with that of elves.
A girl who suffered from a cursed illness due to the strong expression of elf blood.
As expected, master Ilya shouted. “Ars! Something is wrong! Estelle suddenly…”
Estelle was trembling. Unlike Eonia, who was not strong, she seemed unable to resist the power of that voice.
She began to repeat the voice ringing in her head.
“Yucrasia… Feliptin…!”
It seemed like some kind of incantation.
As she began to mutter the incantation, there was a rumbling sound! The surroundings began to shine. At the same time, a strange pattern began to be drawn in the center of the empty space.
‘This is… A magic circle!?’
I immediately shouted. “Get out of here immediately!”
But it was too late.
My feet felt as heavy as lead, as if caught by that magic circle.
“Kyaaa!”
“What is this!”
Chaos broke out.
Hearing this commotion, Anton, who was outside, quickly came down. He seemed to have almost not used the stairs and just jumped down, at an incredible speed.
“What on earth is this…!?”
Anton tried to come to my rescue, but a barrier-like thing seemed to have been created by the incantation, and he could not approach.
“Haah!”
He drew his weapon and struck the barrier with a loud noise, but it was useless.
I made the best judgment.
“Everyone, hold hands with the nearest person! You can also hug each other!”
Following my instructions, the people nearby somehow moved their feet and held hands.
Yumir and Eo tried to come to me, but the distance was not good.
“Eo! Please take care of Bisketa! Yumir, you too…”
But there was no one near Yumir. The same was true for me. Yumir and I reached out to each other, but there was a distance.
Gaspar gritted his teeth and tried to approach Yumir, but with a cracking sound, he disappeared alone.
One by one, with a flash of light, they vanished.
I wanted to imprint that sight in my eyes, but there was something more important.
It seemed that Rudger had just arrived, staring with wide eyes.
I told the two of them,
“We will definitely come back. Until then, please take care of the aftermath. Anton, Rudger…!”
And with a cracking sound, my vision went white.
* * *
It felt like riding in an amusement park ride.
My body felt buoyant, and my stomach was churning. All I could see were multicolored worlds.
Finally, the colors faded.
Plop! I landed on the ground.
“Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!”
I forced myself to hold back the urge to vomit and looked around.
I saw trees and a blue sky. I couldn’t feel the presence of my acquaintances.
‘Where on earth is this…?’
I first thought it might be the territory of the Western Tribes.
This was because the shapes of the trees around me were things I had never seen before, and the chirping of the birds was unfamiliar.
I tried to piece together the fragments so far and interpret the current situation.
─Eonia, whose background is not simple despite being a conditional joining character.
─The New Continent mentioned in the last volume of the magic research journal.
─The existence of the ‘End of the World’ mentioned in the research journal and the divided barrier mentioned in the elf’s journal.
─The elves who disappeared suddenly.
─The sudden spatial movement.
There was only one answer derived.
I had come to the DLC area of the game.
Eonia was the key to that DLC.
“How could this happen…”
It’s not that I didn’t expect this situation at all. That’s why I was being careful. But I never imagined in my wildest dreams that Estelle would be the trigger for this to happen.
The timing was just damn bad.
I decided to tackle the immediate situation first.
I was worried about the others, but I had to worry about myself first.
Fortunately, I had a weapon. There was a sword on my left waist, and it seems I had unconsciously taken the spear as well.
‘First, I need to figure out where this place is.’
I wasn’t curious about which kingdom this was. I wanted to find out more broadly – whether this is the same planet, whether the same time is passing.
If, even for a moment, a few hundred years have passed in the original world, that would be a big problem.
To that end, I first prepared a camp and waited for night to fall.
As the night grew deeper, I observed the stars in the sky.
“Phew!”
I let out a sigh of relief.
I had memorized the constellations to remember the directions.
Observing those constellations, it seemed that this place was also on the same planet.
‘There’s a good possibility it’s the same continent.’
It might really be the territory of the Western Tribes.
If so, there’s a way to get back somehow.
As I was turning these hopeful circuits in my mind, that presence revealed itself.
I shivered, a chill running down my spine.
A terrifying killing intent.
At first, I thought it was human. The wild aura emitted by animals is distinctive, so it was easy to distinguish.
But this killing intent was too intense and pure.
That’s why I thought it was human, but…
“Grrrr…!”
“Ah…!?”
I couldn’t even say a word.
A creature the size of a car. No, can I even call this a creature?
At least I’ve never seen this kind of animal before.
A monster with a lion-like head and an elephant-like body. A disgusting smell of blood was wafting from its fangs.
“Monster…?”
That expression was appropriate.
“Damn it! What the hell is going on here!”
I drew my sword and spear, facing its hostility.
“Kuoooo!”
It roared and charged at me.
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