ICWDS 15

Chapter 15

The Elven Forest (2)

“Gah!”

The elven girl, pierced clean through the back, gasped for air. A neat, flawless wound. As the blade emerged from the front of her chest, I twisted the corner of my lips into a grin.

“Heukro, absorb it.”

[U-Ugh… fine.]

Heukro let out a bewildered sound and began drinking the elven girl’s blood.

“H-How…?” “With a sword.”

The elven girl turned her head, breathing heavily, but I grabbed her cheek and forced her to face forward.

“Don’t change your posture unnecessarily; you’ll only get hurt worse. Move wrong and you might slice your heart, so just look ahead.” “Y-You damned bastard…! Do you even know… who I am?!”

Looks like she was angry. Understandable, really. She had shown me hospitality, and I had stabbed her straight in the back out of nowhere. It must have felt like a terrible betrayal.

But this was by no means a betrayal.

I was merely performing an emergency rescue operation to cure this elven girl. Would she have believed me if I told her that stabbing people later lowers your karma? Probably not. An outsider saying something like that would sound like pure nonsense. So, I would stab her first and prove it. Once her body felt at ease and her mind cleared up, she would finally realize that I had done a good deed.

“You bastard! What the hell are you doing?!” “Unhand the Princess at once!?”

At that moment, two figures rushed out from deep within the forest. With looks of absolute shock on their faces, they possessed features strikingly similar to the elven girl’s.

“Oh, two more elves?”

Wait, more importantly—this girl was an elven princess?

“You were a princess?” “L-Let me g—” “If you’re a princess, I need to heal you even better!”

Sshhhk!

With a slight twist of my blade, even more blood spurted from the elven girl’s pierced wound.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

The elven girl let out a shrill scream.Does it hurt? It hurts me, too. But what else could I do? To repay someone who had blessed my ears with such a beautiful song, this was the only way. Wait, what on earth am I saying? Have I always been this deeply emotional?

“Heukro! Blood is splashing everywhere! Don’t miss a single drop and eat!”

[Glup, glup, glup!]

Even as Heukro gulped down the elven girl’s blood, it showed no signs of stopping. Usually, once Heukro drank enough sin, it would stop on its own. Why wasn’t it stopping this time?

“I said let her go!” “It’s a misunderstanding. This is a medical treatment.” “Shut up! Stop spouting absolute nonsense and free the Princess!” “I cannot stop the treatment!!”

A true healer never abandons a patient. Isn’t that the sacred duty of anyone walking the path of medicine? I could never abandon such a fundamental principle.

[Look at this guy. Has he been so enchanted that his entire thought process is fried?]

You, a flesh-eating cursed sword, should just quietly become my Hwalin-geom—the Sword that Saves Lives!

“First, let me meet Sergeant Baek! Let’s go finish treating the patients!” “Ugh…! Are you an ally who came to rescue that human?!” “We need to suture the Princess’s wound too, so hurry up and guide me to the village!” “Krrgh…!”

Perhaps touched by my sublime sense of duty, the elves shed tears of deep emotion and began leading the way. As the elven princess walked weakly with Heukro still impaled through her, she occasionally failed to match my pace. Every time that happened, the sharp edge of Heukro sliced through her flesh anew.

“Ghrkk…!”

The elven princess writhed in agony. I turned her head to meet her gaze face-to-face.

“Princess, pull yourself together! Do you want to die?” “Y-You’re the one who stabbed—” “You can survive, Princess! I’m going to save you! I’m going to heal you, so the pain is only temporary!”

After shouting words of encouragement to the princess, I began chanting to ensure she wouldn’t suffer any more than necessary.

“One, two! One, two!” “……” “……”

The two elves watching the scene looked utterly overwhelmed with emotion. Even across dimensional boundaries, my sincerity had finally gotten through.

[What a demonic bastard……]

Only the wicked cursed sword distorted my pure intentions, however.

Guided by the elves, the village we arrived at was situated right in the center of a forest dominated by a colossal tree.

“Are you kidding me…”

The tree at the center of the village was so massive it defied belief. Its sheer scale reached almost up into the sky, making me truly feel like I had stepped straight into a fantasy world. How could a tree this enormous exist here without anyone ever knowing about it?

“Ah…!”

Because the surrounding area was packed with trees that were already the size of full buildings, my view had simply been blocked.

“Now release the Princess!” “Just a moment. Heukro. Did you ‘cure’ everyone yet?”

[Squeal! Grooooowl!]

What’s wrong with this kid?

[Th-This is dangerous…! One more second and the backlog—!]

It seemed Heukro needed a little more time to properly ‘heal’ the elven princess.

“You scoundrel! Will you release the Princess already?!”

Just then, the elven woman who had guided me to the village approached.

An opportunity for treatment!

“I’ll heal you too!” “Gah?!”

Thwip-stab!

I drove Heukro—still impaled straight through the elven princess—directly into the elven woman. Fortunately, the blade was long enough to pierce clean through both of them simultaneously. How terrifying. My own natural talent. To think I could treat two patients at once.

[I-I can’t eat this much! Hurry! Pull it out!]

“What? What’s wrong?”

[Handling one… is already my limit!]

Ah. It seemed two people at once was simply too much for Heukro to handle. I kicked the newly impaled elven woman backward off the blade. Did I look a bit ungracious just then?

“Gk-argh!” “My apologies. I thought it would work.” “What on earth is happening?!” “Hah! The Princess has been captured by a human!”

At that moment, elves came pouring out from every corner of the village. Good lord, there were so many elves here. Was this place a paradise on earth?

“Lord Kazakiel! What is the meaning of this?!” “Krgh! Where is that human we captured yesterday?!” “W-What human you captured yesterday?!” “H-He’s in the dungeon!”

In the dungeon? Could there have been some kind of misunderstanding? Perhaps they had mistaken me for someone else.

“It might be a different person, so let’s verify first! Please lead the way to the dungeon!” “Ghk, grrgh…”

Still accompanied by the unhealed elven princess, I was escorted deep into the giant tree to the rhythm of: One, two! One, two!

The inside of the tree was astonishing. It felt like stepping into a massive high-rise building packed tight with facilities. If a tree grew this huge, could you actually build a whole domestic life inside it? A treehouse carved and hollowed out from the living wood offered a fascinating glimpse into elven real estate development.

“Th-This way!”

Guided by the elves, we headed down toward an underground space located in a secluded corner. To carve out an entire underground facility right down to the root system… I wouldn’t even be surprised if a parking garage popped up next.

“Ugh… the smell.”

[The stench of rotting blood…]

Even Heukro, currently busy sucking down the elven princess’s blood and karma, expressed visible disgust.

“What on earth is this place used for?” “It is… where meat is butchered.”

Butchered meat? Weren’t elves supposed to survive exclusively on morning dew? Ah, right. This was just a failure of cultural relativism. The idea that elves didn’t eat meat was probably nothing more than a stubborn stereotype. This wasn’t a real-world fantasy novel, after all; I couldn’t just blindly apply tropes from fiction.

“Looks like you don’t have a refrigerator. How pitiful…”

Between the minimal clothing the elves wore and using a tree as their home… I couldn’t help but feel a twinge of pity for the primitive residents of this fantasy world. If only electronic devices worked here, I could have enlightened them by saying: Ah~ this thing right here is called a refrigerator.

“And what about over there?” “……The torture chamber.” “You guys torture prisoners here?” “Well, we aren’t particularly picky about──” “How uncivilized…”

Snap! I thought I heard something break, but it must have been my imagination.

“Are all the beasts around here this huge?”

Deep inside the cell, beast-like creatures the size of houses filled the space. Their furry hides, razor-sharp teeth, and wicked claws heavily reminded me of the corrupted Hunter Kim Tae-jin. Hmm… they also looked suspiciously similar to the beasts the Special Operations Team 2 had wiped out…

“H-Here it is! Now release the Prin—” “Sergeant Baek?”

Just then, past the iron bars, I spotted a man in military uniform collapsed among a pile of fleshy carcasses.

“Urrgh…”

The soldier groaned in agony, looking heavily injured. Checking his nametag, there was no doubt about it—it was Sergeant Baek.

“Sergeant Baek! Pull yourself together!” “Urrrhhhhh…”

Drooling uncontrollably, Sergeant Baek could barely even steady his own body. Wait, I thought at least his limbs were intact, but they weren’t. His teeth had grown sharp like a beast’s, and patches of thick fur poked out from beneath his tattered military uniform.Oh no. Corruption was actively underway. Having spent the whole day in the Dark Zone, his karma must have continued to skyrocket. Since Sergeant Baek was already well past the danger threshold, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say he was fully corrupted.

“Sergeant Baek, get a grip!”

Why wasn’t he listening to me? Should I pull the sword out of the princess and treat Sergeant Baek first? No, no matter how primitive a feudalistic savage world this was, an elite medical professional could never abandon a patient.

At that moment, my eyes caught the flute hanging from the princess’s waist. It was the sound of this very flute that had lured me all the way to this place. I reached out and pulled the flute from the princess’s waist.

“T-That is—!”

Kazakiel and the elven princess looked startled, but after playing a few notes, the melody came right back to me. For a prize-winning recorder player from Immanuel Orphanage, this level of skill was child’s play.

“Huuu…”

Holding the sword in one hand while playing with the other—this should be about right.

(Recommended BGM: School Bell Rings)

🎶 Pe-li-li-li~ Pip-pip-pip! Li-li~ Pe-li-li! 🎶

Sergeant Baek. O brave soldier of the Republic of Korea Army, pull yourself together. If it’s you, you must remember this melody deep within your soul.

“Urrgh…”

There was a reaction. Did the music of an award-winning recorder player resonate even with a corrupted former soldier?

Pouring even more spirit into my performance, I continued playing the flute, attempting to awaken the sense of justice buried deep inside the ROK soldier’s psyche.

“Urrgh-rghhhhh…”

Ohh, he’s standing up. He’s actually standing up. He’s following the tune.

“Well then, let’s go get you treated.”

With one hand still treating the elven princess, I used the flute in my other hand to guide Sergeant Baek along.

The moment we stepped outside.

Fwiiiit!

An arrow came flying out of nowhere, aiming straight for my temple.

“Wha—!”

Too slow. Although awakening my mana had enhanced my physical stats and reflexes beyond an ordinary human’s, it wasn’t enough to easily dodge a sudden, point-blank ambush. However, at that exact instant, I instinctively utilized the mana control I had drilled into myself during training with Kang Cheong-hwa.

<Soklyusin: Acceleration Double>

The moment the world slowed to a crawl, I threw my whole body out of the arrow’s trajectory.

Whoosh!

The arrow grazed past me by a hair’s breadth. With Heukro sliding out from the princess’s back, the elven princess collapsed forward onto the ground.

“The Princess has been freed!” “Kill him!”

The elves rushed forward all at once. Yet, I could never harbor genuine murderous intent toward them. Right now, these elves had simply completely misunderstood my therapeutic procedure. To clear up this misunderstanding, they needed to see the princess fully cured.

“Princess! Wake up!” “……”

However, the princess lay flat on the ground without moving. Had she lost too much blood? There was no choice. I had no option but to flee until this misunderstanding could be resolved.

“You bastard!”

At that moment, the elf called Kazakiel came charging at me, brandishing twin swords. Twin swords. The two blades danced through the air in a dazzling, menacing display.

“Tch…!”

I blocked with Heukro, but couldn’t completely evade her piercing twin blades. A blade grazed my shoulder, and hot blood stained the collar of my shirt. In that dizzying moment, I cranked the gear up higher.

<Soklyusin: Acceleration Triple>

“……!”

Kazakiel looked startled as my speed suddenly doubled once more. And yet, her skill level was still vastly superior to mine.

Clang!

Kazakiel actually intercepted my blade, even while I moved at triple speed. Even though I was drastically faster, she reacted in time—just how monstrously strong was she?

“Heh… ! I was a little surprised, but you’re nothing special!”

Kazakiel even launched a counterattack. Her bloodshot eyes glared daggers at me.

“How dare you harm the Princess and plunder the Flute of the World Tree?! I won’t even use you as a beast of burden. I’ll peel your skin off and carve you into raw slices while you’re still breathing!” “Are you insane?! What kind of unhinged talk is that?!”

No matter how much this stemmed from a misunderstanding, those weren’t words that should ever come out of an elf’s mouth. Wait? Kazakiel’s gaze looked entirely off. It wasn’t just bloodshot; her pupils were dyed an inki black, and the corners of her mouth were torn open like a fiend’s…

“A corrupted one!”

To think there was a corrupted individual right here in this beautiful elven village. As a specialized medical practitioner, I couldn’t possibly leave someone like that lingering right next to the lovely elven princess.

“‘Treating’ you.” “Hmm?”

The skill gap between Kazakiel and me was undeniable. However, I possessed the power to completely overturn that gap.

<Soklyusin: Acceleration Quadruple>

Instantly, the entire world felt as though it had come to a dead stop. Yet time was still flowing; it was merely slowed down to less than a quarter of its normal pace. Normally, I wouldn’t be able to sustain this for more than a few seconds. Fortunately, I had absorbed a fair amount of karma while treating the soldiers earlier. By melting down that karma and converting it into my own mana, I could hold out a little longer.

I slipped out of the arc of Kazakiel’s swinging blade and instantly positioned myself right behind her back.

“I’ll heal you too.”

Thwip-stab!

Now, the deceleration would begin. There would be recoil, but if it was the price of saving another life…

……

……

……

“Huh?”

Why isn’t time returning to normal? My mana reserves should have hit rock bottom long ago. The amount of mana I had gained after treating twenty soldiers should have been entirely depleted by this point. Did I eat something ridiculously nutritious recently?

[Burrrrrrrp!]

Amidst Heukro’s echoing, rumbling burp, I looked back at the collapsing Kazakiel and muttered:

“You’re slow.”

As I finally switched off the acceleration.

“Even at falling down.”