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Great Ancient Mage, Destroy (3)
The next day, Evan and his members came out from the Necklace World after having breakfast to resume their activities.
“We should head North for now.”
“Everywhere is dangerous.”
Mirole replied lightly to Evan’s words, but she probably didn’t know. This world already had factions that controlled of the World Tree was located at the center of this continent. Although in the center, the world was round and things weren’t that simple. Rather, the center meant it was the foundation of the energy of the world.
So, the Forest of the World Tree became the absolute center. And it was the goal that all factions desired to achieve. The southern part of the region was where most of the demons were distributed. Of course, the Devil was intervening with Middle Earth by scattering the dungeons worldwide. Still, due to too much barren land, it decided to concentrate on sending the demons to the south as the advanced base since other creatures couldn’t easily enter.
‘It would be good to sweep them away…but the Ten Knights haven’t fully appeared yet. The Devil summoning ritual must take place, so I will put up my guard against them for a while.’
Dragons were to the west, the Dragons of Middle Earth. Each of them occupied a giant area, and they wouldn’t let intruders leave unharmed. They were arrogant and self-conceited. They didn’t care about their fellow dragons, nor even look for them. They didn’t like being categorized under the same race among their kin. The only thing they wanted was proof that they were the wisest and the strongest in the world.
The dragons would crush everything to achieve their goal. No exceptions existed even for their kin, not to even mention the dragons from the other world. They only consider other dragons to be their formidable enemies, so they fiercely hunted each other as competition.
‘To be blunt, that would be the direct reason for their destruction…Fayna said we need to take a closer look at their movements, but if I intervene, it will lead to battle.’
Acquiring tons of dragon corpses sounded very alluring, but it wasn’t the time yet. It was because their presence will prevent other factions from clashing with one another. The number of demons that were dying due to dragons fighting with one another was already great. So, there was no need to approach them right now. It was enough to prepare to loot their corpses and check their movements from a distance.
‘And to the east…’
It wasn’t yet time, but later on (looking at the current situation, it might happen a bit sooner than expected). The gods and their disciples would directly descend in this place. A passage between the Divine Realm and Middle Earth would be made through the rift from the east. The gods wanted to take full control over Middle Earth through this opportunity, but at the same time, they put themselves into danger from the Demon Realm, so the key to this event was where the Great Ancient Mage walked on a tightrope to receive support from the gods in defeating the demons.
Too much interference from the gods would lead to a bad ending, and completely ignoring their support also resulted in a bad ending. The damned difficulty of Yo-Ma Great War Zero wasn’t just in the hard battles but also with the complicated choices.
‘Anyways, there’s no need to visit that place for now.’
So what was left was the north. Yeah, the north of this continent. The Eternal Glacier, and the center of the Spirit Realm.
‘The King Ice Spirit that I met in the Eternal Glacier before…will it still be there?’
Hunting it down right now would mess up the future, so Evan decided to generously let it escape. In fact, there were other enemies in the Eternal Glacier that Evan could kill. Perhaps because she noticed the slight change of expression on Evan’s face, Mirole tilted her head and asked him a question.
“Zero, is there a special reason why you’ve set the target to the north? I’ve heard from the Mother that it’s the place where all ice and snow is created…”
“Actually, I feel an outrageous aura from there. Maybe…I think that there’s something in there that made me come to this place. Yeah, I believe there are other monsters in there that came from the same world as I did.”
“Really!?”
It was a lie. Evan only came from the current Sherden to the past! But he decided to cover up his origin by telling her that he was originally from the Spirit Realm to overcome a lot of contradictions and to have Mirole naturally understand the situation. In fact, the north was where a giant dimensional rift was located, which would be a big factor in the invasion of Middle Earth from the otherworldly existences. Demons or the Divine entities were guests from the Demon Realm and the Divine Realm, which used to have points of contact with Middle Earth since before. Still, tons of uninvited guests from other worlds came here through the Spirit Realm rift in the north.
‘The most hardcore part of the main story.’
If someone accidentally set foot in this region initially, a bad ending awaited where they died right away. Humankind and the fairies of this world were barely stopping the uproar made by the monsters who were left, aside from the forces of competition in the north. They could be considered to be the main reason behind the insane difficulty of this game.
‘And at the same time, the reason for delaying the progress of the story…’
Why, it was because nobody, even if they were a human, demon, or divine, could ignore the rift of the Spirit Realm. Walking on eggshells would be a more precise expression. No one could do what they want because they couldn’t directly show their hostility towards another. Ah, the dragons ended up doing whatever they want and minimized their forces after clashing with the Spirit Realm. History stated that the Great Ancient Mage made the dragons go extinct, but in reality, he didn’t kill that many of them!
‘The original game required the players to level up carefully during that prolonged-time period.’
Come to think about it, it was an insane game that made Evan surprised at his current progress that was done in just one week! And, of course, it was truly enjoyable!
“So, we’ll head to the north from now.”
Now, things were different. The north, where a giant rift of the Spirit Realm was located. It was the main factor in providing the player with more time, but it had more risks than benefits. Nobody knew what would come out of the rift; there were too many factors. Therefore, it was more convenient for Evan to bluntly erase it with his overwhelming power and have the Divine Realm and the Demon Realm clash according to his plan.
If things went ugly, Evan could deal with it himself. To put it bluntly, the reason why Evan supported George’s people and the allied force was to have them adjust and survive in this barren land when the scenario of Yo-Ma Great War Zero ended, and not because he wanted them to take care of the demons!
“But, Zero, in that case…”
Mirole looked perplexed by Evan’s harsh words. He could see how her eyes were shuddering.
“It may be obvious to you, but…do you care about this world?”
“Hmm?”
“You’ve said that there are monsters in there which are from the same world as you are…so I thought there might be hints in there that can help you return back to your world…”
“Umm…that could be possible.”
At that moment, Mirole turned deadly pale and held his clothes. It took Evan by surprise how feminine she looked at that moment.
“No…don’t go, Zero.”
“Huh?”
And he regained his senses after hearing her next words.
“Aren’t you trying to return back to your world? Now that you’ve found the traces of your world, you’ll abandon me…”
“What on earth are you saying?”
Evan hit her head lightly with his hand as he was at a loss for words. He felt stupid in being shaken up by her somewhat lady-like atmosphere.
“Mirole, you’ve made me the king of the Forest with the help of the World Tree. I’ve accepted it. Do you really think I will abandon everything since I’ve found a trace about my past?”
“But…we’ve just forced you to become one, anyway.”
“So, you knew!?”
“I wanted to give a reason for you to stay in this world.”
Evan became speechless at her words.
“It wouldn’t be a surprise if you suddenly disappear since we don’t know where you even came from…so I tried to make your stay in this Forest through Mother’s help. It was true that all intelligent creatures can be united by you as king of the Forest. Still, the fundamental reason remains the same…yes, I don’t want you to leave.”
“…”
Her big emerald eyes filled up with tears.
“But I thought that you were burdened by my intentions…and now you have decided to leave everything behind, so I’ve become worried…and thought of creating a connection with you.”
“Then is that the reason why you wanted me to have the Elven Tea?”
“Ahh.”
“Yeah, like how you tried to cling on me just like how Maybell does.”
“…You’re right.”
Mirole became silent as her moves were all read by Evan, and she waited for his judgment like a criminal waiting for the death sentence. Evan could only acknowledge his emotions as he looked at her…the fact that his heart was running wild.
‘This is somewhat awkward.’
Putting aside the Mirole in the present time, he used to think that the current Mirole acted differently during the time he had spent coming to Yo-Ma Great War Zero when compared to the noble and pure elf heroine Mirole in the game. But she was just being herself, after all. A delicate young elf girl who constantly thought about him and tried her best to become one with him and to be of help to him.
It was true that her moves were rather blunt for many reasons, but her emotions and her nature were just what they were from the beginning.
“Ah…umm. There’s nothing to be worried about.”
Evan did his best to hide his embarrassment and spoke to her.
“Although you were forcing your ways, I accepted them all in the end. So, there’s no way I’ll throw everything away and leave.”
“Is that…true?”
“Of course. I have no intention of leaving before we come up with something about the Devil. And I’ll tell you before I decide to leave…and moreover, I don’t know how I can return.”
“Won’t you return back to your world once you know the method?”
“Nope, that’s not the case. You can rest easy.”
“Okay…all right, I’ll trust you.”
Mirole put herself into his arms as she replied. It was very blunt of her, but Evan accepted her without any resistance. He even became concerned about the strength he put in his embrace since Mirole looked very fragile and delicate, unlike the elven girl he used to remember.
“Don’t leave, Zero.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“Huhu…”
The elven girl enjoyed his embrace while laughing mildly. Evan smiled bitterly as he hugged her. Things would have turned out differently if he found out how Mirole and Maybell secretly gave each other the thumbs up, but fortunately, he didn’t notice it.