SWNOVELS
Chapter 865
When everyone was shocked by the Six Monster Gods’ Dark Elf Jack’s connection to the first Eight Pillars Episode, another set of notifications rang in their ears.
[You can now watch the video for the new episode ‘Immortal Sorceress Helenia.’]
[Would you like to watch the video?]
“Yes,” Minhyuk affirmed. At the same time, the scene in front of him changed.
In front of him appeared a land covered with deep and never-ending darkness. In this land where no sunlight could enter and no grass or grain could grow, those who had been shunned and deprived of their rich and beautiful lands lived. That was right; the Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroy existed in this darkness.
Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroy’s King Jack looked at the passageway in the distance with a bitter look. “Is there no other way to open that passageway?”
The dark elves came here to hide at first because the Spring of Life was flowing in this land. The elven race was a race that boasted a longer lifespan than that of humans. However, that long lifespan was still not enough. Dark Elf Jack needed more time. And it was because of that reason that he chose this place.
For thousands of years, Jack had fostered and nurtured those dark elves. He could not remember when, but one day, an unknown force suddenly cut them off from the rest of the world. Jack thought that it was probably the elves' doing.
Gorn, the Elven King who had ruled over the elves for quite a long time, had visited him in this place before. Gorn had told him, “Father, please stop the war against mankind.”
Jack grew furious. He looked at Gorn as if he was stupid. How dare he forget the land that those bastards had taken away from them? The countless elves that they had killed?
However, Gorn continued to persuade Jack. “Father, it will be nothing but a meaningless war. Quite a long time has passed since then. The humans and the elves of today could not even remember past grievances. Do you think everything will return to how it was in the past if you take back the home we lost? Besides, they aren’t the humans back then; they are their descendants.”
“Even if they are their descendants, they still have their filthy blood flowing down their veins.”
“They don’t even know and remember. Father, in their eyes, you and your army are no different from the humans that took away our land back then.”
“Bastard! Get out of this place!” Jack sent Gorn away in a fury.
Not long after that incident, the passageway became sealed. And over time, Jack’s rage slowly faded away. He looked at his army and thought, ‘They... They were born for the sole purpose of killing.’
Jack felt his heart break a bit. Why? Because he was the one who made them that way. He wanted to teach them, at least once, what living in harmony with the spirits was like instead of using them to kill. He wanted to teach them what happiness was like.
So, Jack ordered, “Do not let any of the dark elves drink the Spring of Life anymore.”
“By that, you mean...”
“Yes, we will no longer go to war.”
At that moment, a strange and mysterious black stream of energy squeezed through the tightly closed passageway and seeped through the Dark Elf Kingdom. The appearance of the black stream of energy opened the passageway.
After hundreds of years, warm sunlight again shone upon the Dark Elf Kingdom of Velroy. Along with that, a woman walked in. The red clothes adorning the woman’s body highlighted her beautiful, white, and fair skin. She looked like a human, but she looked much more beautiful, ethereal, and noble than a human. The woman looked just like his mother, Athenae.
Most of the Six Monster Gods and the Absolute Gods were born from Athenae. There were some exceptional cases where humans transcended their limits and rose to the position of Absolute Gods. However, most of them carried the pure blood of Athenae in their veins. Athenae was also the most excellent and noble God of all gods.
As for this woman who closely resembled her, her soft voice seemed to embrace Jack.
“Child.”
“...” contemporary romance
“Go out there and do what you were meant to do.”
Jack felt her soft and warm voice could embrace and accept everything. He, who hid in the darkness and dreamt of gaining revenge for thousands of years, felt comforted by her words. However, Jack had already decided to take care of the dark elves here instead of focusing on killing and taking them away from others.
The unexpected situation brought out all of the dark elves. They all looked at her. But then Jack said, “We now wish to live in peace.”
Looking at the woman’s gracious smile, Jack felt it was rather good. Now, they would be able to go out into the world and create a kingdom of their own, and the dark elves would be able to live happily out there.
The woman, smiling benevolently and speaking gently at him earlier, suddenly changed face. Her expression grew twisted as she said, “Tch. Who cares about what you want?”
“...?”
Jack felt heavy pressure bearing down upon him. The woman had obviously looked at him gently and warmly, like Athenae. But now, she was looking at him with a vicious and fierce smile- it looked just like Satan’s smile.
Then, at that moment, she raised her finger and pointed it at the dark elves. “Fire.”
One would learn fire magic when changing their class to a mage. The magic Fire could only summon a small ball of fire. However, the fire that the woman summoned looked just like hellfire, rising to a height of fifty meters and devouring thousands of dark elves in one go. Wherever her fingers pointed, a colossal pillar of flames would appear and devour the dark elves.
“Keuaaaaaaaack!”
“A- Aaaaaaaaaack!”
“Uwaaaaaaaaack!”
“Stop!” Jack shouted hurriedly.
But then, a crack suddenly appeared in the sky, revealing dozens of gigantic meteors ready to fall at any moment. Meteor was considered the highest level of magic, a skill that only a select few mages could cast. Jack had once seen what a Meteor looked like. However, the Meteor that he had seen and the Meteor that the woman in front of him cast were in entirely different leagues. Its size was about three times larger, while its number was around five times more than the ordinary.
At that point, Jack recalled something that he had heard in the past.
–In the beginning, there were two gods. Athenae is the god who controls and rules over all worlds, and Helenia is the god who brings forth disaster and destruction upon all of the worlds.
The two gods, Athenae and Helenia, were sisters.
“Then, everyone here should die, hmm? Heehee– heehee– heehee!”
Jack was left stunned by her childlike and innocent smile despite the attack that was about to fall upon them. He was fully aware that they would all die once Meteor fell upon them.
Jack hurriedly cried out, “S– stop!”
Snap–
With just a snap of her fingers, the gigantic meteors falling from the sky came to a standstill.
“What do you want?” Jack was very curious. What did she want that she was willing to eradicate them all?
“Simple. Destruction.”
“...”
“Death.”
“...”
“And to reclaim my rightful throne.”
‘Rightful throne? Is she talking about God Athenae’s throne?
Unlike Athenae, Helenia was a god that brought destruction and disasters. She did not need any reason to kill; she would just kill. At this point, Jack realized that he could not resist her. However, even if that was the case, he could still see that some kind of force was restricting her. In other words, she was not yet fully awakened. After all, if she were truly awakened, she would have already destroyed everything with her own hands.
“However, we cannot win yet if we go out into the world right now.”
“That’s fine. I will increase your beloved Great Spirit of Darkness Pero’s summoning time to near eternity.”
Even someone like Jack could only summon the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero for less than twenty minutes. However, Helenia was willing to extend that time to near eternity.
Helenia’s eyes turned black. Then, with a whisper that sounded like the sweet whispers of the devil, she said, “Now, you can conquer and make the entire continent yours.”
The anger and greed he had slowly forgotten once again boiled deep inside Jack.
“Kill them all. Take everything away from them and make them yours.”
Not long after, Jack and the dark elves began their journey.
***
One of the Eight Pillars, Immortal Sorceress Helenia, did everything. Minhyuk knew this after he finished watching the video, which made his expression grow ugly. From what it looked like, Argon, who succeeded Gorn and became the new Elven King, had also learned of the entire story.
Meanwhile, Jack knew that the Great Spirit of Darkness Pero was not fit for battle anymore. With the ten million elves here, they no longer had a chance of winning this war. He looked around sadly and said, “It’s over.”
Jack had been hiding in the darkness for thousands of years to raise and nurture soldiers and war weapons. Seeing those who died today stirred within him a sense of loss and guilt. Those dark elves died without even seeing and feeling the sun properly.
Then, Argon said, “Emperor Minhyuk.”
Minhyuk had a close relationship with Argon. Argon was willing to run and help Minhyuk whenever he asked for help. As the Elven King, Argon did not wish to see the death of the dark elves.
“I want to apologize to you as the Elven King. I will control the dark elves and their king, Jack.”
However, it was different from Minhyuk’s point of view. “The dark elves invaded our lands and killed more than ten million humans. Although we knew later on that this was all because of the intervention of one of the Eight Pillars, that sin will never disappear. Please look at the furious kings and emperors over there.”
Both Elven King Argon and Minhyuk could not back down on this. In this situation, the two had to set aside their friendly relationship.
“And even if you say you will control them, do you think you can control them?”
“We will not spare anything. We will give you enough compensation and help you recover as much as possible from the damages brought forth by war. As for the Dark Elves, we will fit them with Mother’s Shackles and take away their spirit magic and power.”
Hearing this, Minhyuk concluded. “Then, let’s settle with this. However, you have to give us his head.”
To Minhyuk, what he had seen earlier was all bullshit. Jack initially did not want to start a war. Everything that had happened because of Helenia’s instigations. It was all an excuse in Minhyuk’s ears. If they could take away the head of their leader, Jack, the anger of the kings, emperors, and Minhyuk would be appeased.
It seemed like Jack also accepted this: “Let’s fight. If you win, then I will give you my head.”
“Alright.” Minhyuk welcomed Jack’s suggestion. If he killed Jack, then he would be able to obtain a lot of loot. After all, Jack was an enemy to him.
However, they all overlooked one thing: Helenia's existence.
Helenia thought she could use the dark elves to wipe out at least a third of humankind. However, her plans were thwarted just like that, which made her furious. She made sure to show her wrath upon her descent.
“Shall I just kill all the dark elves and elves right here and now?”
Everyone turned to look at the sky when her eerie voice rang in their ears. She was floating in the sky using Fly magic just like in the video.
[One of the Eight Pillars, Helenia, has appeared!]
[Warning. Danger!]
[Warning. Danger!]
[Warning. Danger!]
[Helenia has not regained her full power. She can only appear for four minutes!]
[The Immortal Sorceress’ Breath has been triggered!]
[Your resistance to abnormal statuses has fallen by 60%!]
[Your defense has decreased by 40%!]
[Your attack has decreased by 40%!]
[Your total HP and MP have decreased by 20%!]
[Abnormal Status: Stiffness, Fear, and Terror have been triggered!]
Humanity had encountered countless enemies so far. They had fought against the Great Demon, the Six Monster Gods, and even the Gods. However, the humans of the present had never truly experienced or witnessed the true power of the Eight Pillars. Evil God Obren, one of the Eight Pillars, once killed hundreds of millions of humans in the past. And Helenia? She was Athenae’s sister, meaning she was a level above Obren.
[Immortal Sorceress Helenia. Level 1,013.]
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
“...!”
The players present were all shocked when they saw Helenia’s level. But that was not all. All of them were frozen stiff, unable to move a single finger. She was the first NPC above Level 1,000 that they had encountered. Everyone looked at her with fear and terror in their eyes.
Helenia looked at the dark elves gathered around Jack and told them, “I allowed you to go out. You should have fought until the very end.”
“...”
“...”
“...”
A cold smile lingered on her face as she whispered, “Bang.”
Baaaaaaaaaang–!
Explosion was a magic that mages could only learn once they reached Level 250. It was an explosion magic that could create an explosion that would engulf an area with a radius of 200 meters. But the power that appeared before them was akin to a Hellfire. The explosion devoured everything around them. In just an instant, hundreds of dark elves had died.
“Bang. Bang, bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang, bang. Bang, bang.”
But she did not stop there. Countless dark elves died as explosions bloomed wherever her delicate, slender fingers pointed. Then, her attention turned toward the humans and the elves.
It had been a long time since she last descended upon the earth. She had lost most of her power to Athenae. For the longest time, she had hidden herself in the shadows and accumulated her power, much like Jack had done with the dark elves. And what she intended to do? She planned to drive Athenae out of her throne and become the God of Origin and Destruction.
Helenia wanted to start her plans splendidly using the dark elves. But those despicable humans and elves dared to stop her.
“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang.” With every word she said, countless dark elves would die. And finally, her fingers turned toward the elves.
A thick cloud of dust and suffocating black smoke from the Explosions covered the entire battlefield. And with her slender finger pointed at the elves, Helenia said, “Bang.”
Baaaaaaaaaang–!
“...!”
Hundreds of elves died. However, the explosions continued to erupt and kill the elves.
Helenia thought, ‘Today, in this place...’
During the four minutes that she was allowed to descend on earth, she would kill half of these insignificant beings. Thus began the first shot of the one believed to be the strongest among the Eight Pillars, the advent of the new God of Origin, and the world would soon see her dignity and majesty.
‘I am the greatest god. Just you wait, Athenae. I will kill you and take over your position as the greatest god.’
But then, at that moment, someone appeared right next to her and said, “Hey.”
“...?”
Helenia was shocked. The various abnormal statuses that her descent had triggered were absolute. And with the power of the Eight Pillars imbued upon them, there was no way that these beings could resist it. But a man was able to withstand all of those abnormal statuses. He was even able to appear right next to her.
“Can’t you see that I have not finished talking?”
‘You were angry because I stepped in while you were talking?’
When Helenia turned to look at the man, she saw him holding two swords.
“F*cker.”