Chapter 13: Doubts

Time passed, the dark elf was exhausted. No matter what skill or attack she makes, it didn't leave a dent on the glass cube. Xerel was just observing her unmoving on the ground as the butterflies didn't dissipate.

"No matter what you do, that cube will not break. Only I can open that cube and by doing that, you have to set me free."

The dark elf panted and stared at Xerel menacingly.

"Do you think I'll fall for your sly tricks, you filthy man? I'd rather rot in this seal than to give you my mercy."

The dark elf spoke angrily and turned back away from Xerel's gaze. Xerel was annoyed by her words as he gritted his teeth.

'From what I know of the stereotypical fantasy games, dark elves hate elves, other species, and humans, especially men. They have a lot of conflict towards them considering that dark elves are all born as females and they can reproduce both sexually and asexually. I can only guess her prejudice for the fact that her kind must have been subjugated to slavery and rape.'

"I understand your hate towards us men. But I'm different from other men, I also hate elves because they always think they're the highest race out of all and look down on everyone like they're just dirt on the ground."

Xerel wanted to persuade the queen dark elf to think he was a good guy and of course, the queen dark elf didn't even respond to him nor dare to look at him.

Xerel continued to talk about how he hates elves, that he's is different than other men, that he's still a virgin (not cap), and has high respect for dark elves. Nothing worked against her, it seems that Xerel's talk-no-Jutsu wasn't effective.

Time flies by and it was another morning, Xerel had no choice but to sleep it up. Despite being in an open area, no monster dared to come close to them.

As soon as Xerel woke up he was still in his laying position covered by the butterflies and as he looked at the queen dark elf, she still didn't move.

"Hey, Theena."

"..!"

As soon as she heard those words, her body flinched and quickly averted to Xerel. Her face looked glum.

Ting~

[Suspicious, Angry]

"How...do you know my name?"

She spoke in a cold tone. Seeing that he responded, Xerel replied.

"I know the fact that you're the Queen of the dark elves and most probably the strongest being in your world."

"Y-you....our species have already driven out your existence from the face of the planet and the only ones who know of my real name are the members of my family. Who are you?"

Theena held her sword, firmly gripping it in her hand as a purple aura exude from her body.

"I'm just a nobody, no, I might've been accidentally chosen by God. What matters the most is that I know of your name and race."

Ting~

[YOU ARE UNDER THE EFFECT OF TRUE SIGHT!]

Her eyes glowed brightly in yellow as she intently stared at Xerel.

'She's probably trying to see if I'm telling the truth or not.'

"I never wanted to be stuck in this place and I want to go home. I have a mother and sister to take care of."

With the effect being transmitted to Theena, she was able to tell if Xerel was lying or not, and in her head, every word Xerel spoke was of the truth.

"Do you know of the existence of God's Tree?"

Theena asked coldly as she gazed at Xerel with her yellow eyes.

'Is she talking about the World Tree?'

"Yes, I've been there, in fact, a greater dryad helped me."

After hearing his words, her sullen look brightened in an instant.

"You've been there and met the administrator of the Tree of life? Did you enter the tree?"

Theena asked curiously and in a more bright tone.

"Why would I tell you that? Will you let me go if I give you the answer?"

Xerel asked.

"Yes as long as you also let me go and bring me to that place."

"I'll do it but you have to promise me to not try and hurt me after I let you go."

Theena simply nodded to Xerel and saw that both agreed to their deals. Xerel answered.

"I have entered the tree, it chose me as a Challenger and I paused at the 11th trial. I'm out here now to get stronger so I can have a higher chance of completing the trials."

After Xerel answered. The butterflies that surround him fluttered away.

Ting~

[WEAKENING HAS DISAPPEARED]

"I can move now!"

Xerel stood up as he stretched his body. Being in a single position for a long time cramped up Xerel's body. Theena stood up from the cube as she spoke.

"Let me out, I need to go to the Tree of Life."

"Since I'm a good man, I'll let you out but as promised don't kill me."

"If I were to kill you, how am I gonna reach the Tree of life?"

"Fair enough."

With a single twist from Xerel's hand, the cube dissipated. Theena unsheathed her sword to show no hostility towards Xerel.

Xerel remained on high alert to any ambush that may occur but seeing that Theena didn't exude any murder intent, he sighed and opened his window panel.

"Sigh~ for your information, it's not The Tree of Life but World Tree."

He pulled out the award and Theena looked at Xerel with keen eyes.

"To think you have spatial power, what kind of man are you?"

Theena asked curiously. Xerel was backed at her sudden response.

'So the window panel is only visible in my eyes huh? As expected from an overpowered system!'

Xerel threw ward up in the sky as the eyeball floated mid-air. His pupil changed in the color of black as he moved the ward in a direction.

"What did you throw?"

"A wandering eye. It can retrace back my footsteps since I had been running so far, I've lost track of the location of the World Tree."

"So you don't know where it is?

Her eyes started glowing in yellow as she held the scabbard of her sword ready to slash at Xerel.

"I know the location okay! I'm a good pathfinder and I'm not someone who easily loses direction."

What Xerel said was true. He was a good Pathfinder since his job was literally in the tunnels of a city, so he had to learn every nook and cranny of the sewers if he didn't want to get lost. Seeing that Xerel spoke of the truth, Theena didn't ask any longer and patiently waited.

"..."

Getting revived placed Xerel in another location, he wasn't sure if he was near or far from the location he previously was in but he was confident to find the location.

30 minutes passed, Xerel was still not able to find it.

1 hour passed, he was still lost. Theena had almost lost patience in waiting she held on a bit longer.

1 and a half hours passed, Xerel was finally able to see a lead that he couldn't help but gasp.

"Aha!"

"You've found it?"

"No, but I'm near!"

Xerel had arrived at the area that looked like an aftermath of a battlefield. He could tell the craters on the ground and trees destroyed that it was from the giant turtle he fought. After looking around for some time, he was able to see the carcass of the turtle that was now being scavenged by monsters.

Xerel moved to the path he had gone to and after a few minutes, he arrived at a place filled with giant robots, and soon he found the world tree.

"I've found it."

"Really? Where?"

"Just move straight in this direction, after you continue to travel straight, you'll find the thrashed forest and blown up ground. You need to go left after that and you'll see a corpse of a giant turtle, after you arrive at the giant turtle, you need to move right and you'll soon find giant roots and just follow the source of the roots and you'll arrive at the World Tree. If you circle the tree, you'll find a white portal where the dryad will meet you."

After explaining to Theena, she smiled in gratitude as she held the sword in her waist.

"You have my gratitude but all men deserve to die."

Tang!

Her sword struck Xerel in the back but he was quick enough to summon Crisis and block it as Sparks generate from the friction of the blade.

"I knew you'd do that despite me helping you!"

"Then you shouldn't have trusted me and kept me locked up! You're a foolish man! I can tell that you won't be able to lock me up again since your Mana has deteriorated. Killing you will be as easy as killing a fly!"

"Oh really?"

Xerel quickly opened his inventory and pulled out a vial bottle containing blue liquid.

Ting~

[Superior Mana Potion

Rank- Bronze Arch

Type- Potion

EFFECTS-

+20000 MP

Greater Heal: Heal 2% of Mana every second. Skills will spend half the Mana cost. Increases Mana capacity by 100%.

Duration: 5 minutes]

Xerel immediately drank the Mana potion and in an instant, he could feel his Mana core full to the brim.

"You're right about one thing, I can't activate that skill again but don't you think that that's all the skills I have in my sleeve."

"[Accel], [Exemplifier],[Vineyard]."

Kurururuug

5 golden vines shot up from the ground, each one holding Theena and stopping her from moving.

"Do you think this is enough to bind me?[Sword Sage: 3rd form- Stray of Pollination]"

Man-eating flowers rose from the ground. They were as big as buildings and looked like sunflowers with shark teeth. Its roots spread out like tentacles as they slice the golden vines with their sharp leaves to free her from the shackles.

As they rip through it, Theena groaned aloud as a sudden stinging pain struck her insides.

[-740,000!]

[-689,000!]

"Argh!"

Theena moaned in pain as the golden vines were being cut one by one.

Ting~

[Theena

HP: 3,340,000/6,900,000]

"You bastard! [Sword Sage: 10th Form- Metamorphosis]."

Brimming with powerful energy, the blade of her sword turned to glass. The man-eating flowers spun their head like wheels as the sun's radiating light burned around her.

Her entire body was then surrounded by the purple aura as the yellow glow in her eyes flashed. The energy from the sunflower burned into her as her entire body slowly morph. Wings could be seen in her back similar to the fairy.

'This is dangerous! If she fully morphs, I'm gonna die.'

Knowing this fact, Xerel didn't wait for her morphing process to finish. His right hand appeared a magic circle and his fingertips were a disc of the blue sphere.

"[Absolute Cancel]."

In an instant, Xerel could feel his Mana being sucked off by the sphere as he immediately felt dizzy.

Ting~

[MANA STRAIN HAS INFLICTED YOUR BODY]

"Urgh.."

Xerel held on to his head and with one twist of his hand, the sphere swallowed all the mana around Theena like a black hole swallowing everything around it.

Her form was about 90% completed but then a blue sphere covered her entire body as it sucked out all of the ongoing processes.

Like a vacuum, it sucked all of the Mana around her, including the wings, the aura, the sunflower, and near forming armor on her.

In an instant, she went back to her normal form including the glass sword that went back to its steel state.

She looked shocked and dumbfounded at what had occurred as she looked at Xerel with stupefied eyes.

"W-what did you do?"

"I canceled your skill. You still want to fight?"

"You have infuriated the queen of the dark elves. I will not grant you a swift execution, but I'll punish you with slow torture to death!"

Theena dashed at Xerel filled with a murderous aura. He quickly used [Blink] to back away from Theena and opened his inventory as he pulled out a glass vial containing gold liquid, he then drank the vial in a single gulp.

Ting~

[ELIXIR HAS BEEN CONSUMED]

[STATUS ABNORMALITIES HAS BEEN REFRESHED]

"Let's dance!"

Xerel started exchanging blows with Theena but this time he was now hanging on with her overbearing attacks.

Pang! Pang! Pang!

The two clashed with their blades and dashed around in the blink of an eye. Xerel's movements had become a lot different than their previous bout as he moved his blade in a flowing manner that the usual quick and flashy type.

With that, he was able to block all of her odd attacks and could even predict her next movement with his accurate judgment.

'Last time, he fought like a barbarian just slashing away but now, his movements look more refined and delicate. No way...his movements are the same as an elite dark elven warrior!'

Theena was shocked in thought as she continued to weave her sword against Xerel to check if her guess was true and a few more exchanges, she was confident that she was right about her doubts.

Clang!

"You! How do you know the ancient dark elven technique?!"

"Oh, so this is an ancient technique of your race? I didn't know since I just observed your movements and copied them. I didn't realize I mastered it."

Tang! Tang!

"So what you're telling me is that you mimic my movements? Impossible! We've only been fighting for a short amount of time, you supposed to tell me that you've copied my movements perfectly and adapted them to your body? Don't make me laugh!"

Clang!

"I only learned a bit from our boat, I've mastered it while watching you try to destroy the cube."

Theena was surprised at his words. She recalled the time when she was trying to break the cube as she could see Xerel watching her. She didn't think of it much as she thought that he found her wasting her energy amusing. It wasn't in her mind that he might be trying to copy her movements since it was a technique only her race was able to do.

"You've not only humiliated me, but you have also humiliated my race for mimicking our technique! [Sword Sage: 2nd form: Plum Blossom]."

Swarms of butterflies spread out from her sword all aiming at Xerel but Xerel was ready if this was to happen again.

"I expected you'd use this skill so I made sure to counter it, [Beyblade]!"

Xerel began spinning clockwise. His speed reached higher than the strongest turbine as the sand around him flew up and formed a sand tornado.

The butterflies that fluttered towards him were swept up by the tornado as the gale of the cyclone moved towards Theena.

Wwwwoouuoooong!

Theena gritted her teeth as she push the blade on her side.

"[Sword Sage: 3rd form- Blooming Blade]

Sha! Sha!

Giant waves of purple light flew out from the sword with each all aiming for the incoming tornado. The blades collided with the cyclone but it only strengthened the tornado as it began to glow in purple light and expand wider.

Theena was slowly being sucked inside the tornado as it draw nearer so she backed away to avoid the attack.

"Not so fast! [Fallen Chamber]"

In an instant, an altar appeared around Theena as chains struck her legs. She tried to get out of the shrine but more and more chains locked on to her at every move she makes.

Ting~

[TARGET HAS BEEN WEAKENED BY 5%]

[TARGET HAS BEEN WEAKENED BY 5%]

.

.

.

.

Window panels overlayed on Xerel's view as he continued to spin around in the direction of the restricted Theena. She tried to leave the altar but her body gradually weaken until she had a hard time trying to move her body especially her legs as she couldn't even make another step.

"Ughhhh!!"

She wanted to get away from the tornado but she couldn't move a muscle.

Bang!

The tornado collided with Theena's weakened body as an explosion occurred. Theena's body was blown away from impact as she rolled and tumbled on the dunes.

Xerel on the other hand was nauseated a bit from the constant spinning but immediately came back to his senses.

"That felt nauseating. Where is she? Oh, there she is!"

Xerel went in the direction of Theena. Her body was covered with deep wounds and it was made worse from the sand particles that entered her body.

Ting~

[Theena

HP: 1,670/6,900,000]

Seeing her HP, Xerel knew she was on the brink of death. A single stab from his dagger was enough to kill her. Xerel looked at her in pity.

'Despite her being classified a monster, she still looks human to me. Killing a person just doesn't feel right. I may gain some levels on killing her but I'll lose my humanity from doing that.'

"K-kill...me."

She muttered those words as blood poured out from her mouth. Xerel gritted his teeth as he gripped the daggers on his hand tightly.

He knelt on the ground and was ready to strike.

"Daughter....take care of yourself."

Tak!