NSE-Chapter 33

Chapter 33

‘……I was complacent.’

Elise let out a sigh.

It was certainly just as the human called Kim Min-woo had said.

To everyone, the price of a life is heavy.

Having offered such a pitiful price for such a life, it wasn’t strange to hear harsh words.

On top of that, what he had proposed as the price for help was at a reasonable level.

The Mother Tree’s fruit?

For Elves, it was indeed a treasure.

But everything is relative.

Collapsing as things were and the Mother Tree falling, versus giving up the fruit and protecting the Mother Tree. Which one mattered more went without saying.

The same went for the Potions.

Once they were protected, their consumption would drop sharply compared to now.

It was merely giving that to the Resistance Army’s side.

Elise looked at Kim Min-woo.

She saw him diligently fitting something together in front of a Skeleton.

“……What are you doing?”

“Strengthening my Summons.”

“Strengthening?”

“Yes. You see these bones here?”

“Aren’t those, by any chance, Cockatrice leg bones?”

“That’s right. If I hold this against this guy’s leg and swap it like this…….”

[Using Bone Exchange(B)!]

[Replacing ‘Cedric’s’ leg bones with the Cockatrice’s leg bones!]

[The material’s tier is far higher than your Level.]

[Success Rate: 12%]

[Would you like to attempt it?]

Nod.

[Great Success!]

[The bone transforms to fit Cedric’s build and race!]

[Cedric’s Strength, Agility, and Health increase by 10 each!]

[*Great Success Special Effect: Movement Speed +10%]

[Remaining Capacity (20/75)]

Cedric’s leg bones grew thicker and sturdier.

“Roughly, it works like this.”

“Fascinating. Does it always succeed when you try?”

“Of course not. I think I ground through almost two hundred leg bones alone.”

“……Is the probability that low?”

“No, not that low. It’s just that a plain success has a rather dull effect. Great Success has its own special effect.”

He had figured it out when he first tested it a few times on ordinary Skeletons.

Success and Great Success.

There was quite a difference between the two.

A plain success ate up a lot of capacity.

On top of that, it had no special effect.

A Great Success, by contrast?

It ate up less capacity.

‘A plain success was 25.’

A Great Success was 20.

Capacity was reduced by a whole 5.

And yet the effect was far better.

“Cedric, how is it?”

―Master, it seems you have acquired a very good Skill.

Cedric, who had been moving his legs, said while giving a thumbs-up.

The effect was certainly noticeable.

Because all Stats except Magic Power had risen by a whole 10.

On top of that, the Great Success special effect had added 10% Movement Speed.

‘It’s a truly insane Skill.’

The effect was insane.

Especially when using the bones of high-level monsters.

Cockatrices were monsters well over Level 200.

Naturally, their bones would be overwhelmingly harder than a Skeleton’s base body.

Not to mention, he had used the legs, this monster’s most representative part.

If he could just land a Great Success, it would be nothing short of a jackpot.

‘Of course, there are drawbacks too, but…….’

The higher-level the monster whose bones he used, the more drastically the success rate dropped.

The Great Success rate felt like nearly 1%.

Just swapping Cedric’s leg bones had used up all the bones from the Cockatrice pack he’d hunted last time.

To use it properly…….

‘The money will get smashed like crazy.’

When a monster dies, it leaves a corpse and by-products.

These by-products came in a variety of kinds, such as the monster’s important body parts, items, Mana Stones, and Skill Books.

Usually, people brought back only the by-products.

Because they were heavy and there was a limit to how much capacity they had to carry loads.

To add a bit more, they usually just dismantled the parts that were worth money and came back.

Except for a few high-value monsters, that was mostly the case.

The problem was that bones were not usually high-value goods.

Except for those of some monsters, they weren’t items anyone would bother to desperately carry out.

Even if he scooped them up at the Auction House, the quantity would be small.

Conclusion.

He had to give Awakened a reason to bring back bones.

‘I’ll have to put up a bone bounty, won’t I?’

It would probably cost in the trillions, but…….

‘I have to do it anyway.’

He didn’t know about the rest.

Only one thing was certain.

At least Cedric had to receive a baptism of Great Successes all over his body with the best bones.

‘As for the rest, well…….’

To do that for all of over a thousand Skeletons, it was uncertain whether even tens of trillions would be enough.

He decided to think about that later.

Kim Min-woo’s gaze turned to the side.

He saw Elise still staring at him.

“Is there something you need?”

“……Well. I apologize for my rudeness last time. I was certainly reckless.”

“I’ve already forgotten it all.”

He said, shaking his head.

There was no need to react harshly to someone, no, an Elf, who was apologizing.

At those words, Elise sighed and said.

“……Do you see those Elves over there?”

“Yes.”

“I quieted their complaints, but honestly it’s a stopgap. Once we get to the village, the Elders will probably be the first to rise up.”

“Then you can’t keep the promise?”

“No!”

She hurriedly shook her head.

“I’m a Forest Keeper of the Mother Tree. I have the power to keep a promise, at least. I just hope you won’t pay too much attention to the other Elves’ reactions.”

“Lady Elise, you seem a little different from other Elves. You seem to have a somewhat realistic side.”

“……I’m no different. I thought complacently too…….”

“If you’ve reflected, that’s enough. Just knowing how to do that makes you an excellent Elf.”

It must be really bad for there to be a word like ‘Fussy Elf.’ That was how foul the Elves’ tempers were.

At the successive flattery, Elise’s ears turned slightly red. That seemed like enough carrot.

“Lady Elise.”

“Yes.”

“I can put up with everything else, but there are three things I think I can’t stand.”

“What are those three?”

“First. Belittling the Orcs’ sacrifice. Second. Not educating my saplings sincerely. Third. Failing to keep promises. If even one of these three is visible to my eyes…….”

“……If it is?”

“I’m rather good with a sword. Sometimes just swinging it turns out to be the shortest path.”

“…….”

Elf Elders or whatever.

Doesn’t just hearing it conjure up stale old-timers?

With clearing as the goal, he had no time to be held back by guys like that.

He looked at her with a broad smile.

“I trust you’ve understood.”

“……I’ll be careful.”

“We’ll set out for the Elf village tomorrow. Let’s rest soon.”

* * *

“Today we go save the Elves!”

―Snort! Save long-ears!

―Snort! Eat Potion and get strong!

He had already preached to the Orcs about the necessity of joining forces with the Elves.

Eat Potions and get strong.

Use that to split the Witch’s skull.

Things like that.

Thanks to that, there was no opposition.

“Let’s go!”

Over two thousand Orcs moved out.

He had already heard about the force attacking the Elf village. With this many troops, they could smash it.

‘It’ll be hard to stop word from getting out, though.’

The guys’ scale was considerable.

It seemed hard to stop every runner like with Elrum.

‘Can’t be helped.’

It wasn’t as if he could move in stealth mode forever.

If even the Elf subjugation force were wiped out, unless the Apostle was an idiot, he should notice something.

And so the imposing Orc army set out on its journey, and arrived at its destination after a six-hour march.

An area where a huge forest had formed.

The Mother Tree’s Domain.

Elise and the Elf group had gone ahead and were already inside.

It was to relay yesterday’s plan to the Elves so they could move in coordination.

And to add one more thing.

It was probably also to preach the content of the warning he’d personally given yesterday.

‘Whether they’ll take it in is doubtful, though.’

If a mere warning like that were enough to reform the Elves, there’d never have been a nickname like ‘Fussy Elf’ in the first place.

Of course, not every Elf was hopeless.

But it was true that among the hopeless, Elves were many.

Far away, he saw a force hacking down the forest’s trees.

‘They’ve started peeling it from the outside.’

The Mother Tree’s Domain was a region extremely tricky to clear.

The trees moved as if alive and obstructed the path, and plants swallowed enemies wildly.

And on top of that, Elves hid in the forest and rained arrows.

If the enemy commander had a brain, of course he wouldn’t just walk in.

Usually, they advanced by setting fires or smashing the trees from the outer edge.

The commander had chosen the latter.

‘Setting fire isn’t easy.’

Normally, if they tried that, the Mother Tree’s side would spray moisture to block it.

Only after that had all evaporated would a fire catch.

‘And on top of that, they’d have to procure corpses…….’

Burnt corpses were unrecyclable waste.

So that was why they were peeling it from the outside.

The talk had already been finished in advance.

The Orcs would hit the rear and the Elves would join the attack from the front.

―Orc! Orc!

At the sound of the ground being pounded with thuds, the Apostle’s forces looked back, and.

Soon, an uproar broke out.

An Orc horde appearing out of nowhere, no wonder they were flustered.

What need was there for words?

“Kill them all! Charge!”

The Orc horde charged in.

* * *

The battle ended anticlimactically.

The enemy commander fled without even properly counterattacking the joint assault, and the troops scattered in all directions.

Of the nearly five hundred enemies, four hundred were killed. Of course, about four hundred Orcs died as the price, but considering the average Level range, it was a miraculous exchange rate.

‘Thanks to that, I power-leveled.’

From 75 to 85.

He had raised his Experience by landing quite a few last hits.

Considering that the Experience required grew explosively as Levels rose, it was a near light-speed level-up.

‘Well, since I’m hunting high-level guys, it’s only natural, but…….’

The Apostle’s forces started at Level 250 or above as a baseline. So power-leveling wasn’t so strange.

Before long, a group of Elves revealed themselves among the trees.

Their number was about four hundred in total.

Elise was at the very front, and old Elves followed behind her.

They were probably the Elders.

“Thank you for your help.”

Elise bowed her head deeply.

The cheerful chatter ended here. Life, after all, was originally give and take.

“Of course we should help if we can. Now then, it’s about time to receive the price…….”

“Yes. It has already been relayed.”

With Elise’s answer, a group of alchemists stepped forward.

The Elves looked at the Skeletons with ears twitching.

“……You’re saying we’re to teach those Skeletons over there?”

“Yes. There are five hundred of them, so I think it’d work if each of you takes charge of twenty. They’re talents that even the Dwarves were highly satisfied with. You’ll find it worthwhile to teach them.”

The remaining five hundred were hammering away at the Dwarves’ Forge.

Because they hadn’t yet learned the crafting Skills.

The alchemists nodded one by one, sourly.

‘Well, this kind of reaction is decent enough.’

Bah! Daring to let wicked Undead scum learn alchemy?

It was something that they weren’t reacting like this at all. It seemed Elise, who had gone ahead and spread the word, had worked hard.

The more the Skeletons learned alchemy, the faster Potions would be produced, so the first promise was, in effect, kept.

“Now I suppose it’s time to receive the Mother Tree’s fruit…….”

Just then.

One of the Elders, who had been showing a sullen face since earlier, stepped forward.

“Human. Wait a moment.”

“Do you have something to say?”

“I have endured much! To begin with, teaching alchemy to wicked Undead was outrageous, but I understood even that. But the fruit is different! It is a great treasure to us Elves. It is something that only the chosen among our own kin may eat!”

“Yes. That’s why we’re taking it as the price. Would we have demanded it if it weren’t precious?”

“Do you not think you demand too much?”

This wasn’t a matter of intelligence.

It was simply conviction.

Otherwise, how could he step forward so boldly even after seeing the Orc horde behind him?

He looked at Elise.

She sighed.

It seemed she hadn’t managed to persuade even the picky Elders, after all.

“If you object, do you have a way to stop us?”

“The fruit can only be taken out if all the Elders consent.”

“I see. I respect your conviction.”

For this level of stubbornness, applause was in order.

He nodded, and.

Slash!

The Elf Elder’s head fell off.

Still, he must have said everything he wanted to before leaving, so it was a blessed death.

He shook the blade to wipe off the blood and looked at the Elders.

“Anyone else who objects?”

“…….”

“If there’s no one, we’ll take it.”

With the objecting vote gone, it was unanimous.

It was time to claim the fruit.