Chapter 363

Chapter 363

The Dark Elves woke up a full day after the brands had been erased.

“Haaah!”

“A-Are we still alive?”

Starting with the female Dark Elf, the Dark Elves opened their eyes one after another.

For a moment, they looked around in confusion. Then, as if realizing something, they touched their necks.

“The brand is gone?”

“How can this be?”

“How?”

The brands had vanished without leaving even a single scar, and the Dark Elves could not hide their bewilderment.

The first to grasp the situation was the female Dark Elf.

She looked at Zeon and said,

“Are you the one who erased the brand?”

“It was not me, but Briel. If you want to thank someone, thank her.”

At Zeon’s answer, the female Dark Elf looked at Briel.

After staring intently at Briel for a moment, the female Dark Elf wore an expression of disbelief.

“Could it be...... a High Elf?”

“You’re sharp. That’s right!”

“What is your name, child of the noble clan?”

“My name is Briel. What is yours?”

“My name is Floa. As you can see, I am of the clan of darkness.”

“Right! Floa, protector of the clan of darkness. How did you end up joining hands with the orcs?”

“We did not join hands. We were threatened and used because we had no choice.”

“Did the orcs seize some weakness of yours?”

“The children of our clan are being held captive by the orcs.”

“How did that happen?”

“The orcs invaded and occupied our village while the warriors of our clan were out hunting.”

Floa closed her eyes in shame.

The fact that Dark Elves had their main base raided by orcs and were used by them was itself an indelible disgrace.

Floa was the captain who led the warriors of the Dark Elves.

The fact that, as captain, she had failed to protect her clan tormented her.

Briel asked again,

“Were there no one left to protect the village?”

“No, there were.”

“And the orcs still broke through?”

“There was...... a traitor. He opened the gate for the orcs.”

“That’s insane! An elf betraying their own kind?”

The corners of Briel’s eyes trembled.

It was a hard story to believe.

Among elves tainted by the human world, betrayal was common.

In fact, such things happened all the time even in Neo Seoul.

One only had to look at Eli, the second-in-command of the northern district, betraying his people to understand that. But betrayal almost never happened in closed villages where elves lived only among themselves.

To pure elves, the companions of their village were more than blood relatives. Across the entire history of elves, there had only been a handful of cases where one betrayed such beings.

“Who betrayed you?”

“Lord Karode, the village’s Second Elder.”

“Why?”

“He lost his daughter a year ago. He thinks her death was our fault.”

“So he sold his own kind to the orcs?”

“He said we had to feel the same pain he did.”

“With the world in this state, even elves are going mad.”

Briel shook her head.

At that moment, Floa dropped to one knee before Briel and said,

“Floa of the clan of darkness asks Briel of the noble clan. Please extend a hand of aid to us. May the grace of the noble clan shine upon the darkness.”

She placed her right hand over her chest and held up her left palm so Briel could see it.

It was the highest courtesy a Dark Elf could offer.

For them to show such profound respect to another clan was unthinkable.

For a normal group of Dark Elves, not a fallen Dark Elf, to ask outsiders for help was an event that might occur once every several hundred years.

That was how desperate Floa was.

The Dark Elf village occupied by the orcs had been reduced to ruins.

Countless Dark Elves were screaming as they were trampled beneath the orcs’ feet.

Until now, they had had no choice but to endure because they had no method of resistance.

It was because of the brands Chuangka had carved into their necks.

Not only the warriors, but every Dark Elf in the village had a brand carved into their neck.

Because of that, they could not resist the orcs. But now that they knew Briel could erase the brands, there was no longer any reason to endure the humiliation.

Briel looked down at Floa while biting her lip.

She could feel Floa’s desperation.

A High Elf was, literally, the noblest existence among the elven race.

And as noble as they were, they also had many burdens to bear.

One of them was that when other elves asked for aid in this way, they had to accept.

Briel wanted to grant Floa’s request if she could. Even so, the reason she hesitated was because of Briel’s own identity.

‘I lost my qualifications as a High Elf. Am I really qualified to help them?’

From the moment she left her village on her own and was captured by humans, Briel had lost her qualifications as a High Elf.

Her essence may not have changed, but there was no way her people would acknowledge a High Elf who had passed through human hands.

That was why Briel could not easily accept Floa’s request.

Her gaze turned to Zeon.

Whenever she faced an important decision, she always looked at Zeon.

Because he had always shown her the right path.

As if reading Briel’s heart, Zeon nodded. At that, Briel gained courage.

She looked straight at Floa and said,

“Briel of the High Elf clan accepts the request of Floa of the clan of darkness. Your enemy shall be my enemy, and together, we shall gather our strength and weather the storm.”

It was a High Elf’s oath.

An oath once made could never be reversed or withdrawn.

It had to be kept.

Because Floa had asked for help sincerely, Briel answered with sincerity as well.

Only then did Floa rise and say,

“Thank you! For accepting such an unreasonable request.”

“Do you know where the children are being held?”

“I found that out long ago. I simply couldn’t save them because of the brand on my neck.”

Floa touched her neck.

It was because she still felt as if the brand remained. But the brand had definitely been erased, and not even the faint sensation of it caught beneath her fingers.

She could not remember the last time her skin had felt this smooth.

At that moment, Zeon said to Floa,

“Why were the orcs after the Ironclad Ant eggs?”

“They said they were ingredients for an elixir.”

“An elixir?”

“I don’t know what it’s used for either. That hideous orc never speaks of such things.”

Floa looked apologetic.

She knew nothing, even though she was the one asking for help.

Zeon smiled and said,

“You do not need to be sorry. We can hear it directly from Chuangka.”

“Thank you!”

“As I said before, please direct your thanks to Briel. All of this is entirely her decision.”

“Mm!”

Floa nodded.

Zeon collapsed the sand blocking the cave entrance and said,

“Being inside a cave for so long makes it feel stifling. Let’s go outside first.”

“Wow, I never thought I’d be this happy to see the sun.”

Levin, who came out first, stretched.

Starting with him, Zeon, Briel, and the Dark Elves came out one after another.

Floa said to Zeon,

“I’ll guide you to our village from here.”

“Please do.”

“Mm!”

Floa nodded and looked at the Dark Elves.

The faces of the Dark Elves freed from their brands were filled with fighting spirit.

Floa and the Dark Elves walked ahead, and Zeon, Briel, and Levin followed behind them.

Zeon said to Briel,

“Watch their movements closely.”

“Why?”

“Their movements have evolved to suit the desert. Since you’re both elves, there should be something you can learn.”

“Got it.”

Briel answered with a determined expression. Then Levin, who was following behind, asked,

“What about me?”

“It won’t help you much.”

“Why not?”

“As I said, these are movements only elves can use.”

“Really? Tch! That’s a shame.”

“You can turn into a ghost and fly away if things get urgent, can’t you? Wanting the elves’ Skill on top of that is too greedy.”

“Hee hee! I was joking. Honestly, I think the same way you do, hyung.”

Levin answered with a laugh.

What he needed right now was not the techniques of another race, but to hone his own ability.

Even so, he could not help but feel curious.

There was no way Zeon would tell them to pay attention to the Dark Elves’ movements for no reason.

Levin stared intently at the Dark Elves’ backs.

The Dark Elves’ steps were gradually growing faster.

With their upper bodies slightly lowered, they cut through the wind in quick, short steps.

They did not look especially fast from the outside, but in reality, they were incredibly fast.

They were so quick that following them with ordinary steps was difficult.

The Dark Elves’ steps grew faster and faster as time passed. Yet their breathing did not become rough at all.

Walking through sand that swallowed their feet up to the ankles consumed an enormous amount of stamina. Because of that, no matter how skilled an Awakened was, they often collapsed from exhaustion after running for an hour or two in the desert.

But the Dark Elves showed no change in their expressions even while running at very high speed.

Their faces were calm, as if they were walking across flat ground.

After observing them for quite a while, Briel soon understood the reason.

“They’re all focusing mana into the soles of their feet.”

Elves used mana just like human Awakened.

The way elves used it was more refined and efficient than the way humans did.

It was thanks to the fact that they had handled pure mana for far longer than humans had.

The Dark Elves, having adapted to the desert, had created a unique movement method of their own.

The technique created to move efficiently through the desert was the Dark Elves’ Wind Walk.

Wind Walk was a Skill passed down only among Dark Elves who lived together in groups in the desert.

Fallen Dark Elves had not learned this Skill.

Because of that, this was Briel’s first time seeing the Dark Elves’ Wind Walk.

They slightly lowered their upper bodies to reduce wind resistance as much as possible, shortened their stride, and quickened their steps to prevent themselves from sinking into the sand.

At the same time, they created a cushion of condensed mana on the soles of their feet.

Thanks to the mana cushion, they could move quickly even over sand.

When a child was born in the village, this Skill was always taught to them.

Once one understood the principle, it was not an especially remarkable Skill, but that did not mean just anyone could learn it.

First, the body had to be light. Second, one had to be able to operate mana efficiently. And third, one had to be born with the stamina of a warrior.

It was impossible for anyone who did not meet these three conditions to learn the Dark Elves’ Wind Walk.

Zeon also knew of the Dark Elves’ Wind Walk.

The reason he had not learned Wind Walk was because of Sand Walk.

Since he had already learned the strongest Skill that only a Sandmancer could perform, there was no need to learn a Dark Elf Skill that did not suit his body.

But Briel was different.

She still did not have a proper movement Skill. Because of that, she always struggled when moving through the desert.

If it was truly urgent, she could ride Gaia, but the problem was situations like now, where she could not call Gaia.

Briel needed the Dark Elves’ Wind Walk.

Fortunately, Briel grasped the essence of Wind Walk at once.

“Is this how you do it?”

Following the Dark Elves, she slightly lowered her upper body and shortened her stride. Instead, she quickened her steps.

Up to that point, she could somehow imitate it.

The problem was condensing mana and creating a cushion.

She succeeded in sending mana toward the soles of her feet, but she could not condense and fix it in place like a cushion.

Even the mana cushion she had barely condensed vanished after only a few steps.

In the end, Briel lost her balance and fell face-first into the sand several times.

“Ptooey, ptooey!”

“Take my hand.”

Floa held out her hand to Briel, who was spitting out sand that had gotten into her mouth.

When Briel looked at her with a puzzled expression, Floa said,

“If you keep doing it that way, you’ll never be able to embody Wind Walk as a Skill. You must receive help.”

“Got it.”

Briel willingly took Floa’s hand.

Floa led Briel and said,

“I’ll help you, so make sure you remember this feeling.”

Through their joined hands, Floa’s mana entered Briel’s body.

Floa’s mana traveled down through her legs to the soles of her feet.

The mana that reached her soles was not immediately released outside. Instead, it whirled several times below her ankles.

Here, the nature of the mana transformed.

The mana, which normally had the quality of scattering, gathered together thickly like sticky rice cake.

In that instant, Briel gained a great realization.

‘This is the true core of Wind Walk.’