The wind picks up
The villagers at the foot of Erghe Mountains hid in their homes, fearful of the Second Eradication Team, and observed the situation outside.
One of them, who had opened the window to look outside, spoke:
"Village Chief, the wind is strange."
The wind blew from Erghe Mountains. The winds descending from the high and steep mountains passed through the village and headed towards the only plain. And it wasn't just one or two.
"...The wind seems to be alive."
At the villager's words, the village chief reached out through the window.
Sssaaa----
He felt the wind pass through his hand and opened his mouth.
"It doesn't seem to be a bad situation."
He looked at his empty hand.
"The wind isn't sharp."
Despite carrying cold air, it wasn't a wind that cut like a knife. The village chief, who had lived many years, knew what this wind was. A memory from his childhood came to mind.
"They are Elementals."
"Eh?"
"The Wind Elementals are moving now."
The villager's eyes widened at those words.
"...Aren't Elementals difficult to see since the Catastrophe Era?"
Even before the Catastrophe Era, in Apitoyu, Elves and Elementals weren't such distant beings. Although they rarely interacted with humans, they could occasionally be found in forests or mountains with beautiful natural landscapes. Additionally, it wasn't uncommon to encounter traders who traded with the Elven Village.
However, after the Catastrophe Era, Elves became difficult to see, and Elementals even more so.
The Elementals have vanished.
Even that rumor had spread.
The village chief smiled and shook his head.
"Elementals have always been difficult to see. But they are always there, in the wind."
So, Wind Elementals should be everywhere too.
The village chief corrected what he believed was a truth or common sense that had changed after the Catastrophe Era.
"It seems our Elves are moving. Or maybe they are Dark Elves."
Countless winds, large and small, moved in one direction. However, what was curious was that it was such a gentle wind that not even the accumulated snow on the roofs fell.
The village chief's heart was pounding hard.
The winds that whipped and roamed freely through Erghe like blades. The way they moved, stealthy but gently, was even more terrifying.
"What could be happening..."
The village chief's gaze turned to the distant, faint ice barrier.
"Village Chief, if that ice barrier breaks, it's all over, right?"
"...Probably."
The winds were heading towards the solid ice barrier. The village chief, seeing this, silently prayed.
Please, let everything be resolved well.
And let a wind of change blow in this world.
He sent his own breath into the wind.
It was then...
The villager pointed out the window and exclaimed unintentionally:
"Village Chief, there, there!"
Something was seen rising into the sky.
"A snake..."
Only that word came to mind.
The village chief's eyes widened.
"The wind..."
He saw the wind rising towards the sky.
Ssshhhhaaa--
The winds that blew stopped in one place.
Ssshhhhaaa---
A huge wind centered on Tasha became a single vortex stretching endlessly from the ground to the sky. The swirling winds intertwined and collided with each other, merging into one. It looked like a giant snake rising into the sky. However, Cale could only think of another creature.
'It looks like an Imoogi.'
It was like the legendary Imoogi from tales of old, ascending to the sky after living for a long time.
"Human, I cannot see Tasha!"
Raon's words confirmed that Tasha had disappeared from view. But Cale showed no concern about that.
'...The wind.'
In the center of the Imoogi ascending to the sky, in the heart of the wind vortex, Tasha must be there.
"Heh~."
Unable to help it, Cale let out a laugh. It was incredible.
'When did she become so strong?'
Tasha, the Dark Elf. Was she that powerful?
'It's not that.'
Cale reconsidered his idea. It wasn't that Tasha was strong. He could discern the path she had chosen.
'She has started to use her surroundings.'
Cale silently observed the huge whirlwind with pursed lips. Suddenly, the wind stopped.
Susss---
Another wind began to blow. No, it rose.
Kwaaahhhh---
The snow covering the field rose into the sky.
The Inquisitor. Peterson, who fought against Tasha. A huge wind sprang from his body.
"Human, Human! The wind definitely came out of that Elf's body!"
Just as Raon exclaimed with surprise, the wind gushed from Peterson's body.
Ssshhhhaaa---
A green-tinged wind began to rise towards the sky, swirling and gathering around Tasha like the previous wind.
"Raon."
Cale spoke up.
"Tell people to be careful not to be swept away by the wind."
"Understood, Human! I will go and tell Choi Han!"
Wind against wind. The showdown between two colossal pillars was extraordinary. Cale watched the scene and thought:
'If things get tough, I'll intervene.'
Regardless of his confidence in his companions, he didn't want to see them hurt. Cale's gaze shifted away from the wind for a moment and turned to another place.
There, the red mana was being mercilessly cut.
"Ugh."
A groan and a rough word came from Rosalyn's lips.
"Damn."
Kwang!
With a roar, Rosalyn was pushed back helplessly and rolled on the ground. She immediately got up after rolling through the snowy field, her whole body covered in white snow and mud.
"..."
Cale averted his gaze that had been fixed on her.
Ssshhhhaaa---
The sound of the wind had changed. The green wind was the first to move.
"Why do you think Dragons are strong?"
Peterson uttered these words with a trembling smile. However, his eyes were deeply sunken. He took a step forward.
Ssshhhhaaa---
The green wind followed him. He could clearly see Tasha inside the huge vortex. And also the technique she was using.
"Dragons are strong because they have tremendous innate talent. That's why they are strong."
Ssshhhhaaaahh---
Even though two winds were swirling against each other, Peterson was sure that his words would reach Tasha.
"No special reason is needed to be strong. I'm simply strong because I'm strong. That's all. It's like a trait."
Peterson idolized Dragons.
"Truly, that's why Dragons are beautiful beings."
That's why Peterson wanted to be like them.
"I cannot become a Dragon. But I can be similarly strong. I just need to have the essence they possess."
At that moment, Peterson heard a foreign voice.
Ssshhhhaaa---
It was a clear voice that stood out even amidst the clash of winds that prevented any other sound from being heard.
"And is that why you harbored the wind within your body?"
"Yes."
The Source of the World.
Yanni, the Ninth Inquisitor, had chosen to strengthen herself and her Elemental by sharing a part of that source with him.
On the other hand, Peterson made a different decision.
"Elementals, even if they become strong, are not me."
In the end, I am the one who must be strong.
Like the majestic figure of a Dragon living in this world.
Ultimately, only I must ascend to a noble position. There is no point in becoming strong by borrowing the power of something else.
"I exchanged the source for the wind."
Peterson smiled broadly.
"It's a kind of Attribute I've created for myself."
Like a dragon. Unlike other Elves, he created the wind within his body.
The Source of the World. The source contained energy of countless natures and was also the origin of everything.
Therefore, how to change that origin was Peterson's choice.
"Dark Elf."
He spoke towards his invisible enemy.
"There is no point in becoming strong by borrowing the power of something else."
For Peterson, the vortex created by his enemy was like a barrier.
A thick, solid wall.
Ordinary people couldn't overcome that wall.
But there's no need to think about overcoming the wall.
"After all, the incomplete always has gaps."
A wall made of stones and bricks has gaps.
And if the wall is made of randomly piled stones, not of bricks of the same size,
There is definitely a weak point.
In other words, even that huge wind is not just one.
Since it's formed by countless Elementals.
Stones created by weak Elementals will break easily.
"And those gaps will eventually be broken down by a complete whole."
In other words...
"You will fall."
Peterson took a step forward.
The green wind followed him.
Kwaaahhhhhhh------!
The wind and the wind clashed.
The green vortex and the translucent vortex collided with each other.
To be precise, the green wind was trying to push outward.
"Heh. As expected!"
Peterson smiled. Unlike his smiling mouth, his cold eyes could see clearly.
"There's a weak point!"
The vortex created by the green wind concentrated on attacking the weakest part of Tasha's wind.
Kwaaahhhh---
Tasha's wind wavered.
Peterson could see that image clearly.
"I can hear the screams of the Wind Elementals!"
One of the Wind Elementals writhed in pain and the wind began to diminish.
"My wind is not just a simple wind!"
It's a wind born from the Source of the World.
"It's different in quality from the Wind Elementals that wander aimlessly!"
Born with a fundamentally different foundation!
Like the noble Dragons, he himself had become a being of a different foundation.
Therefore, no matter how those winds joined together, he only needed to target the weak ones, create an opening, and strangle the enemy's life.
Targeting the weak may seem cowardly.
'But isn't that the natural law?'
Peterson was following his own order.
The strong devour the weak.
He believed in that natural law.
Kwaaahhhh---
A weak Wind Elemental couldn't resist and was pushed back.
A breach was opened in the huge vortex.
Peterson smiled even more at that sight.
Ssshhhhaaa--
His green wind moved. Aiming for that breach, the green wind would enter and kill the Dark Elf hidden in the vortex. And it would punish the Wind Elementals and the Dark Elf who had pounced on this wind containing the source.
Whiii~
Following Peterson's gesture, sharp thorns sprouted from the pillar of the green vortex.
Those thorns attempted to lunge towards the breach.
Ssshhhhaaa--
It was then...
Through the breach...
"!"
Peterson saw the eyes staring at him.
Pupils as dark as night strangely gleamed like stars.
Dark Elf.
The moment he recognized that it was her gaze, Peterson froze.
"What's wrong?"
Why are you smiling?
The Dark Elf was smiling.
And she was faster than him.
The breach created in the vortex.
Something shot out of it.
It was Tasha's lance.
Baaang!
A roar echoed.
The lance clashed against the green wind. No, it stabbed it.
However, the lance couldn't inflict any damage to the green wind.
Peterson was about to mock that fact, but Tasha's voice reached him first.
"I am weaker than you."
Tasha stood in the center of the huge vortex that enveloped her. The area around her was calm. Because the Wind Elementals didn't approach her. In fact, not a single wind passed by her side.
-Tasha, I will cover the breach!
Her friend's voice, the Wind Elemental, reached her ears.
The breach that had been created momentarily disappeared in an instant.
Ssshhhhaaa--
It could be heard because she was standing in a windless place.
The voices of countless Wind Elementals.
They were with her.
'Even if I'm weaker than you.'
There was one thing she had learned from Cale.
He was truly strong.
The way he used the various powers of nature was so amazing that he made her feel he wasn't human.
However, even so...
'Preparation.'
He prepared for battle with all his being. And in that process of preparation, he actively used his companions.
Cale always said:
"A crushing battle is better."
Tasha wanted to be like Cale Henituse, who in the end, after using everything around him, even his own power to the limit, achieved a crushing battle.
'It seems this Inquisitor sees us as a wall.'
Tasha let out a mocking smile.
"The wind as a wall."
That couldn't be.
The wind is free.
"It cannot be contained."
Tasha held nothing back.
"Don't you even know the basics of wind?"
She raised her hand. Her lance pointed to the sky. She lifted her head. The countless winds that watched her from the center of the huge vortex that stretched to the sky, in stillness, seemed like friends to her.
She joyfully spoke to her friends who would help her fight.
"We have the numbers."
Her Wind Elemental called out to her.
Tasha.
She responded.
"Let's begin."
Since the enemy had shown all its power.
Full attack!!!
The vortex broke.
To be precise, the winds that had joined as one suddenly began to disperse in all directions.
Like a bomb, the group that had moved suddenly headed towards one single place.
Peterson's green wind.
Dozens, no, hundreds of Wind Elementals rushed towards there.
And all of them wielded their sharp winds against the green wind.
Leading the charge was Tasha, soaring above the wind.
Her wind-imbued lance stabbed the green wind!!!
Kwaaang-! Bang! Kwaa! Kwang!
Great and small thuds resonated.
The sound wasn't so great. However, their number exceeded the hundreds.
The incessant thudding was more endless than any grand roar.
"These...!"
Peterson was dumbfounded. His eyes saw it all. The tiny wind knives, the tiny Wind Elementals wielding their sharp winds against his own green wind.
And he also saw how, when he tried to react, a rather large Wind Elemental annoyingly attacked him from behind.
And also Tasha's lance continuously stabbing the green wind.
"Damn it!"
Kwang, bang! Kwaaang!
The relentless attack gave Peterson no space to move.
Tasha could feel Peterson's confusion.
He would want to move, but he couldn't.
Because the wind pressed him without giving him space.
The green wind spun even more fiercely!!!
As if trying to rid itself of the surrounding wind.
But the wind was not something that could be rid of.
They moved as soon as they were stirred.
And when the green wind retreated, they followed closely.
Kwang, bang!
And even the smallest wind stirred.
There were no rules in any of these movements.
They were free.
And that's why it was difficult to make any kind of judgment.
But Tasha could move easily within that freedom.
-Tasha! Let's go!
Tasha kicked. She stepped and moved among the hundreds of winds as if they were solid ground. Rising and falling through the air. She kicked where her heart guided her.
And she wielded her lance.
Bang!
Kwaaang!
The green wind. She could stab her lance anywhere.
Kwaaang! Bang!
She and the Wind Elementals knew.
That the correct answer was to relentlessly attack Peterson so he couldn't move.
And...
"The wind never rests."
There were no easier words than "don't stop" for a being always in motion.
"Hehe-"
Tasha laughed without knowing why.
'I understand'.
By fighting alongside hundreds of Wind Elementals, she now knew. How she should fight.
'I need to blend in'.
Giving her body to this free wind. Becoming part of nature. If she moved with the same purpose without the need for words...
In the end, even if they were hundreds of fragments gathered.
"It becomes a great current".
Like a drop of water gathering to form a river and finally flowing into the vast sea.
The wind should do the same.
No, I should move like that too.
Just freely.
And at my will.
The wind had never forced her. It had only pushed her from behind wherever she went.
"Haha, hahaha-"
Laughter bubbled from her lips for no reason. She didn't know why. She just laughed.
Even though she hadn't won. She felt strangely exhilarated by the situation of fighting alongside hundreds of Wind Elementals, surrendering to the wind.
She kicked. The wind appeared beneath her feet. As if the wind had always been there. Her lance moved. The wind cleared the way for her. As if it should always be like this.
'Yes'.
The wind has always been there and has always been like this.
In this wind, Tasha finally realized what it meant to blend in with the wind.
And she realized the truth.
'I am part of nature'.
I have always been here and always act like this.
Because it's natural for me to do so.
Tasha wondered what kind of epiphany this was as she fought the Inquisitor, but thanks to it, she was filled with renewed confidence.
"The current has reached me".
The great current follows her.
With just that, she won.
She thought this wasn't a belief, but a natural fact.
At that moment...
Sssss-
A gust of wind approached her.
"!"
Tasha startled.
-Tasha, Tasha!
At that moment, her Wind Elemental urgently called out to her.
And Raon, who had been in Cale's lap after visiting Choi Han, suddenly stood up.
"Human, Human!"
"What?"
Cale, who was focused on observing the battlefield, responded absentmindedly.
"I feel a tremendous wind!"
"What?"
"I feel an incredibly strong Wind Elemental! I've never felt elemental power like this before!"
An incredibly strong Wind Elemental?
As Cale tried to decipher the meaning of these words...
-Dark Elf.
Tasha heard a voice.
-I can feel the Wind in you. You are the girl who creates the current, who creates the flow.
A small wind brushed her cheek.
She turned her head.
There, a butterfly made of wind existed motionless among the countless winds.
The butterfly asked her.
-Girl, can you save the wind of this world?
At that moment, Tasha could hear her Wind Elemental's voice.
-Wow, he is a King!
The only being the Wind Elementals called King was the Wind Elemental King.
