Long story short. It's now personal. Castel came here. Fucked everything up. Killed their god. Kidnapped the princess (Well, just a rare summoner girl, but still!) and then just ran off to go fight some other ancient guardian of the forest.

The fact that this elf village is still together as much as it is is honestly kinda amazing. Taming a hostile environment isn't usually this literal. Even the first plane only managed cause… No actually it didn’t! Everyone dies up there and it's got like a regular schedule of monsters, not to even mention the woods wanting to eat you alive!

There are elves.. People. Out there in the forest right now hunting for materials to keep this place up another night. Some of them are probably dying right now. Trying to survive in this unforgiving hellscape.

WHHK!

||Level up! Please direct your experience||

I can’t just be stronger. I need to be smarter. Castel is strong… And he knows it. So I need to be clever. Thankfully. I’ve been building up exactly what I need to take down someone much stronger.

||Intent confirmed. Rot will be improved||

||Skills, Venomancer, Rot casting, Malignant strength, and Scion of the first era have been acquired!||

||Venomancer proficiency added-||

I don’t care. Numbers going up is good but I have no idea what it all means. Or what my new skills even do.

||Abiltity, Touch of famine has been acquired!||

An ability.. I guess I should be excited. That’s definitely the best level up yet. But Its just. Theres so much to do. And not nearly enough time. I guess practice is the only way I can learn anything in the first place.

I reached down and snatched one of the scurrying green shapes off the ground. It's a humanoid.. Kind of. Its skin is hidden under a shaggy fur that looks pretty much like moss. And it has a large distended head that looks almost like a massive nose with beady little eyes and a flapping mouth attached. A goblin according to Oran. and the elf chieftain probably knows better than anyone what things are around here.

“Touch of famine..?”

The thing in my hand starts thrashing around and yelping in a garbled language. Getting weaker with each passing second until it’s barely something that qualifies as a struggle. My Anima is going down a bit. So my ability must be working.

I let the monster drop to the ground and squash its bloated head with my mace. Hopefully the touch ability has a set duration, cause a few seconds of direct touch is way too long to use in any actual combat…

I'd like to say I’m mostly done here. But goblins were bolting around in every direction in the moonlight. The blur of movement as the edges of the clearing snatch out at them makes it even harder to get an idea of how many are left. I don’t think I’m even half done clearing them out. And if I don't finish before daybreak they’d escape into the woods.

“Do you need help Nerian?”

“No.. It kinda defeats the purpose if you get the XP right? Not sure if this will work. Stand back a bit.”

Orphea starts to shuffle towards the edge of the clearing. I still don’t get how she isn’t bothered by the trees trying to bite her. But I can worry about that later. This spell really isn’t for area of effect damage.. But I mean. Its still a poison spell right?

“[Smog]”

Black smoke eats everything in an instant. I tested it when I made it. But I still feel the urge to hold my breath when I can't see my eyelashes. The goblins screeching in panic really isn’t a change. So it’s hard to tell if it’s even working…

||Level up!||

Okay I guess it is.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

No new skills for the night. Which is just as well cause I’m barely conscious. There's no time to sleep when people are dying. And I’ve done longer stints then this of staying awake. But I never had to do magic or dance around my words when I was doing it. At least Orphea could guide me back to the elf village. I don't know how anyone keeps track of directions around here.

Now I just need to wait for dawn so the trees wont kill me.. I should practice with more spells.. Maybe make a new lightning one to help me out in a pinch. Or maybe double down on some new poison? Theres too many gaps in my skillset… So just. Focus…

I wake up with something smooth and hard under my head, groggily opening my eyes to stare into deep purple irises. I tried to stand up but instead I just managed to send shooting pain through my body, and realizing I was basically tied up by my party member’s many legs and heavy chitinous tail.

“Oo-oughhhh fuccckkk”

“With the exception of the most spartan and brutal of warriors out there, training does require rest you know.”

Orphea’s voice was as deadpan and flat as ever but I can just hear a kernel of worry and frustration in there. She brought up a wooden bowl to my lips, filled with cut up herbs and berries mushed together into a sort of soup. I sipped it but my tongue recoiled from the… taste–I can’t really describe it, just that it wasn’t really bitter–but man’d up and just vacuumed it right down my throat.

“The elves were generous enough to give you that medicine, but the forest was a tad… greedier when you blacked out.”

“Cough-cough, Goddamn! Thanks to them then, and, uh, to you too.”

I’ve just registered the many sharp pointed legs pressing down on my skin, its both kinda scary and kinda embarrassing. Is she embracing me? Or just making sure I don’t hurt myself? Her cool, violet eyes looked at mine and I can’t help but see a disappointed mother in my companion.

Something I have… A decent analog for.

“Needless suffering isn’t needed to gain strength when training, Nerian. Time and perseverance will.”

I scowled at her, the coils of sharp and hard exoskeleton around me didn’t seem to matter now.

“I got the second but I don’t have the first. It isn't really needless suffering if I have to fight against Casti-’

Orphea’s hand was soft as it pressed against my lips, her head moved closer to me, moving like a snake more than anything remotely human.

“If you continue what you are doing right now, I know that the last few moments of your life will be swift and agonizing. What I can’t guarantee is where they might be.”

It was just as much a warning, as it was a threat.

“So.. Rest–and think–for now, Nerian.”

She untightened the coils of her segmented lower body, gently putting my head on a bed of leaves while she stayed beside my slightly numb body. She says it like its so easy…

---

If I had gone my entire life without waking up to screaming. It would be too soon. Ugh I’m sore all over… Well. Nothing to do but start moving now…

I push aside the grass curtain door and wow. That’s more elves then I thought were still here. At least half a dozen crowded around the center of the clearing, with an elf thrashing around in the center.

“Good morning nerian.”

Orphea calls down from above, a little turn lets me know she's coiled up around the hutt I was sleeping in. a tad creepy. But more important things first.

“What’s going on?”

“I think I’d call it… A ritual.”

A ritual? I guess I shouldn’t get involved then… But still. It looks kinda bad with a ton of elves crowding around the one. I’m not an expert. But it doesn’t seem like they're trying to restrain the thrashing person or anything. I’d say they’re the problem. If their nose wasn’t running with snot and face was burning red with tears.

Oran is there too. Looking stoic as usual and occasionally saying something firmly that I don’t quite catch from this distance. If he’s handling it then I'd definitely just be getting in the way. But still…

“I wish I knew what was going on.”

“I can summarize if you like otherworlder.”

I shoot to the side as fast as I can. Oh christ it's just Relt. Just pretend you're stretching… And pretend you can’t hear Orphea giggling.

“That would be helpful.”

Relt turns to look at the scuffle. Raising up his head a bit to contemplate for a second or so.

“That creature has committed an irredeemable sin. And there is no way to secure the integrity of our village without exiling it.”

Sin huh. I guess in a fantasy world like this. That might be a quantifiable value. Though It still sounds a bit preachy…

“What kind of Sin was it?”

“Sloth.. Well. It’s succinct to say that that creature abandoned their pride as an elf, and turned their words against the Elder.”

“Are you saying they just… Spoke against something Oran said?”

Relt paused for a moment, turning towards me with lines forming on his brow.

“You speak of Sin lightly Otherworlder. These are difficult times as you’ve been told. Maintaining our way is important when our wounds are showing more then ever.”

That's stupid, you should be trying to keep every bit of manpower you can… As much as I’d like to say that. Is that even true? Does the food it takes to keep someone who won't listen to orders today starve someone tomorrow? I don’t know anything. I’m too stuid to make decisions like this…

“They won't survive on their own though.”

Relts expression softened and turned back towards the scuffle. It was clearing up now. The shaking exile taking staggered steps towards the edge of the clearing.

I don’t know what they were fighting about. But I know with absolute certainty that it didn’t happen on its own. Castel… How many elves have you killed? Directly or indirectly. It’s still all his fault.

Oran came in closer. Either looking for Relt or me.

“Otherworlder. Warrior. I’m sorry you’ve been disturbed during your time of practice. The matter is resolved. So feel free to return to your affairs.”

“Oran.. Is it possible to have the trial sooner?”