Bloody hell, we just can’t kill it. No matter what we do, it refuses to die. Are we just going to sit here and do nothing? No, no! There must be a way. I refuse to let it have its way! It must not finish what it’s doing or we’re screwed.

***

Few hours earlier

“You’re unpredictable, courageous, and dangerous, but that was a splendid sight indeed. Those pillars of flames that erupted from those tunnels were certainly a sight to behold. Tell me though, how are you unharmed from those flames of yours? Are you saying you can control those flames so as not to hurt you? If so, your proficiency in controlling elemental spells is even better than elves,” asked Kuchisabishii-sama.

“Well, I had a protective bubble that was preventing me from getting burned. I doubt my Celestial Beasts will allow their host to die, even though we bicker every once in a while,” I gently stroked Tengu-kaze’s hilt.

“Well done indeed. I believe the Commander is looking forward to speaking with you,” he said as he spotted Noah approaching closer.

“Zen, what— how… thank you for what you did. You eliminated so many of those insects, yet you are somehow unharmed by the flames. I have so many questions for you, but now is not the right time. Come, follow me; we still have bugs in other sections of our forests that need to be eliminated,” said Noah as he gestured for me to follow after him with the Elementalist and John tagging along.

“Had anyone seen the—” I was interrupted by a loud pinging sound followed by a wave of gold that washed over us. W— what the hell was that? Where did that wave even come from?

“The Cosmic Tree, it’s calling for us. What— are the watchers doing? We need to go, we need to protect it! Sound the alarm, all hands, we need to protect the Cosmic Tree!” ordered Noah.

“Wait, what about the city? What about your people living here? You can’t just abandoned it,” I questioned his decision.

“The importance of the Cosmic Tree supersedes everything else. We have no choice,” he explained.

“Leave a third of the army here to protect the city. We have a lot of powerful people that will be coming with you. This city is also important, Commander,” I explained my point.

“You don’t understand, Zen. When the Cosmic Tree calls for help, anyone who is combat-ready must help it. This is our way of life, even if you disagree with our choice,” he explained with frustration.

“Noah, as your future son-in-law, please understand that this city is as important as the Cosmic Tree itself. These are your people who are living here. There are children, civilians and old folks that can’t protect themselves. You can’t just abandon all of them despite the call of the Cosmic Tree. Compromise a little; these are your people that you will be protecting. Otherwise, you end up losing when there is nothing left for you to protect,” I tried to persuade him to consider.

“There’s no room for consideration. All of the elves had already agreed to this. Follow your orders, Zen. As your commander—” Noah was interrupted by John, who tapped his shoulder.

“Hey hey, calm down, both of you. Every capable elf has to go, right? Since I’m human, I can stay and help out. All of you can go ahead. I’ll catch up after I’m done,” he waved us to proceed.

“John, you are needed since your axe is capable of hurting the giant bug. You shouldn’t be wasting time fighting these bugs when we have a priority target,” I explained to him.

“I fight better alone, Zen. It won’t take that long, don’t worry. Have some faith in me, brother. You are needed up there for your insight,” he smiled as he proceeded to enter the city.

Noah didn’t seem to bother as he started shouting something in Elvish, and all of the soldiers abandoned their positions to assemble around him. I grew worried about leaving John alone and thought of helping him when someone spoke behind me.

“I’ll stay with him. He’s strong, so there’s nothing you need to worry about,” said Kuchisabishii-sama as though he knew what I wanted to do.

“I’ll hold you to that. He means a lot to me, and I hate to see anything happen to him. Please protect him, Kuchisabishii-sama,” I bowed to him.

“Haha! I doubt I’ll need to do anything, but I promise to keep him alive. Have no worries; you are needed elsewhere, young one,” he laughed.

“I know, as much as I hate to admit it, I have a feeling that I’m needed up there. What I’m worried is that this is a trap by our enemies to separate us,” I noticed Noah had done giving his speech to all his soldiers. It was then another ping of golden wave erupted from the Cosmic Tree. Something must had gotten it spooked for it to constantly call for help. What are the watchers even doing? I thought they were supposed to be powerful? Aren’t they supposed to be protecting the tree?

“Zen, we need to go. You’ll be taking this wolf to the Cosmic Tree. Something is wrong with the tree to behave this way. We need to protect it,” the Elementalist quickly passed a wolf to me.

“I thought the tree had its protectors? Were they defeated or something?” I questioned their existence.

“I don’t know. But we have to go. I’ve been assigned to guide you, follow me,” he gestured.

“You mean in case I went rogue? I thought he trusted me,” I squinted at him.

“He does. Just that your point of view is different than ours. Yet he knows that he needs you, Master Zen. He is only acting in the best interest of the elves. Believe me, I’m sure he wishes to protect this city himself,” he assured me.

“If he really needs me, then he needs to listen,” I sighed as I mounted the wolf assigned to me. The wolf glanced my way as though it wanted to take a good look at who was mounting it.

“Do you have a name? Your fur is so fluffy,” I smiled as I brushed its fur.

“Kogarashi, you have a rather pleasant scent, Master Zen. No wonder our Alpha is so fond of you,” smiled the female wolf.

“Oh, um, thanks. I wasn’t expecting a compliment, Ms. Kogarashi. Bring me to the Cosmic Tree safely, alright? I hope your name doesn’t reflect your flight skills. I don’t want to freeze to death,” I petted the wolf.

“No worries, I’ll do my best. Otherwise, Kuchisabishii-sama will kill me should anything happen to his favourite human,” she chuckled. Never thought winged dire wolves would be such lovely creatures.

Noah and a couple of other soldiers who were mounting their wolves began flying towards the Cosmic Tree, while the others who weren’t so lucky had to trek their way there on foot.

“Brace yourself, Master Zen. I’ll be taking off,” said Kogarashi as I complied by holding onto her furs. Please be safe, John. There’s still a lot of bugs remaining that you have to face alone. Don’t be foolish and take on all of them at once.

***

“I’m surprised you decided to follow me instead of Zen. Thought you were fond of him,” I spoke to Kuchisabishii-sama as I sliced through a couple of insects who were coming to attack us. My objective is to head towards the city centre, which was the reason as to why we went strolling yesterday. We needed to understand the layout of the city to protect it better.

“Couldn’t leave his best friend alone. Besides, you piqued my interest too. It’s not everyday we have humans inside our forest, not to mention such powerful ones,” he chuckled as he followed after me, only attacking the bugs that tried to sneak up on him from behind. Guess he’s just here to ensure that I make it out alive.

“Well, you’re in for a treat. I had never fought seriously after my battle with the previous Dragon Lord since I still couldn’t control Bloodlust properly. Activating Frenzy while filtering out allies from foes are extremely difficult. But since there is barely anyone near me, I’m able to use the full extend of Frenzy. All I had to do is to get to the centre of town,” I spoke as I ran towards the centre.

“I look forward to it; have no fear, I am not so easy to succumb to the effects of State of Mind,” he assured me.

“Great, filtering out a couple of individuals is still feasible for me though,” I hurried to a landmark that I was familiar with.

There, that’s where I need to go. If I could just— BBBBOOOMMM!!

“Ahh!!!” I screamed as I was suddenly sent up into the air and was now in a free-fall.

“I got you, youngling!” said Kuchisabishii-sama as he grabbed me with his fangs and tossed me onto his back.

If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

W— what the hell was that?! Did an explosion happen from below when I was running? Dusts were still lingering in the air due to the explosion, but something tall was visible. Wait a minute, that was no explosion; something large erupted from the ground and tossed me into the air. But— what is that? I had never seen such a large insect before.

When the dust began to settle, this insect began spewing some form of acids on the buildings, instantly melting them like paper. I really hope there is no one inside as they would had been melted instantly. I definitely can’t afford to get hit by that, don’t wish to be melted alive.

What in the world am I looking at though? I had never seen such a horrifying creature in my entire life. This insect is capable of standing upright even without any legs but having holes at each side of its body. It also has long jaws, two forearms, and an antennae. How is it even moving about with no legs? What stood out the most is that creepy face. Dear Odin, what is with that face? It’s like a hybrid between a centifette and a manfette. Everything is just screaming WRONG about the existence of this insect, yet here it is in front of me.

“We need to stop this— thing from causing more destruction. Put me down, Kuchisabishii-sama,” I tapped his body.

“You won’t be able to handle that thing alone with the other bugs attacking you from all sides. I will help out,” he started descending.

“Not yet, I should be able to handle all of them. I am the Viking Lord, after all,” I assured him.

“Well, you better be careful. This war is getting stranger by the minute. I had never seen such a creature in my entire existence,” he growled as he got closer to the strange insect.

“Me neither. Let’s hope we make it out of this battle alive. Guess I was wrong in saying that it won’t take long,” I dismounted him and approached the insect cautiously.

***

“Hey, ugly!! How about you stop melting things and face something that moves,” I shouted to the hybrid insect.

With a quick, unnatural reaction, the insect turned its head and slid its way towards me, as though wondering why someone was still there.

“What’s this? Someone is still here? How unusual. It smells rather differently too,” spoke the insect as it twitched unnaturally as it stared at me.

“A— human? Inside the elven forest? That’s even more unusual. Not to mention, it has a pleasant musky smell too,” said the insect as it continued to inspect me.

What the hell does that even mean? Am I some sort of insect magnet or something? I have no interest nor any attractions towards insects whatsoever. I don’t have formicophilia, so stop with the weird insect fetish already.

“I’m here to deal with all the insects attacking this city, and that includes you,” I gritted my teeth.

“How arrogant of you to think that you can stop all of us alone. You shall be punished for your arrogance,” hissed the hybrid as it started screeching out, calling to its brethren.

More and more insects began to swarm and swirl around me and Kuchisabishii-sama. He released a growl but I made a glanced at him which made him silent. He must had noticed the power that had been gathering within me.

“We shall flay you where you stand. Your flesh will be stripped from your bones as we devour it in front of you while you suffer a painful death. The odds are not with you,” laughed the hybrid as the insects continued to circle all around us from all angles.

“Sadly though, you made a grave mistake. Thanks for calling all your brethren here. Now you can watch them die by their own hands,” I smirked and roared with fury, releasing all of the power gathered within me.

I activated Bloodlust and unleashed Frenzy upon my enemies. There were no other beings nearby aside from Kuchisabishii-sama, which was easy enough for me to exclude since he’s so large. All the other elves must have left the city since it was dangerous to be here, which worked in my favour.

Steam was leaking out of my mouth as Bloodlust was active now. My only focus was the large hybrid insect who seemed to be unaffected by Frenzy. All the other bugs were killing among themselves as they had fallen prey to Frenzy. Now the odds are even. Let’s dance.

Bloody hell, we just can’t kill it. No matter what we do, it refuses to die. Are we just going to sit here and do nothing? No, no! There must be a way. I refuse to let it have its way! It must not finish what it’s doing or we’re screwed.

***

Few hours earlier

“You’re unpredictable, courageous, and dangerous, but that was a splendid sight indeed. Those pillars of flames that erupted from those tunnels were certainly a sight to behold. Tell me though, how are you unharmed from those flames of yours? Are you saying you can control those flames so as not to hurt you? If so, your proficiency in controlling elemental spells is even better than elves,” asked Kuchisabishii-sama.

“Well, I had a protective bubble that was preventing me from getting burned. I doubt my Celestial Beasts will allow their host to die, even though we bicker every once in a while,” I gently stroked Tengu-kaze’s hilt.

“Well done indeed. I believe the Commander is looking forward to speaking with you,” he said as he spotted Noah approaching closer.

“Zen, what— how… thank you for what you did. You eliminated so many of those insects, yet you are somehow unharmed by the flames. I have so many questions for you, but now is not the right time. Come, follow me; we still have bugs in other sections of our forests that need to be eliminated,” said Noah as he gestured for me to follow after him with the Elementalist and John tagging along.

“Had anyone seen the—” I was interrupted by a loud pinging sound followed by a wave of gold that washed over us. W— what the hell was that? Where did that wave even come from?

“The Cosmic Tree, it’s calling for us. What— are the watchers doing? We need to go, we need to protect it! Sound the alarm, all hands, we need to protect the Cosmic Tree!” ordered Noah.

“Wait, what about the city? What about your people living here? You can’t just abandoned it,” I questioned his decision.

“The importance of the Cosmic Tree supersedes everything else. We have no choice,” he explained.

“Leave a third of the army here to protect the city. We have a lot of powerful people that will be coming with you. This city is also important, Commander,” I explained my point.

“You don’t understand, Zen. When the Cosmic Tree calls for help, anyone who is combat-ready must help it. This is our way of life, even if you disagree with our choice,” he explained with frustration.

“Noah, as your future son-in-law, please understand that this city is as important as the Cosmic Tree itself. These are your people who are living here. There are children, civilians and old folks that can’t protect themselves. You can’t just abandon all of them despite the call of the Cosmic Tree. Compromise a little; these are your people that you will be protecting. Otherwise, you end up losing when there is nothing left for you to protect,” I tried to persuade him to consider.

“There’s no room for consideration. All of the elves had already agreed to this. Follow your orders, Zen. As your commander—” Noah was interrupted by John, who tapped his shoulder.

“Hey hey, calm down, both of you. Every capable elf has to go, right? Since I’m human, I can stay and help out. All of you can go ahead. I’ll catch up after I’m done,” he waved us to proceed.

“John, you are needed since your axe is capable of hurting the giant bug. You shouldn’t be wasting time fighting these bugs when we have a priority target,” I explained to him.

“I fight better alone, Zen. It won’t take that long, don’t worry. Have some faith in me, brother. You are needed up there for your insight,” he smiled as he proceeded to enter the city.

Noah didn’t seem to bother as he started shouting something in Elvish, and all of the soldiers abandoned their positions to assemble around him. I grew worried about leaving John alone and thought of helping him when someone spoke behind me.

“I’ll stay with him. He’s strong, so there’s nothing you need to worry about,” said Kuchisabishii-sama as though he knew what I wanted to do.

“I’ll hold you to that. He means a lot to me, and I hate to see anything happen to him. Please protect him, Kuchisabishii-sama,” I bowed to him.

“Haha! I doubt I’ll need to do anything, but I promise to keep him alive. Have no worries; you are needed elsewhere, young one,” he laughed.

“I know, as much as I hate to admit it, I have a feeling that I’m needed up there. What I’m worried is that this is a trap by our enemies to separate us,” I noticed Noah had done giving his speech to all his soldiers. It was then another ping of golden wave erupted from the Cosmic Tree. Something must had gotten it spooked for it to constantly call for help. What are the watchers even doing? I thought they were supposed to be powerful? Aren’t they supposed to be protecting the tree?

“Zen, we need to go. You’ll be taking this wolf to the Cosmic Tree. Something is wrong with the tree to behave this way. We need to protect it,” the Elementalist quickly passed a wolf to me.

“I thought the tree had its protectors? Were they defeated or something?” I questioned their existence.

“I don’t know. But we have to go. I’ve been assigned to guide you, follow me,” he gestured.

“You mean in case I went rogue? I thought he trusted me,” I squinted at him.

“He does. Just that your point of view is different than ours. Yet he knows that he needs you, Master Zen. He is only acting in the best interest of the elves. Believe me, I’m sure he wishes to protect this city himself,” he assured me.

“If he really needs me, then he needs to listen,” I sighed as I mounted the wolf assigned to me. The wolf glanced my way as though it wanted to take a good look at who was mounting it.

“Do you have a name? Your fur is so fluffy,” I smiled as I brushed its fur.

“Kogarashi, you have a rather pleasant scent, Master Zen. No wonder our Alpha is so fond of you,” smiled the female wolf.

“Oh, um, thanks. I wasn’t expecting a compliment, Ms. Kogarashi. Bring me to the Cosmic Tree safely, alright? I hope your name doesn’t reflect your flight skills. I don’t want to freeze to death,” I petted the wolf.

“No worries, I’ll do my best. Otherwise, Kuchisabishii-sama will kill me should anything happen to his favourite human,” she chuckled. Never thought winged dire wolves would be such lovely creatures.

Noah and a couple of other soldiers who were mounting their wolves began flying towards the Cosmic Tree, while the others who weren’t so lucky had to trek their way there on foot.

“Brace yourself, Master Zen. I’ll be taking off,” said Kogarashi as I complied by holding onto her furs. Please be safe, John. There’s still a lot of bugs remaining that you have to face alone. Don’t be foolish and take on all of them at once.

***

“I’m surprised you decided to follow me instead of Zen. Thought you were fond of him,” I spoke to Kuchisabishii-sama as I sliced through a couple of insects who were coming to attack us. My objective is to head towards the city centre, which was the reason as to why we went strolling yesterday. We needed to understand the layout of the city to protect it better.

“Couldn’t leave his best friend alone. Besides, you piqued my interest too. It’s not everyday we have humans inside our forest, not to mention such powerful ones,” he chuckled as he followed after me, only attacking the bugs that tried to sneak up on him from behind. Guess he’s just here to ensure that I make it out alive.

“Well, you’re in for a treat. I had never fought seriously after my battle with the previous Dragon Lord since I still couldn’t control Bloodlust properly. Activating Frenzy while filtering out allies from foes are extremely difficult. But since there is barely anyone near me, I’m able to use the full extend of Frenzy. All I had to do is to get to the centre of town,” I spoke as I ran towards the centre.

“I look forward to it; have no fear, I am not so easy to succumb to the effects of State of Mind,” he assured me.

“Great, filtering out a couple of individuals is still feasible for me though,” I hurried to a landmark that I was familiar with.

There, that’s where I need to go. If I could just— BBBBOOOMMM!!

“Ahh!!!” I screamed as I was suddenly sent up into the air and was now in a free-fall.

“I got you, youngling!” said Kuchisabishii-sama as he grabbed me with his fangs and tossed me onto his back.

W— what the hell was that?! Did an explosion happen from below when I was running? Dusts were still lingering in the air due to the explosion, but something tall was visible. Wait a minute, that was no explosion; something large erupted from the ground and tossed me into the air. But— what is that? I had never seen such a large insect before.

When the dust began to settle, this insect began spewing some form of acids on the buildings, instantly melting them like paper. I really hope there is no one inside as they would had been melted instantly. I definitely can’t afford to get hit by that, don’t wish to be melted alive.

What in the world am I looking at though? I had never seen such a horrifying creature in my entire life. This insect is capable of standing upright even without any legs but having holes at each side of its body. It also has long jaws, two forearms, and an antennae. How is it even moving about with no legs? What stood out the most is that creepy face. Dear Odin, what is with that face? It’s like a hybrid between a centifette and a manfette. Everything is just screaming WRONG about the existence of this insect, yet here it is in front of me.

“We need to stop this— thing from causing more destruction. Put me down, Kuchisabishii-sama,” I tapped his body.

“You won’t be able to handle that thing alone with the other bugs attacking you from all sides. I will help out,” he started descending.

“Not yet, I should be able to handle all of them. I am the Viking Lord, after all,” I assured him.

“Well, you better be careful. This war is getting stranger by the minute. I had never seen such a creature in my entire existence,” he growled as he got closer to the strange insect.

“Me neither. Let’s hope we make it out of this battle alive. Guess I was wrong in saying that it won’t take long,” I dismounted him and approached the insect cautiously.

***

“Hey, ugly!! How about you stop melting things and face something that moves,” I shouted to the hybrid insect.

With a quick, unnatural reaction, the insect turned its head and slid its way towards me, as though wondering why someone was still there.

“What’s this? Someone is still here? How unusual. It smells rather differently too,” spoke the insect as it twitched unnaturally as it stared at me.

“A— human? Inside the elven forest? That’s even more unusual. Not to mention, it has a pleasant musky smell too,” said the insect as it continued to inspect me.

What the hell does that even mean? Am I some sort of insect magnet or something? I have no interest nor any attractions towards insects whatsoever. I don’t have formicophilia, so stop with the weird insect fetish already.

“I’m here to deal with all the insects attacking this city, and that includes you,” I gritted my teeth.

“How arrogant of you to think that you can stop all of us alone. You shall be punished for your arrogance,” hissed the hybrid as it started screeching out, calling to its brethren.

More and more insects began to swarm and swirl around me and Kuchisabishii-sama. He released a growl but I made a glanced at him which made him silent. He must had noticed the power that had been gathering within me.

“We shall flay you where you stand. Your flesh will be stripped from your bones as we devour it in front of you while you suffer a painful death. The odds are not with you,” laughed the hybrid as the insects continued to circle all around us from all angles.

“Sadly though, you made a grave mistake. Thanks for calling all your brethren here. Now you can watch them die by their own hands,” I smirked and roared with fury, releasing all of the power gathered within me.

I activated Bloodlust and unleashed Frenzy upon my enemies. There were no other beings nearby aside from Kuchisabishii-sama, which was easy enough for me to exclude since he’s so large. All the other elves must have left the city since it was dangerous to be here, which worked in my favour.

Steam was leaking out of my mouth as Bloodlust was active now. My only focus was the large hybrid insect who seemed to be unaffected by Frenzy. All the other bugs were killing among themselves as they had fallen prey to Frenzy. Now the odds are even. Let’s dance.