***
***
[I can’t believe it…!]
Swoosh!
Seong Jihan’s left arm emitted a strong shadow energy, as if Ariel would burst out from it at any moment.
‘Wait a bit.’
Suppressing her for now, Seong Jihan asked the Great Golem,
“Is the Shadow Queen the research subject of the Constellation Laboratory?”
[No. She is a sacrifice to perform the void disposal task.]
‘Void disposal…’
Seong Jihan frowned upon hearing the Great Golem’s words.
Void disposal.
Upon hearing those words, the first thing he thought of was the half-masked ancient Elf.
-Thanks to my senior dying, I inherited this void disposal site.
-Senior…
-He always acted so high and mighty, but he got blown up by you in the planet colonization map. That incompetent senior.
He, who was the branch manager of the World Tree Elves’ loan counter, referred to the ancient Elf who perished together with Brahma as his senior and answered Seong Jihan, who asked about the mask, he replied in such a manner…
-That mask is called a void disposal site? It’s broken though.
-This is a trash can. It’s fine as long as you make one more trash can.
The Ancient Elf called the void disposal site a trash can.
Then, it was possible to predict that the void disposal task wasn’t anything good either.
‘I should take a look first.’
Seong Jihan looked at the Great Golem and said,
“Let’s go to where the Shadow Queen is imprisoned.”
[Understood.]
Flash…!
The figure of one Great Golem disappeared, and a huge light portal appeared in its place.
As Seong Jihan set foot inside,
a place befitting the name ‘underground area’ was finally revealed.
‘It’s full of void energy.’
A large, dark cavity.
Only a faint purple light illuminated this place.
From the floor, it was mushy like a swamp, half-melted and from within, the energy of the void wafted out strongly.
As Seong Jihan looked around,
He soon found a being bound by chains all over her body in the center of the void swamp.
[Q-Queen…!]
The constellation Shadow Queen.
She had an appearance almost identical to Ariel, to the point where one might think they were twins at first glance.
One thing remained intact: her face.
However, the rest of her body below the face was far from normal.
The greyish body was constantly burning in the purple flames, only to regenerate again and again.
When Ariel, unable to bear it any longer, attempted to emerge from Seong Jihan’s arm…
[Beginning the 172nd void disposal.]
From the ceiling, an automatically translated language was heard.
Automatically translated language echoed from the ceiling.
Then…
Twist! Twist!
The chains binding the Shadow Queen pulsated like veins, injecting void energy into her body.
And then…
Flare…!
Just when it seemed to weaken, the purple flames regained their strength, once again melting away the Shadow Queen’s body.
‘She’s lost her mind.’
The Shadow Queen, who had been staring blankly ahead with her mouth wide open, only flinched slightly at the intense flames and showed no further reaction.
“Queen!”
Ariel, who finally popped out of Seong Jihan’s arm upon seeing that, ran to save the queen, but,
Bang!
“Kuk…!”
As soon as she jumped in, a white shield created in the air bounced her off.
And then,
Swoosh…
The white shield soon condensed into a single form.
‘That’s… the smiling mask.’
The white half-mask worn by the Ancient Elves.
It blocked Seong Jihan’s way in a translucent form and,
Twist!
The mouth of the mask began to move.
[Oh my, customer. How did you get in here?]
“…Are you the loan counter branch manager?”
[Yes, I didn’t expect to see you in a place like this.]
The branch manager greeted Seong Jihan in a welcoming voice.
The eyes of the huge mask looked at Ariel for a moment and continued,
[We’re in the middle of disposing of waste, so don’t carelessly go inside.]
“Waste… Do you mean the void?”
[That’s right. Because the senior who died by your hand neglected separating garbage. I’m doing some backlogged work. Collecting the recycling bins and disposing of the void.]
Twist! Twist!
As soon as the mask’s words ended, the chains moved again.
Crackle!
The Shadow Queen’s body was quickly engulfed in purple flames.
‘The Shadow Queen… I thought she died to the Martial God but it seems I was wrong. Did history get twisted because the previous Ancient Elf died?’
Dark Shadow Technique, which was in charge of one axis of the Fundamental Divine Arts.
It was very similar to the authority possessed by the Shadow Queen.
Considering the characteristic of the Wandering Martial God to steal the opponent’s power, it was possible to deduce that the Shadow Queen died to the Martial God in the previous life.
However, it seemed that history had been overturned as the previous Ancient Elf died in an explosion with Brahma and the branch manager inherited his ‘void disposal site’.
Unlike the previous generation’s Ancient Elf, the new branch manager diligently handled the work.
Meanwhile,
Crackle…!
The Shadow Queen’s face was now burning in flames, not just her body.
Seeing that, the mouth of the mask moved busily.
[Oh dear, oh dear. Thanks to you, customer, I got impatient and couldn’t control my strength. How did we manage to raise our recycling bin to this level?]
“The Shadow Queen… is a recycling bin?”
[Yes, a top-grade item that became a constellation despite being a mere shadow. Although we did provide special support.]
“…Support?”
Ariel, who had been bounced off by the mask and couldn’t come to her senses for a moment, gritted her teeth.
“What support did you give us! We Shadow Elves, under the guidance of the Queen, have won our freedom…!”
[A mere shadow. It’s not the freedom you won, but the freedom we allowed you.]
“What… ?”
[Otherwise, how could you have defied the real thing with just the spirit of a failed creation?]
Unlike when talking to Seong Jihan, the branch manager looked down on Ariel with an authoritative attitude.
[Think back to when you rebelled. It was only by a coincidence of coincidences that things barely succeeded. The same is true when you were growing your power afterward. How did the Queen manage to invade only planets with so many shadows, and cruise through the BattleNet leagues without being interfered with by the World Tree Elves? Could all of this have been luck?]
“…So you’re saying you planned all of this?”
[Yes. The rise of the Shadow Elves was just one of the projects carried out by the Constellation Laboratory. Everything was to make the Shadow Elves a constellation. And to find out the void’s capacity.]
The half-mask smirked.
[The results were quite satisfactory. From now on, the Shadow Elves will fight for freedom and give birth to a constellation countless times. And when they grow to a certain extent, they will become a trash can like this.]
“…That can’t be. I can’t believe it.”
[Is that so? The Shadow Queen seemed to be vaguely aware of this.]
Swoosh!
As the mask became transparent, the Shadow Queen’s recovered face was revealed again.
An appearance completely identical to Ariel.
[Once the power was stabilized, you scattered your own ‘avatar’ like you everywhere. So that you could switch at any time, right?]
“…”
[Or have you already switched? Maybe you’re the real queen. I see you have quite a bit of power.]
“…My power is strong because my master is strong. I am nothing more than an avatar of the Queen.”
[Is that so? Then you’re perfect as a new recycling bin. You lowly shadow. We will make you a constellation, so come here.]
“Ha… You want me to meet the same end as the queen?”
[Haven’t you enjoyed the glory all this time? It’s only the end that’s miserable.]
With a hardened expression, Ariel looked at Seong Jihan.
“…Master, let’s get out of here. We can’t stay here any longer.”
“Are you going to leave the Queen in that state?”
“The queen… is already finished. We can’t die either.”
Ariel, who had charged in first, seemed to have sensed something from the branch manager’s words and was now telling them to run away quickly.
However,
[Hoho, customer. Why do you think I talked at length about the circumstances of a mere shadow?]
The branch manager’s mask, which had returned to respectful speech, smiled at Seong Jihan.
[I urgently investigated how you came all the way here. It seems the Great Golems mistook you for the Head Manager because you possess the life force of the World Tree.]
“So?”
[To fully possess the life force of the World Tree, I’m glad to see you. I thought you might someday, but to already possess ‘Eternity’… You have gained the qualification to become our kin.]
“Kin… Do you mean the Ancient Elves?”
[Ancient Elves… that’s just a term outsiders use to refer to us. The correct term is ‘Descendants of Yggdrasil’.]
Swoosh!
The mask’s appearance slowly changed.
[Oh Yggdrasil, please show your brilliant form and welcome the new member of the family.]
Flash!
A Dazzling, Radiant Halo,
Soon, a shape was shown in the place where the mask was.
‘…A rainbow-colored tree.’
The Tree of Light floated up like a hologram.
It shimmered with iridescent hues, displaying an ethereal beauty.
“That’s… Yggdrasil…”
Ariel, who had been telling Seong Jihan to run away, lost herself upon seeing that and plopped down on the spot.
“…Ah.”
From the mouth of the Shadow Queen, who had been staring blankly ahead, a voice flowed out for the first time.
Although it was just an image, the rainbow-colored tree Yggdrasil emitted immeasurable life force just with its appearance.
‘Is that Yggdrasil, the pinnacle of the World Tree Alliance? It’s in a different dimension, I see.’
While Seong Jihan was judging it calmly like that,
[Then, please help us with our work from now on.]
The form of Yggdrasil faded away, and the Branch Leader’s mask reappeared.
And then…
Whoosh…
An identical half-mask materialized in the air.
It flew towards Seong Jihan’s face.
[Wear the half-mask and take out the trash first, junior.]
Thwack!
Seong Jihan caught the flying mask in his hand and tilted his head.
“Why am I your junior?”
* * *
[…]
The mask, which had been silent for a moment at Seong Jihan’s answer,
[You… didn’t you just welcome Yggdrasil…?]
It asked him in a trembling voice.
“Oh, the rainbow-colored tree from earlier?”
[Y-yes! Did you not feel anything when you saw it?]
“Ah, I just thought it was pretty with the way it was sparkling. It’s full of life force too.”
[Pretty…?]
“Yeah.”
[H-how dare you call Yggdrasil that…]
“Isn’t pretty a compliment?”
Seong Jihan said that sincerely and fiddled with the half-mask curiously.
Seeing that, the branch manager, who grasped the situation, was shocked.
[Impossible! How can someone possessing Eternity… not worship Yggdrasil? Don’t you have the World Tree inside you?!]
“Does that mean I’ll have to obey Yggdrasil?”
[Of course!]
“I don’t feel that way at all.”
As Seong Jihan said that,
Tap! Tap!
He tapped on the branch manager’s half-mask.
“But you, have you gotten weaker?”
[…Just loading Yggdrasil’s image for a moment was enough to overexert myself. I thought the customer would become the junior and help with my work… An unexpected situation has occurred.]
“Hmm.”
Tap! Tap!
While listening to those words, Seong Jihan tapped the mask blocking the front a bit harder.
Perhaps displaying Yggdrasil’s image earlier consumed that much power.
Just from simple tapping, cracks began to form on the half-mask.
Then, the branch manager hurriedly opened his mouth.
[Wait! Don’t act recklessly. If you break it, the void energy will flow back to the laboratory!]
“Really?”
“…Yes, surely you wouldn’t consider breaking it? I warn you. Stop right here. Stop tapping!”
The half-mask’s voice grew louder and louder.
In proportion to that,
“But you know, why do I feel like doing exactly what you tell me not to?”
With each tap from Seong Jihan’s hand, the mask became even more solidly golden.
[This is insane…!]
Along with the manager’s shocked voice,
Swoosh!
The void energy that had been isolated inside began to spread in all directions through the cracks.
No matter how much void energy Seong Jihan possessed, it was too much to absorb.
‘I should use this right away.’
Seong Jihan picked up the half-mask the branch manager had given him.
***
***
