Chapter 130
The scenery beyond the portal was entirely different from the Experiment Zone's gloomy landscape.
A cozy space where lush greenery flourished.
'It looks like a garden.'
In the center stood a wooden table, in front of which a beauty, akin to a portrait, was seated.
A woman with golden hair, green eyes, and wearing a white robe, was blowing mana into a crystal orb on the table.
"......Huh?"
She looked at Seong Jihan, who popped out from the portal, with surprised eyes. But it was only for a moment.
She quickly regained her composure, revealing a faint smile on her lips.
"It seems we have a visitor."
As her lips slowly parted, letting a gentle voice be heard, viewers continued with comments mixed with admiration.
- Wow... awesome...
- UWOOOOOOGGGGGGGH!!!!!
- Isn't this on the level of the Shizuru?
- ㅇㅇ; Another goddess appears ㄷㄷㄷ
- This channel unexpectedly offers lots of eye candyㅋㅋ
- But is she an Elf? Her ears are pointy.
- She seems to be an Elf. But isn't she more beautiful than the elves we saw in the Colosseum?
- Is she what they call a High Elf we only hear about in tales?
Ito Shizuru, who astonished the world with her beyond-common-sense beauty.
After her face was revealed, people from both the East and the West acclaimed her to be the world's most beautiful woman.
But this Elf from the game was so beautiful that she could easily rival Shizuru.
And, her appearance was a face Seong Jihan had seen before.
'That's the Elf you showed me before.'
[Yes. That is a proper Elf.]
The Elf figure that Ariel showed him, saying all elves in the World Tree Alliance looked like this, matched perfectly with the woman in front of him.
"An experimental subject escaping through the portal... truly an intriguing case."
The Elf, who had been observing Seong Jihan with interest,
Swoosh!
Swept up the crystal orb with her robe sleeve and collected it.
Then, pointing to the empty desk, she said,
"Human, would you like a cup of tea?"
She invited Seong Jihan to tea time with a gentle tone.
Tap! Tap!
As she tapped the desk twice with her finger, two wooden teacups sprouted from the wooden table.
Steam wafted from the teacups, and a clear and deep-scented tea was rising from them.
- The atmosphere is crazy
- While a bloody battle is taking place in hell below, only here is it heaven
- If you're a man, this is impossible to refuse
- Even if your head knows something's off, your body would still moveㅋㅋㅋㅋ
It seemed peaceful enough on the surface. However,
[Beware of the scent of the tea, Master.]
Ariel quickly sent a warning from within his arm.
True to her word, as the scent of the tea spread,
His consciousness became hazy and his mood elevated.
'So, that was the reason for this all of a sudden.'
Somehow, the already beautiful Elf in front of him seemed even more attractive.
Hah~
Seong Jihan regulated his breathing, clearing the abnormalities in his body.
In a state where he could perfectly control his body with the Martial Soul, he could easily foil such a petty scheme.
'I really want to slice her in half in one go.'
He had a grudge against the elves from his previous life, so the urge to take it out on them, even in the game, surged within him.
'But I have to complete the quest...'
Seong Jihan calmed his mind, recalling the contents of the Epic Quest.
Discover the entity that created the Experiment Zone and uncover the purpose of the experiments.
While the former was already solved, there were still no clues about the latter.
[Master, the scent of the Rainbow Leaf is not something even the most excellent warrior can endure for long. How about just cutting that creature's throat right away?]
'No, let's go along with the flow for a while.'
Thud!
As Seong Jihan took a seat across the wooden table, the Elf's smile deepened upon seeing him.
"Thank you for responding to my request."
"Hmm. Were you the one who created this place? Why did you make something like this?"
As soon as Seong Jihan sat down, he asked straightforwardly.
He asked the question, perhaps hoping that if he gets an answer, the quest will be cleared immediately.
"Hehe... You're quite impatient. Let's talk slowly while having a cup of tea."
The Elf avoided the answer and gracefully brought her tea cup to her lips.
"Aren't you going to have some? The tea is well-brewed."
After drinking the tea, the Elf offered it to Seong Jihan.
As soon as her words ended, the scent of the tea became even richer than before.
To the extent that if Seong Jihan was at his previous level, he would have been somewhat affected.
The aroma tried to stealthily and persistently intervene with him.
- Why does she keep trying to get him to drink the tea?
- Something seems suspicious ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
The viewers, unaffected by the scent, sensed something strange.
[MaxLevelFirst has donated 10,000GP.]
[Be careful Seong Jihan!! She keeps trying to make you drink the tea! You have to be the first rank!!]
An extreme fan even donated 10,000 GP for Seong Jihan, who couldn't see the chat.
With the channel subscribers reaching hundreds of thousands, there were often cases where donations exceeding the minimum amount of 10,000 GP set by Seong Jihan appeared.
This time, too, a passionate fan threw a large amount of money, stomping their feet and urging him to wake up.
'I feel a bit sorry.'
However, since he had already sat down and decided to follow the flow, he had to pretend to go along with the other party.
Seong Jihan decided to respond to the donation message later and reached out to the tea cup, drinking it all at once.
A refreshing sensation spread throughout his body.
'Hmm....'
In an instant, his body stiffened rigidly.
A feeling as if he had lost control of his body.
Of course, Seong Jihan could return it to normal in one breath through his Martial Soul, but,
'Let's see what she does.'
He decided to leave himself in this state for now.
"Hehe...."
The Elf looked at the stiffened Seong Jihan and got up from her seat with a malicious smile.
Then she approached him and fondled his body.
"An Irregular... The level is not very high, though."
The Elf looked at Seong Jihan as if she found him interesting.
"Is this physical ability... possible for someone from such an inferior race?"
The Elf, who was touching Seong Jihan, dug her nails into his body.
When blood subtly stained the spot, she,
"...This."
Immediately wore a serious expression.
"It's material that needs to be sent to the lab."
She took out a crystal ball from within her robe,
And slammed it on the wooden table.
Pssshhh~
A green flame rose from the table,
And was absorbed into the Elf.
After pausing for a moment, she moved again.
"&!$!#."
The voice she let out was significantly different from before.
If the language had been automatically translated in the game earlier, now it was a voice that was unintelligible.
'Do you happen to know what she's saying?'
[It's Elvish. "Found a superior test subject,"... she says. But how....]
Just as Ariel was about to continue speaking incredulously,
[50 survivors remain.]
[The game will end soon.]
'What. Did they all already die?'
A system message about the end of the survival game popped up.
No, how did the game end already?
It seemed not only Seong Jihan felt that way.
"#$&!#!#$&$!#."
[Damn inferior race. She's cursing, asking why the survival game ended so quickly.]
Elves, with their insane regeneration,
Wouldn't have a survival game end this quickly like humans.
She stuck her hand into her robe sleeve and took out a leaf the size of a palm.
"!##@#!...."
As the Elf rapidly chanted a spell, the leaf, glowing with a self-emitting green light.
She pressed the leaf to Seong Jihan's chest.
Swoooosh!
In an instant, the leaf was absorbed into Seong Jihan's body.
"Your master commands you."
Suddenly, he started to understand and hear the Elf's language.
"Come straight here as soon as the next game starts. Turn off the broadcast."
And with that last sentence.
[You have achieved 1st place in the Survival Map.]
A 1st place message appeared in the system window, and he logged out immediately.
* * * * *
Returning to his original room, Seong Jihan swallowed his regret.
'I thought I'd complete the Epic Quest.'
That's the problem Survival maps.
It ends when 50 people die.
He deliberately played along to understand the enemy's intentions.
'But that leaf earlier...'
Seong Jihan took off his upper clothes.
On his firm upper body, right in the middle of his chest.
A green leaf pattern was drawn.
Swooooosh!
"Are you okay, Master?"
Ariel, who had slipped out of Seong Jihan's arm, hastily asked him.
"I'm fine."
"Hmm... Think of the Elf earlier. Does your heart flutter or anything?"
Ariel projected the Elf's figure again and tested Seong Jihan, but.
"No. Not at all."
He did not budge.
"You really are amazing, Master... Even if a Shadow Elf gets marked by the World Tree's leaf, most of them feel infinite affection toward the Elf. How are you unaffected?"
"This is the World Tree's leaf?"
"That's right."
Seong Jihan stared at the leaf pattern on his chest in surprise.
The World Tree that removes all status abnormalities.
Whether it's a branch or a leaf, Ariel had said anything related to the World Tree would do.
"If I feed this to my brother-in-law, will the Enchantment be lifted?"
"Ah, are you talking about that person under a status abnormality? It cannot be used now since it's integrated with your body. But it might be possible when the Elf comes to retrieve it."
"Hmmm..."
A fragment of the World Tree.
He had thought it would be quite hard to obtain, but he caught a chance to get it from an unexpected map.
"U-Uncle!"
Meanwhile,
As soon as the broadcast ended, Yoon Seah came running, panting.
"Are you okay? The game earlier was totally weird! Suddenly, the Elf said strange things. The atmosphere was so odd, and people were really worried! Uh, what's that pattern on your chest...?"
"Ah, it's a gift from the Elf."
"What?"
"It's a leaf from the World Tree. If we use this well, we could bring your father back to his senses."
At those words, Yoon Seah's eyes trembled intensely.
"...Dad?"
"Yes. If the leaf of the World Tree appears in its complete state, it can surely remove the status abnormality of Enchantment. But making him eat it might be a problem."
"Will it work if we feed it to him during the national team match?"
"The league match? Of course, it will affect."
"Then, we can force-feed it to him later."
To defeat the Sword King, the world's strongest warrior, and then forcibly feed him the leaf.
Seong Jihan spoke of this tremendous task as if they were just going out for a drink.
"Dad... can come back to his senses..."
"Yeah. But first, we have to extract this."
"Is... Is it not too much...? Uncle. I'm okay. Even if Dad isn't..."
"No. It's me who's not okay."
Seong Jihan said, tapping on the leaf pattern on his chest.
"I'll... Yeah, I'll give him to you as your Christmas gift."
* * * * *
Incheon Airport.
A woman, her hat pulled down low, stepped out, dragging a light suitcase.
On the outside, she was just an ordinarily looking young woman.
"This isn't easy, being far from the main body..."
Continuously muttering in Japanese, the woman,
"Ah, I have to speak Korean now."
Quickly switched to Korean, left the airport, and hailed a taxi.
"Where to, ma'am?"
"Sword Palace."
"Oh... Do you mean the Sword Palace in Gangnam?"
"Yes, that's right. I'm going to stay there for a bit."
She conversed fluently in Korean with the taxi driver and opened her smartphone.
"But can you stay at Sword Palace?"
"I rented an officetel for a month."
"Aha. Sword Palace, that's where that famous Seong Jihan is, right! You might see him around since you're staying for a month."
"Well, I..."
Swipe! Swipe!
As she flicked through photos on her phone, she responded.
Yoon Seah's face was there.
"Rather, there is someone else I want to see more."
"Someone else?"
"Yes. The child who will become my daughter."
A deep smile spread across her lips.