Chapter 220

Chapter 220
## Chapter 220

Lycanthropes (5)

What words could truly capture this sensation?

It felt utterly boundless and incredibly remote.

The cosmos stretched out in front of him like an infinite field, with galaxies rushing past like currents.

From an unfathomable altitude, they looked down upon the land mass, mutely watching the unfolding drama beneath them.

Peering into that vast panorama, Harris felt akin to a supreme deity gazing upon a tiny, enclosed garden…

“Arrgh!”

Yet, that illusion of supreme power vanished in a flash.

He was violently ripped away from that state, a sharp, blinding pain in his skull causing him to lose his balance. He slumped onto the wooden limb, squeezing his head tightly.

He hadn’t even registered that he was panting frantically.

Rustle—

A soft gust of wind swept past him, acting to calm his hammering heart.

With his awareness settling back to reality, he was finally able to evaluate his circumstances.

‘Whew, that was incredibly close.’

Inhaling deeply, he surveyed his surroundings.

He was perched high up on a massive limb of the World Tree.

Far below, the conflict within Drasha continued to rage fiercely.

‘…I can’t afford to waste time like this.’

Harris forced his trembling legs to stand.

Though he remained in close proximity to the World Tree, the sheer impact of the experience had been so severe that his typical rapid recovery was lagging.

Still, resting was a luxury he could not afford right now.

He had caught only a fleeting glimpse of the World Tree’s grand perspective, leaving his comprehension fragmented… but it sufficed.

He had gathered enough data to realize their ultimate objective.

‘So that is the reason the World Tree promised such an immense bounty… ’

An operation so massive that it compelled a transcendent ruler to mobilize his entire elite force to strike a sovereign land.

The goal was to sever the tether binding the World Tree to this reality, ensuring it could no longer intervene.

‘But to what end? What is their objective in doing so?’

The World Tree had manifested in this realm via its physical vessel and embedded its roots, forming a continent while safeguarding the demi-human populations… yet this manifestation came burdened with major vulnerabilities.

The tangible form anchored to this earth served simultaneously as a monument to its grand cosmic power and its greatest liability.

‘We absolutely must prevent them from succeeding.’

The World Tree functioned as both the origin and the foundational pillar of the Enamel Continent.

Should their operation bear fruit, the territory would gradually disintegrate, plunging beneath the ocean waves until only the solitary mid-island where it rested remained.

A grand land mass, nurtured over millennia, would simply vanish.

“Phew—”

Harris exhaled deeply and triggered “Watcher of the Milky Way”.

It mirrored the sensation of interpreting orbital surveillance, as an absolute flood of data concerning Drasha and its periphery rushed into his consciousness.

The clash pitting the Lycanthrope King against the High Elves, the myriad chaotic skirmishes scattered across the metropolitan area, the clandestine insertion team creeping forward… and…

‘I will deal with that group first.’

Metallic ring—

He lifted his weapon, Themis, and ambient natural forces converged around him, crystallizing into a projectile.

The nearby resonance of the World Tree magnified the potency of his spirits, infusing the projectile with a devastating amount of raw power.

‘I ought to devise a striking title for this move.’

Just as that fleeting idea drifted through his mind, concepts like ‘Elemental Sniper’ and ‘Silent Wrath’ began popping up rapidly within his mental dialogue box…

‘…Forget it, that requires too much imagination. Let’s stick with Spirit Arrow.’

His mind was already burdened with far more pressing matters, and he had no desire to deplete his focus on a trivial title.

The moment that internal debate concluded,

The quiet projectile, saturated with the essence of the World Tree and entirely imperceptible to the combatants below…

Streaked toward its destination like a concentrated ray of luminescence.

—

“Gah!”

“Pant, pant… What hit us…?”

A mere five seconds.

That was the brief span required for the spiritual entities evoked by Shapiron, Timer, and Curia to be utterly shredded and banished back to their native plane.

Subsequently, the trio was struck down, collapsing one after another.

Despite being recognized as the premier prodigies of the academy, their Intermediate-level spirits proved entirely inadequate to mount a proper defense against a general-tier Lycanthrope.

“Hmph, my initial plan was immediate execution… but perhaps harvesting fresh Elf vitality would yield better results…?”

The only reason they drew breath was due to the Lycanthrope pausing, weighed down by indecision.

‘We must… we have to devise a strategy… ’

Shapiron’s thoughts churned with unprecedented velocity.

Yet, regardless of her analytical efforts, no pathway to survival materialized.

Their adversary held the rank of a Master.

He occupied a tier equivalent to a Forest Guardian, among the most revered entities within Elf civilization.

They were mere pupils; defeating such a foe was an impossibility.

‘…What business does a monstrous entity of this caliber have in this place?!’

The sheer preposterousness of the dilemma left her bewildered.

If she could somehow manage to invoke a Higher-level spirit, they might forge an opportunity to flee…

‘…Harris is already stationed above, waiting! He spoke with such certainty about eclipsing our achievements… and now we are cornered down here, facing execution? Not a chance for someone like Shapiron Silvesty!’

Her gaze shifted to the band encircling her left middle finger.

An heirloom crafted from a piece of the World Tree, bestowed upon her sire, Rapori, upon his elevation to High Elf status.

Leveraging this artifact, she had pushed her capabilities to their absolute zenith… and now she was desperately trying to shatter that final ceiling.

‘This gamble might fall short… ’

Burying the agony of her internal trauma, she meticulously guided natural energy into the heirloom, triggering its latent properties.

The tranquil reservoir within the band began to churn violently, gathering force for a sudden discharge.

‘If I draw this directly into my essence and project it all at once… ’

The strategy was incredibly perilous, likely to induce immense fury from her progenitors. Even in success, her internal pathways would be utterly wrecked, rendering her incapacitated for a prolonged period.

Yet, it far surpassed perishing without offering resistance, did it not?

“…Tsk, a waste of effort. I shall savor this kill and move forward. If additional nourishment is required, the blood of the keepers will suffice.”

Regrettably, her desperate gambit was intercepted prior to its execution.

Regardless of the divergence in their energetic signatures, the disparity in their overall power thresholds was simply too vast.

“Farewell.”

The creature smirked, radiating an intense, suffocating malice.

With that, he drove his sharp claws directly toward her.

Boom—!

A catastrophic detonation shook the area.

However, the resulting shockwave lacked the expected dispersal, as the entire force had been condensed into a pinpoint area.

“Argh! What just happened?!”

She had barely managed a frantic evasion, shifting clear of the strike at the final instant.

Even so, her right upper limb and lung were completely obliterated. A millisecond slower, and her skull and cardiac center would have been pulverized!

‘A sniper strike from such an immense distance that I couldn’t even register the approach? Could it be a High Elf?’

The bulk of the opposition here was being engaged by King, meaning this assailant had to be one of the outliers from the exterior perimeter.

There was no time for hesitation.

Snap!

Crunch—

The human guise she maintained for covert movement dissolved as dense fur erupted over her frame, reshaping her into a colossal werewolf surpassing three meters in height.

Her upper torso remained severely mangled, but given her current rapid tissue regeneration, total recovery would not be long delayed.

A minor physical imbalance posed no true obstacle for her.

‘The trajectory of the strike points back toward the World Tree. Curse it, our cover is completely blown. I must generate a massive diversion to afford the others an opening.’

Her intellect operated at high speed, mapping out the tactical landscape to forge an alternative path.

Possessing a calmer disposition than her fellow generals, she had been selected for this infiltration… though her certainty in achieving success had evaporated.

An alternative blueprint existed, and looked at objectively, this was a manageable complication.

‘However… ’

As corrupt arts and feral insanity rippled through her physical form, mending her torn flesh…

An unmanageable fury overwhelmed her intellect.

‘…I must slaughter those pathetic wretches first. They are the root cause of my current humiliation.’

She directed a venomous glare at the fleeing Elves, a malevolent grin splitting her visage.

They too had reacted with agility, each executing their own evacuation maneuvers the moment they perceived the deadly threat.

Timer, acting as a ranger and having escaped major internal trauma, scooped up the remaining pair of females and sprinted away, while Curia, the magic caster, spat blood while casting supportive enchantments to accelerate his stride.

Meanwhile, Shapiron kept her eyelids shut, concentrating intensely on a hidden action…

‘That sniper cannot possibly release another shot so rapidly! I will slaughter those two runaways first, then make my ascent toward the World Tree!’

Furthermore, if she executed those Elves in a sufficiently brutal fashion, she might successfully unhinge the distant sniper.

Clouding his tactical judgment would significantly streamline her mission.

The musculature in her lower limbs expanded tightly, and…

Boom—!

She closed the gap in a single, explosive bound.

“Ahhh! Why is this monster tracking us with such ferocity?!”

Timer shrieked in absolute panic, yet the massive werewolf simply pressed her assault, her crimson eyes gleaming with predatory hunger.

“Ha ha ha! Perish like the vermin you are!”

Just then, as Shapiron, suspended like a heavy bundle, snapped her eyes open…

She bellowed, her throat raw and choked with the crimson fluid rising from her lungs.

“Anemos!”

Though she had been temporarily blocked from calling upon her spirit due to the trauma of its violent banishment… the artifact on her left middle finger, forged from the World Tree, bypassed such baseline restrictions completely.

Hum—!

The band erupted with radiance, and a vibrant, emerald-hued Higher-level Wind Spirit took physical shape.

“Repel her!”

Gale—!

An immense torrent of air, reacting to her desperate decree, slammed directly into the oncoming werewolf.

“Grargh! A mere breeze! Wait, what?!”

The magic wasn’t designed to wound, functioning merely as a blunt physical counterweight to halt her momentum.

Even a Higher-level spirit lacked the offensive output to deal meaningful harm to a general-tier Lycanthrope.

Its utility was confined to hoisting her briefly off the earth.

Yet that microscopic window of time…

“Eh? N-no! How could he manage…!”

Was precisely what the silent executioner required.

Boom—!

This iteration achieved a flawless, devastating impact.

—

“…Seriously? Is she completely brainless?”

Harris lowered his ranged weapon, observing the scene play out via “Watcher of the Milky Way” with a completely perplexed look.

He found it hard to credit that an enemy of that tier could be neutralized so effortlessly.

He hadn’t anticipated that she would allow herself to be utterly blindsided by secondary targets after absorbing such a monumental opening strike.

‘…Then again, she is a Lycanthrope.’

Their collective lack of emotional restraint was legendary.

Her fixation on butchering her targets had evidently overridden her survival instincts.

On this occasion, that hyper-fixation had cost her everything.

‘Had Shapiron not intervened, neutralising her would have proved far more complicated. I never envisioned her manifesting a Higher-level spirit.’

If that final shot hadn’t connected cleanly, Timer and the rest would have faced absolute slaughter.

His current threshold of power wasn’t yet sufficient to safeguard comrades from such a vast distance while simultaneously managing a high-tier threat.

‘Not just yet… ’

He sensed the primal vitality of the World Tree surging into his system, knit-healing his fatigue, and an intuitive realization dawned on him.

He was right on the precipice of breaking through his current limitations.

‘First, I need to clear out the stealth infiltrators.’

The hidden units advancing toward the World Tree bearing a lethal, obscured object.

He had remained completely oblivious to their approach until integrating his awareness with the World Tree; their concealment methods were that impeccable.

He could easily have alerted the keepers to handle the threat, but he wasn’t about to forfeit a triple experience point modifier!

Harris discharged succession after succession of Spirit Arrow, reveling in the augmented capacity provided by the World Tree.

‘I am still slightly short of the mark.’

Though he had successfully neutralized every single infiltrator, the accumulation of karma required for his next advancement remained insufficient.

‘My best move is to assist the frontline against the generals. Eradicating the leadership tier rapidly will turn the tide of this engagement.’

Harris re-engaged “Watcher of the Milky Way”, scanning the chaotic theater of war.

The quartet of High Elves teetering on the edge of total exhaustion, the masters locked in an unyielding deadlock, the casualty figures mounting across the Elven ranks…

‘…I must intervene before their lines fracture completely. Their high mobility renders widespread destructive magic ineffective, so picking off key targets systematically remains the optimal approach… Wait a moment.’

Suddenly, an alternative concept sparked in his thoughts.

He had been defining his role strictly as a spiritual marksman, but… he possessed an ability uniquely tailored for a massive theater of war like this!

“Harmony of Melody”, which he had utilized primarily to optimize his offensive output.

‘Hold on, this could actually function… If I can scale the amplification factor further… ’

He rapidly reassessed the battlefield mechanics and slowly shifted his gaze.

Fixing his eyes upon the World Tree—the ultimate natural resonator… rather, the primary font of all natural energy within Drasha.