Chapter 160

Chapter 160
## Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: The High Druid’s Judgment

A proud elf lowering her head to a common human!

And she was someone who held the status of a venerated elder among their kind, no less.

Yet Arwen seemed completely indifferent to the shocked gasps of the surrounding elves.

Instead, the intensity of her respect only deepened as she spoke.

“I beg you to overlook the transgression committed by Auril. If you can find it in your heart to do that much, I will offer my own life in exchange, Druid.”

“······!”

“······ A Druid?!”

The elves within earshot could do nothing but stare, their mouths hanging open in sheer shock.

It was a logical reaction.

A Druid!

They were the ultimate masters of the natural world, beings of myth that were widely believed to have vanished from the face of the earth!

“Hmm.”

The man across from her didn’t seem particularly moved or shaken by Arwen’s declaration.

He merely maintained a steady gaze, his expression unreadable and distant.

‘Ah!’

In that moment of silence, Arwen realized the gravity of her understatement.

This individual was no common druid.

The supernatural display he had performed earlier indicated a power far beyond that level.

“Could you perhaps be… a High Druid?”

A High Druid!

The supreme sovereign who ruled over all druidkind.

History recorded that he, too, had fallen during the cataclysmic struggle against the ‘Extinction.’

A High Druid was considered the literal embodiment of nature—one who commanded the raw fundamental forces of the world and lived in perfect symmetry with all existence.

The figure standing before them might very well be a High Druid from a legendary, forgotten epoch, long since thought lost to time.

Consequently, every elf present watched his mouth with bated breath.

After a short pause, he gave a casual shrug and answered simply.

“That’s correct.”

“Ah······!!”

Arwen didn’t hesitate to drop down onto one knee.

She understood now that a simple apology and a bowed head were nowhere near sufficient.

An encounter with a druid—specifically a High Druid—meant her earlier disrespect was a crime that could not be washed away by the sacrifice of her life alone.

Furthermore, it wasn’t illogical for a High Druid to possess such an overwhelming aura of desire.

High Druids were rumored to reach into the essence of all things, extending even past the boundaries of nature.

In a sense, they were the avatars of desire itself.

For there was nothing in the universe as relentlessly hungry and expansive as the forces of nature.

“I-I am deeply sorry. I failed to see who you truly were.”

“You mentioned offering your neck?”

“If that is the price you require······!”

Arwen gave a firm nod, her eyes reflecting a grim determination.

A High Druid possessed the ability to communicate directly with the World Tree.

Perhaps a being of his stature could provide a remedy for the World Tree, which was currently fading away.

She would sacrifice herself ten times over for such a hope.

“E-Elder!”

Auril finally snapped out of her stupor.

“The fault was mine alone. If a life is required, it must be mine!”

“Quiet, Auril. The blame lies with me for failing to restrain you.”

“Please, I implore you! The elder did nothing wrong!”

Auril also cast herself down before the man.

Her sin was acting on impulse the moment she spotted the undead.

That volatile temperament had always interfered with her spiritual connection to nature, even limiting the vitality of her leaves.

“I beg you, spare the elder and take my life instead······!”

“I will give my life!”

One by one, the other elves in the party scrambled forward, each pleading for their own execution to save the others.

It was a sight without precedent.

Elves, beings so reclusive that a human might never see one in a century, were all prostrating themselves and begging a human for mercy.

‘This is a problem.’

······The situation had veered into strange territory, and I rubbed my chin while I considered my options.

What was the best way to manage them?

My concealed trait, ‘High Druid of the Great Nature,’ appeared to have the power to trigger a growth spurt in them.

That was clearly the reason the elder had humbled herself so completely.

However, I couldn’t just let them off the hook for free.

And I certainly couldn’t execute the elder whose name Andrew had called out through his sobbing.

It made more sense to aim for something more tangible and useful.

I lifted ‘Winter’ and felt the cold steel against Auril’s throat.

“I will be compassionate and hold only the offender accountable. Give me your neck—your very existence.”

“I accept······!”

Auril was shaking, but she didn’t look away.

She had caused this mess.

If this man was a High Druid, he was the ultimate authority of the natural order.

The sovereign whom all children of nature were bound to obey.

Auril squeezed her eyelids shut, preparing for the end.

But the demand that followed was something she never could have anticipated.

“Since you have surrendered your life to me, you shall become my slave.”

“············?”

‘A slave?’

For a second, Auril thought her ears were playing tricks on her.

But with the legendary hearing of her race, she knew she hadn’t misheard.

A slave.

A servant. A piece of property. A creature with no rights, no autonomy, and no dignity, viewed as nothing more than an implement.

Death was a far kinder fate than being a human’s plaything.

This was especially true for Auril, whose pride as an elf was as high as the mountain peaks.

The fact that he was a High Druid didn’t change that core feeling.

Veneration was one thing; being a slave was a bridge too far.

“······ Very well. If that is what is required to appease you.”

“E-Elder······?!”

The confirmation didn’t come from Auril, but from Elder Arwen herself.

‘Auril. Just agree.’

The look in Arwen’s eyes was unmistakable.

She was telling Auril to accept the brand of slavery if it meant staying alive.

Auril looked back and forth between the elder and the man, her mind reeling.

‘Ahh······.’

Her thoughts were a tangled mess.

The concept of being a slave was more repulsive to her than the grave.

Yet, if she refused, the elder would likely be the first to die.

Either they died together right here, or she submitted to this man’s whim.

Auril closed her eyes tightly.

“I… I will… do it······.”

“You will do what?”

He was forcing her to say it out loud, making it real.

Auril threw a look of pure resentment at Elder Arwen.

But there was no path left for retreat.

She was, after all, the one who had drawn her weapon without provocation.

“Sl… Slave······ *Sob*!”

The elven race is a rarity.

They are so isolationist that very little data exists regarding them, and the specifics of how they link with the ‘World Tree’ remain a total enigma.

In fact, the general public didn’t even grasp the significance of the World Tree.

‘The World Tree is a structural pillar supporting the continent as it floats in the sky.’

But I was aware of the truth.

I knew that the World Tree was a fundamental component that kept the world stable.

The two goddesses had managed to retrieve and reconnect the continent that had fallen into the void, but that act alone wasn’t enough to keep it afloat.

The World Tree acted as one of the anchors for the resurrected landmass.

‘In a way, the elves who protect the World Tree are essentially maintaining the world’s foundation.’

This was information I had only uncovered during the final scenes while playing the character Wilhelm.

The fact that it was end-game lore meant it was incredibly significant.

‘Elves are likely the key to the final content.’

Because of that, starting a feud with them was a bad move.

It was far more strategic to maintain a façade of friendship, keep Auril as a subordinate, and extract their hidden knowledge.

The final content.

The narrative I hadn’t reached yet—or perhaps the content that followed a patch that never went live in my old life.

I suspected that the story of this current world, which had ‘paused’ upon Wilhelm’s demise, had now ‘resumed.’

‘The passing of Wilhelm, the last player character, seems to have been the trigger for this new content.’

Back when I was just a gamer, the player count was always 0 or 1.

It hit 1 whenever I logged in, but the reality was that all the gamers had been pulled into the world as actual players.

That transition might have been what caused the update to stall.

Much like how we could slay the Demon King but never truly eradicate him, perhaps the gamer characters themselves acted as a lock, preventing the update until everyone became part of the world.

‘I played Wilhelm for much longer than the system expected, which held back the progression······.’

It had been a stagnant period.

No new developments for a very long time.

But once I transitioned into a player, the gears began to turn.

At last, every gamer had transitioned, and the story ‘started’ again.

‘Places like the Oblivion Star and the Rift Tower were never part of the original game.’

New landmarks were surfacing, and entities that were never coded into the original game were manifesting.

The maximum levels were rising, and more powerful threats were emerging.

What did this point toward?

That Wilhelm’s death was the catalyst for the update, obviously.

Furthermore.

‘The Primordial Forest and the elves probably only existed as background lore before now, if they existed at all.’

······ Their sudden entrance onto the stage was far too convenient.

In all my thousands of hours of playtime, I had never once encountered an elf.

No player had ever stepped foot inside the Primordial Forest.

‘There weren’t even any warp gates.’

Normally, any established zone should have at least three functional warp points linking it to the rest of the world—but this place had zero.

Even if the World Tree was a vital support for the continent, the ‘rules’ of the world dictated that warp points were a necessity for any landmass in the sky.

And yet, it was barely a footnote in the epilogue.

Even then, the focus was only on the Tree—not the elves or their forest.

No matter how I analyzed it, it didn’t add up.

One might argue it was simply connected to a city I hadn’t visited.

‘But there are no corresponding warps on the Goddess’s Map.’

I was intimately familiar with every city and every connection.

The ‘Goddess’s Map’ item was absolute in its accuracy.

It displayed every single city and warp gate in existence, and the ‘Primordial Forest’ was conspicuously absent.

‘······ This is definitely part of a new update.’

So, if it was ‘updated’?

If it was truly the bridge to the endgame?

‘I need to secure it first.’

I had to get my foot in the door before anyone else.

Without question.

This situation was a massive opportunity.

“······ High Druid. Won’t you accompany us as we ascend the ‘Rift Tower’?”

Deep within the hallowed hall.

In a room decorated for high-ranking guests, Elder Arwen posed the question with a somber face.

It seemed their interest in me was tied directly to the ‘Rift Tower.’

I sat comfortably in the seat of honor and gave a relaxed response.

“Why exactly should I bother climbing the Rift Tower with your group?”

“We would provide valuable assistance.”

“Assistance? From people who are too terrified to even stand near me?”

I let out a short, mocking laugh.

Elder Arwen was doing her best to maintain her composure, but the rest of the elves were hovering at the far edge of the room, watching me with visible apprehension.

How was I supposed to clear the second floor with teammates who couldn’t even close the distance?

I had only managed the first floor by exploiting the system like a glitch.

Without the Eternal Lord’s Heart and an endless supply of Indulgence scrolls, winning would have been impossible.

*Slurp.*

I crossed my legs and took a slow sip of my milk tea.

Arwen bit her lip before speaking again.

“··· We elves have the ability to ‘perceive’ desire. Your desire, High Druid, is so massive that it is difficult for us to be near you, but we will grow accustomed to it with time.”

Desire. So that’s what they saw.

Personally, I didn’t think my wants were that much greater than the average person’s.

I didn’t know exactly what they were seeing when they looked at me, but I suspected it was more complex than just simple desire.

Regardless.

“I don’t have time to wait for you to adjust. There’s too much at stake, and I don’t see the profit for me.”

The second floor of the Rift Tower was scheduled to open in only 60 days.

Wasting that time on a group that might not even be ready by the deadline was a losing move.

“What is it that you seek?”

What did I want?

It was simple. Just one thing.

“The warp coordinates that connect to the Primordial Forest.”

“······ I beg your pardon?”

“Don’t play coy. Which cities are linked to the Primordial Forest?”

Arwen’s expression turned cold and rigid at my demand.

But getting an answer to this would prove my theory once and for all.

The isolationist elves wouldn’t have added new warp gates on their own.

“Th-That is not information I can easily······.”

“None? Then we have nothing to talk about.”

I turned up the pressure.

They had tracked me down immediately after I cleared the Rift Tower and entered Basrak Forest, meaning they were the ones in a hurry.

Perhaps the Rift Tower was the intended starting point for the elven questline.

Either way, I held all the cards.

Arwen fell into a deep, silent contemplation.

After a long stretch of silence.

“······ Artemea···.”

“Artemea?”

“······ Yes.”

“Hmm.”

I put my cup down and rubbed my chin.

Another curveball.

I had never heard of a city named ‘Artemea’ in all my years of playing.

‘Another brand new city, then.’

This was entirely unexplored territory.

The elves were 100% connected to the new content.

They kept dropping names that didn’t exist in my mental database.

“And the others? It’s not just Artemea, is it?”

“··· Balmang Mountain, and Palantir.”

Arwen whispered the names quickly, as if she had given up on keeping them secret.

At least one name rang a bell.

‘Balmang Mountain!’

I knew that landmark.

But as far as I knew, Balmang Mountain had no warp connection to any ‘Primordial Forest.’

Something that didn’t exist before was now there.

I was certain of it now.

‘··· The world is updating right under my feet!’

And it was happening fast.

It was as if all the content that had been held back was finally being released at once.