Free Web NovelChapter 17: Aftermath
CH 17: Aftermath
On the walls of the City of Light, every Elf stood frozen, staring at the scene before them in complete disbelief!
Just five minutes ago, they had been bombarded by catapult projectiles that fell like meteors from the Centaur race.
And now, the Centaur soldiers were being slaughtered like chickens and livestock!
Five minutes ago, they had been waiting for death.
But now, with their own eyes, they were witnessing the annihilation of their enemy!
Boom!
The Eldest Princess collapsed to her knees as she stared at Rios, two streams of tears flowing down her cheeks beneath the white veil.
The wall that had kept her standing all this time finally crumbled!
They were finally safe.
There was no longer any reason to fear the Centaur race.
She finally allowed all the accumulated pressure, emotional storms, and suppressed feelings to pour out.
There was no longer any need to hold them back.
"Pitch-black darkness! A tree severing the heads of the Centaur race like a dragon beheading chickens! And swallowing their bodies like a whale devouring a school of fish! My Lady, you were right! You truly were right, My Lady!"
Behind the princess, Councilor Thandria slowly stepped forward and placed a hand on Elena’s shoulder as tears formed on her own cheeks as well.
"Thandria... you!"
Elena turned toward her in astonishment.
She had clearly noticed the new way Thandria was addressing her.
"If you don’t become Queen, then no one in this city deserves the throne."
Thandria spoke with absolute certainty.
Had this been normal times, she would undoubtedly have faced severe consequences for favoring one faction over the public interest, even as one of the senior councilors.
"Come on, girl. I dare say that in the entire hundred-thousand-year history of the City of Light, no Queen has ever possessed wisdom and talent like yours, and I’m certain none ever will."
Gao spoke proudly while struggling to hold back his tears.
"Uncle Gao... you..."
Elena’s sobbing only grew stronger—not from sorrow, but from happiness at having such people around her.
Smack!
"Watch your mouth, you bastard Gao! The girl you’re calling that has become the Hundredth Queen of the Elf race. Say it again, and I’ll personally cut out your tongue."
Councilor Etham swung his hand and smacked the back of Gao’s head.
In the entire City of Light, perhaps Etham was the only person who could treat Gao that way.
"Hahaha, you’re right this time. Please forgive me, My Lady. Please accept my loyalty."
Councilor Gao drew his sword, knelt on one knee, placed his right hand over his heart, rested his left hand upon the sword, and lowered his head in submission.
Behind him, Etham, Thandria, and the rest of the Elf race followed suit.
"Uncle Gao, Sister Thandria, Teacher Etham... everyone...!"
Elena looked at the sight before her as tears poured down even more heavily.
"Long live the Hundredth Queen of the Elf race! Please accept our loyalty. May the One God, Creator of the Universe, bless your reign, your life, and your descendants. May the One God, Creator of the Universe, bless you wherever you go, and may the Sacred Trees protect you."
Voices rose one after another, chanting the rites of coronation.
Elena wiped away her tears and looked at everyone kneeling before her.
"Thank you, everyone. But I’m sorry. Until this battle is over and the outcome is decided, I won’t accept anyone’s loyalty. Only after the battle ends will the coronation officially take place in the royal palace."
"Her Majesty is right. The greatest Queen of the Elves cannot be crowned like this on the city walls in the middle of a battlefield. Your place is where the Queens of the Elves sit. You deserve that seat more than anyone. Please forgive our haste, My Lady."
Councilor Etham stood and lowered his head apologetically.
"Mhm. Everyone may rise."
Queen Elena nodded in agreement and gestured for everyone to stand.
Back on the battlefield, the mist gradually dispersed, revealing Rios standing alone amidst the fading haze.
No corpses.
No blood.
Not a single trace remained to indicate that a battle had ever taken place.
Yet the purple sphere that represented Rios’s consciousness—the one through which he spoke—had become extremely dim, a clear sign of his overwhelming exhaustion.
After using the Immortal-rank Abyss Tomb and killing more than thirty thousand soldiers, it was only natural that Rios had completely depleted his energy.
But even worse...
He had consumed part of his own soul as well.
At that moment, he was little more than an almost empty shell.
Even if he recovered his lost energy, he couldn’t restore his exhausted mental strength and damaged soul without a long period of rest.
Rios let out a quiet sigh after gazing over the empty battlefield, which had been packed with thousands of people only moments earlier.
Then he turned his attention to the system screen and frowned.
[Net points obtained by the host: 1,000,000 points]
"System, begin restoring my energy immediately." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
Rios ordered in a weary voice as he thought to himself,
"My calculations were wrong this time. Abyss Tomb consumes far more than I expected. I only used it for ten minutes and unleashed barely ten percent of its power, yet it almost drained me dry and turned me into an empty husk. I need to be much more careful next time."
[1,000 points will be consumed to fully restore the host’s energy within ten minutes.]
Energy quietly flowed through every pore of Rios’s body.
He felt like a man lost in the desert who had suddenly stumbled upon a lush oasis with a great pool of water and plunged into it.
But even that pleasant sensation couldn’t erase the exhaustion caused by using an Immortal skill.
His energy was returning, but his soul remained nearly empty, and his mental strength was almost completely spent.
So Rios drove his roots into the ground, almost completely shut off his senses, and focused solely on resting until he could recover to peak condition once more.
As for danger...
He entrusted that to the system’s warnings and was already prepared to fight another round if necessary, even if he had to battle like a drunken or drugged man.
Perched upon Rios’s branches, old Jansh and Luna clung tightly, afraid of falling into that black mist.
"Is... is the war over just like that?"
Luna asked in disbelief, unable to accept what she was seeing.
The Centaur army that had terrorized them for an entire year had simply vanished from existence as though it had never been there.
"Mhm! Mhm!"
