Chapter 120

["Quay! Hit the first thing you see and come back!"]

That was the sole command given to Quay as he transformed into a shadow arrow and was fired.

To carry out his mission, Quay pierced the blizzard and veered toward the nearest prey.

Then he realized just how many enemies there were.

A frozen forest.

All across the Glacier Dungeon, countless eyes watched the hunters plummeting through the rifts in the sky. A few of those watchers unleashed a merciless barrage at Quay, the black arrow flying ahead of everyone else through the blizzard.

WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH!

Quay's eyes flashed as he watched countless arrows streak through the blizzard to intercept him.

"Who dares stand in my way!" he snarled.

It was laughable.

He was his master's arrow—the ultimate arrow, combining a shadow soldier's strength with the bow's attack power.

How could ordinary arrows like those possibly stop him?

"I am Quay, my master's Lancer! I shall become a bolt of lightning and pierce the enemy's heart!"

RUMBLE!

Quay truly became a bolt of black lightning, deflecting every arrow as he flew onward. Following Suho's command, he attacked the first target he saw—the ice elf farthest in front.

"Aah...!"

"Did I get her?"

But the confident Quay's hopes went unfulfilled. After forcing his way through the fierce blizzard and countless arrows, he had run out of momentum at the very end.

Instead of piercing his target's heart in a single strike, his arrow passed through her side and embedded itself in the cold ground.

Quay quickly turned his gaze to see whether his enemy was alive.

"Too shallow!"

But it didn't matter. His attack carried the poison Suho had personally bestowed upon him.

[Debuff: Kasaka's Venom damages the target's muscles.]

[Strength –35]

The ice elf staggered. Quay watched her collapse as the poison sapped her strength.

Now he faced a choice.

Return to his master as he was? Or finish off his wounded enemy and return in triumph?

The latter, of course.

SWISH!

Bee wings sprouted from Quay's arrow-shaped body where it was embedded in the ground. In an instant, he returned to his original form and melted into the fierce blizzard.

He was a bee—a born assassin who crept within striking distance of his prey and killed with his sting.

But the ice elf was no easy opponent either. Even through the blinding snowstorm, she spotted Quay flying toward her to take her life, and her eyes widened.

"Too late."

His spear lunged toward her heart.

"... A shadow soldier?"

Quay's spear stopped dead at the unexpected words that escaped his prey's lips.

SWISH—GRAB!

He immediately withdrew his thrusting spear, seized her throat with his other hand, and hoisted her up.

"What did you just say?"

"Ack...!"

The ice elf struggled for breath in his powerful grip.

Despite the unexpected turn, Quay remained composed. Suho had entered this perilous place for two reasons: to find leads on the Itarim and his mother.

A development like this was welcome.

Then the ice elf said something astonishing.

"Y-you know... the Shadow Monarch too...!"

"...!"

Quay's eyes narrowed. Just then, he sensed figures converging from every direction through the blizzard. They were probably this ice elf's companions.

There was no more time for a leisurely conversation.

THUD!

"...!"

Without hesitation, Quay struck the back of the ice elf's neck, knocking her unconscious. He slung her limp body against his waist, took to the sky, and vanished into the blizzard.

He would simply carry out his orders and leave all thought and judgment to his Master.

* * *

"... So this one asked whether you knew the Shadow Monarch."

Having heard the full story from Quay, Suho first checked the limp ice elf's condition. Fortunately, she wasn't dead, but her face was pale from the wound Quay had inflicted and Kasaka's Venom.

"I don't know what's going on, but I'd better keep her alive first."

He immediately ordered his shadow soldiers to find a nearby cave where they could take shelter from the blizzard for a while.

"Master, I've found one. I'll take you there right away."

Quay was the first to return and led Suho to a small cave that did indeed appear to be an Ice Kobold den. The kobolds attacked as soon as they entered, but they defeated them easily and settled inside.

CLINK.

[You have purchased Item: Campfire Kit.]

A camping kit containing a suitable amount of dry firewood and kindling appeared before Suho. He had checked on the off chance, and the shop, which sold all manner of things, stocked even this.

"I shall fan the flames. Please rest, Young Monarch."

Beru promptly picked up a fan and tended the campfire.

FWOOSH!

With surprising skill, he soon had a warm fire burning. Suho sat before it and laid the unconscious ice elf beside him.

[You have purchased Item: Intermediate Healing Potion.]

As Suho took out the healing potion, Quay spoke with concern.

"Master, are you sure this is wise? Ice elves are aggressive magic beasts. She may attack you the moment she regains consciousness."

"Yeah. That's why I'm only giving her a potion and leaving the poison in her system."

"As expected! Excellent judgment."

A healing potion alone wouldn't neutralize the poison anyway. As long as the ice elf was afflicted with Kasaka's Venom, she would be far weaker than usual even after waking up.

[The Queen of Insects, the Monarch of Plagues, is pleased, remarking that this poison is useful for taking prisoners.]

Suho forced the ice elf's mouth open and poured in the potion.

"... Cough, cough!"

"Swallow it if you want to live."

The half-conscious ice elf's wounds gradually healed as she drank the potion. When she finally came fully to her senses and opened her eyes, she soon understood her situation.

"..."

Quay's menacing spear tip, formed of black energy, rested against her throat. Two enormous Shadow Minotaurs flanked her, surrounding her with their terrifying presence.

"Try anything, and you're dead."

Yet despite Quay's threat, the ice elf showed no sign of fear or confusion. Instead... she looked around with something like delight, as though searching for someone.

"What are you looking for?"

Startled by Suho's question, the ice elf turned toward him with the expression of a frightened rabbit. Then she stared intently at his face with an odd look.

"How can you speak our language?"

Whether because of his origins or the system, Suho could communicate with magic beasts. But that wasn't important right now.

Apparently considering this a fortunate development, the ice elf began firing words at him.

"Well, that's convenient. I'm Sirka, Guardian of the Baruka Tribe!"

"..."

"No, more importantly—the Shadow Monarch, Sung Jinwoo! What's your relationship with him? Why are you with shadow soldiers?"

The sudden mention of his father's name made Suho more cautious rather than surprised.

"... For now, I sense no trace of the Itarim's energy."

Suho nodded calmly at Beru's whisper. Even so, he was reluctant to freely answer questions about his father.

'I need to get information out of her first, somehow.'

While he carefully considered what to say, Sirka stared at his face, waiting for an answer. Suddenly, her eyes widened as she realized something.

"... Huh?"

"Hm?"

"W-wait. Could you be...?"

"...?"

Suho looked bewildered by her incomprehensible reaction. Her eyes seemed ready to pop out as she continued studying his face.

"Huh? Oh? You really do look alike!"

"Who... do I look like?"

He asked as a thousand thoughts raced through his mind.

'Is she an enemy of Father's? If she saw him during the war, of course she'd think I look like—'

But his guess was completely wrong. Sirka, who had now even begun sniffing him, suddenly pointed at his face and shouted.

"That's it! You definitely look alike! You're Chacha's son!"

"... Chacha?"

Suho looked confused. But at the utterly certain words she spoke next, his expression froze.

"Yes, Chacha! Cha Haein!"

"...!"

"...!"

Both Suho's and Beru's eyes bulged.

Seeing their reaction, Sirka beamed and burst into delighted laughter.

"Yes! I knew it! Chacha told me so much about you! Your name was... Sung Suho! Suho! Right?"

"Y-you know my mother?"

"Know her? I'm Chacha's friend! Chacha is the savior of us ice elves!"

Even Suho, who rarely lost his composure, couldn't remain calm this time. Not only had his mother's friend suddenly appeared, but she had just said something strange.

"My mother is... the ice elves' what?"

"Chacha, the Dragon Priestess! Cha Haein is the savior of us ice elves."

"Dragon Priestess? What's that supposed to mean...?"

His mother, who had been missing for five whole years, had acquired a bizarre nickname.

"W-wait."

Amid the confusion, Beru suddenly realized something.

"Young Monarch, I believe I may know when Lady Cha Haein disappeared."

Beru remembered clearly when the Shadow Monarch Sung Jinwoo and his shadow soldiers had fully entered the War of the Outer Gods.

"... It was their sixteenth wedding anniversary."

At the time, the couple had been enjoying a leisurely date in the sky, riding the shadow wyvern Kaisel.

And then...

"He placed a special necklace around Lady Haein's neck, crafted by the skillful bearded dwarves."

A special gift for their sixteenth wedding anniversary.

Sung Jinwoo fastened the beautiful, sunlit necklace around his wife's neck. At that moment, the shadow soldiers, who had been quietly rooting for their liege's perfect anniversary celebration from within the shadows, burst into cheers.

"Hooray!"

Then, just before Sung Jinwoo's and Cha Haein's lips, drawing ever closer, could meet...

"My liege spoke."

["Honey, head home first. I'll be right behind you."]

Having regained her memories of the forgotten world through Sung Jinwoo's power, Cha Haein knew all too well what it meant when he said such things.

["You'll be back soon, won't you?"]

Sung Jinwoo nodded silently. He ordered the wyvern Kaisel to take his beloved wife, Cha Haein, safely home.

Kaisel turned toward the ground and swiftly receded into the distance. After quietly watching his wife depart, Sung Jinwoo turned around.

With a gaze of utmost ferocity, he glared at the blue mist seeping from the twisting, warping reaches of space.

"A being of immense power can draw terrible things from other worlds like a magnet."

The dimensional rifts spilling blue mist soon began multiplying at a staggering rate.

Hundreds? Thousands? Perhaps even more.

"... That was the beginning of the War of the Outer Gods."