The elves and the Fire Trolls had begun rebuilding the flower bed destroyed by the kidnappers. The Fire Trolls dug up and brought over soil suitable for plants to grow, and the elves transplanted the seedlings.
“It’s strange seeing how elves and trolls are getting along so well. It feels as if we have to cause a rift between them to restore the balance of nature or something, doesn’t it?” Henrick remarked while sitting on a wooden table.
Shaneth said as she sat beside him, “Not at all. I don’t think the elves would like what you said just now.”
“Why do you sound as if you’ve lived with the elves before?” Henrick replied mockingly.
“The person who took me in and raised me when I lost my family to the fire was an elf. Although she had a different vibe than the elves over here,” Shaneth explained.
“Well, I know a few elves from the pub and they’re completely different from these ones. Although they acted like free spirits and didn’t feel like elves at all,” Henrick said.
“Feel like elves?” Shaneth asked.
“You know, attuned to nature, mysterious, innocent, that kind of feeling?” Henrick replied.
“Hmm… Lady Hermia told me long ago that the elves were divided into those who stayed in the desert and those who began roaming the continent. The elves in the Desert of Death are the elves who fit the stereotype and the ones roaming around the continent are the free-spirited ones,” Shaneth explained.
Iris suddenly approached them, seemingly sulking about something.
“What’s wrong, unni?” Shaneth asked.
“There is no barley bread in this place,” Iris said.
“Just eat whatever they give you, please,” Henrick said. Shaneth stabbed her elbow into Henrick’s side, and he let out a pained moan as he grimaced. Henrick asked, “Why does it feel like you’re getting stronger day by day? Do you realize that?”
Shaneth pretended she couldn’t hear the middle-aged man as she stared at the large tent. She said, “I wonder what Kang Yoon-Soo is doing.”
“Why are you asking as if you don’t know the guy? If it’s him, he’s probably doing one of these three things: Being weird, scamming people, or drinking. Come to think of it, all of those are things a thug would do…” Henrick trailed off.
“I believe Kang Yoon-Soo is doing a good job convincing him,” Iris said.
***
“What are you drinking?! Give me some!” Yanak exclaimed.
“It’s water,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied, tricking the poor Fire Troll while sipping alcohol.
The elven village chief, Yanak, and Kang Yoon-Soo were seated inside the tent.
“I cannot agree to a war. Why do you think we are trying to restore the desert into a forest?” the village chief asked.
Kang Yoon-Soo shook his head and said, “If we don’t wage this war, everything will be destroyed. Including the forest you guys are dreaming of.”
“Who is our enemy then?” the village chief asked.
“The Ancient King, Kartheon. He surpassed time and came back to life,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.
The conversation suddenly took a serious turn. Nobody who lived in the Desert of Death did not know about the legend of Kartheon. He was a ruthless ruler who had ruled over the ancient kingdom of Sharshyanon. To think a person like him had come back to life!
“How do you know that?” the village chief asked.
Kang Yoon-Soo stabbed the Sword of Revelation into the table and said, “The goddess has given me a revelation.”
“Lies. Goddess Sylphia would never allow a war to break out,” the village chief said, denying Kang Yoon-Soo’s words.
However, Yanak suddenly stood up and cried, “Heron! He is the groom of the goddess!”
“Groom of the goddess?” the village chief, who was called Heron, asked with a puzzled expression.
The groom of the goddess chosen by the high priest would occasionally receive a revelation from the goddess. Such revelations were mostly provided to prevent calamities from destroying the continent or to prophesize things that would happen in the future.
“There is some credibility if you are indeed the groom of the goddess…” Heron said. He sighed and indicated he was at least willing to listen to the full story. He asked, “What is the aim of Kartheon, the ancient king?”
“To destroy the continent so he can regress back in time,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Regress? Are you saying he will destroy the continent just to go back in time?” Heron asked in surprise. He and Yanak could not hide their surprise, as they stared at Kang Yoon-Soo with their mouths agape.
“The ancient king, Kartheon, has the ability to control time,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
The two, who had already been surprised to begin with, felt as if they had been hit in the back of their heads due to the words Kang Yoon-Soo had just spoken.
Yanak could not hide his shock and exclaimed loudly, “Control time?! What do you mean by that?!”
“It’s as I said. Kartheon obtains more temporal power whenever he kills the living, and he obtains more of it the stronger the being he kills is. His aim is to extinguish all life in the continent to give him enough power to regress back in time,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“Then does that mean Kartheon can turn back time?” Heron asked.
“He has to sacrifice a lot to do that, but he can also stop time,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
Yanak and Heron stared at each other with dumbfounded expressions. To think they were up against a king who could control time. Who could stop an opponent like that if they were after the destruction of the continent?
“Then are you saying we have to wage war to stop Kartheon from destroying the continent?” Heron asked.
Kang Yoon-Soo nodded. Heron fell into a deep dilemma as he cupped his chin. He finally said, “If the ancient king who can control time has awoken… Can we even stop someone like that? Would it not be better to surrender and try to convince him otherwise?”
“Heron! What are you talking about?! We have to fight him even if we have to put our lives on the line!” Yanak roared.
“But Kartheon can turn back time. Even if we manage to destroy his army, he will simply turn back time to a day before, pinpoint our location, and hit us before we know he is coming, right?” Heron retorted.
Yanak could not refute Heron’s reasoning, so he kept his mouth closed. Even the Fire Troll knew that no tactics would work against the power to control time.
Then, Kang Yoon-Soo suddenly said, “No, Kartheon hasn’t obtained enough power to turn back that much time. The best he can do as of now is to turn it back by thirty or forty seconds. Also, he won’t be able to turn back the same moment after he’s turned it back once.”
“What do you mean by that?” Heron asked.
“His body has deteriorated over the centuries that passed while he waited to be resurrected, and Kartheon will be able to turn back more time as he slowly recovers his powers. That’s why we have to cooperate and ambush him before he fully recovers his powers,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
Heron could not hide his skepticism. He further inquired, “What if he stops time? Then won’t we have no way to win against him?”
“Kartheon won’t stop time. He knows what side effects he’ll suffer if he stops time better than anyone else,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“The goddess seems to have given you a lot of detailed revelations,” Heron said, looking suspiciously at Kang Yoon-Soo. The man knew too much to call it a revelation.
Kang Yoon-Soo ignored Heron’s skeptical gaze and continued, “Whatever the reason may be, we can’t afford to waste a second. We have to mobilize all the elves and trolls in the Desert of Death and form an army as soon as possible.”
“It is not as easy as it sounds. Let us say that we do manage to mobilize all of those troops. Then who will lead them?” Heron asked.
“I will,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied. Heron frowned.
Then, a female elf entered the tent and said, “Chief, we have received a message from the Silver Flower Village to the northwest of here!”
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Heron received the letter; it was eerily covered with spots of blood. He read the bloody letter. His face turned pale and he said, “The elf village northwest of here has been destroyed. This was a letter sent by the village chief, who managed to escape.”
“Destroyed?! By whom?!” Yanak roared.
“He says they were overrun by thousands of mummies. They didn’t spare a single one of the villagers and indiscriminately murdered even women and children. Also, they seemed to have called the one who seemed to be their leader ‘Your Majesty’,” Heron said.
“Kartheon!” Yanak raged, gritting his fangs.
A sense of urgency filled the tent; Kang Yoon-Soo was the first one to speak. He said, “We don’t have much time. We have to mobilize our forces and face Kartheon head-on.”
“Alright. I cannot fully trust your words, but I have no choice but to believe you because this just happened. I know it is an unavoidable fight and we have to stop him before he creates more victims,” Heron said. He continued, “I will send a message to all of the elf villages explaining the situation. I will send it through the fastest method we have so we will be able to mobilize in four days.”
“The Fire Trolls will gather immediately! No trolls will just stand by and watch while our elven friends are being killed!” Yanak roared.
Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and said, “Alright, we have to prioritize mobilizing our forces first. I need the two of you to put that before anything else.”
Kang Yoon-Soo then left the tent. Shaneth was the first to approach him; she asked, “How did it go?”
“Prepare for war,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
Shaneth gulped nervously. Henrick suddenly turned serious as he asked, “Tell me, are you confident in winning this just like you always have?”
“I’m not sure,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“What?” Henrick grimaced in response. He continued, “You! Don’t tell me… You started a war we can’t win?”
Kang Yoon-Soo pondered for a bit before he replied, “Our opponent this time is a bit difficult to deal with.”
“How so?” Henrick asked.
“I won’t remember it even if I kill him,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“What are you talking about?” Henrick asked with a perplexed expression.
“The enemy can control time,” Kang Yoon-Soo said. Henrick looked dumbfounded for a minute.
Iris, who had been drawing barley bread in the sand, suddenly called out, “Kang Yoon-Soo.”
“What?” Kang Yoon-Soo asked.
“Will we survive this?” Iris asked.
“None of you will die,” Kang Yoon-Soo responded confidently.
“What about Kang Yoon-Soo?” Iris asked.
Kang Yoon-Soo stared at her for a moment before responding, “I’ll survive.”
“Then that is fine,” Iris said with a smile.
Kang Yoon-Soo started to walk toward somewhere. Shaneth asked, “Where are you going?”
“To find a new weapon,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“But that way is going out of the village,” Shaneth said.
“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied as he walked out of the village. He stretched out his hand and muttered, “Summon White.”
“Rawwwrrr!”
The silver werewolf appeared. Kang Yoon-Soo mounted White and commanded, “Run.”
“Karugor!”
White ran swiftly across the vast desert. They reached a black cave after zigzagging across the desert in a complicated path. There was a statue of a warrior guarding the cave. It suddenly moved when Kang Yoon-Soo tried to enter.
“Halt! This is the resting place of Nahilen the Venerable Archer,” the statue said.
“I know,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“The road here is filled with traps and unending sandstorms, but I expect the fact that you have reached this place safely means you have solved the nine riddles of the Desert of Death,” the statue said.
“Yes,” Kang Yoon-Soo replied.
“Amazing! I like wise people. I will kill the sculptor who carved me in the form of a stupid warrior if I see them,” the statue grumbled.
It observed Kang Yoon-Soo for a moment before it drew its sword and said, “You need to have mastered at least three archery skills, but you do not possess any archery skills. You do not have the right to enter.”
“I’ll make you into a wise magician,” Kang Yoon-Soo said.
“W-what? Are you serious? Are you saying you will sculpt me again?” The warrior statue trembled in excitement.
Kang Yoon-Soo nodded and said, “Turn around.”
“Alright! I never liked this heavy armor I was forced to wear,” the warrior statue said, innocently turning around.
Kang Yoon-Soo swung his sword with all his strength and used his skill. “Abyssal Sword.”
Kwachik!
“I knew it! You treasonous viper! Did you really think I would be done in by such a weak attack?!” the warrior statue exclaimed as he grabbed Kang Yoon-Soo’s sword.
However, Kang Yoon-Soo was not fazed at all, saying, “Look.”
The statue glanced sideways at the wall of the cave, which had been partly destroyed by Kang Yoon-Soo’s attack. It saw a staff and a robe carved out of stone hidden within the cave wall.
“What is this?” the statue asked.
“Nahilen, who made you, knew you very well. That’s why he intentionally hid a staff and robe carved out of stone hidden near the entrance, in case a friend of his who didn’t have any archery skills came to this place,” Kang Yoon-Soo explained.
“Amazing!” the warrior statue exclaimed; it was completely absorbed by, and fully focused on, the staff and robe.
Kang Yoon-Soo leisurely walked into the cave. The interior was filled with bows, arrows, and various artworks.
‘That’s the weapon I need.’
A burning crossbow was at the end of the cave; Kang Yoon-Soo went over and grabbed it. It was a unique kind of crossbow that would load itself with a bolt made of fire.
‘Kartheon hated this crossbow.’
It was the most suitable weapon to kill the ancient king.