## Chapter 363 – Under the World Tree (5)
“It seems the time is drawing near.
If the enemy is scouting this cautiously…
They must be no ordinary foes…”
As Leia spoke calmly, the elves who had been watching only her swallowed hard and turned to look at each other.
They had managed to give the elves some time to eat and rest, but most of these female elves were non-combatants.
Just as a low-ranking soldier with good condition doesn’t become a great general, there were clear limits to these women preparing for battle with makeshift weapons.
The elves, relying on the few remaining female elf hunters and Leia, gripped each other’s hands tightly with anxious expressions.
Most of the men were hunters, so those who had spare bows made by their husbands or those in good condition brought them out. The few without bows held wooden spears tightly, guarding their surroundings.
Even so, unable to shake off their fear, sobs filled with dread could occasionally be heard from various places.
“Mom… just in case, to the cabin…”
“It’ll be alright? Riel, Yurne.
We have someone helping us, right?
We’ll surely be safe.”
I glanced at the seemingly close mother and daughters, then subtly turned my torso to the side, starting to eye Leia.
Leia, noticing my gaze, also slightly tilted her head towards me, responding to my look.
‘What do you think?’
“I don’t expect them to be of much help.
It would be fortunate if they could protect themselves.
But, even their husbands have all died…
It will be difficult for them to protect even themselves.”
‘So, we have to resolve this ourselves somehow…’
“Indeed. And they…
Will no longer be able to live in this forest.”
The reason those weak elves could survive in a dungeon filled with monsters was thanks to the excellent hunters who had honed their skills by hunting monsters for generations.
Now that their husbands, who protected them, had disappeared due to something unknown, it was nearly impossible for them to survive in this brutal dungeon on their own.
They needed to endure until the next generation of new hunters was secured.
But with their current state, they lacked both time and mental余裕.
Leia could help once or twice, but she was still relying on the nest, and even she couldn’t protect an entire village alone.
Above all, our goal was to defeat the monsters, eliminate the immediate threat, and return to the outside world.
‘That means…’
So, the only option those who couldn’t survive without someone protecting them could choose was to ‘leave.’
At least to survive and protect the remaining precious people.
“Wouldn’t it be good to take them to your husband’s house?
They are somewhat weak, but still relatively healthy females, aren’t they?”
Only then could I somewhat understand Leia’s actions.
From the start, she had given up on making this place a home.
A clever hunter makes many traps and knows when to retreat.
When she first followed Riel, it seemed she was just observing the situation, but just as I was pondering to figure out the enemy’s identity, she instinctively realized that the opponent was not easy.
Nevertheless, the reason she had prepared to fight here until now was to rescue the elves who couldn’t stay and had nowhere to go, acting under the major premise of returning to the nest.
‘Leia…’
“Why, does the new bride seem admirable?”
Of course, from her perspective, it was closer to increasing the number of lunch boxes I would eat rather than increasing my concubines, but whatever.
Anyway, realizing her ‘admirable’ thought, I wiggled my butt and clung tightly to her waist.
“Ufufut!! What kind of outrageous posture is that?”
But the problem still remains…
‘Well, everything is good, but…
That’s only if we can return.
Is there still no response from the magic tool?’
To my question, Leia only gave a bitter smile and lightly blinked her eyes.
The magic tool inserted in her bust holder still had no response.
The fact that the path back to the Garden of Eden was still blocked remained the most serious problem for us.
And that wasn’t the only obstacle.
“We can’t leave…”
[Why? Why not?]
“We appreciate the offer of a good place to live…
But we are children of the World Tree.
We can’t leave the World Tree.”
Watching the elves looking back up at the withering World Tree, I had to rack my brains once more.
[But at this rate, you could all die?]
“The World Tree… will watch over us. Surely…”
‘They’re no different from fanatics…’
What’s so great about this dead tree?
Watching the elves willing to face death for the sole reason that they couldn’t abandon the World Tree, I had reached a point where I couldn’t understand how to deal with this total mess.
If we fought, we would probably lose every battle. Even if Leia and I could manage somehow, the damage to the other elves would be very great.
“If that is your choice, then there’s nothing we can do…
Ugh… Husband!!”
Leia suddenly pulled my hand, and as she yanked the thin spider web attached to it, other spider webs linked to it reacted mechanically, as if intertwining.
It was one of the traps Leia had painstakingly created for this hunt.
With the intention of inflicting meaningful damage even if they couldn’t be defeated at once, the spider web traps laid around the elf village began to activate at her touch.
Moreover, the spider web itself was a medium that transmitted subtle vibrations to Leia.
“Quick…!! Get inside!!”
With her urgent cry and the sharp look in her eyes, excited by the start of her battle, I helplessly and carefully squeezed my body into her egg sac.
All I could do right now was trust Leia.
Even as I pushed my body in, she calmly manipulated the spider webs connected to her, freely moving her fingers with a beast-like gaze.
At least she would be able to do something.
So, in the moist, slippery, and warm egg sac, I curled up as much as possible so as not to hinder Leia.
Honestly, just crouching here makes me feel a bit overwhelmed.
Only Leia’s throbbing heartbeat, resonant voice, and the slight shaking from the occasional impact when her body collided or rubbed against something reached me.
Unlike when I sleep in her egg sac, which is so cozy and comfortable, this sense of confinement tends to make me a bit anxious.
It feels as if I’ve lost my sight overnight and become a visually impaired person watching the world with other senses.
Leia, who had been standing still for a while, seemingly manipulating the traps, suddenly began to tilt, and I could feel a rapid inertia.
That must be a sign that she had started moving.
No one would be able to stand against this excellent hunter.
As if cutting something with her fingernails, her waist turned, and I felt a slight pressure as the egg sac was squeezed.
I tried to feel the sensation of the sacrifice being cut, flowing through her fingernails.
But since I felt nothing, I kept telling myself that it was probably because her fingernails were terrifyingly sharp, and such hopeful observations continued to dominate my mind.
Even so, Leia moved at a relentlessly fast pace, and as if she had met a worthy opponent, she flew in various directions, constantly continuing the battle.
Normally, I would only hear sounds from inside Leia’s body, but if I could feel the elves’ screams as sharp vibrations, using the cell walls as a sounding board, it meant that this opponent was quite formidable.
However, one strange thing was that there were slight shockwaves throughout her body, and there were moments when her body staggered.
How much time had passed?
An hour? Two hours?
After what felt like an eternity, Leia finally stopped moving completely.
‘Is it over…?’
Feeling her gently sit down on the floor as if the fight was over, I felt the balance slightly tilt, and after a moment, I carefully stretched out my leg and pushed against the inner wall of the egg sac.
Then, a sensation of tapping her lower abdomen returned like a reply, and only then could I crawl out of the egg sac with a happy heart.
‘Leia…!! You did it!!’
“Husband…”
“I couldn’t be… more sorry…”
But what I witnessed when I came out of the egg sac was Leia, shockingly, bleeding and giving a strained smile.
At first, I thought her blood-red hair was just disheveled, but it was a stream of blood flowing down from her scalp.
‘Wh… What happened…
What’s going on!!’
“More… formidable than I thought…
This was my best… so…”
“Auntie!! Get a grip!!”
“Hic… What do I do… Sister…!!
Mom… Mom’s…… sob!!”
“……”
As Leia closed her eyes tiredly and slumped down in place, I hurriedly examined her condition.
‘Leia…!!
The injury isn’t serious…
She’s just exhausted…?’
I don’t know what she suffered, but unlike her, her lips were slightly burst as if she had been hit, and shallow streams of blood flowed down from her head.
And on her weak upper body, which was also Leia’s only weakness, there were bruises that felt strangely out of place, creating blue spots in various places.
And her solid legs and abdomen were covered in dirt, making the shallow cracks that had formed here and there on her spider lower body even more prominent.
‘To be able to inflict such injuries on Leia…?’
She was now a being blessed by Enic and a user of Nemea.
Could it be possible for her to sustain such injuries despite using Nemea?
As I continued to examine Leia with a bewildered feeling, I was finally able to look around at the situation.
The embers of the bonfire were scattered as if kicked, and the cabins were damaged here and there.
Several elves’ corpses were scattered around, and other elves were crying while surrounding them.
And while looking at the strangely reduced number of elves, I saw Riel holding her younger sister, Yurne, who was crying sorrowfully like a child, unlike her cold-looking impression.
With an expression where many feelings, especially a sense of futility and despair, intersected, unable to cry or get angry.
“Mom… I have to go find Mom…”
“No, Rielnia…!!
Take care of your sister first!!”
“Mom… Mom……”
Just holding her younger sister, who seemed more mature than herself, a single tear streamed down from her blank eyes, and my heart sank.
“Mom… was taken…”
