Duke Pendragon

“The Troll King, no, the mountain giant that you guys have been referring to. Have you seen it before?”

“…What?”

Eltuan frowned. Raven continued without a change in expression.

“Kara told me. That when Jean Oberon created the Troll King, only her and a few elders saw it in person. Besides, your village is protected by the sacred tree and monsters cannot easily invade it. Then there is only one answer.”

“What. Do you mean?”

Eltuan’s gaze turned fierce once more.

“You have never seen the Troll King, and you have little experience in dealing with the most powerful monsters under its command. Moreover, you have never seen the true face of the evil sorcerer you mentioned. Isn’t that right?”

“…..!”

Eltuan stayed silent, his eyebrows wiggling furiously.

Most of the elves of Red Moon Valley were born and bred in the Great Forest, and they led a completely different life from the mainland elves. However, they shared one thing in common with all the other elves.

They could not lie.

“It is 40 feet tall, and its body is harder than the horns of a buffalo. No matter what kind of injury you inflict, it will recover instantaneously. Moreover, the poison you guys utilize will have no effect on it. But there is an even bigger problem. Do you know what it is?”

“…..”

There was no way they could have answered.

It was just as Raven said. Eltuan and the other elves had never seen the Troll King.

“The king of the mountain giants resides in an underground labyrinth. The place where he calls home consists of six floors, each of which contains powerful monsters. In addition, a so-called guardian resides in each of the floors. All of them are powerful enemies and command the other monsters. The weakest guardian is a gargoyle lord.”

“Gargoyle!”

Some of the warriors exclaimed in a low voice.

Eltuan’s expression also hardened.

“Yes, the flying monsters with bodies made of stone. Neither arrows nor swords will work against gargoyles. Naturally, the swords you have, the ones made with the horns of buffalos, will not work against it either.”

“Hmm…!”

The elven warriors’ expressions turned serious. The Aryan Buffalos lived near the tributary of the Thebesa River. Their horns were the best materials available for the Red Moon Valley elves for the production of weapons and agricultural equipment, as the elves rejected the smelting of metal.

The swords of buffalo horns were harder than regular iron, so they had no difficulty in protecting themselves for the past hundreds of years.

However, it would definitely be difficult to deal with gargoyles with swords made of Aryan buffalo horns.

“Then you. Is there a way?”

Eltuan asked, appearing less spirited than before.

Raven unsheathed Widow’s Scream from his waist without saying a word.

Shiing.

Even in the fog, the sword emitted a beautiful, but eerie light. The elven warriors faltered unknowingly at the sight of the blade.

“That is…”

Eltuan blurred the end of his words. He could feel a strange, but phenomenal energy exuding from the sword.

“It is the sword of our family. It is made from Soldrake's horn.”

“The Dragon Queen’s horn…”

He had never seen a dragon before, but he had heard countless stories from the elders of the tribe.

The most powerful creatures on earth.

If it was a sword created from the horn of a queen who led such fearsome beings…

“It can even cut the mountain giants.”

Raven’s words caused a shock to appear on the elven warriors’ faces.

Although they had never seen the Troll King, they had experience in facing regular trolls or ogres. Although it was burdensome, they had devised methods to deal with the formidable monsters after residing in the Great Forest for hundreds of years.

But dealing with them was different from being able to cut them.

“Then…”

Eltuan gazed at the Widow’s Scream for a moment without saying a word. Finally, he opened his lips.

“Why do you need us? If you have that superior dragon sword. You don’t need our strength.”

He spoke in a sarcastic voice.

“You’re quite inflexible, aren’t you? Is it because you’ve been stuck in the forest for such a long time?”

Raven sheathed his sword, then responded with a smile.

“The labyrinth is wide and there are many enemies. It is not a battle to be fought alone. I can reach the destination even without your help, but I will not be able to reach and kill the king of the mountain giants. Just as you can’t do what I can, there are things that you can do that I cannot. Don’t you think so?”

“…..”

Eltuan’s eyes quivered ever so slightly.

After a moment, he spoke in a calmer voice.

“You are right. We cannot destroy the mountain giant and the wizard just by ourselves. Your help, we need it.”

Eltuan spoke frankly. As an elf, he could not lie.

“Of course. And once we get out of here, it’ll probably be the opposite.”

“After leaving? What else is there?”

Eltuan asked in a questioning voice, and Raven replied.

“There are things that I cannot solve by myself. When that time comes, you have to help me, just as I will help you. People cannot survive alone, and that applies for all of you as well.”

It was the truth Raven realized while living as Alan Pendragon. Everything thus far had not been achieved alone. Without the people of the duchy, including Killian, Isla, Karuta, and Vincent, it would never have been possible.

Above all else, he came to be who he was today because Soldrake was by his side.

So Raven realized.

You could not face the world alone.

“Cannot… survive alone…”

The eyes of the elven warriors widened slightly at Raven’s last words. It was something that the elders and Kara often spoke about.

However, it was hard for the young elves to understand the true meaning of those words. After all, they had been born and raised in the Great Forest.

“I am fully aware that you are a race of harmony and stability. But you cannot achieve harmony and stability alone. The world harbors many more than just the elves after all.”

The words of the special, but arrogant human being echoed in a strange fashion. Feeling the words touch something deep inside of his heart, Eltuan nodded slowly.

“You are a man fit to be trusted.”

“Eltuan…!”

Ellaja, Eltuan’s younger brother, had remained silent until now. He looked at his brother with astonishment. Eltuan calmed his brother with a gesture, then continued while gazing straight at Raven.

“But, human beliefs and warrior beliefs are different. Especially the faith of the warriors born under the call of the red moon and the earth…’

Shhk.

Eltuan reached towards his waist, but he did not draw his blade

Thud.

After loosening his leather belt, which housed his blade and many pockets, Eltuan tightened his fists.

“This will decide.”

“Just as I wanted.”

A grin appeared on Raven’s face.

Then Raven also took off his helmet and disarmed himself.

“Ellaja.”

Ellaja stared at his brother with hardened eyes, then bit his lips before giving instructions to the elven warriors.

In an instant, dozens of warriors jumped onto the trees to keep an eye on the surrounding areas. The rest of the warriors formed a large circle around Raven and Eltuan.

Without removing his gaze from Raven, Eltuan began to unwrap the leather strap from around his wrist and the back of his hand.

‘That’s…’

Raven’s eyes gleamed with curiosity for a moment. The large, rough hands which were revealed did not seem to belong to an elf. The joints were much longer and thicker compared to human hands.

“Come.”

Raven spoke while stroking his jaw, which was quite scraggly since he had not had a chance to shave for a while.

“I won’t decline.”

Eltuan responded in a dry voice and lowered his posture. His following movements were like a storm.

Shhhhk!

After lowering his body to his waist, Eltuan quickly narrowed the distance with one leap. However, Raven had anticipated Eltuan’s style from the moment the elf untied the strap from both hands. Raven smacked down with one hand while turning his body sideways.

“There are occasional fighters in the South who do not wrap bandages or leather around their hands. If their fingers are much longer and thicker than an average person, you should be careful.”

Raven recalled the words of fighter Argos, the Black Tiger, and lowered his posture while widening the distance. Eltuan’s expression underwent a slight change.

But soon, the elf opened his arms wide before rushing towards Raven like a bison.

Pat! Pat!

Raven continued to weave around while smacking Eltuan’s hands. The elf was trying to grab him.

“They are fighters who overpower their opponents with strange grappling techniques. The reason they do not wrap their hands with bandages or leather straps is because it makes it easier to grab the opponent. A portion of our temple’s techniques also stem from there.”

‘Bakusu…’

Argos had also explained the methods to dealing with Bakusu.

‘First, lower your body to the same height and continue to maintain the distance…’

Papapat!

Eltuan’s large hands continued to stretch towards Raven’s waist and neck. However, Raven had improved eyesight compared to the past. He continued to widen the distance while deflecting the elf’s hook-like hands.

Eltuan’s eyes glimmered, then his body suddenly disappeared from sight.

Anyone would have been greatly taken back.

However, Raven had already learned the effective countering techniques from Argos, who was a master of martial arts. He instinctively moved his body.

Woosh!

“…..!”

Shock was evident on Eltuan’s face when he saw a knee flying towards his face. He would have disappeared from the opponent’s sight, so how was the human attacking him?

Papapat!

Eltuan immediately lowered his posture. His knees were almost touching the ground. Placing one hand on the ground, he shifted directions, then attempted to use the rotation force to hook the opponent’s remaining leg.

Shiik!

Raven moved as if he had been anticipating Eltuan’s move. He used the momentum of his knee kick to lift his remaining leg off the ground into a somersault.

As he floated upside down in the air, Raven could see Eltuan’s leg sweeping through the ground like a sickle.

But that wasn’t the end.

As soon as his attack failed, Eltuan continued to turn with the momentum, standing up after grounding his leg. His opposite foot headed towards Raven’s head.

‘A double round kick!’

Shoong!

Right as Raven landed, Eltuan’s leg neared his head.

It seemed unavoidable.

Bang!

Eltuan smiled inwardly as he felt a strong shock on his foot. He flipped his body and jumped up while raising his other leg. All that was left to do was wrap his feet around the opponent’s throat and take him down…

“Hm?!”

He had obviously aimed to jump to the height of his opponent’s head, but as his body arose faster and higher than he intended, Eltuan narrowed his eyes and looked at his opponent in a hurry.

A blurry smile quickly grazed by his sight.

Eltuan instinctively knew that something went wrong, and he stretched his hands towards the ground while shaking his legs. However, Raven had grabbed Eltuan’s ankle as soon as the kick had come flying, and at the same time, thrown the elf with all his might.

Thud!

After spinning several times in the air, Eltuan crashed into the other elves. Three elven warriors were unable to overcome the momentum and fell back. Eltuan was forced to roll on the floor.

“Keuk…!”

He had not been seriously injured, but a groan escaped his lips. He hurriedly stood up and took a stance once more.

“…..!”

His eyes grew slightly bigger when he looked towards Raven. The human was posturing in the same way he had been in the very beginning, stroking his chin. The opponent was holding a few feathers in his hand, the very same feathers from Eltuan’s own headband.

If he had attacked Eltuan instead of plucking the feathers…

“If you want, we can keep going.”

Even though the Great Forest was always hot and humid, Eltuan felt a chill run down his back.

The dragon’s companion was a warrior.