SWNOVELXO Chapter 147
Chapter 147 – Evidence of Progress (7)
“Look over there! Something is coming down from the sky!”
“What on earth is that? Is it a meteor?”
When the dark night sky glowed, everyone’s attention was inevitably drawn to it. A single object, shining with light, slowly descended from the heavens to the ground.
Even the Arin tribe warriors, who had seen such mysterious sights multiple times, gazed at it in awe.
“The deity has recognized you.”
Even Riena, the most experienced among them, was dumbfounded, speaking those words while staring at it. Eve’s eyes widened because the object coming down from the sky was undoubtedly meant for her.
Moreover, it was a bow. Riena noticed it was a gift to Eve and stepped back a pace.
‘I’ve never seen a bow like this before.’
Eve accepted it in a daze, receiving attention from those around her. This bow was splendid and mysterious, incomparable to the plain one she had been using.
It wasn’t just that it had excellent functionality or was beautifully designed; it was much more significant than that. It was the acknowledgment of her actions and heart by the guardian deity that the Arin tribe had been proclaiming for so long. That fact was the most important.
For Eve, it reaffirmed that her choice had not been wrong. For the Arin tribe watching her, it served as evidence that Eve, an elf of a different kind, was recognized by their guardian deity, just like the dwarves she was now with.
“You have not been wrong.”
“Just that is good enough.”
Eve smiled faintly at Riena’s words. Her uncertain, wavering heart felt a bit steadier with this proper response.
And this ‘gift’ did not only affect Eve. Everyone nearby, especially the hearts of the elves, trembled strongly.
If there was direct evidence before their eyes, there was no longer any need to ignore or doubt it. The existence of a guardian deity was real, and they were indeed watching over them from somewhere.
“You see? Their words are not lies. The guardian they believe in and follow is indeed a real existence, and it’s also true that they are fighting against enemies just like us.”
“Yes, but…”
“They are merely fighting alongside us. We need their strength to save our own kin.”
Eve persuaded her companions again. Thanks to the support she received, her persuasion began to gain strength among the elves, and one by one, elves joined her cause.
‘It’s easier to have allies stepping up in front.’
Watching from beyond the screen, he chuckled as he observed the elves gradually shifting from neutrality to becoming allies.
Eve was moving as intended, earning points. Though there was still an opposing faction led by the elders among the elves, most of them had crossed into at least a neutral stance.
With that, the Arin tribe, having fortified their fortress and organized their ranks, prepared for war once more to rescue the other elves and deal with the bugs.
“City Elrain. That place must be protected at all costs. However, we can’t get in touch with them right now. It hasn’t collapsed, but the signs indicate the situation is not good.”
“Hmm… the map shows it’s quite a distance.”
With Eve leading the way, Riena furrowed her brow as she learned about how the elves’ lands functioned. The elves still lived in small villages, as they always had, but they also had a proper city known as the Central City.
The World Tree existing there was the very reason why the elves could survive in this isolated land; it was a sacred object that must be protected. If that place fell, the entire race of elves would collapse.
‘Their map shows many obstacles in between, and the roads are complicated.’
While the elves burned with fervor to save the Central City, Riena and the Arin warriors wore grim faces.
First, just opening a path to that place would be a treacherous task. With the bugs moving freely in the dense forest, there would be continuous casualties from surprise attacks.
Unlike the bugs, each life of the Arin tribe was precious.
“I’ve thought it over a lot, but it seems that the deity has already made a decision.”
“What do you mean by that?”
However, Riena’s concerns were quickly resolved. There was no need for complicated thoughts; a straightforward command had come down.
“Whoa, my body!”
“It’s the deity’s revelation!”
A group of people, whose bodies moved on their own, grabbed their tools and began to rush off to create a path.
Composed of miners, transporters, and lumberjacks, they were a sort of engineers tasked with constructing a straight “road” through the narrow, winding lands of the elves, facilitating the movement of their army.
“Cut down the trees and dig up the ground! Fill in the holes!”
“Anyone who can build bridges, come this way!”
The Arin tribe had long made proactive use of these engineers, not just for war but also for territorial development. Experienced senior engineers directed the juniors as they plowed through the earth like bulldozers, cutting down trees.
No matter how uneven the road was, as soon as they began laying down stone blocks, it turned into a flat path, and a proper bridge, not a makeshift one, rose over the wildly flowing valley.
‘At this speed, we can reach that place quickly.’
Riena positioned the combat soldiers around the engineers to fend off bug attacks.
Though they held only simple tools like pickaxes in their bare hands, the strength they acquired through their traits from the game world rivaled heavy machinery.
“Our land!”
“What the hell is this? Why are you recklessly cutting down trees!? Can’t you hear the screams of the spirits?”
However, there were side effects.
The careless alteration of the landscape sent some elves into fits of rage, frothing at the mouth. The cooperating elves were shocked enough to shut their eyes tight, even knowing it was unavoidable.
“There’s nothing else to do but accept it. It’s impossible to win against the Black Monsters without any sacrifices. Whether elf or human, I think this is better than losing lives.”
“I understand there’s no choice, but once we reach the center, it’s best to stop. The humans may not know, but this land has many spirits that the World Tree’s powers have governed for a long time. Most elves cannot tolerate harming them.”
Eve sighed at Riena’s firm words. As such incidents piled up, the weight on intermediaries like Eve grew heavier.
Above all, it was hard to argue against the notion that this was the will of the guardian deity.
*
‘The scale is significant. We’ll need more support.’
As our allied forces carved a path through the dense forest and advanced, the scouts ahead began revealing more of the screen to me.
Thanks to that, I was able to see both the scale of the elves and the bugs attacking them.
The colony resembling spiders attacking the elves was on a scale that could rival the ants that had destroyed the Dwarf Kingdom.
It was not something that could simply be dealt with in one fight.
“Sure enough, these guys are definitely linked.”
I bit my lip and turned my gaze to the monitor displaying the towns and villages where the residents lived. The number of residents I had received was undoubtedly among the top tier of the users appearing on Earth.
However, the greater the number of residents, the larger the number of bugs that needed to be blocked.
The sheer number of ant colonies could leave anyone astounded. Add the spider colonies to that, and with those trying to open cracks and infiltrate at any time, the numbers swelled even further.
‘If I fail, this massive number of them…’
I couldn’t help but conjure horrific images.
The bugs I was blocking, which had grown exceptionally compared to other users, were also notably strong compared to what others reported.
The colonies forming legions and the variants spilling forth from them seemed nearly overwhelming. If they were to pour into reality, could we even hold them back?
Surviving only increased the weight of responsibility and made everything more challenging. Why was it that a master program with such a system existed? I cursed it, yet all I could do was continue to grow and fight alongside the residents.
‘But this should help. It has to be.’
I could only believe that as much as I staved things off, the other side was safe. Surely, the bugs couldn’t be infinite beings.
Yet once that thought began to settle in, hesitation became impossible.
There might be some conflict in my heart, but I ordered the easy-to-mobilize engineers to cut a path through the elf lands because of that very thought.
“—. —!”
“–!”
But I could sense it myself. We were lacking in strength right now. Even as some were naturalized and entered the game, acquiring traits and items, that remained the case.
To deal with the bugs appearing on the elves’ side, the residents continued to send support troops, but pulling manpower like that left a vacancy elsewhere.
While I had subdued the northern bugs for now, I was still worried about the ones that Luke and the remnants had fled to the west.
Chieftain Balun, victorious in the struggle for dominance over the grassland, continued to absorb surrounding tribes and expand his power, but there were limits to the power of the very grassland I had made my desktop.
“—!”
‘Is that a cannon?’
Amid all this, support troops arrived from the Kingdom of Baruk in the south, with whom I had established a decent relationship.
A group of soldiers, bringing special weapons I hadn’t seen much of on screen, approached honking impressively.
The residents watched them approach, wide-eyed and stirred, flanked by the scouts.
If things had gone according to the original history of continuous battles fueled by mutual plunder, they should have panicked and been on guard. But now, they were our allies.
“Gunpowder could be quite useful.”
I watched with interest as they brought the cannons. They were definitely cannons.
Though I had assumed that such weapons wouldn’t exist in a world where superhumans wielded unique powers like mana, it turned out that gunpowder weapons existed in that realm, contrary to my expectations.
They weren’t as advanced as on Earth, and the grassland tribes didn’t possess them, but they were cherished secret weapons of the kingdom.
However, their efficacy would certainly be evident. Gunpowder weapons were still widely employed to catch bugs that appeared suddenly on Earth.
‘Even if they give one each, how much would that be?’
Counting them up, there were a total of 50 cannons and a troop size in the hundreds — not an overwhelming amount but still a significant help coming from the outside.
“—. –?”
I wondered where Chieftain Balun would send them; that was my concern.
To be honest, they would be useful no matter where they were sent, but since I had recently gotten involved with the elves, I was eager to utilize them immediately.
“Hmm, to the north after all?”
Balun guided them to a portal leading to Village 1 after they arrived at Village 2. He intended to send them north.
I thought it was a rational judgment. They brought powerful weapons like cannons, but they had no battle experience against the bugs.
If rushed into the elves’ ranks, it would only cause chaos.