Chapter 217
Chapter 217: The Containment Plan
The moment they caught sight of the Elf sitting on the cloud, every single Elf froze in place.
Even Vinia was the same—her expression stiffened for several seconds, and then, as though she had witnessed something she could scarcely believe, she showed a look of utter shock.
"Cocotte Yadh!?"
The instant that cry rang out, the Elven guards felt a tremor shake the very foundations of heaven and earth.
But that emotion swiftly transformed into excitement and elated surprise.
All manner of breathless gasps and jubilant cheers tumbled over one another in that moment, completely intertwined.
"The Elven Queen? Her Majesty the Queen has returned!?"
"I……am I dreaming!?"
"Oh my goodness, the High Priestess truly is blessed with divine powers! She said the Queen would return, and here she is!"
"I have to go tell every last one of our kin!"
The guards dissolved into a complete frenzy. They abandoned their posts one after another, intent on spreading the glad tidings of the Elven Queen's return to every Elf in the Elven Forest.
"Hey, all of you……"
Vinia reached out a hand, trying to stop them—but the Elven guards had already lost all composure, overcome with joy.
They paid absolutely no heed to Vinia's outstretched hand and bolted away in a flash.
Their weapons were left scattered all over the ground; some even tore off their wooden armor, finding it nothing but a nuisance.
Only the very last guard fell behind the pack. Spotting Vinia's hand still suspended in midair, she stepped forward in 2 quick strides, seized it firmly with both of hers, and declared with fervent emotion:
"High Priestess! We cannot thank you enough!"
"It was you who summoned Her Majesty the Queen back!"
Before the words had even finished falling, and before Vinia's mind could process another thought, she had already sprinted away.
Watching her kin's excitement, Cocotte sat on her cloud, hands on her hips, and threw her head back in laughter.
"Ha ha ha, it seems I'm still very much respected."
Vinia withdrew her hand with a sheepish air and gave an awkward smile, then turned her head and fixed Cocotte with a calm gaze.
"Cocotte Yadh, didn't you say you would never come back?"
Cocotte spread her hands helplessly and shook her head.
"I didn't want to come back either. But, well."
She turned her head slightly, glancing over her shoulder.
Vinia's gaze followed Cocotte's line of sight toward the figure behind her.
It was a person wearing a hood, their face hidden behind a mask.
The High Priestess couldn't make them out clearly at first. She narrowed her eyes, and a cool, suspicious voice rang out:
"You brought a human here?"
"Cocotte Yadh, even if you are the Queen among Elves, you should not be bringing humans into the Elven Forest."
Cocotte raised an eyebrow, her tone dripping with mockery as she laughed with a teasing air.
"Who ever said she was human?"
Vinia was momentarily taken aback. But then Cocotte suddenly spoke:
"Leon."
As her words fell, the mysterious figure behind her seemed to receive some kind of command.
She raised her hand, removed her hood, and took off the mask concealing her face as well.
Revealing her sharply pointed ears and a cold, refined face.
Like a sheet of ice—carrying a quality that kept the world at arm's length.
Vinia looked at Leon, and couldn't help blinking:
"She's actually……an Elf?"
She drew close to Leon's side, leaning slightly forward and scrutinizing her carefully:
"Mm……a very familiar feeling, as though I've seen you somewhere before."
Vinia had assumed Leon was one of those Elves who had left the Elven Forest in search of Cocotte, and had succeeded—bringing her back with her.
And since Cocotte had returned to the Elven Forest, that was simply reality.
Vinia wore a warm smile as she addressed Leon with a friendly inquiry:
"My kin, please tell me your surname."
She had already heard the name from Cocotte—though Vinia always felt it was a somewhat strange name.
Not quite the naming style of an Elf.
Vinia found it puzzling, yet she kept her smile and met Leon's indifferent gaze.
Only to see the Elf before her—this fellow kin—give a quiet, cold snort:
"Hmph. Kin."
Hearing that word again, Leon found it nothing but ironic.
That single snort, however, brought Vinia to a stunned halt.
Leon slowly closed her eyes, in her heart recalling the words Viktor had spoken to her—then gradually opened them again. She raised her head, and her emerald-green eyes met Vinia's directly:
"Clavena."
"Remember my surname."
***
Within the Divine Tree Yadh lay an extraordinarily vast interior space.
The natural energy within it was impossibly dense—like a colossal reservoir, holding an enormous reserve of power.
Between each zone, countless branching paths wound their way through like a labyrinth, impossibly intricate.
Weija beat her wings, flying here and there through the space:
"Incredible—so this is the Divine Tree Yadh that nurtures Elves. Its interior is actually like this."
"Alright, Viktor, hurry up and tell me your plan."
She landed on Viktor's shoulder and chattered away:
"I know you definitely came here with a purpose. Stop hiding it from me."
Viktor paid Weija no mind, simply finding a path on his own and walking further inward.
He didn't even seem concerned about getting lost in this labyrinthine place.
At that, Weija was hardly surprised.
It seemed as though there was no place in this world that Viktor hadn't been to before.
He always knew every terrain intimately—even this impossibly complex Elven Forest.
As was the case right now: inside the Divine Tree, Viktor moved with practiced ease as though he'd walked these paths countless times.
At every fork in the road, he didn't even need a moment's pause before choosing the correct route.
As he made his way through the labyrinth, an extremely dense Calamity force radiated from his body.
The white Rune on his Coat flashed continuously; a breath of wind coiled around Viktor, the markings gradually claiming the entire surface of his clothing, slowly brightening.
"Do you know?"
"The Divine Tree Yadh is a vast, intelligent living entity."
Viktor spoke in an even tone, then continued walking deeper.
"Its interior is like the human body—it has all manner of defense mechanisms."
"And to the Divine Tree, outsiders who enter it are like viruses."
As he walked on, several extraordinarily strange branches rose up ahead, blocking Viktor's path.
Those branches resembled pure manifestations of energy—soft and unstable, their shapes twisted and contorted.
They seemed to look Viktor up and down, and then, as though catching sight of the Coat on his back, they swayed their branches aside, retreating to both flanks and gesturing for Viktor to proceed.
Watching the branches move aside, Viktor continued his explanation to Weija:
"Just like that—they will automatically intercept and expel outsiders."
Viktor, however, bearing the power of the Calamity, was like the descent of an actual Calamity made manifest.
In the eyes of the Divine Tree, he could hardly even be called human.
In the game, the Divine Tree Yadh was a high-level late-game map.
It required a large number of players to form teams and cooperate with one another in order to reach the map's deeper zones.
And the enemies the players fought were precisely these guardian mechanisms within the Divine Tree.
Weija listened quietly as Viktor explained.
As Viktor walked and spoke:
"Do you know why the Divine Tree has always protected the Elves and nurtured them?"
Weija flapped her wings, having almost grasped Viktor's meaning.
"I knew it. There's no such thing as a free lunch."
Very soon, upon seeing what lay ahead, she understood the reason Viktor had said this.
When Viktor passed through a narrow, darkened passage, the scenery around him became entirely different.
Within a vast space stood all manner of towering waterfalls and jagged rocks of varied shapes—as though it were an entirely different world.
Above, the sky was completely enmeshed by countless branches, concealing something within them.
Dense natural energy flowed like an ocean, pouring entirely into this expanse of earth.
Following those branches upward, Weija saw a green, translucent heart—crystalline and flawless—beating continuously in midair.
With each pulse the entire space trembled, and the dull sound of it reverberated through the eardrums of the one person and one crow.
"We're here."
"This is the【Heart of the Divine Tree Yadh】."
Boundless natural energy surged through those slender branches toward the great heart, pouring in an unceasing wealth of power.
Watching the scene before him, Viktor stood with both hands in his pockets and spoke:
"Everyone has always believed that the Elves' talents and authorities were gifts from the Divine Tree—including the surnames the Divine Tree bestows."
"The Elves naively believe that the surname the Divine Tree gives them allows them to carry the power bound to that surname."
"Even the most ordinary Elf, once given the name 'Yadh,' would leap from the most mediocre of aptitudes straight to the pinnacle."
"They are wrong."
The Divine Tree Yadh created Elves from natural energy; the Elves returned natural energy to the Divine Tree Yadh; the Divine Tree Yadh then continued to create Elves—an endless cycle.
Throughout this process, the Divine Tree Yadh would identify the most exceptional individual among the Elves and bestow upon her the surname that would make her Queen.
The Queen would sacrifice her talents, using her own bloodline as a blueprint, to allow the Divine Tree to create ever more powerful Elves.
When the Queen died, the Divine Tree Yadh would select a new Elf to become the next Queen.
Under this virtuous cycle, the endless generations of Elves would grow stronger and stronger, while the energy the Divine Tree obtained would increase in both quantity and purity.
And so—
"It is not that being granted the surname 'Yadh' by the Divine Tree Yadh makes one the Elven Queen."
"Rather, before the surname is even bestowed—"
"There is only she who can become the Queen."
Viktor calmly raised his head, gazing at the enormous Heart of the Divine Tree Yadh, beating steadily—thump, thump.
Suddenly, the aura about him erupted violently, and a terrifying power surged into every part of his body in an instant.
"The Divine Tree Yadh has been fed for far too long. And so."
Viktor stood with both hands in his pockets.
The 3-colored markings on his Coat slowly lit up, spreading toward Viktor's face.
The phantom silhouettes of 3 enormous beasts gradually manifested behind Viktor, their markings and veins in sharp relief.
Thump—thump—
The Heart beat faster and faster, as though sensing the arrival of something dangerous.
Above the Divine Tree's Heart, an enormously wide and long HP bar appeared.
Stretching for hundreds of meters, with no end in sight.
【Yadh】
—Lv60
The wind surged and churned, the Coat sweeping and swaying without restraint.
A terrifying, oppressive aura—erupted forth.
Gazing at that HP bar stretching hundreds of meters, Viktor's calm, impassive voice rang out with cool detachment:
"A share that belongs to our family."
"It's time you returned it."