Chapter 222
Chapter 222: Buy 1, Get 1 Free Elf
The sharp crack of gunfire snapped the Elves back to their senses. Their gazes drifted forward.
Leon stood not far away, her expression cold and detached, the muzzle of her gun aimed steadily at them.
At that, the Elves came fully awake.
They shrank back, eyes fixed on the strange black weapon in Leon's hand, visibly afraid.
Leon faced her kin, not a trace of pity in her eyes.
Though they were the same kind, in her eyes, these Elves were no different from strangers with whom she shared no blood.
If she wanted to, she could shoot one of them dead without so much as blinking.
Cocotte surveyed the scene and shook her head.
"Honestly, you never wake up until you feel the pain yourself."
Elves were, in truth, susceptible to the Divine Tree Yadh's beguiling commands—but at the same time...
They feared death.
Any living creature fears death.
The Divine Tree Yadh had summoned them precisely to send them to their deaths.
Even if Vinia had tried to stop them, told them outright what the Divine Tree Yadh truly intended, these Elves almost certainly would not have believed her.
After all—how could their great Divine Tree possibly mean them harm?
By the time they faced real death, it would already be too late to escape.
Vinia, though equally drawn to the strange black weapon in Leon's hand, still had her wits about her.
In that moment, she had an overwhelming number of questions she wanted answered, and she was desperate to pry them from Cocotte's lips.
"But...we were all created by the Divine Tree."
"So then—why? Why is this happening?"
She watched the natural energy draining from her body, felt herself growing gradually translucent, and was powerless to stop it.
If she had gone any deeper into the Divine Tree Yadh, she probably would not even be able to stand upright by now.
Cocotte understood Vinia's confusion and, without the slightest impatience, explained it to her.
"Precisely because we were created by the Divine Tree Yadh—that is why it can use us without any burden of guilt."
"Vinia, you and the others have always seen the Divine Tree Yadh as a great mother. But it has never once seen you as its children."
Hearing Cocotte's words, Vinia's face crumpled, unable to accept what she was hearing.
"How am I supposed to believe you?"
Cocotte tilted her head toward Leon and said evenly:
"Doesn't her very existence prove it?"
Following Cocotte's gesture, Vinia's gaze landed on Leon.
And she was completely stunned where she stood.
Because on Leon's body, she could not detect even a flicker of natural energy flowing.
The Divine Tree Yadh was in the process of absorbing every Elf's energy—not even Cocotte Yadh could avoid it; she could only use her own mastery of natural energy to resist. But Leon was different.
It was as though she had completely repelled natural energy itself.
If she was incapable of producing natural energy, then naturally the Divine Tree Yadh would have nothing to draw from her.
And so—Leon, who could not harness natural energy at all.
"To the Divine Tree, she...is a defective product?"
In that moment, Vinia finally understood.
Why would an Elf have no surname?
Because this Elf could not harness natural energy, could not allow the Divine Tree Yadh to extract natural energy from her.
And so to the Divine Tree, Leon was an Elf with absolutely no value.
No value meant the Divine Tree Yadh had no reason to grant her a surname.
She understood it now—Vinia understood all of it.
She could not accept this reality. She clutched her head, overcome with unbearable anguish.
It was a pain that came from deep within her soul.
It was a truth no Elf could easily bear.
From beginning to end, Elves had always believed the Divine Tree Yadh sheltered and watched over them at every moment—a gentle, nurturing mother who had given them life.
But when the mother they revered most raised the scythe of cruelty and indifference against them and began to harvest their lives, they could not even rise up and fight back the way Cocotte had.
And that was precisely it—because of the Divine Tree's protection, the Elves had forgotten what it meant to feel endangered.
The Divine Tree would never harm them, they believed, and so Elves needed no great strength. They did not even need the freedom of their own will.
The Divine Tree Yadh bestowed a surname upon every Elf, mapping out the whole of each Elf's life with perfect clarity.
Every Elf's life was to be wrung dry by the Divine Tree Yadh...
In that moment, Vinia desperately wished she were not so clear-headed, not so perceptive.
She almost wished she could be one of those fools.
That way, she would not have to confront reality so quickly.
Perhaps even the pain would ease a little.
Vinia slowly raised her head, her gaze burning with an intense, desperate need to know.
One final question remained in her heart—one she still needed answered.
"Then...we were all created by the Divine Tree."
"But if there were no Divine Tree, how would we..."
How would the Elves continue to exist?
Even now that she understood the danger the Divine Tree posed—
Without it, without the Elves relying on it—
How would new Elves continue to be born?
Cocotte crossed her arms, letting out a helpless sigh.
"Ah, Vinia—I was about to tell you how sharp you are."
"Whether it's you or any of the others—you've all been wrong about one thing, all along."
She looked up at Vinia, then swept her gaze across the other bewildered Elves, her eyes clearer than ever.
"The Divine Tree is the Divine Tree. Nature is nature."
"Nature encompasses the Divine Tree—but the Divine Tree dare not presume to call itself nature."
In that instant, it was as though thunder cracked through her mind. Vinia felt a new clarity dawn inside her.
Elves are born of nature.
The Divine Tree Yadh has never been nature itself.
In the outside world, Elves have always been known as the cherished children blessed by nature.
How did that reputation come to be?
It certainly was not from humans who entered the Elven Forest, saw those Elves kept in captivity, and coined the description for them.
When someone harms an Elf, nature itself will bring punishment down upon that person.
The Divine Tree Yadh dwells within the Elven Forest—it has no power to punish those beyond the forest who harm Elves.
The one who has always been protecting Elves was never the Divine Tree Yadh.
It was—the Nature Spirit.
Suddenly, the earth plunged into an even more terrifying tremor, and dark clouds began piling up across the sky.
But a moment later, the sun wrapped in crimson light tore them apart, pouring its scorching rays down upon everyone below.
Vinia suddenly caught herself and looked up toward the Divine Tree, watching as a dense torrent of natural energy poured toward it.
She lowered her gaze, feeling her own body growing more translucent, the energy inside her steadily fading away.
She could barely believe it—yet following that vast surge of energy, she saw her kin around her, just like herself, growing faintly translucent, their faces ever more drained.
Unlike her, their eyes were blank and hollow.
Before long, the weaker fools among them would reach the end before she did, becoming the Divine Tree Yadh's nourishment.
"No..."
No, please...
Vinia looked out at her kin, her eyes brimming with tears, her face stricken with unbearable grief.
My kin, please don't fade away...
"No!"
"I told you—don't worry."
In an instant, the natural energy within Cocotte erupted outward.
Thick roots from beneath the ground, tangled with vines, burst up through the earth.
Carrying a dense surge of natural energy, they wound around the Elves, pouring natural energy into them continuously.
Sustained by that rich wave of natural energy, their bodies were able to hold together.
Vinia snapped out of her daze and stared at Cocotte in disbelief.
She could feel it—Cocotte was consuming her own natural energy to sustain the lives of those kin around her.
"Cocotte, you..."
"It's just a little energy—no big deal~"
Cocotte raised her hand, thumb and forefinger pinched together, holding up a tiny gap between her fingertips.
"To me, it's only this much."
Cocotte had left the Divine Tree Yadh so many years ago, never having to offer it a single drop of her natural energy.
And so the natural energy she had accumulated over that time had long since reached a truly staggering amount.
Even if the Divine Tree Yadh were to drain her for an entire day, she would face no danger whatsoever.
Besides...
Cocotte folded her arms, a self-assured smile playing on her lips:
"Before I officially resign, I'm still your Queen."
"Shouldn't a Queen protect her own people?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Vinia felt her heart give a sudden, violent lurch.
Huh? That's...that's strange...
Out of her control, her heart began to pound—thud, thud, thud.
Holding her breath, she could even feel the faint trembling of her whole body with every heartbeat.
As though some extraordinary feeling was sprouting and taking root inside her.
Making her want, without any conscious thought, to revere the Elf before her.
In that moment, in Vinia's eyes—
Cocotte's figure became immeasurably tall and vast.
Dazzling, radiant—brilliant as a star.
She looked at Cocotte and said, her lips trembling faintly:
"But...the Divine Tree Yadh never stops—even your energy, at some point, will..."
Before she could finish, a ferocious column of fire roared up through the heart of the Divine Tree and began spreading outward in all directions.
The entire surface of the Divine Tree was no longer the lava-veined bark it once was—it was genuinely, truly burning.
The solid bark began to fracture and collapse, crumbling into chunks of charcoal that contracted and caved inward toward the center.
Flames burst from the core of the great tree, shooting straight up toward the crown.
Like a fire serpent fully awakening, opening its enormous jaws and swallowing the entire great tree whole.
The fire serpent broke through the cloud layer, coiling for a hundred miles, completely consuming that towering, sky-reaching canopy.
The entire sky seemed to catch fire, as though something was trying to burn away every last inch of that black sky above.
Charred branches snapped loose and rained toward the earth, catching the searing blast of heat on the way down and reigniting.
Until they turned to ash—and dissolved completely into the air.
And within those raging flames, the furious roar of a massive beast rang out, making the whole world feel hopelessly fragile beneath that dreadful cry.
【Blazing Severance—Wrath of Extinction】
Cocotte looked up and took in that familiar surge of power, moved to the core of her being.
"Mm. Now you really don't have to worry."
Vinia froze.
She stared at the colossal Divine Tree, completely engulfed in roaring flames, its firelight reflected in the depths of her eyes.
It was as though a strange connection linked her to what she was seeing—like the crumbling, disintegrating Divine Tree was being torn apart piece by piece,
And the Elves around her felt the same thing.
Now, their bodies were no longer translucent. They looked down at their own solid, real hands, bewildered.
From beginning to end, they still hadn't fully grasped what had happened.
But in the very next moment—
From within that wildly churning firestorm, the beast streaked with flowing lava broke through the Divine Tree's brittle shell, swallowed the flames burning across its surface, and stepped slowly forward.
The instant they saw the beast, countless Elves felt an overwhelming awe surge up inside them—an impulse that made them want to fall to their knees.
Even Vinia was the same. Her body, along with the bodies of those around her, began to sink involuntarily downward.
All at once, a breath of wind swept in from every direction, catching the knees of every Elf just before they could touch the ground.
Holding them completely still. Leaving them stunned, unable to help but raise their eyes toward the source—somewhere up in the sky above.
Vinia did the same.
And she saw clearly.
Atop the beast wrapped in flowing lava from head to toe, stood a man in a black coat.
Across his coat ran red patterns that rippled and surged in the wind.
His cold, indifferent gaze swept across every single Elf present.
"The Divine Tree Yadh invoked the name of nature and nature's authority to force you to your knees."
The world was quiet. Nothing remained but the crackling roar of the flames.
And the man's voice—unstoppable, unhurried—fell upon them:
"Now, Clavena tells you to stand."