Raising the Elf’s Genius Slayer

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Chapter

What is the physical body?

Since the moment I could transform my body with lightning, it was an inevitable question I had to ponder.

And at this moment, as my body disintegrated by the Sword God’s blade, Enok felt an infinite sense of freedom.

“It’s spreading.”

My mind, my vision, my heart.

What I felt beyond my vanished body was a singular pact. Instead of a heart, a ring of pathos circulated, unbroken even by the Sword God’s sword strike, residing there.

[Enok….]

Rionne, who reached demigod status and could traverse the realms of the soul, witnessed the scene.

Her beloved wasn’t dead yet. There was still a chance to bring him back.

With a resolute heart, her brilliant spirit cloaked her sword.

[Prepare yourself….]

It wasn’t directed at anyone in particular.

Enok, who recklessly threw himself into danger, and Kyle, who had severed his beloved with his sword. Both were hard to forgive.

Crack-!

Roots surged from all directions, filling the sky.

Roxanna’s spirits lent their strength, and Tsukiyo, realizing there was no need to forcibly maintain Enok’s body, contributed her power as well.

Smash-!

Tsukiyo, gritting her teeth, cried out as if spitting blood.

[Turn the tide!]

A spell fueled by their full power dragged fantasy into reality.

The weighty sky descended, and the unburdened earth soared.

It meant little to the Sword God, but even a tiny opening was sufficient.

[Kids. Even if he gets hurt a bit, feel free to rampage. Ah, that person seems like he can take a bit of a beating.]

A quietly furious Roxanna passed her strength to the spirits.

Rock and rain. Plant and flame. Steel and lightning.

Each attribute, bound within the frame of nature, merged in response to the master’s will.

A translucent sphere flew toward the Sword God.

Clank-

The Sword God adjusted his grip on his sword and stepped forward. At the same time, one strike.

────────────

The sphere was cleaved. The dissipating energy vanished. With the aid of Tsukiyo and Roxanna, Rionne moved to take a turn.

[Huh…?]

But she had no choice but to stop. The energy of the cleaved sphere disappeared in an instant, being absorbed somewhere.

[…….]

The Sword God silently watched the scene.

Silence hung between the two demigods. The silence was shattered by the rumbling of thunder in the sky.

Boom──────────!!!!

The sky was dyed purple. An enchanting, mesmerizing purple.

The lightning that filled the sky soon formed a colossal shape.

[Thunder God]

With a voice that echoed across the continent, the lightning figure raised its arm.

A piercing sound!

The gathered lightning transformed into a spear. A lance larger than a mountain fell upon the Sword God’s head.

[Huu….]

The Sword God closed his eyes.

While Rionne was flustered, she seized the opportunity. The roots that burst from the earth took the shape of a sword and shot toward the Sword God.

Rionne herself gripped a sword tightly in one hand and charged in.

──────────────

And silently, the Sword God’s sword swung.

Everything was being cleaved away.

Air, space, time, and the principles of existence itself.

What existed at the tip of the sword was pure nothingness.

The Sword God opened his eyes.

A blank, neither black nor white, painted the world. Rionne, having barely dodged, laughed hollowly.

[No way, really….]

And there, between the vacuums, a bolt of lightning shot through.

Crackle-!

A lightning bolt smaller than a fingernail expanded and took on a human form. By the time the Sword God turned, it was already too late.

[────────.]

With a smile, the lightning was severed. The scattered lightning descended to the ground, again taking on a human form.

“Son-in-law.”

Roxanna looked down at her empty hand. The fragments of emotion had vanished without a trace.

Unbeknownst to her, Enok had taken the fragments and pushed them into the Sword God.

“This time, I can’t side with you.”

At Roxanna’s words, Enok’s body, which smiled faintly, shattered once again.

Flustered, Roxanna looked around, but she could not find the disappeared Enok.

“…Could it be that he ran away?”

[No.]

Rionne, with a tense expression, alighted on the ground.

[That was reckless until just now; now he is starting to reconstruct his body.]

Rionne pointed to the sky. In the sky, purple lightning flickered continuously.

“Sigh….”

As she scattered her strength, she gritted her teeth.

“Just try to come back, Enok. After scolding you so much before, you go and do this again.”

Even if they had become beloved, she still had to scold him. As Rionne’s anger simmered, the Undine perched on her shoulder chuckled.

[Goodness. If he doesn’t run away this time, it’ll be a miracle.]

A Grandmaster… or rather, a demigod now? It’s a bit ambiguous still.

Anyway, a person of that caliber running away? Now that would be interesting.

The Undine clicked her tongue.

Roxanna, standing on the air, quietly observed Kyle, who was staring up at the sky, and asked.

“By the way, how is he? Is it resolved?”

“Probably? Dad might take a bit. We just have to wait. Yes, just wait. Blankly.”

Tsukiyo, irritated with a calm voice like the stillness before a storm, nodded.

“No matter how much he’s my dad, he can’t let this slide. I’ll scold him, even if it means getting angry, to fix that strange habit of his.”

“There are times when minds align. No matter how much it’s Enok, this time it was serious. I thought I was going to drop dead.”

“Drop dead…? Wait, are you saying you’re pregnant…?”

“…I was just saying it.”

At Rionne’s words, Tsukiyo sighed in relief.

“Phew…. That’s a relief.”

“Well, how does my getting pregnant relate to you?”

“If you were to get pregnant, you’d act even more ridiculous, right? I can’t stand to see that.”

“What? This is….”

The gazes of Rionne and Tsukiyo collided intensely.

Disappointed by the lack of response from her words, the Undine belatedly sought her junior spirit.

[By the way, where did Eri go?]

Could she be with him?

The Undine stared blankly at the sky.

The sky was relentlessly struck by lightning. It looked just like the end times.

[Ugh, I don’t know.]

*

Enok was in a space that defied description.

Lightning roaring and whirling rings.

From the center of the six overlapping rings, the world appeared entirely purplish.

Boom──────!!!

The lightning incessantly thumped against the rings.

The rotating rings absorbed the lightning, drawing it into the rotation.

However, Enok remained motionless, eyes closed, focusing on his own imagination.

[Thunder God]

The deeply engraved letters lingered on his consciousness. The soul tasting infinite freedom after losing its body was bound there.

It was a necessary process. If one were to lose all thought and simply release their soul, people would generally call it death.

“Is the physical body absolutely necessary?”

The answer to the self-question was ‘yes.’

Though it might not be required to live alone, to live intertwined with the bonds of the present was indeed a need for the physical body.

There was no need to be bound anyway. One could discard it and create anew. Constructing a body again was not difficult anymore.

“Have I reached the state of a demigod?”

After a contemplation, he concluded.

Yes.

From the realization that dawned upon him, it could be inferred that reaching the state of a demigod meant wielding the power of thought.

If that were the case, he could assert that he had arrived at the realm of a demigod.

Enok opened his eyes. In that fleeting moment, a lightning bolt struck his gaze.

He opened his mouth and let out a sound.

[Thundering Lord of All Thunder]

With the voice of the Thunder God, a massive bolt of lightning fell.

A colossal flash, visible from anywhere on the continent.

*

When Enok opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the dark night sky.

“Ah….”

The voice that flowed out felt unfamiliar. The sensation of the wind on his skin, the smell that tickled his nose, the sounds brushing past his ears. All of it felt foreign.

Crackle-

He took a step forward.

As he simply walked a step, the scenery transformed.

After taking six more steps, the scenery returned to how it originally was.

Seven steps.

To the current Enok, it felt like the entirety of the continent.

“Did you come?”

A cool voice. Looking up, he saw Rionne with a cold smile.

“Yeah.”

“Yeah? Hehe, our Enok, you’re responding well, aren’t you?”

She’s mad.

It’s only natural. Her beloved had pressed his body against the Sword God’s blade, and she wouldn’t be indifferent to that.

Had the situation been reversed, Enok would have been furious. Probably.

“I’m sorry.”

Enok stepped closer and embraced Rionne. She blinked in surprise at his non-reaction, but soon realized she was still in the middle of being angry and opened her eyes sharply.

“Do you think this will let you off the hook?”

“…I’m sorry.”

Enok held her a little tighter.

“Ahem.”

Under the silent pressure, she pulled back slightly and met his gaze. It seemed he had a faint understanding of the storm brewing in her eyes.

*Peck-*

At the brief kiss, Rionne pouted her lips.

“…You can’t do that next time?”

“Yeah. I won’t do it again.”

“You fool.”

“I’m sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry for calling you a fool.”

“Yeah. I love you.”

They say a couple’s quarrels are like water cutting through a rock.

Watching it, Tsukiyo realized the phrase was nonsense.

Cutting water? Those two have no intention to wield the sword at all.

Look at how they lock themselves away, like water flowing. Will it be another week before they come out?

“Damn it. I can’t stand it anymore.”

Tsukiyo stormed out of the house with heavy footsteps.

The Undine stared at her departing figure, dumbfounded.

[Wow… she’s really furious.]

But then, where the heck is Eri?

The Undine lay on the floor, scratching her belly.