How to Survive as a Genius Spy in the Game Chapter 255 - Elf (2)

I made the winds thicker to match the mana exploring me. It was a decision made by combining instinct and reason.

The mana dwelling in the elves’ forest is different from the usual kind. If it had even a slight will, I thought the mystic would act as a veil.

My choice was correct. As I thickened the winds, I felt the waves of the exploring mana becoming fainter. It seemed to think it was just winds.

Of course, that doesn’t mean it completely disappeared. It still touched me at regular intervals.

‘It feels like it’s curiously poking at me.’

I thought it might be sensing a subtle difference. After all, winds arising from winds and mystic are different. Even if I move, I don’t move like winds.

Still, it didn’t seem like the mana of this forest had intelligence. If it did, it would have noticed something was off long ago.

I headed towards the center of the forest. Of course, I couldn’t know exactly where the center was. I was just heading southwest using the sun as a reference.

And as I went deeper into the forest, I felt the frequency of the forest’s mana checking on me increasing.

‘This isn’t the will of the elves.’

Rather than elves controlling the mana, it seemed that the density of mana became denser as I went deeper inside.

The trees were also becoming denser along with the mana density. A lush forest. However, strangely, the number of trees wasn’t increasing.

The density of trees decreased, but the size of each tree itself gradually became enormous. You could say the gaps between trees became more distinct.

I turned my head to compare with the path I had walked. It wasn’t just a simple feeling or illusion.

Looking back at the trees in front, there was a difference. After pondering for a while, I thought the trees might be competing for sunlight.

‘No, I’m sure of it.’

When I went a little further, I could see the branch of a giant tree piercing through the trunk of a relatively smaller tree.

Plant competition existed on Earth too. There were even plants that moved minutely to receive a little more sunlight.

Moreover, in a world with mana, it would be even more so. There are even monsters imbued with mana, so this isn’t strange.

This elven forest could be seen as an intensification of such things.

‘But when I learned about elves, there was no mention of this.’

Of course, it was an old document. It was a book from when the Empire took the elves’ land. There’s a possibility these things weren’t covered in depth.

After advancing for a few more hours until evening, I suspected that it wasn’t that the book didn’t cover it in detail, but that something had changed.

This was because I discovered trees using magic. Deep in the forest, I could see traces of magic twice.

One was fire magic and the other was earth magic. I passed by a burnt tree trunk and abnormally destroyed, bumpy ground.

‘I thought elves did it.’

Elves also enjoy meat, so hunting is one of their hobbies. I thought a slightly aggressive hunting method had been employed.

So I thought I was getting closer and closer to the elves.

I was wrong. Looking back, there were trees larger than others near the two magic traces. It was the same now.

I saw a tree with a thicker trunk than the others sending flames towards another tree.

It was magic, but different from what I knew. It was more like a natural baptism of flame, unlike what humans had refined.

It was much larger and more violent. Anyway, even I couldn’t help but watch in awe at the sight of a tree burning another tree with fire.

‘There’s no way this kind of story wouldn’t be included.’

The Empire doesn’t consider driving out elves and dwarves to be such a dark history. They see it as the glory of the strengthened Empire.

The Empire isn’t just. These bastards have done many terrible things. That’s why they have many enemies.

Human magic developed from the time of oppressing elves. If this had happened in the past, there’s no way I wouldn’t have known that plants use magic.

In other words, this was likely a change that occurred as the elves altered their land. Considering that the forest’s mana was different, it was quite plausible.

‘Having lost their land, did the elves learn such behavior from the Empire?’

Should I see it as the underdogma that the weak are not virtuous? Hmm, it seemed a bit different from that.

Shouldn’t we say they learned how to trample others from those who trampled them?

Of course, I couldn’t see the elves as bad. Even I can see that the Empire did shitty things. It was a difficult issue.

Although I’m on the Empire’s side, wrong is wrong. Of course, my thoughts on this end with just thoughts.

It’s not like I’ve only done right things, and surviving is what’s important for now no matter what. My heart just feels a bit heavier.

Suddenly, I recognized a strange sense of discomfort. It felt like it had been a long time since I had thoughts like this.

‘Is this the influence of the divine doctor?’

The first thing I felt when I entered this world was that my personality had changed quite a bit. Even though memories and reason remained, the sense of rejection towards unethical acts seemed to have disappeared.

According to the divine doctor, at that time, I was in a state where the original Carlyn and the soul were mixed without harmonizing.

Perhaps as the divine doctor made the two souls harmonize, the part of me that had disappeared below the surface of unconsciousness resurfaced.

Of course, the same would be true for the original soul of this body. Just because I had such thoughts, it didn’t mean I felt great aversion or displeasure towards the Empire.

‘It’s not a big change, but it’s peculiar.’

I didn’t know until I received treatment from the divine doctor, but I feel like my thoughts have become slightly richer.

If I had to compare, before I was neither myself nor Carlyn, but now it feels like both exist.

I don’t know. Let’s worry about these complex and useless issues later. I hadn’t even found the elves I was targeting yet.

As night was falling, finding a place to rest for today was the priority.

***

For three days, I couldn’t find any traces of elves. Having come this deep, I should have seen at least one trace of hunting or movement, but I felt nothing.

In fact, considering the range of my winds, this was an impossible problem.

This forest located at the southwest end is not small, but… it wasn’t impossibly huge either.

It was strange that no traces or any signs were detected by my search after regaining my original body condition.

I was certain that their domain was hidden. Like when I found the orb related to the Great Devil, there was a magical veil in place.

I had been considering this all along, but at this point, it’s 100% certain. It’s no wonder I couldn’t feel it. Unless I was close, it would have been difficult to sense with widely expanded winds.

‘There’s still time.’

I came planning for a month. There were still about two weeks left. I was planning to search carefully. And after two days had passed like that.

I could suddenly feel three people, no, elves, in my winds’ senses. The moment I recognized them, I lowered the density of my winds and listened.

-… give up. Where on earth is it?

-It couldn’t have gone far. It was the same last time.

-Damn it. Shouldn’t we do something? It’s an emergency every time this happens.

The elves appeared suddenly. I memorized their location. It meant there was a hidden passage nearby.

Anyway, from the overheard conversation, it seemed that a young elf had left the domain.

It’s possible. Very occasionally, the different races captured as slaves usually experience accidents when curious children venture outside the restricted area.

-But isn’t it a bit strange?

-What?

-The winds… something’s different from usual? The forest’s mana too.

I hurriedly reduced the density of my winds even more, but it seemed too late. The elves’ intuition was beyond my imagination.

-Now that you mention it, it does seem so.

-If it’s the sharp-sensed Sharknak, we need to check it out. Which direction?

The elf who noticed the anomaly pointed in my direction.

-That way.

-Is it hiding that way?

-No. It could be the opposite side. It might have deliberately left traces here. Even if it’s stupid, it’s still sharp in strange ways.

-Still, we should check it out.

The elves approached my location at a rapid pace. Can I hide? My head couldn’t make a judgment. It would be no problem elsewhere, but the fact that this is the elves’ forest was troublesome.

Elves’ intuition is sharp. Especially when it comes to nature-related things like winds.

But if I remove the winds from my body, I felt like the more concentrated forest mana would cause a commotion.

I wanted to observe them, but I had no choice. I breathed mana into the amulet.

‘It’s still hard to get used to.’

Along with rising discomfort, the world began to blur. Still, it was better than last time. Is this also because the Worst Condition disappeared?

Well, the discomfort felt in poor condition and in normal state must be different.

Anyway, unlike feeling the devil’s power in the east, I couldn’t feel anything even though the elves were approaching.

I moved from my spot. I needed to get away from here for now. I didn’t know how much they would search.

Continuing to use this amulet was too uncomfortable, and it was also a problem how long I should wait without knowing the outside situation.

I might accidentally run into the elves when I come out.

‘It would be better to observe more carefully after moving away a bit.’

I thought it would be okay to cause a sense of discomfort once or twice anyway. They seemed to think it was the young elf’s trick.

I quickly covered about 1km and then emerged from the non-existent season by removing the mana I had breathed into the amulet.

“Huh?”

And I couldn’t help but be surprised. There was an elf about 100m away. Fortunately, it hadn’t seen me yet.

I hurriedly hid behind a tree. Is that one also looking for the young elf?

As I watched the lone elf while holding my breath, my eyes naturally widened. I couldn’t help it.

It was an elf I knew. Archmage Shahri, whom I thought was dead, was there.

‘What the hell…’

I hurriedly stifled the curse that was about to burst out of my mouth. Looking calmly, I realized that Shahri’s condition wasn’t intact.

First of all, her right arm was missing. It wasn’t just that her arm was gone, but her shoulder was completely empty too.

Her hair was also a mess. Rather than being disheveled, it was because nearly half of her scalp had melted away.

The skin visible over her lightly worn clothes was the same. Her slight walking posture also looked uncomfortable.

“Hehe! Butterfly! Butterfly!”

And… her mental state didn’t seem to be sound either. Something flashed through my mind for a moment. Flames rose from Shahri’s hand as she reached out towards a butterfly.

It was a net of flames to catch the butterfly. Of course, it was too large and hot considering the target was a butterfly.

“It, it died…”

Shahri, who seemed mentally unstable, hung her head with a gloomy face. I narrowed my eyes.

It was shocking that she was alive, but if I play this right, I might be able to write quite a good scenario.