Even Genea, who normally remained calm no matter the situation, looked montarily speechless after being hit with such an outrageous misunderstanding.
Ian imdiately shouted:
“She’s working with demons?! How would she even control monsters?!”
“...!”
The ranger’s expression changed instantly.
“Genea... have you beco a slave to demons?!”
‘Let’s just not unpack that one.’
Creak—
Ian drew back his bowstring.
But he wasn’t aiming at the ranger.
Thwack!
An arrow tore through the air, blasting apart the swarm of mosquitoes diving toward the ranger.
At the sa mont, Genea moved.
Elves were naturally agile beings.
Her affinity with spirits ant she could easily be developed into a long-range spirit master, but it was equally possible to build her as a close-combat fighter. With high agility and luck stats, she could beco an assassin-type damage dealer specialized in critical strikes.
And Genea made full use of those talents.
‘She saved him?!’
Then—
Smack!
She slamd the unsuspecting ranger in the back of the head.
“?!”
Startled, Ian stared at her while Genea calmly explained herself.
“He seed just as unreasonable as Moiken. I thought it would be easier to knock him unconscious and take him with us.”
Why was she treating him like a captured prisoner?!
“Stop doing things that make people misunderstand us! If you drag him away, do you think the other rangers are going to say, ‘Ah, Genea saved our comrade’?!”
“If I explain the situation—”
“They’ll fill us with arrows before you finish!”
“You make a compelling point.”
“Who gets convinced that easily?! What are we supposed to do now?!”
Ian was on the verge of snapping before he abruptly paused.
‘...Wait. Isn’t this actually an opportunity?’
The village was already finished.
The swamp monsters had completely overrun it. There was nothing left worth salvaging. The rooftops still visible above the muck were already being swallowed beneath layers of slimy sludge. Beneath the swamp, disgusting wet noises echoed as the monsters happily digested their prey.
‘At this point, we should just wipe everything out and relocate the village.’
Originally, Ian had intended to push Genea forward and let her persuade the elves herself.
But honestly?
This thod looked much cleaner.
Given Genea’s questionable persuasion skills, this might actually work better.
“Sema!”
“Y-Yes?!”
Sema nearly jumped out of his skin.
Clinging desperately to a tree branch while practically hanging onto Louise for dear life, he looked profoundly unreliable.
‘Where exactly did you sell off your Levitation skill?’
Still, despite never leveling Water Ball, Sema had diligently invested skill points into bizarrely specific utility spells like Property Manipulation and Water Mirror.
“Change its properties!”
“Here?! Into what?!”
“That swamp!”
“...?!”
There was really only one thing Ian could possibly an.
Turn it into oil.
Sema stared blankly at the swamp.
Could sothing still be called a swamp if it moved around on its own?
And even if it could, would magic actually work on this massive living mire packed full of monsters?
It felt impossible.
Still, his body moved on instinct.
Sema had absolutely no desire to be kicked out of the tree by Ian.
“Liquid Property Manipulation!”
Swooosh!
“Whoa!”
Sema almost lost his balance and fell.
Against all expectations, the spell worked on the very first attempt.
Excited, he turned toward Ian.
“Did you see that?! You saw it, right?!”
“What are you celebrating for?! Keep going! Do you think one cast is enough to fix this ss?!”
Even while being scolded, Sema couldn’t stop grinning.
Especially because Genea looked impressed.
“As expected of the ‘Master of Water,’ Lord Sema.”
“Eheh... ehehehe... Liquid Property Manipulation!”
Boom!
“......”
The spell failed instantly.
Genea’s admiration vanished so fast it was almost tragic.
Still, Sema returned to doing what he did best:
Brute-forcing success through repetition.
He continued casting over and over until eventually, the entire swamp transford into a massive sea of oil.
Only then did the swamp monsters begin sensing sothing was wrong.
Sothing foreign was corroding them.
It wasn’t exactly painful, and since they were busy feeding, it remained tolerable—
But it was irritating.
The Swamp of the Demon Realm.
Less a monster and more a living natural disaster.
The colossal creature shifted, attempting to eliminate the source of annoyance.
Squelch!
The swamp suddenly surged upward.
The liquid mass spread throughout the village rapidly drew back inward, compressing itself together as its volu swelled.
The massive tree Ian’s group stood on began sinking into the swamp.
At this rate, the mire would soon reach their ankles.
Exactly as Ian had hoped.
‘Perfect. All the monsters are trapped inside the village now.’
The elf village followed a traditional structure.
A wooden palisade surrounded the settlent, complete with guarded gates.
Ordinarily, it served as decent protection.
Against swamp monsters, however, it was practically useless.
The palisade was riddled with gaps large enough for liquid-like creatures to seep straight through. It might have stopped ordinary monsters—
But not these things.
Still, that worked perfectly for Ian.
Because now he could burn everything at once.
“Keith! Get the elves out of the village! Throw them over the wall if you have to!”
“Yes.”
Despite wearing full armor, Keith moved with terrifying agility, leaping effortlessly from tree to tree.
From above, the battlefield revealed itself clearly before him.
He imdiately identified every surviving lifeform within the village.
Elves trapped in the swamp thrashed desperately for survival.
Most had been caught while fleeing toward the palisade. Their bodies were almost entirely subrged, their heads barely above the sludge while trembling hands clung desperately to floating wooden debris.
Creeeak...
Every grotesque sound from beneath the swamp sent those hands flailing in terror.
And as their strength finally began to give out—
Keith moved.
Discarding his armor without hesitation, he landed atop one of the floating planks.
Then, grabbing an elderly elf by the wrist like pulling a radish from soil, he hauled him straight out of the swamp.
“Cough—! Th-thank you...”
Keith didn’t even pause to acknowledge the gratitude.
Instead—
Whoosh!
He hurled the old elf clean over the palisade.
Thud! Rustle rustle!
The elderly elf crashed violently through the bushes outside the village.
‘He’ll survive.’
Keith had learned through his unfortunate travels with an elf rchant that elves were a surprisingly durable race.
According to his accumulated experience, that throw wouldn’t kill him.
Probably.
Keith continued his rescue efforts relentlessly.
Running directly atop the swamp monsters themselves, he grabbed elves one after another and launched them to safety beyond the walls.
The elf rangers watching from the treetops were horrified.
‘What... is that monster...?!’
Even elite elf rangers—renowned for their agility and balance—could never replicate movents like that.
Such physical control bordered on insanity.
Worse still, the armored giant was violently throwing elves through the air.
Was he saving them?
Or trying to kill them?
It looked vaguely helpful, but surely tossing people like that would shatter every bone in their bodies.
“What are you doing?!”
“Stop right there!”
The rangers instinctively aid their bows toward Keith—
Only for Ian’s voice to suddenly thunder across the battlefield.
“Do any of you have fire arrows?!”
“...?!”
The rangers blinked in confusion.
Was he talking to them?
Ian didn’t care whether they answered or not.
He couldn’t even see their faces from where he stood.
“Fire spirits work too! Just burn it!”
“...Who are you to order us arou—”
Before Ranger Leader Hiikan could finish—
Thud! Thud!
Two arrows slamd into the swamp.
BOOM!
Whoooosh!
“Keep firing!”
“Yes, Lord Ian!”
Louise answered instantly.
His archery had already reached the point where rapid-fire shots were possible. Unlike Sema—who never trained unless forced—Louise constantly refined his abilities without complaint.
‘To beco the protagonist of a ga route, you should at least be this competent.’
So this was the joy of automatic character growth.
Ian felt genuinely moved watching the overwhelming performance of a four-star unit.
And Louise wasn’t the only one who had improved.
Zip—
BOOM!
Ian himself fired arrows thodically into the oil-soaked swamp.
These weren’t ordinary arrows.
Ding!
[Fire Arrow]
(Creator: Momisia)
A fire arrow packed with gunpowder.
Though it appears ordinary on the outside, it possesses far greater storage efficiency and destructive power compared to standard fire arrows.
Fla Attack Power: 100%
Attack Power: 20%
Status Effect:
‘Burn’ applied
They were special fire arrows personally crafted by Momisia and packed with gunpowder.
‘At this point, these are basically bullets.’
Honestly, Momisia probably could manufacture firearms too.
...Or maybe not.
‘Perhaps the world’s system restrictions prevent it?’
Either way, Ian had never actually ordered these arrows.
“Uncle Sema is cowardly and bad at fighting... so... But with Lord Ian’s tactics, he can still contribute. I wanted to improve the attack efficiency.”
Momisia had explained it shyly while glancing around nervously.
When Ian praised her—
“Good work.”
—she’d brightened imdiately.
“Please don’t tell Uncle Sema I was worried about him,” she’d added slyly afterward.
‘Aren’t Sema and I basically the /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ sa age?’
Then why was Sema the only one being called “Uncle”?
Ian had desperately chosen not to ask.
He feared the answer.
“Summon fire spirits!”
“Burn the monsters!”
At last understanding the situation, the elf rangers joined the assault.
The swamp ignited like a burning ocean.
“We can kill it!”
“Waaaaaaah!”
WAAAAAAAAH!
As the flaming habitat erupted, the monsters hidden within surged outward all at once.
There were too many.
Far too many.
The sky itself darkened beneath the sheer number of creatures.
“......”
...Should he have just fed the rangers and elves to the monsters and escaped?
For a brief mont, Ian genuinely regretted underestimating the opening monsters of Genea’s route.
But honestly—
Wasn’t this the ga company’s fault?
Who throws monsters like this at players during the opening stage?!
‘This damned ga...’
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