Editing Dark Elf:Volume1 Chapter4 (section)

===Part 2===

He ran and ran. His eyes and ears had barely recovered. Only the fear he felt told him he was still alive. If Slender hadn’t pulled hard on his hand back then, he would have been vaporized on the spot. He held his future wife’s wrist and ran through the forest night.

This was no longer a battle between people over the human formalities surrounding nobles.

First and foremost, they had to survive. They had to escape their opponent’s view, hide in some blind spot or another, and take up a safe attack position. In the best case, they could win this unscathed. They were up against someone wielding what very well may have been the strongest magic in existence. There was no point in challenging that hope elf to a direct battle.

But Slender was focused on something else while they ran.

“''Oh, no. Now the hope elf might start calling me Slender too…''”

Silence was always an option. Just because he could speak her language now did not mean saying something was always the right answer.

That aside, Klaus had never imagined the day would come he would be leading a dark elf by the hand like this. If they ran in a straight line, a projectile attack would hit them. Not that a straight line was ever an option in a forest full of bushes, tree roots, boulders, Witch Pumpkins, cliffs, and other obstacles.

The two of them hid behind a nearby tree.

“''When did you learn to do that?''”

They had a large object to hide them while maintaining several escape routes. Slender, a professional hunter, actually looked impressed, but now was not the time to be reveling in the praise of an expert. …And in truth, he didn’t want to explain he had learned it while spying on her, Little Girl, and Mother bathing. He was well and truly screwed if she sighed and abandoned him here.

Something was coming.

A clear change came over the woods. The bugs and small animals noticed something with their finely-tuned senses and rapidly left the area. It was like the harbinger of a great disaster.

When Klaus peered out into the woods, he saw a crown swaying side to side while a small figure approached. There really was no fooling her. Rosehera was moving straight toward the tree he and Slender were hiding behind. Her scroll was still floating above her shoulders and back and her little fingers wandered indecisively between the colored pencils contained within it.

“No need to hold back on my account, student.”

“…”

“Afraid attacking me two-against-one wouldn’t be fair? Or are you reluctant to run such a small body through with a blade? Yes, yes. If that’s it, don’t let it bother you. That human knight was too unstable to be useful thanks to her righteousness and emotions and such, so allow me to even the playing field.”

“''What?''”

Next to him, Slender seemed unsure if she should draw her bowstring or not.

“''She has something there. Is that…a sword?''”

Rosehera had more than just the colored pencils. Did that weapon boost her magic? At this point, he wasn’t even going to bother asking where it had come from. The scroll of colored pencils had already defied logic in that regard.

“T. E. O. D.”

She paused briefly between each letter.

Klaus thought it was some kind of incantation, but her next words proved that wrong.

“The End of Dragons. This is the magic sword which once supplied the finishing blow against Brashgain. It flies all on its own to slay its target, so once I release it from its scabbard…well, you could call this a two-on-two battle, couldn’t you?”

His throat felt as dry as the desert.

It made sense for that to exist, he supposed. It had to have been out there somewhere. Was it 500 years ago that colossal dragon had died? Whatever it was, Brashgain’s bones were now littered across this forest, so the weapon that had slain him had to be somewhere in the world, right? But did it have to appear here and now? What kind of irony was this!? It did explain how her magic could defeat the dark elves’ Archdragon Magic, though.

…''It’s always something, isn’t it!?

“''Slender, get down!!''”

He could have sworn the scraping sound he heard was taking years off his life.

The sword had been released from its scabbard.

Klaus immediately grabbed the silver head next to him and forced it down, which proved to have been the right decision. A moment later, a tree trunk too thick to reach his arms around and a massive Witch Pumpkin were both sliced through diagonally. The horizontal slash passed directly above their ducking heads. If they had remained upright, it would have sliced right through their torsos.

Three triangular sails of light burst from the guard and several blue flames, similar to the burners seen in the royal capital school’s labs, erupted from both flat sides of the blade. Those things allowed it to ride the wind, float, fly, and soar.

After failing to hit its target, the twisted magic sword spread its glowing sails and shot upwards at nearly a right angle. It tore through the leafy canopy blocking the night sky and accurately retargeted them from above. How was this fair? If it could fly any which way through the sky above and scan the ground below, then hiding behind trees and boulders wouldn’t accomplish much. Klaus and Slender ran full speed through the forest, the hard branches and underbrush scratching at their arms and legs, but the weapon flying through the wide-open sky was much faster.

This meant they could neither run nor hide. If they couldn’t play hide-and-seek, then the dark elf tactic of hiding your presence and making a critical strike from behind cover no longer functioned.

…''This is insane!! How are that thing’s artificial eyes so good!?

They had already been on the verge of death with only the explosive magic cast by Rosehera and her scroll of colored pencils, so it was obvious what would happen if the magic sword forced them out from behind cover.

They would either be vaporized by the hope elf’s magic or bisected by the magic sword. Klaus could no longer think of any options that didn’t end with their deaths. Was there really a way to defeat this monster?

“Dammit!!”

The sword locked onto them, folded up its glowing sails, and adjusted the flames shooting from the sides of its blade to drop straight down. Klaus grabbed Slender’s hand and took off running to avoid the attack from the sky. It was like a small meteor strike. More than slice with the blade’s edge, it impacted with the ground, scattering small stones and a shockwave in every direction. An invisible wall slammed into his back and he stumbled. The air was forced from his lungs, but he managed to avoid falling. He also never let go of Slender’s hand.

…''Think.

He clenched his teeth while running through the forest with all his might.

He could continue thinking as long as he remained alive. Even if he was up against artificial eyes and a devastating magical cannon.

…''I’ve already challenged her to a fight, so there’s no backing out now! And it isn’t just my life on the line. All the dark elves’ lives and Slender’s fate are hanging in the balance.

“''Over there!!''”	

The girl pulled hard on his hand, directing him toward a massive structure with the base covered in green moss. He didn’t know what part it was, but it was a piece of Brashgain’s remains.

The sword skimmed just off the ground instead of soaring into the sky. Klaus felt a squeezing at his heart when he heard a disturbing clang from right behind him…but the pain and fear was proof that he was still alive.

They had survived the magic sword’s attack?

But Rosehera was sneering at them from a short distance away.

“Ha ha. That won’t shield you for long! The T.E.O.D. I have released from its scabbard was created to kill that thing. Even if humans have long since forgotten how to create things like it!!”

“Dammit!!”

There really was no safe zone. They could not use the dark elf fighting style of moving silently through the forest, finding a safe hiding spot, and firing an arrow from there. They could not keep up with the hope elf’s magic that swept away the darkness with overwhelming firepower and felled all obstacles standing in the way.

Whether they were for control, amplification, or cooling, Rosehera would occasionally pull a gemlike berry from her pocket and eat it. But they could not get close enough to prevent her from resupplying her magic that way. Carelessly approaching was far too dangerous with that devastating magic and legendary blade after them.

“Kh.”

Maybe he couldn’t end the battle with it, but if they were going to change anything about this hopeless battlefield, the key had to be Klaus Knockburn’s Camouflize magic. There was a chance Rosehera had heard about it from Elzane, but he would still be able to use it to catch her off guard.

But what exactly could he do with it? He had five uses stocked up, but what would he try it with? What lifeforms were there in this forest that could overpower that hope elf!?

…''Should I go with direct strength? Or maybe something venomous?

He listed a few possibilities in his head, but none of them sounded promising. That hope elf was a living legend and the T.E.O.D. watching them from the sky on her wordless command was the very magic sword that had slain Brashgain. Nothing sounded realistic. What would one of the usual “strongest animal” options, like a bear or a lion, accomplish here? He was starting to feel like he needed something on a legendary level to even stand a chance.

However.

“Oh.”	

The redhead boy realized a fundamental fact. He didn’t know if it would work since he had never tried it, but he reviewed each of the conditions required for Camouflize to work. And he concluded it should work based on that definition.

Of course, things that theoretically ''should'' have worked had betrayed him plenty of times in the past.

Reality didn’t always go your way. Trying a new idea on the fly tended to end badly.

But he did not back away. He refused to throw out this hope because ''it might just work.

“''Let’s go, Slender. Come with me.''”

“''What?''”

“''I need to confirm at least five things.''”

The dark elf girl looked confused by his explanation.

“''I’m going to use my magic to get a legend to fight for us!!''”