Chapter 102
Mana couldn't be sensed.
Yet it didn't look like a living creature, either.
“But it's flying through the sky?”
One of the elves blinked dully.
How long had it been there? They hadn't even noticed it approaching.
It was just as an elf, driven by the curiosity peculiar to elves, perked up their ears and cautiously reached out a hand.
-Click!
“Eeeek!”
A bright light burst from the drone.
The elf who had been cautiously approaching was sent sprawling by the sudden light.
“Eek!”
The nearby elves hurriedly ducked behind a rock.
The fallen elf flailed on the ground, screaming, but...
“Huh?”
Soon, the elf realized they were perfectly fine.
Not a scratch—or anything else wrong with them.
Leaving the bewildered elf behind, a post went up on the Gallery.
[Featured Post: LOL, Elf Expression of the Century]
Author: Head Mod*
(A GIF of an elf jumping like a startled rabbit)
(A picture of an elf falling backward)
Checking the drone's performance, lol
And while I'm at it, elves are cute too.
[Upvotes 5121] [Downvotes 421]
- What's cute about those pointy-eared freaks?
- Whew, lol. That's so satisfying.
- Haha, thanks for the pics.
- But Head Mod, how did you take these? The angle's kind of weird.
ㄴ Seriously, looks like you shot them from the sky.
That was not a magical beast but the Head Mod's iron familiar—or fairy, as it were: a drone.
*
“The performance is definitely confirmed at this level.”
The drone had successfully operated in Elrad.
The reason it managed to work despite the considerable range was the new ability I'd acquired.
[Sub-Mod Totem Lv1]
Active – Full-HP Elf 59:51:41
The sub-mod acted as a kind of relay.
“I can really feel the difference now that I've used it.”
Kelliarton and Elrad were incredibly far apart.
And yet, simply because I had a sub-mod, the effective operating range had become practically infinite.
I dropped a can of cola to the elf through the drone, who was still blinking dazedly and trembling.
“Gasp, yay!”
The elf cheered happily, unaware they'd just been immortalized in the Gallery.
Leaving the elf behind, I was just about to fly the drone around to locate the magical beasts emitting the fog.
“W-wait!”
The elf who had fallen shouted.
When I stopped the departing drone, the elf flinched but began speaking to it.
“Um... Head Mod's fairy? Anyway, going inside is dangerous!”
Did the elf think the drone was alive?
The elf tried quite desperately to dissuade me.
“Even if you go into the fog, your position will be exposed because of your mana.”
The elves were highly skilled.
But how were they supposed to slash at or attack fog without even a physical form?
In reality, the elves had no choice but to be utterly helpless against the fog.
No, even for something other than an elf, the fog would be difficult for any living thing to deal with.
“But it's a different story for a drone.”
A drone has no mana,
nor any biological organs capable of sleeping.
Besides, it hovered in midair, making it incredibly difficult to hit—a completely overpowered observer.
What if it got unlucky, was attacked, and broke?
[Filming Drone] - 249p
“Well, I can just buy another one.”
It's cheap and easy to operate.
There's a reason they're used for reconnaissance.
“Ah...!”
The drone entered the thick fog before the elf even had time to stop it.
The elves groaned and squeezed their eyes shut.
But even as time passed, it didn't fall.
The drone was naturally flying around inside the fog.
“H-how...”
“It's... fine?”
Leaving the wide-eyed elves behind, I brought the drone closer to the World Tree.
After circling the area a few times, I quickly got a grasp of the surroundings.
“Just like DieHardVampire said.”
The fog was thicker in several places.
As I approached, I could see frog-like magical beasts spewing fog spores.
Moreover, they showed no reaction.
Apparently, they never dreamed that something undetectable by mana would fly up and observe them.
“But... there are way too many.”
The problem was their numbers.
They were swarming in practically every area.
At this rate, catching a few of them wouldn't even make a dent.
Instead of thinking about catching just a few, I opened an entirely new notice post.
[Notice: Elves Must Read]
Author: Head Mod*
(A picture of a frog-like magical beast making fog)
These guys are the source of the fog.
I'll share their locations in a notice post, so attack the indicated locations and leave a post.
*World Tree Fog-Making Magical Beast Location Sharing Post*
1. (A picture of the beasts between branches at the top of the World Tree)
2. (A picture of one camouflaged among the bark in a similar color)
.
.
95. (A picture of a group of beasts going back and forth between specific locations)
I'll keep updating this.
I'll remove captured ones in real time, and update it again if they've moved.
Go hunt.
[Upvotes 7412] [Downvotes 2]
- Ugh, fuck, they really are ugly.
- Wow, there are disgustingly many of them.
- But Head Mod, how did you take these?
ㄴ Huh? Good point. How did you take them inside the fog?
ㄴ Seriously, and from the sky, too?
ㄴ Do you take a grand mage for a joke?
- We knew we could trust you, Head Mod!!
- (Elf emote clutching the space between its eyebrows)
- Head Mod, come here! Let me suck your cheeks dry!!
ㄴ Head Mod*) No no no no
The observer is always the biggest headache in war.
I took dozens of pictures per minute and uploaded them to the notice post.
The elves began moving hurriedly to match.
Thanks to that, the Gallery's post activity became livelier than ever.
- I shot five arrows at #6. Please confirm!! [1]
- Head Mod, I just threw a spell at #12!!! [5]
- >< Head Mod, look at this one secretly...jpg [412]
- I can't use a bow or magic, so I threw imaginary magic at #15!! [71]
ㄴ Head Mod*) You little shit
Even though the World Tree was empty, the sacred tree was still a sacred tree.
How cautious had they been all this time, afraid that using a powerful spell might damage it?
Like they were playing a target game, the elves enthusiastically launched their arrows.
“Wow, they have good aim.”
And they were quite skilled.
Maybe that was why they were a long-lived race.
Arrows and reduced-power spells landed at the designated spots, avoiding the sacred tree like trick shots.
- Eeeek!
- Grrrurgh!
Thanks to that, the magical beasts began dying under bombardment without knowing what was happening.
-Screeeech!!!
And when about half had died, one of the magical beasts finally spotted the drone.
But.
“Then what the hell can you do about it?”
It was impossible to catch them while staring down from an incredibly high altitude with the image magnified.
In the end, the magical beasts changed their behavior.
Just like DieHardVampire had done earlier, they began moving from place to place in perfect unison.
But this wasn't very effective, either.
“So you're faster than my Gallery work?”
[Notice: Elves Must Read (First Revision)] - 5 minutes ago
[Notice: Elves Must Read (Second Revision)] - 3 minutes ago
[Notice: Elves Must Read (Updated Every Minute)]
Author: Head Mod*
They've caught on and keep moving.
I'll keep updating this every minute or every 30 seconds, so leave it open and refresh it.
It'll look almost like it's updating in real time, so take predictive shots too and go, go.
1. (A picture of the beasts between branches at the top of the World Tree) Captured
2. (A picture of one camouflaged among the bark in a similar color) Captured
.
.
95. (A picture of a group of beasts going back and forth between specific locations)
[Upvotes 9999+] [Downvotes 0]
- Wow, no, wow... lol;
- What the fuck is this?
- (Not human... elf emote)
- No, this is fucking ridiculous, lololol.
I was a forum addict who had lived as a big name on nearly every board during the internet's most active era.
I spent more of my life on the Gallery than in reality.
There wasn't a single regular user on the Gallery who didn't know me.
“The Gallery was my life.”
Catching the movements of medieval magical beasts was nothing to someone like me.
.
.
.
“Uhhhh... sob... sob...”
My heart ached for a moment, but I did end up transmigrating and becoming Head Mod, so wasn't it for the best?
- Head Mod, I shot #5!!!
ㄴ Head Mod*) Yeah, bull's-eye.
ㄴ Wat?
ㄴ (Elf emote opening its mouth and tilting its head in confusion)
ㄴ Didn't you just post that? How are you replying so fast?
ㄴ It takes five seconds to check the comment → confirm it on-site → edit the post → reply?
- Head Mod: I'm just a fucking madman.
ㄴ Head Mod: I'm just sex.
ㄴ Head Mod*) Fuck, that's sexual harassment!!!
With a rustle, magical beasts rained down from the World Tree.
The way to deal with the magical beast corpses piling up on the ground was simple.
- They say magical beast meat has been delicious lately.
ㄴ Frog legs are perfect with soju!
ㄴ Add MSG and it's great in soup, too ^^
ㄴ ?
ㄴ That's all I meant, haha.
The elves, who loved soju to the point of madness, immediately turned them into frog stew and drinking snacks.
Just as I was in the middle of chopping up magical beasts for quite some time...
[‘137.7.32’ has requested a chat.]
“Oh?”
The World Tree had contacted me.
*
The World Tree had put down roots in the dark elf city of Lumelin to escape the elves.
“What? Weren't you asleep?”
If I remember correctly, I'd heard it had grown as far as the sapling stage, but it seemed to have awakened again.
I greeted it happily.
Head Mod*: Nice tree to meet you.
137.7.32: (Nice to meet you, Head Mod~ World Tree emote)
137.7.32: (Listen closely! World Tree emote)
Head Mod*: Yeah?
“Did you have something to say?”
Perhaps because the World Tree had logged into the Gallery by itself from outside, it couldn't type in chat.
Instead, it conversed using World Tree emotes it had made itself, so it seemed to have something particular to tell me.
Various emotes began pouring in one after another.
137.7.32: (Whatever you do, don't scare these people. World Tree emote)
137.7.32: (-Elf- stigma emote)
“Hmm...”
Head Mod*: Be careful around elves?
137.7.32: (Pweeeeng World Tree emote)
137.7.32: (World Tree emote clinging to someone's pants)
Head Mod*: They have dependency issues?
The World Tree diligently tried to convey something to me, posing one quiz-like question after another.
137.7.32: (No lewd stuff, okay? Rapunzel emote)
137.7.32: (Rapunzel emote asking 1,384,966 times what “mamang-ppyo-i” means.)
Head Mod*: Hmm.
“This one's a little hard.”
But who was I?
A Gallery junkie who logged into the Gallery diligently, without a day off.
I quickly succeeded in decoding what the World Tree was trying to tell me.
“Elves are highly prone to dependency, so don't help them too much?”
That was the sentence I came up with after interpreting it.
Apparently the World Tree, having looked after the elves for a long time, was giving me advice in its own way.
Head Mod*: Okay, okay, I'll keep that in mind.
137.7.32: (Woo~ World Tree emote)
The World Tree had a history of being driven to the brink of death by the elves.
“Better safe than sorry.”
I decided to keep that in mind.
Turning my attention back to the drone, I saw that the inside of the World Tree had almost completely returned to normal.
Most of the magical beasts had fallen, and the fog had thinned thanks to that.
“Seems like this is enough.”
More than 90% of the beasts on the post list had been captured or killed.
But I couldn't let my guard down yet.
The rift hadn't emitted a wave yet.
All that had happened was that the magical beasts trickling out of the rift had gradually multiplied.
And just as I was beginning to worry about that, a new featured post appeared.
[Featured Post: Eeeek, Head Mod, help!]
(A picture of fog bursting out all at once)
(An emote of a gigantic mutant frog-like magical beast crawling out from beyond the rift)
Fog!!! Run!!!!! To the corner!!!!
(A picture of an elf being dragged away while taking a picture)
Eeeek
- Lol, you said to run. Why are you the one getting dragged away?
- Fuck, lolololol.
- This guy is just funny, lol.
- There isn't a single boring one all the way to the end, lol.
“Oh... no, that's way too big.”
But it was much bigger than I'd expected.
Just as I was watching the frog-like magical beast, boasting overwhelming size, through the drone...
-Swoosh!
A long tongue shot toward the drone in an instant.
“Fucking crazy.”
Startled by its range and speed, I didn't even have time to dodge.
-Crack!
When I came to my senses, the drone had exploded, and all I could see before me was a black screen.
But I only froze for a moment.
“Well, even better.”
Drones weren't only for reconnaissance.
Reconnaissance was just their basic use; they shone even more in other areas.
I started mass-buying the other drones I'd had my eye on in the marketplace.