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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Mod7
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White smoke filled the room with a thunderous burst. Johan instinctively shielded himself, initially thinking a bomb had detonated, but that wasn’t the case.
As the smoke dissipated, he realized the elf who had been sitting before him had vanished completely.
“Where did she go?”
Rising from his seat, Johan approached where the chief had been sitting. There he found a small stuffed doll and picked it up. It was the kind of toy a toddler might play with, but looking closer, he saw it had all the chief’s features perfectly replicated – the long ears, mature appearance, voluptuous figure.
Johan’s blood ran cold as he realized the elf he’d been speaking to was fake. And there was only one person who could do something like this.
‘A witch.’
This place lay behind the great mountain range – the one even Master said was too dangerous to approach. Johan had always wondered why she avoided it so adamantly. Now he was beginning to understand.
If this mountain range was another witch’s territory, Master would have no reason to challenge it, especially given her dislike of conflict. And witches were dangerous – every witch he’d met so far had possessed abilities that could easily take a life.
“I need to get out of here.”
Realizing he was in a witch’s puppet garden, Johan began planning his escape. If he could just subdue the guard outside before the other elves realized what was happening-
The door creaked open.
“Chief, where did you-”
The elf froze upon seeing the doll in Johan’s hand, reacting as if witnessing some forbidden taboo. But before Johan could take advantage of that shock, the elf blew a piercing whistle – an ultrasonic signal beyond human hearing.
Within moments, every elf in the city began converging to hunt him down.
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Arrows whistled through the air. There were places to dodge, but Johan knew he couldn’t.
“Damn it!”
His attempt to catch an arrow barehanded failed, leaving his palm shredded. As he grimaced through the pain, dozens more arrows filled the space where he could have dodged to.
Though standing still had saved him from that volley, the next wave came in an unpredictable, chaotic pattern impossible to evade.
‘These bastards-‘
Cursing silently, Johan searched for cover. He found temporary shelter behind a house, but it didn’t last. An arrow plunged down from above like artillery fire, forcing him to press against the wall.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!”
More arrows began raining from the sky. With no escape route outside, Johan smashed through the wall into the house. Inside, elf families who had been lying in wait charged at him with kitchen knives.
This, at least, was easier to handle. He deflected their crude attacks and activated his magic – instantly, one elf transformed into a doll.
A young elf trembled as she pointed her weapon at him.
“D-die!”
“Look, you can’t win. Just put it down.”
“Never! You murdered him!”
“Murder? It’s just a doll reverting to its true form.”
As Johan approached casually, the young elf swung her weapon wildly. He easily dodged, disarmed her, and restrained her gently.
“Let me go!”
“Stop screaming. Someone might actually think I’m hurting you.”
“You just killed Father! You horrible human!”
“Again with this? You’re all just dolls. Now, are we going to do this the easy way?”
Taking the girl hostage, Johan made his way to the second floor. He quickly memorized the window and furniture positions, finding a spot where arrows couldn’t reach.
Now he just had to figure out how to escape.
‘Instructor really should have covered situations like this…’
Though Ludwig’s training in weapons, tactics, tracking, and navigation was keeping him alive, these opponents were proving particularly troublesome. The elves truly lived up to their reputation as master hunters and archers. Even if this world’s elves weren’t quite the same as in stories, their skills were undeniable.
But the real problem was the numbers. They seemed willing to sacrifice any number of their own to kill him, showing a disturbing disregard for their fellows’ lives.
A wave of heat washed over him.
“What now?”
Flames began engulfing the building. The elves had set fire to the house, apparently unconcerned about their own people inside. As the flames intensified, Johan cleared his barricade and prepared to jump. With only two possible escape routes, he knew he’d face a wall of arrows the moment he emerged.
“They’re going to kill you too, you know.”
“Others will avenge me!”
“What others? The same elves trying to kill you right now?”
Letting out a bitter laugh at the absurdity, Johan lifted the girl and readied himself. After a quick check of his footing, he burst backward through the window.
Just as he’d expected, arrows flew at them from every direction. The girl’s eyes went wide with terror at the incoming barrage, but Johan remained calm, patting her head reassuringly.
An instant before the arrows struck, he used his magic on her. As she reverted to doll form, the transformation created a small explosion – not powerful, but enough to deflect the arrows and fill the air with concealing smoke.
The elves maintained their discipline, calmly repositioning despite losing sight of him. But it was already too late.
Within visual range, Johan activated Ludwig’s secret technique – instant acceleration. The elves’ eyes widened in shock as he appeared before them. Though they quickly raised their bows, they weren’t fast enough.
“One down.”
At his touch, the nearest elf burst into smoke and collapsed as a doll. The others began trembling as they realized the truth – a single touch meant death. While they might have accepted losing one or two of their own, watching their fellows fall one after another was breaking their resolve.
After reverting two more to dolls, Johan charged the remaining group. They scattered like sheep before a wolf, fleeing in blind panic.
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In a room clearly meant for a young girl, surrounded by dolls, a small witch frowned as she watched the threads connecting to her puppets snap one after another.
If only her recently dispatched bear doll’s connection had broken, she could have deduced that some powerful being had appeared and killed her vampire. But these weren’t those threads breaking – these were the connections to her elf servants, creations she’d maintained for years.
“Why are they all breaking now?”
Oh Master, the elves are under attack!
“What? Really?”
Yes, this is terrible. If we don’t hurry, you’ll lose all your cooks too~
“That would be awful!”
The young witch, who had been practicing ventriloquism with her dolls, threw on her cloak and rushed toward the village, her short legs carrying her as fast as they could manage.
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There was no other word for it but slaughter.
“Die!”
The elves thrust their spears at Johan, but even at close range, the monster who could dodge arrows by sight disarmed them before they realized what had happened. Then he casually swung their own weapons back at them, transforming one after another into dolls.
These dolls given life by witch’s magic railed against real life with tears in their eyes, desperately trying to protect what they believed were their families.
‘Amateur moves.’
Johan effortlessly claimed their weapons and continued his work. Where there should have been bleeding bodies, there were only dolls. After dozens of transformations, his technique had grown razor sharp.
He could now deflect arrows by sight alone – even volleys of dozens posed little threat. If you could deflect one, you could deflect any number.
“Please, just leave our village!”
“Die, you monster!”
But Johan felt nothing at their cries. They were dolls, nothing more. Now he understood why they took elf form – eternally youthful, universally beautiful.
Just like dolls.
“Ramiel!”
A brilliant light pierced the sky as an angel manifested far above, beyond the reach of normal magic.
Johan glanced up at the small witch who had appeared, wrapped in a cloak with a pointed hat.
She jabbed her finger toward him and shouted:
“Destroy him!”
“First time fighting a witch on my own.”
“What?”
The witch’s shock at hearing him speak lasted only an instant before the angel’s wheel began to turn.
Lightning split the sky, plunging toward earth.
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That was completely unexpected.