Player Who Became A Constellation [EN]: Chapter 182

Player Who Became a Constellation – Episode 182

‘Who is it?’

‘…A human….’

A human is riding in the driver’s seat.

‘Soon… he’ll die.’

‘Run away!’

The dark elves hoped that human would run away.

It wasn’t because they wanted him to live.

They wanted the Cyclops to find him and focus their attention on him.

But the human didn’t seem to want to run away.

The carriage stops.

A dark elf and a beast-man get out of the carriage.

The beast-man clashes his gauntlets. And the dark elf pulls out an arrow.

‘Are they going to fight?’

The hidden dark elves groaned at their foolishness.

It would have been better if they had run away and scattered the Cyclops…!

It was around that time.

Loki, in the driver’s seat, got off.

And he summoned a greatsword, slung it over his shoulder, and looked up at the Cyclops.

Before they knew it, three Cyclops surrounded the three of them.

「We’ll eat them.」

「Looks delicious.」

「Not dead, but alive. Fresh.」

The Cyclops reached out with both hands, and Loki pulled out his greatsword and lowered it to the side.

The greatsword touches the ground.

Mana [magical energy] condenses in the greatsword.

「Huh?」

Even though their eyes met, the small human was not restricted in his movements.

The beast-man and the dark elf were the same.

It was when such doubts arose.

Loki swung his greatsword, and a thin line was engraved on the bodies of the three Cyclops.

「Huh…?」

The Cyclops’ bodies fall forward.

Their upper and lower bodies were separated.

***

The dark elves, who were peeking through the eye sockets, widened their eyes.

They couldn’t believe what they were seeing.

The Cyclops that arrows and swords don’t work on.

Their skin is as hard as steel, but their bodies were neatly divided.

Blood gushes from the severed bodies.

The huge bodies knelt down and fell forward.

‘Who are they?’

‘There’s a dark elf!’

‘Does anyone know that dark elf?’

‘Not a member of the village.’

‘Then that means they’re outsiders?’

‘Maybe they’re elves from another village….’

The dark elves whispered without revealing themselves.

“They’re bigger than the ones we hunted.”

“…I guess the ones we caught were babies.”

Celot said to Loki.

Even so, Celot felt powerless.

It meant that her arrow couldn’t kill a baby with one blow.

She still realized that her strength was lacking.

“Oop! Get down!”

Karen opened the carriage door.

And she let the dark elf siblings who were riding there get off.

The hidden dark elves’ eyes shook when they saw the young members of their race.

‘Rel! Lil! My children are alive!’

‘Wait, don’t go out!’

A dark elf woman hiding among the trees jumped out.

She rushed to the young dark elves and hugged them.

“Oh, Mom!”

“Rel, Lil… you’re safe!”

The dark elf woman sobbed. Even so, she raised her head and looked at Loki and his party with caution.

“W-Who are you…?”

***

Loki was invited to the largest hut of the dark elves.

It was a withered tree that looked like it would crumble and fall at any moment, and the hut was precariously perched on it.

The hut was not normal either.

Thanks to the Cyclops, the ceiling was torn off, and there was no table or chair inside, so they had to sit on the floor.

Only Loki and Celot were seated.

Karen had been gone for a long time, saying she was going to look around the village.

Of course, the dark elves, who were wary of outsiders, had assigned someone to watch her.

“…It’s rare to welcome outsiders like this.”

Among the dark elves, a middle-aged woman approached and sat across from them.

She looked like a middle-aged woman in her 40s or 50s at best, but judging from her voice and atmosphere, she seemed like an old woman who had lived for a long time.

“I thank you for saving my grandchildren, Rel and Lil. I sent them away first, but a baby Cyclops chased after them… I thought they were dead.”

The middle-aged dark elf who spoke seemed to be the village chief representing the village.

“My name is Lal.”

“……”

Loki stared at Lal and then looked at the plate in front of him.

There were withered fruits and vegetables on it.

There were also wriggling maggots and rotten meat.

Loki looked at the place where one side of the wall had collapsed.

There was a swamp underneath, and vegetables and fruits were floating on it.

Is it possible to grow crops in this land like that?

Also, next to it was a drying rack, where they were disassembling and drying the zombie corpses of beasts.

Also, the maggots are kept in separate jars.

Karen was tilting her head as she watched the scene.

…Growing fruits and vegetables in the swamp.

Are they picking out the rotten beast’s meat and the maggots that grow there and eating them?

Loki didn’t care about his stomach as long as it tasted good, but he didn’t think he could eat the food in front of him.

“I heard you’re going to the entrance to the underworld.”

“Can you guide me?”

“…It’s not difficult, but is there a reason?”

“There’s someone I want to find.”

“Ah… is that so?”

Lal made a bitter expression.

“It happens sometimes. There are cases where people want to meet the dead….”

“Can you guide me?”

“You saved the village, so I’ll guide you as a reward for that.”

She agreed surprisingly easily.

“I heard that dark elves are guardians who block the entrance to the underworld?”

When Loki made a surprised expression, Lal laughed.

“Guardians?”

“I heard that they attack those who approach the entrance to the underworld. Is that not true?”

Everyone he met warned him throughout the journey.

Be careful of the dark elves in the south.

“Do you know why we block outsiders? It’s because the place they’re heading to is the Valley of Lamentation.”

“……”

“They believe in the stories from legends and come to meet the dead, only to become food for the Cyclops, and the Cyclops go crazy and rampage after tasting the flesh of the living.”

Fresh, living meat, not rotten meat.

To taste that flavor again, the Cyclops often come near the dark elf village.

That’s why the dark elves rejected outsiders who came here.

At first, they tried to persuade them to turn back, but they were people with an earnest desire to meet the dead.

They wouldn’t back down so easily.

In the end, there was only one simple method.

To let them meet the dead, as they wished.

By killing them.

“We were just trying to protect ourselves by dealing with strangers.”

“…Not guardians who protect the entrance to the underworld?”

“I don’t know who said such nonsense. Who? Who was the one who said such absurd things?”

…It was Pope Zeus.

“I’m curious. Why do you dark elves live here?”

“Isn’t that obvious?”

Lal said as if it were natural.

“Because there’s no place as safe as this.”

“……”

Elf hunts are rampant on the continent.

That’s why the dark elves left that place and settled here.

Zombies are rampant and Cyclops are rampant, but at least they weren’t as persistent as humans.

Zombies can live on trees that they can’t reach, and Cyclops go back to the valley when they’re full.

But humans continue to pursue them until they uproot the elves.

Tired of their fanatical obsession, the dark elves came to this southern end where their feet could not reach.

‘…Ruran and the dwarves also came north to escape the humans.’

That was how all the countries on the continent treated other races.

“If it’s you, you’ll be able to kill the Cyclops there and go.”

Lal nodded.

If only the Cyclops disappeared, she would be more than happy.

Lal said.

“You said there’s someone you want to meet? I’ve heard of it too. Among humans… there are those who have really faced the dead.”

At those words, Celot thought of her father.

“Of course, not everyone was able to return. Maybe the story of meeting them is just a delusion.”

Lal said that and chewed on the fruit.

Even so, she frowned.

It must taste terrible.

“Can… you meet the dead?”

At Celot’s words, Lal looked at her.

“Well…. Is there anyone you want to meet separately?”

“…I want to meet my dad.”

“What’s his name?”

“Calib.”

At that moment, Loki thought of the constellation of the sea.

But the one Celot wanted to meet was a dark elf and a man.

“Calib? That’s a familiar name….”

“This is… my dad’s hometown.”

At Celot’s words, Lal looked surprised.

“Ah! Calib Hanes. I see. Are you his daughter?”

Lal made a bitter expression.

“He said he hated living being chased by humans… and left to create their own hometown.”

And the Demon King Calib established their own country, but it failed due to the Holy Order.

“I see. He’s dead….”

Lal mourned the death of her fellow tribesman.

“So, are you going to meet your father too?”

Celot looked at Loki.

“Do as you please.”

Celot has accompanied him this far.

It wouldn’t be bad to grant her wish.

Celot stared at Lal with surprised eyes.

“Can I really… see my dad?”

“I don’t know. However… everyone came here with that hope, but not a single one returned.”

Loki asked Celot.

“What are you going to do?”

“……”

Celot closed her mouth.

Normally, she would have dismissed it as nonsense.

And she wouldn’t have even tried.

But Loki is next to her.

Every time he was there, she experienced new and mysterious things.

Surely, it will be the same this time.

She can rest assured if he is by her side.

She can even go to a place called the underworld.

“I want to… meet him.”

“Good.”

Loki smiled.

“I can guide you to the Valley of Lamentation. But… the time has not yet come. The entrance to the underworld opens on the day of the red moon. Stay here until then.”

***

Helga, who was at Valhalla Academy, was focusing on training the Valkyries.

There were no obstacles.

Because when they are resurrected, they become her species, and they are naturally talented in necromancy [the practice of communicating with the dead].

She went to Valhalla Palace to report on her training process, but.

“Yes? Lord Loki?”

Cancun said as she faced her.

“Lord Loki is not here.”

“…Is that so?”

“Yes, he has left to enjoy another game.”

“A game….”

Helga smiled faintly.

‘That’s a relief.’

She was wandering around the continent being chased, but it seemed that Loki was still enjoying his travels.

‘Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since I’ve left this place.’

Helga had never left Asgard except during the war with the Holy Order.

That’s why… she became curious about what kind of trip Loki was enjoying.

‘Certainly, traveling this world might be fun.’

Since the Holy Order had collapsed, there were no longer any who would chase Helga.

It meant that others would not be harmed wherever she went.

‘But did he go alone?’

On the one hand, she didn’t feel good.

Surely, when he left this country, she asked him to take her with him.

It seems he forgot that quickly.

‘Should I… go too?’

“Where did he go?”

She decided to take courage.

At Helga’s words, Cancun looked embarrassed.

“Yes. That’s… I don’t know very well, but….”

Cancun put her chin on her hand and thought for a while before saying.

“He may not be in this world.”

“……?”

Cancun said to Helga with an awkward expression.

“He said he was going to the underworld.”

Helga was curious at those words.