Became The Son Of The Final Boss [EN]: Chapter 67

67.

Gooooooo-!

The entire forest seemed to be shaking.

Despite consuming a considerable amount of mana during the battle, I still had enough to summon a High-Grade Spirit.

This meant I had enough mana to contract with a High-Grade Spirit.

The mana seemed to be swirling violently within the Mana Hole.

I felt as if a wind was blowing inside my body.

Gooooooo-!

The fiercely blowing wind soon revealed its true form.

-Greetings, companion of the wind.

The Orcs trembled at the sight of Sylphen, the High-Grade Wind Spirit.

A presence far different from that of a Mid-Grade Spirit.

The unknown forces that had been indiscriminately firing arrows at both Orcs and soldiers had also stopped.

It felt as if time had stopped around me.

“I will contract.”

I squeezed out the words.

Just maintaining Sylphen was a great burden.

‘Can I even fight like this?’

It was true that a single High-Grade Spirit could change the tide of battle, but it didn’t mean invincibility.

High-Grade Spirits were most effective when coordinating with other Lower-Grade Spirits, and I hadn’t reached that level yet.

‘I’ll use my mana until it’s completely depleted.’

I steeled my resolve and contracted with Sylphen.

-You have enough mana, but you cannot fully draw out my power yet. Still, since your situation is dire… I will assist you once after the contract.

I nodded.

The Orcs regained their senses.

The Orcs, completely tainted by the aura of evil, were far more brutal than ordinary Orcs.

“Kill all the Elves!”

The Chieftain Orc kindly revealed the identity of those shooting arrows.

I had suspected it, but I was quite taken aback to realize they were actual Elves.

Because the Elves were attacking not only the Orcs but also me and the knights.

‘Weren’t Elves… originally neutral?’

There was no need for lengthy contemplation.

The Orcs were definitely beings that needed to be killed, and the Elves… couldn’t be allowed to stand idly by.

Some knights had already died from their arrows. Now that they had killed knights, we couldn’t just sit still.

I unleashed the Flame Wind.

‘I’ll kill the Chieftain first.’

Salamander climbed atop Sylphen’s head.

Sylphen, resembling a wolf, became the wind itself and ran.

Papat-!

Sylphen’s wind was so immense that the flames Salamander created were unbelievably large for a Lower-Grade Spirit.

Every place Sylphen passed turned to ashes.

The mana from the Mana Hole was intensely drawn towards Sylphen.

I involuntarily staggered.

Kwaaaang-!

The Elves’ arrows ceased.

Dozens of Orcs instantly burst into flames.

“Sylphen…”

I squeezed out my last bit of will to maintain Sylphen’s skill.

The Chieftain Orc couldn’t evade the fiercely approaching Sylphen.

“Gather!”

The Chieftain Orc shouted quickly.

But the Chieftain Orc had already lost control.

At that moment, Riorden urged the knights on.

“Attack!”

The tide of the battle completely turned with a single skill.

My head was spinning, and I felt like I would collapse at any moment, but I bit my lip and endured.

I didn’t stop the Wind Breathing Technique to send even a sliver more mana to Sylphen.

‘Not much left.’

The Chieftain Orc was solely using other Orcs as shields to block the Flame Wind.

It was a race against time: whether my mana would run out first, or whether I could break through the Orcs and kill the Chieftain first.

“David.”

Riorden advanced, stepping on the heads of the Orcs.

It was an astonishing movement.

Riorden’s speed was unbelievable, even as I watched.

‘He’s manipulating mana freely?’

Ordinary knights could only infuse mana into their swords.

I was mesmerized by Riorden’s movements at a time when I needed to concentrate. Riorden’s performance in the evaluation match seemed to be less than half of his true abilities.

Thud-! Thud-!

Each time Riorden stepped on an Orc’s head and ran, the Orc’s head exploded.

‘That’s martial arts, martial arts.’

This world had all sorts of miscellaneous settings, so martial arts were naturally included.

However, it was definitely not a technique used by the knights of the Central Continent.

The sight of my settings coming to life was incredibly fascinating.

Papat-!

As Sylphen’s flames weakened, the Orcs’ defenses thickened.

I turned my gaze away from Riorden to focus.

As I poured every last drop of mana into Sylphen, Salamander’s form naturally disappeared.

With the remaining flames, Sylphen unleashed the Wind Chains for the last time.

An A-grade skill unleashed by a High-Grade Spirit!

And the doubled power thanks to the title effect was enough to kill the Orcs, even with the little mana I had left.

Charrrrr-!

Sylphen resembled a giant wolf over 3 meters tall, with long, flowing fur made of wind.

Charrrrr-!

Riorden, David, and the knights attacked the Orcs near the Chieftain Orc, and the Wind Chains flew through the air.

“How dare you!”

The Chieftain Orc no longer dodged and confronted the Wind Chains.

* * *

“A High-Grade Spirit Summoner…”

Paul spoke briefly in response to his companion’s muttering in disbelief.

“Sometimes, even among humans, there are mutants like monsters.”

“That human… has a strange scent. Judging from the fact that he summoned the High-Grade Wind Spirit, he seems to have the highest affinity with the Wind Spirit… but I also smell the strong scent of other spirits.”

Paul narrowed his eyes and looked at Arun.

He had finally succeeded in killing the Orc Chieftain, and the tide of the battle had turned in an instant.

The Orcs, having lost their leader, lost their order.

Order was quite important in a battle between large numbers.

‘Tactics aren’t there for nothing. The humans have reorganized their ranks… At this rate, it seems the humans will win easily.’

Paul was lost in thought.

He couldn’t forgive those who dared to enter the Elven Forest and wage war.

He could overlook them passing by quietly.

But spilling blood in the sacred forest was an issue he couldn’t ignore.

“Shouldn’t we take care of the humans too?”

Paul couldn’t make a decision.

He knew very well why the humans had entered the Elven Forest.

The increasingly strong aura of evil had crossed the Dark Forest and was affecting even the sacred forest.

The humans called this place the Western Forest, but the owner of this forest was the Elves, and it was the sacred forest where the Elves lived.

The Boundary Trees were dying one by one, and the Orcs were crossing over as if it were their own home.

And the Orcs had even brought in humans.

‘Humans aren’t much different from Orcs. No, humans are even more greedy and cruel than Orcs.’

His companion urged Paul from the side.

“Let’s clean them all up. We can’t just let those who have defiled the sacred forest leave.”

Paul couldn’t take his eyes off Arun.

His companion continued.

“Is it because of the Spirit Summoner? It’s true that he’s unique, but… as you said, he’s just a mutant.”

“Elves are friends of the spirits.”

Paul’s sudden answer made his fellow Elf tilt his head.

“Yes?”

“We live lives close to infinity and meet so many spirits. We are the only beings in the intermediate realm who can witness the birth and destruction of spirits. But…”

Paul trailed off.

What on earth was he trying to say? Even with his companion’s words, Paul still only looked at Arun.

‘No one has ever had such a high affinity with all attributes of spirits. Not even those called the Great Bloodline…’

What was confusing Paul was a legend passed down among the Elves.

A legend known only to a very few, a legend about a being who could summon the Spirit King beyond the world kept coming to mind.

“He is not someone we can judge. Let’s go back for now.”

“Paul!”

Paul smiled faintly.

“It could be a trace of the legend! Let’s go back!”

At Paul’s words, the Elves had no choice but to turn around.

* * *

I was so exhausted that I didn’t even have the strength to stand.

I just collapsed.

“Your Highness.”

David approached me.

His breathing was quite rough, and his clothes were soaked with Orc blood.

I sighed and replied.

“It’s just that my mana consumption was too extreme, and I’m temporarily exhausted. Let’s rest for a while. The smell of corpses is overwhelming… but I don’t have the strength to move at all.”

David nodded at my words.

I immediately fell into the Wind Breathing Technique [a method of mana recovery].

At the same time, I also thought about the sudden disappearance of the Elves.

‘Why did they leave?’

They clearly killed both Orcs and us.

Some of the knights died from the Elves’ arrows.

‘Or was it? Was it too chaotic for me to distinguish?’

As the mana rising from the Wind Breathing Technique gradually increased, my mind became clearer.

Minor wounds also began to heal slowly.

I could feel why people were so desperate for the Mana Breathing Technique.

Using potions would heal the wounds faster, but there was no need to use potions yet.

This was just the end of one battle.

‘S-class difficulty… It’s no joke from the start.’

I got up.

Riorden and David also seemed to have regained some of their energy with their own Mana Breathing Techniques.

“The knights…”

Even though I didn’t finish my question, David understood perfectly and answered.

“Twelve have fallen in battle.”

“Recover the bodies…”

Even when I killed someone for the first time, it was a huge shock. Even though I killed someone who was trying to take my life, my hands trembled.

I was even relieved that I was a Spirit Summoner and didn’t have to wield a sword.

What about those who died now?

To put it coldly, they died because of my greed.

They followed me because they each had their own desires, but what didn’t change was that they wouldn’t have died if I hadn’t been there.

‘How on earth… do wars start?’

For the first time, I felt that the mentality of Ron Carl Leord, or rather, my father, whom I had written, had surpassed the limits of humanity.

The shock of the fact that a dozen people had died for me was this great, but the Emperor could drive hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of lives into the swamp of death with a single word.

I tried to command calmly.

“Gather the bodies. I will personally cremate them and… return them to their families.”

David bowed his head briefly.

Soon, the remaining knights laid the bodies of the dead knights neatly.

I summoned Salamander and Phoenix.

The bodies quickly burst into flames.

Smelling the burning flesh, I tried hard to hold back my tears.

The feeling of responsibility, I honestly didn’t know it was this much.

It was an unstable life just to keep myself afloat. It was the same even after coming to the Calpheon Empire.

Kyle was already a true loyalist, and I had also gained Ken’s sincerity.

I thought I had a sense of responsibility for their lives, but I realized as I watched the burning bodies.

I was just… going with the flow, living moderately because I already knew about this world.

“Those who want to return can return.”

The knights flinched at my words.

They also felt it.

That their lives were hanging by a thread as long as they were with me, and they had learned that painfully through this battle.

So I spoke honestly.

“Even to the knights who simply return, the promised rewards will remain unchanged. I promise in the name of the Crown Prince.”