Chapter 57: Great's Fury!

Aramil completely ignored the perplexed gazes the humans directed at him. Under their astonished watch, he pointed his fingertip lightly at the school ahead.

"Disjunction!"

A brilliant golden beam shot from the elf's damp fingertip, striking the school directly.

Crack, crack.

Gretel's pupils constricted slightly.

His eyes reflected the scene of the simple yet cozy stone building shattering into powder and collapsing with a roar.

Clang.

The stone building broke apart, fragmenting into countless particles and completely collapsing amidst a deafening roar, kicking up a thick cloud of choking dust.

Having weathered ten years of time, carrying the childhood memories of Gretel and Shilka, holding the magical dreams of the entire Rolling Stone Village, and standing as the starting point of all their beautiful beginnings, it vanished under a single blow from the invader.

"The school, my school! You blew up my school!"

Little Anna watched the school collapse into powder, instantly overwhelmed with anxiety as tears burst from her eyes.

"Madman, what on earth are you doing? This is our school! A place for children to study!"

Teacher Joseph suddenly sobered up, the wine bottle in his hand dropping to the ground with a loud clank, his entire body trembling so violently he could barely stand.

This was the place where the brightest decade of his life had been invested.

The siblings, Gretel and Shilka, darkened their expressions as they watched the building continuously shatter and dissociate into finer dust, flashes of their happy childhood memories passing through their minds.

"Apart from the fact that killing surface civilians is classified as illegal, there is another piece of good news."

"We will build schools on the surface, with specialized teachers to impart magic. You and the other children can all come and study for free."

"By then, perhaps you too will become spellcasters as powerful as us!"

"The reason we must master arcane magic is because we humans are a race without the protection of racial deities; we can only rely on ourselves!"

"Basic cultural studies have concluded, and tomorrow you can officially begin learning magic!"

"Today, we will paint on skeletons together..."

"..."

They recalled every single day spent in that humble, cramped classroom, remembered Teacher Joseph's earnest posture as he drew spell models on the podium, and recalled their own giggles when they picked up brushes to paint on orc skeletons.

"Elf, stepping onto human soil, what is your true purpose?"

Lowering his head slightly, his expression gloomy and his eyes losing their luster, Gretel took two steps forward and questioned in a low voice.

"Oh, me?"

The sun elf wizard Aramil watched the collapse of the human school, turning his head with considerable pride and ease:

"I came here intending to slaughter every single human in this country who can use magic."

"Quickly tell me, besides the floating cities, where are the other magic-using humans?"

"Don't even think about shielding them, or I'll kill you along with them!"

"Is that so..." The corners of Gretel's mouth curled up slightly:

"We are the humans who can use magic."

"That's right, that's right! I can use magic too!" Hearing her older brother's words, even little Anna raised her hand, crackling golden electrical arcs flashing across her fingertips.

Joseph and Shilka instantly grew alert, both assuming combat stances simultaneously.

"Oh, you are all humans who can use magic, and you've all gathered here? That certainly makes things convenient for me."

Aramil—a sun elf wizard who, from the moment of his birth, had unshakeably believed in the theory of elven racial supremacy—looked at the four figures before him, a bright smile blossoming across his face.

"Two adults, two children. I might as well kill you all together."

"What truly pathetic children. Had you not gone out of your way to study magic, I might have shown mercy and spared you."

"Once I've killed you, I will blow up the floating city in the sky as well, burying every single spellcaster in this human kingdom."

"You will regret ever touching arcane magic. Knowledge representing the truths of the world is not something hairless apes like you have any business touching..."

Standing at the very front, Gretel listened to Aramil's endless stream of arrogant words. His expression darkened a fraction further, and he glanced sideways at his older sister, younger sister, and teacher, exchanging a meaningful look before lowering his voice:

"Shilka, Anna, Teacher Joseph, step back for now."

"I'll handle this elf."

"Judging by the magical fluctuations I'm sensing, this is an [Early-Stage Legendary] spellcaster—though he appears to be a rather weak, substandard legendary..."

Hearing Gretel's instructions, the three of them retreated in tacit understanding.

Shilka pulled the bewildered Anna, alongside Joseph, preparing to turn and leave.

Watching his little sister Anna being led away in a daze, Gretel felt a stir in his heart. Remembering the words he had previously shared with her, he added a few more sentences:

"Anna, do you remember what I told you before?"

"For ten years, the humans of Eldor have enjoyed a hard-won peace."

"For ten years, ever since those ferocious, bloodthirsty orcs were driven away, new alien invaders have set foot upon our human soil once again..."

"Human peace is bought with war. What our predecessors could do in the past, we, the new generation of mages and sorcerers, can do today, and we can do it even better..."

Alien invaders, just like the orcs...

Upon hearing this familiar analogy, Anna instantly grasped her older brother's meaning, realizing precisely what kind of creature the elf before them was.

The little girl turned her head back, a flicker of excitement flashing through her tear-stained eyes:

"So, big brother, you're going to defeat the bad guys who invaded our country and want to kill us all, right?"

Gretel offered a warm smile:

"I couldn't possibly face him entirely alone..."

"But don't forget, this is human soil. I have many companions."

Watching his sister, younger sister, and teacher walk into the distance, Gretel turned back to face Aramil once more in a standoff.

"You brat, you don't actually think they can escape, do you? Once I finish killing you, I can immediately track them down and slaughter them as well."

Aramil lifted his chin high, gazing down at the youth before him with a condescending posture.

"Elf, you set foot on human soil with the intention of wiping me out, along with every single human in all of Eldor who can use magic?"

"Regardless of whether they are frail, dying elders or ignorant, innocent children?"

"Yes!" Aramil's tone carried not a shred of emotion.

"Good." Gretel received the satisfying answer he sought. His previously gloomy and darkened face suddenly lifted, fixing a direct gaze upon the elven wizard before him as crimson radiance flared brilliantly within his eyes.

"Then you must have prepared yourself to be killed, right?"

In the next instant, the youth abruptly raised his right hand.

A surging, searing torrent of intense fire lunged toward Aramil!

The sun elf wizard displayed a trace of a cold sneer, standing with his hands behind his back in a posture of utter ease:

"Human magic is merely a petty trick. I could stand here completely unmoving, and the defensive spells pre-cast upon my body would be more than enough to—"

Yet in the very next split second, his gaze suddenly froze.

"Wait? No! This power..."

After a span of ten years, crimson light illuminated the skies of Rolling Stone Town once more, burning far brighter than on the night of the orc raid.

Rumble.

The citizens of Rolling Stone Town, the mid-tier battle mage squad that had rushed over upon hearing of an elven wizard's attack, Guter who had just descended from the sky city to the ground, the mage apprentice children practicing magic in their homes...

Virtually every human currently in Rolling Stone Town raised their heads at that exact moment, gazing up into the sky.

A thick, crimson pillar of fire propelled an infinitesimally small figure, tearing straight through the firmament.

"Ahhhhh!"

The elf's startled scream echoed resoundingly across the entire sky above Rolling Stone Town.