Chapter 159

Chapter 159
## Chapter 159: The Living Desire

Indeed.

It was of such a staggering scale, as if it possessed the weight to crush the world itself, that it had remained invisible until now.

It was only by meeting it directly that she could begin to grasp its reality.

The complete irrationality behind the scope of that craving.

However, it wasn’t just the dimensions of it that had the elves frozen in such profound terror.

‘That longing… it has a pulse…?’

It shifted.

That massive, singular desire.

It surged and billowed like the concentrated hungers of countless thousands of souls, manifesting a physical presence of its own, fixing its gaze directly upon her.

The Queen of the Elves had never alluded to a phenomenon of this nature.

“Auril! Get away! Retreat before that ‘desire’ takes hold of you!”

Aruwen.

The elder of the elven kin let out a desperate shout.

Elves naturally loathe creatures driven by base wants.

To them, such cravings are a blight that ruins their purity.

It taints them, forcing the impossible into being.

Calamities… such as conceiving offspring with the human race.

Normally, a ‘Laurel Warrior’ would be immune to the seduction of desire.

The issue, however, was that specific man.

“You’re the ones who attacked first, yet now you recoil as if I’m a pestilence.”

The depth of that man’s hunger was in a different stratosphere compared to any other mortal.

What was the nature of such a drive?

How potent must a soul be for its wants to expand so boundlessly and achieve a living, breathing form!

He was the ultimate predator to their kind.

Should he ever set foot within the borders of the Primordial Forest, the elven race would be extinguished in that very heartbeat.

Grit!

Auril ground her teeth together with immense force.

Her lips split from the pressure, crimson staining her mouth, but the pain finally snapped her back to her senses.

“Sovereign of the ‘Laurel’!”

Shrrk!

Vines of laurel erupted across Auril’s frame.

They shaped themselves into soaring wings, a protective helm, and shimmering plate.

She had ascended into her state as a true Laurel Warrior.

Auril gripped her blade and hoisted it high.

The steel elongated, honing itself into a razor-sharp point of execution, centered entirely on the man.

Screeeech-!

“Tch.”

With a faint, dismissive click of his tongue, the man unsheathed ‘Winter’.

In a flash.

Clang!

“…?!”

A solitary collision of steel sent Auril’s entire form hurtling backward.

The nerves in her wrist screamed with a throbbing pain far more intense than her previous bout.

Was his strength superior to hers even while she was maintaining the peak form of a Laurel Warrior?

He hadn’t seemed particularly different in power from the woman known as Serengeti.

Clang! Clang! Claaang!

Her strikes were as rapid as a tempest of bolts, yet she failed to leave a single mark upon him.

It felt as though he was anticipating every twitch of her muscles.

Auril bit down on her lip.

‘The time limit…!’

This was a technique fundamentally similar to an awakening.

By its very nature, the duration was fleeting.

After they traded more than thirty strikes at a frantic, blurring pace, the energy of Auril’s awakening dissipated.

‘This makes no sense! No mortal should be able to overpower me in my awakened state!’

She refused to accept the reality before her.

She remembered the words clearly.

Her Queen had stated with certainty that no human could ever be her equal.

Yet that proclamation was proving false.

He stood there, unyielding and present.

“Ah…”

A human who surpassed her.

The disparity in sheer physical force wasn’t an ocean, and she believed her skill with the blade was at least comparable.

And yet, she couldn’t land a blow.

Victory was an impossibility.

The moment her heightened state expired, Auril found herself rooted to the spot, paralyzed.

Thud.

Taking advantage of her stillness, the man began a slow, deliberate approach.

“St-stop right there!”

“Auril! Get out of there!”

The other elves cried out in warning.

But Auril was stripped of her will to resist.

She could do nothing but watch as his hand reached toward her.

“P-please… I beg you, stop…”

She could barely find the breath to plead for him to cease, but he did not falter.

Thud!

Finally, the man’s palm came to rest upon Auril’s head.

In that very breath.

Shwaaaaa!

The monstrous, overwhelming ‘desire’ he carried began to bleed into Auril.

A deluge of longing, more terrifying than anything she could imagine, crashed into her consciousness like a breaking dam.

I did nothing more than rest my hand on Auril’s crown.

The surrounding elves reacted instantly, shreiking as if they were being slaughtered.

‘…They really are treating me like I’m toxic.’

It was a step beyond being treated like a disease; it was genuine revulsion.

I couldn’t fathom why my presence triggered such an extreme response from them.

So, partly as a cynical joke, I reached out and touched her.

And then.

【The desire of Randolph begins to permeate the elf ‘Auril’.】

【The dormant trait ‘High Druid of Great Nature’ asserts control over the ‘Laurel’ of the elf ‘Auril’.】

…What’s this?

As my skin met the elf’s head, alongside the transmission of my desire, my upgraded ‘High Druid of Great Nature’ trait surged to life.

—

The True Master of Verdant Foliage

Aruwen, the leader of the elves.

She fell into a state of panic when a human voice suddenly spoke her name.

Due to that momentary lapse, she couldn’t prevent Auril’s reckless assault and was forced to be a spectator as the two collided.

‘That hunger…’

There was a deeper reason she remained a bystander.

She recognized it the second it appeared.

the aura of want flowing from that man was a poison to her people.

It wasn’t just a natural disadvantage—it was a lethal toxin.

A corrupting force of will that could force an elf to deviate and change.

But she had never heard of a desire existing on such a monumental level.

‘A craving that possesses its own life and movement!’

Even with her centuries of experience as an elder, she had never laid eyes on such a thing.

A void-black hunger writhed as if it were a living beast, seemingly staring her down.

She found herself unable to maintain eye contact with the darkness.

‘Ah.’

Yet, there existed a method to withstand such a force.

Awakening.

Through the grace of the Laurel, one could resist it, if only for a few moments.

‘Laurel Warriors are the chosen pupils of Her Majesty.’

There was a hierarchy among their combatants.

The Laurel Warriors occupied the 6th rank: the absolute pinnacle of their forces, personally instructed by the Queen herself.

And within those elite ranks, Auril was considered one of the top three.

She was at a level where no mere human should ever be a threat.

‘A blade of pure aura. A rank 7 combatant…!’

And yet.

A shimmering aura of energy radiated from the human’s sword.

Sword aura was a profound mystery that only those at rank 7 or higher could manifest.

It was the ultimate tool of war, reserved for those hand-picked by the World Tree.

From the 7th rank upward, they were known as World Tree Warriors—a group that was incredibly scarce even among the elven people.

As for humans?

Ha, with their natural limits capped at level 10, reaching the stage of sword aura was supposed to be impossible.

Particularly without the divine favor of a being as powerful as the World Tree.

The only way humans ever climbed higher was through the gruesome practice of desecrating goddess remains to shatter their limits.

It was a disgusting, savage process that made her blood run cold.

‘I was certain no human had ever ascended to the 7th rank.’

Was it a byproduct of that colossal desire?

If that were true, it wasn’t a sword aura earned through a righteous path.

‘In a test of pure martial prowess, Auril has no reason to lose.’

Auril was a prodigy defined by her relentless training.

Among her peers, none could claim a more refined technique.

If this human had obtained his power through some twisted hunger, he would surely be overwhelmed by Auril’s focus.

‘…’

That is how it should have unfolded.

…But what was happening?

He was parrying the strikes of an awakened Laurel Warrior with a terrifying lack of effort.

It was as if he knew exactly where her blade would be before she even swung it.

They had barely crossed swords thirty times before Auril’s transformation shattered.

That was her primary flaw.

Her ability to maintain her awakened state was significantly shorter than that of her kin.

Her Laurel foliage had never reached full maturity.

She lacked the inherent potential and the full blessing required by the Laurel.

“No, this can’t be!”

With her power broken, Auril recoiled, once again falling under the shadow of that encroaching desire.

She stood frozen as the man reached out toward her.

In that heartbeat.

Grooooar.

The hunger consumed her.

Its metaphorical jaws opened wide, drawing Auril into its depths.

“Auril!”

“Stop!”

The elves cried out in despair.

Aruwen felt the same weight in her chest.

Auril had no defenses left against that level of desire.

‘If I had known, I would have requested the World Tree Warriors…!’

It was a catastrophic error in judgment.

But who could have anticipated a human like this?

She had departed the Primordial Forest certain that her escort was more than sufficient—perhaps even overkill. Now, she felt only the sting of regret.

Only those of the World Tree could hope to tether such a wild, irrational desire.

With their aid, maybe this disaster could have been prevented.

Then.

A scene that defied all logic began to play out.

“W-what is happening?”

“The Laurel on Auril…!”

“Is it actually… blooming?”

Auril, despite being enveloped by the man’s desire, began a startling metamorphosis.

Fresh laurel shoots tore through her skin, expanding at a rate that shouldn’t be possible.

But how?

Only the World Tree and its chosen guardian, the Queen, possessed the authority to make laurels flourish with a mere touch.

And even the Queen was incapable of triggering such a ‘forced evolution.’

Especially for Auril… whose development had been agonizingly stagnant for years.

A growth that even their monarch couldn’t jumpstart—how was this human managing it?

“Master of the Verdant Foliage…”

Ah.

The realization finally struck her.

This man was the true ruler of the greenery within the ‘Rustling Forest.’

He was the individual they had been sent to find by the Queen—the one who had scaled the ‘Tower of Rifts.’

She had been skeptical about how a human could ever be recognized as a master of nature.

But witnessing this, the truth was undeniable.

He wasn’t just a human.

He was a being of a higher order, one that the natural world itself bowed to as a sovereign.

‘I had heard of ancient lineages capable of such feats…!’

Not forest spirits, not elves, and certainly not standard humans.

A race out of myth.

Among those who commanded the natural world, only the most transcendent could perform such wonders.

‘But I thought they had been wiped out?’

They were supposed to exist only in old stories.

Before their world was lifted into the heavens, they had been lost to the great ‘Extinction.’

“Ah!”

Auril was equally bewildered.

Her Laurel had refused to grow regardless of how hard she pushed herself.

She had eventually accepted that she simply lacked the talent.

She had spent years living in a state of quiet defeat.

Yet now, she was standing in the middle of a miracle.

The laurel leaves that had been dormant her whole life were now flourishing across her skin.

They were more vibrant and radiant than any she had ever seen.

Auril turned her eyes toward the man.

Slowly, he pulled his hand away from her.

The moment the contact was broken, the lush Laurel leaves began to shrivel and fade.

“No… please…”

Auril let out a shaky breath, her eyes darting in panic.

The advancement she had spent her entire life pursuing, which had always been out of reach.

She had finally tasted it, felt it vibrating through her—only for it to be snatched away.

Cravings.

A want that eclipsed all logic.

Auril was now being steered by her own desire.

A forbidden state for any elf.

An elf is supposed to be a creature of serenity, merged with the natural order.

Without thinking, Auril reached out toward him.

Even as she was swallowed by this new hunger, she couldn’t let go of the feeling of that growth.

The achievement she had dreamed of since childhood was all she could think about.

“…Auril, that’s enough.”

But her desperate reach was interrupted.

Aruwen.

The elven elder had moved between them, getting close enough to physically restrain the younger warrior.

She sought to pull her back before the desire completely erased who she was.

Then, Aruwen turned to the man and lowered her head in a profound bow.

“…Please accept our apologies. My subordinate has behaved with great disrespect.”

“E-Elder! What are you doing?”

“How can you possibly show such deference to a human…!”

The rest of the elves stood in shock, unable to believe their eyes.