Chapter 246
TL: Resonance
Ivan watched his beloved turning into a tree before his eyes. He had always known that Keke was special, and that he contained a purer natural aura than other elves. However, he could never have imagined in any way that Keke would be the incarnation of the mother tree of the elven race—Teldrassil.
Under the nourishment of the Spring of Life, Teldrassil which had disappeared for hundreds of years resurrected once again and reappeared in the world radiating infinite vitality. Everyone rejoiced over it but only Ivan’s heart felt like it was cut by a knife. For a moment, he selfishly hoped that Keke was still just Keke, an elf lover who belonged to him alone.
Teldrassil is resurrected, the specters retreat, and humans, as well as other races, gain the opportunity to defeat the specters. The breath of Teldrassil will be the most powerful weapon against the specters and the hope for the continuation of the elven bloodline.
Ivan looked at the mixed-blooded elves kneeling on the ground, then looked at Teldrassil which was like a giant umbrella standing under the sky. He remembered Keke’s last request : Help me take care of the little elves.
Okay, Keke. Ivan golden pupils shone slightly : I will take care of them. Then, I will wait for you to return together with them.
Ivan became the guardian of Teldrassil. He who had awakened the dragon bloodline has physique and strength which exceeds the average human warrior’s. The huge might of a dragon made people fear. The people who once tried to kill him now all avoid him. The elves are also upset because he has impure feelings for Teldrassil. To the elves, the Mother Tree is undoubtedly sacrosanct and cannot be coveted by anyone.
The people feared him and distanced themselves from him, yet they had to use his power to fight the specters.
Although Teldrassil is resurrected, the specters will certainly find a way to seal it again. The immediate task of the alliance is to do everything possible to protect Teldrassil and the Spring of Life, while gathering strength to fight back until the specters are all eliminated or completely driven out of the Anglo continent.
Ivan wandered outside the alliance forces, silently guarding Teldrassil. However, the elves did not allow him to get close, let alone touch it. His fondness and intimate actions towards Teldrassil were regarded as an insult by the mixed-blood elves.
With Ivan’s strength, he could ignore the mixed-blood elves’ obstruction and act recklessly, but he didn’t do so. The distance is meaningless to him and to Keke who has turned into Teldrassil.
The resurrection of Teldrassil caused all the forces of the continent to gather in Fayser Forest and build a protective circle to defend against the attack of the specters.
After several failed attempts, the specters temporarily retreated and waited for the right moment. The two sides entered a stalemate and no one rushed into war again. Before destroying Teldrassil and the Spring of Life, the specters were not certain of a full victory. And the alliance of all races also didn’t have enough weapons and power to fight against the specters at the moment.
Anglo continent welcomed a relatively calm buffer period. Ivan always remembered Keke’s request, and when the defense force of the Fayser Forest gradually developed and grew, he brought the little elves back from the remote Wasier Forest to the territory of the elven race for better protection and care.
“Ivan, is Keke really in Fayser Forest?” Bubbles, the first born of the little elves, asked.
Ivan nodded his head.
“Is the Fayser Forest very good? So good that Keke won’t even come back to see us.” The second oldest, Gray, was a bit sullen.
Ivan was silent.
Bubbles puffed out his cheeks and said, “When we see Keke, let’s all ignore him unless he apologizes to us in person.”
The third oldest, Lorinda, pinched the corner of her clothes and said while choking in sobs, “I don’t want Keke to apologize, I just want to be with him.”
The other elves voiced their opinions one after another, discussing what they should do when they saw Keke. The only one who didn’t speak was the fifth elf, Michael. He was a mute, and unlike the other elves who were excited, expectant and angry, there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
When Ivan appeared in the Fayser Forest with the elves, all the mixed-blood elves were shocked. Ever since the disappearance of Teldrassil and the Spring of Life, the pure-blooded elves on the continent were almost extinct. It was unexpected that not only did the elf survive with his own power, leaving a ray of life for the elven race, but also saved the twelve pure-blooded elves.
Compared to the mixed-blood elves with mixed powers, the pure-blood elves with natural talents are the true natural enemies of the specters.
However, they soon discovered a cruel fact. The 12 little elves all had disabilities. Bubble who has a weak body, Gray who was blind in the left eye, Lorinda who was poisoned, Wuyin who was deaf, Michael who was mute, Sara who can’t feel pain, Shadi who can’t smell, Kanyo who has short memory, Shear who has weak legs, Aram whose skin was like tree barks, Miya who fears the sun, and Erika who has dry, hard hair.
The legendary perfect pure-blood elves were all disabled.
This discovery instantly cooled down the originally excited mixed-blood elves. But born with respect for the pure-blooded elves, they still took up the responsibility of protecting.
The simple little elves didn’t notice the strange gazes of others. They excitedly rushed to the center of the Fayser Forest, but didn’t see the person they wanted to meet.
Standing in front of the towering Teldrassil, the elves asked, “Ivan, where’s Keke?”
“Right here.”
The elves looked at the big tree in front of them and felt its breath. Despite it being so kind, for some reason, the elves couldn’t help but cry. They felt that Keke who used to accompany them was no longer around.
In their young minds, the Keke who has flesh and blood, the Keke who can talk and laugh, the Keke who protects and teaches them, is a more important existence than Teldrassil.
Teldrassil is related to the survival of the elves. It is so sacred, so vibrant, but it has no soul.
The little elves hugged Teldrassil and cried their eyes out.
The mixed-blood elves were very puzzled : “The resurrection of Teldrassil is a gospel for the elves and the whole continent. Shouldn’t you as pure-blood elves be happy?”
The little elves weren’t able to express the feelings in their hearts with words. They only knew that Teldrassil that had lost its soul was not the complete Teldrassil at all.
After crying, the little elves finally had to accept this reality. Keke turned into Teldrassil and was no longer able to smile at them, talk to them, and was no longer able to make clothes for them…
Faced with the new environment and unknown people, the elves struggled to adapt under the protection of Ivan.
Their disabilities, however, still had a great impact on them. At the beginning, the mixed-blood elves were able to remain meticulous. But as the little elves exposed more and more defects, they gradually lost their patience. Mixed-blood elves are different from pure-blood elves in that their minds are closer to complex humans’ ones and inevitably possess selfishness, prejudice, and various negative emotions. When the pure-blood elves, who were perfect in their minds, became pitiful, disabled existence, the mindset of admiration and reverence was gradually replaced by irritation, contempt and some inexplicable sense of superiority.
They may not have evil intentions, but their increasingly obvious indifference and contempt still caused the sensitive little elves to suffer greatly.
The originally cheerful elves became more and more silent and felt more inferior. The power of nature, which had been steadily improving under the patient guidance of Shang Ke, also began to stagnate.
Even with the nourishment of Teldrassil and the Spring of Life, they still did not progress. The crowd originally wanted to train them to become the main force against the specters, but seeing that they were so unpromising and their strength was even inferior to that of the ordinary mixed-blood elves, the people were overwhelmed with disappointment and were no longer willing to invest more energy in them.
The little elves were treated as rare pure-blood elves and kept in captivity in isolation. Although they were not mistreated in any way and were served by many servants, they felt that they had been abandoned.
Ivan brought the elves back to the elven territories, originally hoping that they would grow up better. But in this environment, he is afraid that the elves would probably never grow up again. The other races only treated the elves as weapons against the specters, and the pure-blooded elves who could not fight were meaningless to them. The mixed-blood elves, however, only know how to complain about the weakness of the elves and despise their disabilities. They who have too many selfish desires do not have the ability to raise and teach the little elves.
Ivan wanted the elves to live a carefree life. Since they did not get the care they deserve in the Fayser Forest, they might as well go back to the Wasier Forest.
So one day, Ivan took the little elves and left the Fayser Forest quietly, disappearing from the scene ever since.
Although the mixed-blood elves were very angry that the little elves left, they didn’t have the energy to look for them, because the specters attacked the Alliance again.
Over the next few years, the two sides waged dozens of battles, large and small, with each side winning and losing. But because of the inability to mass-produce powerful weapons to counteract the specters and the lack of a powerful force to resist them, the alliance was always at a disadvantage.
In the fifth year of the war, the specters united with the puppet countries under their rule and began to encircle and slaughter the forces of the alliance. Most of the alliance’s forces were concentrated in the Fayser Forest, and their strength in their own country was relatively weak. They had no power to resist at all when facing the strong specters. The various clans had to divide their forces to rescue them, and the original concentrated forces were gradually divided. The situation on the battlefield was immediately reversed.
In a year’s time, there was only one force left in the Anglo continent that could barely stand up against the specters.
The specters had the advantage and decided to launch an all out attack on Fayser Forest to completely destroy Teldrassil and the Spring of Life.
The specters came out in full force, their morale was high. The alliance retreated in defeat and they were soon encircled in the center of the Fayser Forest. Teldrassil and the Spring of Life were their last hope. Once they were destroyed by the specters, the continent would be completely reduced to hell. They could only fight to the death, even if it was a battle they were bound to lose.
At the moment of crisis, Ivan, who had been missing for several years, appeared. Teldrassil is Keke’s support and the hope of the elves, how can he watch the specters destroy everything here?
Ivan unleashed the dragon’s innate powers, with the body of steel, he tenaciously blocked the specters’ attack. However, he was not able to completely defeat the enemy with his own power, until the little elves arrived.
They were originally left in Wasier Forest by Ivan. After several years of peaceful life, their strength did not greatly improve, but their mindset has matured a lot. Feeling the sense of mission in their blood, they did not hesitate and chose to participate in the war.
The power of a single elf may be weak, but 12 elves united and instantly exploded with astonishing power. The pure power of nature caused the specters to hurt.
They stood under Teldrassil, burning their own lives and releasing their greatest power to forcefully expel the specters from their territory.
Aided by them, the alliance fought back and eliminated most of the main forces of the specter in one fell swoop. After this battle, the specters were greatly wounded, and within the next two or three years, they probably couldn’t start another large-scale war.
However, when the warriors returned to the Fayser Forest with excitement, what they saw was a scene that they could never forget.
The 12 little elves held hands, and their whole body exuded a pale green light. They looked up at Teldrassil solemnly and were chanting mysterious incantations under their breath, as if they were performing some special ritual, sacred and solemn.
With their chanting, the pale forest, as if being baptized, rejuvenated.
However, the ritual was interrupted before it was completed. Bubbles who had a weak body was the first to stop breathing during the ritual. Then it was Lorinda whose poison acted up, and Shadi, Cassio, and Miya followed… They died one after another, and finally, only Sara who couldn’t feel pain and the mute Michael remained.
He turned his head and looked at Ivan who was at the side and laughed with much difficulty: “Ivan, I finally know what ‘pain’ is.” He covered his chest, tears falling down his cheeks.
Ivan hugged him and his heart ached uncontrollably.
Strangely enough, there was no sadness on Michael’s face. He looked at Teldrassil in front of him and said something silently.
Immersed in regret and pain, Ivan did not notice that what Michael said was: Death does not mean the end. Keke, we will wait for you to return again.