I am the Monarch

Roan Lancephil was calm, collected and his eyes reflected light brightly.

‘They’ve finally come.’

His calm yet sharp gaze scanned through the sudden guests that had appeared late. Greenish brown hair, light grey skin, beautiful appearance and tall postures – and more than anything, those eyes that shone from within the darkness were ice blue.

There was only one race in the world with that appearance, and unable to hold back, Colbee raised a scream.

“Dark elves!”

Right.

The last guests that had appeared instead of the assassins of the Black Moon Guild – they were the dark elves. The assassins including Colbee all stepped back instinctively.

‘D, dark elves are different from normal elves.’

Being the guardians of forest and nature, elves loved peace and hated fights, destruction and killing while those were the primary instincts of the dark elves. Instead of the elves, they wet their hands with blood and due to that, they were called the guardians of the darkness, or the guides of death by the humans.

‘To us, they’re like the legends themselves.’

It was because historically, the most famous assassins were mostly from the dark elves.

Gulp.

Colbee felt cold sweat leaving his body.

‘200 of our brothers must have lost their lives to the dark elves.’

It was easily predictable from the current situation.

‘We must run away.’

A choice made by their instincts – Colbee believed in it and made a gesture.

Tadat.

Close to 40 assassins kicked off the ground at the same time. However,

Shwoong!

As if they had been waiting, together with the sharp sounds, dozens of arrows flew through the curtains of the darkness. And, those sharp tips pierced through the necks of the assassins.

“Kuuk.”

The only survivor from the assassins was Colbee. Thanks to his amazing skills, he had barely twisted his body and avoided the arrows.

“I, impossible.”

He once again said the same words he had said to Roan. Collapsing on his bum, he glanced at the surroundings. It was to find the owners of the arrows that had killed his brothers, the assassins of the guild.

Paat.

Soon, the grass divided and showed close to 10 dark elves from within. Without even a single armour piece, with casual travel clothes, they carried fancy black bows that were much larger than their bodies.

“M, mere 10 had massacred more than 40 of our assassins?!”

Unbelievable things happened consecutively. In response, one of the dark elves that had appeared later murmured in a bored expression.

“You’re surprised over nothing. It didn’t even take that long to take care of the 200 or so hiding inside the forests…”
“Ah…”

Colbee let out a sigh as it was just as he had predicted.

He clenched his teeth.

‘It’s impossible to run.’

He had realised that it was impossible to escape from the hands of the dark elves. However,

Grit.

A sound escaped from his clenched teeth. It was impossible to survive from this but that wasn’t enough to kill his pride.

‘I am the deputy guild master of the strongest, Black Moon Guild. Even if I were to die, I will cut their necks off for sure.’

Making a firm resolve, he tightened his fists and putting force into his trembling legs, he stood up straight.

However,

Gigigigick!

Right when he did stand up, dozens of dark elves pointed their bows towards Roan, Beryn and Colbee.

It was a desperate, helpless situation.

“These bastards!”

He screamed and kicked off the ground.

Pibing! Pibibibing!

Sharp sounds pierced through the dimension together with the arrows. Countless arrows all headed towards the head, neck and chests of Roan, Beryn and Colbee.

“Die!”

Colbee swung his sword with a scream.

Slash!

He showed off his skills by cutting a few arrows in halves but that was the limit.

Pababack!

Three arrows respectively found his head, neck and chest – a show of perfect skills.

“Kuruk.”

Colbee fell forward along with the sound of blood boiling – it was a meaningless death. The dark elves made strange content smiles but soon, those smiles had been wiped off.

Kwaaang!

It was because an extremely large noise had escaped from where Roan and Beryn were standing.

“Hmm?”

The dark elves that had imagined the two to also be in the same shape as Colbee who looked like an echidna, frowned at the sudden turn of events.

Tududuk! Tuduk.

Following the massive noise, the ground in front of Roan and Beryn was raised up as the thick dirt and stones blocked the fierce arrows.

Kugung.

After another heavy noise, the ground had collapsed down showing Roan and Beryn once again. Roan was still smiling with a calm face while the always-relaxed Beryn was quite surprised by that and had her eyes wide open.

“Shooting arrows immediately, no manners at all.”

Roan smiled and talked relaxedly.

“Who are you?”

The dark elf standing at the very front asked with a cold rigid expression.

“I’m…”

When he was about to introduce himself with an amiable voice,

“No, there’s no need to even say it. You’ll be dying here anyway.”

A cold voice interjected.

‘They’ve made a mess around the altar so we definitely can’t let them live.’

Rakul, someone who was quite old even amongst the dark elves made a small smile. It was troubling if the location of the altar was to be known to the world – in fact, the existence itself of the altar must not be announced to the world.

He scoffed at the corpses of the assassins.

‘Hmph, to lay their feet in the areas of the dark elves. Stupid.’

They actually hadn’t known of Roan and Beryn entering the mountains. The location of the hunters’ hut was peculiar and they hadn’t made too much of a fuss either. However, the appearance of more than 200 assassins as well as their secretive movements were things they could definitely sense, due to the sheer number and them digging through the forests.

‘Thanks to them we were able to find out that there was a hut in this kind of place.’

It was a good thing in the end. Rakul lightly waved his right hand.

Pabat!

Dozens of dark elves surrounded Roan and Beryn as Rakul’s eyes headed towards Roan.

‘He’s using some strange skills but is a human in the end.’

His hand moved once again.

Gigigigick!

Dozens of dark elves pulled their strings back at the same time.

“Tch!”

Biting down on her lower lips, Beryn raised her bow up but it was pointless. At this rate, becoming echidnas was unavoidable.

Pibing! Pibibing!

The dark elves shot the arrows without a single bit of hesitation and Beryn responded without giving up. It was then, that Roan suddenly moved his feet and slammed down the ground with his right fist.

Kwaang!

A large noise louder than before rang out. And at the same time, the ground Roan and Beryn were standing on had collapsed a level down.

“Uat!”

Beryn screamed in surprise and fell on her bum. It was then that the arrows of the dark elves flew above her head.

She had barely survived it.

“Kuuk!”
“Hup.”

The dark elves on the other side were startled at their allies’ arrows suddenly coming at them and twisted their bodies.

Then,

Paat!

From the deeply sunk ground, Roan came surging forward. It was at a speed hard for the eyes to follow, but dark elves were indeed dark elves.

“Kill him!”

In response to Rakul’s shout, the dark elves took out their longswords instead of the bows. With their swords that were thinner yet longer compared to the longswords used by humans, they counterattacked at a speed on par with Roan’s. Roan and the dark elves – a full-scale battle had thus begun.

Paback! Kang! Kakang! Paak!

Roan’s legs and fists turned into light and separated the dimensions apart. A part of the dark elves that had approached first had their arms and legs broken and rolled the ground. But unlike the assassins of the Black Moon Guild, they didn’t lose their lives from one hit and after regaining their calm, they once again ran in at Roan.

Sphat! Pabababat!

Dozens of longswords moved fiercely in attempts to dissect his body, but Roan’s two feet moved hazily as his body blurred like an illusion.

Swung! Swung!

Their swords only met the empty winds. Sometimes, the skilled ones had succeeded in aiming at Roan’s head and chest with their swords but that too was pointless.

Suruk!

Matching the back of his palms with their blades, Roan casually sent it off to a side.

“Hup!”
“Kuk!”

Feeling like their swords were being pulled into something, the dark elves lost their balance and stumbled and Roan did not let that opportunity slip.

Spat!

His first followed the profound laws of Reid Martial Arts.

Bam!

Their faces sunk in just like that, with one hit.

“Damn!”
“Don’t give him any chance!”

Spewing out profanities, the dark elves once again kicked off the ground and the swords fell.

‘Uk!’

In front of the dark elves’ cooperation, even Roan had to clench his teeth a little.

‘They’re leagues different from the Black Moon bunch.’

Even compared to the countless soldiers and knights he had faced during the wars, their levels were just way too different. When the dark elves put their all into it and attacked ferociously, even Roan couldn’t stay relaxed.

But of course,

‘That doesn’t mean I’d lose though!’

Clenching hard, he pulled out his mana. Fierce aura of fire blazed around his two arms and legs.

Kwang!

A tough, and strong aura exploded from his body.

“Kuuk!”
“Uuk!”

Unable to resist that, the dark elves were pushed to the sides.

‘Damn. What in the world is that guy?’

Rakul was befuddled. He had never even imagined that they would struggle against one human.

‘Must kill.’

No matter how difficult the opponent was, they were placed in a situation that had to be managed. His two eyes busily moved in order to find Roan’s weak point.

It was then,

“Uah, my bum hurts. What’s happening? Why did the ground just fall suddenly?”

Along with a sharp voice, Beryn crawled out of the deep hall in the ground.

‘Ah!’

Rakul’s eyes turned bright.

‘That woman!’

He quickly made gestures with his hands and understanding that signal, the dark elf closest to Beryn immediately broke into a run. It was to hold Beryn hostage and cut Roan’s neck off.

‘Damn!’

Indeed, Roan was at a loss. He was a fair bit of distance away from Beryn. While taking care of the dark elves, he had missed out on controlling the covered distance, and Beryn was put in a dangerous situation.

‘Can’t be helped.’

He bit down on his lower lips and quickly waved his right hand. A tiny black stick that had been hiding inside his sleeves quickly reached into his palm. As he was doing that, the dark elf had neared Beryn.

“Good! Get that woman!”

Rakul happily shouted, but it was then.

Paaat!

Along with an extremely loud noise, a hard and long black stick appeared before everyone’s eyes. The stick quickly flew across the dimension and smited the ribs of the dark elf that was reaching his hand out at Beryn.

It stabbed through.

From the previously hard end, a sharp spearhead emerged.

“Kuruk.”

The dark elf going for Beryn died without knowing the cause.

“W, what…”
“T, this…”

All the dark elves including Rakul opened their eyes wide in surprise and it was the same for Beryn who had perceived her own death. Their gaze followed the black stick that had suddenly appeared.

Gulp.

They swallowed in breaths of air and the ends of their gazes found a person holding onto the black stick – Roan. Of course, the black stick in his hands was the Travias Spear.

“Were you surprised?”

Feeling the gazes that were gathered on him, he made a bright smile. At the same time, when he twisted his wrist, the elongated Travias Spear immediately shortened.

“Uwah!”

Beryn was honestly amazed at the sudden scene, but Rakul and the dark elves turned their faces pale.

“T, t, that’s…”
“The Travias Spear?!”

It was definitely not something that should show itself in the middle of nowhere like this.

‘Travias Spear is the weapon of the God of War, the monarch of the Amaranth Kingdom so…’
‘Why is that here?’
‘How is a wandering merchant in possession of such a weapon?’

When their thoughts reached around there.

Pabat!

The grass around the empty lands divided and dozens of dark elves showed themselves.

“Rakul. I came running because it was louder than it was supposed to be… everything’s alright yeah?”

A heavy voice. On the face of Rakul who had been a little dumbfounded due to the appearance of the Travias Spear, a bright smile appeared.

“Arikan. You’ve come at the most opportune timing!”

He was extremely welcoming. Seeing Rakul who he wasn’t usually close to, showing such exaggerated happiness, Arikan became a little nervous.

‘To think that that guy is welcoming me. The situation is not simple.’

His eyes naturally ended up at Roan. At a glance, he was a normal, or perhaps even under-average, wandering merchant, but around him were bodies of dark elves.

‘He was against dozens and still had the upper hand?’

Seeing the unbelievable situation, Arikan gulped and Rakul shouted.

“This human’s not normal. Us two must cooperate.”

From the dark elves he had, there were only around twenty left alive, and Arikan had brought around fifty so added together, they had around 70 of them there.

‘And if Arikan and I worked together on top of that…’

He reached the conclusion that there was a high chance to win. Of course, that was a huge miscalculation but during that, Roan who had been standing still smiled a little and gave a nod.

“They’ve finally come.”

Hearing the low voice, Rakul and Arikan scowled.

“Finally come? Don’t tell me you were waiting for Arikan?”
“You were waiting for me?”

Puzzlement was visible on their faces, but Roan shook his head in response.

“Not your guests…”

The smile hanging on his lips deepened.

“But mine.”

As soon as his words ended, fierce auras surrounded the area around the hut.

“Huhup!”
“Kuuk!”

Feeling the strong and sharp auras enveloping their bodies, the dark elves including Rakul and Arikan swallowed in empty breaths. Their bodies twitched and vibrated but Beryn had a nonchalant expression the same as before. She could not feel that fierce aura at all.

Looking at the shrunk dark elves, Roan stated in a whisper-like voice.

“I order you all.”

Psssss.

The mountain wind rustled the grass and the branches, but it might’ve even been the fierce auras trembling the mountains. The dark elves including Rakul and Arikan all stood still blinking their eyes.

“Make them all kneel.”

Incomprehensible words. Rakul and Arikan were about to talk back with a frown, when it happened.

“Yes sir! We will follow your command!”

Voices full of brutal auras escaped from all around. At the same time, the grass and branches rustled and twitched as dozens and hundreds of men flooded out onto the empty patch of land. They were wearing various different clothes but they all had red strings fluttering from their two wrists.

Together with their fierce and sharp movements, the red strings quivered strongly and then, the words written alongside the strings were etched into the eyes.

[Amaranth]

Hundreds of men with red strings on their two wrists. They were the Amaranth Taemusas that had left in pursuit of the strange travel group.

“Amaranth Taemusas!”
“Why are they here!”

Unable to hold back, Rakul and Arikan screamed, and only then did Roan sweep his face with his left hand with the Travias Spear still in his right hand. The innocent and soft face immediately disappeared and a manly attractive face was laid bare.

“Ah…”

In that instant, Rakul and Arikan let out low murmurs. It was a face they had seen dozens and hundreds of times through portraits.

“Y, you are…”

They couldn’t easily find the next words. Roan smiled a little and replied with a bold voice.

“I am the monarch of the Amaranth Kingdom…”

Intense aura started coming off of his body.

“Roan Lancephil.”

<The Dark Elves (4)> End.