The Count’s Youngest Son is a Player

Whiiing.

A cold wind rustled through the desolate ancient trees. And from the translucent green gate formed next to the trees, a group emerged.

Tap tap.

As soon as their feet hit the ground, they spread out and formed a sort of formation, carefully scanning their surroundings.

“All clear. There appear to be no enemies in the vicinity.”

Kane, who had quickly gone up and down the nearest ancient tree, reported respectfully to Raul.

“It seems so. But this is very different from what I expected.”

Despite the overwhelming aura felt from outside, the interior was quite mundane. If not for the shimmering gate behind them, the quality of air and mana here wouldn’t differ much from the Elemental Jungle.

However, “Why is it so desolate?”

The trees had lost their vitality, turning into ancient deadwoods, and the plants were all withered. Given the dense mana flowing in the air, it was a rather peculiar sight.

“… Prepare for combat!”

Then, there were enemies coming out to meet Raul’s party.

Screeeech.

Grroar!

Black figures emitting eerie cries filled the forest of ancient trees, approaching them.

‘This dark energy is intense. It’s not dark mana. What is it?’

The curiosity was soon resolved. The shapes of the approaching figures were all too familiar.

“Spirits…? But their aura…”

Jake tilted his head in confusion, but Raul immediately recognized what they were.

Dark spirits.

Spirits corrupted by dark energy, having lost their sanity and driven solely by destruction.

“Do not hesitate. Attack! They can no longer be called spirits!”

At Rabel’s words, everyone drew their swords and dealt with the approaching dark spirits. But no matter how many they cut down, their numbers seemed endless…

It seemed the entire surrounding area was teeming with these dark spirits.

“This is a waste of time. We need to find out where they’re coming from. Everyone, follow me!”

Swoosh!

While the legion of weapons handled the surrounding dark spirits, Raul kicked off from an ancient tree and leaped into the air. Creating a platform with psychokinesis, Raul and his party ascended into the sky, expanding their senses to survey the area.

As they rose, the overall terrain inside the gate became visible. A large rectangular forest, the periphery was surrounded by pitch-black cliffs resembling an abyss.

‘What is that…?’

And far to the north, a peculiar formation caught his eye. A rounded mound that looked like a massive tomb. That place, covered with various flowers, vines, and tendrils, was the only spot within this desolate gate that had any color.

Doooong.

Faint mana waves were emanating from that direction. The mana waves, though faint due to the distance, seemed to indicate a massive collision of energy.

“Raul, that’s it! That’s the defensive formation known as 『Spirit Tree’s Nest』 used by our fairy race!”

Various emotions were carried in Rabel’s voice. Hope that her kin might be alive. Worry about the fact they were under attack.

And rage.

Raul, without hesitation, maintained the psychokinetic platform and began moving northward. The speed wasn’t as fast as he would have liked, but it was better than moving on the ground teeming with dark spirits.

Swish, clank!

As the legion of weapons cleared the swarming dark spirits from their path, they kept their course toward the north.

Midway, Pierce’s urgent voice rang out.

“Master, look over there!”

He pointed to a tree twice as large as the other ancient deadwoods, which seemed different somehow. Though all the trees on the ground were obscured by the dark spirits, making their forms hard to distinguish.

‘The dark energy is much denser. And strangely, the spirit density is higher.’

In the midst of urgency, label nodded, so they slightly altered their direction.

It hurts.

Someone, please help.

I’d rather die….

The thoughts began to flood into their minds.

As Rabel’s complexion turned pale and her breathing became erratic, Raul shouted.

“Everyone, follow as best as you can!”

Clang!

Unfolding his phantasmal wings, Raul shot towards the tree like a burst of energy.

Boom! Whoosh!

Mana blades and psychokinetic storms cleared the dark spirits clinging to the tree in a sudden sweep as he flew.

“Damn it!”

Raul frowned at the sight revealed and rushed to the tree. Tiny fairies were nailed to stakes all over the trunk of the tree, which was at least 20 meters tall, bleeding profusely.

From the knotholes of the ‘corrupted spirit tree,’ soaked in their blood, dark spirits were materializing from the gathered energy of darkness and despair.

“This is so cruel, how could they do this!”

As Rabel trembled and cried, Raul carefully used psychokinesis to extract the stakes and rescue the fairies.

‘Their condition is critical!’

The fairies, with their wings torn off and bodies pierced with multiple wounds, were barely clinging to life. Some kind of curse seemed to be keeping them alive, just barely.

“Rabel, get a grip! I need your power!”

Raul poured a special potion, but it seemed the curse was preventing it from taking effect. If Raul forcibly broke the curse, it could endanger the fairies’ lives.

“Sob.”

Rabel stopped her sobbing and controlled her breath. After checking the fairies’ condition, she frowned and opened the Skill Codex.

Flash.

Her wings emitted a radiant light that sprinkled over the fairies’ bodies. The disgusting red chains wrapped around them became visible.

“With such a petty curse!”

As a pure white aura emanated from Rabel’s hands, the red chains vanished into thin air like melting snow, allowing Nakia’s special healing potion to seep into the fairies’ bodies.

Simultaneously, label’s healing magic enveloped the fairies, and Raul projected an aura of brilliance to surround them.

“Q-Queen…?”

One fairy barely managed to lift her heavy eyelids, looking at Rabel with great effort.

“Aah…!”

Rabel couldn’t find her voice and shed tears.

“Save the kin, save the children….”

The fairy who had briefly opened her eyes lost consciousness again after speaking those words. A small tear slid down from the fairy’s eyes.

Crunch!

Meanwhile, Raul yanked the corrupted spirit tree out by its roots. Hovering in the air, the massive tree was swiftly chopped into pieces by Raul’s weapon legion, bursting into flames and reducing to ashes, scattered by the wind.

“Davison. I entrust the protection of these fairies to you. Ensure they are safe and unshocked.”

“Of course, master! I will protect them down to the last hair.”

Davison replied, lifting a large container prepared for such an occasion. This special partitioned box, crafted from monster shells, was enchanted with various protective spells and spatial expansion magic.

Designed by Rabel herself with utmost care, the box was more than sufficient to protect ten fairies.

“Master, how about splitting our forces?”

Kane, having scouted around, suggested.

“It seems there are at least ten more corrupted spirit trees. We should form separate teams to rescue the fairies and reduce the number of dark spirits.”

Indeed, after the corrupted spirit tree was destroyed, the surrounding dark spirits appeared to weaken.

“Alright, let’s do that. Kane, davison, and Sir McNillen will move separately. Take care of the corrupted spirit trees, guide the reinforcements, and in case of danger, evacuate the rescued fairies first.”

“Yes, master.”

Though the gate area swarmed with dark spirits, none could stand in the way of those three. Moreover, Kane, having thoroughly observed the corrupted spirit trees, wouldn’t take long to find them.

“Move out again!”

Raul, with blazing eyes, fixed his gaze to the north. He would soon personally confront whoever orchestrated these atrocities.

*

“…Huh? What did you just say? Repeat that?”

Thud.

“Grrk, urk!”

An imperial knight, his face gripped firmly, struggled and clutched at his opponent’s arm.

Crunch. Thud.

Wiping the blood and brain matter from his hands, Imperial Occultist Hierlik Denver glared at the several masters standing before him. He was reprimanding them for fleeing, which, in his eyes, was cowardly.

“We had no choice. We counted over ten aura blades, and among them was that guy.”

“That guy?”

“Count Raul. Recently designated as a high-priority individual….”

Thud.

One of the masters who had spoken up was punched and sent sprawling to the ground.

“Running without even trying to hold your ground? And you call yourselves loyal servants of His Majesty the Emperor!”

Hierlik’s roar silenced the three masters who had retreated.

‘It’s because you were busy with your fairy games!’

‘You brought more than half of our advanced forces into the gate, what were we supposed to do?’

‘Damn it. So you want us to just die there instead?’

They weren’t speechless because they had nothing to say, but because they knew any excuse would only result in more violence.

“That aside, what were the scouts doing? How could they not realize the Ruben Kingdom troops were coming until they were already here! Ridiculous.”

Hierlik muttered, but seemed not seriously concerned.

“No choice. Gather everyone. I’ll go ahead and deal with that brat Raul first.”

“Yes, captain!”

With nearly ten imperial superhumans inside the gate, and plenty of knight and mage forces available to research and curse the fairies, he felt confident.

Above all, as the fifth-ranked imperial demonologist, he trusted his own abilities.

‘Raul, huh? Crinid mentioned he saw him on the battlefield last time.’

The idiot who failed to deal with an old man from the kingdom and ran away disgracefully. According to Crinid, Raul still seemed unripe.

‘Time to make him pay for his foolishness.’

Boom!

Swinging his favorite halberd, he demolished the bothersome spirit tree in front of him and shouted.

“Little pests! Don’t think about running or hiding, ha ha ha. I’ll come play with you again soon!”

Was it an illusion?

The spirit tree seemed to shiver.

*

‘That’s it.’

Riding on the psychokinetic platform through the forest, Raul’s group finally saw the 『Spirit Tree’s Nest』 clearly ahead. The number of living spirit trees, rather than deadwood, began to increase as they approached.

Most importantly, ‘This intense energy. A demonologist!’

As expected, there was one here.

Constructing such a fortress in the Elemental Jungle without a demonologist in charge would have been unusual.

“Raul, I have something to say.”

Rabel spoke to Raul, who was drawing his sword in preparation for battle.

“Let me handle the imperial demonologist.”

Raul turned his head to meet her gaze. Rabel’s red eyes were burning more intensely than ever. The culprit who had committed such cruelty against her kin.

It was only natural that she wanted to exact justice personally. Raul was about to ask if she would be alright, but instead, he simply nodded.

“Alright, I’ll leave it to you.”

Raul couldn’t easily gauge her actual strength now. However, it was clear that after organizing the Skill Codex recently, she had become significantly stronger compared to before.

With the upgraded power of the Skill Codex and Raul’s support, she stood a chance against the warlord. More than anything, he wanted to respect her resolve.

‘If necessary, I can always step in and help.’

After all, the enemy wasn’t just one warlord. There were nearly ten superhuman-level presences, and clearing out the surrounding high-level forces would take time.

“Prepare for battle. Crush the imperial bastards and rescue the fairies!”

The ten masters of the First Knight Order, including Raul, ignited their aura blades.

(To be continued)