Three days later.
On the plains near the Great Pit.
*BOOM!*
Swinging the Holy Sword, radiating light that annihilated all the Mors wandering around the Great Pit, Naoki let out a relieved sigh: "That should be enough, right? Aesc."
Three days had passed since they left Edinburgh. During this time, Naoki, Aesc, and Melusine had been continuously searching for places where Mors appeared in the vicinity.
Unlike the Queen's era in the future, where Mors no longer spawned everywhere and were mostly under control, right now the number of Mors was still high and their spawn frequency quite frequent.
In just three days, Naoki recalled exterminating around dozens of Mors groups.
Not far away, after also wiping out many Mors with magic, Aesc nodded slightly: "I think this area should be safe now. Next, we'll prepare to head toward the Wind Clan's headquarters."
In three days, the three had moved from the King Clan's headquarters to near the Great Pit. According to Aesc's plan, she intended to visit each clan next to ensure Mors weren't running rampant.
Except for the Fang Clan fairies, other fairies had almost no resistance to Mors. Once Mors entered a city, disaster was certain.
"Truly dedicated."
Naoki chuckled.
"How about I launch a Moon Fall from here toward the Wind Clan?"
Though the distance was still quite far, the impact range of Moon Fall could definitely reach the Wind Clan. One Moon Fall would surely wipe out all Mors.
Of course, fairies would die too, but since dead fairies would soon have the next generation appear, their life or death didn't matter.
"No."
Aesc rejected it outright: "I know you don't like fairies, but right now there's no need to exterminate all of them."
"I see, what a shame," Naoki sighed helplessly, then looked up at the sky. "Melusine, how's the situation up there? Can you see the next Mors spawn point?"
*DONG!*
The moment Naoki finished speaking, Melusine, who had been patrolling the skies, dove at high speed and crashed into his embrace: "For now, there's nothing around here, Naoki."
"Alright, then let's head toward the Wind Clan."
With that, Naoki summoned Gale, lifting himself, Aesc, and Melusine, then soared into the sky.
But just as the wind began to blow, a strange smell mixed in the breeze stunned Naoki for a moment, and Aesc and Melusine quickly noticed it too.
"Naoki, this smell…"
"I think it's the smell of something burning?"
Since he often burned things himself, Naoki was quite familiar with this scent. The smell drifting in the wind was clearly that of something completely burned.
The direction was…
"That way."
Naoki looked in one direction, then carried Aesc and Melusine flying into the sky. Looking toward the source of the smell, what the three saw were several thick plumes of smoke slowly rising.
"Melusine, you didn't see it from above earlier?"
"I can confirm, there was nothing visible at that time." Melusine said seriously, "At least when I was patrolling the air, that direction showed no abnormalities."
"Meaning it happened after Melusine came down?"
Naoki raised an eyebrow: "Aesc, do you know where that place is?"
"It's hard to be sure from the distance, but the direction—it's exactly where the Wind Clan headquarters is—let's check the situation there, Naoki. The Wind Clan headquarters might be under attack by Mors."
"Got it."
The wind beneath them suddenly surged, and the shadows of the three shot straight toward the rising thick smoke!
The place where the thick smoke rose wasn't actually far. At Naoki's full speed, in just a few dozen seconds, the three were above it.
The scene below was a village burning fiercely.
Flames that had ignited for some unknown reason engulfed the entire village. Choking thick smoke continued to billow into the sky like a storm, and within that sea of fire, faint screams of several people could be heard.
Without thinking twice, Naoki snapped his fingers, conjuring extremely thick rain clouds right above the village, causing torrential rain to pour down immediately. The heavy rain, like a broken dam, visibly swept through the fire-ravaged village, extinguishing all the raging flames.
Then, the Gale beneath Naoki split apart, instantly turning into a storm that blew all the thick smoke away.
"Done."
Landing with Aesc and Melusine, Naoki looked at the village before him that had become charred ruins—basically nothing intact remained. Every house had burned to charcoal, and everywhere lay motionless figures on the ground.
Probably all the dead were fairies.
Humans in the fairy country were slaves; they couldn't possibly have a village like this. The only ones who could gather and live here were fairies, and most likely exiled ones.
While flying in the air earlier, though only glimpsing, Naoki had seen a larger settlement in the distance, but the fairies here hadn't gone there and instead built their own here. The only possibility that came to mind was fairies exiled by their original clan.
"No survivors."
Naoki said after sensing the surroundings.
Though he had heard a few screams while flying overhead earlier, now there were none. His senses could even detect breathing, but now he felt no signs of life.
The entire village had simply burned to annihilation.
Seeing Aesc beside him with a slightly darkened expression, Naoki patted her shoulder: "Don't think too much about it, Aesc. Just a few fairies died; the next generation will be born soon."
"Hmm, I know."
Aesc quickly regained her composure: "But why did a fire suddenly break out here?"
This was highly suspicious.
Moreover, even if we ignore the cause of the fire, it was extremely strange that all the fairies burned to death—though not comparable to Naoki, every fairy should be able to use Imaginary Manifestation to a certain extent. Even if they couldn't extinguish the fire, escaping to avoid being burned shouldn't be a problem.
Yet in the end, the fairies and the village burned completely together.
"What exactly is this…"
*👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻!*
Suddenly, the sound of clapping came from in front of the three. Then, on the scorched ground ahead, something black like a swarm of insects appeared out of nowhere, writhing and gathering into a human shape—more precisely, the appearance of a girl.
Very politely, the girl bowed in greeting to the three, then smiled: "An extraordinary rescue from the fire, a truly astonishing emergency aid. As expected of an Elemental Spirit whose status far surpasses us fairies, a marvelous and pure Imaginary Manifestation."
"However, it's a shame—despite having such power, in the end not a single fairy was saved."
"Truly incompetent."