Chapter 51: The Return of the God of Destruction, Elfin.

Chapter 51: Chapter 51: The Return of the God of Destruction, Elfin.

"At last, I’m back!"

The young man slowly raised his head as an expression of absolute satisfaction appeared on his face, causing the leader of the mercenaries to remain motionless for a few seconds.

Although the human in front of him was gravely wounded, there was something strange about his behavior, since his expression, the way he spoke, and the amount of mana that was beginning to radiate from his body were completely different.

"What the hell is wrong with you?"

The dragon asked, to which Elfin did not respond and instead calmly examined his hands.

He opened and closed his fingers several times, moved his shoulders slightly, and then tried to raise his left arm.

"What a pitiful body."

The voice that came from his mouth carried a tone of clear disgust, but the leader clenched his teeth.

"Stop talking nonsense!"

He raised his enormous sword, determined to finish the job before something unexpected happened, but when he tried to bring it down, he discovered that the weapon was no longer in his hands and, in fact, he no longer had hands either.

"...Huh?"

For an instant, the dragon failed to understand what he was seeing, since his arms had disappeared below the shoulders while the sword fell to the ground behind him, and then the pain arrived.

"AAAAAAAH!"

The mercenary staggered backward.

"MY ARMS! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MY ARMS?!"

Blood began to pour from the wounds as his companions watched in horror.

None of them had seen the attack, and they hadn’t even perceived a concentration of mana that would have allowed them to anticipate it.

Elfin, for his part, seemed completely uninterested in what had occurred.

"How strange..."

He raised a hand in front of his face and concentrated a small amount of mana on his palm.

’This shouldn’t feel like this.’

Five hundred years had passed since the last time he had managed to directly control a physical body.

His previous vessel, Greydarn Malikor, had never been able to withstand a complete manifestation of his power, and for that reason Elfin had waited with considerable interest for the opportunity to use Draven.

However, now that he had finally taken control, he had discovered something unpleasant.

’The mana circulation is working correctly.’

He slowly closed his hand.

’And this vessel should be capable of withstanding a much greater amount.’

But when he tried to increase the energy circulating through his body, he encountered unexpected resistance.

"DAMN YOU!"

The leader continued shouting as he tried to stop the bleeding.

"I’M GOING TO KILL YOU! I SWEAR I’M GOING TO...!"

"What an annoying creature."

Elfin turned his head toward the dragon, who immediately stepped back.

"D-Don’t come any closer!"

"Stop making noise."

"DIDN’T I TELL YOU NOT TO COME ANY CLOSER?!"

Elfin sighed.

"I suppose I can use you to check something."

He approached the mercenary calmly. The dragon tried to retreat, but lost his balance and fell to his knees.

"Wait...!"

Elfin extended his right arm.

He concentrated a small amount of dark mana at the tip of his index finger and placed it a few centimeters from the mercenary’s face.

The leader’s eyes widened.

"NO!"

"Infinite Abyss."

The space in front of Elfin’s finger began to distort, and a small black opening appeared in front of the dragon’s face.

For a fraction of a second, the mercenary felt an unknown force pulling at his body, and then he vanished.

There was no explosion, nor did a corpse remain.

The opening closed immediately, and only the dragon’s legs stayed on the ground. Elfin observed the result.

"..."

He raised one eyebrow slightly.

"Is that all?"

He looked disappointed.

’The technique worked, but its range was ridiculous.’

Under normal conditions, Infinite Abyss could erase a considerable expanse of matter without leaving any residue.

It was not a technique that simply destroyed its target physically; rather, the affected space was eliminated through an alteration produced by the mana of destruction.

However, the result he had just obtained had been far smaller than expected.

’There’s definitely something wrong.’

Elfin looked at his fingers again while the two remaining mercenaries stood completely frozen.

The red-scaled dragon stared at the legs of his former leader, and his companion, the green-scaled one, could barely breathe normally.

"W-What...?"

Neither of them understood what had just happened.

They had accepted a job to assassinate a young human who was a relatively competent fighter, but who should not have represented an insurmountable threat to a group of experienced mercenaries.

Yet now their leader had disappeared after hearing only two words, and the one responsible didn’t even seem satisfied.

"We have to escape!"

The red-scaled dragon finally shouted, so his companion tried to move, but his legs wouldn’t respond, since fear prevented him from acting normally.

"Move, you idiot!"

"I-I can’t!"

Elfin slowly turned toward them.

"Oh, there are still two left."

Both of them stepped back.

"Excellent."

The god smiled.

"I still have a few things to check."

The red-scaled dragon managed to partially regain control of his body, so he gripped the hilts of his curved swords and prepared to defend himself.

’I can’t defeat him.’

That much was obvious.

’But if I can distract him for a few seconds, maybe I can escape.’

The mercenary glanced sideways at his companion.

"Run when I tell you!"

The other dragon nodded desperately, but before they could execute their plan, Elfin raised his hand slightly.

"Null Distortion."

Elfin vanished. There was no visible displacement or trajectory the mercenaries could follow.

He simply ceased to be where he had been and appeared in front of the red-scaled dragon.

"WHAT?!"

The mercenary tried to retreat, but Elfin had already raised his right hand.

"Singularity."

A small concentration of mana appeared over the dragon’s chest, and the effect was immediate: an extraordinary force pressed his body downward.

"AAAAH!"

The mercenary fell to his knees.

He tried to raise his swords, but his arms also began to give way as the pressure increased and his armor started to deform.

"N-No...!"

The ground sank beneath his feet. The dragon tried to reinforce his body with mana, but the difference in power was far too great.

An instant later, his body was violently compressed against the earth. The impact produced a loud crash and raised a cloud of dust.

When it dispersed, the mercenary had been crushed into a small depression in the ground. Elfin observed the result.

"..."

His expression worsened.

"Pathetic."

He looked at his hand again.

’Null Distortion worked without problems.’

That technique allowed him to temporarily alter the position of the space he occupied, displacing himself instantly to a determined location, but he had noticed that its range was also limited, and Singularity...

’The pressure was far too low.’

Under normal conditions, he would have been able to control a much greater force, but this time he had barely managed to concentrate enough mana to eliminate a single enemy.

Although the result was more than sufficient to defeat those mercenaries, Elfin was beginning to grow irritated.

"It can’t be just because of this body..."

The last dragon remaining in front of him watched in horror what had happened to his companions. His hands trembled, since he had lost his leader and another member of the group in a matter of seconds.

’I have to escape!’

He tried to step back, but as soon as he moved one leg, he lost his balance and fell to the ground.

"What?!"

The mercenary looked down and saw that his legs were completely covered in ice, a thick layer that extended from his ankles to his knees, preventing him from moving them.

"WHEN DID YOU DO THIS?!"

Elfin observed him with indifference.

"Oh."

He raised a hand.

"So elemental magic is still working without problems."

The ice began to spread slowly. The mercenary tried to break it with his sword, but he only managed to damage the surface.

Elfin continued speaking to himself.

"I don’t need to recite anything to use common elements."

A small sphere of fire appeared over his left hand, then disappeared and was replaced by a concentration of electricity.

Elfin moved his fingers slightly, and a current of air began to circulate around him.

"Fire, ice, electricity, wind..."

The current vanished.

"All of them work correctly."

His expression changed.

"But the void techniques require me to speak their names."

That was especially irritating, since the techniques directly related to the void and destruction were the ones that best represented his true nature, yet now he was discovering that, in addition to having a reduced range, he needed to use the activation words to execute them.

’This is absurd.’

Elfin clenched his teeth.

’Something is interfering with my capabilities.’

"YOU DAMNED MONSTER!"

The voice of the last dragon interrupted his thoughts, and Elfin directed his gaze toward him.

"You’re still alive?"

"DON’T THINK YOU’RE GOING TO GET AWAY WITH THIS!"

The mercenary tried to free his legs again.

"YOU DON’T KNOW WHO YOU’RE DEALING WITH!"

Elfin sighed.

"This again?"

"WHEN OUR BOSS FINDS OUT WHAT YOU DID, SHE’LL COME PERSONALLY TO KILL YOU!"

For the first time, Elfin showed a slight curiosity.

"Your boss?"

"THAT’S RIGHT! NOT EVEN YOU WILL BE ABLE TO FACE HER!"

The god remained silent for a few seconds and then began to smile.

"How interesting."

The dragon seemed to regain a bit of confidence.

"So you finally understand...!"

"Is there someone stronger than you?"

"..."

"I hope at least she’s capable of entertaining me."

The mercenary opened his mouth to reply, but Elfin moved one finger slightly, and several cutting lines crossed the dragon’s body, dividing him into multiple pieces that fell onto the frozen ground.

Elfin briefly observed the remains.

"What unpleasant creatures."

Then he turned around.

"And far too noisy."