Apocalypse Dark Elf Style -Magical Tribes Reincarnated in the Modern World

†

The jet sounds of the RV overhead grew louder. Then came a familiar sound from combat training—the unmistakable noise of EF Lance capturing its target.

The outcome was clear. Further ahead in the forest, the body of the Aguyanuba, which had been protruding from the treetops, now appeared as a moving hill that had grown even larger.

“No good. It’s hopeless. That thing consumes even the energy it’s given. It eats it, and then grows even bigger… There’s nothing we can do. New Renyang City is already finished…”

Muttering to herself, Yuika’s voice was cut short as Sheena leaned in with a menacing expression.

“There’s only one thing we can do. Kill you first. Even if I don’t know how much of you remains, I’ll take the root magic power you possess. If I can destroy the core on the other side before the Aguyanuba creates a new subordinate, that’ll be enough. Even if I can’t, I’ll still have the advantage by stealing your root magic power.”

“Sheena!”

Rensuke couldn’t help but exclaim in disapproval, but he quickly realized the truth. Without needing to share a will through supernatural connections or even deep bonds, Rensuke, who had always watched over her, knew this was a bluff. Sheena would keep her promise. At the very least, she had no intention of killing Yuika here. She had said that to provoke her into revealing something important—something she needed.

—But would that be enough in time?

At that moment, Rensuke’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Yuika’s body was melting away from its extremities.

Startled, Sheena snapped,

“Hey, don’t you dare do something stupid! I really will kill you!”

Yuika writhed slightly, as if trying to shake her head. Her gaze, fixed on her own limbs, betrayed an unmistakable despair and fear.

“It’s not… my will… It’s being absorbed by it. It no longer needs me… as a terminal…”

“What?”

“It’s… taking its existence… from me. I’m no longer needed…”

“Damn it. Of course, I intend to collect the root magic power as well. It’s grown so large that even if it means losing the safety of having a single core, it’s worth it to secure the remaining root magic power. I suppose you’ve decided that there’s no one left who can save you now.”

“So you’ve made the judgment that you can no longer control yourself?”

“That’s right. But it’s also the impression that she’s prioritized what she wants to consume. It’s like she’s going back to eat something she had forgotten.”

Even as Sheena and Rensuke spoke, Yuika was still thrashing with her body.

No, it was the same as before. She was shaking her head from side to side.

Like a child, like a spoiled child, continuing to shake her head.

“No. No… No! If I keep going like this, I’ll—”

That was a raw scream, unlike anything Yuika, who usually kept her emotions hidden, had ever shown before.

A scream of rejection and terror.

“──I’m gonna become him!”

†

No. No. I don’t want to. I don’t want to. I don’t want to anymore.

I can feel it through the tether of my soul. His gluttony, his indulgence. The shame of devouring everything, the disgrace of such petty spite. Can anything he eats be turned into power? There must be limits. What he has now is the sheer stupidity of eating the earth’s soil endlessly until reaching the other side of the planet. The sheer ridiculousness of inhaling air until suffocating to death.

Because he ate the Radiant Beast, somehow he became that huge.

That’s why I can see it all so clearly now. And yet, because of this connection, I’m forced to be right next to him, closer than anyone else, all the time. Because of that, I can no longer hide the most basic, obvious thought I’ve kept buried deep in my heart all this time.

──Ugly.

──Ugly, ugly, ugly!

Truly, in the truest sense, a monster that eats solely to eat.

Something that has no meaning beyond that is so, so ugly.

If someone were to say even I am like that, it would be true.

That’s why I wanted to become someone else, someone not ugly.

But if I keep going like this, I’ll become him.

Whatever path remains for me to become everyone else is no longer relevant. Because there, there will be no me as me. Perhaps there might be a me inside him, but that thing is already a monster, and it will never be human. I’m certain of that now.

My wish has been crushed.

Even worse, I’m becoming the very thing I wanted to avoid the most—the thing I didn’t want to become at all, the thing I had to deviate from the path to avoid.

Contradiction.

I can’t bear this.

A hopeless, maddening terror.

Then.

If that’s the case.

†

Suddenly, the struggling of the only one who had been fighting, Yuika, stopped.

“I have a request.”

Her face slowly lifted, and on it was a faint, powerless sneer.

“Kill me.”

The leaves rustled as the wind swept through the trees, and the two figures stood on the edge of the hill, gazing at the city below. Rensuke turned to face Sheena, his expression serious yet resolute.

“Sheena,” he began, his voice steady, “there’s something I need to say.”

Sheena looked up at him, her eyes reflecting the dim light of the setting sun. “What is it, Rensuke?”

He took a deep breath, his fingers tightening around the hilt of his sword. “We can’t let Aguyanuba destroy the city. It’s not just about saving people—it’s about protecting the places we’ve come to care about. The park, my home, the school… all of them. I don’t want to lose them.”

Sheena’s expression softened, but she didn’t speak immediately. Instead, she tilted her head slightly, as if considering his words. “You’re right,” she said finally. “But do you really think we can stop it? Aguyanuba’s power is unlike anything we’ve faced before. Even with the Drive Knight Corps’ help, it’s unclear if we’ll succeed.”

Rensuke nodded, his gaze unwavering. “I know. But if we don’t try, we’ll never know. And I can’t live with the regret of letting fear stop me from doing what’s right.”

Sheena’s lips pressed into a thin line, her eyes narrowing slightly. “You’re risking everything, aren’t you? Your life, your future…”

“I am,” Rensuke admitted without hesitation. “But if I don’t do this now, I might never have the chance again. I want to protect the things that matter to me—not just the city, but *you*, Sheena. I want to see the world with you, to build a future where we’re not just surviving but *living*.”

Sheena’s eyes widened slightly at his words, and for a moment, the silence between them felt heavier than before. Then, she let out a soft, almost disbelieving laugh. “You’re… really serious about this, aren’t you?”

“More than you know,” Rensuke said, his voice firm. “I’ve spent so long thinking I didn’t deserve anything better than this broken world. But now… now I see that there’s more. There’s *you*, Sheena. And I don’t want to waste another moment pretending I don’t care.”

Sheena looked away for a moment, her shoulders tensing. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet but resolute. “You’re not the only one who’s changed, Rensuke. I used to think I was just a tool for the gods, a shadow in the corner of someone else’s story. But meeting you… it made me realize I have a choice. I don’t have to be just a weapon. I can be something more.”

Rensuke’s heart clenched at her words, and he took a step closer, his voice barely above a whisper. “Then let’s be something more together, Sheena. Not just for the city, but for *us*.”

She met his gaze then, her eyes searching his as if trying to find the truth in his words. And when she finally spoke, it was with a certainty that made his breath catch.

“Alright, Rensuke. Let’s do this.”

……I want to protect you. Because I once died, that’s why I want to use every bit of this life I still have here for the girl I care about.

“Guh,” Sheena let out a strange sound before smacking the cane’s surface with the palm of her hand. Her ears twitched nervously, and her cheeks—were faintly flushed.

“Well, here you go again. At a time like this. Not even a hint of embarrassment. You’re an idiot. I’m the one who’s blushing here.”

“It’s not like I can help it when I’m being honest. Besides, I’ll probably say things like that again. You might as well get used to it.”

“Get used to… it? No way, seriously, this is my first time ever…”

They bickered like that—until, before they knew it, they were staring silently at each other—then both let out a quiet chuckle at the same time.

No matter how much uncertainty or embarrassment they felt, at least the obstacle that had been preventing them from doing what needed to be done was gone now.

“Alright, then, we need to get a little closer. There’s a range limit on magic, after all, even for slime bastards and iron knights.”

“It doesn’t just float—it can move horizontally.”

“It can only shift sideways, though. Don’t expect it to move as freely as that slime woman did. I don’t think we need to worry about that level of movement this time—it’s just about positioning.”

“By the way, I should mention that the Drive Knights are recording our movements on video. Won’t that make it harder for us to move around in the future?”

“Oh, really? Well, then I guess their machines will probably use magic to obscure what’s happening. It’s pointless trying to hide it from humans, but… well, this is the true form we’ve been showing, so I guess we can manage that side of things.”

With a smooth, flowing motion like being carried by the wind, they shifted sideways. Their altitude had risen slightly.

A grotesque, monstrous figure was advancing through the forest, already the size of a small hill, leaving behind a widening path of barren nothingness where not a single blade of grass grew.

In the distance, a group of RVs was approaching in perfect, professional formation.

Without hesitation, Sheena flew toward the midpoint between the two.

And then, she waited there calmly.

Rensuke thought, during that brief waiting period, how it would look. The conversation about positioning earlier. Hindering the Drive Knights, who were supposed to be the heroes. Appearing to be on the side of the mysterious beast, the Radiant Beast. Yet, in truth, that enormous threat was something born from their own carelessness.

Ah, whether from an outside perspective or an inside one, they had already become clearly defined as villains in the eyes of the world, of society’s order.

But. Because of that.

(That’s really like a dark elf, isn’t it?)

Rensuke, satisfied from the bottom of his heart, unleashed a single spell at the Drive Knights and the gluttonous monster.

†

He devoured and devoured and devoured without thinking, rushing toward the feast. Along the way, new dishes like “Vibration,” “Impact,” and “Collision” were served, which he gratefully accepted.

Ah, it’s almost there. Almost, the nest of the feast.

That was when a voice came from above.

“《The Terror Spirit commands/You, be filled with joy until your very being perishes》”

It was instantaneous.

Something welled up from deep within his chest. An overwhelming, one-sided birth, an unstoppable force. A willful “something” reached out, exchanged glances, and surfaced to the surface, beginning to envelop everything around it. It was abnormal.

Terrifying.

Terrifying, terrifying, terrifying!

His cells were instantly consumed by that emotion. Overwhelmed, replaced. Even the thought of it being strange was crushed by a freezing terror down his spine.

Everything. Terrifying. Even the ability to think. To move. To advance.

And above all—

That part of himself, the very core of his existence, which had resisted until the very end against the rising terror, was ultimately swallowed by the storm of terror, dancing as a willful malice.

—To eat… is terrifying.

Ah, terrifying, terrifying, terrifying!

Why had I continued doing this until now! Why had I allowed something else to enter my own self, chew it up, dissolve it, and merge into one! Terrifying, unpleasant, grotesque!

He stopped advancing because of the terror.

Even his own body’s volume became an object of terror. He wanted to discard it. He was scared. He wanted to shrink. So he discarded it. He abandoned and severed his flesh, shrinking smaller and smaller. If only he could be alone, just his core. And hide. But even that smallness became an object of fear, and he was scared, scared, terrified, wanting to escape, wanting to find someone.

Too terrified… to think… trembling… hiding…

…a… I… am… here… help…

“Pitiful, aren’t you?”

—She stood before him, looking down on him with cold eyes.

“I might be pitiable too, but since it’s a promise, I’ll leave the rest to fate. You’re joking, aren’t you? But—at least, I’m not as pitiable as you.”

—Her expression did not change. There was no trace of self-mockery or disdain. No warmth.

“What I’ve recovered is only the original volume. I will never eat the last remnants of you. It makes me sick.”

What…? What kind of…? You… yourself?

“Your components are not present here anymore. This is perfect. The backup function is over. You… should be eaten by someone else besides me. You, who have eaten everything, should experience the feeling of being eaten at last.”

──Another presence stood before her, one with a different skin color, one holding a staff.
──That hand reached out toward him. A terrifying hand. A hand that would do terrifying things.
──Fear. Fear, fear. But in that final moment, anger overcame fear.

You wanted to be human, didn’t you! Didn’t you want to become someone indistinguishable from another! Stop it, stop it, make it stop! If you do this, you’ll be defeated! Your hopes will be defeated!

──The woman let out a brief, hollow smile. Her face was so devoid of venom that it seemed almost relieved.

“Yes. All hopes have already been lost. But here… at least one person seems to exist who, like me, has been lost from the world. Just now, a foolish contract was also made.”

──The brown-skinned being’s outstretched hand touched him.
──To be eaten.

“Therefore… for now, I’ll just endure with only one wish left.”

Thus, he lost everything to fear.
“Thank you, I suppose,” someone said, sounding satisfied.

†

Crack. Crack. Shimmer.
“Hey… uh… where am I? Around here?”
A voice. When Rensuke opened his eyes halfway, a faint light seeped through the darkness. His body was pressed tightly against something on all sides, completely immobile. Though cramped, there was no pressure, just a comforting feeling, as if wrapped in a soft blanket.
—Body?
Crack. Crack. The sound grew louder, and the light in his vision expanded. Rensuke narrowed his eyes.
In the pure and vivid backlight, there she was.
Sheena. His one and only partner. The dark elf he loved most.
She was no longer wearing the attire of the other world, but had returned to her usual schoolgirl uniform.
“Hey. You okay?”
“Sheena. I…?”
When the light entered, he realized. He was inside a tree. It seemed Rensuke’s body was perfectly enclosed within the trunk of a great tree. Not a staff—his human body.
“Because you were in an extreme state, you might not remember. The staff’s duty was done, so I replanted you into the ground and regenerated you as a treeman. The staff, the great tree, and you now—all have changed appearances, but the core is mostly the same. How do you feel?”
“I… can’t remember much. What… happened?”
“The slime is gone. I crushed the last, pathetic fragment it left behind and took the root magic it had with it. From the total amount of slime, it was about eight-tenths. The remaining bits… well, I’ll leave them for now. After all, I kept my promise.”
Far from the tree, he saw Yuika standing with her human limbs restored. No relief, no hostility—just a quiet, calm expression directed at him. The clawed and winged parts of her abnormal form were gone, and she was wearing the flight suit from before the situation changed.
He remembered the events that happened while he was about to lose his staff consciousness—when he used magic against the knight’s guild and Aguyanuba, and finished off the remnants.
The contract he made with her when she awoke again.
A faint smile tugged at his lips.
Without any particular reason, he thought she was fine.
Sheena reached out, trying to dig Rensuke out of the trunk.
“What about the knight’s guild?”
“They? They ran back to their base super fast. Haha, just thinking about it makes me laugh. Even the steel knights are nothing in front of our magic!”
There are no RVs with magic countermeasures in this world, so it’s unavoidable. Returning a wry smile to her usual mischievous grin, he tried to pull himself out of the trunk on his own.
“Terrifying dark spirit magic, huh? It worked pretty well.”
“Yeah. But I should mention, that was a spell that let the dark spirit fulfill its original role. But you know, those spiritual interference type things aren’t usually something you can rely on. It’s fine for simple slimes, but it’s hard to affect people who are on guard.”
“So it’s not that effective?”
“Actually, it’s all about the situation. In this case, they were already scared, and it just amplified that, so we had an easy time.”
“Scared? By Aguyanuba? Yeah, it was definitely a new type of radiant beast, but… even professionals get scared, I guess?”
Sheena’s hand scraped through the branches and tree flesh inside the trunk, finally touching Rensuke’s arm.
“Mmm… no, I don’t think that’s all. I get a feeling there was something else that scared them.”
“…What?”
Sheena smirked.
“Of course, it’s me. The foreign object in this world. Completely out of place, absolutely different. After seeing a terrifying dark elf, they were scared.”
Grasping Rensuke’s hand that had reached out, she leaned her weight and pulled him up in one motion. The branches and vines wrapped around his body peeled away with a soft sound.
A sense of liberation. A refreshing feeling, as if he had just been born anew here.
Once freed from what had been covering him, her face was right there, close by.
That was the new world.
He tumbled into her arms, laughing together.
They laughed, genuinely happy.

“Oh, seriously. If you saw something like a Dark Elf, it’s a normal reaction to be scared, right? I don’t think there are any guys who’d say ‘I like it’ as their first reaction, do you?”