CHAPTER 90
Mine from the Beginning

The wyvern, Gorong, beat its massive wings and ascended. It was an emergency, but its large body couldn't soar into the sky in an instant.
“Gorong! Faster, faster!”
Poldre urged him on, patting Gorong’s neck. Gorong grew anxious, feeling the desperate heat of his rider even through his scales.
Immediately after, just as expected, the orcs’ attacks rained down. Axes and spears flew from all directions.
The force behind them was extraordinary; even a glancing blow was enough to split Gorong’s scales and tear the membrane of his wings.
KRAAAH!
Gorong twisted his body, trying his best to dodge, but his size made it impossible to avoid everything.
“Gorong! Hang in there!”
Poldre wasn’t just sitting idle. He planted his feet firmly, firing his bow to shoot down the incoming axes.
Somehow, he was managing the incredible feat of hitting fast-flying axes with his arrows. It was a difficult task, even for an elf skilled with a bow.
The single-minded determination to protect Gorong granted him superhuman concentration.
And he wasn’t alone. The other elves in the forest provided covering fire for Gorong.
“Fire! Attack the orcs!”
“We have to protect the wyvern!”
“Target the ones with spears first!”
Countless arrows poured out from the forest where the elves were hunkered down, descending upon the orc horde. In an instant, the area devolved into chaos as war erupted.
The wyvern trying desperately to fly, the orcs trying to bring it down, and the elves trying to stop the orcs.
“You cowardly knife-ears! If you call yourselves warriors, come out and fight with dignity!”
“Ignore their nonsense and keep firing!”
The orcs roared in frustration and threw their axes into the forest, but they couldn’t hit the elves.
Not only were the elves hidden, but even if an axe flew straight toward one, vines and branches would sprout from nowhere to knock it away.
Protected by the forest, the elves were not easy opponents, even when surrounded by hundreds of orcs.
However, being in the forest didn’t make them invincible.
“Ipril. The forest is drying up. We can’t hold out for much longer.”
At her comrade’s words, Ipril bit her lower lip.
The benevolent forest that protected and cared for them was not a divine entity with infinite energy.
Infused with the power of the God of the Moonlight Forest, it was far stronger than an ordinary forest, but it still had its limits.
“Soon, it’ll be so dry that even a small spark could set it ablaze. Poldre has to succeed by then.”
“I don’t know if there’s anyone nearby to ask for help…”
“Once he gets out, he’ll find someone, somehow.”
Even as they spoke, they never stopped drawing their bowstrings.
Like the forest, they too had long been depleted of nutrients. As a race that didn't eat much to begin with, they had no stored food, and the energy they could draw from the forest was now minuscule.
At this point, they were holding on through sheer willpower. A third of their number had already lost consciousness, unable to endure any longer.
Their only hope was Poldre and Gorong, who could carry their message to the outside world.
“Gorong! It might hurt a little, but hang in there! I’ll treat you later and feed you until your belly is full of meat!”
KREH!
Gorong soared higher. Blood streamed from his torn scales, but he continued to beat his wings powerfully.
The momentum of the incoming axes and spears had noticeably weakened. Thanks to the elves firing from the forest, the orcs could no longer throw their weapons freely.
‘We did it!’
Seeing Gorong’s flight stabilize, Poldre cheered. Now that he was steady, all he had to do was fly away. He could save everyone.
Just as he thought that…
Ch-l-l-l-lk!
Something ominous flew toward them, as thick as a building’s pillar. Aside from its size, it looked like an iron stake attached to a chain.
Poldre stared at it in horror. If that hit, not even Gorong would escape unscathed! He tried to scream a warning, but before the sound could even leave his lips, the iron stake embedded itself deep into Gorong’s body.
—KAAAAAAAH!
“G-Gorong!”
Fortunately, it missed his vital spots. But his wings no longer had any power.
Even so, Gorong’s willpower was incredible; he fought desperately to keep from losing altitude. But it was no use.
Ch-l-lk.
The chain pulled taut and began to drag Gorong down.
Slowly, but surely.

A roar that could hardly be described with words swept across the battlefield. As if the sound itself had power, it pressed down on the forest, the elves, and Gorong in the sky.
Under that pressure, Gorong finally fell. CRACK! The sound of breaking trees and branches echoed painfully in the elves’ hearts.
It was the sound of their only hope being shattered.
“Kuhahahaha!”
The one who had thrown the iron stake laughed boisterously as he pulled the chain. Gorong, already crashed, could only struggle on the ground to resist being dragged further.
“So light, so very light. They call you a dragon-kin beast, but you’re no true dragon.”
Gractar. The great chieftain who led a coalition of nine tribes, including the Brown Mane Tribe... or who was the great chieftain.
Reborn with the Black Flame, he was not an orc of this era, but he was personally leading the orcs here for the sake of his master.
“Hmph. Can you even call yourselves warriors if you can’t catch a single one of these dragon-wannabe beasts?!”
“S-Sorry.”
Gractar snorted, even more displeased by the weak orc’s apology.
Having lived in an age when the entire world was a battlefield, he found the orcs of the present to be terribly pathetic and weak.
Though they were battle-hardened orcs who had survived in the Gate, they were not up to Gractar’s standards.
Swoosh—!
Just then, an arrow came flying, cutting through the air. It was shot with such a powerful bow that it flew in a straight line, aimed right for Gractar’s head.
“Hmph!”
But he caught it with ease. Ipril, who had fired the arrow, ground her teeth as she watched him snatch it from the air and snap it.
“Tonight, we feast on wyvern meat!”
“UWOOOOOH!”
Gractar rallied the orcs’ morale and yanked on the chain. Each time he pulled, alternating arms, Gorong was dragged closer, the stake still lodged in him.
KAAAAAAAH!
“Gorong! Just hold on! I’ll, I’ll—!”
Poldre tried to remove the iron stake from Gorong, but there was nothing he could do. Not only was it embedded too deeply, but the stake itself was so large that he couldn't even lift it.
Clinging to Gorong and pulling did nothing either. His light body was simply dragged along with the wyvern.
There was no way out. At this rate, Gorong would truly be captured by them.
Those barbarians were already talking about killing Gorong to celebrate their victory!
CLANG!
Just then, the chain suddenly snapped in the middle.
Severed while pulled taut, the chain whipped back violently, lashing through the surrounding trees.
What had cut the chain was a sharp sword aura that had flown from somewhere.
It had been sent not by a comrade within the forest, but by someone outside it.
“What in the…”
Lifting his head, Poldre saw a faint figure in the distance. It was quite far, but not so far that an elf’s eyesight couldn’t make it out.
The one who had launched the sword aura was the man who was once his only human customer.
“Jinwoo!”
The mysterious man who, despite being human, held the highest contribution rank in the Moonlight Forest. He had returned.

The moment Jinwoo saw Gorong, he descended the hill and started running. Beside him, a bewildered Rona struggled to keep up.
Amidst the hundreds of orcs in the encampment, his eyes met Gractar’s.
Jinwoo narrowed his eyes at the orc, and the orc’s eyes widened in return.
‘A Black Flame… A servant of the Lord of War.’
Just as Jinwoo identified Gractar, Gractar recognized Jinwoo. His master had given him a specific order.
“The one who stole the Sky Sword’s Scabbard has appeared!”
If that man appears, you must kill him and retrieve the scabbard.
It belongs neither to the Sky Lord nor to some human who crawled out of nowhere. It is mine.
His master had spoken thus, ordering all his servants descending to the 3rd Floor to recover the Sky Sword’s Scabbard.
And to think he would show up on his own. Gractar grinned, thinking it was his lucky day.
Meanwhile, Jinwoo and Rona had already plunged into the orc formation and were fighting enemies pressing in from all sides.
With every swing, one fell, but two more rushed in to take its place.
“Jinwoo, do you have a plan?” Rona asked, as if it wasn't too late.
He had no answer for her. After a moment of silence, Jinwoo replied.
“Nope.”
His sword sliced through the necks of two orcs in a single motion.
Rona let out a groan as if to say, "I knew it," but she didn't complain. She had no room to talk, as she didn't have a good plan either.
Besides, if they had just stood by and watched, the forest’s fall would have been a matter of time. Even without Jinwoo, she might have ended up doing the same thing. That’s what she told herself.

Rona’s sword, glittering with sword aura, sliced through an orc’s shoulder. As she moved to cut down the next one, that orc’s axe blocked her sword.
Kang!
“Oh?”
“Hehehe, I won’t be so easy.”
The orc seemed quite confident in his skills. His axe was also coated in an aura, allowing it to remain intact against Rona’s blade.
The orc laughed with delight and charged, swinging his axe, but Rona cut him down again with a cold gaze. He tried to block with his axe just as before, but this time, he failed. He was bisected, body and all.
The orc’s shocked expression slowly fell as he collapsed to the ground. Rona had already turned away to deal with the next one.
“Jinwoo, are you alright over there?”
“Still no prob—!”
Jinwoo, who was about to say “no problem,” snapped his head up. A massive orc was dropping down from above.
He quickly beheaded the orc he was fighting and leaped backward. Gractar landed where he had just been, shaking the ground with a heavy thud!
“Hey, human. Hand over the scabbard you stole.”
Gractar growled. Jinwoo responded with a quizzical look.
“Stole?”
“That scabbard belongs to my master! That worthless mongrel of the sky claimed it was his, but it is an artifact that will shine brightest only in my master’s hands.”
From his tone, it didn't sound like his master was the original owner. It was more of a “what’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine” kind of statement.
“It was originally in the Sky Temple, and now it’s in my hands. How is it your master’s property?”
“My master is the only one who can wield that scabbard correctly. If that doesn’t make him the rightful owner, what does?!”
He didn’t seem to be lying. That must mean his master knew of a special use for the scabbard.
Of course, that didn’t make Jinwoo agree with Gractar’s logic. He scoffed and said:
“You’re wrong. This scabbard was mine from the beginning.”
A memory that had surfaced when he cut down the descended Sky Lord. Jinwoo now knew. He knew that this scabbard was originally his.