Chapter 243: The Elf King’s Guidance.

When Shu Li was six years old, he returned to the family estate to attend his older cousin's wedding. A distant relative named Li Yueda tricked him into going to an abandoned attic in the backyard, where he was shut inside a cabinet for more than three hours. The darkness and terror left him deeply traumatized.

From that day on, he never wanted to sit helplessly waiting for someone to rescue him again.

That was why, when the stupid bird carried him to the edge of the forest during his days as a Fairy cub, he had preferred to find his own way back to the divine tree rather than wait for help.

The agony of waiting was simply too much for him.

Reliving that childhood experience just now had left him badly shaken.

Only this time, the person who opened the cabinet door wasn't his eldest brother.

It was the Elven King.

The moment he heard the Elven King offer to take him to kill the magical beast, Shu Li snapped back to his senses and instinctively threw himself into his arms.

He didn't know whether the Elven King before him was real or an illusion. All he wanted was to bury himself in that familiar embrace and let out all the hurt he had been holding inside.

Even after so many years, he had never forgotten the terror of being abandoned and forgotten.

Trapped in that tiny space, surrounded by darkness, with howling winds, flashes of lightning, and crashes of thunder outside, he had felt as though he'd stumbled into a horror movie. The experience had inflicted terrible damage on his young mind.

Li Yueda, meanwhile, had barely been punished. The adults had scolded him, made him apologize, and considered the matter settled.

Shu Li had been too young to protest. He had simply hidden behind his eldest brother, silently shedding tears of grievance.

At subsequent family gatherings, however, none of the other children dared approach him to play. Li Yueda himself avoided him like a mouse fleeing a cat.

Apparently, Shu Li's third brother had taught him a brutal lesson.

His third brother and Li Yueda were the same age, and both belonged to the Haotian Kickboxing Club. Five days after the incident, his third brother challenged Li Yueda to a one-on-one fight at the club and beat him black and blue, nearly disfiguring him.

The beating frightened Li Yueda so badly that he never dared go anywhere near the Shu brothers again.

Shu Li finally felt vindicated. Gradually, he buried the incident in the back of his mind, slowly forgetting the terror of being locked inside a cabinet all alone.

On the rare occasions he recalled it, the memory was little more than a vague impression.

It was the mind's way of protecting itself from fear.

But just now, those long-buried memories had been dragged into the open, unleashing the raw terror he had once experienced.

It had been horrifying.

Shu Li finally stopped crying and regained his composure. Feeling rather embarrassed, he wiped the tears from his cheeks and pulled away from the Elven King's embrace.

"I'm... I'm sorry, Your Majesty. I got your clothes all wet."

A large, unmistakable patch of the Elven King's robes was soaked with tears.

Shu Li's face turned bright red at the sight.

"It's all right," the Elven King replied with a smile.

"Oh..."

Shu Li took an awkward step backward, too embarrassed to look at his expression. Instead, he turned to examine their surroundings.

To his astonishment, the modern setting had vanished.

In its place was an expanse of absolute darkness.

"Where are we?" he asked, bewildered.

They had clearly been fighting the purple-haired monster. At the critical moment, he had seized an opportunity to activate the Phanis Ring, hoping to trap the monster in an illusion and buy everyone enough time to escape.

Yet judging by his present circumstances, he seemed to have fallen victim to an illusion himself, one that had dredged up the deepest fears buried in his heart.

"You've fallen under the monster's nightmare spell," the Elven King explained. "This is the world of your consciousness."

"A nightmare spell!"

Shu Li's expression changed dramatically.

"Does that mean I failed to activate the Phanis Ring?"

The Elven King rested a hand on his head and gently stroked it twice.

"No. You didn't fail. Before the monster entered your illusion, it cast a nightmare spell back at all of you."

"So that's what happened!"

Shu Li breathed a sigh of relief.

As long as his attempt hadn't failed, that was good enough. At least the monster had been caught in the illusion too, making it less dangerous in the real world.

After steadying himself, he gathered his courage and looked up into the Elven King's eyes.

"Your Majesty... are you real?" he asked hesitantly.

If this was his nightmare, how had the Elven King gotten inside?

Had Shu Li somehow summoned him unconsciously?

He instinctively reached for his head and, unsurprisingly, felt his little flower crown, restored to its original form.

In fact, not only had the flower crown returned to normal, but his disguise had vanished as well, revealing his true appearance as a Little Fairy.

Shu Li quickly looked down at his clothes.

Instead of his academy uniform and magic robe, he was wearing the high-ranking robes made especially for Fairies.

The Elven King lowered his brows slightly.

"If you believe I am real, then I am real. If you believe I am not, then I am not."

Shu Li stared at him in utter confusion.

That was precisely what he couldn't figure out! Why else would he have asked?

If the Elven King was real, wouldn't that mean he had seen Shu Li's memories and discovered that he wasn't originally from this world?

Shu Li grew increasingly uneasy.

Part of him desperately hoped the Elven King was real, while another part hoped just as desperately that he wasn't.

He was hopelessly torn.

The Elven King offered no further explanation.

Instead, he raised his right hand and pointed ahead.

Instantly, a luminous passage appeared in the dark space, stretching toward an unknown destination.

"Come. I'll take you to kill the monster."

He stepped into the passage first.

Shu Li hurried after him, reaching out to gently pinch the corner of his sleeve.

As though sensing the movement, the Elven King glanced down, then turned his hand and took the Little Fairy's hand in his own.

The warmth and pressure of his touch felt unmistakably real.

The confusion in Shu Li's eyes gradually faded, though he couldn't stop his cheeks from growing warm.

The purple-haired monster knelt on the ground in agony.

Magic had blasted straight through its chest, leaving an enormous, bloody hole.

And the one responsible for this fatal wound was, astonishingly, an adult Fairy with golden hair and green eyes.

"You..."

Blood spilled from the monster's mouth as it raised a trembling hand and pointed at the golden-haired Fairy holding a high-ranking magic staff.

"You... again..."

"Die!"

The golden-haired Fairy raised his staff and unleashed an instantaneous spell.

A sphere of light, blazing with the heat of the sun, struck the purple-haired monster.

The monster let out a bloodcurdling scream as pure light elements consumed its body, burning it to ashes.

"Aaaaaah!"

The purple-haired monster jolted back to awareness.

Its body was completely unharmed, but its surroundings had changed.

Again!

Clutching its chest, the monster twisted its handsome face into a hideous grimace.

How many times had it happened now?

Ever since entering this illusion, it had been killed by that adult golden-haired Fairy five times in succession.

What an unbearable humiliation!

It was Ansedram, one of the ten great Demon Lords serving the Dark God, a being possessed of an indestructible, immortal body.

How could the same Fairy kill it again and again?

Even more incomprehensible was the fact that each death occurred in a different place.

A swamp, an underground palace, a desert, a forest, a grassland...

The locations changed, but the method of killing it remained the same.

The Fairy used the purest light magic to incinerate its body and soul, destroying it so completely that resurrection became impossible.

After experiencing genuine death over and over, the purple-haired monster had begun to fear dying.

Fear?

How ridiculous!

It was a Demon Lord whose specialty was inflicting nightmares on others, yet now it was the one being tormented by fear.

This damned illusion was wearing down its will.

"Monster! You're not getting away!"

A familiar voice rang out behind it.

The purple-haired monster spun around and saw the golden-haired Fairy holding his magic staff.

"You again!"

Hatred blazed in the monster's eyes as it snarled through clenched teeth.

"You think you can kill me again?"

Its tentacles thrashed wildly as it launched an attack.

The golden-haired Fairy moved with astonishing agility, effortlessly dodging the tentacles. At the same time, he raised his magic staff, aimed at the monster, and unleashed another instantaneous spell.

Spheres of light shot forward like cannonballs, surrounding the purple-haired monster and attacking from every direction.

The entire landscape blazed with dazzling light, while scorching heat radiated through the air.

The monster's expression changed.

It hastily retreated, abandoning its attack altogether and turning to flee.

After being killed by those spheres of light five times, it had developed a deep fear of them. It no longer dared confront them head-on.

Its psychological defenses were beginning to crumble.

But the golden-haired Fairy, whose power had reached the Saint Mage rank, had no intention of letting it escape.

His figure flashed.

He teleported directly into the monster's path, cutting off its retreat, and instantly launched another sphere of light.

The purple-haired monster collided with it head-on.

"Aaaaaah!"

For the sixth time, its body endured the excruciating agony of being incinerated by brilliant light.

The monster screamed in terror.

Death descended.

The pain was unbearable.

Its physical body crumbled into ashes, and its soul dispersed into nothingness.

When that death ended, the illusion reset.

The monster regained its body and found itself on a rocky riverbank inside a canyon.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

The purple-haired monster knelt on the ground, gasping for breath.

Its entire body trembled uncontrollably, and enormous beads of sweat streamed down its skin, dripping onto the stones beneath it.

It—a mighty Demon Lord of hell—had been driven to such a miserable state by a Little Fairy's illusion.

Unforgivable!

The purple-haired monster clenched its fists, vicious light gleaming in its eyes.

More than a hundred tentacles writhed menacingly around it, while the two pairs of wings on its back spread wide, their black feathers standing erect like blades.

It waited.

Waited for the golden-haired Fairy who had killed it.

This time, it would fight back with everything it had, break through the illusion, return to reality, and devour those damned Little Fairies.

The purple-haired monster gathered its strength, ready to strike the moment its enemy appeared.

Suddenly, a beam of light descended from the sky.

Two figures emerged from the column of radiance.

The monster instinctively raised an arm to shield its eyes from the dazzling brightness.

When the light faded and it finally saw who had arrived, its eyes widened in shock.

"The... the Elven King!"

Bathed in a faint golden glow, the Elven King approached, holding the hand of a young, golden-haired Fairy who had not yet reached adulthood.

The purple-haired monster stared blankly.

The illusion had changed!

Instead of the adult Fairy coming to kill it, the Elven King had appeared!

The monster quickly recovered from its shock, its sharp gaze shifting toward the Little Fairy beside him.

"It's you!"

Although this Fairy's features were considerably younger, the monster would never forget that face.

The golden-haired Fairy who had killed it six times was this very Little Fairy's adult self!

"I'LL KILL YOU!"

Ignoring the Elven King's presence entirely, the purple-haired monster launched itself at the Little Fairy in a frenzy of rage.

Shu Li had followed the Elven King through the long passage, only to discover the purple-haired monster waiting at the other end.

Before he could even prepare for battle, the monster attacked.

As more than a hundred tentacles came hurtling toward them, the Elven King took Shu Li with him and teleported behind the monster.

Seizing the opportunity, Shu Li raised his magic staff and was just about to silently recite the incantation for his light sphere spell when the Elven King suddenly caught hold of his staff.

"Your light sphere spell isn't powerful enough to kill it yet."

Shu Li froze.

The Elven King's chest was pressed against his back, his arms almost encircling him.

Lowering his head, he spoke softly beside Shu Li's ear.

"Draw the Sword of Viona and channel light elements into it."

Shu Li no longer cared whether this was an illusion.

With a thought, he put away his magic staff and retrieved the Sword of Viona from his storage ring.

The instant the magical sword appeared, a clear, ringing hum echoed throughout the illusion.

Shu Li gripped the scabbard with one hand and the hilt with the other, then drew the Sword of Viona.

The moment the purple-haired monster saw the weapon in the Little Fairy's hands, it cried out in disbelief.

"The Sword of Viona! How did you get your hands on it?"

As the magical sword left its scabbard, it released a terrifying pressure.

Even Ansedram, a Demon Lord, stiffened involuntarily beneath its overwhelming might.

This magical sword, bestowed upon humanity by a heavenly god, possessed supreme power. It could slay all monsters and seal away the Dark God himself.

When Shu Li channeled the purest light elements in existence into the blade, the sword erupted with dazzling radiance.

White light engulfed the entire illusion.

"Aaah!"

The purple-haired monster stumbled backward in terror.

Its tentacles curled inward, and the light began scorching its body.

"Now," the Elven King instructed the Little Fairy. "Pierce its heart."

With the Elven King guiding him, Shu Li teleported directly in front of the purple-haired monster.

Without the slightest hesitation, he thrust his sword forward.

Shhk!

The Sword of Viona pierced the monster's heart with perfect accuracy.

"AAAAAAAH!"

The purple-haired monster screamed in agony.

The light elements imbued within the magical sword consumed its body, reducing it to ashes in an instant.

At the moment the purple-haired monster died, everyone trapped in its nightmares awakened.

Inside the canyon, the black mist dispersed.

Sunlight poured down, bathing everyone in its warmth and driving away the power of darkness.

Shu Li opened his eyes.

He was still gripping the Sword of Viona, its blade embedded squarely in the purple-haired monster's heart.

He stared in shock.

Starting from the wound in its heart, the monster's enormous body was slowly consumed by the light elements radiating from the magical sword.

Bit by bit, it crumbled into ashes.