I Became a 10,000-year-old Elf

“Look at the bounty amount. If we do well, it could be life-changing!”

“Stop talking nonsense and absolutely do not scatter. One wrong move and we could be killed instead. We don’t even know how strong it is yet.”

It wasn’t just the city guard that was mobilized. Mayor Wilren, upon hearing the news of the werewolf’s appearance, immediately placed a request with the Adventurers’ Guild, and numerous adventurers joined the hunt and tracking of the werewolf to claim the bounty.

As a result, the nearby forest became noisy and crowded with adventurers and city guards moving in groups to find the werewolf hiding somewhere.

Even ordinary magical beasts were retreating or cowering due to the commotion.

“…”

The creature, which had gained overwhelming senses in exchange for losing its reason and going berserk, also detected this atmosphere that was unsettling the forest. Moreover, it realized that they had come to capture it.

Two instincts fought fiercely within it at the same time.

The first instinct was the fighting instinct that wanted to rampage and prey, and the second was the survival instinct that said it should hide its body to survive.

“Grr…”

Baring its sharp teeth and growling, the creature suffered, unable to make a proper decision between these two instincts.

If it doesn’t fight, it will eventually die. But even if it fights, it will die. Once cursed and corrupted like this, the outcome is already determined.

In fact, a tiny bit of rational desire to escape this curse and regain stability still remained in a corner of its mind, but the curse that was now making its blood boil didn’t allow any room for such rationality to surface.

“!!!”

However, at that moment, it sniffed the air and perked up its ears, catching a very faint scent carried by the wind.

The moment it smelled that fragrance, its whole body’s fur stood on end and its heart pounded. The creature didn’t know what this scent was. It was just that the curse dominating its body now reacted to this fragrance.

It was like finding a very old and distant trace, like discovering something that ‘shouldn’t exist’ in this world.

It could be obsession or hatred. It could be joy or hope.

One thing was certain: the curse eating away at the creature’s body now felt a very strong attraction to that scent.

Regardless of whether there were enemies searching for it nearby, it burst out of its hiding place, lifting its nose and sniffing.

Though the distance wasn’t close, it had to find it by any means necessary.

* * *

“The werewolf’s curse is quite an ancient curse passed down among beastkin. I didn’t expect you, Lina, not to know about it.”

“W-well, I’m not a pureblood, and I’m not a wolf either…”

“Anyway, it’s not just limited to beastkin. Such curses are consistently passed down in at least one race, regardless of species. It’s a real curse that’s impossible to cure and the cause of infection is unknown.”

Sitting down for a rest, Patrick closed his water bottle and shared what he knew.

It was another story that neither Ethan nor Lina had told me. I listened attentively to his tale.

“The origin of that curse, which changes the target’s nature and corrupts them, must surely be the same, but no one has yet uncovered its secret. From what I’ve heard, famous scholars say that this curse has been passed down from the end of the mythical era.”

“From the end?”

Moreover, he mentioned the end. The very point when the Tower conquest failed, and the Earth I knew was ultimately destroyed. According to Patrick’s explanation, the origin of the curse plaguing modern people was that very end.

“Are you interested too, little one? I don’t know the details either. But they say that races treated as demon tribes in the current era, such as werewolves, dark elves, hybrid vampires, black orcs, green goblins, and so on, are all related to that curse.”

It wasn’t just humans, beastkin, and elves. Patrick, mentioning the numerous races existing in this world now, shrugged his shoulders.

Some of those races were created when they were cursed, changed, and corrupted.

The fact that far more types of different races had emerged than I knew at the point of entering the Tower was indeed due to the Tower and the impact of its collapse.

‘Is this curse, which turns normal people into monsters, also one of the foretold calamities? No, after already destroying the world, why such a nasty aftermath?’

The only calamity I knew in detail was the Great Apocalypse, but there was no rule that there had to be only one calamity.

Moreover, unlike the Great Apocalypse, the fact that it still remains even now, 10,000 years later when the world has become completely different, made me feel uneasy for no reason.

“Those desperately seeking a cure believe that clues lie in the records of the old mythical era that have already disappeared, but I don’t know. Anyway, let’s end the old stories here. We need to finish the search quickly if we want to return before sunset.”

Patrick said that much, then stood up and instructed us to hurry as well.

“Can we really find it today?”

“We found traces earlier, didn’t we? Inexperienced fools might have to search for three days straight to find a male’s nest.”

When I made a comment after hearing the earth spirit say there was nothing around, he snorted, as if to say what would a pipsqueak like you know.

His arrogant attitude of pretending to know everything was annoying, but since the range the earth spirit could detect wasn’t that wide yet, it wouldn’t be strange if our target was nearby.

“If it’s too hard, next time you should quietly stay in the city… Huh?”

But not long after we started walking through this forest again.

A change occurred that we could sense without even asking the earth spirit. The faint screams carried by the wind were clearly human screams, though we couldn’t tell where they were coming from.

“There! A flare!”

Lina was shocked to see a red light shot into the sky. That red signal, clearly fired by a mage or using a magical tool, was a kind of SOS requesting help among adventurers.

“Stop! We’re in no position to help others right now!”

As Lina’s body naturally leaned towards that direction, Patrick shouted to stop her, alarmed.

“I don’t know what’s happening, but rushing in blindly might not help. Especially in a situation like this. As an adventurer, you should always think of your own safety first.”

He gave quite wise advice, befitting an experienced adventurer. Clearly, acting on momentary emotions would likely lead to irreversible consequences.

Rather, since it’s evidence of a threat nearby, the right decision would be to avoid it.

“–, —!”

The problem was that this advice only applied when the threat was some distance away from us. I frowned as I heard the earth spirit’s urgent cry.

It was saying that something was rushing towards where we were at an insane speed.

‘Who on earth?’

It was even accurate in direction. As if it knew exactly where we were. The speed was very fast. It was evidence that it wasn’t human.

“Duck! Lina!”

“Waaagh!?”

Soon, something leaped from a rather steep slope and pounced on us in an instant.

As I threw myself to embrace Lina and fall to the ground, a stone wall that rose from the earth blocked between us, but it instantly kicked off the stone wall, somersaulted in the air, and landed on the ground.

“A w-werewolf. It’s the one!”

Patrick, who had turned pale, drew his sword, but the black-furred werewolf, already covered in wounds and blood all over its body, immediately lunged at him.

It was an unbelievable savagery. Even with several arrows stuck in its back, it swung its claws without a moment’s hesitation, sending Patrick’s sword flying with sparks and knocking him to the ground.

With things having come this far, I couldn’t keep hiding my power anymore. I moved the earth spirit to raise a stone pillar in front of the creature’s claws as it was about to instantly dismember the fallen Patrick.

“—!”

“W-what is this?!”

The rampaging creature’s claws instantly shattered the stone pillar. Patrick, whose life was saved thanks to this, opened his eyes wide in surprise, but I ignored him and stepped forward, moving the earth once again.

“Bind its legs. Then finish it.”

Just before it could make its signature leaping attack, one of its feet suddenly began to be sucked into the ground.

While its body was bound, I struck its solar plexus with a stone spear pulled up from the ground, but it only managed to make it stagger. Far from penetrating, the stone spear broke instead.

Indeed, the dark red power swirling in that body was no ordinary strength.

“—, —!”

“You, did you come targeting me?”

The struggling creature growled like a roar and glared at me. Feeling the intense emotion in those eyes gleaming with a red glow, I broke into a cold sweat at this inexplicable obsession.

“It’s dangerous!”

Finally, the creature broke free from the earth that was swallowing its body and once again lunged at me, swinging its claws burning dark red.

Along with Patrick’s shout as he groaned, the creature’s claws descended upon my body in the blink of an eye.