Who exactly are they?
Corina didn’t understand the undead creatures too much and this was a common problem for most elves in the Country of Law. They mostly relied upon their instincts and intuition to judge whether the other party was harmless or dangerous. If they were dangerous, elves would avoid or eliminate them. If they were harmless, elves wouldn’t worry about them too much. Of course, although this approach seemed a bit idealistic, elves’ intuitions were indeed capable of determining if one was friendly or hostile. However, this was also their biggest weakness. For instance, even though most elves sensed the ill-intentions of the slave traffickers from the Country of Light and evaded in advance, the slave traffickers had ways around them. They searched for children and pretended to abandon them in the forest. The innocent children weren’t aware of what was happening, of course, and through this way, elves who chanced upon the children were unable to judge the hostility of the slave traffickers. When these kind and curious elves escorted the children out of the forest, the slave traffickers who were waiting for this moment pounced at once, using traps and other tricks to capture the elves altogether.
This was the elves’ understanding about enemies. Elves were relatively aware of enemies they dealt with frequently, but wouldn’t investigate enemies they seldom came into contact with. Anyway, as soon as the enemies appeared before them, they could immediately judge whether the enemies were a threat to them. In Corina’s case, apart from experiencing the war that took place in the Land of Atonement and learning from Rhode about various types of undead creatures, she was totally unaware of them beforehand. But now, all of this had no meaning anymore! Because Corina sensed their ill-intention like an unbearable blaze on her skin!
“Foal rand sitfre!”
At that moment, the black-cloaked man raised his left arm. A hoarse voice sounded from underneath the pointy triangular hat. Corina leaped back without hesitation, pulling back her bow string immediately. In just a few seconds, an arrow coalesced from ice crystals flew off the bow string, disintegrated in midair, and metamorphosed into a snowstorm that enfolded the enemy ahead.
Boom!
The snowstorm and flames clashed, evaporating into white steam that proliferated in the forest. Corina didn’t seize this opportunity to deal a follow-up assault, but turned around and sprinted into the depths of the forest instead. A few seconds later, she discovered another unconscious elf young lady laying by the foot of a burning tree.
“Tina! Tina! Wake up!”
Corina yelled, carrying the young lady on her back and sweeping a glance at her surroundings. Her heart sank upon witnessing two other flame-devoured corpses that burned into black ash. She gritted her teeth, forcing back the tears in her eyes and dashing deeper into the forest without looking back.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Seconds after she took off, sounds of a broken air barrier reverberated from the back; they were the scorching heat that followed Corina relentlessly. If Corina were alone, she would have no difficulty dodging these attacks as a formidable being in the Legendary Stage. But now, she was carrying a companion on her back and couldn’t pick up speed.
“Damn it!”
Corina gnashed her teeth, judging that she couldn’t escape the enemy’s pursuit if this continued. Corina grabbed the elf young lady with her left hand and hurled her into the air. She looked up and blew a sharp, resounding whistle—in the blink of an eye, a huge goshawk swooped down from the sky and caught Tina with its steel, pincer-like claws, before soaring back into the air with the unconscious young lady.
“Kraff, bring Tina back to the tribe. Get them to be ready to face oncoming enemies—the undead creatures!”
“———!”
Upon hearing Corina’s command, the goshawk called and disappeared into the depth of the forest with Tina. Everything happened within a matter of seconds, from when Corina summoned her animal ally to after she gave her command. As soon as Corina landed on the ground, a fire arrow emanating extreme heat was right before her eyes.
“Asita!”
Facing this fire arrow that could burn her into ashes, Corina didn’t reveal any fluster in her expression at all. She stared ahead, holding one hand to the ground. As she chanted under her breath, a wall of ice instantly rose from the ground, shielding her from the menacing attack. In a loud, rumbling explosion, the steam evaporated from the collision of water and fire scattered once again. Corina rolled on the ground swiftly to avoid the ice fragments.
The enemy’s strength was about the same level as her’s, in the Basic Legendary Stage. In addition to the fire elemental monster, it wasn’t easy for Corina to take them down. Due to the earlier delay, she could no longer escape even if she wanted to.
My only choice now is to defeat the enemy in the shortest time possible and flee the battlefield.
At this thought, Corina’s eyes glinted in a chilly flash. She gripped the bow in her hand and pulled back the bow string in a gradual and elegant posture.
At the next moment, she released her fingers and the arrow flitted across the forest.
Swish———!
This wasn’t only the sound of the broken air barrier, but was more like the resonance of airflow trembling under a mighty force. As the arrow flew forward, the surging airwaves erupted to both sides, metamorphosing into a violent storm that crushed every tree and plant in its path. This wasn’t all due to Corina’s attack. She swirled her beautiful emerald-green eyes around the forest, nocked another arrow on her bow, and released her fingers gently.
Boom! Boom!
Without any signs of warning, almost simultaneously as Corina released her fingers, two dazzling flames flared up in the depths of the forest crushed by the powerful storm. Upon witnessing the flames, Corina’s eyes glinted in a bizarre flash. She moved her fingers midair elegantly as though playing a musical instrument. Along with this movement, arrows of light appeared around her, one after another, and darted into the deep forest. The light arrows didn’t fly in a straight trajectory, but shuttled across the forest lightly without slicing a single leaf blade as though they were conscious.
“Over there!”
Upon spotting a shadow flashing past the forest, Corina locked onto its presence. She narrowed her eyes and gently released the fully-drawn bowstring…
Swish!
However, what caught Corina by surprise was that the arrow didn’t fly toward the target as anticipated. Instead, the arrow turned 90 degrees and shot straight into the sky. Looking at this scene, Corina grimaced.
Could it be… Oh no!
Boom!
Corina sprang to the side immediately after realizing the situation was anything but reassuring. Then, an intense explosion thundered. Blistering airwaves and dazzling, red billows of smoke erupted above Corina, causing her hair to curl up in the extreme heat. But now, Corina didn’t have the time to care about her precious hair anymore. Because glancing out of the corner of her eyes, she spotted the extending and warping fire elemental monster stretching its claws with an evil grin, attempting to burn her into ashes.
How is it possible for this monster to be above me? It was clearly standing far away just now…!
With Corina’s legendary abilities, as long as she locked onto the target, her arrow would hit it no matter how the target escaped.
But why…!
At this thought, Corina knitted her brows and turned over to dodge the attack from the fire elemental monster. Its strong, enormous claws grazed her before slamming into the ground in a loud boom. As soon as she leapt up into the air, four revolving, scarlet magical rituals appeared around her out of thin air. Then, a dozen magical steel chains shot out and bound the young lady’s limbs.
“Damn it!”
Looking at this scene, Corina panicked. Before she was able to release the arrow on the fully-drawn bowstring, her hands were wrapped tightly by the magical steel chains and she raised high up in midair. The arrow that was released abruptly from her grip swished by and vanished in midair, hitting nothing in sight.
“Argh…!”
Corina couldn’t budge. She suspended in the air, staring helplessly at the fire elemental monster before her. At that moment, she heard a husky and unpleasant laughter. The black-cloaked man sauntered out of the deep forest. Judging from the punctures in his cloak, it was apparent that Corina’s earlier attack was a relatively huge threat to this enemy.
“An elf giving me a hard time? What a surprise… the Country of Law sure is interesting.”
“… Why is the Country of Darkness attacking the Country of Law?”
Glaring at the black-cloaked mage, Corina grunted. Upon hearing her question, the black-cloaked mage burst into laughter as though he heard an amusing joke.
“Hahaha. Why, you ask? There’s no particular reason. It’s an order from His Majesty, so it’s only natural for us, his subjects, to comply! Besides, people of the Country of Law are also what we need! The bodies of elves are perfect for vessels. But I’m truly surprised to find such a fantastic one…”
The black-cloaked mage said, staring at Corina with mysterious flashes in his eyes. Then, he extended his arm and reached for a bottle of black, viscous potion from the folds of his cloak.
“… Come. Drink this, Elf Lady. You shall receive stronger powers, break free from the restraints of Order, and become the most loyal servant of our supreme lord—like us! Come, open your mouth and drink it!”
The black-cloaked mage spoke, strolling toward Corina with the bottle of potion in hand. He raised the bottle and a faint black mist emanated from it. Corina revealed a terrified expression. Upon witnessing her reaction, the black-cloaked mage laughed even louder.
“Hahaha, don’t worry. Don’t be afraid. After you accept this mighty, sacred power, you shall become…”
That was the end of his speech.
At the next moment, a silver arrow descended from the sky and penetrated his skull. The ambushed black-cloaked mage stood blankly on the spot for a few seconds before crashing to the ground lifelessly.
“Phew…”
The magical steel chains that bound Corina’s limbs vanished after losing their source of power. At this moment, Corina heaved a sigh of relief. But before she felt assured, she heard an ear-piercing and fuming growl.
“Oooooh!”
Corina turned around and was stunned to see the fire elemental monster pouncing toward her.
How is this possible? After losing the source of energy from its owner, this fire elemental monster should have already returned to the elemental plane, shouldn’t it?
Corina had no more time to waste. It was apparent from the swelling body of the fire elemental monster that it intended to self-destruct right here. Corina could no longer dodge in time. The only thing she could do was to pull a distance as far as possible from it and place her arms before her to defend herself against the oncoming explosion. But…
“Aaooo———!”
In a miserable and sorrowful screech, Corina lifted her head in shock, only to witness the bulging fire elemental monster that was about to explode shatter and shrink like a deflated balloon. It struggled and stretched out its claws in despair, but after losing its source of magical energy, its massive body turned into ashes.
“What exactly is…”
Corina stared blankly at the happening. At that moment, she discovered a young lady standing behind the fire elemental monster.
The young lady was entirely wrapped in a white robe. Only a small, round chin under the hood, a pair of pointy ears, as well as the strands of fluttering golden hair revealed her identity.
A white elf.
