“Miss Gracier?”
Corina was startled to meet this young lady but didn’t feel too surprised. The rebirth of white elves had always been a hot topic among elves in the Country of Law. After the Sword Dance Rite ended, elves began discussing Gracier and Madaras, who followed Rhode. Elves were a long-lived and nostalgic race. They loved looking back at the past and not to the future. This was why most elves showed interest beyond their nature toward the rebirth of the two white elves. Of course, this didn’t mean that they supported the idea of overthrowing the ruling system to crown a new ruler, but welcomed the return of white elves as the honor and pride of elves as a whole instead.
Of course, some elves suggested to the Elf Queen to invite the two white elves back and continue their lives in the Elf Forest. Even though the two white elves were in their spiritual forms, they were the pride of elves, after all, and not traitors like dark elves. Some elves thought that following a human was somewhat degrading for the two white elves but despite that, the Elf Queen didn’t express any opinion over it. Corina also didn’t comment much. She clearly knew that even though she wasn’t aware of the relationship between Gracier, Madaras, and Rhode, it was obviously a tough challenge to convince them to leave Rhode’s side.
But now, the two white elves were actually here?
Upon hearing Corina’s doubt, Gracier nodded in response, turned around, and pointed into the deep forest. Then, she stared into Corina’s eyes and made a ‘retreat’ gesture. At the next moment, Corina’s vision dazzled and Gracier disappeared right in front of her. The moment Corina looked up, she sensed the presence of exploding flames and an irritable aura of death coalescing in the distance. She hesitated no more, lifting her bow and shuttling into the deep forest.
When Corina arrived at the elf encampment, everything was completely changed. It was still a tranquil scene in the morning before they left. But now, it was enveloped in billows of smoke. Long, thick, fireproof vines climbed up the thick trunks, tangling with one another to form layers of strong walls. Elves placed their hands on the trunks and land, praying softly for the call of nature. In the blink of an eye, a thick and sturdy dark green barrier expanded with dark, razor-sharp thorns on its surface, metamorphosing into a powerful defensive mechanism. The dark thorns reflected cold light, powerful enough to turn all intruders into ash. The steep, straight mountain walls blocked off all intruders harboring malicious intentions. Apart from attacking from the front, no one was able to pass through the defensive lines. The surrounding, towering cliffs were the best natural barrier. In addition to the unique magic of nature of the elves, it wasn’t surprising why they weren’t afraid of being invaded. But it was a pity that trouble still came knocking on their door.
“Madam Corina!”
The elves heaved sighs of relief upon noticing Corina, who sprinted across the forest. Shortly after, the wall of thorns opened up a gap and released fluttering vines to tangle and form a flight of aerial steps. Corina proceeded lithely on her toes, before leaping and landing softly on the ground like a graceful cat. The opening in the wall of thorns closed quickly, not leaving any space for intruders.
“Are the preparations ready?”
Corina gazed at her surroundings. At a glance, it seemed like the elves were ready for battle despite not having enough manpower. Although Corina didn’t investigate the total number of enemies earlier, based on the size of the conflagration, she reckoned there was an army of them. Meanwhile, she only had a daily team of patrols on her side. Even though she didn’t know how many enemies like the one she met earlier there would be, up until this moment, she still couldn’t figure out why a fire elemental monster from at least 100 meters away would appear above her in an instant. She had never seen anything similar in the past, which was why she felt anxious and nervous right now. The number of enemies, their traits, and formation were still unknown. But no matter what, it was impossible for the patrol encampment of less than 100 elves to take them on. Moreover, they weren’t seasoned warriors, but ordinary patrols instead. In a peaceful forest, apart from elves who fought against dark elves along the border regions, other elves were basically lacking in battle experience.
“Did you send someone to ask for support according to my order?”
Upon hearing Corina’s question, the surrounding elves nodded in response. However, one of the elves said.
“We’ve sent someone to seek reinforcements, but it may be a little difficult to gather them…”
Corina couldn’t help but knit her brows after hearing this response. She knew this was a helpless move.
The low birthrate of elves caused the Country of Law to set up a completely different and unique military system. The elf army in the Country of Law rarely had an authorized strength of more than 500 troops. At this point in time, the largest army was the elf guards in charge of protecting the palace, with a total of 350 troops. The bigger local garrisons only had between 150 to 200 troops, while patrol encampments had at most 100. Due to the trait of nature in elves, such strategies were effective while they were located inside the forest. For instance, while engaging in guerrilla warfare in the forest, a well-equipped elf patrol team could contend with a hostile army of up to thousands of units. But if the elves were forced into a head-to-head battle on a plain, even if each elf was able to contend with 1000 enemy troops, their insufficient numbers would make them perish entirely. Putting it bluntly, even an army of the Country of Light would be enough to crush the elves. However, the elves weren’t fools either, which was why they had been relying upon the barrier of nature to deal with enemies.
But now, it seemed like the barrier was about to lose its effect.
Corina gazed at the rising black smoke from below, while the conflagration extended gradually. The enemies weren’t luring the elves to attack, but were purely sweeping the battlefield. As soon as the elves lost their natural cover, their threat would fall drastically. Judging from this point, it was apparent that the enemy was clearly aware of it.
Miss Gracier and Miss Madaras aren’t here…
Corina couldn’t find the petite figure who showed up before her earlier and was unaware of her whereabouts. But even so, Corina took in a deep breath, stifled her emotions, and gave an order.
“Get ready to battle. Activate the enchanted field…! Watch out for the enemies. They are really powerful. We need to…”
“Reporting!”
Before Corina finished giving her command, she was interrupted harshly. She lifted her head and saw an orderly flitting across the forest hurriedly and arriving before her. The orderly seemed anxious, her beautiful face as white as a sheet due to fear and uncertainty.
“Camp 13 is under attack! The enemies are burning the entire forest!”
“What?!”
Corina couldn’t help but shriek. She turned to the other direction and indeed, she spotted soaring black smoke in the sky.
“What’s going on? What happened?”
“Why is Camp 13 under attack?”
“They burned down the forest. This is too much!”
Upon hearing this news, the elves couldn’t help but look at each other in bewilderment. They exclaimed in shock, but didn’t know how to handle the situation. After seeing their reactions, Corina could only let out a hopeless sigh. This was the first time she deeply felt the negative impact that long periods of peace had on the elves. Elves were a high-class race, where they lived in nature and used the environment to protect themselves. But when they were faced with real wars, they exposed the weakest side of them. So what if the enemies burned down the forest? Corina had personally witnessed how Rhode used cannons to raze the entire forest in front of the Land of Atonement’s fortress to the ground. And the reason he gave was that it would be easier for him to spot any enemy trails.
This was just how it was for wars.
“Now isn’t the time for this!”
Corina disrupted everyone’s discussion. She ascended the flight of steps up the tower and gazed ahead. The conflagration was getting closer and even her elf senses were also affected to a certain degree. It seemed like the enemies didn’t set fire only to anger the elves, but to conceal their presences instead. Considering the fact that they were able to summon fire elemental monsters, it would be tough for the elves to distinguish between the fire elemental monsters and actual flames. It could also be said that setting the forest on fire was the best strategy for the enemies.
“Everyone, get ready to attack. Activate the enchanted field!”
Corina yelled, clutching the bow in her hand and aiming forward vigilantly. The uncertainty deep inside her grew. At the same time, as though proving her fears, she heard a loud cawing ahead. One by one, fire crows coalesced from blazing flames flew across the forest and headed toward the campsite!
“Ambush!”
