Human Raid
"Since you are a paladin of the Church, miss, I believe you would not be in collusion with those people."
Lola spoke as such, though she did not possess any ability to discern lies. She had simply recognized Celia's identity through the perception of natural energy as an elven priestess.
Besides, with strength like hers, there was no need to deceive them.
However, after confirming Celia's identity, one question continued to puzzle Lola: how could a powerful paladin be easily captured and brought here by Vina?
Thus, Lola guessed the other party must have had some ulterior motive for coming here.
Yet before she could ask, Serea spoke up first.
"Um, may I ask a question?"
"Of course."
Lola agreed, and then Serea opened her mouth to ask.
"You keep mentioning 'those people, those people.' Exactly who are these 'those people' you're referring to?"
Upon hearing Serea's question, Lola saw no reason to hide anything and explained:
"Let me start from not long ago. About a week ago, a group of humans who called themselves adventurers—much like yourselves—came to the Corrupted Forest. They seemed to be searching for something, but almost got lost and trapped in the forest in the process. Fortunately, some of our kin, while on patrol, discovered their lost party and revealed themselves to guide them out. But unexpectedly..."
Here, the usually gentle and refined Lola also gritted her teeth, clearly suggesting those humans had done something unforgivable to their 'saviors.'
"But unexpectedly, those humans repaid kindness with enmity and captured many innocent members of our tribe. By the time our guard squads arrived, those humans had already escaped the forest with our people,"
Vina added.
"They captured your tribe members... No wonder you hate humans so much."
Having understood the situation, Serea asked again:
"Do you know the identities of those humans?"
"Yes, following the marks left by our kin, we tracked them down. They are—"
Halfway through her words, an elven guard suddenly rushed in anxiously.
"Qu—Queen, it's not good, those humans are here!"
She was panting, clearly having rushed back, and there was a wound on her arm, a sign that she had just been in a fierce fight.
Upon hearing the guard's report, Vina immediately stood up and rushed out.
"You, protect the queen!"
"Yes, Ma'am!" x3
Several elven guards answered in unison, but before Lola could stop her, Vina had already charged outside.
Seeing this, Lola wanted to give chase, but after considering that Serea and the others were still here, she spoke to the three guards:
"You protect them. I'll go assist Commander Vina."
"No, Your Majesty, it's too dangerous!"
The guards tried to stop Lola, but she was already out the door ahead of them. Helpless, they could only obey the queen's order and stay behind to protect the two humans.
Witnessing how tense the elves were, Serea and Celia exchanged a glance.
"Let's go have a look outside too."
"Mm."
Celia nodded in agreement. The two of them flipped their hands, breaking free from the vines that had restrained them, and prepared to walk out.
"Humans, it's very dangerous outside right now, so please stay here."
The three elven guards surrounded them, but Serea responded directly:
"You're aware it's dangerous, aren't you? So as guards, shouldn't you be protecting your queen?"
"But..."
"Let's go together. I'm quite curious about what kind of people these 'those humans' you speak of really are."
With those words, Serea strode out of the wooden hut, ignoring their objections, with Celia following behind. After a moment's hesitation, the three guards also hurried out after them.
As soon as they stepped outside, the pungent smell of gunpowder assaulted them. Recognizing the familiar scent, Serea looked into the distance and saw flames rising from all corners of the elven village.
Groups of humans dressed in various armors and equipment were taking advantage of the fire to attack the elven village, clashing fiercely with the elven guards.
"Surround them for me—don't let a single one escape!"
The speaker was a one-eyed man, directing his subordinates to encircle the village. Although there were more elves, most were children with no combat ability, while the human side had a thirty-strong, well-equipped combat team.
With such a disparity, the elven guards and rangers, in order to protect the children, had no choice but to forfeit their agility and stealth advantages, confronting the human warriors directly.
In this way, the humans had the clear upper hand.
"Despicable humans, die!"
Vina loosed two arrows, seriously wounding a warrior who was capturing an elven girl. She then flashed over, decisively stabbing down with her dagger.
Splurt. Blood sprayed.
Vina's movements were swift and fluid. She was the first to take down one of the human fighters.
Helping the fallen elf girl up, Vina sent her to safety.
"Go! Take shelter, quickly!"
With the elf girl evacuated, Vina herself became exposed. She now faced a mass of human warriors, as they had all realized how dangerous she was.
Biting her lip, Vina drew two daggers, readying herself for melee combat—her ranged attacks were no longer practical. She had to break free from their encirclement first.
She had to retreat for now!
Knowing she couldn't match them in a head-on clash, Vina decided to break through where only one person was guarding. If she could defeat that human, she could regain her distance advantage.
But just as she stepped forward, a strong sense of danger flared in her mind. Instinctively, Vina glanced to the side, only to see a one-eyed, armored man charging at her.
He swung a heavy sword. Realizing she couldn't dodge, Vina raised her daggers to block, but in terms of strength, as a first-tier archer she could not possibly match a warrior.
Clang!
Her hands went numb and the dagger flew from her grasp as she herself was sent flying by the heavy blow.
After rolling on the ground several times, Vina barely managed to steady herself and tried to get up. But at that moment, a large net descended from above, trapping Vina inside.
"Damn it!"
Vina struggled to break the net, but the iron wires woven in made it impossible to tear easily; this was obviously a net made specifically to capture them.
Now that she had been caught, perhaps at another time she could have used her ranged attacks to wear her opponent down, but now she was a warrior defending her home—and as a defender, she could not retreat.
Similar scenes were occurring all over the battlefield. It seemed the human warriors were well prepared for fighting the elves, and coupled with the surprise attack, the elven resistance lasted only a few short minutes.
Now, only a handful of guards remained, protecting the children of the tribe beside Lola, and the human warriors had them surrounded. The elves seemed doomed to defeat.
But just then, the belated Lola began chanting a spell.
(To be continued)
-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=
【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】