In a way, the Dark Elf has direct contact with the Emperor because of the Aldri Family.


    Bing a persona servant family under the Silverstar Pack means they are going to stay in the castle, practically all the time. If someone from the Dark Elf Kingdom sought—for a direct audience with the Emperor, they could ask Vathor or even Bevryth to do that.


    Something like that should be prohibited, there are levels to the empire''s structure.


    At the very least, Valthor shouldn''t approach the Emperor like that.


    Only the captains have that kind of authority.


    Linthia was fuming, she knew Dindora and Gelmar wouldn''t approve of this too.


    "I can change—and be stronger, unlike your dumb wife who was stupid enough to y fire, with Lord Kyran. Look at her now, hiding behind Lady Na''s protection. What''s exudes more air of a weakling than her?" She said, her tongue sharp like a razor.


    Naturally, Valthor was livid when he heard this mockery.


    Veins bulged across his twisting face.


    "A lesser race like you dare to mock me...? Don''t let your position get into your head—you are still beneath me. I''m a Dark Elf, a mid-rank Supernatural race while you... you''re nothing but a dark fairy"


    Swish!


    Out of nowhere, Linthai felt her armor making weird noises.


    It was gripped by a dark bronze energy.


    Linthia could see the armor she was wearing bending inwardly in a slow manner.


    Retaliating, she tried attacking Valthor''s mind but her effort was thwarted away.


    Valthor''s eyes hummed with dark bronze energy—he tilted his head—looking at her as if she were an insect. Compared to Linthia, he was in the peak of the eighth-rank realm, the power difference between them was vast.


    Coiled by his might, Linthia couldn''t retaliate but gave no satisfaction by keepingposed.


    She wouldn''t let Valthor feel pleasure from seeing her in pain.


    "Let go of her,"


    Just then, a voice interrupted the two.


    A woman came from outside of the castle,ced with an aura that couldn''t be ignored.


    ncing over his shoulder, Valthor realized who it was, Dindora.


    In a rxed manner, Dindora closed the door behind her and turned to look at Vathor, both of her eyes were icy cold without emotions. She remained silent, staring at Valthor intently—but the murderous intent around her was palpable.


    As someone who has lived a long time, Valthor recognized the threating from Dindora.


    She reeked of blood—her gaze contained unspeakable power because of that.


    Knowing his situation, Valthor was about to release Linthia but stopped.


    He grabbed his cheek in reflex and touched blood.


    ''Did I get hit? By what? I didn''t even see her move'' Valthor thought in shock.


    But then he saw Dindora''s sharp but tired eyes glowed yellow, her aura was surging.


    Valthor then saw her raising a finger and pointed it towards him.


    Swish!


    In the next second, he forced down his alive when he felt something sharp poking his neck.


    Despite being seemingly harmless, a vine poked out of Dindora''s finger—before it instantly elongated. It was infused with powerful energy—the tip was glistening under the light from the chandelier above, and was alsoced with yellow steaming substance.


    A venomous vine that could inflict Origin knows what but certainly horrific.


    "If you try anything, I''ll let your head roll and apologize to the Emperor for the inconvenience"


    "I wasn''t trying to do anything"


    Valthor quickly waved his hand and dispelled the energy that gripped Linthia.


    She could finally breathe again, coughing a couple of times.


    Upon seeing that Linthia was freed, the wood clone lowered its weapon and crumbled.


    But as Valthor felt like he had dodged a bullet, a burning sensation assaulted him.


    It spanned from his chest to his neck.


    Dindora struck, turning her right arm into a sharp, and enhanced wooden de and making a powerful stroke at Valthor. Her strike caught Valthor off guard, drawing a bloody line—across his skin that followed the arc of the de.


    "Gaghkk!" Valthor stumbled back, holding his bleeding neck. "I already freed her!"


    Sneering, Dindora sttered the blood decorating her arm to the carpet.


    "Call your wife and tell her to clean this mess. Clean it until there''s no scent of iron in the air."


    "I''ll clean it,"


    "Did you not hear me? I said your wife will clean it. Call her here"


    Despite the evident reluctance in his gaze, Valthor gritted his teeth and suck it up.


    He cast onest look at Linthia before he left to call Bevryth.


    Only when he disappeared on the corner did the tension in the air slowly vanish.


    "Did he hurt you badly?"


    Just as Dindora was about to turn and check on Linthia—she was surprised when Linthia suddenly leaped, and gave her a bear hug. It startled her for a second before she smiled, knowing that Linthia must''ve had a hard time with them away.


    "I didn''t know the city''s situation would turn like this, I''m sorry,"


    "No... it''s okay. I''m d that you''re back"


    Remaining in the position for a moment, Linthia then pulled away.


    "Oh, right, why did youe back?"


    "I saw the dragon. Gelmar and I were worried so I decided toe back to check"


    Linthia nodded in understanding—but gasped when she saw a scar, peeking—from Dindora''s armor, it was gnarly green and seemed to be new. It was not there when she left so this must happen when she was helping the Humans.


    "This...?"


    "Don''t worry about it, a slight misfortune. Anyway, are you going somewhere?"


    "I was about to send a message to you and Gelmar. Now that you''re here—I supposed I''ll see if Her Majesty needs my assistance with the people"


    "Hold on a moment. I need to meet with the Emperor first and announce my return. Once that is done, I''lle with you"


    A momentter.


    Dindora and Linthia walked side by side out of the castle, and headed down to the square to see what Evelyn was doing. Linthia filled her in with what had happened while she was gone along the way.


    She knew that the Emperor had battled someone again.


    Just from the phenomenon that had happened to the moon, she was sure of this.


    And she was right.


    In addition, she was also filled in with the concerning problems such as the Chaos Phantom—and the Order Beasts. But Dindora was not surprised—regarding the Order Beasts, which was a surprise for Linthia.


    "You''re not surprised. Have you seen one?"


    "Yes, I didn''t only see one, I fought one. It was almost as hard as fighting chaos monsters"


    Gelmar and Dindora alongside two groups of Awakened were sent to help Humanity.


    Both of them weren''t ced in Ratmawati City, but in a level 1 city nearby instead—and were deployed to help other smaller—but important cities that couldn''t defend themselves against powerful mutated animals.


    Due to the vast territory, they were basically fighting non-stop in the Human territory.


    It was tiring but good for their growth—to familiarize themselves with their new bloodline.


    "You should tell His Majesty all about it then!"


    "I already gave him my report. Enough with me, what about you? How are you doing?"


    Before going to the Human territory, Dindora and Linthia spent most of their time together.


    Gelmar is strict and blunt most of the time so the two were closer.


    Dindora knew Linthia the most because of that.


    "I''m doing alright..."


    "Come on, you can tell me everything. What about that Dark Elf earlier? Who is he?"


    "He and his family are the new servants for the castle"


    "And?"


    "He skipped me and delivered a message from a Dark Elf directly to the Emperor"


    Upon hearing this, Dindora frowned, this shouldn''t happen.


    "Lord Kyran recruited them?"


    "No, they were the ones who attacked Her Majesty but somehow, His Majesty decided to let them work in the castle. I can''t understand what was in his mind, putting those, who wanted to harm the Empress closer to her"


    "I''m sure His Majesty has his reasons. There''s a reason why he''s the Emperor"


    Soon enough, both captains arrived at the market.


    Finding Evelyn was quite easy for them as she was always surrounded by guards—and she was now in the market, looking at some fresh mutated fruits harvested from the forest. She didn''t seem to be doing anything in particr.


    Evelyn was only looking around and even purchasing some.


    As the city was outside of Human territory, the currency used here was elemental stones.


    But the two realized that they were wrong almost instantly.


    From the banters of the people around them, they realized what Evelyn was doing.


    "Her Majesty didn''t look different than usual"


    "I know, the dragon from earlier... shouldn''t we all be worried? I got a goosebump earlier"


    "Can the Emperor really protect us from that?"


    "What are you saying? Just look at Her Majesty—she is not disturbed at all. I''m sure she has full faith in the Emperor—and since she was here shopping and conversing with usmon folks, the Emperor must''ve already expected the dragon to appear"


    "I guess you''re right. The Emperor could take down the Fifthborn, this is nothing for him"


    Just by showing her face outside, taking a walk—and greeting the people she met along the way, Evelyn was able to dispel the worry of the people. Both Dindora, and Linthia could only exchange a look.


    Both realized that there''s also a reason why Evelyn is Empress, not someone like them.


    Passing by the guards, Dindoar and Linthia approached Evelyn.


    Linthia got closer and stopped behind Evelyn.N?v(el)B\\jnn


    Even as she stood behind, Evelyn kept gracefully picking the mutated fruits.


    "Your Majesty, His Majesty already assigned everyone a task. Lord Kyran, Lord Flunra, Lady Giste, and Lady Na are going to depart"


    "Hmm... where are they going?"


    "To locate threats in the area and also aid Queen Shana"


    Upon hearing this, Evelyn nodded her head.


    "What happened to your armor? It''s dented and unpresentable" She suddenly asked.


    Despite already expecting this question toe, Linthia still stuttered.


    She couldn''t muster an answer out of embarrassment.


    "F- Forgive me, Your Majesty. I wa-"


    "Valthor was the one who caused it, he had a scuffle against Linthia"


    Stepping to back Linthia up, Dindora intervened.


    Evelyn turned to look at the two captains with a small confusion.


    "Valthor...?"


    "Yes, Your Majesty. He oversteps Linthia''s authority"


    Knowing how calm Valthor was in her presence—this came as a surprise but Evelyn was not that particrly, surprised. In the world of Supernaturals, the strong ruled, it must''ve been a little bit weird for Valthor to be under Linthia who was weaker than him.


    "You''re back, Captain Dindora," Evelyn said, holding Dindora''s shoulders.


    Dindora smiled a little, "It''s good to be back, Your Majesty"


    "Good, it''s good to see you back. Now, bring me to the others, I want to see them depart"


    "As you wish, Your Majesty"


    ...


    Meanwhile, the Elven Kingdom.


    Queen Shana came out of her bed chamber and rushed through the hallway.


    She was informed earlier by a servant of hers that her attention was required.


    It took a mere minute for her to reach the designated room and when she entered, she found Hastios and a couple—of high-rank Elven warriors inside. Other than Hastios, the other Elves suffered grievous wounds.


    One was missing an arm while the others had ck veins marring across his face and arm.


    "Hastios, talk to me, what happened?" She asked, not even telling them to sit down.


    From Hastios'' expression alone, she knew that there''s a bad development.


    "Our forces in the east were ambushed,"


    "Ambushed? By whom? And where in the east?"


    "Just like what our sentries said, the ck beast appeared, but it surprisingly didn''t make its move and stayed at the center of the Verdantveil Forest. But it has two major minions—both were identified at the peak of the ninth-rank realm—and both nked us. As for where—the Nature Guardians told me that it should span from Verdantveil Forest to the Avlyn Forest"


    Upon hearing this, Queen Shana was visibly stressed.


    Verdantveil Forest to the Avlyn Forest meant the influence spread for about ten miles.


    Just as she was contemting, she noticed Hastios had more to say.


    "Say it, what are you hesitating for?"


    "It is just that the inner section of the Verdantveil Forest began to show signs of a dominion, I am afraid the ck beast is establishing its territory. And also—our fallen people... they were turned into walking corpses"


    "What...? What elemental affinity is it really?"


    "I''m afraid our guesses were not far off. It''s either Death or Dark Element..."