?<ra and Silver POV>


    ra and Silver, knowing they were on the lower end of the group''s power, decided to team up.


    "Silver, I want you to go around taking out the regr elves while I distract the 2 guards." ra exined her n, yet Silver was a bit sceptical whether she could handle it.


    "Are you sure you can handle two of them Mother?" Silver felt a bit awkward calling ra mother, but he knew it would only be a matter of time before he got used to it.


    "O-oh y-yes I should be fine." Getting stunned by being called mother, it actually gave her quite the motivation boost to do her best.


    "Okay, I will trust you." Silver gripped his scythe, trusting things would be okay by the time he was done.


    "Alright, let''s go." ra dashed forward into the group of elves with her whip des dragging behind her flickering with lightning. Silver descended into the shadows and made his way to the rear end of the elves.


    ra halted her steps just before the guards and observed that there was a noticeable difference between them. Instead of the usual spear, one had a great sword and the other had dual des. Their weapons were covered in wood with swirling balls of wind at the bottom of the handle just like the spears users had.


    ra felt her heart waver for a moment as it seemed like they may be stronger than the normal guards.


    ''Let''s hope it''s just a difference in weapon.'' ra hoped that despite the different weapons, theirbat power would equal that of the spear users from before. The armour they wore also reinforced this point as they did not look like amander or some kind of officer.


    The elves that were trying to surround ra were slowly being picked off, which gave her some confidence as Silver should be back to help soon.


    ''Just have to hold them off for at least 5 minutes.'' Giving herself an estimate, she then cracked her whips and engulfed them in lightning. She also imbued lightning into her body which made her movements faster.


    The first elf to attack was the one with the dual des, dashing forward at a speed greater than the elves from before.


    ra didn''t anticipate the speed and so when she blocked the attack, her form was thrown off. The elf''s des were encased in swirling wind, creating a chainsaw effect as the des shed at ra''s sides.


    Retracting her whips to their sword form, she covered both her sides barely stopping the des. Still, ra''s grip was wavering as the chainsaw-like winds crashed against her whip des.


    While ra was struggling, the other elf made his move and appeared behind ra about to swing down with his greatsword.


    "Shit!" ra was trapped as both her front and back were covered by the elves. She couldn''t move to the sides because of the des and was essentially locked in ce.


    ''I need to move before he swings.'' ra gritted her teeth in pain as it was getting unbearable to hold her des.


    Lightning flicked from her feet and shortly after a sh went off, blinding the two elves. ra stored the whip des in her inventory and in that brief moment where she could move dodged the wooden chainsaw des.


    Now directly in front of the dual-ded elf, ra covered her hand in lightning and aimed for the neck, hoping to paralyse the elf. However, just before her hand made contact, she was kicked away, sending her directly into the elf with the great sword.


    Still in position for a big swing, the elf saw ra was back in range and so he swung down with his greatsword.


    Pulling out her whip des from her inventory, ra managed to redirect the strike, but she felt her arms crack.


    "Arghh!" Backing away from the elves, ra stored her des and held her arms to her chest, trying to recover them through her regeneration. Quickly ncing around, the number of regr elves was only down to two.


    ''Just a bit more.'' ra didn''t want to resort to using her demon form as it would consume too much energy and it felt like it would be cheating.


    The elves grumbled in disappointment as ra was still standing having survived their attacks.


    Feeling well enough to move her arms, ra grabbed her whip des once again and waited for them to make their move.<novelnext></novelnext>


    Being more prepared this time for the elf''s speed, ra carefully ced a few lightning traps around her. She did this by concentrating on a string of lightning that came out from her feet and cing condensed spots around her that would erupt on touch.


    The elves did not notice this and so they went for a simr approach to theirst attack with the dual-ded elf dashing in first to get close to ra. However, this time when he arrived in front of ra, a lightning bolt struck where he stood, paralysing him.


    The elf with the great sword user did not sit still. Knowing his fellow elf was in danger, he threw his great sword at ra. Easily dodging the de, ramented losing her chance at going for a killing blow on the stunned elf. However, one thing the elvespletely forgot about was Silver who just finished cleaning up.


    Appearing behind the paralysed elf, he wrapped his scythe around the elf''s neck and cleanly cut the head off.


    The greatsword elf turned around in shock while throwing a punch by instinct, but instead of hitting silver, he ruptured the chest of its deadpanion.


    This only infuriated the elf, the muscles on his body suddenly growing in size. ra had gone on the offensive and shed at the elf with her whip des, but they were no longer effective. As if his skin turned to metal, physical attacks achieved nothing and even the lightning on her de wasn''t good enough.


    Silver tried using his shadows to try to cut into the elf''s skin, but it was also ineffective. Though Silver did notice something peculiar, as when his shadow scythe got close to the elf, its mana became hazy.


    Quickly appearing next to ra, he reported his findings as it may be just a mana negating barrier.


    "When my attack reached his body, it was as if it became a haze, essentially dulling my de." Having a brief moment to regroup and talk, ra took a moment to think about what Silver said.


    "I think it''s his wind, not a barrier, so what I think is happening there is a constant swirling of wind around him, but only a very thinyer of it. It takes an immense amount of concentration and I normally wouldn''t think these elves have that capacity, unless..." ra turned her head to the pool and, just as she suspected, there was a different elf covered in robes.


    "Silver, I think we found our culprit." Gesturing to where she was looking, Silver nced over.


    "Want me to go?" Silver knew he would have the easiest time getting over, but before a decision was reached some more people arrived at the scene.


    "Silver! ra!" Shaman, carrying Elysia in her arms, came to help as it seemed like things gotplicated.


    "You see the thing is…" ra gave a brief rundown of what was happening, but it would be cut short by the greatsword elf.


    The Elf smashed the ground causing a crack between the group, forcing them to back away from each other. Now that the elf has grown double in size, the thin wind barrier was much more notable as leaves and dust were being picked up, creating a small tornado.


    "So that priest elf is why this guy is beefed up like crazy!" Shaman summarised the important details and ra nodded her head.


    "Got it, I will go deal with the priest with Silver." Shaman put down Elysia while ncing at Silver to get his confirmation.


    "Eli, your priority is to protect ra while I go deal with the priest okay?" Shaman wanted to confirm with Elysia that she knew what to do before going.


    "Yes I know, don''t worry." Elysia understood the worry Shaman had, but she had no animosity towards ra anymore and it was quite to the contrary even. In fact, after they were forced to kiss by Freja, she felt willing to ept ra as a potential partner.


    That being the case, She now felt that the other side of her that would usually get aggravated has begun to change to include ra. This became apparent just a moment ago when Shaman and Elysia were making their way over. When she saw ra in a bit of trouble, the same rage red up just as it would for Shaman.


    "Good, Silver let''s go." Shaman entered [Shadow walk] and so did Silver. Making their way towards the priest that was half submerged in the water seemingly praying.


    "Alright ra, we just need to hold out until they finish." Elysia quickly ran over to ra while pulling out her spear.


    "Got it." ra felt much safer with Elysia by her side, especially when dealing with a monster.


    *ROARRRR*